Most of the people Chen Lin comes into contact with on a daily basis are subtle and tactful, speak in a measured manner, and pay attention to a "moderate". It is rare to hear such emotional and unrestrained words. After all, he is a young man, and Li Yaoer's words can't help but make him laugh.
Arousing the enthusiasm in his chest, he hurriedly said: "I don't dare to say that I will do anything big, but I am satisfied if I can carry forward this family business."
Li Yaoer smiled but said nothing. This young man didn't mean what he said. She suddenly remembered something and asked:
"Do you make Xiangyun yarn here?" Li Yaoer suddenly thought of this most famous variety of Guangdong silk fabrics.
Chen Lin looked at a loss. The yarn was naturally rich and had been woven, but he had never heard of the term Xiangyun yarn. He said: "I have never made it, and I have never heard of it."
Li Yao'er thought for a while and asked again: "It's yarn dyed with Dioscorea oleifera."
"Dioscorea? That's weeping silk," Chen Lin nodded, "Yes, yes."
"Is there any finished product?"
"Originally, there were some, but after the war, the inventory was probably gone..."
Li Yaoer looked disappointed. Xiangyun yarn is a leading product among traditional silk fabrics in Guangdong. It was popular in the 1930s and 1940s. It is refreshing and soft, has good sun and wash fastness, and is highly waterproof.
, easy to wash and dry, deep color and stain-resistant, does not stick to the skin, is light and not easy to wrinkle, soft and full of body, durable, suitable for hot summer wear, and is welcomed by consumers. It is not only widely praised in the domestic market, but also
A large number of products are exported abroad, especially to Southeast Asia.
According to the information Li Yao'er read, Xiangyun yarn was a silk and satin variety that only officially appeared during the Republic of China. However, such a variety obviously did not appear out of thin air. She later checked some information and found that similar production techniques existed in the Ming Dynasty.
There are also export records.
If this kind of silk and satin can be improved and mass-produced, it will become a leading product for local silk and satin exports.
Although it is recorded in the records, Li Yaoer has never seen the real Xiangyunsha, and when asked Chen Xuan, he still had no idea.
"Although we don't have it in stock, I still have a small cotton silk shirt with my little sister. If the chief wants to see it, I can get it."
"Okay, just go and get it."
Chen Lin quickly called Chen Qing and asked him to go back and ask his sister for a silk blouse.
After a while, Chen Qing sent a cloth bag. Chen Lin opened it and saw that it was Chen Yue's close-fitting shirt.
This was a girl's personal belongings. It was a bit awkward to hold it in my hand, so I handed the cloth bag over.
Li Yaoer took the material in his hand, looked at it carefully, and kneaded it again. He said: "This is not yarn..."
"This is acanthus silk."
Chen Lin was right. This was indeed a piece of silk. The material was dyed brown, and the fabric itself was plain woven silk. It was soft and smooth when hand-twisted, but it felt quite thick. Look carefully, regardless of the texture of the silk, the dyer
The feel was also poor. It was far inferior to other silks she had seen.
"Is this made from local silk?"
"The chief has good eyesight." Chen Lin said, "This is what Fengsheng and Weaving made. Dye also dyed it himself..."
"Can you dye it?"
"Chief, are you kidding me? This yam dyeing is not a secret, it couldn't be more common." Chen Lin was a little surprised. The various color materials required for satin dyeing, except indigo, are grown in large quantities locally, or they are produced in other places.
, or simply come from Nanyang, most of which are valuable. The only one is the diosmus, which is grown locally on a large scale and is not valuable in itself. In addition to the silk, the wormwood is also very common.
"Never put mud on it?"
"Paint with mud?" Chen Lin was confused now, "Why do you need to apply mud? If you apply mud, won't it get dirty?"
Li Yao'er now knows that it turns out that this society only has acanthus silk, and there is no later Xiangyun gauze craftsmanship.
According to the standards of the old time and space, Xiangyun yarn actually refers to a traditional craft. More broadly, fabrics that use mulberry silk fabric as the base fabric and are coated with mineral coating are called Xiangyun yarn.
In the textile market in the old days, there were many types of fragrant yarn, each with its own advantages. The same fragrant yarn fabric had different types of fragrant yarn, some were thin and some were thick, some were soft and some were hard.
In terms of market price, from low to high are plain crepe satin fragrant cloud yarn, pearl satin fragrant cloud yarn, turtle pattern fragrant cloud yarn, and Guanle crepe fragrant cloud yarn.
These are the common categories. Traditional Xiangyun yarn is plain yarn without printing. Modern Xiangyun yarn has different patterns and printings according to different varieties, which will affect the specific price. Generally speaking, most of the ones with printing are ranunculus
In the silk category, plain crepe satin fragrant cloud yarn and pearl satin fragrant cloud yarn are the most common. They have a soft hand and are classified as satin fabrics.
There are more solid-color Xiangyun yarns and fennel yarns, which have a relatively hard feel and better air permeability. In ancient times, there were women wearing fennel silk and men wearing gauze. Generally, Guanle crepe Xiangyun yarn and turtle pattern Xiangyun yarn
It belongs to the type of silk yarn. Traditional Xiangyun yarn basically refers to this type.
Strictly speaking, Xiangyun gauze must be made of yarn as the base fabric, dyed with yam juice, then smeared with river mud in Shunde and then dried to be called Xiangyun gauze.
