The whole family was having a happy reunion. Li Mingda also said, "When can I wear this sweater? And there are so many people in the harem."
"Right, right. The Double Ninth Festival is the day after tomorrow. With hundreds of female workers in your new courtyard, it shouldn't be difficult to make dozens of sweaters, right?" Li Zhi immediately added fuel to the fire.
The Double Ninth Festival on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month was a very grand festival in the Tang Dynasty. A banquet was held in the palace last year. According to the convention, this year they would go climbing, appreciating chrysanthemums, reciting poems, eating Double Ninth cakes, wearing dogwood, wearing chrysanthemums in their hair, and drinking chrysanthemum wine.
By then, if all the ministers and concubines were dressed in sweaters when they went out, the sweaters would surely become popular in Chang'an instantly. Given time, they would spread throughout the whole Tang Dynasty and even have an impact on the surrounding areas.
However, the new courtyard had just been built, and the female workers had just arrived today. Everything was still unfamiliar. It was really hard to say whether they could make dozens of sweaters in these two days.
"Aye, Niang, where shall we go climbing this Double Ninth Festival?" Li Jingyun quietly changed the topic.
"Probably the East Chan Ding Temple. It's located on a high place, and you can just see the library from there."
Li Shimin smiled and comforted his little daughter who was about to get angry, "It doesn't matter. Make as many as you can. It's still nearly a month before the Beginning of Winter. There's no hurry."
"Okay!"
Li Jingyun nodded in agreement.
Li Shimin and the others took a stroll around the new courtyard. It happened to be mealtime. Cook Chen came out wearing an apron and greeted everyone, "Come and have dinner! There are Chinese chives, mallows, taros, and mushrooms today!"
The female workers all put down their work and gathered around curiously. Someone even asked, "Does it cost money? How much?"
"No charge! It's the meal bestowed by the princess. There will be one meal every day! I'll try my best to make it delicious!" Cook Chen replied with a smile.
Li Shimin and the others also found it novel. Each of them went up to get a portion of the meal and ate with the female workers. It was the first time that the new courtyard made a big pot of rice, and the emperor himself happened to come.
At first, the female workers didn't guess that the new faces were the emperor and the empress. After all, which emperor and empress were so approachable? They just sat there and ate. They were so happy even though there were only vegetarian dishes and no meat at all. Later, when they heard Li Jingyun call "Aye", they realized that the person beside them was actually the current emperor.
The most nervous people during this meal were Su Gui and Li Zhi.
A child of Su Gui's age was most vulnerable to goading. Moreover, he had been running around for Li Jingyun these days, which had indeed delayed a lot of his studies.
While eating the steamed buns, he was thinking that maybe he should take the imperial examination. Maybe if he passed the imperial examination, the empress would look at him with more respect. His sister, parents at home wouldn't have to sigh all day long about his future.
Li Zhi had been raised in the palace in luxury for the past few years. He had never eaten this kind of common people's food. Even though Li Jingyun had opened the courtyard, made cement, printed books, and made milk tea, he had rarely left the palace. Li Yin was the one who showed up the most. That guy doted on his younger sister to the sky.
Why was there not a single bit of meat in these steamed buns? And the taste was so strong!
These vegetables seemed to be wild vegetables from the mountains and fields. Why didn't they look fresh?
But his parents and two younger sisters were all eating happily, so he had to follow suit.
Li Jingyun didn't know what Li Zhi was thinking. Otherwise, she would surely retort, What do you mean not fresh? These were grown on the back mountain. They were picked in the morning and cooked at noon! They were still growing in the field an hour ago!
Early the next morning, while Li Jingyun was still sleeping soundly, the court assembly was about to start.
The court assemblies in the Tang Dynasty were divided into regular court assemblies and grand court assemblies. Regular court assemblies were held every now and then. If there were a lot of important national affairs, they might be held every day. Grand court assemblies were only held on New Year's Day or the emperor's birthday.
Li Shimin showed up resplendently, wearing a sweater made in Li Jingyun's new courtyard on the upper part of his body and ordinary clothes on the lower part.
