Li Shimin and his wife left with satisfaction. Sun Simiao and Chen Jingke breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and returned to their intense work.
The day after tomorrow is the day when the Zixiao Palace opens its doors to receive pilgrims. There are so many things that need to be prepared that even Chen Jingke cannot be the master of the house.
"As for you, stand up straight and don't stagger when walking..."
"Are the incense candles ready? Every palace must ensure that there are enough incense candles..."
"Where are the guides? Where are the guides at this point... Don't run around. Remember that your duty is to show the pilgrims the way. You don't have to take them there. Just point them in the direction and let them go by themselves."
"Don't be afraid when you meet the powerful. Even saints and empresses often come to our temple. Why are you afraid of them? Anyone who comes will be treated as an ordinary pilgrim. If something goes wrong, the Taoist temple will take care of you."
"I put my words here for everyone to prove. As long as you act according to the rules and make no mistakes, Guanli will take care of you no matter who comes to trouble you. If I can't do it, everyone will spit on my face."
"..."
After a while, Chen Jingke was so tired that he was sweating profusely and his mouth was dry. As soon as he found a cool place to rest for a while, Zhang Ruiguang, the head of the warehouse, came over and said:
"Master, the custom-made Taoist robe has been delivered. Would you like to take a look?"
Chen Jingke immediately stood up and said, "Let's go and have a look."
As the saying goes, a man relies on his clothes and a horse relies on his saddle. Since he wanted to reform Taoism and create a sect, he naturally had to distinguish himself from other sects in terms of clothing.
The Taoist robes he designed refer not only to Taoist costumes of later generations, but also to the costumes of cultivators in games, animations, and film and television dramas.
There are two seasons and three clothes in total, the two seasons are summer and winter, and the three clothes are formal clothes, daily clothes and work clothes.
The dress is cyan, worn when receiving pilgrims; the regular clothes are blue, worn for daily study and life; the work clothes are gray, as the name suggests, they are worn for work and martial arts.
The so-called formal dress is actually a coat with a wide robe and large sleeves worn outside regular clothes. It is very convenient to take off and put on, saving you the trouble of changing clothes.
These three types of clothing are divided into summer and winter seasons. In summer, they are thin and cool, while in winter, they are thick and warm.
The clothes are suitable for both men and women. The difference lies in the crown. The Qian (male) Dao is a crown and the Kun (female) Dao is a hairpin.
In order to reflect the identity difference, logos are made on the sleeves.
Ordinary Taoist priests have nothing on their sleeves, small stewards have one red circle pattern on their sleeves, and palace masters have two red circle patterns on their sleeves.
The big stewards like Kutou have three circles, and the steward Tianlu has four circles.
The cuffs of Sun Simiao and Chen Jingke are made of red patterned cloth, which is clear at a glance and there is no fear of making mistakes.
The overall style of Taoist robes is mainly concise, with waist, narrow sleeves and close fit, which distinguishes it from other Taoist robes, which are wide and have large sleeves.
The biggest feature is the Tai Chi Bagua pattern on the front chest and back.
The Bagua pattern appeared very early, and the Tai Chi pattern first appeared in the Song Dynasty. It is said that it was created by the ancestor Chen Tuan. Chen Jingke directly became an appropriator and used it as the symbol of Zixiao Temple.
In addition to printing patterns on clothes, others include necklaces, pendants, pendants hanging around the waist, etc.
Anyone who comes to burn incense can get a wooden Tai Chi Bagua pendant for free.
Those who paid for incense were given pendants of different materials according to the amount. Some were made of copper, some were made of gold and silver, and some were made of jade.
What Chen Jingke wants to do is to popularize Tai Chi and Bagua diagrams in every household. You don’t have to believe in Taoism, but you must have related accessories at home.
When I came to the warehouse, I saw the clothes piled together.
Zhang Ruiguang said: "There are six pieces of clothes for two seasons and three, two sets of twelve pieces for each person, and an additional two hundred sets of labor clothes. A total of one thousand and four sets are all here."
Chen Jingke nodded, pointed to the three Taoist boys and said, "You three, find some summer clothes, and each of you can wear one for me to see."
"Here." The three Taoist boys quickly found clothes that suited their models and ran to a corner to change into them.
Seeing the actual effect, Chen Jingke was very satisfied and said: "You can turn around a few times and exercise."
The three Taoist boys each performed some actions according to his instructions. Except for the formal attire, which was slightly affected by the outer hexagram, the other two sets were very convenient.
"Yes, very good. Inform people from each palace to take turns to come and collect clothes. From tomorrow on, everyone will dress according to the regulations."
"Here." Zhang Ruiguang responded, and then ordered his Taoist boys to notify everyone to come in batches to collect clothes. At the same time, he also sent people to send clothes to Sun Simiao, Chen Jingke, two maids, and Yang Tianlu.
Uniform clothing can greatly enhance the cohesion of a group, so I won’t go into details. Anyway, everyone who received the new clothes, especially the little Taoist children, were very happy.
It is not an exaggeration to say that most of them have never worn new clothes in their lives. They either picked them up or altered them from the old clothes of their elders in the family.
After receiving new clothes, twelve sets at a time, these children immediately felt a sense of belonging to the Taoist temple. When everyone put on the same clothes, a sense of mutual identity was quickly established.
Once you have a sense of belonging and identification with the organization, you will be more proactive when learning later.
Things that I couldn't master after being taught many times before can now be learned simply by being taught them once. Even if I haven't learned them yet, I will take the initiative to find others to ask about them.
Once the learning efficiency is improved, the order of the entire Taoist temple will soon be changed.
In the afternoon, the supervisor sent ten craftsmen over, along with their family members, a total of sixty-three.
These people, old and young, gathered in a group and looked at Chen Jingke and the others anxiously, waiting for their unknown fate.
Chen Jingke was also looking at them. He had some doubts about Yang Tianlu's words before. But the scene in front of him told him that the real situation was worse than he imagined.
The patches on their clothes are no longer as they were before, and everyone has a skinny figure and sunken cheeks. In this era where fatness is regarded as beauty, not one of these seventy-three people has a slightly rounder figure.
One baby seemed to be unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere and began to cry, but was quickly stopped by the mother who didn't know how.
Chen Jingke's nose felt sore and his eyes were moist.
But he didn't say anything like you are free. Firstly, no one would believe it. Secondly, freedom is not a reward for them, but the biggest punishment.
As I said before, people without status are just livestock. Without changing some of the rules of this era, talking about freedom is harming others and ourselves.
"Work hard when you get here. I can't guarantee anything else. There will be no problem in feeding your whole family."
Hearing such real words, the craftsmen calmed down a lot. One craftsman who looked to be in his forties said: "This gentleman... Master, I wonder what we need to do?"
Chen Jingke asked back: "What is your name? What skills do you know?"
The craftsman said cautiously: "My name is Tian Dachun. I am good at carpentry and mainly responsible for carving."
Chen Jingke said: "That's just right. What I want you to do is similar to carving. Can you do it by engraving words on a wooden board?"
Tian Dachun said in embarrassment: "But... none of us can read."
Chen Jingke smiled and said: "Can't we just engrave the words as if they were flowers?"
Tian Dachun suddenly realized: "Oh, you see how confused I am, thanks to the little master for giving me some advice."
Chen Jingke also noticed that Tian Dachun was better at dealing with people and had some prestige among these people, so he said:
"For the time being, you will be responsible for these people. Cooperate with the Taoist people to settle everyone down first. I will tell you what to do tomorrow."