Chapter 2410: Xiangyunsha

The people Chen Lin usually dealt with spoke in careful, measured words—implicit, tactful, always practicing moderation. He rarely heard such unguarded emotion. Young as he was, Li Yao'er's words stirred something in his chest. "This humble one wouldn't dare claim to pursue any great career," he replied quickly. "Simply carrying on the family business would be satisfaction enough."

Li Yao'er smiled but said nothing. The young man wasn't being entirely sincere. A thought struck her.

"Do you make Xiangyunsha here?" She had suddenly remembered this most famous variety of Guangdong silk.

Chen Lin looked blank. Fenshenghe had certainly woven gauze, but he had never heard the term. "I've never made it, nor heard of it."

Li Yao'er considered for a moment. "It's gauze dyed with Shuliang—Dioscorea rhizome."

"Shuliang? You mean Liangchou—gambiered silk." Chen Lin nodded. "Yes, we make that."

"Any finished stock?"

"We had some, but after the soldiers came through, it's probably all gone..."

Li Yao'er's face fell. Xiangyunsha was a signature product among traditional Guangdong silk fabrics, wildly popular in the 1930s and 40s of the original timeline. Crisp and smooth, with excellent sun and wash fastness, strong water resistance. Easy to wash and quick to dry, dark-colored and dirt-resistant, cool against the skin, lightweight yet wrinkle-resistant, soft with good body, durable—perfect for hot summer wear. It had been welcomed by consumers domestically and exported in large quantities abroad, especially to Southeast Asia.

According to her research, Xiangyunsha as a formal satin variety appeared only during the Republic era. But such a product couldn't have emerged from nothing. Her investigation of historical materials had revealed similar production processes dating to the Ming Dynasty, along with export records.

If this satin could be improved and mass-produced, it would make an excellent signature export.

Despite what the records showed, Li Yao'er had never seen actual Xiangyunsha herself. Asking Chen Xuan had yielded nothing useful.

"Though we have no stock, my sister still has a Liangchou undergarment," Chen Lin offered. "If the Chief wishes to see it, I can fetch it."

"Good. Fetch it."

Chen Lin quickly called Chen Qing over and sent him to get his sister's garment.

Moments later, Chen Qing returned with a cloth bundle. Chen Lin opened it—it was indeed one of Chen Yue's intimate garments. Being his sister's underclothing, holding it felt somewhat awkward. He presented the bundle as it was.

Li Yao'er took the fabric and examined it closely, rubbing it between her fingers. "This isn't Sha—gauze..."

"This is Liangchou."

Chen Lin wasn't wrong—it was indeed Liangchou. The fabric was dyed brownish-yellow, plain-woven silk. It felt soft and smooth but somewhat thick. Looking more closely, the silk thread quality, the dyeing work, the hand feel—all relatively poor. Far inferior to other silks she had seen.

"This was woven from local silk, wasn't it?"

"The Chief has a keen eye." Chen Lin said. "It was woven at Fenshenghe. The dyeing too..."

"You know how to dye?"

"The Chief jests. Shuliang dyeing isn't secret at all—it's extremely common." Chen Lin was somewhat puzzled. The various dyes needed for satin—except for indigo, which was grown locally in large quantities—were either produced elsewhere or imported from Nanyang at considerable cost. Only Shuliang was widely cultivated here and held little value. Besides Liangchou, Liangbu—gambiered cotton cloth—was also very common.

"It hasn't been mud-coated?"

"Mud-coated?" Chen Lin was baffled. "Why would we coat it with mud? Wouldn't that get it dirty?"

Now Li Yao'er understood. At this time, only Liangchou existed—the later Xiangyunsha process hadn't developed yet.

By the standards of the original timeline, Xiangyunsha actually referred to a traditional technique. Broadly speaking, any fabric using mulberry silk as the base cloth and undergoing a mineral coating process was called Xiangyunsha.

In the original timeline's textile market, Xiangyunsha came in many varieties according to different preferences. Even the same fabric type varied greatly—some thin, some thick, some soft, some stiff.

In terms of market price, from low to high: Crepe de Chine Xiangyunsha, Pearl Satin Xiangyunsha, Turtle-Crack Pattern Xiangyunsha, and Guanle Crepe Xiangyunsha.

These were the common types. Traditional Xiangyunsha was plain gauze without printing. Modern versions included patterns and prints depending on the variety, which affected specific prices. Generally, printed varieties were mostly Liangchou types. Crepe de Chine and Pearl Satin Xiangyunsha were most numerous—soft-feeling satin fabrics.

Solid-color Xiangyunsha were mostly Liangsha—gambiered gauze types. They felt stiffer with better breathability. In ancient times, the saying went: "Women wear Liangchou, men wear Sha." Generally, Guanle Crepe Xiangyunsha and Turtle-Crack Pattern Xiangyunsha belonged to the Liangsha category. Traditional Xiangyunsha basically referred to this type.

Strictly speaking, Xiangyunsha required Sha as the base cloth, dyed with Shuliang juice, then coated with river mud from the Shunde area, and finally air-dried.

