Chapter 167: The Color of Clothes

It must be said, their luck was truly quite good.

Zhao Dai and the others went together to the Grocery Store next door, where a newly printed cookbook had just arrived.

The Manager asked with a smile, "Judging by your accents, you two don't seem to be from the Capital."

Zhao Dai said, "We are indeed not from the Capital; we came from Yangzhou, hoping to try our luck at buying a Mirror, but we didn't manage to buy one."

Another youth, Tao Ji, said with some regret, "We originally came to buy a Mirror, but who knew the food next door would be so tempting? We wanted to try our luck at buying some Seed, but we didn't even manage to buy any Seed."

The Manager asked, "How long do you intend to stay in the Capital?"

Zhao Dai thought for a moment: "Three days, I suppose. We've been away from home too long; our parents will worry."

The Manager pondered back and forth, feeling this was a good way to promote the Seed; if these four youths each bought a portion of Seed and then cooked delicious food to treat their relatives and friends, wouldn't the Seed be promoted in Yangzhou?

The Manager took it upon himself to decide: "If you are not in a hurry, please wait an hour, and I will sell you the Seed for the new crops."

The eyes of the few youths lit up.

Since they couldn't buy a Mirror, buying some Seed to take back wasn't bad either.

That Boiled Pork Slices from just now was truly delicious.

No matter what, they had to buy more Chili Pepper Seed.

It was said that anything stir-fried with chili pepper was delicious.

Hearing that they wanted more Chili Pepper Seed, the Manager hurriedly agreed.

Chili Pepper Seed was easy to come by; there were quite a lot inside every chili pepper.

At this moment, the people from the restaurant next door all came out, originally wanting to see if those people from Yangzhou had managed to buy everything they needed.

As a result, they heard the Manager say he had already sent a servant to bring them some Seed.

Quite a few people were dissatisfied.

"Manager, you are being too biased. People from Yangzhou can get through the back door, so why won't you sell to us?"

"Do you think this is fair to us who come here every day to stake out and buy Seed?"

"You said last time that we would have to wait several months for a new batch of Seed, so how is it that now that these Yangzhou people have arrived, you suddenly have some?"

The Manager was surrounded, but he said calmly, "Everyone, they have come all the way from Yangzhou and will be leaving in two days; I couldn't let them return empty-handed."

At this, someone asked, "Then when can our Seed be sold?"

The Manager thought for a moment: "Three months, three months at the latest, and a large quantity of Seed will be on the shelves."

For a moment, everyone looked dejected.

Zhao Dai discovered that among the people wailing here, there were even some wearing official robes.

It was also at this moment that they realized how rare these Seed were.

Seed that even officials couldn't snatch up had actually been promised to them.

Zhao Dai and the others were full of gratitude toward the Manager.

After they left with their bags of Seed, others even crowded forward to ask if they could spare some for a higher price.

Zhao Dai naturally refused; these Seed were far too precious.

After they squeezed their way out, the Manager was still inside pacifying the crowd.

Some even threw tantrums and acted shamelessly, insisting on having the Seed.

To this, the Manager replied consistently: he had said three months, so it would be three months.

The next day, Yan Ning heard about this matter at the teahouse.

She immediately found the Manager of the Grocery Store.

The Manager hurriedly went to greet her, "Your Highness, how do you have the time to come to the Grocery Store today?"

Yan Ning said with a smile, "I heard you sold some new Seed and improved Seed to the people from Yangzhou yesterday?"

Seeing that Yan Ning was in a good mood, the Manager said, "This humble one saw that those Yangzhou people were interested, so I took the liberty of going to the Imperial Farm to have Steward Feng set aside some Seed."

Yan Ning nodded: "Well done. Yangzhou is a good place; it has many travelers coming and going, and the economy is prosperous. If the new Seed go there, I expect it won't be long before the people of Yangzhou promote the Seed."

Yan Ning had been paying quite a bit of attention to those few youths from Yangzhou over the last two days.

As soon as Liuli Fang had new stock, they couldn't wait to buy a lot of Glazed Glass—things like Glass Inkstone and Glass Pen—and they bought quite a lot of them.

They also bought several Mirror at Jianyue Pavilion.

At the time, Zhao Dai had even said: "It's over, it's over. I only managed to snatch two Silver Mirror—one for my elder sister, one for my mother, and I didn't get one for my little sister. What am I to do?"

The other three clutched their own Mirror tightly, refusing to give them up no matter what.

Zhao Dai sighed and could only give up.

When Yan Ning went to Jianyue Pavilion, she happened to see this scene.

She muttered to herself in confusion: "They are so wealthy, yet they dress so plainly?"

Looking again at the people snatching things inside Jianyue Pavilion, they were also dressed very plainly.

It was just that she hadn't noticed before.

Biyun, the palace maid beside her, said: "Your Highness, the laws of the Daxia dynasty dictate that commoners may only wear muted colors and cannot wear heavy colors. Merchants are of lowly status and can only wear colors like black, white, or cyan."

Yan Ning was somewhat surprised.

There was actually such a rule?

"When we were in Lingnan before, we didn't have this rule."

Biyun: "Lingnan is remote, so naturally it was more casual. Yangzhou City is not the same; if one is caught in a mistake, it could be troublesome."

Yan Ning frowned.

She had previously assumed the commoners were just too poor to afford brightly colored clothing.

Yan Ning had sent people to inspect the several villages around Jin City, which was closest to the Capital; the Tie-dyed Fabric there was truly beautiful, and Wei Wu had even brought some back for her.

It was just that while it was beautiful, there was no market for it.

Nowadays, the surrounding commoners, besides farming, all have businesses making paper and ink, and can even raise a chicken to sell in the city once it grows up.

They are not short of money.

And the price of tie-dyed fabric is not considered high.

If the ban could be lifted, it would certainly drive economic development.

Yan Ning returned to the palace and told her father and mother about this matter.

Both of them looked quite shocked.

Ji Lan could not help but ask: "Did you hear that correctly? There is actually such a ban!"

Yan Ze was stunned for a moment before saying: "Some dynasties did indeed regulate what colors could be worn. Tomorrow I will abolish this ban."

At the morning court the next day, the first thing Yan Ze said was what had been discussed yesterday.

Yan Ze looked at the civil and military officials and said: "I think that commoners should be able to choose the colors and styles of their clothes themselves, rather than only being allowed to wear a few specific colors; it is also inappropriate for merchants to only be allowed to wear black, white, and blue."

"Today I shall abolish this ban; from now on, commoners may wear whatever they like."

At this moment, the Minister of Personnel stepped forward: "Your Majesty, this is inappropriate; for instance, bright yellow—how can those commoners be allowed to wear it?"

The Vice Minister of Rites also stepped forward: "Your Majesty, this ban on clothing colors really cannot be changed, especially for merchants; those of humble status are only fit to wear black, white, and blue."

Yan Ning glanced at him.

She then stepped forward: "I think merchants should be exempted from their humble status."

Yan Ning's words were like a thunderclap, exploding among the crowd.

The gazes of everyone looking at him were filled with anger.

You were asked to mention merchants, and now look, they have to follow up with persuasion.

Merchants must absolutely not be exempted from their humble status!