Obviously, this silk silk can only be regarded as generalized Xiangyun yarn. Judging from its feel and texture, it is obviously not a high-end product.
“Have you never tried yarn dyeing?”
"Sha?" Chen Lin was stunned and suddenly understood, "The chief must have said Luo."
"Yes, it's Luo." Li Yao'er's face felt a little hot. Because yarn is not a type of satin in the strict sense. It is mostly used to refer to light and transparent textiles. In the classification of silk and satin, it mostly refers to the texture of Luo.
It is light and thin, with slender strands. The warp threads are twisted together to form a pepper hole shape. The texture is tight and strong. The gauze holes are ventilated and cool, making it comfortable and cool to wear. It is especially suitable for summer clothing.
“I’ve also made dyed yam with yam and it’s also sold, but not too much.”
"Why not more?"
"Lingluo silk and satin is worn by the rich, and ordinary people can't help it, but how many people can afford it!" Chen Lin said, "I heard that there are traffickers and foot soldiers in Suzhou and Hangzhou, the most prosperous places in the south of the Yangtze River.
Wearing silk and satin, I don’t know whether it is genuine or fake. For Guangzhou alone, there is really not much sales.”
"I don't know if the traders in Suzhou and Hangzhou wear silk and satin, but this fragrant cloud yarn is a gift from summer. If it can be made in batches, there will be a big market for both domestic and export sales."
"But silk is worth a lot of money..."
"So we have to reduce the cost of raising silkworms. If there is more silk, the silk will be cheaper. And in this workshop, weaving is really slow... Your uncle said that only a few hundred pieces of silk can be weaved here throughout the year - this is also
Too little. If we weave tens of thousands of pieces a year, the price will definitely come down."
Chen Lin was confused: "The price has come down, wouldn't it mean that I would earn less..."
Li Yao'er said: "You don't know how to settle accounts! It doesn't matter if you earn a little profit from something. If you earn one tael of silver from a piece of silk, if you sell a hundred pieces a year, you will only make a hundred taels; I can sell 10,000 pieces a year."
, each horse earns one penny, but it makes a thousand taels. Only when everyone can wear it can Fengshenghe make big money!"
Chen Lin still couldn't turn around, but he knew that it would be better for him to resist the decision of the Australians less. He said yes again and again.
"Let's go to the factory and have a look." Li Yao'er said.
"yes."
"This Fengsheng Heyuan is your family's property. You must be familiar with every plant, tree, and brick."
"The little man has been helping his father manage his business in the workshop since he was more than ten years old."
"But today's Fengshenghe is different from the past." Li Yao'er said, "Given time, it will change drastically."
Chen Lin kept his promise. He thought that silk reeling and weaving have been like this since ancient times. Could it be that Australians can weave it out of thin air without using silk? There have been a lot of Australian products on the market over the years, but I have never heard of Australian silk or Australian cloth.
of.
"This inverted house was the original counting house of Fengshenghe. We also set up a management office here. Although the names are different, the meaning is the same." Li Yaoer strolled on the walkway, "The front yard
, mainly for external exchanges. I plan to set up a warehouse here after spring. These houses are prepared for this."
Chen Lin's father also thought about setting up a stack to collect cocoons by himself, and at one time he even thought about expanding his silk reeling room and using all his own silk for weaving, without using external silk.
Reeling silk by yourself without using external silk can first of all ensure the quality of raw silk. The purchase of raw silk depends entirely on the vision and ethics of the silk accounting office. Without a capable and trustworthy silk accounting manager, the quality of the raw silk collected depends entirely on luck.
, my luck is even worse, not even the portion is enough.
However, things are not that simple. Chen Lin said: "Chief, making silk by yourself naturally has many benefits, but there are also difficulties."
"I guess someone took the opportunity to incite the silkworm farmers?"
"The chief knows things well." Chen Lin nodded, "If we can achieve high quality and low price, it will be a good thing for both the host and the guest. But there are many entanglements in it, and there are many people who profit from it. Ignorant people often tend to
Easily deceived..."
"I know that. But I see you still have a silk reeling room in your factory."
"Yes, my family is a local family. In Nansha, with the support of the clan, my father can still handle it. But it is difficult for the silkworm farmers in other villages. So Fengshenghe is harvesting silk and cocoons."
Li Yao'er said: "You don't have to worry about this. Among my sericulture improvements, the most important one is reeling silk in the factory and no longer making native silk. I will test the waters this year. If everything goes well, next year I will roll it out to the whole county...
"
Chen Lin secretly frowned, thinking that they are Australians, they are so loud! I don't know how they plan to convince the silkworm farmers - the most obvious thing is that the selling price of silkworm cocoons is not as good as raw silk. As long as the silkworm farmers are not short of labor at home,
They will all choose to reel the silk into silk and sell it. You can’t put a knife on your neck to force the silkworm farmers to not make silk and sell the cocoons, right?
"...In addition to purchasing dried cocoons, I am also preparing to sell silkworm seeds here. The first batch of silkworm seeds will be shipped from Lingao soon, and these warehouses will be used as silkworm seed warehouses for the time being." Li Yaoer said.
Then he asked, "How do your silkworm farmers here get their silkworm seeds?"