pappabearbooks Chapter 212 Langya: 34
Chapter 212 Langya: 34
After the matter of recruiting a new bride was exposed, Hongli began to favor Bai Ruiji. Jiangning presented six down jackets and sixteen pieces of warm satin as tribute.
The down jacket is a color exclusive to the royal family and can only be used by himself and the empress dowager.
Thinking of giving her more warm satin, except for the six pieces for the empress dowager, the four pieces for Yonghu and Jingse were all made into clothes by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and given to her as rewards.
But thinking that Langya had been respecting her very much recently, it would be fine for other concubines, but she could not ignore the Queen's face, so she picked out two down jackets and four pieces of warm satin in silver red, warm yellow, light blue, and rose red for her.
The remaining two pieces of peach red silk were cut into clothes by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and given to Bai Ruiji as a reward.
Langya received the down jacket and warm satin, and learned that the emperor gave six pieces to the empress dowager, four pieces to herself, four pieces to Yonghu and Jingse, and two pieces to Meida. She then ordered Suyun to send the rose-red one to Xianfu Palace for the imperial concubine, and put the rest in the warehouse.
Speaking of down jackets, after he arrived, he instructed his subordinates to collect duck and goose feathers from the people, and to buy land in Jiangning and other places to build textile factories, garment factories, and ready-made clothing stores, all named Jinyun.
The ones who knew the core technology were those trained by themselves, and those who needed crude skills were those skilled women recruited from nearby farmers.
The collected duck and goose feathers are cleaned, boiled in alkaline water, and dried. Workers then select the duck down and goose down. The inferior down is used to make quilts and pillows, and the best down is used to make down jacket linings with high-density materials made from textiles, which are extremely warm when paired with satin outer shells.
There are two ready-made clothing stores in the city, one specializing in men's clothing and the other specializing in women's clothing. Both are located in the best locations and are two-story stores.
The local weaving manufacturers and imperial merchants saw the sudden rise of the Jinyun Pavilion from outside and joined forces to make a move.
Unexpectedly, they were all turned back. In addition, they knew how to behave themselves and presented a lot of filial piety, so they got a seat for themselves with food and gifts.
After the down jackets were produced, Jinyun Pavilion spent a lot of money on publicity and held fashion shows.
We invited local prominent people to endorse the clothes, and the clothes are really good, both in terms of warmth and fabric. They are also much lighter and thinner than other cold-resistant clothes.
The shop is a membership-based shop, and only members of Jinyun Pavilion can order custom-made clothes in the shop. Each piece of clothing has a code embroidered on the inside, and the shop logo, a crane, is embroidered on the chest with circles of small, round pearls embedded on its wings. You can also add personal marks.
Because of the good advertising in the early stage, once it was launched on the market, it immediately became a favorite of the local wealthy circle, and no one was embarrassed to show it in the circle.
For a time, rich people rushed to buy, and Jinyun Pavilion made a fortune.
Every year, he donated clothes to the soldiers stationed on the border and provided porridge to poor people in various places. He persisted in this endeavor for five years. For this, Emperor Yong praised Jinyun Pavilion as a good businessman.
From then on, he became an imperial merchant in Jiangning.
He caught the eye of Emperor Yong, and with the help of Ye, the person in charge of Jinyun Pavilion, who was knowledgeable and knowledgeable, he officially gained a foothold in Jiangning.
It snowed heavily, and the entire Forbidden City was covered in silver. The green glazed tiles wrapped in the white snow looked very beautiful.
Hongli saw that Bai Ruiji had not gone to pay respects to the empress for two days after she was favored by the emperor. Although he did not give any instructions, it was a rule for concubines to kneel and kowtow to the Empress early the next morning after they were favored by the emperor.
She felt a little unhappy and thought that she didn't know the etiquette, so she said bluntly: "After you were conferred the title of concubine, you haven't paid a visit to the Queen yet. When the snow stops, go to Changchun Palace to pay your respects and apologize to the Queen."
