Those things first spread from a small workshop of the Wu Family …
In the eyes of the public, there had always been many shining figures in the Jiangning weaving industry. Some businessmen who were good at business and calculation were active on various stages, stretching their talents. For example, Su Tan 'er, Xi Junyu, Wu Qilong and Wu Qihao, Wu Chenghou, Xue Sheng, and even the older generation, Su Yu, all had their own commendable achievements, which was why they had their current status.
These people were good at business, and in fact, they might be able to make achievements in any industry. In addition, there were also some people who were good at technology. Each family more or less had their own strengths. To some extent, it also depended on the support of these people. Among them, the most famous was probably the Luo God Needle of the Wu Family.
Luo Minzhi of the Wu Family was one of the most important elders of the Wu Family, which was the number one family in the Jiangning weaving industry. He was in his early forties this year, and he had once single-handedly pushed the weaving skills of the Wu Family to the peak. In these few years, although the Su Family, the Xue Family and the Wu Family were in a tripartite balance and each had their own strong points, relatively speaking, even if the Su Family and the Xue Family had strong points, they were not the kind of obvious things that could make a decisive gap. Only the Wu Family's weavers could be said to be a notch higher than others on a high-end level. These things were also because of Luo Minzhi's efforts these years.
Nowadays, under normal circumstances, the Wu Family's steward no longer managed too many trivial things. This person loved to visit brothels, was addicted to alcohol, loved to be pursued by others, and had a somewhat wild personality. Of course, in the field of weavers, he could be said to be overflowing with talent. The Wu Family gave him everything he wanted, and he only needed to think about how to maintain his lead in the field of weavers. However, recently, he had been a little busy.
As the most important steward of the Wu Family, he was in charge of the recent matters concerning the royal merchants, such as the workshops and warehouses. For him, this matter was more of an honor than a responsibility. Technically speaking, the weaving, printing, and dyeing had all been solved. What he needed to do was to watch the workshop produce the cloth that needed to be sent to the Imperial Palace. After a strict inspection, it was stored in the warehouse, ready to be sent to Bianliang as the first batch of cloth.
It seemed like a heavy responsibility, but in fact, the Wu Family was full of people who could do it. On the surface, Luo Minzhi was the manager, but the actual work was naturally done by the stewards who were originally in charge of these workshops and warehouses. Luo Minzhi only came to check on them once a day, and the rest of the time, his eldest son, Luo Xia, would be in charge and build a good relationship with a group of shopkeepers and stewards. This was also to prepare Luo Xia to enter the management of the Wu Family in the future.
Luo Xia didn't really inherit Luo Minzhi's talent in weavers, but he, who had admired his father since he was a child, was at least commendable in the aspect of diligence. Even if he didn't develop enough, he was more than enough to maintain his achievements. Learning step by step and being a step-by-step shopkeeper wouldn't be too much of a problem in this aspect of life planning. Moreover, now that the Wu Family was about to undergo large-scale development, it was also the time for him to do something.
This time, his father gave him this responsibility, so he also worked hard to build a good relationship with many shopkeepers and stewards to prepare for the future. In addition, the daily inspection was also meticulous. Of course, even so, there was not much technical content or practical practice to speak of.
Of course, he also understood that it was normal for him to be in charge of these things. In fact, his father asked him to come over just to let him meet the other seniors and build a good relationship with them. He didn't really expect him to do anything. It was just that the young man had worked in the Wu Family's cloth business for several years, mostly learning small things like management in the weaving workshop under his father. This time, he was finally entrusted with a big responsibility, but every day was even more boring than before. There was nothing he could do at all. In fact, he was somewhat disappointed in his heart. On the other hand, he could only teach himself the business principle that those who achieve great things must be able to endure boredom.
In the past month, step by step, he talked with several seniors every day, and in fact, they talked about things about Luo Minzhi. This time, he was able to get the imperial merchant, in addition to cleverly getting the dyeing formula that originally belonged to the Su family under the manipulation of Wu Qilong and others, another trump card was Luo Minzhi's weaving skills. Otherwise, if it was only the same color of cloth, the Wu Family actually didn't have many advantages, and it was impossible for the Su family to so easily understand the situation and fail. At the banquet a month ago, the Su family member named Ning Liheng angrily threw his own cloth out of the window because of the existence of the Luo God Needle because of the existence of the Luo God Needle.
