"Zhang Dashao" was of great help to Ning Weimin's career.
Not to mention that the old man never took a penny except for the few things he sent at the beginning.
Let’s just talk about the effort spent on this matter and the favors involved.
Even if a father treats his own son, this is nothing more than this, right?
Humans are not grass and trees, can Ning Weimin feel complacent?
He is a person who loves to scheme, and who can scheme is capable of calculating.
Who can take advantage of it and how to take advantage of it.
He has always been able to attack only those who want to plot against him.
People who are truly kind to themselves will not be able to do such a thing
This is his moral bottom line, otherwise he will not be able to maintain peace of mind and peace of mind.
But having said that, even if he wanted to make an appropriate return, he really couldn't think about it properly at the moment.
Because Shanghai-based athlete Zhu Jianhua jumped a height of 2.37 meters in the qualifiers of the Fifth National Games held in Beijing, setting a new world record for men's high jump.
As the national TV station reported the news of the first large-scale hydropower station built on the Yangtze River in my country - the Gezhouba Erjiang Hydropower Station in the form of headlines on "Xinwen Lianbo".
In the hot summer weather, a TV series called "Talk about the Yangtze River" created a miracle of viewership.
The renovation project at No. 87 Tiantan North Road is also approaching its final stages.
As a result, the work related to opening the business became a top priority that must be arranged, and there were too many matters that required his decision-making.
What's more, how to keep up with the boss asking for a loan, how to advertise, and attract a stable and continuous source of customers for the restaurant are also the top tasks that he must start now.
Not to mention that at this time, the first batch of eighty bunches of grape ornaments after the resumption of production of "Grape Chang" is just in time to leave the factory.
In addition to firing 300 sets of tableware, Liu Yongqing also fired an additional batch of small bionic porcelain pieces at his request, which were released just after the grapes were cooked.
This would leave him no time to be distracted and think about things that can be postponed later and are not urgent to do now.
No way, so many complicated things came to him all at once, and his time and energy were simply not enough.
Then there is no better way than to deal with the situation according to the priority of the situation.
This is how he feels about not wanting to live up to his status as a time traveler, wanting to do big things, and racing against time.
Time waits for no one, seizing the day and night is both happiness and pain!
This statement really cannot be said to be self-contradictory.
Isn’t that what happens in this world? There is no particularly suitable time, and most of the time it’s pain and happiness.
Not to mention anything else, just take the market reaction after the food containers and bionic porcelain were delivered to Zhai Palace. It is certainly a good thing if they sell well.
But if the sales are too good, far beyond imagination, it will also have side effects.
Sunday, July 24, 1983.
This day is the day when the "Grape Chang" material utensils and Liu Yongqing's bionic porcelain are officially tested through the sales channels of Zhai Palace to test the market response.
To be honest, in fact, the samples of these two new handicrafts put on the shelves in Zhai Palace were just made when they were made.
Ning Weimin is no longer worried about whether the product can be sold.
Because the skills of the two master craftsmen Chang Yuling and Liu Yongqing are really extraordinary, the things they made are so beautiful.
And this time, many parties have joined forces to optimize and improve the product.
Successfully offset their personal limitations.
Anyone who has seen it will say good things about it.
For example, what were the weaknesses of the "Grape Chang" grapes in the past?
First, the product display method is too simple and plain.
Grapes are placed on plates and baskets.
Although people can touch it directly and take a close look at it without any obstruction, it inevitably looks crude and humble.
Second, the texture of the grape leaf fabric is really poor.
Although they look alike, they are also light in weight.
However, this destroys the elegance and dignity of artificial gemstones and lowers the grade of grapes, which is not worth the gain.
This leads to the fact that the production technology level of the grapes produced by the Grape Grapes Factory is still higher than those produced by the Beijing Grape Grapes Factory.
However, it cannot be sold at a high price, and it has always been a popular commodity among the people.
It is difficult to become a high-end decoration like the decorations produced by the material factory.
So in order to solve these problems, the street production cooperatives reopened this time.
Ning Weimin not only hired two masters from the Beijing material factory to work part-time with high salary, but also cooperated with Chang Yuling.
Grape leaves were specially made as a feeder, replacing the original cloth grape leaves.
He also placed a large order with the Palace Lantern Factory, asking the wood carvers there to use fine hardwood.
An exquisite wooden base was specially made for the grape feeder, and a matching glass box for the feeder.
This time it is like that, directly raising the level of "grape regular".
