Chapter 25 The twenty-fifth round of craftsmen of various trades

In the palace, it can be said that it is a society of its own.There are not only girls in charge of silkworm breeding, but also craftsmen from other industries!Of course, the skills of these craftsmen are all excellent, compared with the ordinary workers outside, they can't be counted.The Queen Mother also firmly believes that they are indeed rare masters, and she is often very proud of them.And Yi himself is also very interested in these kinds of delicate crafts!I have to go and have a look from time to time; it happens that I am also a person who loves to visit people’s homes and do fine things,—even though I can’t do some things myself—so the Queen Mother always takes me to go, after I go, As if they saw some novel drama, they were attached and refused to leave.Therefore, I don't know any more details about the general situation of the work of the craftsmen in the palace and their living conditions.If it is well written, it can write a very thick volume just for the subject of tailoring; as for the silk reeling industry in the palace (not including silkworm breeding), it is written with richer materials; The business of making phoenix shoes for the queen mother is finally the smallest, but it is not difficult to have a separate volume.

Let me now write some of them out with extra simplicity. "Come with us!" One morning, the queen mother said to me: "Haven't you never seen the procedures of silk making? It is very beautiful! Today, I will add some new ones to you. You have seen it! Just think about those spring silkworms sacrificing their lives and spitting out such miraculous and lovely silk, how will we deal with these silk? To understand this, it is not something you can imagine out of thin air, you must Follow us to observe on the spot!" What the Queen Mother said to me that day is naturally not like this; the terms quoted in it may not have existed at that time!This is the original meaning I can remember now, and I reconstructed it myself; but I can say that my construction is not very similar. The words of the Queen Mother are often strangely moving, full of magic power to make the listener feel sympathetic. I absolutely can't learn it.Take this trivial matter as an example: I didn't have any special interest in the craft of silk making, but when Jing Yi said that, I immediately became happy.

In addition to me, there must be several people accompanying the Queen Mother: the Queen Mother is always happy to take a long line of people to go everywhere. Today's intrusion directly broke into the palace courtyard where those silk makers lived.The palace in this area is far away from the Empress Dowager's bedroom, it is on the back of the Longevity Hill, while the rest of the palaces are on the front of the mountain.Like silkworm breeders, these so-called silk makers are mostly the daughters of banner soldiers; some of them have completely sacrificed their youth to this kind of work.In reality, however, Iraqis never lost their freedom.Entering the palace is like entering a factory, you can do what you like, and you can go out and get married if you don't like it.But there is one condition, that is, after going out to get married, it is absolutely impossible to enter the palace again!There are indeed quite a few of them who are unwilling to go out, preferring to stay in the palace forever; because in the palace, not only do they not need to spend their own money to buy food, clothes, etc., but they are all ready-made and given to Yimen. For them, it's no better than going out to marry someone, and if they happen to be unlucky, they have to worry about clothing and food every day.There is only one thing in the palace that prevents them from resting easy, that is, it is not easy to win the Queen Mother's favor, and the only thing they can do is to perform well at work; Sometimes it is inevitable that there will be some deviations, but the Queen Mother is a very smart person, Yi is proficient in all kinds of crafts, even if there are some small deviations, there is no need to hide them from her; I deeply feel that it is not easy to win the Queen Mother's favor!

The dwellings occupied by this group of silk craftsmen are not small, generally there is a main hall in the center, and two side halls on both sides; as for those carved beams and painted buildings, flying pavilions and flowing pills, they are exactly the same as the rest.Such a spacious and gorgeous workshop is rare in the whole world, no wonder those girls are so happy to leave!During the day, Yimen worked in the main halls in the middle, and at night they went back to the side halls on both sides to rest. Their life was very orderly. Now let me briefly talk about the procedures of making silk in the palace: After the reeled raw silk is divided into twists and sorted, it has to be rinsed once, dried in the sun, and then dyed with various colors. .Of course, dyeing is not a one-time job; it has to be dyed twice or three times, and finally it is taken out to dry.Next to the side hall where Yimen lived, there was a stone flat on each side, where the silk was dried.When drying silk, a lot of bamboo tripods are used; they are not very high, because the girls cannot climb if they are too high.Between every two tripods, there is a very clean bamboo pole; those dyed silks are hung on it to dry; but the matter is not so simple!When drying at the beginning, you must first look at the direction of the sun's rays, and you can't let half of the silk be exposed to the sun and half not exposed to the sun; after a long time, you have to turn them over or move them. The photosensitive time is very uniform, so the color of the silk will not be dark in one piece and light in the other.

As for the colors dyed on the silk, it must be worthy of the Empress Dowager's boast!Yi not only used all the colors in the world, but also divided each color into dozens of kinds, from dark to light.For example, for a color like "green", the first skein is dyed dark green, and then gradually fades, from grass green, light green, lake green, and finally the lightest; the lightest skein is already as pale as white. .This project seems to be not very difficult to say, but in fact it is extremely difficult.Those girls are working with all their energy.However, when it comes time to dry out, dozens of hundreds of colors gather together, and when illuminated by the bright sunlight, it is very easy to see the extreme.If you look at it for a while, your eyes will probably be dizzy!

