I've been transported to the orc continent.

Chapter 277 Dyeing

Bai Ling pushed the wheelbarrow, with Chen walking beside him. As they passed Yue's house, Bai Ling shouted, "Yue, let's go."

That day, Bai Ling and Yue didn't plan to clean the house, but instead planned to make a birthday gift for their father.

Father's birthday was after the Chada Conference, but because he had to help Bai Ling build a house, his birthday was postponed by a few days. Now that the house is finished, it's time for Father to celebrate his birthday.

Bai Ling planned to make a garment for her father, a garment made of silk.

The silk was a light off-white color, which would look nice for making clothes, but Bai Ling decided to dye the silk first before making clothes for her father.

Yue quickly came out of the house. As he went out, he grabbed a sickle from under the eaves and strode out.

Bai Ling pushed the handcart and asked with a smile, "Yue, would you like to sit on it? I'll push you around."

Orcs are tall, so the handcart Bai Ling made was also quite large. It could easily fit not just one orc, but even three or four.

Yue pursed her lips: "I won't sit there. Only children and cubs sit there."

If it were in a deserted place, it wouldn't matter, but this is in the tribe, with countless people watching. If he sits on it, the entire tribe of orcs won't even have to wait until tomorrow to know that this brave hunter is being pushed around in a cart.

Bai Ling's expression was somewhat regretful: "If Yue doesn't want to sit, then forget it."

Chen was a little confused: "Brother, why do we need to use grass to make clothes for Father? Grass can't be used to make clothes."

Yue was also puzzled, but Bai Ling smiled mysteriously and kept her in suspense: "You'll find out when the time comes."

*

Polygonum hydropiper was a widely used natural dye in ancient times. The most commonly used indigo dye in ancient times was extracted from plants including Polygonum hydropiper. Now that time is tight, Bai Ling has no way to test the dye formula, so she can only use Polygonum hydropiper as the dye for the time being.

The three arrived at the place where Bai Ling had planted the smartweed and began to cut the grass with sickles.

They chose only the best-growing smartweed, cut it down, and put it in their baskets. All three were nimble orcs, and it didn't take long for both baskets to be filled with smartweed.

Besides the smartweed, the three of them also cut several bundles of wild grass to take back. With so many livestock at home, even though they had to take them out to graze every day, they still needed to consume some fodder every day.

Clean the brought-back smartweed, removing the withered yellow leaves and the weeds mixed in, then chop it up and put it in a ceramic pot.

Bai Ling crushed the lime, rolled it back and forth with a stick like rolling dough, and finally filtered it with a silk gauze to obtain a finer lime powder.

He sprinkled a layer of lime powder into the earthenware basin and stirred it evenly with a wooden stick.

Chen brought out the small stone mill from the house. He still didn't understand why a stone mill was needed to make clothes, but since it was his older brother's order, he could only do as he was told.

Bai Ling said, "Yue, you push the millstone. We need to grind all of these into juice."

The dyeing process requires the juice of Polygonum hydropiper, and this is the only primitive and simple method available now.

Yue sat on the stone, holding the handle of the millstone with her right hand and slowly pushing it. Bai Ling held a wooden spoon, scooped up a spoonful of smartweed and poured it into the hole of the millstone.

The smartweed was ground into powder, and the bluish-black juice mixed with the fine powder of the smartweed flowed out and fell into the earthenware basin under the stone mill.

The stone mill didn't grind the food very finely; Bai Ling ground it three times before Yue stopped.

Bai Ling tied a piece of silk to a ceramic basin, then pressed the silk down slightly with her hand, causing the center of the silk to dent.

Then Bai Ling used a wooden spoon to scoop a spoonful of juice from ground smartweed and poured it onto the silk to filter out the juice.

After filtering all the liquid, Bai Ling used a wooden spoon to scoop half a spoonful of the dark green liquid into a ceramic bowl, added a wooden spoonful of water, stirred it well, and then soaked a small piece of silk in the ceramic bowl. After a few minutes, Bai Ling took the silk out.

The off-white silk has turned dark blue.

Chen and Yue stared in surprise. Before they could even ask questions, Bai Ling poured out the dye from the bowl and then used a wooden spoon to scoop half a spoonful of the bluish-black liquid into the ceramic bowl. This time, he added a spoonful and a half of water.

Then Bai Ling repeated the action, placing a piece of silk about half the size of her palm into the ceramic bowl.

The silk was still dark blue this time, but it was a bit lighter than before.

After four attempts, Bai Ling finally got the color she wanted.

Chen and Yue were both stunned. They didn't dare to speak at all, as if the beautifully dyed silk would be blown away if they did.

*

Once the dye ratio was determined, the rest was easy. Bai Ling added the bluish-black liquid and water to a ceramic basin according to the ratio, and then soaked the folded silk in the basin.

At this moment, Feng and Cang returned from working outside. They were curious about what Bai Ling was doing, so they put down their tools and came over to watch.

About ten minutes later, Bai Ling took out the silk and placed it in a ceramic basin filled with clear water to continue soaking. Salt was added to the water in the basin; this step was to fix the color.

Soak the silk in salt water for more than ten minutes, then soak it in dye. After soaking, take it out and soak it in salt water again. This process needs to be repeated three times, meaning the silk needs to be soaked in dye three times and in salt water three times.

After doing this three times, wash the silk in clean water and then hang it on a bamboo pole to dry.

The off-white had turned into a beautiful indigo, and the silk hanging on the bamboo poles fluttered in the wind, looking as beautiful as a dream under the sunlight.

A group of orcs had already surrounded Bai Ling's courtyard.

At this time, all the orcs working in the fields had gone home. All the houses in the tribe were fenced, and Bai Ling's house was no exception. So, all the orcs passing by Bai Ling's house saw the silk drying in the yard.

They could hardly believe their eyes. What was drying in Bai Ling's yard? It looked like silk, but why was it such a beautiful color?

That's the color of the sky before sunrise, how could it appear in Bai Ling's house?

Attracted, the beastmen entered Bai Ling's house. They kept looking at the beautiful silk, even holding their breath as if breathing too loudly would blow away such a beautiful thing.

Finally, Feng spoke first: "Ling, is this the dyed silk?"

Upon hearing Feng's question, the beastmen all turned their heads and looked at Bai Ling.

Bai Ling was already somewhat used to this kind of scene, so he didn't feel embarrassed and nodded: "Yes, this is the dyed silk."