The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

The kiln outside the city was bathed in the soft light of dawn.

Shen Kuo squatted on the ground, holding the freshly made glass in both hands, as if he were holding a newborn baby, or as if he were holding a rare treasure.

His face, covered in coal dust, was streaked with tears, leaving two white marks that looked both comical and heartbreaking.

"It's done...it's really done..."

Shen Kuo raised his cup to the rising sun.

Sunlight streamed through the cup without obstruction, casting a crystal-clear halo on the ground and even refracting a tiny rainbow.

Zhao Lingjun leaned closer, her eyes sparkling. As a royal princess, she had seen countless rare and precious treasures, but this was the first time she had ever seen something so pure, clear, and without a trace of impurity.

"So beautiful..."

She couldn't help but reach out and gently touch it; it was cool and smooth, like touching solidified cream.

"Is this what you call 'glass'? It's even clearer than...more clear than all the crystal ornaments in my house!"

At this moment, Qian Duoduo finally snapped out of his shock. His eyes, which had been dulled by the torment of the account books, suddenly flashed with a hungry wolf-like green light.

He lunged forward, staring intently at the cup, and swallowed hard.

"This thing... could sell for at least twenty strings of cash!"

"Twenty strings of cash?"

Jiang Lin, who had been standing silently to the side, suddenly chuckled.

He walked over, took out the piece of broken glazed tile from Fanlou that he had picked up in the main hall earlier, and casually tossed it next to the crystal-clear glass.

Without comparison, there is no harm.

At this moment, the "Western Region Glass" that the owner of Fanlou regarded as his life looked like a moldy mung bean cake, turbid, ugly, and unsightly.

Jiang Lin pointed to two items on the ground, looking at Shen Kuo and Qian Duoduo with the eyes of someone looking at two spendthrift sons:

"Are you comparing the price of a phoenix to that of a common chicken?"

"Twenty strings of cash? Are you insulting it, or insulting me?"

Qian Duoduo was startled: "Then... how much do you think it should cost, sir?"

Jiang Lin held up five fingers and waved them in the air.

"Fifty strings of cash?" Qian Duoduo's eyes widened.

Jiang Lin shook his head, a cold smile typical of a cunning businessman curling at the corner of his lips:

Starting bid: 500 strings of cash.

"puff--!!!"

Qian Duoduo and Shen Kuo both spat out their words.

"Five...five hundred strings of cash?!" Qian Duoduo nearly bit her tongue. "Sir, are you crazy? How much does this thing cost to produce? That pile of sand only cost a few coins!"

"Who told you to price it at cost?"

Jiang Lin, exasperated, tapped Qian Duoduo on the head and began giving this group of ancient people their first marketing lesson:

"Duoduo, you must remember this."

"We don't sell sand, cups, or even glass."

"What we're selling is—face."

Jiang Lin paced back and forth in the dilapidated brickyard, his voice filled with seductive power:

"Do the powerful and wealthy in Bianjing lack cups? No. What they lack is the sense of superiority of 'I have what others don't.'"

"Why is the glassware from Fanlou so expensive? Because it's rare, because it's imported from the Western Regions. Ours is a hundred times better than glassware, and it's made using 'secret immortal techniques,' so why can't it sell for a hundred times the price?"

"Listen up, from today onwards, this thing isn't called glass anymore, that's too old-fashioned."

Jiang Lin's gaze was intense:

"It's called—'Heavenly Crafted Glass'."

"Moreover, no retail sales, only auctions. Only ten pieces will be released each month, and the highest bidder wins. I want all the wealthy people in Bianjing to fight tooth and nail for this one cup!"

These words left the three of them speechless.

Zhao Lingjun, in particular, looked at Jiang Lin with a gleam in her eyes.

As a member of the royal family, she understood the minds of the powerful all too well. Practicality was irrelevant; what mattered was being "unique" and "prestige."

Jiang Lin's "hunger marketing" tactic perfectly captured the psychology of those people.

"gentlemen."

Zhao Lingjun suddenly spoke, a playful smile playing on his lips:

"Perhaps I can help with the publicity."

Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow: "Oh? How does Young Master Zhao plan to help?"

