The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 42: Bamboo Woven Tableware

Chapter 42: Bamboo Woven Tableware

People in the alley saw the Song family build up their courtyard wall higher. Although they felt a bit unhappy and thought Song Dalang was guarding against everyone, some knew about Li Yao coming to find Song Yuyan that day and understood her approach.

Song Yuyan did not care what the neighbors thought. When someone asked her, she said it was a kind gesture from her Twenty-First Uncle and Aunt Fierce. Then she casually advertised for Aunt Fierce’s shop.

Besides that, she specially wove quite a few bamboo woven tableware items and gave them to Aunt Fierce. There were boat-shaped small baskets, round bamboo woven plates, square serving trays, and special small steamers…

Some of these were bamboo woven tableware items currently in use, like the hexagonal grid-shaped bamboo mats that separated food when steaming or boiling it. But most were creative bamboo weaving crafts that only became popular in later generations.

Because of the influence from people’s eating habits, the common folk’s first choice for food serving tools was cheap porcelain. Under this simple and plain custom, handicraftsmen rarely put much thought into tableware.

Song Yuyan could tell from the current level of bamboo carving development that bamboo carving was still just a craftsman’s skill. Literati generally appreciated bamboo carvings but did not carve them themselves yet. So, limited by the craftsmen’s cultural level, the artistic development of bamboo carving was still in its budding stage.

In the same way, the development of bamboo weaving and grass weaving, even ceramics, was in this simple stage that emphasized practicality.

But this did not mean creative works would have no market in this era. Only works that did not fit people’s views or went against development patterns would face resistance. Innovation on the basis of current production levels would only add points to such works.

Song Yuyan gained confidence from the fact that her own bamboo carvings had been appreciated by scholarly people like Du Yan, Tang Haogen, and Wang Ci. So she took a new step in bamboo weaving.

This time, she wanted to repay Song Bing and Aunt Fierce and hoped to use these bamboo woven items to help Aunt Fierce increase her sales.

Song Bing and Aunt Fierce had not seen many of these small items before. They asked her, “They look quite delicate and small. But how do you use these?”

Song Yuyan smiled and said, “Your niece once worked as a vendor for Aunt Fierce here and knows that the food taken out to sell has to be carried in those plates. One plate is not heavy, but when you add up many plates, they get very heavy. And after each sale, you have to wait for the customers to finish eating before collecting the plates. Though our plates all have marks to avoid mixing them up with the ones in restaurants, even so, plates still often get lost…”

Song Yuyan knew that porcelain was still relatively cheap at this time. Although this era had famous porcelain kilns like the Yue Kiln, Hutian Kiln, Chai Kiln, Ding Kiln, and after the Yue Kiln declined, the Longquan Kiln and Jingdezhen Kiln developed. But even fine porcelain bowls and plates cost only three coins each, and the flawed ones commonly used by the common folk were like the price of cabbage, two coins each.

But Aunt Fierce ran a small-scale business. If too many bowls and plates got lost, that was still a loss. So if these bamboo woven tableware items replaced the porcelain ones, the losses could be minimized. Because she made these bamboo woven tableware items in just a few minutes each, and they did not use much bamboo material.

Take the boat-shaped small basket as an example. It only used about ten short bamboo strips, not even one-tenth of the material needed for an ordinary bamboo basket.

And such bamboo woven tableware items caused no big loss if not collected. They could even be given as gifts to customers.

Though they could only hold food that did not drip oil or leak juice, given how delicate and small they were in craftsmanship, customers might take a few more looks. That way, it would easily deepen the impression of Aunt Fierce’s shop in the customers’ minds.

After Song Bing and Aunt Fierce heard this, the former smiled in delighted surprise and said, “Yam’s idea is very novel and also very good. She looks like a promising talent!”

Aunt Fierce said, “I will buy them from you. After all, you worked hard to weave them. I cannot take them for free.”

Song Yuyan felt unhappy and said, “Twenty-First Uncle and Aunt Fierce spent money to help your niece repair the courtyard wall. How can I take Aunt Fierce’s money?”

Aunt Fierce did not argue with her for too long. She said, “Then I will take this batch. But if there are needs next time, I will buy from you. You must not refuse the money.”

Song Yuyan smiled and agreed.

After Song Yuyan left, Song Bing picked up a round bamboo plate, placed it in his hand, and touched it. He said, “It looks simple and plain, but it can still catch the eye. And the surface is smooth. It feels not prickly at all when you touch it. I really hate to use it to hold food after looking at it.”