Of course, the young man felt proud to talk about his father all day long. On the other hand, it was a little boring to talk about these things with others. Some shopkeepers talked to him about the brothels. At this time, Luo Xia, who was married, was not a fool in this aspect, but he was a little embarrassed to talk about these things with those old foxes of his generation or to visit those places with them. Every day, he went to several workshops and warehouses step by step and took notes step by step. These places were all under the supervision of his uncles, so it was not his turn to give orders. But perhaps because of this character, one day at the end of September, he found something not in harmony for the first time.
"Father, the bright gold brocade in the small warehouse of Qinming Building seems to be a little faded …"
That night, when they were eating at home, he mentioned it a little unconfidently. Fading was a big deal. Luo Minzhi was slightly stunned, and then said, "Qinming Building? That's the first batch out. Shopkeeper He of the dyeing house also said that it might not be good, but … where did you see it? "
"Those in the corner."
"In the corner … That's waste cloth. Well, it's the first batch, and it's also the cloth that Steward Chen and I didn't think was ideal, so we just threw it there. The corner is wet, so it's inevitable … Well, let's go take a look tomorrow morning."
Recently, the Wu Family had been preparing for the development of the imperial business after it stabilized. As one of the most famous brands of the Wu Family, he also had some banquets and social engagements all day long. Things had been developing for a month, and if there were any problems, it should have happened a long time ago. Many people in the Jiangning cloth trade had even almost forgotten about the Su family. With such a stable situation, how could there be any twists and turns?
However, Luo Minzhi was also a person who understood the importance of the matter. Since his son came back and said so, the next day he followed Luo Xia to the small warehouse near Qinming Building to take a look. Sure enough, that piece of brocade was the first batch that had just been produced. He took it to test the weaving method, but because he was not satisfied with it, he threw it away. It was just waste cloth, so it was inevitable that it would be a little dirty if it was placed in a dark and damp corner. But it didn't seem to fade too much, so he comforted his son and let the matter go.
Luo Minzhi didn't care about the waste cloth, and Luo Xia didn't think about it for the time being. He still walked between the workshops and warehouses every day. The imperial business had already decided that in about a month, the first batch of 220 pieces of Brilliant Gold Brocade would be shipped first. This kind of brocade was currently the trademark of the Wu Family, and it was impossible to release it on a large scale. These small workshops also worked day and night, constantly trying to improve and filter the brocade. The first batch of brocade was also screened out because of various deficiencies. Every day, he looked at the spinning, printing, dyeing, and the cloth that was made of those golden colors. One day, Luo Xia went to the waste cloth warehouse of Qinming Building again.
The fading color of the cloth in the corner had become obvious. Although it was normal for these pieces of cloth placed in the corner to fade, some kind of ominous premonition still flashed through Luo Xia's heart. There were actually a few pieces of ruined brocade on the shelf to the side. They were in good condition. He opened the box to take a look, and a few of them didn't look as golden as before.
"They were just made with the Su family's formula, so there must be some differences. This batch can't be taken out for people to see …"
This was what his father had said before. Luo Xia thought for a while, then went back to check some of the other pieces of cloth. Just like the name Brilliant Gold Brocade, all the pieces of cloth were bright yellow and looked very gorgeous. However, in the next few days, those pieces of faded cloth kept swaying in his mind, causing him to be in a trance. It was already October. On this day, he went to the warehouse and directly opened the sealed boxes of brocade. He took out the pieces of brocade one by one and arranged them neatly. When Steward Qin, who was in charge of this warehouse, came over, the brocade had already been stacked more than two meters high on the table. It was so dazzling that it was almost a little dazzling. No one could stop Luo Xia, and he continued to do it. Surprisingly, a few of the workers in charge of the warehouse were also there to open the boxes.
"Luo Xia! You … "Steward Qin didn't finish his words, because at this moment, he also saw that in the middle of the pile of golden brocade, there were two pieces of slightly different colors. Luo Xia carried a piece of cloth and turned around.
