When Huo Qilang arrived at the Western Inner Residence, everyone in the courtyard was working at a feverish pace.
More than a dozen women were beating silk beneath the covered walkway. Fabric woven from raw silk, known as jian, was coarse and stiff. It had to be soaked, boiled, then repeatedly beaten and pounded to soften its fibers. The resulting cloth was soft and white, suitable for comfortable garments worn against the skin. This processed fabric was called lian.
Four women stood around a large copper basin, wielding wooden pestles with both hands to pound the soaked white silk. Once softened, the cloth was hung until half dry. Then two women pulled its long ends taut while another used an iron to smooth out the creases left by the pounding. When completely dry, it could be rolled into bolts of finished silk for clothing.
The women ranged from young to old. Though they were servants, their dress was far from ordinary: each wore an elaborate coiffure and a beautiful Silk Scarf draped around her shoulders. They presented an entirely different picture from the impoverished women Huo Qi had seen beating silk in the streets.
Their rich, respectable attire shone against the precious colored silks drying beneath the walkway, a dazzling sight. Huo Qilang privately guessed that His Highness's beautiful clothes were painstakingly made through these very steps.
Everyone had been talking and laughing, but their voices dropped when Nanny Xu approached. Lady Xu was a stewardess of considerable standing in the Western Courtyard and ruled her charges strictly. The women dared not joke and play in her presence; they lowered their heads to their work, careful of every word and movement.
"Don't splash the water out," Nanny Xu warned. "If the floorboards get soaked, they'll swell."
"Why hang all the