I still remember clearly the first time I went to visit with the Queen Mother. Dozens of stalks of dyed silk were drying in the stone flat as usual. The Empress Dowager took a rough look at them first; then she walked to a blue-colored silk, starting from the deepest skein, and carefully looked at it gradually. past.At this time, those girls were already kneeling on the ground, silently waiting for Mr. Yi to speak; because Yi often wanted to criticize them for bad dyeing or sun drying; Advice on silk dyeing methods.Of course, Yi's verbal opinions are as irresistible as the written imperial decree; although dyeing silk is a trivial matter, in the eyes of these silk craftsmen, it is really a major event.

It's strange to say that although the Queen Mother is a very old woman, Yi's eyes are still very clear and sharp; Yi looked at the blue wire for a while, then turned her head and looked at her. A girl said: "Wrong! There should be another color here! You can see for yourself, since the color of the upper strand is so dark, and the color of the second strand is so light, it is not too uneven in shades compared with the rest. ! There must be a strand in the middle that is slightly lighter than the upper strand and darker than the lower strand, otherwise it will definitely not be able to connect! Obviously you didn’t pay attention to it, so you jumped to one!”

Boldly, I approached and took a closer look, and sure enough, I also felt that the colors of the two skeins were too far apart; I had to add another skein of a blended color in the middle to make the dozens of skeins blue. Silky, of average shade.Although the girl in charge of washing and dyeing this blue silk has been dedicated to this work in the palace for several years, she still can't imagine that the color dyed by Yi is too dark or too light; After the Empress Dowager pointed it out, everyone saw that there was clearly a color missing there.Even I, who is still quite a stranger to silk-making, saw it right away!Readers think about it: among these dozens of shades of blue, the Empress Dowager only needs to take a look at it to know that there is a lack of a harmonious color between a certain two colors. Conquer!

I can say: No matter what is small or inconspicuous, it is not easy to escape the eyes of the Queen Mother.So I feel that every time I accompany the Empress Dowager in the Summer Palace, I can always get a lot of new enlightenment; because along the way, I just need to look at it casually, and I can immediately see many inappropriate arrangements, or what should be added. Here comes the omission.As soon as Yi pointed out, these inappropriate arrangements or omissions must be removed or filled immediately, otherwise, the person in charge of the management will be in great trouble. what!Just imagine, how beautiful it would be to have hundreds of strands of dark red and light green colored silk drying in the sun on a stone flat!How cute!In addition, the arrangement is very neat, one row of red, one row of yellow, and one row of blue; from a distance, it really looks like a rainbow in the sky.The girls walked back and forth among the rainbows.We dare not stay away for a moment; because these silks often need people to turn them, so as not to be exposed to light for too long or not enough.If it is not well tanned, it cannot be used, and even the many labors of washing, washing and dyeing beforehand will be wasted.However, it is not easy for us laymen to tell whether the results after drying are good or bad. Except for these little girls who are professional in silk making, only our wise and versatile queen mother has this kind of superman. eyesight.

At night, after the sunlight has subsided, these silks that have been dyed but not yet dried have to be collected in the house on the stone flat, so as not to cause a storm at night and destroy the colors.Bamboo poles are not used in the house, but a special wooden frame is used to cover them twisted and twisted.These wooden frames are well made and painted in very handsome colors.Sometimes during the day, the silk makers would directly lift the wooden rack out to dry the silk, which saves the procedure of taking it off the rack and hanging it on the bamboo pole. This caused the silk-making girls to not need to put on any palace clothes or gowns, and they were free to wear all kinds of light and smart clothes. Make your own clothes.So Yimen dress up every day as if they were celebrating Chinese New Year.And because there are so many people and comparisons, Yimen is extra vigorous; if it is not for the fear of being scolded by the Queen Mother, Yimen might dress up more beautifully than prostitutes!

