National Tide 1980.

Chapter 1325 Xiangyunsha

The capital city is beautiful and even more lovely.

After living in the capital for a few days, Han Yingming has become extremely certain of this, and his words are absolutely objective.

Because he is not a Chinese, not a Beijinger, and not an ignorant person.

If he said this from the perspective of a native of Beijing, it would seem arrogant and conceited, like Wang Po boasting about her own products.

But in fact, due to business needs, Han Yingming travels between Japan and South Korea several times a year, and he also frequently visits Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

He knows what developed countries look like, has been on business trips to Europe and the United States, and is familiar with the urban conditions of many of the world's historical cities.

Therefore, his views on the capital city can indeed represent the views of foreigners on the capital city to a certain extent.

Take Kyoto, Japan, for example.

Although it is also an ancient city with a rich historical and cultural atmosphere, compared with the capital, it is a little lacking and seems to be a little less lively.

And Kyoto is not like here. People's love for history and culture makes it tangible and visible.

There are many books and antiques here, and the prices are extremely cheap. It is completely affordable for those who are truly studious and love culture.

Even the old city walls and buildings in the capital, which are full of historical vicissitudes, are still loved by children up close, they touch them, or play around them.

In the capital, history and culture seem to permeate the lives of ordinary people like air.

For example, at the Echo Wall of the Temple of Heaven, although Han Yingming could not participate in it in person, he had no one to talk to.

But he could just as happily watch others interacting with the stone wall as he would sit on a stone and watch tadpoles in the water or young dragonflies on reed leaves.

There is also a lot of fun and I feel completely at ease.

Yes, the capital is so interesting.

But this kind of liveliness is not completely noisy. There is often stillness in the movement. Although it is complex, it has boundaries, and everyone can abide by it tacitly.

Just like the alleys in the capital, almost no place seems too crowded, nor too quiet.

Even the houses in the smallest alleys have yards and trees, and the most open areas are not far from the commercial streets.

This allocation method can be regarded as the best in the world. No other city in the world has such a scientific and well-considered plan.

There are many things in Japan that make people tired, so coffee and alcohol are necessary for stimulation.

But in the capital, there are many places to relax, and a mild scented tea is enough.

Having some coffee occasionally is just an unnecessary change.

Of course, it is true that most of the people in Beijing are poor, their living space is crowded, and their living standards are incomparable to those of developed countries like Japan.

But people in Beijing still love life and are able to show natural calmness in the midst of artificiality.

They have strong hands-on skills and can make many things for themselves, thus achieving the goal of thriftiness.

Door curtains, folding fans, cup covers, ashtrays, barbecue grills, key chains...even clothes are all made by themselves.

And you can create the joy of life for yourself almost anywhere and in any space.

For example, planting flowers and plants, raising goldfish, and raising insects in the summer are seasonal things that almost every household does.

In Japan, flowers and plants are expensive things.

However, people here can plant a yard full of flowers and plants without spending almost any money.

Even though the varieties are just ordinary flowers and plants, they are still cute.

  The morning glory on the wall, the bamboo and jasmine at the foot of the wall are so economical and easy to use, and they are also enough to attract butterflies!

Some families are even smarter and can even grow their own tomatoes, leeks, cucumbers, coriander, loofahs, grapes, and lentils.

These vegetables are also not cheap in Japan. It is very affordable as you can enjoy the fun of growing them while meeting the practical needs of life.

Speaking of this, we must talk about Yunyuan, where Han Yingming lives, which is particularly extraordinary.

Because there are no vegetables in Yunyuan, but there are various fruit trees and flowers in different places.

Walnut trees, persimmon trees, pomegranate trees, quince trees, wolfberry trees, apricot trees, peach trees, jujube trees, mulberry trees, grape trellises...

Different species make up the magnificent scenery of the Yunyuan Garden, making it look like a mountain of flowers and fruits.

These fruit and flower trees are all good varieties and are at least a hundred years old.

In the rush, no one seems to pay attention to their growth, but they can bring many benefits to the people living here.

Fresh walnuts, bunches of grapes, half-green and half-red apricots, long jujubes, pink peaches, red plums, jade plums, big pomegranates... these fruits are enough to make one's mouth water and drive away the bitter summer that has lost one's appetite.

Even the lotus seeds and lotus roots in the lotus pond became delicacies in their mouths.

Jasmine and tuberose can also be used in cooking and are served on the dining table.

And the most important thing is that you can eat as much of these products as you want, because there are few people in Yunyuan and the quantity is large.

In fact, the output from these orchards alone is enough to open a large fruit and vegetable store.

Yes, the capital is different from some places in Japan, which often only have a few specialties.