Although the cost has increased accordingly, from the original thirteen yuan to twenty-eight yuan, it has more than doubled.
But the effect is not as simple as adding a dozen dollars to a dozen dollars.
In terms of aesthetics and decorative effect, such ornaments are already much better than the small flower cutters produced by the Beijing Cutlery Factory in the Wangfujing Art and Design Service Department with a price tag of about 100 yuan.
So when it comes to pricing, can Ning Weimin still be vague?
Such a good thing can't be sold at a lower price than the price at the Art and Design Service Department, right?
The ornament of a single bunch of grapes is considered a small utensil, and he priced it at 108 yuan in foreign exchange coupons.
The ornament of two bunches of grapes is a medium-sized utensil, priced at 188 yuan in foreign exchange coupons.
Ning Weimin believes that this is a more reasonable price.
Similarly, this batch of bionic porcelain produced by Liu Yongqing is also a masterpiece that reasonably draws on each other's strengths to offset weaknesses.
What is bionic porcelain?
It is a dazzling and wonderful flower in my country's ceramic art.
The imitations are porcelain fired from different objects that people often use in real life and common garden fruits.
The objects of imitation can be characters, animals, plants, utensils, buildings, etc.
All other species and artistic varieties can be imitated with porcelain.
With its vividness, lifelikeness and the word "qiao", it amazes the world. It is called "the porcelain that is least like porcelain" by the world.
This craft first appeared in the Yongzheng period.
However, during the Yongzheng period, there were fewer types of bionic porcelain, including imitation wood and imitation jade.
During the Qianlong period, the craftsmen in the royal kilns were highly skilled in firing techniques and could control the color of the kiln glaze as they pleased.
In addition, the outstanding pottery supervisor Tang Ying presided over the production of various exquisite utensils.
The bionic porcelain produced has reached such a variety that it can almost look real.
Needless to say, making this thing can especially take advantage of Liu Yongqing's special advantages in color matching.
But the biggest problem in production is precisely the lack of modeling capabilities of porcelain blanks.
You know, this bionic porcelain is very different from the complete set of antique porcelain.
It is possible to buy ready-made porcelain blanks such as cups, plates, and bowls, and this has always been the case from the Republic of China to the present day.
Even if you can't buy it, it doesn't matter. Jingcheng Handicraft Factory has a special porcelain blank production group, which is their own modeling workshop.
After all, it is an imitation of something from the past. Some porcelain blanks that are not very standard cannot be purchased. You can make porcelain blanks that are close to the needs based on actual needs.
But the problem is, most of the workers who make porcelain blanks have not received professional art training, and their abilities can only make mediocre ones.
It is really difficult for them to make complex-shaped imitation ecological porcelain blanks such as melons, fruits, pears, chickens, ducks, cats and dogs.
Even Liu Yongqing himself is similar to this.
Although he is very capable when it comes to color matching, it can be said that he is very capable.
But when it came to making porcelain, he learned how his master taught him.
In terms of art modeling ability, there is no personal expertise and performance at all.
At most, I can only make simple birthday peaches, persimmons, and these small porcelain boxes.
Or get a cucumber or corn, and use these most common crops as paperweights.
He can't even make a more complicated porcelain cat pillow or a Ganoderma pen holder. He hasn't learned anything.
This greatly limits the ability of Jingcheng Arts and Crafts Factory to produce bionic porcelain.
But that's okay.
Don’t forget, didn’t Ning Weimin already have a foot in the art world through the “Sculpture Art Exhibition”?
He has good relations with two art academies in Beijing.
Especially in the sculpture department, he is very popular and well-connected.
So he made a change and directly entrusted the work to a teacher from the Sculpture Department.
According to the difficulty of production, orders for bionic porcelain blanks were distributed to graduated and current students in the Sculpture Department at prices ranging from ten yuan, eight yuan, five yuan, and three yuan.
Think about it, how appropriate this is!
The teachers and students of the sculpture departments of the two art academies have all benefited from it.
Everyone no longer has to worry about losing income every month.
As long as they are willing, they can make a few porcelain blanks from raw materials of porcelain clay, which is enough for them to live on.
And the artistic modeling level of these porcelain blanks far exceeds the level of folk craftsmen.
It is enough to greatly improve the final effect of bionic porcelain.
Then, coupled with Liu Yongqing’s unique skill of matching and coloring, is there anything wrong with the baked goods?
What's more, what's even more unexpected is that there is a noble person among them who takes the initiative to ask for help.
