Chapter 134: Chapter 133: Entering the Kiln Factory

Hongji lifted all the children onto the carriage, helped Madam aboard, and then he too jumped onto the carriage.

When the carriage left the courtyard, there was no need to close the courtyard door, for there were two guards protecting it. Besides the wood, their family didn’t have any more valuable possessions.

“Small boss, take care…” The guards at the gate heard their conversation. How fortunate Hongji’s family was to receive various kinds of care from the Tang Family people!

As the carriage passed the entrance of the village, Hongji looked out from the carriage windows at both sides of the road. Although he cared about the construction of the factory, he really didn’t know where it was being built…

He had always been busy and had confidently left matters to Housekeeper Tang, never having visited personally, not even attending the foundation-laying ceremony. Now, seeing that the factory was well-built, it was better than he had imagined.

The beam-raising ceremony had already been completed, and everyone was working energetically. The onlooking villagers hadn’t dispersed yet, and continual chatter about the construction of the factory, which was better than the houses in their village, could still be heard from inside the carriage.

How great it would be to work in such a spacious and safe place, and to learn a skill as well.

Hongji, looking at these factory buildings, also felt deeply. If one day his family’s house could be built so well, they wouldn’t have to cram seven family members into one bed. As his daughters were gradually growing up, they needed their own space.

Daya and her sisters all looked outside, seeing such luxurious buildings for the first time, their eyes filled with curiosity and the desire to visit them.

Ye Shiqi had seen all manner of skyscrapers in her previous life; such factory buildings were merely small workshops to her, and real large factories had office buildings.

These small factory buildings didn’t arouse her curiosity. In the not-too-distant future, she believed, their family would live in a place even better than this house. Prosperity was definitely on the horizon.

Once outside the village, the carriage crossed to the opposite side of the road and passed a few kiln factories. One of them made small clay pots, ranging from very small to very large ones–the largest being for water and wine, and even for pickling vegetables.

Those that were defective or had slight imperfections were placed outside the factory, under the eaves of the buildings.

“Lulu-lulu,”

Ye Shiqi, unable to speak properly, could only use gestures. She made a stopping gesture for the carriage and then pointed in the direction of the kiln factory. It was just beside the road; no need to drive in, just a few steps to enter from where the carriage stopped.

Qing suddenly made a sound, and everyone looked at Ye Shiqi. Mrs. Li didn’t understand why her youngest daughter was pointing and making gestures; she couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.

The five elder sisters, along with their father Hongji, gradually seemed to understand.

“Daddy, Qing wants to go to the kiln factory,” Daya mentioned.

“Qing says to stop the carriage!” remarked Siwa.

“Driver, stop the carriage,” Hongji had understood his youngest daughter’s intentions as well.

The carriage came to a stop. Mrs. Li looked at her youngest daughter with a puzzled expression, thinking she was just being naughty.

Hongji and the elder sisters hadn’t yet understood Ye Shiqi’s motive for entering the kiln factory; they simply guessed she wanted to take a look.

They thought Ye Shiqi was just curious about what the kiln factory was like. Daya and the other sisters had never visited a kiln factory either, and were quite curious themselves.

“Let’s go in and take a look?” Hongji picked up his youngest daughter and said to Mrs. Li and the daughters.

Mrs. Li, sensing from Hongji and her daughters’ actions how much they doted on the youngest daughter, saw that a single voice or gesture from her was enough to make them follow without question.

Mrs. Li said nothing. With all the family so fond of the youngest daughter, and she, as a mother, spending the least amount of time by her daughter’s side, felt compelled to follow without objection to make up for the lack of motherly love.

The driver was curious. Why did they want to enter the kiln factory?

They already had gifts for the birthday celebration; maybe they came here to see if there were some clay pots to buy and take home.

Carried in her father’s arms, Ye Shiqi arrived with her family at the kiln factory, where the workers and the boss, seeing visitors in such fine clothes, found it quite novel.

“Brother, what kind of pottery jar are you looking to buy?”

“Boss, can you take us inside to see what kinds of pottery jars you have here?”

Seeing their fine clothes, the boss sensed a business opportunity and enthusiastically led them towards the warehouse as he spoke:

“Certainly, the quality of our kiln factory’s pottery jars is the best. The small ones can hold a catty of material, and the large ones can hold up to a hundred catties.”

“Are all the pottery jars here made to order? Do you have any extras?”

“Hehe, every kiln batch produces a few extras. Even if a customer orders specifically, we make some additional ones for general sale. If you, Boss, want to place an order, you can pick up the goods in three days.”

“Let’s have a look at your pottery jars first.”

“Alright, alright…”

The warehouse for the pottery jars was in a spacious adobe house, where every type of pottery jar was organized by size and type.

Upon entering, one could immediately see everything inside. Ye Shiqi pointed toward the smallest jars, and Hongji, understanding her gesture, walked over to them with his daughter in his arms.

“Boss, how much are these pottery jars?”

“If you, Boss, are just buying a few small jars, they are two cents each. For a larger quantity, we offer a discount of 20%. We only have these many here, but you can also place an order if you wish.”

Hongji had no other thoughts and looked down at his little daughter.

Ye Shiqi, through her glances, counted that there were more than 20 small jars, which would be enough for a while.

The carriage was filled with other gifts, and they could not bring these jars to their grandfather’s birthday celebration. They could only buy them when they returned home after the birthday banquet.

“Honk honk honk honk”

Hongji somewhat understood as well as realized that the carriage couldn’t fit the jars with all the birthday gifts inside, and they couldn’t bring empty jars to someone else’s celebration.

“Boss, please keep these small jars for us. We will come back and buy them on our return this afternoon.”

“Boss, you look very familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?”

“I’m from the village next door. I’ve also bought pottery jars here before, so it’s not surprising you’ve seen me.”

“Alright, Boss, you should pay some deposit! Although these small jars are cheap, we might sell them to someone else if we have to do business.”

“Alright, I’ll give you a deposit.” Hongji searched for some money, but found no copper coins. The smallest denomination of broken silver he had was two maces.

“Boss, is this enough?”

“That’s enough, more than enough. Boss, do you want to custom order these small jars?”

“Let’s place an order then. First, we’ll take these this afternoon, and pick up the rest three days later!”

Hongji always felt his little daughter wanted to buy these jars for a purpose. He remembered the larger jars used for storing pickled vegetables mixed with honey, which she might find too large, so today they specifically came to look for something smaller.

“Okay, I’ll write you a receipt. Come pick up the pottery jars three days later, Boss.”

The boss led them back to his office, which was just a small room with a table and chairs. He sat down, wrote a note in his receipt book on the table, and made a carbon copy.

wuxiaworld.site .co