176: Chapter 174: Ruining the Family’s Fortune (Ninth Update) 176: Chapter 174: Ruining the Family’s Fortune (Ninth Update) As these words came out, even Lin Yi couldn’t help but be amused by the audacity.
“You don’t know where you went wrong, so why are you begging me for forgiveness?”
As he asked this, Lin Yi was also somewhat confused, unsure of what trick the fellow in front of him was playing.
However, he was bewildered, and the other party was even more bewildered.
He saw Er Gouzi scratching his head with a simple and honest face, addressing Lin Yi:
“Uh, but the Lord said not to let the servants produce mirrors anymore.
If the servant didn’t make a mistake, why wouldn’t the Lord allow the servant to continue producing them?”
Good lord, as soon as these words were uttered, Lin Yi was truly caught between laughter and tears.
At the same time, he readily discarded the thought that had just formed in his mind.
Alright, it seems he was overthinking things; he had imagined them to be too complex.
This group had no extra thoughts to speak of.
When I told you not to produce these mirrors, I wasn’t saying you couldn’t work in the workshop anymore.
You were doing just fine, why would I punish you?
Besides, with so many mirrors produced in just a few days, that shows that all of you have been working hard.
I haven’t even had the chance to reward you yet, so why would I punish you?
Tell all the brothers in the shed, each person is rewarded two taels of silver.
And next time, wait until I have finished speaking.
What I meant was, you don’t need to produce this type of small mirror anymore.
After all, such items are valued for their rarity; producing too many would devalue them.
Do you understand what I mean?”
But as he said this, Lin Yi himself shook his head.
He was overthinking it; if the other could understand his meaning, that would be truly surprising.
Sure enough, upon hearing Lin Yi’s words, Dog Leftover shook his head, his face a picture of confusion.
However, upon hearing about the reward of two taels of silver per person, Dog Leftover’s face visibly displayed ecstatic joy.
He immediately knelt and started kowtowing to Lin Yi.
Seeing this, Lin Yi did not offer any further explanation and directly began giving orders:
“Alright, let me say this to you, the palm-sized mirrors we have now are enough.
We need to change the specifications and produce a larger type of mirror.
The smallest specifications should be at least this big.”
As he spoke, Lin Yi gestured with his hands to demonstrate the desired size.
Dog Leftover then appeared to have an epiphany.
The disappointment on his face, caused by not understanding Lin Yi’s words, instantly turned to surprise.
He then hastily nodded to indicate he understood.
“That’s one thing; in addition, we also need to upgrade.
This palm-sized mirror needs to be improved.
You see how the surface is all pitted and uneven, causing the reflected image to be patchy.
So, before applying silver, we need to smooth the surface.
Once polished, the effect will be much better.
However, this polishing is also a skill, and what to use for polishing, that’s something you’ll need to constantly explore.
How many people do you currently have on your side?”
Seeing that his words were not fully comprehended, Lin Yi could only shake his head helplessly and continue to elaborate.
“Reporting to the Lord, there are currently 60 people working in our mirror work division.
30 are day workers, and 30 are night workers.”
Hearing this, Lin Yi nodded.
This number of workers was enough for the present.
After all, the demand for mirrors was not going to be too great, or rather, demand was great, but Lin Yi would not release too many to the outside.
Lin Yi wanted to turn these mirrors into the diamonds of today.
To make them something people with money could not even buy.
For this reason, a workforce of sixty was more than sufficient.
“Very well, from now on, out of these 60 people, assign 20 people to focus exclusively on this refinement task.
They will be responsible for researching how to polish the surfaces of the mirrors, to achieve the same degree of smoothness as seen on the surface of copper mirrors.
The rest shall temporarily produce the larger type of mirrors I mentioned, and I will later provide more designs for you to produce.”
Having made his arrangements, Lin Yi then headed straight to the Glazed Plate workshop.
The person in charge there also hurriedly came up to greet Lin Yi.
Have you made that large piece of glazed plate I asked for?”
The person in charge immediately bowed and nodded:
“Reporting to the Lord, it has been made, though the specifications are not uniformly neat, and the thickness varies somewhat.”
As he spoke, he also gestured to Lin Yi with an inviting hand, clearly intending to take Lin Yi for a closer look.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi nodded and followed the other’s lead to a place specially reserved for storing finished glass products.
The two soon arrived at a large work table, where the person in charge pointed to the glass on the table and told Lin Yi:
“My Lord, please look, this object is just too large and really difficult to mold.
And there’s another issue, due to its size, it shatters at the slightest carelessness.”
Listening to this, Lin Yi stepped forward and began to examine the piece of glass that was over a square meter in size.
Looking at it, he noticed the uneven thickness of the glass’s surface and the varying sheen reflected.
And at a glance, it was clear that the glass was not very flat; it had a slight upward curve.
However, there was no helping it, given the current level of knowledge, it was unlikely to achieve the quality of glass plates from later times.
Then, under the watchful eyes of the person in charge, Lin Yi picked up a small hammer lying nearby.
At that moment, the person in charge’s heart skipped a beat, not knowing what Lin Yi was about to do.
But he had a bad premonition.
And in the next moment, Lin Yi lifted the small hammer and tapped it gently against the glass.
Immediately, there was a cracking sound.
The large glazed plate shattered upon impact.
This scared the person in charge so much that he shivered all over, and his pupils contracted sharply.
This piece of glass was hard-won; great effort had gone into producing it, and to think, Lin Yi had just smashed it.
But as only a servant, even though Lin Yi had shattered the glass plate in front of him, he dared not utter a word of objection.
Then looking at Lin Yi, watching the broken glass scattered in front of him, Lin Yi simply tossed the hammer aside.