Chapter 33: Does the Gentleman Wish to Buy a Bolt of Shu Brocade?

In the front courtyard, three female weavers sat before each flower-tower loom: one picked the flowers, one looped the flowers, and one threw the shuttle.

Seeing onlookers, the female weavers were not shy; instead, a woman sitting on a chair and fanning herself with a bamboo-leaf fan stood up and stepped forward enthusiastically to ask.

"Does the gentleman wish to buy a bolt of Shu brocade?"

Lu Beigu quietly retreated behind the crowd.

This was not something to buy blindly; once the mouth softened and agreed, don't say a bolt of Shu brocade, even half a bolt would empty his purse.

After all, since the end of the Han Dynasty, Shu brocade had been one of the top-tier luxuries in Huaxia, and common folk truly could not afford it.

However, although they could not afford to buy it, it was good to see the craftsmanship; satisfying the eyes cost nothing.

Seeing that they did not turn and leave, the woman straightforwardly introduced it to Li Pan: "Each harness thread corresponds to one silk thread; weaving the 'Fangsheng pattern' requires sixty harnesses, while weaving the 'Pantao pattern' requires seventy-two harnesses."

As she spoke, the flower-picking worker was shuttling and knotting between the ear-threads with a flower needle; the flower needle fluttered like a butterfly, and those originally chaotic gold threads suddenly revealed the outline of a diamond-flower pattern.

The Jacquard part of the flower-tower loom consisted of components such as harness sheets, lifting cords, and pattern books; the flower-looping worker operated the Jacquard mechanism on the flower tower, forming pattern openings by lifting the warp threads, while the shuttle-throwing worker was responsible for passing weft threads of different colors through the warp openings; the interweaving of warp and weft formed the pattern.

Lu Beigu bent down to look closely and discovered that the bamboo reed under the loom was engraved with fine scales; with every shuttle throw, the reed had to beat the weft thread tighter by a fraction, the force so even it seemed measured by a ruler.

And weaving Shu brocade was not weaving a single layer; at least seven layers had to be woven up and down; the weavers cooperated with each other, weaving non-stop for one two-hour period, throwing the shuttle accurately over a hundred times in succession, yet could only produce a piece of Shu brocade the size of a fingernail.

The so-called "an inch of brocade, an inch of gold" came from this.

How to put it? Anyway, after watching for a while, Lu Beigu felt that expensive things indeed had their reasons for being expensive.

Afterwards, the woman took them to tour the middle courtyard.

In the middle courtyard, the colorful silk just taken out of the dye vat this time was drying; there were only two colors: one was yellow silk dyed with gardenia and locust flower, and the other was blue silk dyed with isatis root.

As for the other colors, they might not have been dyed this time, so they did not see them.

However, besides these ordinary colors, there were also special colors.

For instance, Lu Beigu saw a young man lifting silk threads with a bamboo pole, stretching them taut in a specially made shaded shed; from a distance, those silk threads looked like solid colors, but upon close inspection, each thread contained four or five gradient colors, as if dawn clouds had been twisted into silk, truly dazzling.

This was the silk thread used only for specially made Shu brocade.

And arriving at the back courtyard, it was the place for Shu embroidery.

It was eerily quiet here; the embroiderer closest to them was quietly embroidering a "Lotus Pond and Koi Carp Picture."

The finished Shu brocade itself had extremely beautiful patterns; what these embroiderers did was the work of "adding flowers to brocade" for privately commissioned Shu brocade.

—It was "adding flowers to brocade" in the literal sense.

Her needle tip fluttered up and down on the Shu brocade; every time the needle landed, it precisely passed through the gap of the previous silk thread; Lu Beigu saw that when she embroidered the lotus petals, she used a peculiar needle technique: seven shades of pink thread arranged from dense to sparse, instantly giving the petals a texture of holding dew ready to drip.

And when embroidering the fish, she used a rolling needle as fine as a hair; when reaching the fish tail, she suddenly switched to a sand needle; with just a few strokes, the koi carp on the surface of the Shu brocade instantly displayed brilliant scales, as if it would flick its tail and swim away in the next moment.

Divine skill; Li Pan was also momentarily speechless, and only after a moment did he sigh.

