“I accept,” Ling said dejectedly, knowing they would cast him out on the street if he didn’t agree. The Coinage Guild would not show him any mercy after three years of failure.
“Excellent. I am Yuan Zhou, the seventh son of Yuan Chen.” I gave him a slight bow.
“Master woodcarver Ling,” he replied, and bowed back. “I will be in your care.”
“Let us go to the Wood Carvers Guild this afternoon and sign a contract. I will return to the Coinage Guild and handle your debt first, though. Also, can you patent items?” I asked.
“If you are a guild member in good standing, yes. They offer patents. But they aren’t cheap. It costs a silver tael to get one, and fifty bronze a year to maintain it. My patent on my reclining chairs is about to run out.”
“I will cover that patent and we will put it as a business expense. Once we have a contract in place, I will discuss my ideas with you and we will cut into the chair market with a vengeance,” I said as my voice grew more heated. Ling looked surprised for a moment and then smiled.
“I am glad to hear that young master Yuan.”
“I will need you focused this afternoon and in the next couple of days, but I understand you need to make a living. I will purchase one of your reclining chairs for myself at full price. Ting, how much would it cost to have it delivered to my room?” I asked.
“At least twenty bronze coins,” she said, and I nodded. I had her pull out 220 bronze coins and set them on a nearby table. Ling was smiling nervously, and I could tell he was in a bit of shock.
“I believe in kindness for kindness. If you work hard and don’t cheat me, I will not place undue burdens on you,” I replied.
“A thousand blessings.” Ling kowtowed to me. I let him do it, since it was a cultural thing. I had saved him and his family from a life on the streets.
“Hold that in your heart. Now let us return to the Coinage Guild and settle matters,” I said. I swiped another mote as I left his shop.
Ting and I left. I had us go back to the compound first to have lunch and get five tael from where I had secreted them away. I was hoping not to spend them all, but it would be a fight.
We made our way back to the Coinage Guild and to the same clerk. “Welcome back, young master Yuan. I hope your conversation with Ling went well.”
“It did indeed. While it will require a lot of work and headaches, I see some potential in his chairs,” I replied. The battle had already begun.
“Excellent, will you be paying the five tael now or through your father’s account?” the clerk asked.
“Myself. But the price is far too high. You invested only two tael by my reckoning and expect the full profit when it is clearly a failed business. However, I am not unreasonable. I understand you have put in time and energy, so I will offer three tael.” The clerk’s eyes narrowed.
“I couldn’t possibly adjust the price that much. My manager would fire me on the spot. I could accept four and a half tael.” I shook my head.
“If I don’t purchase his debt, you will only get one tael in return, maybe a bit more. I am being generous offering three tael. But I understand your managers are strict, so I will pay three and a quarter tael,” I countered.
“Four tael, since we hope to conduct business for a long time and in recognition of your family name,” the clerk replied.
“Three and half. Since I need to not disappoint my father. Just as you have your managers, he observes me.” I knew Ting would spill everything to him when asked. There was a reason I only asked her not to report to my mother. It was my father that paid her regular salary and allowed her to be a servant. She would not go against him, and he would know everything I did.
“Three and half taels would be acceptable, if you could pay that today,” the clerk said, and I nodded. I pulled out four taels from the pouch I kept on me. I wouldn’t let Ting carry this kind of money. She got to carry the bronze coin pouch, but taels were too valuable to risk.
I saved one and a half taels. This put my cash reserves at seven and a half. Thankfully, there were half tael coins instead of more bronze. I didn’t count the bronze coins Ting carried for daily expenses as part of my primary investment fund.
A manager came over and verified the transaction, loan documents were exchanged, a property deed was handed over, and everything was stamped officially. I now had paperwork proving I owned the five tael debt that Ling had owed the Coinage Guild.
With everything settled, we left and returned to Ling’s shop. He looked much more relaxed and was smiling as we made our way to the Woodcrafters Guild. There was more paperwork and they canceled the debt Ling owed. I got half his business. Even if he left and worked somewhere else, I would still get half of everything he made under the Woodcrafters Guild.
Since that was his livelihood, he was stuck with me. If he died or he passed the business to his son, I would still own half the business. It was messy since businesses were treated separately from people. But he could decide who inherited his share and the Woodcrafters Guild would resolve any disputes.
I also paid half a tael, bringing me down to seven, for another 10 years on his reclining chair patent. With everything finally settled and no way for Ling to run off and screw me over, we returned to his shop.
The reclining chair was gone and had already been shipped to the compound. I looked over the workshop. There was a small front area his son kept tidy and to call out if there were customers. His wife tended their two younger children and did household chores and lived above the shop and workspace along with his mother, who helped watch the children.
