Chapter 260: The Bustling Bamboo Weaving Class
While the sewing class was going about its lessons in an orderly manner, things over at the bamboo weaving class were incredibly bustling.
The hours for the bamboo weaving class were slightly later, starting at ten thirty in the morning and running until four thirty in the afternoon.
However, perhaps because people from ancient times generally rose early, everyone had already arrived by past nine o’clock after Jian Xingxia finalized the student roster this morning. They were currently being systematically organized by the Scholar.
To give credit where it was due, although the Scholar looked like a useless, pretty face, his status and experiences were actually quite effective at intimidating the impoverished souls.
Jian Xingxia only had to make a brief appearance, which saved her a lot of trouble.
The six impoverished souls—four men and two women—looked at the Scholar standing in the center of the classroom, their faces filled with utter bewilderment and awe.
The Scholar, however, didn’t show the slightest stage fright, talking with fluent eloquence. “Though my bamboo weaving skills can only be considered ordinary, I studied under the great bamboo weaving master Wang Linhai. By learning from me, even if you cannot produce exquisite, peerless masterpieces that are lifelike and meticulously detailed, you will still acquire a touch of unique style. You will surely receive much praise when moving through the streets and marketplaces…”
The impoverished souls looked back and forth at one another, the word “suffering” practically manifesting into solid form upon their faces.
After a long while, one of them couldn’t resist standing up, cutting off the Scholar’s enthusiastic display of woven bamboo toys.
“M-my apologies… Master W-Wei. I came here wishing to learn how to weave bamboo baskets, hampers, winnowing fans, and grain baskets. Those are the things that can be sold for money.”
The impoverished man spoke with extreme caution.
In the traditional hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, the Scholar belonged to the elite class, whereas they generally belonged to the lower classes of farmers, laborers, merchants, or even servants and slaves.
The small bamboo lanterns, bamboo tigers, and bamboo dragonflies the Scholar displayed, along with his assertions that these things would surely be appreciated and highly praised by others… were completely useless objects to them.
The six impoverished souls looked at the Scholar with pitiful, aggrieved expressions.
They each came from different places, but most of them were from destitute households or had endured severe hardships. Earning a livelihood was their sole purpose for learning bamboo weaving.
It certainly wasn’t to craft minor trinkets to coax young children with.
The Scholar’s eyes widened in the classroom, and he shook his head in deep disapproval. “How can you call these useless objects? Look at this bamboo tiger—how adorable it is. Don’t you want to make one for your grandson to play with?”
Old Man Lou shook his head. “I want to bring a steamed bun back for my grandchild.”
The very first thing the impoverished souls did upon their arrival was fill their bellies.
Faced with a basin packed with steamed buns, mantou, eggs, corn, and sweet potatoes, not a single person had remained unstruck by awe.
Old Man Lou knew very well that he couldn’t afford to buy steamed buns. He only wanted to do his work honestly. If an apprentice’s compensation could be exchanged for a single mantou to take back, his grandson and granddaughter would surely be overjoyed for days.
The Scholar looked over each person in turn. The remaining five were exactly the same—their faces sallow, their eyes dim, their expressions deeply sorrowful…
No matter how one looked at them, none were individuals capable of appreciating and playing with bamboo weaving.
The Scholar scratched his head. “But this is the only thing I know how to do…”
He felt a bit anxious. “I do not know how to make the hampers and winnowing fans you speak of. I only know how to do this… Sigh, if only we were in Luzhou. If you were in Luzhou, I could recommend you to the commercial shops within my clan, or to the households of my familiar classmates. They would love these kinds of novelties.”
The Scholar spoke these words with genuine sincerity. Back when he was studying in Luzhou, he frequently crafted these small trinkets to share with his clan’s youths, classmates, and fellow townsmen, and everyone had loved them.
If only they were in Luzhou…
Jian Xingxia stepped into the room at the appropriate moment, giving the Scholar a nod before addressing the six bewildered and impoverished souls in the classroom. “Everyone, there is no need to worry. We also have an instructor to teach bamboo ware, but the one invited for today happens to be a master of decorative bamboo weaving.”
“Furthermore,” Jian Xingxia smiled, offering everyone a reassuring promise, “just focus on your studies. For the apprentices recruited here, as long as you study diligently and manufacture qualifying finished products, I can purchase all of them from you.”
“Purchase? Madame Manor Owner, you want to buy them?”