The ministers were all stunned. Had they slept too much and become confused?
The emperor was still the same emperor, but why did his clothes look a bit strange? Fluffy?
"Pay homage to Your Majesty!"
Shocked as they were, they still had to perform the courtesy.
Li Shimin was very satisfied with their reaction. He nodded with a smile, "Get up. Take a look at this piece of clothing on me. It's a sweater made of wool from my little daughter's new courtyard! It's warm and thick, and it's especially suitable to wear in the cold autumn and winter."
As he spoke, he walked among the ministers. To let the ministers see clearly, he even turned around on purpose.
It was probably the first time in the world that the emperor himself came out to promote Li Jingyun's sweaters. The effect was obviously good. Everyone's attention was attracted by the sweater.
"However, the new courtyard was just built two days ago. So far, only two sweaters have been made. One is on me, and the other is on the empress."
After Li Shimin finished speaking, a minister quickly said, "Princess Chengyang is considerate and filial. She is an exemplary child!"
"Yes, Your Majesty is blessed with profound good fortune, and has Princess Chengyang to bring joy to his knees."
Another person also followed suit.
These were all sixth-rank officials. They could barely attend the court assembly. Of course, they had to seize the opportunity to flatter the emperor and make Li Shimin remember them.
This time they flattered well. Li Shimin really remembered them.
More people were still silently examining the sweater on Li Shimin. It really looked thick and warm. And it was something newly invented by Li Jingyun. It should be okay. They wondered when it would be mass-produced. When could they wear it?
Most people had an inexplicable trust in Li Jingyun because of the completion of the library.
Tang Jian stepped forward and asked, "Your Majesty, I wonder when this sweater will go on sale? When can we buy it? And how much will it cost?"
"This depends on how many sweaters Princess Chengyang's new courtyard can make. If there are many sweaters, the price will naturally be low. If there are few, the price is hard to say." Li Shimin laughed.
He was only responsible for promoting. He didn't care about anything else. But he also believed that his daughter could achieve large-scale mass production.
"Your Majesty, if this thing is expensive, ordinary people may not be able to afford it. I wonder if we can lower the price? Princess Chengyang cares about the common people in the world. She should agree."
A man rushed out, looking like he was dedicated to the country and the people. He bowed deeply to Li Shimin.
Li Shimin was in a good mood, thinking about his daughter and the sweater made by his daughter. But when he heard this, he felt a breath stuck in his chest, unable to go up or down.
"Your words are wrong, Lord Zheng. For the charcoal used for heating in winter, not only do the eunuchs and noble families have the best charcoal, but they also have the precious charcoal from the Western Regions. The price is so expensive that it can be compared with gold and silver. Ordinary people can't afford these things. They can only keep warm with firewood."
Before Li Shimin could say anything, Wang Gui stood up and retorted, citing charcoal as an example.
"Still want to lower the price? You're just doing something useless! If the price is really lowered, people like you will buy a large amount and then resell it at a high price in Luoyang, Yizhou and other places."
Cheng Yaojin also stared round his eyes and scolded angrily, wishing to bite that man.
He really felt sorry for Li Jingyun. Such a little girl had finally got the blessing of heaven and the favor of the immortal. She had invented a new type of winter cold-proof clothing, but now she had to be calculated by such a villain. What was this?
That guy Zheng Min was really standing and talking without back pain! Anyway, he was from the Zheng family in Xingyang and had a rich family background.
"You! How dare you!" Zheng Min, who regarded himself as a scholar and was very arrogant, naturally couldn't stand being scolded like this. The words of scolding were on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't dare to say them, for fear that his gentle and polite image would collapse.
"What? Do you still want to fight?" Cheng Yaojin was not afraid of him at all. He was just an outwardly strong but inwardly weak assistant censor, only a sixth-rank official.
"Stop it all!"
Li Shimin couldn't stand it anymore. "Zheng Min, your words and deeds are out of order. Your salary will be reduced for half a year as a small punishment to prevent future mistakes. After today's court assembly, all of you go back to your mansions to rest. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, we'll go to climb the tower of the East Chan Ding Temple together."
"Yes."