Aunt Fierce said nothing. She just grabbed a few delicate small steamers, went inside to wash them clean, then took them out and put some dumplings in them to steam. Song Bing felt a bit puzzled and asked her, “What are you doing?”

Aunt Fierce said, “I have wanted to do this for a long time. You see, we sell dumplings in plates. If we put too few, it does not look good. If we put too many… people go to restaurants to eat meals. They naturally do not want to eat our dumplings first and get full, so sometimes a lot of food goes unsold. But now the problem is solved!”

Aunt Fierce only put a few dumplings in the small steamer. Then the vendor could take the small steamer directly to sell. This way, with the delicate small steamer, not only did customers find it pleasing to the eye, but the dumplings inside were not many and not expensive. After customers ate them, they still had room in their stomachs for the meal, so they would not hesitate to buy…

Song Bing touched his head. Well, when it came to doing business, he really was not as good as his wife!

But this niece of his had a brain that was too clever. If she had not thought of this vending method, how could she have made this kind of small steamer?!

If everyone had not been asking lately whether he wanted to take Song Yuyan in as an adopted daughter, and if he did not want to invite guesses from all sides, he might have called Song Yuyan to the shop to help manage and run it.

____

Aunt Fierce’s idea soon got proven. The clerk who came back from vending said excitedly that they sold much more food this time than before.

Especially the five-spice broad beans that Aunt Fierce made. Just a small handful, placed in that boat-shaped small basket. Its unique shape drew the attention of many customers. Their dishes had not come up yet. Seeing that there were not many broad beans in the small basket and it would not affect their appetite, they bought some to try.

Someone took a real interest in the boat-shaped small basket and asked the vending clerk if the boat-shaped small basket could be taken away. The vending clerk did not respond right away. Instead, as Aunt Fierce had instructed, he first put on a little show to avoid giving it too easily and making the customer think these items could be taken casually.

After some persuasion, that customer chose to buy an extra portion of broad beans, put directly into the boat-shaped small basket. When he finished eating, the boat-shaped small basket was given to him as a gift.

Of course, such people were only part. After all, those who could afford to eat at restaurants had some spare money in their purses. They also cared about face and thought they could not take such a small advantage, or it would make them lose face.

But when they saw someone willing to haggle with the vending clerk over such an item, they could not help but feel interested in it. Then they would ask the vending clerk about it.

When more people asked, it invisibly advertised for Aunt Fierce’s shop. Over time, Aunt Fierce’s shop business got better day by day.

With Aunt Fierce’s business booming, the demand for bamboo woven tableware items increased too. So she bought quite a few more of these items from Song Yuyan.

In the same way, popular things always easily led to copycats. Many who did business would imitate Aunt Fierce. But they felt embarrassed to buy bamboo woven tableware from Song Yuyan, lest she see through that they were competing with Aunt Fierce for business. So they all went to other bamboo weavers and asked them to weave according to Song Yuyan’s bamboo woven shapes.

True bamboo weaving craftsmen knew many weaving methods, so Song Yuyan’s bamboo weaving was not impossible to copy. It was just that these items sold at low prices. Some bamboo weaving craftsmen did not do this kind of business at all. Some idle women at home could take orders, but they did not handle bamboo thorns as well as Song Yuyan did. So the finished products were always a bit inferior to Song Yuyan’s.

Even so, the common folk who did not understand the details naturally did not care about these. What they liked was that interesting shape.

There were many who did not care about these details, but there were also plenty who did, like the Lou family in Fenghua…

Lou Gao, the second young master of the Lou family, went to the workshop in Cixi to check the accounts and inspect the workshop along the way. After a busy day, he saw that the sky had grown late and decided to stay in Cixi and eat something.

Since the second young master wanted to eat, the Lou family’s manager naturally hurried to accompany him. He even invited the young head of the family to the biggest restaurant in Cixi for a drink.

The restaurant was very lively after the lanterns lit up. Not only were there performers doing comic plays, but vendors also moved through the crowd. A vendor saw Lou Gao’s attire and knew he was either rich or noble, so he came forward to sell snacks. The Lou family manager impatiently told the vendor to leave, but Lou Gao, with a good temper, bought a portion of broad beans and a portion of small dried fish.

This vendor happened to be from Aunt Fierce’s shop. So when he took out the bamboo woven tableware holding the snacks, Lou Gao could not help but look at it a few more times.

