Chapter 234: Thoughts
If it were anyone else, Old Granny Zhang would certainly have scolded them. With serious matters underway at home, why come and create chaos?
But for her own dear daughter, there must be a reason. Thus, she quickly made space for Wang Yongzhu and even moved a small stool over for her to sit down.
Wang Yongzhu was seen ceaselessly testing the temperature of the water with her hand, and when it felt about right, she threw in the chopped madder root into the warm water, followed by a piece of undyed white cloth.
"Daughter, what are you up to?" Old Granny Zhang watched her daughter busily muttering to herself, now tossing some roots into the pot, now throwing in a cloth, really, what was this all about?
Wang Yongzhu said softly, "I was thinking about our family’s current situation. It’s still a few months until we can sell the mountain goods, and I’m afraid we won’t have enough silver by then. Just recently, I heard a foreign customer in the Cloth Store talking about a kind of Twilight Silk that’s popular in the Capital City and the provincial cities, with several colors on a single bolt of cloth. It’s the trendiest fabric this year, very profitable. It reminded me of when I stained a perfectly good dress by accidentally dropping mulberries on it. That gave me the idea to try using some colorful twigs and leaves from the mountain. Maybe it could work? Since we’re idle, I thought I’ll give it a try to see if I can dye a few colors. If I can create colors that haven’t been seen before, then our family could make money! When that happens, I’ll build a blue brick and big tile house for you, and buy you several maids just to attend you. How does that sound?"
She had started with a serious matter, but ended up trying to cheer up Old Granny Zhang.
Old Granny Zhang thought her daughter’s idea was a flight of fancy. Can one really dye cloth by boiling a few leaves and roots? She had lived so long and had never heard that dyeing could be so simple.
But if her daughter wanted to try, then let her try. It wouldn’t cost much anyway; there was plenty of firewood, so she could mess around as she pleased.
So, Old Granny Zhang didn’t take it too seriously and even played along: "Alright, I’ll wait to live in the blue brick and big tile house built by my daughter!"