After the color is dyed and the silk is dried, the result is satisfactory; then these are taken off the rack one by one, and then wound up separately with wooden spindles, probably for each dyeing. around a spindle.After winding, it is not used for weaving silk, but there are some materials for embroidery or sewing; but it is not used so much at the moment, so it can only be stored first, and will be specified when the seamstresses need it. Color selection to apply. It can be said that this is the end of the description of a part of the silk-making process. Next, we will talk about the shoe industry in the palace.Although the shoes worn by women with some status in the palace are made by full-time shoe-making craftsmen, the main purpose of supporting these craftsmen is really for the Queen Mother alone. .Therefore, the narrative in this article also focuses on the phoenix shoes used by the Queen Mother. When it comes to the empress dowager's phoenix shoes, readers should not think that it is a very small topic. If it is explained in detail, there are really a lot of words to write!Let me talk about management first: there are two eunuchs who do nothing all year round and are specially appointed to manage the phoenix shoes for the queen mother; Slack, always guard these phoenix shoes carefully, like guarding some treasure house.According to the facts, the queen mother's phoenix shoes can indeed be regarded as a kind of precious treasure; because most of the phoenix shoes are inlaid with precious gems, pearls, jade, or emeralds, which are by no means ordinary things. The room where these phoenix shoes are kept is also a huge side hall. On the walls on all sides, from the ceiling to the ground, there are many wooden boxes made of wooden boards, and there are hundreds of them in rows.Each pair of phoenix shoes occupies a box.Numbers are numbered on the outside in turn.There is also a very thick book, which also records the same number, and under each number, the style, color, pattern, etc. of the pair of phoenix shoes are clearly indicated; The female official who wrote the documents of the Queen Mother.When the Empress Dowager suddenly felt happy and wanted to change a pair of phoenix shoes, she instructed the female official to send the book up, and let Yi look through it slowly; if she was sure, she only needed to say a number, and she could immediately send someone to take the book. The new pair of shoes that Yi had chosen arrived.Speaking of it now, it can be regarded as a scientific management method suitable for the principle of time economy! These two eunuchs who specialize in keeping the phoenix shoes, of course, cannot be regarded as craftsmen in the shoe industry, but can only be regarded as one of the deacons in the palace.The so-called artisans in the shoemaking industry are another group of people. Yimen are also women, but they are not servants in the palace, and they can advance and retreat freely. It is not too hard work for untrained flexible people; from my position as a bystander, it seems to be as fun and interesting as the work of other craftsmen in the palace.Among them, there are two leaders who are in charge of management. They are two old women in their fifties. —not old women, but spinsters; they were all hired to this palace when they were very young.It has been at least twenty years since I have been engaged in the work of making phoenix shoes here, so the Queen Mother treats Yimen very preferentially.There were also eight young girls working under Yimen.We have all been trained with strict requirements: the first step we have to learn proofing, the so-called proofing, is to pre-draw all kinds of shoes on white paper, as the basis for manufacturing.For this part of the proofing project, if you only need to draw a rough outline, it is naturally not very troublesome; but the samples you make must be very fine, and after the drawing is completed, you have to use very fine and very fine details. The silk thread will form a rough and large-scale boundary on the paper.Therefore, it takes a lot of effort to make every copy.In addition, people in the past often paid no attention to the light when they were working; there was no proper lighting in the palace, and it was specially configured for them, and they themselves didn't care much, so their eyesight was not good enough. Inevitably, it will be greatly hurt, and if you can't do it for two or three years, you have to put a pair of old-fashioned glasses with deep light filling on your nose. Although the Empress Dowager's interest in this part of the manufacturing process is not as high as that of silkworm breeding, she is by no means completely unaware. On average, once or twice a month, she has to go to Yimen's work