" This..." Yang Sichen didn't know how to start. He looked at the purple handkerchief awkwardly.
Zi Juan rubbed her feet with both hands and looked up at Yang Sichen. She asked,""Young Master, what's wrong?"
"Does it hurt when you bind your feet?" Yang Sichen hesitated for a moment before asking.
Zi Juan rubbed her feet and said,""How can it not hurt? This servant is still considered good. She heard from a senior sister that she had started binding her feet when she was about six years old. At that time, she could already walk, and her foot bones were still a little soft. The effect of binding her feet was better, and it would not affect her walking too much in the future. It was her mother who hired a special foot-binding woman to bind her feet. The foot-binding woman first helped her wash her feet, and then two servant girls pressed down on her hands and feet. Then, she twisted the four toes outside her thumb down until they were completely stuck to the soles of her feet. After sprinkling the powder, he tied it up with a cloth strip that was about nine feet long and three inches wide. Then, he stitched it up tightly with a needle and thread. This lasted for about two months. During this period, her feet were red, inflamed, and swollen. She was in so much pain that she could barely walk. Starting from the third month, the foot-binding woman would remove the foot-binding cloth every three days in an attempt to press her eight toes inwards. She would also tighten the cloth to the limit and put on her soft shoes. Then, she would ask the servant girl to half support and half support her, forcing her to get off the bed and walk around with the foot to help her already twisted and deformed fingers get fixed as soon as possible. During this period of more than five months, because the foot-binding woman was careless, the skin on the soles of her feet festered. During that period, every time she removed the cloth, her feet would always be a bloody mess. When the swelling finally subsided and the skin healed, the sprained toe had naturally bent and stuck to the sole of her foot. The foot-binding woman began to help her 'bind her foot'. She was pressed onto the bed by the servant girl, and her mouth was tied with a cloth to prevent her from biting her tongue. The foot-binding woman lifted her foot onto the chair, grabbed the tip of her foot and the base of her foot, and bent the entire instep toward the center of her foot until the instep was arched. The four toes that were bent toward the center of the foot were tightly pressed against the bottom of the foot. It was really not an ordinary pain. She was in so much pain that she broke out in a cold sweat while crying. The foot-binding woman wrapped the foot-binding cloth tightly and tightly, and sewed it firmly with a needle and thread. She looked at her feet with tears in her eyes and thought that the pain was finally over. In fact, there was still a period of time where she was miserable. She accidentally caught a cold and had a high fever for a while. The swelling of her feet could not be resolved smoothly. In order to reduce the swelling of her feet as soon as possible, the foot-binding woman put the broken porcelain pieces into the foot-binding cloth and forced the servant girl to carry her back and forth until her feet were bloody... At this time, her grandmother could not stand it and came forward to stop it. The foot-binding woman finally stopped. The pain continued for nearly ten months before she could really get out of bed and walk. The last time he saw her was a year ago. She was already 18 years old, but she still walked as if she was shackled. After walking for a short while, her feet would hurt. However, her internal energy cultivation was indeed not bad. If not for the fact that she did not wrap her feet properly, her martial arts would not be much worse than Granny Wen's.”