A woman in her forties stood up, feeling somewhat terrified.
They had all witnessed it firsthand. The moment they arrived at the manor just now, before they had even performed a single task, this young Manor Owner had provided them with food.
And she had fed them white-flour mantou! There were even brown-sugar mantou! And large steamed buns!
For drinks, there was soy milk, rice porridge, and millet porridge.
Among the group, there were many who had never eaten such a lavish breakfast in their entire lives.
When they looked at Jian Xingxia, it was like looking at a living Bodhisattva. Truth be told, even if they were to pray directly before a Bodhisattva, they wouldn’t dare harbor the extravagant hope of asking for a meat bun as large as a basin.
Jian Xingxia nodded solemnly. “Naturally I will buy them. Otherwise, why would I recruit so many apprentices?”
Another impoverished man stood up, asking with extreme care, “May I ask the Manor Owner, how many children are there upon the manor… and how many decorative bamboo trinkets will be required?”
In their hearts, they still didn’t believe these things could be worth significant money, figuring that since there were young children on the manor, the Manor Owner likely wanted to weave a few items to entertain the manor’s kids.
Jian Xingxia laughed. “I will purchase as many as you can manage to make.”
The impoverished souls couldn’t believe it.
Jian Xingxia wasn’t particularly happy either—it was one thing for the veteran employees to know she didn’t have much money, but why did the new employees look at her with an expression that said “this person’s financial capability is highly questionable” as well?
Helpless, Jian Xingxia said, “Just focus on learning first, we’ll talk once you’ve mastered it. Regardless of the outcome, since you are at the manor today, you are permitted to eat three meals.”
A welcoming feast upon arrival, a send-off meal at departure, plus snacks between classes—surely this wasn’t a losing bargain for them.
But the impoverished souls grew highly excited. “How many meals?!”
“Three meals?!”
Their bizarre regional dialects and accents slipped out. The manor “official speech” they had worked so hard to learn just moments ago was instantly tossed to the back of their minds.
Impoverished Soul Number Five stood up. “You will truly give us three meals to eat? All featuring the same white-flour mantou as before?”
Jian Xingxia thought about it and said, “If you wish to eat white-flour mantou, that is perfectly fine too…”
The mid-class snack she had originally prepared was sponge cake, and for the meal at dismissal, the apprentices would naturally eat whatever went unsold at the manor during lunch.
However, just hearing the words “white-flour mantou is fine too” left the apprentices utterly ecstatic.
Everyone was an impoverished soul. Though they didn’t hail from the same place, they could all comprehend the pleasant surprise shining in each other’s eyes.
“We will learn! We will learn! We will set to learning right now!”
“As long as meals are provided, we will learn whatever the master teaches!”
“Exactly, exactly! Even if you teach us how to eat and put on clothes, we will learn it!”
Hearing this, the Scholar’s eyes lit up. “Truly? I wanted to mention it just now—the way you ate earlier was indeed somewhat unseemly, which is something you ought to learn. How can anyone consume three mantou in a single breath? Dining places importance on chewing thoroughly and swallowing slowly. Unless one is desperately starved, one must maintain balance—for instance, taking a bite of mantou, and then picking up a strand of small pickled vegetable drizzled with sesame oil…”
As the Scholar kept talking, his voice gradually grew quieter.
Because at this moment, all six apprentices were staring at him with completely vacant and speechless expressions.
Meanwhile, a chilling glare that indicated a desire to strike someone had surfaced within the Manor Owner’s eyes.
The Scholar swallowed hard, drawing back his words and picking up the bamboo dragonfly in his hand. “We shall begin learning from this bamboo dragonfly first. To practice bamboo weaving, the primary requirement is to cultivate one’s temperament, which requires one to frequently appreciate beautiful things…”
The Manor Owner’s gaze carried daggers.
The Scholar: “…Uh, the primary requirement is to select the raw bamboo. Different from the bamboo used for sturdy bamboo wares, bamboo weaving requires bamboo with thin walls and high flexibility, such as arrow bamboo and green bamboo…”
Jian Xingxia strolled leisurely out of the classroom.
The cold sweat on the Scholar’s back was finally able to drip down. He lifted his arm, using his wide sleeve to wipe the perspiration from his forehead, and resumed his teaching. “The manor happens to possess this exact type of bamboo. Everyone shall learn to identify it first, and in a bit, we shall head into the mountains to fell some bamboo…”
