Old Tian, this batch of raw materials might be dodgy. Clear all the molten glass out of the furnace.
Unable to find the problem, Jin Feng simply decided to start over from scratch.
Got it!
The worker who had gone to inform Jin Feng quickly grabbed his tools and began scooping the molten glass out of the furnace, pouring it into the water tank.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!
White steam shot up at once, and the clear water in the tank instantly boiled.
The glass liquid rapidly solidified into all sorts of glass lumps.
Although Jin Feng knew the glass formula and production method, he had not been a professional at this in his previous life, so his experiments had failed countless times.
The workers were long used to it.
Old Tian busied himself cleaning the furnace while the other two used shovels and brooms to sweep up the small glass fragments on the floor.
Crash!
The glass lumps were casually dumped into a large basket.
Ninth Princess walked over and glanced inside. She found the basket full of glass pieces and shards of every shape and size.
Just then, sunlight streamed in through the window, making the glass in the basket dazzle so brightly that Ninth Princess could barely keep her eyes open.
Old man, what will happen to these?
Ninth Princess stepped back a few paces, pointed at the large basket, and asked.
What else can we do with them? Crush them and bury them at the back of the hill!
The worker, unaware of Ninth Princess’s identity, answered offhandedly.
Crush… crush and bury them?
Ninth Princess’s eyes widened. She suspected she had misheard.
In her view, every piece of glass was money!
Even the failed products were far better than anything she had seen in the palace.
With just a little polishing, they could fetch sky-high prices in the capital.
Esteemed lady, please step aside and let us pass!
Old Tian used large tongs to lift the now-solidified glass lumps out of the water tank and tossed them onto a stone platform in the corner.
At the other end of the platform stood a heavy stone roller specially used for crushing glass.
The lumps taken from the tank were too big to crush easily, so Old Tian swung the heavy iron tongs and smashed them.
Crash!
A basin-sized piece of glass shattered into several chunks with a piercing sound.
Ninth Princess felt her heart shatter along with the glass.
Seeing Old Tian lift an even larger piece from the tank, the normally calm and composed Ninth Princess grew so anxious that she stamped her foot.
In two or three quick steps she reached Jin Feng. “Sir, that old man is smashing the crystal jade and says he will crush it all and bury it!”
Glass can cut people easily. Of course it has to be crushed and buried.
Jin Feng, who was weighing fine sand, turned and instructed, “Old Liang, make sure you crush it thoroughly, then find a remote spot and bury it deep.”
Normally, the proper procedure would be to return the broken glass to the furnace for remelting, but since Jin Feng was still testing the best formula, he could not mix failed batches with experimental materials, so deep burial was the only option.
Rest assured, sir.
The worker agreed, called over a companion, and together they lifted the large basket onto the stone platform.
Wait!
When Ninth Princess saw Old Tian and the others preparing to roll the stone crusher over the glass, she hurriedly called them to stop, then turned to Jin Feng. “Sir, do you realise how much this whole basket of crystal jade would be worth if sent to the capital?”
From their appearance, my glass pieces should be no worse than those the Japanese envoys presented to His Majesty. I suppose they could sell for a considerable sum, Jin Feng replied with a smile.
It was precisely because he knew this that Jin Feng insisted Old Tian and the others grind the failed pieces to powder, preventing anyone from digging them up later.
Since you know that, why let them crush and bury it? Isn’t this wantonly destroying heaven’s gifts? Ninth Princess asked.
I wonder if Your Highness has ever heard the saying, “Anything from Xihe Bay must be a masterpiece.”
Jin Feng continued, “I will not ruin my own reputation. If I cannot make something better, so be it, but when improvement is possible, I refuse to cut corners. That is the spirit of a craftsman!”
He did intend to make money from glass, yet he had no wish to behave as shamelessly as the Phoenicians or Italians, passing off shoddy goods to cheat people.
In truth, Jin Feng knew perfectly well that even if he sent these failed pieces to the capital, the nobles of Great Kang, who had seen little of the world, would still scramble to buy them, and he would still make a fortune.
From a purely economic standpoint, top-quality and defective items would bring roughly the same profit.
Since the main raw material for glass was sand and the cost was practically negligible, Jin Feng preferred to produce only the finest work if he was going to do it at all.
If he was going to swindle people, he would at least do it with sincerity.
It was only a side venture anyway.
Having raised the matter to the level of craftsman’s spirit, what more could Ninth Princess say?
Since sir already has a plan, Wuyang will say no more.
Ninth Princess glanced back at the glass lumps on the stone platform, her beautiful brows slightly furrowed, her face full of heartache.
Seeing Old Tian and the others already checking the stone roller, Ninth Princess bit her lip, pointed at the broken glass on the platform, and said, “Sir, could… could you give them to me?”
As an imperial daughter, Ninth Princess had not asked anyone for anything since she came of age.
Yet Jin Feng refused her without the slightest hesitation. “No!”
The value of glass lay in its rarity.
Diamonds from his previous world were the perfect example.
A diamond was nothing more than a stone, yet diamond merchants had hyped it up madly to make money.
Thanks to the brainwashing slogan “A diamond is forever”, diamonds had been turned into the symbol of love.
In reality, diamonds were not scarce on Earth, but to keep prices high, the merchants colluded to restrict supply and create the illusion of extreme rarity and value.
Later, when synthetic diamonds appeared, equal or even superior in colour and quality, the merchants changed tack and began promoting the “artistic value” of natural diamonds, claiming man-made ones defiled true love.
What nonsense!
In his previous life, one of Jin Feng’s classmates had spent seventy thousand on a natural diamond ring for his wife when they married.
Later, when the family faced an emergency, the wife tried to sell the ring for cash.
She visited many jewellery shops, but they all refused to buy it back, citing the difficulty of reshaping such a hard stone.
Finally, the manager of the original shop, seeing how desperate she was, quietly told her that jewellery shops never took back diamonds and suggested she try a pawnshop.
At the pawnshop, they offered only eight thousand, not a penny more.
The classmate’s wife nearly spat blood in fury, but in the end she did not sell.
Diamonds had no practical use and could not serve as hard currency. Their high price came entirely from hype and perceived rarity.
Such an excellent marketing case was naturally worth learning from.
From the very beginning, therefore, Jin Feng had planned to tightly control the quantity of glass released onto the market.
There was no small amount of broken glass on that platform. Giving it to Ninth Princess would inevitably disrupt the market and completely undermine his strategy.
He could not possibly agree.
Wuyang was presumptuous!
Ninth Princess had her pride. Since Jin Feng refused, she did not press the matter further.
She only felt waves of disappointment in her heart.
After spending this time together, Ninth Princess had thought her relationship with Jin Feng was already quite close, which was why she had asked for the broken glass.
Yet Jin Feng would rather smash the glass than give it to her.
Suddenly, Ninth Princess felt deeply wronged…
