The old man was a carpenter, and his carving skills were superb, but unfortunately, his generation did not inherit his talent.
Fortunately, he had a group of apprentices, which prevented his skills from being lost.
This batch of goods is quite large, and the funeral is in two weeks. He thought about it for three days without any clue. Today, while having dinner, he saw the advertisement and finally went to find Yang Guohua.
"Ya Jing, we have a guest!" Yang Guohua responded and called Yang Ya Jing out.
This business is what Yang Yajing wants to do. To be honest, Yang Guohua doesn't have much talent. He's good at manual labor, but Yang Yajing has to handle everything else.
When Wang Li saw that the person discussing the details with him was actually Yang Guohua's eleven-year-old daughter, he became somewhat uncertain.
"Hello, Ya Jing!" Wang Li was a regular customer, and Yang Ya Jing was someone he had watched grow up. "Your father said this is a business you're in charge of. Can you really handle it?"
"Uncle Wang, this isn't the first order I've taken on, don't worry!" Yang Yajing nodded reassuringly.
Those listening nearby began to doubt the veracity of Yang Yajing's words, and several people chimed in with their own comments:
"Old Wang, are you really going to do business with the girl from the Yang family? Is it reliable?"
"Old Wang, this isn't just about a bowl of noodles costing three or two yuan! You need to be careful!"
"What does a little girl know? She's a nice person, but this is just outrageous!"
"Yes, Old Wang! Don't mess this up! The old man's funeral arrangements! We really need to be careful!"
...
After hearing these words, Wang Li hesitated.
Yang Yajing knew that her words, spoken by a girl of only ten years old, weren't very convincing. But she wasn't in a hurry; one must play the long game to catch a big fish, right?
She wasn't unprepared; she immediately took out a scrapbook containing photos of the previous two gift boxes.
“Uncle Wang, I know I’m just a little kid in your eyes, but you can see our first two deals.” Yang Yajing handed the scrapbook to Wang Li. “If I weren’t really capable, Dad wouldn’t have trusted me to do it, right? After all, the Yang family’s reputation is in my hands, isn’t it?”
"You made all of this? I must say, it really looks great!" Wang Li looked at the photos with admiration, but he was still unsure.
“Uncle Wang, please consider it first. We can handle this order in about eight days. You can also compare prices from different companies and ask around at funeral homes first,” Yang Yajing said logically.
"Alright then! I'll go and find out first, and get back to you in a couple of days?" Wang Li thought Yang Yajing's suggestion was reasonable, so he agreed.
But the result was obvious: when the funeral company heard it was a custom order, they not only quoted a high price, but also said two weeks wouldn't be enough.
By the time they reached the third place, Zhang Li had a pretty good idea of the going rate. The funeral couldn't be delayed, and since Yang Yajing said she could do it, he'd let her give it a try!
On the third day, Zhang Li indeed came to the door again.
"Ya Jing! Can you really help me complete the custom order?" Zhang Li asked repeatedly to confirm.
“Yes, that’s possible.” Yang Yajing nodded. “However, I need some information and a few questions to ask you.”
"That's it? Okay, go ahead and ask?"
"Grandpa Zhang, do you have any favorite works? May I take a look? And does he have any logos, trademarks, or anything like that?"
"This? The old man had a sandalwood window lattice that he particularly loved. As for the trademark, he always boasted that it was 'unfettered and unrestrained,' and his apprentices knew about it too."
"A heart free of shackles?" Yang Yajing thought for a moment, "Isn't it from the poem about the carpenter in shackles?"
"Is it an ancient poem?" Zhang Li had never heard of it before!
"I guess it's... Song Dynasty poetry?" Yang Yajing didn't know what it should be classified as.
"Ya Jing! Your Uncle Zhang isn't an educated person, I don't know!" Zhang Li thought this little girl seemed to know a bit too much.
"It's alright, it doesn't matter whether it's true or not, as long as it's related to the carpenter!" Yang Yajing smiled. "Could you let me take a look at that wooden frame another day?"
"Okay! I'll bring it to you tomorrow morning."
"And what flavor of pastry would you like?" Yang Yajing asked again, taking notes as she asked.
"Pastries have different flavors? Aren't they all just cloud cakes?" Zhang Li hadn't thought about these things.
"I see. I'll take care of the pastries. You can prepare the cloud cake yourself, right?"
"Oh, okay! That works too." Zhang Li nodded. "I've already prepared the longevity bowl. You can handle the rest."
"Alright, give me three days. You can come and review the manuscript then?"
"Okay! Okay!" Zhang Li suddenly remembered something, "How much is one serving? I don't sell anything over twenty!"
"No problem, if there aren't any high demands, it should be resolved around fifteen!"
"Fifteen! That's great!" Zhang Li thanked Yang Yajing and then Yang Guohua before heading back.
One order, 360 servings, 15 per serving, that's another 5,000.
Many people in the shop were listening intently to the gossip, curious about how the little girl would handle the order and what kind of respectable memorial service she would prepare.
The next morning, Zhang Li indeed delivered the paper-cut window decoration. After class, Yang Yajing and Zhou Pengfei went to her room and started working on it again.
"Wow! What a wonderful thing!" Zhou Pengfei exclaimed in admiration as soon as he saw the wooden window decoration.
This paper-cut window decoration is about a foot square, exquisitely carved with plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums. Every cut brings these flowers to life.
"Can you capture the essence of plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums in your painting?" Yang Yajing asked Zhou Pengfei.
"It should be possible, but what are we going to do this time?"
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