"Oh? What's that?"

Geng Jun didn't answer Zhang Moyan immediately. He looked towards a Starbucks in front of him and said, "Shall we have a cup of coffee?"

Zhang Moyan felt the difficulty of the matter from this sentence.

"good."

After waiting for a while at a desk in the back of the store, Geng Jun got his coffee and sat down.

"Here's your latte," Geng Jun said politely, "no sugar. If you want some, here's milk and brown sugar."

In addition to coffee, he also ordered cheesecake and some small desserts.

"Thank you," Zhang Moyan said, not wanting to add milk or brown sugar. Holding her coffee, she brought the conversation back on track. "Dean Geng, what does it take for Xiao Xingyu to agree to help Zhou Xia stay in Shenhai?"

Geng Jun paused for a moment after hearing this, and took a long breath before speaking. "Miss Zhang must have known that my family's ancestral business is the same as Xiao Xingyu's. Our two families have devoted dozens of generations to the craft of firing celadon porcelain, and we are still doing all kinds of experimental research. Xiao Xingyu..." Geng Jun paused here, "The conditions he proposed -"

"He wants my family to give him the opportunity to burn the wood kiln this year."

"?" Zhang Moyan digested Geng Jun's words and made sure that she didn't understand.

Not understanding, she asked, “What is the opportunity to burn in a wood-burning kiln?”

Geng Jun fixed his eyes and looked at her, his expression as if Zhang Moyan had asked her a basic common sense question that she should have known.

Zhang Moyan felt guilty being stared at, and straightened her body backwards. "Excuse me, what is... a wood-burning kiln?"

"Oh," Geng Jun came back to his senses and introduced carefully with an expression that said, "Didn't Xiao Xingyu mention this to you?" "A wood kiln, as the name suggests, is a kiln that burns wood. It's different from gas kilns, electric kilns, and gas kilns. It uses real pine wood as fuel."

Zhang Moyan said "Oh" and nodded slowly, without expressing any opinion.

Geng Jun saw her blind spot and continued to educate her, "Firing porcelain in a wood-fired kiln follows ancient methods and is closer to the craftsmanship of the ancients. The glaze colors produced by these kilns are unmatched by electric, gas, or coal kilns. However, a single firing in a wood-fired kiln requires an average of 8 to 9 tons of pine wood, which is not only extremely costly but also conflicts with environmental protection. Therefore, after the nationwide popularization of coal kilns in the 1950s and gas and electric kilns in the 1990s, there are now only a handful of legal wood-fired kilns in China, and many are no longer allowed to operate. The remaining kilns can only fire once a year according to regulations and policies. Fortunately, Xiao Xingyu's family and ours each have a wood-fired kiln, which is permitted."

"Oh——" After hearing this, Zhang Moyan roughly understood the importance of this "opportunity to burn a wood kiln".

"Policies are constantly changing," Geng Jun said, rubbing his chin with his hand. "This wood-fired kiln might be allowed this year, but it might not be allowed next year. So the opportunity to fire the kiln once a year is invaluable to both the Xiao family and our Geng family."

Zhang Moyan took a sip of coffee after hearing this, concentrating on something for a while, then raised her head and said, "You just said that porcelain fired in a wood-fired kiln is not comparable to that fired in other kilns. Is that a big difference?"

Geng Jun nodded. "Yes, the difference mainly comes from two aspects. First, the fuel used in wood-fired kilns is pine wood, which is rich in pine resin. The pine resin volatilized during combustion has a moisturizing effect on ceramics. Second, the wood-fired kiln has its own unique heating curve, like slow cooking in a small pot. The bubbles formed in this way have uneven light transmission. These two factors make the glaze of porcelain produced by the wood-fired kiln very warm, as if covered with a layer of lard, which is unmatched by other porcelains."

Zhang Moyan said "Oh" slowly again.

Geng Jun said so much just to make Zhang Moyan understand how unreasonable Xiao Xingyu's request was, and let her make an active judgment on whether the matter could be done or not. However, Zhang Moyan only responded with three "ohs", and Geng Jun was stunned.

"The elders in my clan consider firing a wood-fired kiln a very precious opportunity," Geng Jun had to explain. "It's also their closest annual opportunity to emulate the ancient craftsmen firing celadon-glazed porcelain. Most of our research achievements throughout the year are due to those few days of experimentation. Putting aside the old grudges between the Xiao and Geng families, even if our families were on good terms, I wouldn't be able to fulfill Xiao Xingyu's request. After all, it's a matter of great importance, and it's not something I can decide."

After Geng Jun finished his sincere speech, silence fell. Zhang Moyan still didn't say anything. She cut a corner of the cheesecake with a fork, but didn't intend to put it in her mouth.

Geng Jun had no choice but to reveal his true colors: "I'm bothering you today because I hope Miss Zhang can persuade Xiao Xingyu to change his terms."

Zhang Moyan paused poking the cake with her fork and looked up: "Well... I don't have such great ability."

Geng Jun smiled. "Miss Zhang, give it a try. I came all the way to see you because I believe you can influence Xiao Xingyu. And you just got back together. I'm sorry, forgive me for taking advantage of this opportunity. I don't think he will reject any of your suggestions at this time."

Zhang Moyan put down her fork from the plate, placed her hands flat on her lap, and said, "President Geng, there may be some misunderstanding here."

"Oh?" Geng Jun asked with a questioning look on his face. "What misunderstanding are you talking about?"

"Xiao Xingyu and I haven't gotten back together," Zhang Moyan grabbed the fabric on her legs and lowered her eyes to look at the coffee. "In fact, we agreed not to see each other again."

Geng Jun's pupils widened, and he was quite surprised. His expression froze for a full minute before he said, "Oh, I'm sorry... Then, can't you two be friends?"

Zhang Moyan's breathing stagnated for a moment, and then she looked a little relieved and said, "No way, we've broken up."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!