place to inspect it in person.But when Yi's hometown stood up from the throne and was about to walk away, a eunuch rushed out and informed the shoe-making craftsmen, so that Yi could pack up early Everything, and work hard, waiting for the arrival of the Queen Mother.This kind of action, in the eyes of our modern people, seems to be a kind of cheating; but at that time, the Queen Mother herself did not think it was disobedient, but thought it was an indispensable step, so no matter where she went Look at it, and what you see is nothing more than some unreal false scenes. The shoe-making craftsmen also occupy another courtyard, but this courtyard is under a platform, the terrain is very low, and there are many houses. Generally, there is one main hall and two side halls; They work in the main hall, and at night they work in the side halls on both sides.When they were working, the old maids of the two leaders kept looking after them, and immediately corrected if there was something wrong with the painting or embroidery, so Yimen's four eyes were always fixed on the eight A girl's hand, her eyes are always flickering up and down with the needle thread in Yimen's hand, some dare not relax.This is what I saw when I followed the Queen Mother to inspect it. I don't know if we are still so solemn after we walk out? I remember that the first time I went with the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother also explained it to me in detail. "It may surprise you! It takes at least one month for us to make a pair of shoes, from the beginning of sampling to the completion of the work." The Queen Mother first said to me: "This is really a very laborious project. There are indeed a lot of procedures in it! Even these girls, you can’t underestimate them! The skills of Yimen are extremely sophisticated, and the workers outside can’t compare with Yimen!... At last First of all, we have to draw a shoe pattern on white paper; drawing a shoe pattern is a very labor-intensive project, and we must take care of all aspects, such as shoe material, style, pattern, etc... everything must be done properly. Consideration and configuration are expected to be appropriate; among them, the height of the heel should be decided first.  …” Then, Yi and I talked about the heels. ——The so-called heels here refer specifically to the high-heeled shoes worn by women in Manchuria. (This kind of high-heeled shoes is commonly called flag shoes. Their style is similar to the phoenix shoes worn by ordinary women, except that the toe is not pointed, and there is a wooden heel under the sole. But the position of the wooden heel , but not on the heel at the back, but in the middle of the sole of the foot; people walking in this kind of high-heeled shoes are really like walking on a pair of low-profile stilts, with a flowing posture)——the height that this kind of shoes follow , it must correspond to the thickness of the upper sole and the style of the shoe; a certain kind of sole must be matched with a wooden heel of a certain size and height, which must be studied carefully, otherwise the wearer will feel uncomfortable. Comfortable, even painful.Probably the height of this wooden heel is always between three inches and five inches.At the same time, it must be noted that it cannot be made too bulky, but must be very light.On the shoes worn by the empress dowager and other ordinary noble ladies, the pieces of wood have to be embellished; the more common embellishments are to insert pieces of broken glass of various colors in groups, and the middle is unavoidable. Wrap some twine or yarn tightly so that it does not fall apart.This kind of embellishment, when the sun shines, it will shine brightly; if you look at it, it's like stepping on a heel cut from a piece of gemstone!But this is not easy to see, because the shoe is always under the foot of the person, and it is not very high. Where will it be exposed to the sun from time to time?The bottom of the heel is wrapped with layers of cotton cloth, nailed with very thin nails, or sewn with very strong leather thread; this lining will prevent annoying rattling when walking. Here comes the voice.This method is really the same as the leather shoes worn by ordinary people with a rubber heel nailed on them. It has the same meaning, but it is less durable to use. In addition to removing the heel, you have to pay attention to the shoe itself!The shoe itself is divided into two parts, the sole and the upper; the manufacture of the sole is very simple, just like the cloth-soled shoes worn by ordinary women, or cut a piece of extremely thin wood, wrap it with a layer of cloth, and use ordinary Budi, this needs to be described in detail.But the project of the upper is no small matter!There