The Lou family’s business included many things, among them this bamboo weaving workshop. The Lou family workshop had taken in most of the famous handicraftsmen in Mingzhou. The bamboo weaving it produced was wholesaled to overseas merchants, but it also took the high-end product route, that is, specially making exquisite bamboo weaving to sell to officials and wealthy families. That way, it matched their status.

And today, as soon as he saw these bamboo woven tableware items, he found it hard to look away. It was not that these bamboo woven tableware items were so rare or precious. Rather, he saw right through the marketing model behind these bamboo woven tableware items at a glance, as well as the profits they brought.

He could not help but praise the person who came up with this method in his heart, while also feeling a bit unhappy at the same time.

“Do you know which family wove these bamboo woven items?” Lou Gao asked the manager of the Lou family workshop.

The manager was stunned, then said with slight unease, “I do not know…”

Lou Gao frowned and said, “If you do not know, why not go investigate? I see this item has been out for more than a day or two. Did you not notice it before? Did you not take it to heart?”

This manager was a distant relative of Lou Gao and also surnamed Lou. Back then, his family was poor, and he was sold to the Lou family as a servant. The Lou family was kind-hearted and taught him arithmetic, training him into a manager who could oversee one side’s business. Lou Gao thought he had stayed in Cixi too long, believing the Lou family had vast wealth and no rivals, so he gradually started to relax his vigilance and grow lax.

If he had not come today, he would have missed a new business opportunity!

Manager Lou’s heart skipped a beat, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Lou Gao did not keep holding onto Manager Lou’s mistake. He gave instructions: “Go find out clearly which family wove this. See if we can poach the person to the Lou family workshop…”

Manager Lou immediately went to find that vendor and asked. Only then did he learn it was from Aunt Fierce’s shop. And the one who wove these bamboo woven tableware items was none other than Song Yuyan, who had taken a few orders from the Lou family before.

Lou Gao did not know Aunt Fierce, but he only needed to know that Aunt Fierce’s husband was a clansman of the Song family.

Though their Lou family was a wealthy household, his father Lou Hao had also donated a clerical position to hold, but that was far from being an official household.

The Song family had ancestors who served as officials. Among Lou Gao’s generation, there was even Song Fu, who had passed the jinshi exam and was now the prefect in Tingzhou. So Lou Gao knew that though the Lou family was rich and noble, the truly respected family in Mingzhou was the Song family.

Of course, Lou Gao had never seen the Song family as a competitor, so he would not resort to harming Song Yuyan to achieve his goals. He just told Manager Lou to go find Song Yuyan and see if he could lure her to the Lou family.

Manager Lou went to handle this the very next day. But he remembered the last time when recruiting Song Yuyan through Lin Yongming had been rejected. This time, he did not go through Lin Yongming but went directly to find Song Yuyan.

Song Yuyan was somewhat of a little celebrity in Xingxian Ward. After all, everyone knew that a year ago, she was a rogue despised and cursed by all. But suddenly, she turned over a new leaf, stopped doing those dirty things, and cut ties with her fair-weather friends. Such an inspirational story naturally spread quickly.

So Manager Lou asked around a bit and learned the Song family’s location. He went straight to the door.

____

In the Song family small courtyard, Ye’er and Bing’er sat in the room, shaking their heads as they recited the Three Character Classic. Song Yuyan sat at the door, carving the paperweight that Tang Haogen wanted under the eaves.

A paperweight was an item people used when picking up a brush to write, to press down the paper so it did not get blown away by the wind or curl up. So its size and material had some requirements.

And bamboo obviously did not quite fit the requirements for a paperweight. But the wisdom of the working people was infinite. The predecessors used a “wood plus bamboo material” combination method, to meet the needs of a paperweight while also creating an aesthetic artistic effect.

This combination method was actually similar to mortise and tenon, carving concave and convex parts on the bamboo blocks and wood blocks that allowed them to fit into each other.

Of course, ordinary paperweights were directly made from wood, and the carving was done directly on the wood. If Song Yuyan did not want this paperweight to match the brush holder, she would not have gone to such lengths. Fortunately, the paperweight was not big, and the carving content was not much. She did not need to spend much time on it.

When Manager Lou came to knock on the door, Bing’er, who did not want to study, quickly put down the book and volunteered to run over to open the door.

Song Yuyan wanted to say the door was not closed at all, only half-shut. But she also knew the little radish head’s little thoughts and silently allowed it.

