"I have other important matters to attend to, so I'll leave this place to you, Shaojie. If you need me for anything, you can ask Old Chu to look for me."
After introducing Chen Shaojie to everyone, Wenjie was quick to leave, leaving the place completely under Chen Shaojie's supervision.
"Thank you, Senior!"
Chen Shaojie glanced at Wenjie. The female cultivator was beautiful, but she looked so haggard. It seemed like the problem in the Embroidery Pavilion was really taking a toll on her.
After Wenjie left, Chen Shaojie turned to face everyone in the pavilion once more.
The eyes of the embroideresses when they looked at him were as bold and as eager as before.
Chen Shaojie was unmoved. He coldly told Old Chu, "Old Chu, please show us around the Embroidery Pavilion. There are still a lot of things we don't know about the Pavilion, so we would appreciate some advice from you."
The moment Wenjie left, the old man immediately pulled the gourd canteen from his waist and took a nice, long sip from it. "Want some, Steward Chen?"
Chen Shaojie simply stared at the old man.
Old Chu leisurely hung the gourd canteen back on his waist before saying, "Come, Steward Chen, let me show you around."
Although the old man was a wine lover who drank even during working hours, he was an experienced worker who had been working in the Embroidery Pavilion for many years, so he was able to give a tour of the pavilion with eloquence and familiarity.
"This is the material room. The embroideresses usually get the all the embroidery materials from here. What they take will be recorded because everybody gets a fixed amount..."
"This is the tool storage room. All the embroidery tools including needles, duckbill shears, thread removers, stands and scaffoldings have to be stored here. The embroideresses will get their tools here when they come to work and return them when they get off work..."
"This is the clothes storage room. The finished clothes are stored here. Every month, Jing Yun Hall will send someone over to fetch them..."
Chen Shaojie and Wu Fulai followed behind the old man around the Embroidery Pavilion.
They proceeded to one of the rooms. As soon as the door was opened, a dazzling shine blinded Chen Shaojie and Wu Fulai, stopping them in their tracks.
Inside the room, they saw a machine of some sort, but it was made of wooden material. It was huge, about two to three meters in height and four to five meters in both length and width.
"What's this?"
As soon as they stepped through the door, Wu Fulai could not help asking.
The old man said, "This is a spinning wheel, the most important tool in the Embroidery Pavilion."
When he said that, his wine addiction was probably acting up again; he took the gourd canteen from his waist and took a large gulp. He burped contentedly before going back to the introduction of the machine.
"The thread we use in our embroidery is made from the silk extracted from the ice silkworms of the extreme north. To spin the silk with other precious materials into thread, we have to use this spinning wheel."
"The spinning wheel has a rather impressive origin. It is said to have been made by our sect's founding master, Immortal Qing Yu, himself."
"The frame is made from the spine of a dragon-eating beast of the barbaric land. The support is made from the core of a ghost-eyed tree demon. The wheel is made from the ice jade of the Northern Region... Even this tiny part at the bracket is made from the finest sweatblood stone and is exceptionally precious."
While listening to the old man's lengthy explanation, Chen Shaojie and Wu Fulai were unable to move their eyes away from the big treasure.
Wu Fulai was especially captivated by it. Chen Shaojie had at least been rich back on Earth and had seen some precious things, unlike Wu Fulai. Wu Fulai could not help remarking, "Wow, there's actually a treasure like this here... I wonder how you use this thing. Can you try operating it, Old Chu?"
Old Chu took another sip of wine from his gourd canteen and laughed. "Why not? If you want to see it in action, I'll demonstrate it for you."
He started operating the machine. He explained while demonstrating, "This spinning wheel will only be operated once a month. We'll spin enough embroidery thread for a month's use before we stop the machine's operation."
"Every time we start the machine, we must push it like this, then use a spirit stone to power it. We'll put in the silk and the materials here, and it'll spin the thread itself."
"The spinning wheel is extremely heavy and is hard to push. Even though I haven't lost my cultivation, I'm getting pretty old, so every time I push it now, my waist will hurt.
Hearing this, Chen Shaojie silently nodded.
An old man pushing a wheel...
It'd indeed hurt his waist...
After listening to the old man's explanation, Wu Fulai wanted to try operating the spinning wheel, but he was unable to push it because he was apparently not strong enough.
Chen Shaojie already had Bronze Skin and Iron Bones, so he was a lot stronger than he was before and should be able to operate the spinning wheel, but because he felt that the room was a bit small, he was afraid that he might accidentally hurt someone or hurt himself, so he only watched and did not try it.
After leaving the room where the spinning wheel was kept, Chen Shaojie already had a rough grasp of the situation in the Embroidery Pavilion.
The embroideresses had to sew a total of six spell arrays on each vestment.
The six arrays were located on the front lapel, the front hem, the back, the back hem, and one each on the left and right sleeves.
When the six spell arrays were connected together, they would form a complete protective spell array for a vestment.
Chen Shaojie felt that the reference number should be printed twice on each vestment.
The first print should be made before the spell arrays were sewn onto the vestment.
And the second print should be made after all the embroidery were done.
A vestment printed with the first reference number would be handed to an embroideress, and a record would be made.
This way, they would know which embroideress worked on which vestment.
After the embroideress turned in the finished vestment, the second reference number would be printed on the vestment.
This way, they could compare the second number with the first number to make sure that the embroideress did not switch vestment midway.
Chen Shaojie thought about it and asked Old Chu, "Can you find me the two embroideresses with the most skillful hands, Old Chu? I have something that I need their help with."
"Of course."
Chu Lao turned to survey the embroideresses in the workshop. After a while, he called out, "Yingjing and Hualian, come here for a minute."
The embroideresses in the Embroidery Pavilion had been watching Chen Shaojie intently while he walked around the pavilion. Hearing Old Chu's summon, the entire workshop rose in uproar. Several embroideresses protested, "Uncle Chu, if you need help, why not ask me? Why ask Yingjing and Hualian? I'm willing to help Steward Chen too."
Old Chu retorted, "Steward Chen asked for the embroideresses with the most skillful hands and the sweetest mouth. Which one of you can do better than Yingjing and Hualian?"
Chen Shaojie glanced at the white-bearded old man expressionlessly. If he remembered correctly, he had only asked for the embroideresses with the most skillful hands and had not mentioned anything about their mouths. It appeared that the old man was so drunk that he was hearing things.
Soon, two rather pretty embroideresses walked over amidst the rowdy teases of the other embroideresses in the workshop.
Although they were a little shy, their eyes never left Chen Shaojie's face. They were like a couple of fan girls.
Chen Shaojie coughed and said, "There are some things I need you to do for me. I hope you can cooperate with me."
"We'll definitely cooperate! We'll do whatever you want us to do!"
The two embroideresses nodded their heads hard, their attitude resolute.