The young man's thoughts are written on his face, and even if he doesn't say it out loud, adults can guess it.
Uncle Wu patted him on the shoulder lightly, "Ah Shan, don't think so much, your grandmother is still waiting for you to learn skills and make money to support yourself."
"Hmm!" Thinking of his grandmother at home, the young man Ah Shan made up his mind that no matter what the Xu family did to him, he would learn this craft.
Xu Yue opened the crack in the door and looked hard until she couldn't see anymore, then stepped back from the door.
When he turned around, he saw his brothers and sisters looking at him with frowns.
"What, what's wrong?" Xu Yue asked anxiously.
Xu Erniang said: "The master has taught his disciples to starve to death. Don't be soft-hearted because you think they are pitiful."
Xu Dalang didn't say anything, but looking at his expression, he probably thought about the same thing as Xu Erniang.
Xu Yue sighed, "I'm not soft-hearted...well, a little bit, everyone's life is too hard, but I don't want to spread the kang skillet out of sympathy for them."
The two brothers looked at Xu Yue suspiciously, and Xu Yue waved to her brother and sister to come in, "Go back to the room and say, it's freezing outside."
The three brothers and sisters moved to the big kang in the main room, and Xu Yue continued to analyze the current situation to her brother and sister.
"The county is so big. Just two people, Dad and Uncle Dayou, will definitely not be able to complete the order in a short time. It's snowing now, and everyone wants to put up their own Kang first."
"Therefore, disputes will soon arise, and Dad and Uncle Dayou will bear the brunt. If one person does not handle it well, many people will be offended."
"For the sustainability of the Kang business, Dad will definitely recruit more people to help."
"We are not stupid, and we actually don't have much skill in making a kang. Rather than having someone secretly learn the skill and compete with us for business, we should take the initiative to recruit apprentices and turn passivity into initiative."
Speaking of this, Xu Yue looked at the sky outside. Her father was almost coming back, and she didn't have much time left to prepare.
Regardless of whether her brother or sister understood what she meant, Xu Yue had no time to explain. She took out the wooden board on which Xu Dalang had been writing and drawing, found some charcoal sticks in the kitchen, and started writing on the board.
Accepting disciples is a given, but the final right of interpretation lies with them.
As the saying goes, there is no rule without rules. You can become a disciple, but the prerequisite is to abide by the rules.
The first is to set a price.
If an industry wants to develop and grow, it must avoid vicious struggles among peers. The market price will be whatever it is agreed upon, and it will not work if the price is increased or the price is reduced privately.
The second article is how tuition fees should be charged.
According to Xu Yue's idea, there is no charge and free teaching.
There are thirteen prefectures in Daqing, so why stick to a small Hejian county?
Once the fundamentals are expanded and the market is so big, there is no need for everyone to fight each other in the same county.
A group of people have been taught this year, and next year they can go to other places to play kang.
Moreover, making a bed is a hard job, dealing with mud and water, dirty and tiring. If there is a better job, no one would bother to learn it.
The market will naturally eliminate a group of followers, leaving only those who are willing to work hard.
Xu Yue never thought about making a fortune with this tuition fee. Her family had just arrived and had no foundation, so they might as well use this tuition fee to gain some popularity.
To be an official in Daqing is to promote filial piety and integrity. Strength is not as useful as having a good name.
Of course, if this person has both strength and reputation, then his official career will be smoother.
Although being an official has nothing to do with their family now, with this favor, if anyone wants to bully them in Beicheng, they have to think carefully about it.
The third point, which is also the core point, is industry spirit.
To make a Kang bed, you have to go to the client's home. Apprentices in this kind of private space must have a sense of boundaries. They must not look around or touch, and only concentrate on making the Kang bed. Nothing else can be crossed.
Otherwise, if someone engages in petty theft and ruins the reputation, the entire industry will be destroyed.
The time was too short, and Xu Yue could only think of these for the time being. As soon as she finished writing these rules, Xu Da and Wang Dayou came back.
Perhaps because he heard about Uncle Wu and others coming to study under him, Wang Da did not go home and followed Xu Da to the Xu family.
Ashan had been watching from the alley. Xu Da and Wang Dayu had just entered the house, and then they came to the door.
There was a knock on the courtyard door, and Uncle Wu asked for permission to see him. Xu Da didn't answer. Seeing Xu Yue waving in the room, he came to the room first.
"What do you think?" As soon as Xu Da came in, he asked Xu Yue what she thought about becoming an apprentice.
In his opinion, although he is responsible for the implementation of the fire kang, Xu Yue and Wang are the founders who have the final right to interpret the fire kang.
Wang Dayou watched from the sidelines as Xu Da went to inquire about a child. He had long been accustomed to this family's weird way of getting along and didn't feel anything.
Xu Yue handed the board she wrote to Xu Da and asked him to see if there was anything he wanted to add.
Xu Da concentrated on looking at the wooden boards. Wang Dayou was illiterate, but he knew what they meant from the attitudes of the father and daughter.
This is to spread the art of making a kang.
Wang Dayou had nothing to be reluctant to part with. It was snowing and the weather was extremely cold. When he and Brother Xu went out today, they saw many frozen people on the roadside.
At that time, he felt that with the fire kang, many fewer people would freeze to death this winter.
Even Xu Da, who had previously planned to make a fortune from apprenticeship fees, gave up his original idea after seeing so many frozen people on the roadside.
There are some things that you can only understand the difficulty of if you see them with your own eyes and experience them with your own eyes.
The knocking on the door gradually became weaker, and there was no response from inside the house. It seemed that he was frustrated.
Xu Da put down the wooden board, looked at Xu Yue and said, "Young lady, if you open up the situation, I will do as you say."
After saying that, he signaled the Xu Yue brothers and sisters to go back to their rooms, got up, walked to the courtyard, and opened the door.
Uncle Wu and his group were squatting outside the house. They did not leave, but were still waiting at the door. They were wearing thin clothes and shivering in the cold wind.
Snow started falling again, soon covering the muddy streets with a layer of white.
Several people stood up in surprise, but they may have been squatting for too long. Their feet were numb and their bodies were stiff. They staggered and looked particularly embarrassed.
Before they could speak, Xu D first asked: "Want to learn Pan Kang from me?"
"Yes!" The young man Ashan hurriedly squeezed over. He couldn't stand firm when he stood up. He knelt down again, offered the frozen fish in his hand, and begged with a pair of big black and white eyes:
"Master Xu, please teach us the skills of making a kang. In the next life, we will work as cows and horses to repay you!"
The young man had never read a book, so he copied the words he learned from the opera troupe, but he said them sincerely and firmly.
Xu Da looked at the young man in front of him, then at the people outside who were preparing to imitate the young man, and nodded, "I can teach you."
"Ah?" Ah Shan didn't react for a while. Are you going to agree now?