It was Ye Hemin, the ceramics expert.
I love this man. In addition to his work at the Forbidden City, he is also a visiting professor at the Ceramics Department of the Academy of Arts and Crafts.
Ye Hemin not only wanted to help Liu Yongqing repay Ning Weimin's favor, but also hoped to promote the students' academic progress.
So he took the initiative to find Ning Weimin and expressed his hope that his students could also participate.
This is a great thing, how could Ning Weimin not agree?
As expected, this is the right thing to do. Expert Ye and his students designed some exquisite porcelain blanks.
Such as longevity peach, Ganoderma pen holder, fruit crab plate, foreign colored plastic fruit stem serving plate...
After it was fired, I looked at it again and found that it was more professional than the porcelain blanks produced by the sculpture department, and it completely fell into the category of art.
Because of this, Ning Weimin set a high price for these bionic porcelains.
Just for fun, small items like lychees, peanuts, etc. would cost ten to eight yuan each.
Medium-sized paperweights such as cucumbers, corns, and eggplants are worth twenty or thirty foreign exchange coupons.
Porcelain boxes with practical value, such as persimmon boxes and peach jars, are sold at a higher price, requiring forty or fifty foreign exchange coupons.
And large and exquisite items such as cabbage ornaments, carp boxes, and lotus leaf plates cost almost eighty or ninety yuan.
There are not hundreds of them, because these are really good things made by Ye Hemin and his students.
Ning Weimin was reluctant to sell it, so he purchased it directly in the name of a restaurant and kept it for his own use.
All in all, in Ning Weimin’s eyes, whether it’s grapes or bionic porcelain, it’s impossible not to sell them.
He believes that the price may make some foreigners feel uncomfortable.
But you get what you pay for, which is definitely not considered bad.
So he didn't take it too seriously that day and held a regular meeting with the girls from Zhai Palace in the morning.
Just clarify the pricing standards.
Then he told the girls to place the grapes and bionic porcelain in eye-catching places as the main varieties they are promoting recently.
He left the Temple of Heaven in his car to do other things.
As a result, when he came back at four o'clock in the afternoon, he was dumbfounded.
I never expected that the actual market reaction would deviate greatly from my expectations.
These new items are selling like crazy!
All of them experienced overwhelming sales! They were almost sold out!
The first-hand information Ning Weimin got was fed back to him by Xiao Wei and Xiao Meng from Zhai Palace's internal membership store.
Because the store has a large business area, the utensils and porcelain are very delicate.
So most of the grape utensils and bionic porcelain have to be sold here.
Needless to say, Ning Weimin wanted to know the sales of new products that day, so he naturally came to the internal store to inquire.
When Ning Weimin entered the store, there were not many people in the store and it was very deserted.
This is not surprising, the sign outside is there to keep people out. If there are no foreigners, the place will be empty, and Chinese people will not come in.
Unexpectedly, when Xiao Wei and Xiao Meng saw him, they didn't have time to be polite, so they rushed to speak in unison.
"Manager Ning, the new product we launched today is a bit troublesome!"
"What trouble?"
Ning Weimin couldn't believe it.
Seeing the sad faces of the two girls, he mistakenly thought that the sales were not good and his subordinates were complaining.
But in fact it's just the opposite.
"Oops, it's out of stock!"
"Yes, they are all sold out!"
Ning Weimin's brain shut down on the spot, and his first reaction was that he had heard wrong.
The eighty bunches of grapes and fifty or sixty bionic porcelain that he just brought this morning, these two girls actually told him that they were out of stock?
Some asked in disbelief, "What? Out of stock? All sold out! Impossible!"
"Oh, it's the bionic porcelain. Because it's so beautiful and similar, it sells out very quickly. Basically, it's all sold out before noon!"
"It's the same with those grapes. Foreigners don't believe they are fake. They keep asking if they can make wine, but they are all sold out before two o'clock in the afternoon."
Xiao Wei and Xiao Meng still complement each other in tandem.
Ning Weimin was even more confused, happy and puzzled at the same time.
"Then... isn't this great?? After selling so many goods, you will get a lot of commission! Why are you still looking so grim..."
Xiao Wei and Xiao Meng looked at each other for a moment, their faces turned red from holding back their tears, and they finally revealed the source of their distress.
"But we collected money from others, but forgot to keep the goods for them..."
"Yes, we have sold all the goods they ordered. They will come to us tomorrow to ask for more. What should we do?"