"Previously, I thought Zhang Sengyou painted dragons on the walls of Anle Temple in Jinling, the so-called story of 'dotting the eyes and flying away,' was truly exaggerated; now that I have seen it, I fear my knowledge is shallow."

"Does the gentleman wish to buy a bolt of Shu brocade?"

The woman asked the same question for the second time.

This time, Li Pan hesitated.

On one hand, he was truly tempted; on the other, he was cornered; in front of so many subordinates, he really did not want to lose face; regardless of the person, this was the psychology.

He then slapped his money pouch and shouted: "Buy it!"

The woman beamed with joy and took Li Pan to choose a color.

Shu brocade had many colors, but if one were to choose which ones looked better when cut into clothes to wear out, it would simply be Begonia Red, Sunflower Yellow, Sky Blue, Cabbage Blue, and Cypress Green.

Li Pan chose and chose, finally selecting Begonia Red; this color, the so-called "Shu Brocade Red," was dyed with plants native to the Shu region such as Sichuan safflower and madder root, retaining the passion of red while adding the translucency of pink.

And because "Tang" (Begonia) was a homophone for "Tang" (Hall), it also derived auspicious meanings such as "Gold and Jade Filling the Hall," making it the Shu brocade most commonly used for festive occasions.

A bolt of Shu brocade was 33 Song chi in length and 2 Song chi in width, with a selling price of 40 guan.

When paying, Lu Beigu, standing nearby, truly witnessed through the purchasing power for luxury goods what the concept of "The Great Song richly supporting scholar-officials" meant.

Such a stunning bolt of Shu brocade; for an ordinary family, after deducting daily expenses, it would take saving for six or seven years to possibly afford it.

And for Li Pan, it was merely one month's salary, and that was purely legal income.

In the Great Song, a county magistrate's base monthly salary was 15 guan, with an additional 20 guan in position money, totaling 35 guan; furthermore, the court would annually bestow 12 bolts of silk, 1 bolt of lu (fine gauze), and 20 liang of spun silk; calculated down, this amounted to just over 40 guan in legal monthly income.

Li Pan was generous; after paying with four "Ten Guan" Jiaozi banknotes, he spoke decisively to the woman.

"Leave 13 chi for me, cut off 20 chi, divide it into 5 portions, 4 chi for each person, wrap it up and give it to them."

—So there were such benefits to traveling on official business with a leader?

This time, not to mention the four personal attendants accompanying them as guards, even Lu Beigu was truly happy in his heart.

The woman carefully cut it out and wrapped it for them; looking at the Begonia Red Shu brocade in her palm, which felt silky smooth and had beautiful colors and patterns, Lu Beigu thought that while this amount of Shu brocade would not be enough to cut clothes for him, it would likely be enough to cut a pleated skirt for his sister-in-law, or tops for his two children.

In this way, during festivals and holidays, there would always be somewhat formal clothes to wear.

"Thank you, Lord Jun!"

Lu Beigu was very sincere.

Li Pan patted his shoulder, saying nothing; he probably felt a bit of heartache after such an impulsive purchase.

Afterwards, the group quickly turned and walked out of this Shu brocade weaving courtyard beside the post station.

At this moment, another group of people looking like officials had just finished eating and drinking at the post station and came out to stroll; the woman took the opportunity to stand at the entrance of the weaving courtyard and asked enthusiastically.

"Does the gentleman wish to buy a bolt of Shu brocade?"

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① "Sheng" was originally a hair ornament worn by the Queen Mother of the West in mythology; the Fangsheng pattern was a design composed of two rhombuses overlapping at their corners, carrying auspicious meanings. The "Book of Song: Treatise on Auspicious Signs" records: "Sheng appears when the state is peaceful, bandits are suppressed, and the four barbarians submit."

② The Pantao pattern referred to an intricate and colorful design resembling a ribbon woven from colorful silk threads; it was widely welcomed by high-ranking officials and nobles during the Northern Song Dynasty, but was prohibited for officials to use after the Xining era of Emperor Shenzong of Song.

③ A component on the loom; the warp threads pass through the reed teeth, and its function is to push the weft thread to the fell of the cloth.

(End of Chapter)