Hezhou Rui Fu Xiang, is a more well-known treasure in the local area, the shop is three open, located in the cross street in the east gate, the two-storey stilted building, a huge banner waving in the wind can be seen at the city gate, "Rui Fuxiang" three ink characters are written incomparably huge, the strokes are thicker than the head, highlighting the heritage of this time-honored brand.

That afternoon, the shopkeeper Ran Daqi sat behind the counter with a mottled lacquer surface that looked a little old, crackling with an abacus, pinching a brush to write and calculate on the account book, his brows were deeply locked, and his unstable appearance made people anxious.

Xiao Er Ranhu was bored leaning on the containers standing along the walls on both sides, stroking the non-existent dust on the shelves with the feather duster in his hand, and looking out of the door, hoping to find guests who were interested in entering the door from the passers-by who came and went.

But after looking at it for a long time, the low threshold at the door of the shop was not entered.

The shopkeeper Ran Daqi used a pen to point the last number on the account book, his brows wrinkled deeper, this month is another loss, the workshop has a huge expenditure, the money from the sale of paper in addition to the workers' wages and raw material support, not to mention the profit, the deficit hole is too big, Rui Fuxiang's signboard will not be able to stand.

He sighed, it wasn't like this before, when his father was still there, Rui Fuxiang's paper was rushed by everyone, and every day the Lifu who loaded and delivered the goods could be lined up from the door of the shop to the wharf, that was the scene of making a fortune, Huainan Road in the north and Guangnan Road in the south, there were merchants who came to the door, just for a boatload of paper to go back.

But in recent years, with the technical update of paper merchants around the world, more and better paper emerges in an endless stream, the price is cheaper, the quality is better, the same price, if the quality difference is not big, people are of course willing to buy closer to themselves, after all, the logistics cost in this era is extremely high, saving a point is a point.

Rui Fuxiang was easily eliminated, the business is not as good as a year, this month in addition to sending a few cars to Jinghu Road, the rest of the old customers have not been to the door, secretly inquired, people have bought elsewhere, which makes Ran Daqi more heartwarming.

The Ran family's inheritance of several generations of industry, is it smashed in their own hands? Ran Daqi is very dissatisfied, but it is useless to disagree, he can't come up with new products, Rui Fuxiang's leather paper has been like this for decades, and the pricing is also on the market, and now the price has been pushed to the point that it can't bear it no matter how low it is, and it still can't compete with peers in Chengdu Road and Tongchuan Road in other places, and can't spy on the technology that others keep secretly, he sighed in vain.

Looking at the red words on the account book, I felt that it was extremely unsightly, Ran Daqi looked outside, and saw Ran Hu's listless appearance, and a wave of resentment rushed from the heart of the foot to the Tianling Gai, so he yelled angrily: "What are you doing lazy?" Don't go out and pull guests yet! ”

Ran Hu was bored, yelled at him, and then returned to his listless appearance, muttering something, and standing on the street with drooping steps.

When he went out, two people were coming in, Ran Hu was happy at the beginning, thinking that it was a guest who came to the door, and after seeing that it was Ran Pu and another teenager, he was disappointed and said hello hastily: "Ran Erlang is back." ”

Ran Pu answered, and pulled Changsun Hong into the shop, Ran Daqi behind the counter was coming out from behind the counter, and when he saw the two of them, he was also disappointed, he looked at everyone like a guest in the past two days, and his eyes were red.

"Uncle, this is my classmate, the eldest grandson Erlang, he heard that our family opened a paper mill, so he came to see it." Ran Pu said to Ran Daqi and pulled the eldest grandson Hong behind him.

Eldest Sun Hong hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to Ran Daqi: "I've seen Shibo." ”

Ran Daqi let out an "oh", looked Changsun Hong up and down, and said in surprise: "Little brother is also interested in papermaking?" ”

Although the commerce of the Southern Song Dynasty has been very developed, the business is full of shops, and the commercial tax supports half of the country's finances, but in the eyes of the scholars, it is still a low status.