Zi Juan knelt on the bed and found a foot-binding cloth. He began to re-bind his feet and said as he wrapped them,"Because this servant wanted to practice martial arts, I only started binding my feet when I was eight and a half years old. Because the best time for foot binding had passed, Granny Wen had no choice but to use some tricks. On the night before they prepared to bind their feet, Granny Wen had someone kill a live sheep and take its warm blood. She had this servant soak her feet in the blood first. Then, the nanny personally weighed the medicine: three taels of Chuanjinlong, three taels of Dipsacus, one tael of Black Shedding Snake, three taels of Spatholobus Spatholobus, two taels of Angelica, three carts of Stretching Tendon Grass, two taels of frankincense, two taels of myrrh, three taels of ice, two taels of Chuanqiong, one tael of tarragon, two taels of sophorum sophorum, three taels of Drynaria fortunei, one catty of monkey bone, one tael of Xuanming Powder, three taels of clematis root, and three taels of earthworm. He boiled the soup and medicine, and then soaked the slave's feet with the sheep's blood. After one night, the medicine seeped into the bone marrow, making the bones soft and the muscles soft. It also had a good effect of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. After soaking the feet, it could achieve twice the result with half the effort and reduce the pain. At that time, this servant's feet were only a little more than four and a half inches long, which was considered small. After being soaked in sheep blood and medicine, his bones had become soft and his muscles had become soft. Granny Wen took a piece of cloth and gently placed it on the sole of her foot to fix it. She circled around the back of her foot and gently pressed down on the four toes outside her thumb with her right hand. The white cloth that was about three fingers wide wrapped around her and folded towards the center of her foot to press down on the head of the cloth. She pulled it back gently, and the four little toes were folded towards the center of her foot. Then, it circled around the base of her foot and returned to the back of her foot. After tightening it, it wrapped around the toes again. When it returned, it wrapped around the big toe and gently pulled, and the big toe was already raised. This cycle repeated, tightly wrapped. Finally, he used a thread to sew it tightly to prevent it from loosening, and then he did the same for the other foot. Then, he put on silk socks for the servant and put on hard-top soft-soled shoes. These shoes were two inches smaller than the wrapped feet and could only be worn with the help of shoes. There was a tie on the upper of the shoes. After tying it tightly, the wrapped feet were tightly bound in order to form. This servant did not feel much pain at that time. Granny Wen told this servant that her foot-binding technique had its own secrets. It was not very tight at the beginning and did not feel pain. Once she walked, it would gradually tighten and gradually pull the four toes tightly to the center of the foot and the foot root tightly to the toes. It caused his feet to gradually become shorter. After a year and two months, this servant's feet had already become small feet. During this period, besides the three months when I was in severe pain, it did not affect this servant's normal practice of internal energy. It was just that when I started practicing martial arts again, I could not stand very steadily. It was not until this servant was ten years old that she completely learned how to use her small feet to maintain the stability of her lower body.”
After wrapping one foot with the purple handkerchief, she glanced at Yang Sichen and continued to wrap the foot cloth around the other foot. As she wrapped it, she continued,""The nanny explained to this servant that there was nothing mysterious about the Wen family's foot-binding method. It was just that people did not know how to think and ignored the essentials, which was why there was a mistake. Everyone knew that bound feet needed to be sharp and thin to look good, but they forgot that agility and convenience were the most important. No matter how small his feet were, he would feel like he was wearing shackles when he walked, which would spoil the scenery. When an ordinary person walked, their heel would land on the ground first, and then their center of gravity would fall on the tip of their feet. With the tip of their feet supporting their body, they would lift their heel and step forward. Their feet would alternate, and they would be able to walk freely. If you run, you can only run fast by supporting your body with your toes. This is also a well-known principle. However, when it came to foot binding, some people threw all these aside and blindly wrapped around the joints of the soles of the feet. The toes and the soles of the feet became one, and the toes could not bear the weight alone. They could only rely on the heels to slowly move, so they could not take big strides, let alone run and jump. After wrapping his foot, the four toes outside the big toe were pressed down, and the pain was unbearable. Naturally, his movement was limited, but he had to maintain the flexibility of the foot joints as much as possible and practice walking according to the footwork before the foot binding. If one was afraid of pain and dared not touch the ground with their toes, the joints of the