are as many as several hundred kinds of their styles, the most common ones are the flying phoenix style and the quincunx-shaped style; I can't list too many other special styles.The shoe upper itself is made of high-quality satin, but the colors are also different; there are many patterns embroidered with silk threads of various colors.This kind of silk thread is made and dyed by those silk craftsmen, and finally saves a sum of money to buy it outside.But these silk threads are indeed too thin. As long as we look at these silk threads, we can immediately believe that the process of embroidering the shoe upper is a thing that hurts the eyes without explaining! The center of gravity of this shoe-making "factory" is on a row of main halls in the center. There are many useful tools in it. There are many kinds of tools, most of which I have never seen; The leader's old maid, but the name is so complicated that I can't remember it at this moment.Every time I go to Eymen's, I have to tell the two spinsters to pull out some pages of freshly made shoe patterns.These shoes are indeed beautiful!To praise it in the tone of modern people, it can be said to be a very delicate pattern painting.I can't bear to see it often. I don't know how the girls who made these shoe patterns learned this skill in the first place. There are a few paintings that are so neat that they look like They are a pair of real shoes, as if you can put them on your feet after you take them off; moreover, they are not one-color line drawing, but color paintings, and the color of the shoe material and the color of the pattern have all been rendered.When it is fully finished in the future, it will be exactly the same as what is drawn on this paper; it is like a sample volume prepared by a fashion company in modern times. When a new pair of shoes is completely made, it must be sent to the Queen Mother immediately for appraisal by Elder Yi; if Yi happens to be free, Yi will inspect them carefully, so cutting corners and materials is absolutely unacceptable. There will be.It's just that I didn't bother to suit the empress dowager's respect as much as possible. Yi often took a look and sent someone to the "shoe storehouse" to teach the two eunuchs to store them, and maybe they would never take them again from now on. Out.It is rare that there is a pair of shoes that are specially made to suit one's liking, so Yi will not let it go lightly; Yi's memory is excellent, and she will not forget it once she has seen it, and she will secretly call it. Make an idea that this pair of new shoes will be worn on that special festival, and when that day comes, Elder Yi will never forget it again, and will have to teach someone to take it out overnight. Some of the tools I mentioned above for making shoes are small embroidery beds.The style of the embroidery bed is roughly similar to that of a loom; the embroidering girls are sitting in it upright.The main point of this embroidery bed is a stretch frame, on which a square of satin is tightly stretched; the area of ​​this square of satin is about two feet high and five feet wide, and it must be stretched very tightly, like the surface of a big leather drum. A piece of hide is nailed as tight and flat as it could be for embroidery.If we stand beside the embroidery bed, we will see with our own eyes that pairs of shoe uppers are gradually formed under the nimble and skillful fingers of the female workers.In this main hall, there are about two embroidery beds lined up, each of which is stretched with a piece of satin, and a female worker is appointed to be in charge of embroidery.Although they are definitely not all doing embroidery work at the same time, maybe some are proofreading and some are matching backgrounds; but since the flowers on this satin have been assigned to this person to embroider, sooner or later Master Kong will be responsible. finish it.Each square of satin is not designed to make a pair of shoe uppers, but five or six pairs are often put together; therefore, the top, bottom, left, and right sides of this square of satin are almost covered with patterns that should be embroidered.Each of the female workers lowered their heads respectively——their heads must be bowed very low, almost touching her eyes to the satin; If it is true, it will inevitably be wrong. ——Embroidering without saying a word. Now let me describe Yimen's working procedures in more detail: first, Yimen followed the shoe patterns that had already been drawn, and used white powder to outline the outlines of several shoe uppers on the satin. Of course, there must be some blank space between the two for cutting; the outlines of the uppers are hooked together, and one by one is embroidered in the first pass, but before