There are many unique local flowers, vegetables and fruits here, which enriches people's lives and brings them closer to nature.

In the capital, there are no factories like those in Japan that are emitting smoke all day long.

From the outside of the capital, it is closely connected to gardens, vegetable gardens and rural areas.

According to an ancient Chinese poem, "Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence", here you can indeed leisurely see the Southern Mountains.

Probably, there is nothing big about replacing the word "South" with "West" or "North".

In short, an old man like Han Yingming who lives in Japan.

In my life, I have always been accustomed to seeing vegetables, fruits, and flowers being sold at extremely high prices, which can be completely classified as luxuries in life.

So he really couldn't help but look at the people in the capital with great envy.

He truly envied them for being able to enjoy these gifts from nature for a long time at very low cost.

Especially the price of watermelon in the summer. Even the ones sold in stores are so cheap that they seem to be given away for free. They are more than a hundred times cheaper than watermelons in Japan. It is really unbelievable.

To be honest, if we talk about freedom of fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Then China seems like a wealthy family with plenty of money, while Japan is the poorest country.

This is something that I think every Japanese cannot deny.

But even so, this is not enough to express Han Yingming's satisfaction with the capital. What moved him most was that his wife and daughter could also find their own unique pleasures in the capital.

The women in the capital also had their own unique leisure activities in the summer. For example, they would pick two tuberoses in the yard and put them on their heads to scent themselves.

Or you can find some nail grass, mash it with alum, and dye your nails red.

When the heat comes, they don't like to drink coffee or tea anymore, but the capital's unique summer iced drinks, sour plum soup and palace cheese, can save them and relieve the summer heat.

However, the best thing, the one that suits women’s hearts the most, is still the ice bowl.

A large bowl of ice, covered with a tender lotus leaf, on which are placed fresh water chestnuts, fresh walnuts, fresh almonds, fresh lotus roots, fresh lotus seeds, fresh hazelnuts, and finally a few candied fruits to warm the body, and the melon makes for a fragrant, fresh, refreshing, cold dish. Red is red, white is white, and green is green.

In the hot summer, having a bowl of ice to cool off and cool down is really refreshing.

The crispness, sweetness, and tenderness of fresh river food are all mixed together, and one bite is the best gift of this summer.

If this kind of fresh food that is served at the right time and place was sold in a restaurant in Japan, the price would be incredibly high.

It can make women smile and make men drink a few more glasses.

For this reason, Han Yingming had to admit that the Chinese people are the ones who truly understand life.

  I wonder how much smarter, healthier and happier they are to be able to invent something like this than the Japanese who only know how to put red beans, strawberries, condensed milk and glutinous rice dumplings in shaved ice.

That’s not all. Even the fabrics used by people in Beijing were much better than those used by the Japanese. There was actually a kind of extremely expensive fabric in the world that could not be produced by Japan. This was something Han Yingming could not have imagined.

It turned out that in order to return the gift, Jiang Nianyun also gave a large piece of fabric and asked someone to take measurements and make Chinese summer clothes for Han Changzi and Matsumoto Keiko.

The material was a piece of white fabric as thin as a cicada's wing and embroidered with grass leaf patterns with silver thread. It was stunning enough when it was taken out.

Keiko Matsumoto liked it at first sight.

After admiring it again and again, she couldn't help but put one corner of it on her shoulder and looked left and right in front of the mirror.

He called out to his mother, "Mom, come and see what a nice piece of fabric this is."

Han Changzi smiled and leaned over, took a look, and said it was beautiful. Then he thanked Jiang Nianyun and said, "Sorry for the expense."

At this time, although the mother and daughter were so polite, they didn't take it too seriously.

They just think the material is beautiful and they like it.

As for the tailor who came to take their measurements and make clothes the next day, it was none other than Su Jin recommended by Yin Yue.

The old tailor Su Shenzhen was already making Chinese wedding dresses for Keiko Matsumoto, so of course he had no time to do this kind of work.

Fortunately, like father like son, Su Jin has been following his father in using scissors since he was a child and has already learned most of the skills.

The clothes were quickly made and brought over, which surprised the mother and daughter at first glance.

Because the stitches are so fine and the cutting proportions are so perfect, even the buttons are made so realistically, you can tell at a glance that it was done by an expert.

This not only made them happy, but also filled them with more yearning for the wedding dresses that were being made.

But the most important thing is the texture of the material, which is surprisingly good.

At first it didn't seem like there was anything special about it, but I didn't expect it to be so mysterious.

As soon as they put on the new clothes, Han Changzi and Matsumoto Keiko, both mother and daughter, felt that "the previous summers were wasted."

It turned out that they really felt it only after putting it on: the material is light, breathable, not easy to wrinkle, soft and full of body.