Bai Ruiji's face froze for a moment, then recovered immediately.
Since she was favored by the emperor, she relied on his love and pretended not to know that she had not paid her respects to the empress, thinking that the emperor would not blame her.
However, the Emperor had made it clear today, so of course I had to do as he said and not openly take advantage of his favor. I would let those concubines know how powerful I am when I go to pay my respects tomorrow, especially that Imperial Concubine Hui, who looked down on me just because she was a great pipa player.
"No need to wait for the snow to stop. I will go to pay my respects to the Queen tomorrow."
Second day
Bai Ruiji arrived at Changchun Palace, but she didn't come early. She arrived after all the concubines had arrived.
Bai Ruiji squatted down, bowed and said, "I am the concubine Bai from Yonghe Palace, and I pay my respects to the Empress. May the Empress be blessed with good health."
Concubine Jia covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed, "According to the ancestral system, concubines who are favored must kneel down and pay homage to the Empress. Why is this Concubine Mei different from the others?"
Although the voice was not loud, everyone in the hall could hear it. Concubine Jia was saying in a roundabout way that Concubine Mei did not know the rules.
Seeing that all the concubines were laughing at her, Bai Ruiji gritted her teeth and knelt down to kowtow.
"Okay, please take a seat."
"Thank you, Queen."
Without waiting for Bai Ruiji to sit down, Concubine Jia started to tease her again.
"I thought it was some stunning beauty, but it's just an ordinary color."
Bai Ruiji pretended not to hear. She had heard all kinds of nasty words when she was a pipa prostitute, so she didn't take this little thing seriously at all.
She looked at Langya and said, "Empress, it has been snowing heavily all day long. I am so ashamed that I have not been able to come to see you until today."
Langya nodded and smiled: "It's okay, as long as you serve the emperor well and respect him in your heart."
"I want to meet all the sisters, as we will be together day and night in the future."
Su Xin introduced: "This is Concubine Hui."
Bai Ruiji stood up and nodded towards Gao Xiyue, which was even more impressive than that of the imperial concubine.
The imperial concubine saw that Mei did not even bow to her for a mere yes, and that nodding was a gesture from a high-ranking concubine to a lower-ranking one. Since Mei was so rude, she ignored her.
"This is Empress Xian."
Bai Ruiji did the same thing and nodded towards Qingying.
Qingying was furious. She kept telling herself to be dignified and generous and not to bother with such a lowly person. She smiled at Bai Ruiji with the corners of her mouth raised.
When it came to concubines and noble ladies, he would just glance at them without even nodding.
He just said greetings to all the sisters and then sat down.
Concubine Jia was so angry just now that she didn't even look at her. It was only after she sat down that she noticed the warm satin on her body.
She said sourly, "The emperor really loves my sister. Look at the clothes she is wearing. They are the warm satin tribute from Jiangning, right?"
Bai Ruiji was not afraid of her looking for trouble. The warm satin she wore was not even worn by the queen. She took a look at what the concubines were wearing and found that they were extremely shabby compared to her.
Bai Ruiji snorted proudly and said, "Humph, Concubine Jia has good eyesight."
Concubine Jia quickly replied, "It's not that I have good eyesight, I just saw it at a glance! My sister is wearing thin clothes, I'm afraid you will be cold."
Suddenly, the topic changed. "But this warm satin is so rare that even the Queen doesn't have it in her palace!"
"Really? The emperor only rewarded me with clothes. I don't know whether he rewarded others or not." She said this in a very arrogant manner.
The imperial concubine sneered and said, "Oh, Concubine Jia wanders around the palace every day, but she didn't even know that the emperor personally selected four pieces of warm satin with good colors for the queen, as well as two down jackets."
"Her Majesty also gave me a rose-red one, which the Ministry of Internal Affairs has just made today. I will wear it tomorrow to pay my respects to Her Majesty the Queen."