Chapter 39. Somewhat expensive
"Mom, I don’t want silk flowers, plus I already have one. I don’t like wearing those," Hua Jin quickly said.
"No silk flowers? Then what cotton are you talking about?" Mrs. Qi was really stumped by her daughter’s words.
"Well... I don’t remember the specifics too clearly, but I vaguely recall seeing it somewhere. It seemed like it could be used for extra warmth inside clothes. When you mentioned grandma’s winter clothes had lost most of their willow fluff, it suddenly came to mind. I thought we might have it here?"
"So that’s what it is." Mrs. Qi didn’t think too much about it, knowing her daughter often had a fuzzy memory due to her head injury.
However, she was quite interested in the cotton her daughter mentioned.
The lives of poor families were difficult, unable to afford animal furs for warmth. Winter days could only be endured by stuffing collected willow fluff, reed flowers, or even straw inside clothes for warmth.
I’ve heard that rich people sometimes use duck down or cashmere stuffed into clothes or quilts to keep warm, but collecting these materials was very tough. It would take who knows how long to gather enough for one winter garment just from what’s available at home.
Another point is, duck down and cashmere are fine and delicate, requiring more delicate fabrics to prevent them from escaping. Their homespun linen clothing wouldn’t work, and the price of dense fabric was too high for ordinary folks like them. Therefore, even if they knew about it, almost no one would choose these for warmth.
If, as her daughter said, there really was cotton that could keep you warm and comfortable, then life in winter would be much better. Mrs. Qi couldn’t help but be tempted.
Hua Jin was just probing. Now she confirmed that there really was no cotton in this place.