Its texture is seven parts soft and three parts hard. It feels cool and pleasant and does not stick to the skin at all.

It also has a certain waterproof function, and will not leave any wrinkles at all. The matte texture makes it look more advanced.

It is really stylish, comfortable and lightweight, low-key and luxurious.

Both mother and daughter loved their clothes very much.

For this reason, Han Changzi couldn't help but find Jiang Nianyun again and asked her in person about the source of the fabric, intending to buy some more to bring back to Japan.

Unexpectedly, I didn’t know until I asked, and I was shocked when I asked.

Only then did I know from Jiang Nianyun that the material was not something ordinary, but an ancient and traditional natural silk material from Guangdong.

It is called "Xiangyunsha", also known as "Kaosha", "Cangchou" and "Shulangsha".

This thing originated in the Song Dynasty. It is made by soaking original natural fabrics directly in the juice extracted from wild kudzu (ranunculus) stems and sealing them with silt. After leaving them for a period of time, they are made through special processes such as sun exposure.

It is also the only silk fabric in the world that is dyed with pure plant dyes.

Its advantages are that it is cool in summer and gentle in winter. The longer it is worn and washed, the better the feel and color become. It can be said to be the coolest fabric in the world.

The characteristic is that when walking, the clothes will make a rustling sound due to friction.

The drawback is that there is currently no way to make it using industrial methods, so this thing is quite precious and very expensive.

This can be seen from the fact that it is hailed as "soft gold" in the textile industry.

Moreover, since the liberation, mainland movies and dramas have used Xiangyunsha trousers and jackets as the professional attire of Three People's Party spies, and people have simply run out of ways to use this coolest fabric in the world.

This has led to the near extinction of this type of fabric. In fact, the domestic production area has been in a state of suspension, and no new fabric has been produced in recent years.

Jiang Nianyun admitted that after returning to China, she also looked for ways and means from many sources, and it took her several months to buy half a piece of fabric from Guangdong through her son's friend.

Faced with the seller's price of two thousand dollars, she did not hesitate to ask someone to help her get it.

So she really gave all she had to give these materials to Han Changzi and Matsumoto Keiko.

If Han Changzi really wants it, it's certainly not impossible.

But that will take time, and you'll have to ask someone to look for it slowly, and you'll have to be patient and wait.

After listening to Jiang Nianyun's account of the whole process, Han Changzi knew that it would be difficult to fulfill his wish.

I could only sigh helplessly and express my regret.

Later, Han Yingming learned about this. After seeing this magical material, he felt even more confused.

  His company is engaged in import and export trade. He just can't understand why such a good product would be discontinued?

For this purpose, he even went to discuss the matter with his son-in-law Ning Weimin in person.

He asked Ning Weimin face to face, "Isn't your Pierre Cardin company a clothing company? Then why don't you make good use of such a good thing? Isn't it a pity? In my opinion, the production of this kind of cloth should be resumed as soon as possible. At least it will be a best-seller in Southeast Asia."

In response to his father-in-law's question, Ning Weimin gave this answer, "You are right, I am very grateful for your reminder. But I must say that my country is too big and too closed. All the excellent products from all over the country, not to mention that they have not been able to go abroad, even many people don't know about the differences between different parts of our country."

Han Yingming then asked, "If no one knows about it, can't we put in some effort to promote it? I am very optimistic about the commercial prospects of this kind of thing."

Ning Weimin could only smile and say, "In China, the business concept has just begun to recover, and there are not many people with this kind of thinking. If we want to fully explore the commercial value of this kind of thing, we may not be able to do it with just the people in our country. However, if you are interested and willing to invest, then maybe we can cooperate and see if we can resume production of this thing in the place of origin and then sell it to Southeast Asia."

"Eh? If that's the case, that would be great. I'm really looking forward to it."

Han Yingming didn't expect Ning Weimin to say this, but his eyes lit up. He was really interested.

Nothing else, don’t you trust your own son-in-law?

He really wanted to be a participant and get to know Ning Weimin's business talents from a closer perspective.

This also prevents his daughter from always bragging in front of him about how capable Ning Weimin is.

For him, having such an opportunity to develop a cooperation between father-in-law and son-in-law is something he has been longing for.

However, even though they had the intention and interest in this matter, they still had to put it on hold for the time being.

For no other reason than that the crew in Japan finally got approval and rushed to Beijing.

Han Yingming now has something to do.

Regardless of whether he was representing his son-in-law or helping Jiang Nianyun, his relative-in-law, it was his duty to settle these Japanese in the garden, and it just happened to be of use.

More importantly, once the crew arrives, the real wedding will be very close.