The emperor returned after enjoying himself to his heart's content. Princess Yongning accompanied him. Soon, only the prefect of Jingcheng and Li Ying and others were left at the banquet.
All the officials knew that Lu Xunguang was in the limelight. Li Ying had joined Princess Yongning's entourage, adding luster to her. Seeing that the "abalone shell" she presented today had won the emperor's favor, they were used to it and came up with smiles to congratulate her.
Only the prefect of Jingcheng looked rather unhappy.
As the parent official of Jingcheng, how could he be outshone by the country bumpkin Li Ying everywhere?
Wasn't this clearly making the emperor think that he, the prefect of Jingcheng, was incompetent and didn't care about the people's livelihood at all?
Now, the people of Princess Yongning had come to arrange all matters regarding whale watching in the future. Had he lost the emperor's favor? Was this the emperor's way of depriving him of his official position?
The prefect of Jingcheng was on tenterhooks and couldn't smile.
When his eyes met Lu Xunguang's, he didn't dare to offend this new noble. He could only smile awkwardly and say, "Lord Lu is really blessed to have such a virtuous wife. I really envy you..."
But his eyes looking at Li Ying were by no means friendly.
Lu Xunguang's face darkened.
Li Ying knew that he couldn't bear to see her suffer. Afraid that he would speak up, she quickly covered her lips with a handkerchief and coughed lightly.
Lu Xunguang understood and nodded coldly without saying much.
Li Ying preempted and said, "My lord is joking. This is just some petty tricks of mine that can't be put on the table. It's really my lord who leads the people. In the future, relying on the abalone shell business, they can get rich. Please, for the sake of our happy conversation today, take care of us more."
She put on a humble attitude, and her words made the prefect of Jingcheng confused.
What abalone shell business? Since the emperor had handed over the matter of whale watching to Princess Yongning, presumably, the acquisition of the abalone shell would also be fully responsible by Princess Yongning. There was no benefit for him.
But Li Ying just smiled sweetly and took out a delicate wooden box from her bosom and said softly, "My lord, please take a look."
Although she intended to retreat with Lu Xunguang, Princess Yongning would still have to deal with this person in the future.
Since she was cooperating with the princess, she naturally had to plan everything for Princess Yongning.
Just now, the matter of the abalone shell had already severely shamed the prefect of Jingcheng.
After giving three whips, two sweet dates had to be given. Only by combining kindness with severity was the way to govern. It was not good to offend the local official too much. Otherwise, if he was forced to jump over the wall and secretly made trouble, Princess Yongning would fail to handle the matter and would inevitably receive the cold shoulder from the emperor.
Although the prefect of Jingcheng was puzzled, he was not good at embarrassing Li Ying in front of Lu Xunguang. He could only lean forward suspiciously and suppress his impatience to look at what Li Ying was holding.
The wooden box was light. It seemed to be carved out of sandalwood. The whole body was as black as ink, but it emitted a soft light. It was very solemn and simple.
The most wonderful thing was the "hundred birds facing the phoenix" pattern inlaid on the box.
The pattern was somewhat like the inlay of gold and silver. It was exquisitely carved and faintly emitted a faint colorful pearl light. If you gently turned it, it could present colors such as green or light purple. It was colorful and very beautiful.
The prefect of Jingcheng was not a stupid person. He stared at it for a long time and then came to his senses. He carefully asked, "This... seems to be a conch shell?"
Li Ying smiled and said, "My lord has good eyesight. That's right. This thing is called mother-of-pearl."
There were various kinds of shells used for mother-of-pearl. Abalone, butterfly shell, and noctilucent turban shell had different colors. After grinding away the rough conch shell on the back, the smooth inner shell was left. After making the conch shell into a conch shell as thin as a cicada's wing, as small as a needle tip, and as thin as an autumn hair, it could be inlaid on the lacquerware base.
What Li Ying's dressing box did was "soft mother-of-pearl." On the bottom surface of this soft mother-of-pearl, lining with various colors could produce transparent colors, which was called "lining color inlay."
If you cooperate with mother-of-pearl and inlay it on a larger lacquerware with gold, jade, pine, and stone, it would be more bright, colorful, and beautiful, and magnificent and elegant. It was called "treasure inlay."
After the inlaid mother-of-pearl was coated with a layer of varnish, it was ground and polished to expose the mother-of-pearl. It was smooth, warm, and unparalleled in luxury.
Li Ying said softly, "When the whale watching project in Jingcheng is launched, there will definitely be many princes and nobles who will bring their relatives to play. My lord, do you think that such a mother-of-pearl dressing box can catch the eyes of those ladies and miss?"
The prefect of Jingcheng was still in a daze. He stared blankly at Li Ying, thinking that if his wife and daughter saw such an exquisite dressing box, they would cry and beg him to buy two. He quickly replied, "Not only that, not only that! I'm afraid that this mother-of-pearl dressing box will definitely become a hot item!"
Li Ying nodded and said, "This technique of lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl can also be made into wooden hairpins, wooden bracelets, and other things besides making dressing boxes."
"If the conch shell is polished thicker and glued with yellow fish glue and inlaid on tables, chairs, cabinets, it is called 'hard mother-of-pearl.' Rich families will presumably like it too."
She analyzed in detail and spoke clearly. It was obvious that she wanted to hand over this mother-of-pearl technique to the prefect of Jingcheng.
The prefect of Jingcheng held the brocade box in his hand and only felt it was heavy. He was puzzled and said, "Miss Li, why..."
Why did she give away such an exquisite and profitable business?
Li Ying smiled sweetly.
During this southern tour, she had already shown off in front of the emperor. How could she be willing to be the first bird again?
She said softly, "Since I'm receiving the emperor's salary, I should share the emperor's worries. Princess Yongning is kind to me. I have nothing to repay. I present this mother-of-pearl recipe. I only hope that my lord will do me a favor in the future and take care of the princess in Jingcheng more."
"The princess is ordered to buy abalone shells and collect conch shells from the people. The matter is complicated and heavy. My lord will have to take care of it up and down."
"At that time, my lord can first order people to select conch shells with good appearance and bright color. After grinding, they can be made into mother-of-pearl. Those broken conch shells with poor appearance can be made into abalone shells later. In this way, it is also a win-win strategy that kills two birds with one stone."
The prefect of Jingcheng suddenly realized. He was also a person with a clear mind. Since Li Ying had said so, he naturally understood.
If Li Ying had hidden her selfishness and presented this mother-of-pearl in front of the emperor herself, there would be no business for him.
She was so generous. She first handed over the mother-of-pearl dressing box to him for safekeeping. It was obvious that she was giving the credit for the presentation to him, only to make him regain the emperor's favor.
Thinking of his intentional embarrassment of her just now, this Li actually still wanted to repay evil with virtue. The prefect of Jingcheng couldn't help blushing and lowering his head. He said sincerely, "Thank you, Miss Li, for your advice!"
"Miss, please rest assured. I will definitely assist the princess with all my strength! I will serve in front and behind the horse. I will never dare to complain! If Miss has anything to use me in the future, I will definitely do my best!"
Li Ying smiled slightly and waved her hand again and again, only saying, "My lord has overrated me. There is really no need to be so polite. I, on behalf of the princess, thank my lord in advance."