Chapter 3 Contracting

"Teacher, please be respected by the students." Li Xian bowed solemnly.

"It's a shame old man..." The old jade worker who has been honest all his life, didn't want to have the opportunity to teach a noble disciple the "bad industry" in his later years. It really is - the mood is so complicated that I can't describe it in words.

Li Xian said solemnly, "Teacher, students want to learn how to make jasper lamps."

"Okay." Sun Ming finally accepted this temporary disciple. Take Li Xian to start the tour.

First of all, of course, is the raw material. Pieces of jade are shipped in, and the jade without cracks is selected and cut. Because workers generally require the cultivation of the third level of the Qi refining stage, and what they hold in their hands is also a sharp tool for cutting gold and jade, and can easily complete the cutting - just like cutting tofu.

Then according to the color and luster of the jade, ten grades of "A, B, C, D, E, G, X, Ren, Gui" are divided; jade workers of different grades take corresponding grades of jade to carve.

Li Xian followed the flow of "A" grade jade, and saw that the jade worker was very skilled in cutting the jade out of a cylindrical shape, and then carved something like a ghostly talisman on it-the formation.

After engraving the formation, inject a piece of true energy, and a jasper lamp is completed. The whole process didn't take half an hour, and it was simply beyond Li Xian's imagination—at least it seemed so.

"It looks so simple."

"It's not easy. A skilled carver needs to practice for three years to be successful. In addition, a certain amount of formation knowledge is required. Different jade stones have different textures, which require different ways of carving. Look at these two. "

Sun Ming pointed to the jasper lanterns carved by the same jade craftsman, and he could see the difference at a glance. There are obviously many differences in the lines of the two jasper lanterns.

"When drawing the formation, you need to wrap the jade with spiritual consciousness to sense the spiritual direction in the jade; only then can you describe the correct formation.

Don't underestimate this simple formation. These formations are superimposed with five small formations: Heavenly Yang, Earthly Yin, Gathering Spirits, Nayuan, and Fluorescence.

The two formations of the yang of the sky and the yin of the earth are engraved on both ends and must correspond to each other. If the yang of the day is up and the yin of the earth is down, it will form a spiritual circulation with the sky and the earth, and the jasper lamp will be turned on; if it is reversed, the aura circulation will be cut off, and the jasper lamp will be turned off.

The spirit-gathering array is to absorb a little spiritual energy from the heaven and the earth, and use it as a jasper lamp to shine.

The Nayuan array is to preserve and infuse the real yuan, which is the vitality of the jasper lamp.

The fluorescent array is the real luminous array. "

Under Sun Ming's guidance, Li Xian began to study; only after he started to study did he know what the problem was, learning the texture of jade, learning the principles of the five small formations, learning cutting power and techniques, learning to use spiritual knowledge to explore the structure of jade, etc. There are not many things, and the explanation will be completed in an hour, and the rest is practice.

But Li Xian was very distressed. His typical eyes were high and his hands were low. His hands were always in disarray, and the carved jade cylinders looked like antiques - pitted and horrible.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down; suddenly, a light appeared in the depths of his mind, and an inexplicable understanding emerged in his heart. Li Xianfu carved five small formations on the antique-like jade cylinder like a god in his heart, and carved five small formations. The last piece of real energy input, a brightly fluorescent jasper lamp...success!

"This..." Li Xian almost had a huge wave in his heart, what happened to the moment of enlightenment just now? Just now, Li Xian's comprehension seemed to be overclocked by ten times in an instant, and all difficulties were easily solved.

Li Xian was stunned, and Sun Ming next to him was also stunned. He carved the formation on the irregular jade cylinder, and not to mention a success, it was as smooth as flowing clouds and flowing water. It's as if he was a freshman one moment, and became an old master the next moment. The gap is too big.

"This...hehe..." Li Xian smirked.

Sun Ming was very wise not to ask, this is the wisdom of an old man.

The two stared wide-eyed, and finally Li Xian couldn't help asking, "Teacher, why are all the jasper lamps made into cylinders, can't they be made into other shapes?"

"What do you do with other shapes? As long as it can be used." The master is very honest.

Li Xian looked at Sun Ming for a long time, and suddenly understood. "Teacher, wait a moment."

Li Xian turned around and found Li Youwei, "Third Uncle, I want to contract the Yudeng workshop."

"Contracting? What is contracting?" Facing the brand-new foreign words, Li Youwei's eyes darkened.

"Third Uncle, how much does the Jade Lantern Workshop make every year?"

As soon as Li Xian heard this, he probably understood. "The annual profit is about 500 taels of gold, which is 5,000 taels of silver, pure profit."

"Third uncle, if I take full charge of the jade lamp workshop, before today next year, I will hand over six hundred taels of gold to you, how about it?"

Li Youwei looked at Li Xian and finally nodded, "That's fine, but I'll only give you one year. If you can't succeed, don't meddle in the workshop in the future.

In addition, it must be produced by the workshop, and you cannot embezzle goods from other places. "

"Don't worry third uncle, you will see a different Li Xian! I want to live up to my father's expectations." Li Xian patted his chest.

Then Li Xian asked Li Youwei about the details of the jade lantern workshop.

Among the 10 grades of jade lamps, the highest grade is the jasper lamp. A jasper lamp has a service life of about one year, and the price is about 5 taels of silver; the cost price is more than 4 taels of silver. After deducting all kinds of expenses, the net profit of five jasper lamps is only one tael of silver. If it goes well, it can produce up to 50 a day.

As for the lowest-grade white jade lamp, it also has a lifespan of one year. The price is half a tael of silver and five hundred copper plates. The net profit of one white jade lamp is 50 copper plates; the profit of 20 white jade lamps is only one tael of silver.

The reward for craftsmen is: making a white jade lamp costs 5 copper plates, and every level increases by 2 copper plates; so the reward for making a jasper lamp is 23 copper plates.

These copper plates are further dispersed, and the craftsmen with the highest income can get about 100 copper plates a day.

This kind of labor method can increase the output, but it can't improve the quality; and the jade lamp is actually a very low-end product; there are many workshops to make it, and the competition is fierce.

It must be said that although Li Yulong has a bad reputation in court, he has a good reputation among the people, and he has never done anything to oppress the people.

"If an enterprise wants to make a profit, the most important thing is to develop high-end products. If the technology cannot be improved, then the art must be improved! But to make a good product, the first thing is to improve the enthusiasm of the workers!" Under the guidance of such ideas, Li The first thing Xian did after contracting the Yudeng workshop was to pay dividends.

"I get 80% of the net profit, and bear all the risks, including reinvestment and other things; everyone shares the remaining 20% ​​of the net profit. From today, we only do art lighting; temporarily no longer make simple lighting tools .

But I also have other requirements. First of all, there is a working period of at least 30 years, 6 hours of working time per day, and 2 days of vacation per month. If there is overtime work, five copper coins will be compensated for a quarter of time, and if it is less than a quarter, it will be calculated as a quarter.

Secondly, all the techniques learned here must be permanently kept secret and must not be leaked.

Everyone has a day to think about it, and we will see you tomorrow afternoon.

If there are those who do not want to join, they can continue to maintain the original work. "

Li Xian's conditions, if on earth, would definitely be sued in court and labeled as a sweatshop; but here, many capable craftsmen are happy.

In addition, Li Xian really likes this world so much, do you want to sign the contract? No need, just swear! No one dares to break the oath! This is the world of practice, it's really... so wonderful.