embroidering each upper, there is still a part The work of preparation.For example, if a plum blossom is needed on the upper of a shoe, then Yi should first cut out several plum blossoms of different shapes with a thin white paper, and then put these paper flowers on the satin to draw a picture. Put it on one of the shoes, try it here and there, and determine with an artistic eye the proper part they should occupy;The silk thread used at this time is probably all white, and there is no need for many stitches, just to nail the paper flower.After the plum blossoms are nailed, do the third step.This third step of work is the hardest.Because Yimen not only needs to embroider these plum blossoms, but also chooses various silk threads of different shades of colors, and puts the plum blossoms aside to make a look; Use light colors for the green ones. When you are ready to look at them, they are almost indistinguishable from the flowers growing on the tree! No matter how deep or light the color of a flower is, we have to try our best to imitate it, so when we embroider one by one, we have to look back at the real flower from time to time; For every stitch, you have to look back: where is the dark color and where is the light color, and it cannot be blurred by half, so there are always forty or fifty different colors on the crossbar of each embroidery bed. Hanging on a silk thread for easy access at any time.Among them, the most widely used ones are naturally red and green. As for the cut paper flower?At first, it was only used to show the outline and determine the position, but after a few stitches, it was troublesome to take it out again. In fact, there was no such need, and it was still left in it. good.Because a flower is set off by this piece of paper, the silk thread embroidered on it suddenly feels much thicker; when it is fully embroidered, the petals protrude from the upper of the shoe, as if it was pasted on separately. Just like real flowers, this is also a unique skill of Chinese embroidery! The life of these shoe-making craftsmen is extremely monotonous; in their hearts, it seems that they will never be stimulated, and even the slightest vibration is seldom.Throughout the year, Yimen are only dedicated to the work of making phoenix shoes: get up in the morning, work during the day, eat, come to bed at night, and do such rigid articles every day.I can say that I can't stand it, so I think that since we can enjoy it all year round, we must also have a kind of interest that outsiders can't appreciate.I remember I once asked the two spinsters who were in the leading positions, and they all said they were very happy. The only reason was that they had a special liking for this kind of embroidery life; This business can not only give full play to Yimen's embroidery talents, but also has a sense of beauty, such as making shoe patterns and matching shoe soles, which is enough to arouse the interest of ordinary art lovers.Yimen's happiness probably comes from this.This is a very reasonable statement.Because no matter who we teach a person to do a job, the importance of the job itself should not be considered. The most important thing is that the job must be in line with the person's sexual preference; Be sure to work hard, and you can make it particularly perfect with a single effort, and it will last for a long time.Now these two old maids are like this.As for the eight young girls under Yimen?Although I have never asked for advice, but I guess the situation is roughly the same; because anyone who is not used to this job has long since complained of illness and resigned, and the rest are naturally those who are really interested in it! Another characteristic of Yimen is that it is full of the spirit of "artisan". The so-called spirit of artisan means working only for "art" and "work".It takes at least one month for Yimen to make a pair of phoenix shoes, and within this month, Yimen put in an infinite amount of effort for this pair of phoenix shoes; In the end, only the queen mother can see it. Even if the queen mother falls in love with it and uses it, it's just that we Liao Liao have a chance to appreciate it.Besides, who can discover the ingenious workmanship of Emen?Therefore, when Yimen made it, they did not intend to show off to the public, but only wanted to make this craft as perfect as their own ideals!What's more, most of the phoenix shoes made by Yimen were placed in the cold palace by the queen mother, and they were guarded by the two well-fed old eunuchs forever. .But Yimen is not discouraged, and still works with all his heart; how can this kind of spirit be possessed by ordinary artists and great craftsmen? Since these little girls live extraordinary lives in these special