Chapter 38: Lord Wan, what are you doing here?

The method for making Glass is very simple: crush sand and alkali powder, then toss them into a furnace to burn, and Glass will appear.

Both materials are easy to get; since this is the seaside, one can just grab a few basins of sand and start making it.

As for soda ash, one can simply use wood ash as a substitute.

Yan Ning set up a furnace, took some charcoal from the warehouse, put it in a porcelain bowl, and tossed it directly into the furnace to burn.

After burning for quite a while, Yan Ning used a tool to take the porcelain bowl out.

The Glass inside was already fired, but it was a pity; this could be considered a semi-finished product, as the Glass was shattered into pieces and was not crystal clear, containing many things that looked like cotton wool.

Yan Ning was just about to put it back into the furnace to re-fire it when Ji Lan immediately stopped her: "Such beautiful gems, you can't just put them back in. Look at this big piece, it can be made into a necklace, and the smaller ones can be made into ear studs; they are even better-looking than purely transparent ones."

Yan Ning took a glance, and it seemed so.

She had been biased, thinking that Glass ought to be transparent.

Yan Ning continued her experiments in making Glass, adjusted the amount of alkali, and continued to burn it in the furnace, discovering that the newly fired Glass was indeed more transparent.

Taking advantage of the high temperature, Yan Ning used a tool to pull out a small lump of Glass, shaping it into a raindrop, and subsequently, she made several more Glass water droplets.

Each and every one was crystal clear, very suitable for making jewelry.

Yan Ning also prepared to slowly look for various dyes in the future to give the Glass more beautiful colors.

In a very good mood, Yan Ning found Xie Luyan, who was fishing nearby, "Xie, I've succeeded, take a look."

Xie Luyan and Lady Xie took a look, their eyes filled with surprise.

Xie Luyan stared straight: "Isn't this Glazed Glass? How does it have this kind of color? How do you even know how to make Glazed Glass?"

Seeing the importance ancient people placed on Glazed Glass, Yan Ning knew how profitable opening a Glass shop would be.

Yan Ning asked Xie Luyan again: "Xie, I plan to buy a shop each in Haicheng and Shawan County to sell Glass. How about you and Furen help make the Glass, and we split the profits fifty-fifty?"

Xie Luyan was shocked; Yan Ning was actually so generous and even willing to teach them the method of making Glass.

But soon, Xie Luyan said: "That absolutely won't do. This Glazed Glass is very valuable, but we don't know anything and are only providing labor; we certainly cannot take that much. You just need to pay us wages every month."

Yan Ning was dissatisfied: "How could that be? Thieves have been coming to my residence these past few days, and you, Xie, caught three of them. You saved our lives, so you must agree."

Xie Luyan hurriedly said: "Let's do a one-to-nine split; we only need one percent."

Finally, under Yan Ning's persuasion, they settled on a three-to-seven split.

Yan Ning really had no interest in making money; the things in her warehouse were simply too numerous and too valuable, so it was better to use this Liuli Pu to win over Xie Luyan.

Yan Ning did not hide anything and began to teach directly: "The way to make this Glass is also very simple; just put a little wood ash into the furnace and burn it."

Afterward, Yan Ning began to use tools to pinch shapes, teaching it several times before they learned.

At first, Lady Xie was a bit clumsy, but after doing it a few more times, she was already able to skillfully make the Glass into round or raindrop shapes.

Yan Ning thought to herself, I must go find some dyes so that I can make them colorful later.

After Yan Ning finished giving instructions, Lady Xie, Xie Luyan, and their daughter divided the work clearly: one made the Glass, one went to collect sand, and one went to scoop up wood ash.

Yan Ning and Yan Ze returned to Shawan County the next day.

Laifu was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see Yan Ning, but then it quickly turned into worry: "Shawan County is crowded and chaotic, why have you come back?"

Yan Ning then said: "We won't stay long. I want to have someone open a shop in Shawan County and Haicheng, and I was just preparing to go take a look."

Laifu hurriedly took out a stack of contracts, "These are the shops the Empress Dowager asked me to prepare for His Highness. There is one in Haicheng too, but it has been rented out."

Yan Ning had not expected that her Great-Grandmother would rack her brains for them, and her heart felt stifled.

Yan Ning chose a shop with poor revenue and had people clear the items out immediately, intending to convert it directly into a Glass shop later.

There were two shops in Haicheng, both of which were rented out, so Yan Ning still had to go to Haicheng to specifically pick a shop.

Shawan County was very dangerous, and one never knew when someone might shoot a hidden arrow, so after Yan Ze and Yan Ning finalized the shop, they immediately took a few guards to Haicheng.

It takes two hours by boat from Shawan County to Haicheng, and they had to leave quickly, otherwise there would be no boats to Haicheng.

This boat was a cargo ship, very large, capable of holding many people, and quite a few were people going to Haicheng.

After traveling by boat for two hours, they finally arrived in Haicheng.

The city gates of Haicheng were imposing, with a row of guards standing on each side, and one had to pay three copper coins as an entry fee to enter the city.

Yan Ning rummaged through her space and found more than thirty copper coins to pay the entry fee.

Yan Ze was also puzzled: "I wonder which genius thought of this, charging three copper coins just to enter the city."

It was also Yan Ning's first time encountering an entry fee for a city, "Could it be that because this place is far from the Emperor, they dare to collect an entry fee?"

Once inside Haicheng, it was very prosperous; although it could not compare to the Capital or Yangzhou, it was still quite good.

Seeing that it was already so late, Yan Ning suggested: "Father, it's not a good time to look for shops at this hour. Why don't we go listen to some music first? I haven't listened to any in a long time. If possible, I'd even like to take two songstresses back to hold a concert for me every day."

Yan Ze rubbed her head, thinking that there was no entertainment in ancient times, so listening to music was about all one could do.

Yan Ze took her inside and went up to a private room on the second floor.

The spot they chose was good, as they could see the people singing and playing music downstairs, and there was even a backup dancer.

And it must be said, these two sang really well; if they were in the modern era, they might have been able to become singing divas. Yan Ning took a few more looks at them.

The two were very beautiful; one was named Zhijin, and the other was named Yunshang.

Yan Ning couldn't help herself and continued to take Gold Melon Seeds and scatter them onto the stage. Upon this scattering, the two raised their eyes and smiled at Yan Ning.

Yan Ning couldn't resist and scattered another handful of Gold Melon Seeds.

Yan Ze pulled her back, "You said we should be low-key when coming to Haicheng to avoid attracting attention, but look at you, you can't help but scatter money everywhere."

Yan Ning blinked her eyes, "Who told them to sing so well? They aren't any worse than the ones in the Capital."

However, she still restrained herself and did not continue scattering Silver Melon Seeds.

At this moment, someone knocked on the door of the private room.

Yan Ning opened the door to look, and it was actually Wan Siyuan.

Yan Ning frowned and asked: "Wan Siyuan, what are you here for?"

Wan Siyuan took a look at this father and daughter; Yan Ze was wearing clothes made of Shu Brocade, and Yan Ning was wearing a dress of Soft Smoke Gauze—this was just too blatant.

However, Wan Siyuan thought again, if he hadn't seen these two people beforehand, he might not have been able to recognize them either.

Who could have imagined that these two people were exiles?

Wan Siyuan said, "Do you still remember that you are currently being exiled?"