In a rare moment of relaxation, Yi Yao, Qin Mo and Zhang Bin played happily all day in Heiquan Community.
The three of them mingled with the workers. Through chatting with the workers, Yi Yao gradually gained a deeper understanding of the craft of bamboo weaving. Historically, the bamboo weaving industry mostly existed in the form of workshops. The bamboo weaving craft can be passed down from generation to generation relying on the Five-Year Plan of China.
A master-disciple relationship that lasts for thousands of years.
There are very strict conditions for apprenticeship and apprenticeship. A long time ago, apprentices would not start their own business immediately after completing their studies, but usually stayed with the master for several years or even more than ten years. During this period, all the achievements of the apprentice belonged to the master.
, it can be regarded as repaying a favor, similar to the three-year apprenticeship and two-year service in the cross talk industry.
There are many kinds of bamboo for bamboo weaving, including light bamboo, water bamboo, rigid bamboo, moso bamboo, etc. There are about more than 200 varieties.
After learning more about bamboo weaving, Yi Yao also discovered that the weaving techniques of bamboo weaving are also very complicated. Common ones include weaving, turning, parquet, beading, spring turning, etc.
Bamboo weaving technology involves three types of material processing, weaving and finishing. Although each process looks simple, it is difficult to imagine how complex it is in actual operation.
This not only requires craftsmen to have extraordinary proficiency, but also to have a reasonable judgment on the state of the bamboo strips through years of accumulated experience, so as to increase the yield of finished products.
In the weaving process, there are actually very strict requirements on what materials are suitable for making ribs and what strips are suitable for weaving.
The ribs are used as the base, the bamboo strips are woven, two inches are used for the head and neck, five inches are used for two necks, one foot is used for three necks, and then the edges are stitched.
There are also very clear requirements for the height of the seams. Taking common backpacks as an example, a small back basket has a seam height of one foot and five inches, a medium back basket has a seam height of one foot and six inches, and a large back basket has a seam height of two feet.
After sewing the edge, you need to use the lasting stick to round and straighten the opening of the bamboo woven product to make the overall look more beautiful.
Watching the workers skillfully operate, how a piece of bamboo is processed and how it becomes the final bamboo woven product step by step, Yi Yao has never felt such warmth and comfort.
In an increasingly impetuous social environment, craftsmen use their busy crafts to convey the tranquility and indifference of worldly experts. They are busy but fulfilled, tired but happy, and it seems that all the impetuous and noisy things in the world are related to them.
It doesn't matter, what they have to do is process the bamboo in front of them into various bamboo woven products.
Next to the wooden house, the skillful skills of a bamboo-breaking worker attracted the attention of Yi Yao and Zhang Bin.
The man was already in his fifties, but he could not see any decadent temperament. The chopping knife in his hand was extremely sharp. He lightly slapped the chopping knife in the middle of the bamboo, grabbed both sides of the bamboo with both hands and pulled hard. It was seven or eight meters long.
The bamboo was split into two instantly, and accompanied by the beautiful sound of the bamboo tearing, the whole process was smooth and capable, which was simply pleasing to the eye.
Destruction is to use a splitting knife to divide the bamboo into strips of the specified size. Some strips need to be several millimeters in size, so the craftsman's proficiency is very high.
"Squeak-la-wow-"
After a set of actions of batching, withdrawing, pulling, and rowing, it only took ten minutes to process a seven- to eight-meter-long bamboo into bamboo strips of the appropriate size. The whole process was full of rhythm, and the bamboo craftsman
The benefits are even more relaxing, just like watching a traditional drama.
The speed, accuracy, precision, rhythm, concentration, technology, and proficiency required by the entire processing process have reached a level of excellence.
Yi Yao and Zhang Bin squatted next to the bamboo craftsman, and before they knew it, the whole morning had passed quietly.
Seeing the rise, Zhang Bin took out his mobile phone and filmed the entire process of the bamboo craftsman breaking the bamboo.
At noon, Uncle Zhang cooked bamboo tube rice. A simple grill was set up next to the wooden house. Everyone ate bamboo tube rice and barbecued meat. The comfort and fulfillment were something you couldn't feel at all in a city hotel.
"Are you still angry? Come and eat a piece of meat. Only when you are full can you have the energy to be angry. You don't know that being angry consumes energy."
Yi Yao scolded Qin Mo for being poor. Qin Mo rolled his eyes and turned to look away.
In fact, Qin Mo also knew that Zhang Yan and Ni Dasheng would get together sooner or later, but she had worked hard for so many years and suddenly faced this result that she couldn't accept.
Qin Mo didn't really resent Yi Yao, but Zhang Yan had to go through Yi Yao to tell her such things, which made her feel aggrieved.
The southern boss also had bamboo rice. He looked like a man in his thirties, not tall and a bit short and squat, and his Cantonese sounded a bit funny under his high-pitched voice.
The boss is called Zhao Defa, and he came to Heiquan Community this time to inspect the technological process and production scale of bamboo woven products.
Previously, Qin Yanshan's bamboo woven products were mainly sold to the southern market. Zhao Defa also accidentally saw Qin Yanshan's bamboo woven products in a friend's factory, and gradually came up with the idea of cooperation.
