The two first went to the livestock market to rent an oxcart for an afternoon, and then drove the oxcart to a general store, where they bought more than 30 kilograms of rock sugar and white sugar.
After buying the goods, instead of going home, the two went to Peach Blossom Village, ten miles outside the city.
In Peach Blossom Village, there is a family that has been making ceramic jars for generations. Their business is quite large, but the family only moved here a couple of years ago, so no one knows for sure if it is truly an ancestral tradition.
Before the war, this business was always doing very well, but it was gradually affected by the war and has not yet recovered.
The two followed the direction pointed out by Wei Yaren and walked for about twenty minutes. Without even asking for directions, they saw the place where ceramic jars were fired.
The reason is simple: this place is really big, and it's right next to the official road, so you can see it from afar.
Lu Chuan got off and tied the oxcart to the side. Xu Han also jumped down. The two looked at each other and walked inside.
Is anyone there?
As soon as he finished speaking, a response came from inside: "Someone's here. Someone's here."
The man who came out was probably in his thirties, of average appearance, and slightly overweight.
The middle-aged man smiled when he saw the visitor and said, "Are you here to buy ceramic jars? We have ceramic jars of all sizes. Tell me what kind you want, and I'll find it for you."
Lu Chuan didn't directly say he wanted to order custom-made jars, but instead asked, "What kinds do you have here? Can I take a look first?"
"Yes, yes, yes, please come with me." The man led the two directly to the backyard.
There was a shed in the backyard, with shelves on both sides filled with all kinds of jars of various colors and shapes.
There were very small ones, probably used to hold lip balm, and very large ones, as well as flower pots and other things made of ceramic.
Not only that, Xu Han also saw the twelve zodiac animals made of ceramic, as well as pen holders and other adorable items.
The middle-aged man introduced, "Sir, as you can see, we have all kinds of things here. Whether it's jars or other items, as long as it's sold in the market, you can find it here. Not only do we have a wide variety of styles, but our prices are also cheap. If you buy a lot, we can offer you an even better price."
Xu Han casually pointed to one of the zodiac animals and asked, "How much is this?"
"This is not expensive. If you buy it individually, it only costs 20 coins. If you want a set, it's 200 coins per set."
Xu Han nodded. The price wasn't expensive, and they were all handmade. Although they were small, they were very exquisite.
After looking around, I finally found the size of the jar I wanted, and then asked, "How big is this jar, and how much does it cost?"
“This jar we use weighs 2 jin (1 catties), and it costs 30 wen (0.5 yuan) if you buy it individually.”
When Xu Han heard the price, 30 coins for a jar, she realized it was not cheap at all.
No wonder ordinary people use earthenware jars instead of ceramic jars; it turns out that they are so expensive when bought individually!
Lu Chuan then pointed to a slightly larger one and asked, "What about this one?"
"This is a 3-jin pack; it costs 40 wen if you buy it individually."
Xu Han then pointed to an even larger one and asked, "What about this one?"
The middle-aged man wasn't annoyed by the two men's persistent inquiries about the price. He simply smiled and said, "This one weighs 4 jin (2 catties), 50 wen each."
Lu Chuan asked, "Is the smallest one a pound? How much does it cost?"
"Yes, this is a pound pack. It's cheap, only 20 coins."
For an ordinary family, 20 coins is quite a sum, so it seems that the price of buying a ceramic jar is a bit too high.
But that doesn't matter, because Xu Han's canned fruit isn't intended for ordinary people; her target audience is wealthy individuals.
After all, the cost of making canned fruit is quite high, involving ceramic jars and sugar, which is unaffordable for most families.
Seeing that Xu Han had asked enough questions, Lu Chuan said, "It's like this, we want to order a batch of ceramic jars. I wonder if you can customize ceramic jars here."
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's eyes lit up, and he thought to himself that this was a big deal! He would have to treat the customer well.
So he asked, "I wonder what kind of ceramic jar this young master would like? Anything we can make can be customized."
Xu Han said, "It's similar to these, only the patterns are different."
"Could you show me the design? I'm afraid I won't be able to make it if it's too difficult. So I need to see the design before I can reply to you."
Xu Han glanced at Lu Chuan, who nodded before taking the designed blueprints out of his pocket.
The middle-aged man took it, opened it, looked at it, and said, "This is not difficult, I can make it. How many do you need?"
Lu Chuan asked, "Let's order 500 for the first batch to try it out. If it works well, we can order more later. I just don't know about the price?"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man cupped his hands in greeting to Lu Chuan and said, "The price is negotiable. Let's not stand here and talk. Please come this way and we can talk inside."
The three of them went inside together. It was probably the middle-aged man's wife who brewed tea for them, but it was coarse tea. Xu Han wasn't used to tea, so she only took a sip and didn't drink any more.
"My surname is Liu, and I am the manager of this kiln. May I ask how you two are addressed?"
Lu Chuan introduced himself, saying, "My surname is Lu, and this is my wife."
Manager Liu cupped his hands in greeting and said directly, "It's an honor to meet you two. May I ask what size jars you would like, and how many you would like?"
Xu Han said, "200 of them are one jin each, 200 are two jin each, and 100 are three jin each. Let's start with 500 to see. If the quality is good, we can order more later."
Xu Han didn't make any definitive statements right away, and Manager Liu, being a shrewd person, could easily understand what Xu Han meant.
He then took the initiative to say, "Don't worry about the quality. Our family has been in business in this area for a year or two, and we have a good reputation."
As for the price, I already told you the price for a single purchase. If we're doing a custom order, I'll give you a discount of five cents per jar. Is that acceptable?
Lu Chuan spoke up, "Manager Liu, to tell you the truth, we plan to do this business long-term. Although this is the first year, we still need quite a few jars. Please give us an honest price and see how much we can reduce the price."
If the price is right, and as long as the quality is good, we can cooperate long-term.
Manager Liu stroked his beard, looking troubled. "Since you two are so sincere, I won't waste any more time. How about this: I'll give you a discount of 6 coins per jar for the first batch. If you're satisfied with the fired jars, I'll give you a discount of 8 coins for any subsequent orders. We're a small business, we really don't make much money."
Xu Han said, "Why are the prices different? It seems Manager Liu doesn't quite trust us and isn't really interested in doing this business!"
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