environments, their own thoughts inevitably become very unique because of this. It seems that they are very indifferent to the matters of marriage and raising children of.I have also heard Yimen's remarks indirectly, and I am generally satisfied with the status quo.Yimen regards the tribute satin on one side as her husband, and those twisted silk threads as her children; They are things that are partners; all other distracting thoughts, because we can be so loyal to our duties, they will no longer happen!So what will happen to us when we grow old in the future?Naturally, it is also a little different from ordinary old people!When we gradually grow old,—probably at the age of forty-five, because embroidery is a very labor-intensive craft, and it is also the easiest to make people old. ——When the eyesight of the Yimen is no longer enough to do such fine embroidery work, new recruits will naturally replace them, and let the Yimen stay in the palace for the elderly. Since then, the Yimen have never been active , Clothes and eats and lives idle until the end of life.I think we all have a traditional concept, that is, when we are in the prime of life and can work as hard as we can, we will devote all our energy to this beautiful craft; when we are old, relying on these merits, Eating a leisurely meal in the palace to live in peace and stability. Is this notion justified?Is it reasonable?Is it beneficial to ourselves?Of course, I can't answer for you; even why Iraqis have this traditional concept, I can never explain it.I think that unless I can also have the same dexterity as Yimen, often embroidering flowers on those satins, so that I can experience it personally, maybe I will realize a proper reason, and now it is in vain The suspense is absolutely impossible to think of! Didn’t I say above that there are four or five pairs of shoe patterns sketched on each square of satin; after Yimen stretched the square of satin onto the embroidery bed, they embroidered one pair from top to bottom.After picking and embroidering a pair, the tribute satin must be stretched again, so that the upper of the second pair of shoes to be embroidered can be moved up, so that the embroiderer does not have to bow his head to accommodate it, which can also save some eyesight.However, the four or five pairs of shoe uppers on each pair of satin must not be embroidered with the same kind of flowers. Often the first pair is embroidered with plum blossoms, while the second pair is embroidered with peony flowers. Therefore, the embroiderers have no old articles to write. For copying, you have to cut out paper flowers and find another flower that can be used as a specimen, repeat the sample to determine the position, and choose the color; the experience gained from embroidering the first pair of shoe uppers can hardly be used at all, and it is a waste of energy. , the end is indescribable, no wonder I was about to shake my head when I first saw it! When all the formalities are completed—that is to say, the pattern on the upper of the shoe has been embroidered, the heel and sole have been nailed together, and the upper has been sewn to the bottom to form a complete pair of phoenixes. After the shoes, there is another set of final procedures, that is, the procedures for nailing jewelry and other accessories.On the Empress Dowager's phoenix shoes, there are pearls, precious stones, rough jade, emeralds, etc., all kinds of precious ornaments, you can say that everything is available; but what Elder Yi loves most, especially pearls.Yi Shen said that pearls are the most suitable decorations on phoenix shoes.Yi was happy with pearls no matter how big or small; therefore, almost none of Yi's phoenix shoes were without pearls.The smaller pearls were strung together like a lace, which was then fastened to the shoe in a zigzag way; though the thread connecting them was only a very thin thread, which seemed to break easily. Yes, but I have lived in the palace for several years, but I have never seen them break, and I have never heard of pearls falling from a phoenix shoe that I picked up to beat the Queen Mother. This sentence seems very strange. From our point of view, a pair of shoes, with so many pearls nailed on them, and only one very thin silk thread connecting them, how can they not be broken or fall off? Woolen cloth?But as long as we think that the person who used these phoenix shoes studded with pearls is an elderly empress dowager, we will believe that this is very possible! Not only is it possible, but it is inevitable!Because there are hundreds of pairs of phoenix shoes stored in the "shoe warehouse", and the new ones are increasing one after another, each pair of shoes can only be worn by the Queen Mother once or twice at most, or even once. Wearing; the so-called one time here is a very short time, ranging from half a day or a few hours to a day or two at most, and never wearing it for three or four days in a row.Even when it is worn on the queen mother's feet, there is more time for quietness and less time for action; even when she is in action, her steps are very light and slow, and there will never be such a violent vibration, so you can nail those pearls as hard as you like.