Zhao Lingjun toyed with the jade pendant in his hand and said casually:

"Although my family only deals in jade, my mother and several aunts still have some influence in Bianjing City's... well, 'high-society circle'."

"If we let them use this 'Heavenly Crafted Glass' first, and then casually show it off at the party..."

Zhao Lingjun blinked: "What do you think of the effect, sir?"

Jiang Lin gave her a deep look.

This girl is not only rich, but she also knows how to distribute products. She's not a student; she's clearly a marketing genius!

"it is good."

Jiang Lin made a quick decision: "Then the task of 'planting the seed' is entrusted to you. Don't tell outsiders that it was built by the academy, just say that it is... a celestial object obtained from the Western Regions."

"Understood." Zhao Lingjun understood immediately.

Having secured the product and distribution channels, Jiang Lin suddenly realized that the most crucial element was still missing.

"Oh right, there's one more thing missing."

"What?" Shen Kuo was still carefully wiping the cup.

"GG".

Jiang Lin stroked his chin: "No matter how good this thing is, someone has to hype it up. And they have to hype it up so much that people feel like they've wasted their lives if they don't buy it."

He turned to Qian Duoduo and asked, "Where is Su Shi?"

"He's in the academy's cafeteria." Qian Duoduo glanced at the sky. "At this hour, he should be eating his third bowl of rice."

Jiang Lin waved his hand dismissively: "Bring him over here! I have work for him to do!"

Fifteen minutes later.

The academy's dining hall.

Su Shi was holding a bowl bigger than his face, slurping noodles with gusto, and had half a steamed bun in his mouth, eating with great relish.

"Zizhan! Stop eating! Come with me!"

Jiang Lin rushed in and grabbed Su Shi, dragging him outside.

"Hey! Sir! My noodles! I haven't finished eating yet!" Su Shi cried out, clutching his bowl. "Wasting food is shameful!"

"Forget noodles! I'll show you a treasure!"

Jiang Lin dragged him to the study, closed the door, and mysteriously took out a brocade box from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"Open it and take a look."

Su Shi swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth and looked at Jiang Lin suspiciously: "Sir, you're not going to ask me to share the debt of three hundred strings of cash, are you? I don't have any money!"

"Stop talking nonsense, just look!"

Su Shi carefully opened the brocade box.

It was noon, and sunlight streamed through the window onto the table.

As the box was opened, a dazzling light instantly stung Su Shi's eyes.

Inside the brocade box lay a crystal-clear cup, its purity resembling a handful of frozen mountain spring water, or an icy essence fallen from the heavens.

The half-eaten steamed bun in Su Shi's hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

His eyes were wide open, and his mouth was agape, unable to close for a long time.

"This...this is..."

Su Shi's hands trembled as he reached out to touch it, yet dared not, for fear of melting it:

"Is this ice? Or crystal? How can something so transparent exist in this world?!"

Jiang Lin looked at Su Shi's unworldly appearance and nodded in satisfaction.

That's right. Even the great writer was stunned, so wouldn't those nouveau riche obediently hand over their money?

"This is called 'Heavenly Crafted Glazed Glass'."

Jiang Lin patted Su Shi on the shoulder and said with a smile:

"Zizhan, you write well, please write a poem for me."

Su Shi, still reeling from the shock, instinctively asked, "Write...write what?"

"Just write 'cup'."

Jiang Lin leaned close to his ear and whispered:

"There's only one requirement—"

"Praise it to the skies. The more fantastical, the better; the more outrageous, the better."

"The goal is to make everyone who reads this article believe that this thing is a divine stone left over from Nuwa mending the sky, a wine cup from the Queen Mother of the West's Jade Pool, or a treasure that fell from the heavens!"

"this……"

Su Shi paused for two seconds.

Then, the shock in his eyes slowly faded, replaced by a kind of fervor and excitement unique to intellectuals.

He slapped his thigh suddenly, ignoring the steamed buns on the ground, and burst into laughter:

"Great job! I love this!"

He grabbed the glass, held it up to the sunlight, and examined it closely, his eyes shining brighter than the glass itself.

"Sir, please wait! Give me three days! No, two days!"

"I'll compose a masterpiece for you that will be remembered for all time!"

"I guarantee that everyone in Bianjing will see this and feel like their cup is trash, making them drool with envy!"