After Manager Lou came in, he glanced around. When he saw some familiar bamboo woven items, he confirmed that Song Yuyan was indeed the person he was looking for. He took the initiative to reveal his identity, first chatted with Song Yuyan to get close, and when the timing was right, proposed recruiting her.

The Lou family offered fifteen hundred coins in wages. Song Yuyan thought it over in her heart. It was three hundred coins more than what Lin Yongming had relayed before… Of course, she did not suspect Lin Yongming of lying. Because now that the Lou family manager had come to the door, it showed the other side had recognized her value, so they raised her wages.

She politely declined Manager Lou’s invitation. Manager Lou persisted and asked, “Are you not satisfied with the wages?”

Song Yuyan said, “I am not dissatisfied with the wages. Rather, Manager Lou also saw that our family has only us three siblings. If I leave home to work in the workshop, these two children would have no one to look after them at home. I am not at ease.”

Manager Lou knew her relationship with Song Bing and originally wanted to tell her to leave the two little radish heads with Song Bing for care, then pick them up when she got off work. But he knew in his heart that Song Bing was separated from them by several layers of kinship, and the bl00d ties were not that close. So it was impossible for him to help care for the children for free. Thus, he kept those words in his heart and did not say them.

Then he thought of another method: “Then in the future, sell all the things you weave to the Lou family. The Lou family will give you a good price.”

Song Yuyan smiled and said, “Manager Lou has done business with Uncle Lin for many years, right?”

Her words were tactful. Manager Lou had cooperated with Lin Yongming more than once. If he really directly bought up Song Yuyan’s bamboo weaving, was he not afraid of cutting off Lin Yongming’s source of income and making Lin Yongming turn against him? That way, if the Lou family wanted Lin Yongming’s help in the future, it would be hard.

But Manager Lou was also a businessman who spoke in terms of business. He thought that Lin Yongming had indeed helped Song Yuyan a lot at the start. But if because of that reason, he had to control all of Song Yuyan’s bamboo weaving and grass weaving, that would be too much.

Song Yuyan did not take the bait. Instead, she said she would reply to him in a few days, then sent him out.

After Manager Lou left, Song Yuyan went to the Tang family to find Tang Haogen.

She was not familiar with the Lou family. Even the original owner did not know much about the Lou family’s situation. After all, the environment she lived in was a different world from the Lou family. So she had no confidence in her heart about whether the Lou family would use some tactics to force her to submit.

Tang Haogen had not come back yet, but asking Miss Tang would be the same.

Tang Zhi glanced at her sideways and said, “How do you know for sure that I understand the Lou family matters?”

Song Yuyan thought to herself, you are even more worldly-wise than your brother. On usual days, you deal with neighbors and all the folks on the streets. Your ability to collect gossip is top-notch…

She did not dare say these words out loud. Otherwise, would it not be openly saying Miss Tang was a gossip? It would be strange if this girl did not scold her!

On her lips, she said, “Clerk Tang works in the yamen and knows many things. And Miss Tang is Clerk Tang’s sister, with a close relationship. Clerk Tang must have told you the related matters.”

Miss Tang indeed lifted her chin proudly and said, “Of course.”

____

According to what Tang Zhi knew, the Lou family had gotten rich through commerce, then widely bought fields, making the Lou family even wealthier. A few years ago, the head of the Lou family, Lou Hao, donated a clerical position to hold, then handed the family business to his two sons to manage.

But his eldest son was quite mediocre. The second son, Lou Gao, had great talent. Under his management, the Lou family’s wealth doubled, which made it a famous wealthy household in Mingzhou.

Of course, the world valued agriculture over commerce. So even though Lou Gao had gotten rich through honest business, people still saw him as a crafty merchant.

For this reason, he always did some good deeds. For example, when buying fields from bankrupt tenant farmers, he never took advantage to press the price. Instead, he gave very fair prices.

Another example, he often aided poor scholars, funded repairs to river channels, roads, and temples. Each time there was a natural disaster, he took charge to reduce the rent from tenant farmers, lighten their burdens, and distribute grain to refugees for disaster relief.

It was because of these various righteous acts that the Lou family had quite a good reputation in Fenghua. The only thing that made people feel imperfect was that the Lou family had no scholars. Even Lou Gao could barely read and write, far from reaching the level where people would recognize him as a “scholar.”

Rather, his wife, Madam Zhu, was a famous talented woman. It was said that Lou Gao’s children were all taught to read and write by her.

“The Lou family values reputation, so they will not do those despicable things. But in business matters, they often cannot be measured by moral standards,” Tang Zhi said.

