Chapter 344: The Box for Wine Glasses
After Cheng Yusheng left, Shen Xiangwan went to the colored glass workshop. Most of the colored glass products they made were sold to the Western Regions through caravans, and only a very small number flowed into the country. Even so, their shipment volume was very considerable. Yuan Xiu had just started to expand the workshop not long ago. Shen Xiangwan did not hesitate to ask them to help her make a batch of wine bottles and wine glasses. Yuan Xiu did not dare to neglect it and gave the instructions on the spot.
"Uncle Zhao, are you home?"
After sending the children to school in the afternoon, Shen Xiangwan took Yuan Yue and Yuan Ying to the Zhao family. They were building a new house recently, but they did not demolish and rebuild on the original site. Instead, they bought a new residential land. It is said that they bought a total of three acres of land and planned to build a courtyard on one acre of land, which will be given to the three sons in the future. However, they are only planning to build one courtyard at present, and the rest will be built slowly later.
"Yes, Wanwan, why are you here?"
Hearing her voice, Zhao Dashan quickly dropped the work in his hands and made a gesture to stand up and greet her.
"No, Uncle Zhao, I'm not a stranger, don't get up."
Shen Xiangwan, who had entered the yard, hurriedly stopped him. While she was speaking, she and Yuan Yue Yuanying had already walked in front of him: “Uncle Zhao, what are you making up?”
There were several bamboos as thick as arms placed in a haphazard manner in the yard. Zhao Dashan was using a bamboo knife to split the bamboo strips, as if he was going to weave something. Shen Xiangwan's eyes lit up. She was just worrying about how to make a box for the wine glasses. Exquisite bamboo strips seemed to be a good choice.
"Well, what else can I weave? The basket we use to collect grass for the pigs at home is broken again. This morning, my third brother went to cut some bamboo, so I decided to weave a few baskets when I have nothing to do."
Waving for her to sit down, Zhao Dashan said as he broke the bamboo strips that he had three sons and two daughters. The eldest son originally helped the Wei family manage the farm work. After the farm work was done, they set up a pork processing workshop and he helped out in the workshop. The second son worked in the Wei family's workshop just like his mother, and the third son stayed at home to help. During the Chinese New Year, he had just gotten engaged to a girl from the neighboring Yongning Village and was planning to get married at the end of the year. As for the two daughters, they were married off early. Their in-laws were very kind and they often came back to visit him and his wife when they were free.
“Are there many bamboos in our village?”
Shen Xiangwan casually asked after finding a small stool to sit down.
"Yeah, there are quite a lot. Almost every household has one behind their house."
In the past, during the slack season, most villagers would weave some backpacks and take them to the market or the county town to sell to supplement their family income. However, since the Wei family opened one workshop after another and every household started raising pigs in large numbers, basically no one weaves things to sell anymore.
"Really?"
Nodding, Shen Xiangwan picked up a thin bamboo strip and said, "Uncle Zhao, is there any bamboo craftsman with good skills in our village?"
"Why are you asking that?"
Looking up at her, Zhao Dashan continued without waiting for her response, "The villagers' bamboo strip craftsmanship is pretty good. My third brother Dajiang is probably the best, and his sons have all inherited his good skills."
Not only the men in the village, but all the women are skilled in bamboo weaving. The only difference is the quality of their skills.
"I'm looking for someone to help me weave a batch of bamboo boxes, about this size. I'm looking for the right style. Please wait."
Words cannot describe it clearly. Shen Xiangwan took out some papers and a charcoal pencil from her sleeve, pulled over another stool and started drawing. Soon, a rectangular box appeared on it. Because the material used was bamboo, she also specially painted bamboo woven patterns on the surface. The chain buckles were all made of bamboo nodes, which looked very delicate.
"That's it. I've marked the lengths, heights, and angles. Uncle Zhao, do you think Third Uncle can do it?"
After finishing the drawing, Shen Xiangwan handed the drawing directly to Zhao Dashan. She did not design any patterns on the box. The only difficult part was that a big Wei character had to be woven on the lid of the box using bamboo strips on both sides, representing that it was a product of their Wei's Distillery.
"Well, that's not a big deal. How many are you going to make? When do you want them?"
The drawing she drew was three-dimensional, and Zhao Dashan could understand it. This kind of box basically did not require much technical content, and the size of her logo was not very big. For a skilled bamboo craftsman, it would probably take half an incense stick of time to weave one.
"Ten thousand, the sooner the better."
"What?"
How much did she say?
Zhao Dashan thought he had heard it wrong and couldn't help but scratched his ears. Shen Xiangwan couldn't help but laugh: "You didn't hear it wrong, I want 10,000. The speed is getting better and better. I'm in a hurry to use it."
Yuan Xiu had already said that the 20,000 wine glasses she wanted could all be made in ten days at most, so she hoped that the bamboo boxes could also be made within this time. By then, she would have to spend time making some lining to prevent the wine glasses from breaking. It would take at least half a month before they could be delivered to the shop.
"So much? What on earth are you going to do with it?"
"Of course it's for packing things."
"How much can a small box like this hold?"
In Zhao Dashan's opinion, the bigger the things, the better. Her basket is smaller than the sewing baskets of the old ladies. What can it hold?
"Fill the wine glasses."
Shen Xiangwan did not hide it, but did not explain in detail. He continued to ask calmly: "Uncle Zhao, I will give you ten cents each. Do you think you can let your third uncle take the lead and find more people to help me? I need it urgently."
"Ten cents each?"
Isn't this too expensive? Ten thousand is one hundred taels of silver. Zhao Dashan couldn't help but smack his lips, but soon he calmed down. After all, he was also a man who had seen money. "Okay, I'll go find the third brother and discuss it with him. How about you go back first, and I'll go to your house later to give you an answer?"
Zhao Dashan stood up as he spoke, not only because Shen Xiangwan repeatedly said that she was in a hurry to use it, but also because this was a big deal that could bring considerable income to his brothers and the villagers.
"Then I'll trouble you, Uncle Zhao."
Shen Xiangwan stood up and put away the paper and pen. The next second, he took out a fifty-liang silver note and handed it over: "Uncle Zhao, this is the deposit. I will pay the rest after the box is made."
"good."
After taking the money, Zhao Dashan walked out with her. They exchanged a few polite words at the door before turning away.
After returning home, Shen Xiangwan said hello to Zhao Yuping and the others before returning to her room. The casualties on the battlefield brought her many deep feelings. For example, if she had encountered situations like Zhao Pohu and Lin Zhanqi, it would have been fine. She could have found a way to get them into the space for treatment. But what if she hadn't encountered such situations? Although she had told Mu Yunran and the others how to reattach severed limbs, they didn't have a medical cabin like she did. Even if they did, the patient wouldn't be able to recover exactly as before. So recently, she has been researching drugs to promote the healing of bones, blood vessels, and meridians, hoping that one day in the future, even without the help of a medical cabin, the injured can recover as much as possible to the same state as before the injury.
[End of this chapter]
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