Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 146 Big Gift
Old Master Xie flipped through the documents in his hand, and snorted coldly when he got to the last one.

"That Xie Yuyan is also cunning, actually requiring the daily wage for hired workers to be no less than one hundred coins."

This is also what Xie Chonghai is worried about.

"According to her calculations, she probably won't make much money."

Xie Yuyan can make money, but the Xie family might not be able to...

Firstly, the clay stove needed to be tested, and secondly, families like the Liu family needed to be bribed; according to their customs, they had to pay money every month.

With such a large business as clay stoves, everyone is bound to want a piece of the pie.

The Xie family received such a great "benefit" that even the New Year's gifts they sent were not enough, and they needed to send an additional gift.

If you factor all of these in, it's good enough if you don't lose money.

For now, they can only hold on like this until they completely destroy the Yang family's porcelain kiln before they can change their plans.

“We still need to raise some money,” Xie Chonghai said. “Although we’ve bought the pottery kiln, we still need money for its repairs.”

These things wouldn't normally mean anything to the Xie family.

It was just a pottery kiln, worth only a few hundred strings of cash.

But Xie Chongjun had previously given out 6,000 guan, and they spent several hundred more guan bribing various people.

Yesterday, Xie Yuyan instructed people to buy two pottery kilns. The smaller one cost eighty strings of cash, and the larger one cost one hundred and seventy strings of cash, which directly raised the price. They could not buy pottery kilns for less than these amounts of silver.

Otherwise, those people will cause trouble again.

They must be careful of the mistakes Xie Chongjun made, and never make the same mistake again.

In this way, several hundred strings of cash were gone.

After receiving the documents, Xie Chonghai discovered that the kiln used for firing clay stoves needed to be repaired. The kiln currently used by the Yang family was burning coal, while the kiln they had acquired had previously burned firewood.

Xie Chonghai said, "It would cost a lot of money to demolish and rebuild all the kilns."

Old Master Xie frowned: "Can't we not change it?"

Xie Chonghai shook his head: "If we use firewood, the firing method will definitely be different. Besides... firewood is expensive, and firing one kiln would be even less profitable."

How much does firewood cost per kilogram? How much does coal cost per kilogram?
Why can clay stoves be sold so cheaply? It all comes down to this.

Xie Yuyan calculated everything perfectly, yet he never mentioned how much money it would cost to renovate the kiln.

When Xie Chonghai saw the document, he broke out in a cold sweat, but the die was cast and the arrow had to be released. If the Xie family backed down now, the Liu family would be the first to not let them off the hook.

Before you know it, you've suffered another great loss.

The Xie family members present looked at each other, wondering how they had come up with such a thing.
“Then let’s change it,” Old Master Xie decided. “We’ll have someone do it tomorrow, and convert the kiln to one that burns coal. We can afford to pay each person one hundred copper coins.”

"As long as we can open the kiln sooner, spending more money is nothing."

Since Old Master Xie had said so, naturally no one objected.

Actually, Xie Chonghai had another worry: he feared he wouldn't be able to recruit many workers at this time. After all, everyone needs to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

But the Liu family couldn't wait.

Especially Liu Erniang, she needs to make a clay stove to entertain guests in the first month of the lunar year. If it really delays her business, it will cause a lot of trouble.

If all else fails, we'll have to call upon the workers from their family's porcelain kiln.

There are fewer people at the porcelain kiln, just hope nothing goes wrong. The porcelain they're taking to the market hasn't been fired yet.

……

In a pottery kiln in the northern part of Daming Prefecture.

Several mule carts took away all the belongings of the owner of the pottery kiln.

The pottery kiln has officially changed hands.

The pottery kiln workers and their employees only dispersed after the mule carts had gone far away.

Walking into a corner, several hired workers whispered, "Why not sell the pottery kiln to Madam Xie?" Another worker said, "Does the master care about such things? Of course, he'll sell it to whoever offers the most money. Anyway, he's long since given up on this business. Now that such a large sum of money has fallen from the sky, he's overjoyed. Why wouldn't he agree?"

"Don't be fooled by the fact that they all have the surname Xie; they are very different. I heard that the workers at Madam Xie's water shop and coal mine have an exceptionally good life. Not only do their employers not owe them money, but they also provide them with a meal."

"really?"

"Of course it's true! And there's no limit to how much you can eat, you can eat until you're full."

Several people's eyes lit up.

Even if it's just coarse food, that's enough. Eating out can save some food at home.

"That would be great."

"Before Madam Xie, we had never heard of anyone paying wages so readily."

"Then the Xie family... needless to say."

Hearing the worker's words, several craftsmen also stepped aside.

The craftsman surnamed Zhao asked, "What are your plans?"

Craftsman Xu sighed: "What else can we do? At this point, we have no choice but to do what the new owner tells us. We have a written agreement with the pottery kiln. If we stop working, we'll have to pay ten strings of cash!"

"Do you still remember how the Xie family took over the porcelain kiln back then?"

When Miao the craftsman suddenly brought up this matter, the expressions on everyone's faces immediately turned grim.

The Xie family swallowed up the porcelain kiln and used many underhanded methods to suppress many craftsmen, many of whom came to work in the pottery kiln because of this.

Especially those from Miao Village... After Xie Chongjun's concubine, Miao, died, several master craftsmen from Miao Village who worked at the Xie family's porcelain kiln ran into trouble one after another.

One was punished by the government for stealing porcelain clay from his master's house, and the other was hit by piles of ore while firing the kiln.

Two more kilns of porcelain were damaged during firing, and the Xie family sent them away.

In short, within a few years, all the artisans at the porcelain kiln were replaced by members of the Xie family.

"Most of the artisans at the Xie family's porcelain kiln were servants kept by the family. What good would it do for us outsiders to go to the Xie family? Our skills would be learned and we would just be dismissed."

Miao the craftsman said, "I can't stay here any longer. Even if it means losing money... it's better than losing my life."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that Madam Xie and Lady Xie both share the surname Xie..."

"Just as Madam Xie said, her 'Xie' is missing a little bit."

It lacks that filth and squalor.

This has now been confirmed.

Privately, many people are spreading this rumor.

After a long silence, Zhao the craftsman suddenly said, "I wonder if Madam Xie still needs any craftsmen."

The three of them looked at each other.

"How about we go ask them?"

……

Not far from the pottery kiln, Cheng Qi came out and looked around.

He instructed Miao the craftsman to encourage everyone to leave the pottery kiln. He might not be able to take all the craftsmen with him, but if most of them left, the Xie family would not be able to gather enough manpower in a short time.

Cheng Qi's eyes flashed with hatred.

It's all the Xie family's own fault that things have come to this. If the Xie family hadn't taken such drastic measures against the Miao family back then, many craftsmen wouldn't have been so afraid to work for them.

Madam Xie's methods are truly ingenious; she uses the Xie family to recruit craftsmen.

He had even previously suspected that Madam Xie would lose to the Xie family.

Thinking this, Cheng Qi quickened his pace toward the next pottery kiln. While the Xie family hadn't yet had the time to take over these kilns, they would put in extra effort to deliver a great gift to the Xie family.

(End of this chapter)