Therefore, it is rare to see that the students in the county school are interested in papermaking, so Ran Daqi feels novel.

"Exactly, students have a hobby in craftsman skills, and they also like to tinker with some gadgets on weekdays. Eldest Sun Hong said respectfully.

"It's okay to look at it, the workshop is in the backyard, but it doesn't smell very good, don't laugh at it." Although Ran Daqi's request to Changsun Hong is strange, but young people are active by nature, and it is not uncommon to be curious about things that have never been seen, such as Ran Pu, who lives in the family, is particularly obsessed with the geography of mountains and rivers, and often writes and draws in the room, traces some maps, and gets some drawings that I don't know where to get.

Many times, Ran Daqi is still a little worried, feeling that the relatives and friends in the clan entrust this child to him, if he does not supervise the study of poetry and books, he has a heavy trust, but he has a headache in his business, and he can take care of other things, and he will be tired after chattering for a while, as long as he doesn't cause trouble, he will have to go.

So the eldest grandson Hong, under the leadership of Ran Pu, passed through the front and back doors and came to the backyard workshop.

The backyard is very large, there are one or two acres of land, here against the city wall, from the back door out is a small alley, the alley opposite the wall is the rammed earth of the city wall, no one comes and goes, very quiet. In the courtyard, several straw huts were supported by several thick logs, piled with raw materials such as bark and branches, and several huge pulping pools were built in them, and firewood was burned underneath, and the things cut into wood and bamboo chips in the pools were mixed with leather, and the heat was unbearable, even in the early winter.

In the distance, there is a formed wooden frame, where the wood pulp obtained after distillation and hammering is scattered, pulped, interwoven and dehydrated, copied into base paper after drying, and finally cut to become paper that can be sold for money.

For the later process, Changsun Hong felt that with the level of craftsmanship in this era, there was no room for improvement, if you want to improve, you need the power of the industrial revolution, such as the steam engine, Changsun Hong does not understand at all, and it is impossible to set off an industrial revolution.

What he was interested in was the hot pulping pool.

This is one of the most expensive papermaking techniques, and it is also one that he is more proficient in.

There are more than a dozen workers working in the workshop, all bare-chested, showing their strong muscles, adding firewood to the wood, using long wooden spoons to pound the pulp pool, busy endlessly.

Seeing the children of the Ran family come in with a teenager, the workers didn't care, although outsiders were guarded here, and it was easy to let others in, but Ran Pu was his own family, and he was half a small owner, so there was no need to stop him.

Changsun Hong squatted on the edge of the pulping pond, looked here and there, and looked at it for most of the hour, and ran to the pile of raw materials, looking at the planks and bamboos, Ran Pu followed him, and he didn't know what he was doing.

It's over, Eldest Sun Hong wiped the sweat on his head and pulled Ran Pu to the shop outside.

"Brother Eldest Sun, why are you so interested in papermaking?" Ran Pu always wanted to ask, but he was more forbearing, and insisted on not speaking until he came out: "Do you also have research on this business?" ”

"Yes, of course, the reader must understand the origin of some of the four treasures of the study, which is elegant and not so vulgar than other businesses." The eldest grandson Hongxin opened his mouth, and then looked at Ran Daqi, who was still behind the counter facing the ledger worried, and saw that he looked like he was looking for a fire from his hair, so he didn't dare to interfere, turned around and pulled Ran Hu, who was shouting at the door to solicit customers outside, and asked with a smile.

"Little second brother, there are so many papers in this store, tell me what their prices are, the most expensive and the cheapest."

His smile was so sunny that he couldn't bear to refuse.

If the three brothers of the Li family were here, they would exclaim, this guy also laughed like this when he sold words to them.

In Lee's words, it's a philistine laugh.

(End of chapter)