The next day, early in the morning, Song Jiyun was escorted by He Dazhi and others, accompanied by Zhou Zheng and Wong Dahai, to the Imperial Kiln Factory.
Her arrival was neither too early nor too late.
Old Master Yan and others had already arrived, while Chairman Ma had not yet arrived.
Old Master Yan whispered to Song Jiyun, "Do you know why we were called here?"
Song Jiyun shook her head, "If you don’t know, then I definitely don’t."
"Do you know if Chairman Ma is aware?" Old Master Yan was somewhat uneasy. He spoke frankly to Song Jiyun, "Eunuch Wan has a good memory. He was very unhappy last time at the Temple of the Wind God. Now with the new replacing the old at the Yangtze River, I thought about not participating in this bidding at the Imperial Kiln Factory. But Eunuch Wan still summoned me."
His implication was that Eunuch Wan was a vindictive person and he was already considering withdrawing.
In Song Jiyun’s view, Old Master Yan should have retired at his age, but people of this era believed in "Is an old soldier still able to fight?" They had no concept of retirement, typically they worked until their last breath. Suggesting retirement to him might only make him think you considered him redundant.
All she could do was to comfort him, "Look at what you’re saying. We are the newcomers who fear no tigers. If it’s about experience, we really need someone seasoned like you. I don’t know about others, but our Kiln Factory has benefited a lot from your guidance. Otherwise, just handling the porcelain bodies would be so confusing, we wouldn’t know what to do."
A smile finally appeared on Old Master Yan’s face, "You child, always know how to cheer me up with nice words. But it’s true, I’ve eaten more grains than you and know a good bit about the past and future of Jingde Town. If you ever have any questions, just come and ask me. However, this time I am indeed quite sincere in handing over the Kiln Factory to the younger generation and going back to play with my grandchildren."
He even joked with Song Jiyun, "If Uncle Yan needs anything in the future, you must help him out for my sake!"
Song Jiyun felt ashamed.
The two chatted with beaming smiles.
Song Tao arrived.
With shouts from front to back, bringing along a crowd.
Among them, a tall young man dressed as a steward caught Song Jiyun’s attention for his restrained demeanor and composed conduct.
Zhou Zheng already explained from the side, "This is the right-hand man of Third Miss Song, called Song Ren. Previously mingling at the docks, somehow caught the eye of Third Miss Song. A few days ago when Old Grand Master Hong called back some people, he became the Chief Steward of the Liangyu Kiln Factory."
It seemed to be another case of favoritism.
Song Jiyun acknowledged with a "hmm" and continued speaking with the newly arrived Old Master Wu.
"Yun Duo!" Suddenly someone called her from behind.
She turned around; it was Song Tao.
Song Tao was dressed in a bright red beizi with gold all over it, a teal Hangzhou silk skirt embroidered with pink winter-resistant Branch Folding Flowers, adorned with a gold pendent and wearing gold rings, dressing elaborately not resembling someone attending a meeting but rather attending a wedding.
"Yun Duo!" Seeing that Song Jiyun did not pay her any attention, she called out again with a warm smile, "It’s been days since we last met. After the meeting, let’s find a tea house to sit down and chat, shall we?"
It was quite flamboyant.
But before Song Jiyun could respond, someone beside her spat out a sound, cursing, "Vile woman!"
Song Tao’s expression instantly changed.
She sneered at that person, "Useless thing! Just know how to curse women. If you’re so capable, don’t pick faults with your own family’s porcelain bodies at someone else’s house!"
The man, overwhelmed with anger, raised his hand to strike at Song Tao.
Song Ren quickly grabbed the man’s hand, his tone low as he rebuked, "What do you think you’re doing? This is the Imperial Kiln Factory!"
With that, he pulled the man aside.
People around Song Tao promptly stepped forward, forming a circle to protect her.
Seeing this, several men surrounding the angered man also gathered, guarding him and clumsily confronting Song Tao and her group, "What are you trying to do?"
"Usurping nests, parroting others, what’s wrong with scolding you?"
There were people pushing Song Tao around, "What are you trying to do?"
They cursed Song Ren, "Lackey! A creature that earns a living under a woman, what right do you have to yell here!"
The faces of Song Tao and the others looked as ugly as could be, and it seemed that a fight was about to break out; surprisingly, there was no one to stop it.
Song Jiyun watched, frowning deeply.
A servant boy shouted loudly, "Eunuch Wan has arrived!"
Both groups immediately ceased their hostilities, collected their emotions, stood properly, and welcomed Eunuch Wan in.
Compared to last time, Eunuch Wan looked utterly exhausted.
He sat down in the main seat, and after the servant boy served tea and snacks, he lifted his eyelids and scanned the crowd as if to confirm exactly who had come.
Song Jiyun felt his gaze linger on her a bit too long.
Was it because she was sitting right below Chairman Ma?
Chairman Ma hadn’t come, and she was the first in line—too conspicuous?
As Song Jiyun pondered this, she heard Eunuch Wan clear his throat and say loudly, "The reason I have called all of you here is due to the recent drop in the price of blue and white porcelain."
The crowd exchanged looks of surprise.
Song Jiyun was also a bit surprised.
She picked up her tea cup and took a slow sip.
"I know that since the Liangyu Kiln Factory produced from the Dragon Kiln, everyone has been having a hard time. Because of this, several brawls and even deaths have occurred in Jingde Town, causing increasing chaos," Eunuch Wan continued, "I’ve decided that from now on, Jingde Town’s porcelain must not be arbitrarily discounted, nor produced at will."
"What do you mean?" The people present burst into a buzz of conversations, looking at each other as they murmured, "I fully support not reducing prices arbitrarily, but this not allowing arbitrary production... I don’t understand!"
Eunuch Wan allowed the crowd to discuss amongst themselves while he leisurely drank his tea.
Song Jiyun lowered her eyelids, caressing the rim of the tea cup by her hand, and roughly understood what kind of scheme Eunuch Wan was plotting.
The moment Song Family Kiln Factory released Overglaze Enamel, Song Tao’s discounted blue and white porcelain couldn’t sell, making price cuts meaningless.
But asking Song Tao to produce Overglaze Enamel, setting aside her technical capability, she lacked even the requisite manpower, let alone comparing her facilities to those of Song Family Kiln Factory.
The only solution was forced intervention.
Everyone would unify prices and plan the porcelain production.
In other words, the Imperial Kiln Factory would dictate how much porcelain you were allowed to produce. If you claimed a kiln produced all the porcelain assigned by the Imperial Kiln Factory, sorry, you have used up your quota. Even if you had the capability, you weren’t allowed to produce more; you could only watch idly.
Or, find a way to persuade the Imperial Kiln Factory to allow you to produce more.
Song Jiyun cursed in her mind, "Idiots."
She wondered whether this idea was conceived by Song Tao or Eunuch Wan.
Yet this familiar approach seemed just like something she "in her previous life" could have thought of.
What had she done to deserve implementing such malicious tactics?
Song Jiyun became intensely curious about what had happened in her past life.
Unfortunately, Song Tao would never tell her.
She remained silent nonchalantly, but someone insisted on not letting her off and asked, "Boss Song, what do you think?"
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