"Uncle Qin, there's a problem with the first batch of Brilliant Gold Brocade …"
Steward Qin only hesitated for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand. "Open them, open them all!"
When Luo Minzhi, Wu Qilong, and the others heard about the problem with the first batch of Brilliant Gold Brocade, they were all shocked. But fortunately, the rest of the brocade was still fine. When everyone was put together, those few pieces of cloth had clearly faded, but the rest were still intact. This at least proved that there was no problem with the later batch of brocade. It was just a small problem caused by the fact that the Wu Family wasn't familiar with the dye formula.
"For the time being, we still don't know what the problem is. These days, we have made some adjustments to the formula, so we can only go back and check to see what the problem is. Yes, we discovered it in time, and this is the best situation. "
The pieces of cloth that hadn't faded were stacked together, looking like an indestructible wall. Wu Qilong rejoiced and ordered them to investigate the cause, then they would repack the pieces of cloth. Small twists and turns were common in the business world. Now that the twists and turns were over, Luo Xia, who discovered the problem, was rewarded. There were still 20 days until the first delivery from the imperial merchants, so there weren't many tasks left. The few workshops were still working in full swing, and no one mentioned anything about the fading. The door to the warehouse where the pieces of cloth were stored was also closed, and Steward Qin personally held the key. But after a few days, the cancerous change occurred.
On the afternoon of the ninth of October, when a worker passed by the warehouse door, he discovered that the warehouse door that only Steward Qin had been able to enter was open. He walked in and saw Steward Qin sitting at one side of the dimly lit warehouse. He was already a little old to begin with. His hair and beard were all white, and he looked a little haggard over the past few days. The bystanders thought that it was because he had been too busy recently, but at this moment, some clues were finally revealed.
Steward Qin's eyes were a little dull, and he looked haggard. One of his hands was trembling, and he stared at the pieces of cloth stacked on the other side, as if he had seen something terrifying.
The shop assistant called out to him, but the old man didn't respond, so he turned around and shouted, "Help!" When he turned back to look at the pile of cloth, he was shocked to find that in the somewhat dark room, the cloth wall that was originally a single piece of cloth was now a bit uneven. There were about eight or nine pieces of cloth mixed in, some dark, some light, some dark, and some light. They were no longer the original bright yellow. The fading cloth mixed in with the cloth wall looked like a strange face, with two eyes that looked up and down, and a twisted mouth that revealed a smile in this room …
The sunlight seemed to have faded, and it was blocked outside the door, refusing to enter for a long time. The scene that had happened in the Su Family's cloth workshop several months ago was now being replayed here one by one as if it was being replicated.
In the workshop not far away, the workers were still working in full swing, and new pieces of cloth were dyed one by one. Stewards were chatting and laughing among the crowd. Everyone was planning ahead, preparing for a better future …
*****
When he received the news, Wu Qilong was drinking tea with Luo Minzhi in a beautifully decorated teahouse, discussing the innovations that the imperial merchants would make for the second batch of cloth, as well as the need to meet with a big cloth merchant tonight to solve the problem of the shortage and replenishment of the cloth. A shop assistant came over and whispered to him what had happened.
"What did you say?" The voice was too soft, and Wu Qilong felt that he didn't hear it clearly, so he repeated it.
"Steward Qin is sick, and … the cloth is fading …"
"What … what cloth is fading?"
"Those golden brocades …"
"I know it's those golden brocades! Haven't I already picked out those dazzling golden brocades? We haven't found the reason yet, what are you talking about … "
"But …" The shop assistant repeated the situation at the workshop and warehouse. Even after this, Wu Qilong still felt a little incredulous. He understood every word, but he couldn't form a specific image in his mind. There were still more than ten days before the delivery to the imperial family, the cloth … perhaps there was a problem with it? Fading?
"You … what are you talking about?" He tilted his head, his eyes wavering, and then turned back. "What is fading …"
One and a half months had already passed. At this moment, something had finally accumulated enough strength to break the heaven-like illusion that had been deliberately created. After which, it began to violently pull everyone back to reality …
At this time, Ning Yi came out of the small laboratory next to the school, closed the door in the late autumn and early winter afternoon, and prepared to go home. Recently, he didn't have much social interaction, and he didn't even need to greet many people at home.
*****
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