如何之多，如何的不结实，也是断不会滚落下来的！假使说它们是极易滚落的话，那末在宫内当扫地的太监，个个都好开珍珠铺去了！这话也不是胡讲，因为太后凤鞋上，珍珠钉得最多的往往有三四百颗，少则二三十颗，普通总有七八十颗左右；这么许多的珍珠，只要常有十分之一掉下来，岂不就很可观了吗？ 若问宫内怎样会有这许多的珍珠，供太后如此滥用呢？其始当然都是京内和各地的官府，以及高丽安南等属国所进贡上来的；后来呢？也不过是这顶帽儿上拆拆；那双凤鞋上钉钉，互相移用而已，否则是决不够支配的。好在珍珠这样东西，本身非常耐用，除非你用东西去砸它，轻易是不会破碎的，所以待到某一双凤鞋因历时过久（决非使用过久，更谈不到破旧两字。）而不需再保存了，鞋身便弃去，却将那些珍珠一齐拆下来，交给制鞋的艺工们收拾好，以便装点新鞋之用。 鞋面上钉珍珠的方法也有两种：第一种就是我上面所讲的，先用丝线把珍珠串了起来，然后再把这丝线钉到那鞋面上去；第二种是直接把珍珠一颗颗地钉在鞋面上，就用珍珠来代替彩线，钉成各式各样的花纹。这种钉法，不便比较结实一些，而且还较绣了花再钉珠子来得清静文雅。记得我初进宫没有多少时候，见了这种光以珍珠为花饰的凤鞋，便不由自主地赞美起来；再加还未熟知太后的脾气，竟公然露出了很羡慕的神态，太后的脾气偏是最喜把人家所羡慕的东西赏给人家，于是伊就立即教人拣出了两双一般以珍珠为花饰的凤鞋赏赐给我，我自然很欢喜的受了。但从此我见了伊新鞋再也不敢这样赞美羡慕了，不然的话，也许伊竟会绝不吝惜地把那鞋库中所藏的全部凤鞋赏给我了！或是我虽没有得到那么许多，但统计太后前后所赏给我的，也确有好几十双了；至今我还宝藏着三四双咧！ 关于凤鞋的叙述，大概已没有什么可写了，现在只有最后的一点，再可以说一说。那就是鞋子和时令的关系。我们平民所穿的鞋子，尚且有棉鞋，夹鞋，纱鞋等等之分，何况太后呢？在本书第八章里，我曾经说过宫中的衣服的质料，不但须因时令而变换，便是衣上绣的花朵，也各有规定；这鞋子也是如此，可以无庸再说。只讲冬天里太后所御用的凤鞋。太后当然是不要穿那种很笨重的棉鞋的，所以伊的鞋子里，都是衬的上好的丝绵，鞋口上又有一圈皮钉着，这圈皮自然又是银鼠紫貂之类了。 太后所雇用的艺工是全部安顿在万寿山的背后的，就在昆明湖的对面一带；这一带的山坡上，很齐整地隔成了几座大小相仿的宫院，每一座宫院内住着每一种工艺的艺工，绝不相混，例如管育蚕的就有一座专用的宫院，而那些制丝的艺工也自伊们的住处和工作的场所，制鞋的又另有一处了。虽然相离甚近，但都各立门户，象几家独立的工场一样。所以这一部分的颐和园可说是小规模的工业区；里面的艺工们，终年象一群群蜜蜂似的忙乱着。不过这里所有的出品，却和全中国内无论那一家工场的出品大有不同：第一是宫所需用的丝，或茧子，或凤鞋，都不是很单纯的一种或两种，往往是数百种，数千种，每种却又不必多，只需很精致的一二件。第二是宫内的艺工的技术，经实地比较结果，确是高于他处一切的工人，无论那一项工艺，决不用一个新进的生手；每一个生手进来，必须先埋头学习，待学满了数年之后，才有被轮到工作的机会。至于那些领袖的艺工是更不容易了！伊们必须在未充领袖之前，先有了多年的超越的成绩，才得升擢起来；同时伊们的助手们还不不断地努力，以备将来升补为领袖的预备。只要待原任领袖的人年纪稍大，似乎不能再有良好的工作表现的时候，新世界领袖便在那一班修养了多年的助手中挑选出来补充。所以伊们的工作技术，永远是不会退化的，而且都有一贯的精神和秘诀，象祖传父，父传子的世传职业一样。虽然实际上，伊们都各有各的出身，彼此绝少血统或亲戚的关系；然而精神上竟象一家人无异，这是和外间尤其不同的一点！ 如今回想起来，宫内的一切费用端的是浩繁得不得了，单从这引起工艺上讲，已够人活活的吓死。我在宫中住了那么几年，可说是没有一天不见有新制就的凤鞋，送到太后跟前来让伊品评和察看的。一天工夫，至少必有一两双，多至五六双；这样一月一年的累积起来，数目自然是级大的了，而这笔费用之巨，也可以想见了！这还不足为奇，因为鞋子毕竟还只能算是一种小东西；更奇的是那些一件的宫袍和绣服，也是同样滥费地生产着。寻常的富贵人家，每人每隔十天做一件新衣服，已算是很阔绰的了；太后的新衣，却是平均每天一件，或竟不止此数，岂不令人咋舌？不过裁制这引起宫袍和绣服的缝工，却不是女性，而是男性的太监，他们毕竟还是先学会了缝工再做太监呢，还是先做了太监再学会缝工的？那我可不曾推究过！只知道他们的工技，也是优等中的最优等，决非外面的缝工所能比拟的。但他们的日常生活据说是和那些女性的艺工并不相同的，大概是比较苦一些。他们的工作虽然大部分也得由他们自己用心设计，可是太后偶然高兴，要怎样改动，他们就必须立即照办。在每一件新衣服的毛样没有得到太后的核可以前，更不准随便动手；不比那些制鞋的女工是可以自作主张的，打好了样，即可绣作起来。然而也就为这样，鞋子的浪费更大！除却极少数深合太后尊意的几双之外，十分之八九，都什么古玩似的一行行地终年陈列在那庞大的鞋库里，到相当时期便弃去。要是宫袍和绣服也是这样，只怕内库里的银子更要完得快了。 接下来我还得讲一讲太后所穿的袜子。读者中谅来不乏年岁较高的人，当可记得前二三十年时，那些妇女们足上所穿的是怎样的一种袜子，太后所穿的，也大体相同。那衬统都是很短的，和盛行的短袜差不多。 依消费的价值和用途而论，袜子当然是比凤鞋更小的一种东西了，而且无论怎样会考究的人，也不能在袜子上考究出什么花样来，所以宫内还不曾另设一种制袜业，而让那些制鞋的艺工们负责兼办。虽然如此，太后对于伊自己所穿的袜子，却一般也是非常的注意，挑剔得很厉害；伊每天必须更换一双新的袜子，换下来以后，便断乎不要再用了。在伊的心目中看来，一双袜子真和一条线一般的不值钱！可是天地良心，伊的袜子委实也是值钱的！它们的原料是上好的纯白软绸，做工更是十分的讲究，做得和伊老人家的尊足再适合也没有，差不多处处是极服贴的，就是现在我们所穿的丝袜要有这样的成绩，也不容易，何况那时候只凭着人的双手所做出来的东西呢？ 每一双袜子上，必有两个合缝，一个在前面，一个在后面；这是因为软绸制的袜子，究不如现代的线袜或丝袜一般的富有伸缩力，所以必须在袜统上开出这两个合缝。不然人的脚将怎样伸进来呢？可是从美观着眼，这两个合缝毕竟不能不算是一桩缺陷；太后是最爱美观的人，当然要竭力弥引缺陷的。于是那些善用针线的艺工们，便给伊想出了一个绝好的补救办法，就是用各种颜色的丝线，在那两个合缝旁边扎出一些特别的花样来，这样就把那两个合缝隐藏过了，倒象也是花样的一部分；不过这里所扎绣的花样却不能和鞋面上一般的层出不穷，大概只能限制于蝴蝶和蝙蝠两种，别的虽然也未必一定不能用，但用上去了，想来也是不会怎样好看的。 太后足上的鞋袜，我已经是论得很清楚了，至于伊的穿法那是和寻常的旗人相同的：袜子约比鞋墙高出三四寸，用一根细软的绸带，先自紧扎在腿部上，然后再把裤脚管拉下来套在袜统上再用一根绸带扎缚起来；这根绸带的颜色总是和裤子本身的颜色相同的，多半还是一段料子上裁下来的。这种扎裤脚的方式，经我们此刻想起来，必然是非常难看的，然而在从前时候，大家都如此，倒也不觉得什么异样，而且因为有了这两重的扎缚，不但那袜子决不会皱拢，便是那裤管也从不会散开来的，所以行动时永远会使你觉得很干净爽利。 因为有这么许多的凤鞋和绸袜，需要赖着那些制鞋的女工们的双手造作出来，所以这一班姑娘虽然在形式上或阶级上都和宫内的宫女略相同，但实际上是大有分别的！宫女在宫内是一些 没有什么地位的，竟可说比太监都不如，种种粗重的工作，伊们都有份，简直是整日在忙着侍候别人，而当艺工的却不但不需去服侍人家，并且还有指定的太监为伊们服役咧！至于饮食方面，更是特别的优待，每餐也必有极丰盛的菜肴，给伊们享用，和太后所用的膳食一般都是由御厨房所承办的；寻常当一个小官人家的宅眷用的膳食，那里能比得上伊们？再加在进膳的时候，也有好几个太监在旁边给伊们端菜，盛饭，撤席，一些也不用伊们自己动手；就是伊们所住的卧房里，每天也有小太监们轮流着进去收拾的；因此，伊们除掉为太后绣凤鞋，制袜子以外，可说是一无所事了。这末免太优待了吗？不过说穿了却是不值一笑的！原来这种刺绣的工作，若要求其光洁，对于艺工们的手指也有很大的关系；要是伊们的手指因为常和粗糙的东西接触的缘故，弄得很粗糙了，那末绣起花朵来，那些丝线也不免要给伊们弄毛了。就为这样，太后才不许伊们做别的工作的，倘非如此，伊们休想能有什么太监来承值，少不得要教伊们自己照料一切了！ 据太后告诉我，这些制鞋的艺工是极不容易培植的，通常每一个小女孩子，任凭怎样的聪明伶俐，或者对于寻常的绣作工夫怎样的精到熟练，但要过宫来为太后打鞋样，绣鞋花，做袜子，却至少必须费三年的工夫去学习，依我看来，即使学习了三年工夫，也未必能完全精熟，未必就有良好的成绩。我觉得非在学满了三年，再专心从事于这项工作达四五年之久，便决不能深入堂奥，运用自如，因为有许多的秘决，都不是一索即得的。 读者试想上面我们讲的都是何等的琐碎啊！在颐和园内，就象蜂窝似的簇聚着这么许多特殊的工业机关，它们又是一般的琐碎，一般的忙碌，个个艺工都在不断的努力着，可是伊们和他们的所以要如此努力的原动力，都只是发乎太后偶然的高兴：伊老人家只要随意想一个念头，便够这些艺工们忙碌了！虽然伊们和他们同样都受一远胜过寻常的工人所梦相不到的优遇，可是对于工作是半些不能有什么主张的，所以就称他们为一群男女犯人，也未尝不可。 不过在事实上，无论男女艺工，看起来大半倒是十分舒适乐意的犯人，自愿无期的安处在这座监狱中。 他们这样劳苦的工作几年或几十年之后，难得逢到凑巧，有某一个人的作品，竟给太后爱上了，当着众人赞美了一句；这个人便会快活得连自己的生辰八字也忘了，而其余的人，也会因此受到激励，格外甘心的埋头力作起来。但是太后岂肯随便赞美他们的？真不知道要隔多少时候，才有这样一次希逢的盛事呢！ 太后每次和我谈到宫内这些工业，总得有一长篇的话儿，不是计划怎样增添新的生产品，便是打算怎样训练新进的艺工，而且语语精详，颇切实用；因此常使我暗暗地佩服，深信伊老人家如其给人家聘去管理什么工厂，保管是一个极能干的领袖。尤其教人诧为天赋奇才的是伊的记忆力；常有许多很小很小的事情，虽然那些亲临其事的艺工也忘怀了，而伊老人家却依旧还记得很清楚。因此，无论那一项工艺，这总提调的一职，都非太后自任不可。