Obviously, this Liangchou could only count as Xiangyunsha in the broad sense. Judging from its feel and texture, it wasn't high-grade goods.

"Haven't you tried dyeing Sha?"

"Sha?" Chen Lin was momentarily confused, then understood. "The Chief means Luo—leno gauze?"

"Right, Luo." Li Yao'er felt her face warm slightly. The term Sha wasn't a strict fabric category—it mostly referred to light, thin, transparent textiles. In satin classification, it usually meant Luo. The fabric had a light, thin texture with fine silk threads, warp threads twisted together to form peppercorn-shaped holes. The weave was tight and solid, the gauze holes allowing air circulation, making it comfortable and cool to wear—ideal for summer clothing.

"We have dyed Luo with Shuliang, and there is some market for it, but not much."

"Why not much?"

"Luo and satin are for wealthy people. Common folk can't afford them. How many buyers can there be?" Chen Lin said. "I've heard that in rich places like Suzhou and Hangzhou in Jiangnan, even peddlers and servants wear silk—I don't know if it's true. But just speaking of Guangzhou Prefecture, sales really aren't large."

"I don't know about peddlers and servants in Suzhou and Hangzhou, but this Xiangyunsha is a blessing in summer. If it can be produced in quantity, whether for domestic or export markets, there'll be huge demand."

"But satin is expensive..."

"So we have to drive down sericulture costs. More silk means cheaper satin. And this workshop—your weaving is truly too slow. Your uncle said you produce only a few hundred bolts here annually. That's far too few. Weave tens of thousands of bolts a year, and prices will definitely fall."

Chen Lin was confused. "If prices fall, won't profits shrink?"

"You don't know how to calculate!" Li Yao'er said. "Lower profit per item doesn't matter. If you earn one tael of silver per bolt and sell a hundred bolts yearly, you only earn a hundred taels. If I can sell ten thousand bolts a year and earn one mace per bolt, that's a thousand taels. Only when everyone can afford to wear it will Fenshenghe earn real money!"

Chen Lin still couldn't wrap his mind around it, but he knew disagreeing with Australian decisions was unwise. He nodded repeatedly.

"Let's tour the factory," Li Yao'er said.

"Yes."

"This Fenshenghe was originally your family's property. Presumably you know every blade of grass and brick here."

"I've helped Father manage the workshop property since I was ten."

"But today's Fenshenghe is different from before," Li Yao'er said. "Given time, it will change even more dramatically."

Chen Lin murmured agreement, though privately he thought that reeling silk and weaving satin had been done the same way since antiquity. Could the Australians conjure fabric from thin air without silkworm thread? Many Australian goods had appeared on the market over the years, but he had never heard of Australian Satin or Australian Cloth.

"This row of inverted rooms was originally Fenshenghe's accounting office. We're following established practice and setting up the Management Office here—different name, same meaning." Li Yao'er strolled along the walkway. "The front courtyard is mainly for external dealings. I plan to set up a warehouse here to collect cocoons after spring arrives. These buildings are prepared for that."

Chen Lin's father had also considered establishing his own cocoon warehouse, even contemplating expanding the reeling room to use exclusively self-produced silk rather than purchased silk.

Producing silk internally without outside purchases could guarantee raw silk quality. Purchasing raw silk relied entirely on the silk accountant's judgment and integrity. Without a capable, trustworthy manager, purchased raw silk quality depended entirely on luck—with bad luck, even the weight would be short.

However, things weren't that simple. "Chief, producing silk ourselves naturally has many advantages, but there are internal difficulties."

"Presumably people seize the opportunity to stir up the silkworm farmers?"

"The Chief sees through everything." Chen Lin nodded. "If we could achieve high prices for high quality, collecting silk would be mutually beneficial. But many entangled interests exist, and plenty of people try to profit from the situation. Ignorant commoners are easily misled..."

"I understand this. But I see your factory has reeling rooms."

"Yes. My family is a major clan locally. Within Nansha itself, with clan backing, my father could manage. But for silkworm farmers from other villages, that wasn't possible. So Fenshenghe purchases both silk and cocoons."

"You needn't worry about this," Li Yao'er said. "A key element of my sericulture improvement is factory reeling—no more household silk production. I'll test the waters this year. If successful, I'll implement it county-wide next year..."

Chen Lin was privately amazed, thinking truly Australians—such grand ambitions! He wondered how they intended to persuade silkworm farmers. The obvious issue was that cocoon selling prices were lower than raw silk prices. As long as a silkworm-farming family wasn't short of labor, they would choose to reel silk before selling. Surely they couldn't hold knives to farmers' necks to force them to sell cocoons instead of silk?

"...Besides purchasing dried cocoons, I'm also preparing to sell silkworm eggs here. The first batch will be shipped from Lingao very soon. These storehouses will temporarily serve as silkworm egg warehouses." Li Yao'er then asked: "How do silkworm farmers here obtain their eggs?"

(End of Chapter)