No one can disturb my retirement life in the Red Mansion

"Madam, do you want to find some people from the paper mill to help?" Jiang looked at it blankly. This, papermaking? This, does it need her mother-in-law to bring people to do it herself? If she is not allowed to call her mother-in-law, she might as well call her old lady.

"You knew at first glance that we were making paper. Have you seen us before?" Ou Mengmeng asked casually.

"I have seen it!" Jiang said. Although not every family in her hometown made paper, aristocratic families like theirs would always have one. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, at least it would allow the children of the family to practice calligraphy. It was more convenient and cheaper than writing on bamboo slips or silk.

This is also an important industry in the family, and these are also taught to daughters from an early age.

"We want to make this paper softer and tougher. At least it will stop the children from using the sandbox." Ou Mengmeng nodded, pointing to the paper that had already been made in the inner room, still a little discouraged.

They have been working on it for more than half a year. Now they are producing paper every day, but they are all using different methods and formulas, but she is not satisfied with the results.

"These sisters-in-law were all hired from the papermaking workshop." Sun Shangxiang also said, pointing at the women sitting together, "The best craftsmen in the workshop are all here. The only problem is that mother is never satisfied."

At this time, most men were in the army, so women dominated the workshops. It was not that Ou Mengmeng specifically wanted women. This was caused by the social environment at that time.

To put it simply, papermaking is the interaction of plant fibers. Whether it is wood, bamboo, straw, bark, or fishing nets... In fact, they are all made by breaking down plant fibers, softening them, bleaching them, and finally making paper.

Now everyone uses Cai Lun's method, but they all make minor adjustments according to their habits. Not to mention Ou Mengmeng, even the paper produced by the paper mills nowadays is actually much better than what Cai Lun made a hundred years ago. And she has been leading the process for two thousand years. She can't automate it, but it can be better, right?
Jiang looked up and saw that paper was being peeled off from the other side of the fire wall. A woman handed over the newly peeled paper. Jiang opened her mouth wide and thought, "This is called failure?"
The paper is off-white, and the front is very smooth and delicate, with a hint of fragrance. The paper is also very thin, and from the rough edges, the fibers are very fine, very white, and translucent. The fibers are not actually very long, so when you hold the paper in your hand, it makes a rustling sound, which also means that the paper is a bit brittle.

This brittleness problem is actually a common problem with paper at this time. Everyone wants to solve it, but no one has.

"Madam, this paper is already very good, right?" Jiang looked at her mother-in-law hesitantly. She was actually a little upset. She had thought that her mother-in-law had not made it well, but it turned out to be so good. Then she saw that there were rolls of paper in the house, of varying thicknesses, which were more delicate and white than before. She wondered if the paper made in her workshop was fake.

Ou Mengmeng knew from her technique of testing the paper that this was also professional. She knew how to do it and knew what was good and what was bad.

"This is bamboo paper. The raw material is the newly grown bamboo on the mountain, so the formula is different from before." Ou Mengmeng explained and took the paper, still thinking about how to improve the problem.

At this time, the mainstream paper is still Cai Hou paper, which is actually parchment paper. The main material is mulberry bark. As for old fish nets, hemp heads and the like, they are just to increase the length of the fibers and improve toughness.

Jiang Gang also said that there were papermaking workshops in their countryside. China's papermaking production areas were originally distributed throughout the south. Wudi also had it since ancient times.

Ou Mengmeng was originally from Wuzhong, and Wujun Fuyang is known as the hometown of Sun Quan. It also has another name, "the hometown of papermaking", which is an intangible cultural heritage. Fuyang makes bamboo paper, also known as Yuanshu paper. In the Song Dynasty, Fuyang bamboo paper once became a tribute, and there is a poem to prove it, "The top scholar in Kyoto made Fuyang paper, and ten pieces of Yuanshu paper were used to pass the imperial examination."

The reason for choosing bamboo paper was that there were detailed steps for making bamboo paper in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature", which she had taught to the children. Ou Mengmeng had drawn the picture above herself, and now she has drawn it herself, so they can just follow the steps.

Second, there is an intangible cultural heritage experience park in Ou Mengmeng’s city. Ou Mengmeng has also taken the children from her school to play there and tried it herself.

The third is the raw materials. Why did most of the paper in the south later become bamboo paper, and why was the production method specifically marked in Tiangong Kaiwu? Because the raw materials were easy to obtain.

The Taoist temple where they are located is covered with bamboos, which are inexhaustible. The ancient people may not know what environmental protection is, but they also have cost accounting. You have to make money in everything you do. Cai Lun improved papermaking because of cost issues.

Of course, when she first said she wanted to change the raw material to bamboo, she was dissatisfied with these technicians. After all, at that time, the main formula was still based on Cai Lun. Each family made some minor adjustments, but like her, the entire main material was changed, which of course made them dissatisfied. In other words, it made them lose confidence and afraid of failure and responsibility. However, Ou Mengmeng repeatedly assured them that she would not let them be responsible, and this is how we have come to this day.

In fact, she did make it. After all, what she came up with was a very mature method. Maybe some parts of it were kept secret, but everyone here was an expert, so after some debugging, there would be no problem in making it into paper.

Ou Mengmeng is also very good at summarizing. In the past few months, the quality of paper in the workshop has improved rapidly. This makes the technicians very happy, but the problem is that they are also frustrated because they think it is already very good. Why is the old lady still not satisfied?

"Is this bamboo paper?" Jiang was shocked. She had never expected that what she got was not the common Caihou paper. "Mother-in-law... Old Madam, you did a great job! You are all experienced and did a great job."

Jiang was generous with her praise. After all, the old lady was definitely amazing, but these craftsmen were even more worthy of praise.

Ou Mengmeng nodded to her daughter-in-law, not because she was praising herself, but because she knew to find professionals. This pragmatic attitude made Ou Mengmeng look up to her. And when she saw the results, she would sincerely thank the people who helped, which was very important.

She never dared to look down on anyone easily, and she had always educated her students and her children in this way. Now Jiang Shi did not have those bad habits of fake nobles, and she was very happy about this.

"So, old lady, is this not okay?" The paper delivery technician looked at Ou Mengmeng carefully. He hoped she could say, this is okay.

"It's still too brittle!" Before Ou Mengmeng got her hands on it, she knew it was not good enough just by hearing the sound of the paper when her daughter-in-law shook it. When she got it in her hands and looked at it again and again, the smoothness and whiteness of the paper barely reached what she had seen in modern times. But the flexibility was still not good enough.

The technicians were a little helpless. These technicians seemed to be very impressive. They actually didn't understand why the old lady was still satisfied. (End of this chapter)