soles of the feet would become stiff and sluggish early on. In addition, the ankle straps would be tightly wrapped all day long, and the joints would be restricted day by day. They would also be afraid of pain and dare not move. Soon, they would become a pair of dead feet, burdened for life. Even if they had a thousand wonderful ideas in the future, it would be difficult to reverse the situation. Granny Wen's binding method was to protect the joints of the soles of the feet from being bound to death during the various stages of the binding. When the toes were wrapped, it did not affect the joints of the soles of the feet much, but because the toes were pressed, the pain was the most intense. They often did not dare to walk because of fear of pain. At this time, they must not be tolerated. Walking more was essential. During the process of wrapping, the bones of the outer foot were wrapped around the sole of the foot. The joints between the palm and toe of the foot were originally five, but now the phalanx of the little toe and the metatarsal bones connected to it were all folded to the sole of the foot. The joints of the sole of the foot had changed from five to four, and the gaps between the toes were also shrinking due to the wrapping, making it more difficult to move. If one did not strengthen their walking, most of them would be wrapped to death at this stage. If you only care about wrapping the back of the foot into a bow, the gap between the joints of the foot will be tightened by external force. If you don't work hard, most of the feet that have not been entangled in the previous stages will be entangled at this time. Therefore, the most important thing at this stage was to not bend too much. Otherwise, it would become a pair of dead feet. Over-bending would destroy the normal arch of the foot, and the joints of the foot would be completely wrapped. Even the gap between the ankle joints would be affected by the foot-binding cloth and become smaller, thus losing its original effect. Its true meaning was that if you could not wrap it, you should not wrap it. If you must wrap it, you should stop after a little bending and not overdo it. Over-binding was the greatest harm in the process of foot binding. You must understand this truth: even if you know that foot-binding blindly seeks to be small, it is really endless trouble. Leaving a few more points would allow the joints of the feet to have a chance of survival, which would definitely be beneficial for walking in the future. Therefore, if others wrap it up to three inches, I will wrap it up to three inches and five cents for you. If others wrapped it up to three inches and five minutes, I would wrap it up to four inches for you. Although it was slightly bigger, it would not be ridiculed as a lotus boat that was one foot long. This way, although he wouldn't be able to win for the time being, he would be able to benefit for life.”
"Nanny Wen told this servant that this servant's leg is very good. If you really bind it, the bound leg will not be more than two inches and seven inches. However, this servant's martial arts will be crippled. Without this foot-binding cloth, this servant's small feet would be unable to move. This servant's small feet are covered in a thin layer of oily skin, which is wrapped in a mass of broken bones and flesh. Most of the muscles and tendons have lost their function. Only by tightly wrapping the feet with layers of foot-binding cloth can they form a solid body and walk. Moreover, the tighter she wrapped herself, the more energetic she was when she walked.”He wrapped the purple silk around his feet, put on his silk socks, and put on his wooden shoes.
After Zi Juan finished nagging. Only then did Yang Sichen know that with Granny Wen, who was proficient in medical arts, to bind her feet, the pain she suffered from the purple silk foot binding was relatively small. As the saying goes, a pair of small feet makes a vat of tears. Now, it seemed that it was true!
Before Yang Sichen could continue speaking, Granny Zhao invited Yang Sichen to the front hall for lunch.
After lunch and an hour of rest, Yang Sichen asked Zi Juan to accompany him to visit the Du brothers at Ping Bo Pavilion. Zi Juan pouted and said,""Young Master, you really use this servant as a donkey. Even a donkey has a time to quit!”
Yang Sichen smiled." Donkeys are said to be stupid. I heard that as long as you hang a carrot in front of a donkey, it will keep walking forward." This Young Master will go and find Carrot now!”
Zi Juan thought to himself,"If you really bring the radish and wave it in front of me, where will I put my face?" Hence, she hurriedly walked towards the door.
Yang Sichen saw this and smiled." It seems like this young master's little female donkey is quite intelligent!" This young master should use the radish to reward this little female donkey!”
When Zi Juan heard this, he paused and almost fell. Was there such a way to mock people? Thus, he ignored Yang Sichen and walked towards Ping Bo Xuan in a huff.
Yang Sichen hurriedly chased after him, offering his apologies and making amends. After half an hour, he finally managed to coax the purple handkerchief when they were about to enter Ping Bo Xuan. After entering Ping Bo Xuan, Yang Sichen put on the airs of a master and thought to himself," Confucius said that only villains and women were difficult to raise. This was true.
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