Looking at his silly look, Yi Yao and others felt that there would be no problems with this deal.
In the afternoon, Qin Yanshan and Lao Zhang continued to visit with Zhao Defa, while Yi Yao and Qin Mo went to the mountain. Originally, they wanted to call Zhang Bin, but Zhang Bin took his mobile phone and went to the bamboo craftsman in the morning and continued to take his video.
.
During dinner in the evening, Yi Yao felt that something was wrong with Old Uncle Zhang's expression. When he asked, he found out that Zhao Defa had kept the price very low. If he sold it at his price, the theoretical price would be very low.
The problem now is that Qin Yanshan no longer has any extra orders. If he wants to maintain the basic operation of bamboo woven products in Heiquan Community, Zhao Defa's business must be concluded.
But according to the price required by Zhao Defa, they must save costs elsewhere.
"Is it difficult to control the cost of bamboo weaving?" Yi Yao didn't know how to do it, so he could only ask Lao Zhang.
Lao Zhang frowned: "Either we have to choose low-quality bamboo to reduce the cost of raw materials, or... we have to lay off employees and start from the labor cost."
Obviously, these two methods are not what Qin Yanshan wants to see.
"Lao Qin is very stubborn. If he is asked to use low-quality bamboo as raw materials, he would rather lose his job than agree."
When Uncle Zhang said this, the implication is that the only way to go is to control labor costs.
But these craftsmen are all old people who have worked with Qin Yanshan for many years. Most of them rely on this craft to make a living and do not want to put more pressure on their children. Some are lonely old people who do this job just to be self-sufficient.
Except for some well-off children who regard this job as a hobby, most people do it for their livelihood.
To lay off employees would be equivalent to losing someone else's job, which Qin Yanshan would naturally find difficult to accept.
Although Zhao Defa refused to give in on the price, fortunately he planned to stay in Heiquan Community for two more days and conduct a thorough inspection before making a decision.
Yi Yao could see that Zhao Defa still recognized traditional handicrafts. Every time he picked up the high-quality bamboo weavings on the shelves, Zhao Defa couldn't put it down.
"Mr. Zhao, could you please consider the price again? We are really in a dilemma with the price you mentioned." Seeing that there was no one around, Yi Yao started chatting with Zhao Defa.
Zhao Defa put down the fine bamboo weaving in his hand and sighed before saying: "Business is business only if it's suitable. The price I gave is already my bottom line. It's easy for you to do it, but it's difficult for me to do it. The current bamboo weaving market is sluggish.
, and I have no choice."
Yi Yao was about to speak, but Zhao Defa made an excuse and went elsewhere.
At night, Qin Mo and Yi Yao stayed in the wooden house. Lao Zhang didn't know if Zhang Bin was coming and whether he had prepared a place for Zhang Bin, so he could only let Zhang Bin stay at Lao Zhang's house first.
Because of the price issue, Qin Mo and Yi Yao stayed up all night, thinking about how to convince Zhao Defa.
Qin Mo frowned: "I don't think this Zhao Defa is a lecher. I have so much energy that I can't use it. It's really fucked."
Yi Yao pushed Qin Mo: "Are you doing your old habit again? If you keep doing this, I think you will become an old bustard."
Qin Mo chuckled: "I can't help it."
Yi Yao glanced at the night sky outside the window, "Let's wait and see. Now we can only hope that Zhao Defa can raise the price by himself. The big deal..."
When Yi Yao said this, Qin Mo immediately became more energetic: "What's the big deal?"
Yi Yao sighed: "At worst, I won't do his business."
Qin Mo looked disappointed and asked Yi Yao: "Yi Yao, we really can't do it ourselves?"
Yi Yao knew what Qin Mo meant, but still didn't dare to agree: "If we could do it, we would have done it long ago. Although there were some sales of bamboo woven products as welfare products during live broadcasts, the risk of doing bamboo woven products alone is too great. You
You know, the reading platform doesn’t even have bamboo products as a category now, so I don’t dare to do it blindly.”
Qin Mo refused to give up: "Yi Yao, what are you worried about?"
Yi Yao: "I gave the Heiquan community hope, and then let them experience despair."
Yi Yao's words are very sincere, and this is what Yi Yao is most worried about. It is not impossible to try bamboo woven products, but the risks of trying are completely beyond Yi Yao's control.
She knew that if she was willing to do it, the craftsmen in the Black Spring community would be able to cheer up the market value for a period of time, but what happened after that?
The Yushi platform does not even have the category of bamboo woven products, which means that at least in terms of platform business strategy, the official does not have any support for this category.
It is difficult for Yi Yao to imagine the difficulty of creating a market for a category by relying solely on its own operations.
If that turned out to be the case, Yi Yao was worried that even Qin Yanshan wouldn't be able to hold on. Yi Yao didn't want to, and didn't dare to let go of Qin's bamboo weaving, an intangible craft that was inherited because of his intervention.
The wedding date of Zhang Yan and Ni Dasheng has been set, and the wedding banquet will be held at the China World Hotel in Beijing three days later.
In those days, Zhang Yan called Qin Mo many times, but Qin Mo didn't answer any of them.
Two days before the wedding banquet, Zhang Yan suddenly appeared in Heiquan Community.