Song Yuyan agreed with this point. In commerce, if you followed the way of the gentleman everywhere, that would be doing charity.

Though the Lou family really did charity, they would not leave money unearned in this matter. For example, if she did not cooperate with the Lou family, the Lou family could completely have their own handicraftsmen imitate her bamboo weaving. And the finished products they wove might even be more exquisite than hers. Others would not think the Lou family was immoral for doing so.

So Tang Zhi said, “What the Lou family values is actually not your bamboo weaving, but your business talent. Coincidentally, Broker Lin values your bamboo weaving. So these two are not in conflict at all.”

Song Yuyan raised her eyebrows. She had not expected this little girl to see through the hidden truth with one sentence. It seemed she had underestimated this little girl. In a few more years, when this little girl grew up, her mind might become even more clever and sharp.

“I have no business talent,” Song Yuyan said.

Her mother had indeed hoped she could inherit that artistic ceramics factory. But unfortunately, her mother knew her grandfather and father would not allow it, so she never taught her how to run a business.

Tang Zhi neither agreed nor disagreed.

____

After Song Yuyan understood clearly what kind of people she faced, she quickly figured out a way to respond. When Manager Lou came to the door again, she stated her idea: “If I have new bamboo weaving ideas, I can exchange them with Manager Lou. As for ordinary bamboo weaving, I will still hand it over to Uncle Lin as per the old rules. Manager Lou, what do you think of this?”

Though Song Yuyan said “exchange,” Manager Lou naturally understood her meaning—she had a cooperation with Lin Yongming and a good relationship, so she could not tear that apart. But she also would not miss the chance to cooperate with the Lou family. As long as she came up with new bamboo weaving, she could sell it directly to the Lou family.

Manager Lou saw that she had made her words clear, so some prepared speeches he had in mind had no chance to come out:

Because if not for Lou Gao’s reminder, he would not have gone to find Song Yuyan. He did not lack skillful handicraftsmen. What he lacked was someone with a flexible mind, who could constantly innovate and bring many benefits.

Based on Song Yuyan not cooperating at first, he had turned around and had the handicraftsmen under him weave her bamboo weaving. He even used the same method as Aunt Fierce to market and sell them.

If this time Song Yuyan was still so uncooperative, he would use these things to strike at her.

Song Yuyan’s flexibility did not let Manager Lou say any harsh words. The two sides reached a consensus this way. After Manager Lou went back, he reported this matter to Lou Gao. The latter praised him for handling it well and also slightly remembered Song Yuyan as a person.

Though Song Yuyan soon learned that the market had many copycat works, including that the Lou family workshop had done so too, this was within her expectations. She did not get angry or resentful. She just inevitably felt a bit uncomfortable with Manager Lou’s actions.

Fortunately, she could comfort herself. She did not feel bad about this for too long. Plus, Li Yao had not appeared before her again, nor tripped her up in secret. This lightened her mood a bit.

By the end of March, Tang Haogen copied a list of those who passed the Mingqi Fifth Year Wushen exam from the yamen and hurried back to ask Song Yuyan, “Song Dalang, do you know Du Yan from Shanyin in Yuezhou?”

Song Yuyan nodded. Only then did he say with slight excitement, “Du Yan passed the jinshi exam, and he placed fourth in the palace exam!”

Song Yuyan was stunned for a moment, then also smiled and said, “Then we must congratulate him!”

Under the Ming and Qing exam system, Du Yan would be the first of the second rank. But at this time, there was no rule that “only the top three can be first rank.” So the first rank had over a dozen or twenty people.

The first rank was granted jinshi with honors, the second rank was granted jinshi origin, the third rank was granted same as jinshi origin, totaling over two hundred people. This was just the jinshi category. Besides the jinshi category, there were over three hundred in the various categories!

Tang Haogen said, “Why do you look so calm?”

Her friend had passed the jinshi with honors. In the future, he would formally enter officialdom. That meant his status would rise with the water as he entered the official path. There would be many people currying favor with him. As a friend who had befriended him before he became famous, should not Song Yuyan feel excited?

Song Yuyan blinked and said, “Probably because when he finished the exam, he sent me a letter saying he felt confident in his heart. So I already had mental preparation that he could pass this time.”

Her calmness was like a basin of cold water poured over Clerk Tang’s head. He slowly calmed his mood too—Song Yuyan and Du Yan were friends, and even she was not excited. Why should he get excited? He did not even know Du Yan!