The workspace took up most of the ground floor, and I looked around. I owned half the building and property. City taxes were fifty bronze a month. If you didn’t pay, the city wouldn’t hesitate to seize everything. People could pay in monthly, yearly, or up to a decade ahead, which would be six taels.
I would handle the taxes for the year. Again, it would go as a business expense against future profits. I explained this as I went over how I would run things with Ling. He wouldn’t get a salary, but we would list his living expenses as a business expense for him and his family. We settled on ten bronze coins a day.
Anything extra he wanted to spend, that was profit. We split that evenly. I would manage the books for his business personally. It was technically beneath my station, and I planned to hire someone once we had the cash flow, but for now, I would handle it to make sure there were no issues.
Once the business issues had been sorted, I had brought out a piece of parchment I had sketched out during lunch with the design of a rocking chair. “It makes it easier for people to remain seated while still moving slightly. It will ease pains for older people.”
“You want to sell this then?” he asked me.
“Yes, for cheap. We will draw people in with this chair. And the reclining chairs we will price at a tael each and make for the elite.” His eyes went wide at that.
“No one will be able to afford one,” he replied.
“The upper end of the market can easily handle that price. But it needs to be a luxury good targeted to the elite. It will make your shop seem more upper class and the reclining chairs, a status symbol. That way, we can price our rocking chairs for a slightly higher price. Now how long and how much do you think it would take per rocking chair?” I asked.
“The curved bottom is the hardest part and isn’t simple. You ideally want it to be a single piece, so it can be joined up with the supports to the seat. Once I have the process down, probably two to three days per rocking chair.”
“And the materials?” I asked.
“Since it is all wood and glue and maybe some varnish, I would say fifteen bronze coins, just for the materials.” I slowly nodded at this. It was still too expensive. With his labor, pricing them at a minimum of thirty-five bronze coins to break even.
“We need to get the price down and your labor down. It is still too expensive. We are only breaking even at thirty-five bronze coins. Ideally, we want the price to make the chair ten bronze coins and sell the chairs for forty bronze coins,” I said while basing the margins and prices off what I had already seen.
“That is the price of a regular chair,” he replied, and I nodded. That was the point. In time, we could raise it up once there was demand.
“Yes. If we don’t match the price, then no one will buy a rocking chair. How much in materials and time does a regular chair cost?” I asked.
“About ten bronze coins in materials and a day in time,” Ling said.
“So, twenty bronze coins. I need you to think about how to get the time down to a single day. Maybe do the parts in batches?”
“The curved part and the bracing will take time. There are just more pieces.” I nodded at this.
“Well, I will want to watch how you make one and perhaps I will have some ideas. The materials?” I asked.
“The extra wood glue is where the cost increase would come from compared to a regular chair.” I nodded at this.
“Alright, we need to look at getting the time down, but let us plan, say, forty chairs for the initial launch. We will price them at forty bronze coins and say the first batch is being discounted by a third so people can see how much better they are than a regular chair. Once they sell and we get advance orders, we will up the price to sixty bronze coins. Also, include free delivery for the chairs as well.”
“We won’t be making any money,” Ling said.
“How many people came into your shop today?” I asked Ling.
“Only two, and only one purchased a stool.” I nodded at this.
“Your problem is that no one knows you. What makes master woodcarver Ling’s shop better than the other shops? They have a lot of specialty products and are known for things. They will know you for chairs. But we need to let people know about this. So, any time someone wants to buy a chair, they will go to Ling’s shop for chairs,” I explained.
“The low prices are to draw people in to make them customers. But people don’t need that many chairs.”
“True, but we can corner the chair market. First, you need to make a prototype so we can get a patent from the Wood Carvers Guild. Then you can work on speeding up production.”
“My expenses during that time…” he trailed off.
“I do not run a charity, Ling. There will be some belt tightening, but I plan to invest money into bringing people here the day we sell our rocking chairs.”
“What about features?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
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“Like detail work. Some people request that.”
“We charge extra. Minor features, ten bronze coins, major features, upon request. Or something like that. Let me know what makes the most sense in terms of pricing. Once we get going, we can look into hiring an apprentice, depending on the workload. I will stop by first thing tomorrow to watch the production, unless there is anything else?” I asked Ling.
“No, thank you, young master Yuan.” I nodded at this and left his workshop. Ting and I took the rickshaw back towards the compound.
“So, what do you think, Ting?” I asked her.
“The idea of a rocking chair sounds interesting. A chair that rocks,” she giggled a bit at the idea. “Is this a secret?”
“No. If my mother asks, just say that my father is supporting me. I also need to get ready to handle the accounting,” I replied with a sigh. It would be tedious work, but I would do it. Mote collecting had been going quite well.
I would buy up businesses and make passive income while also collecting motes while I visited them all. I had gotten lucky with the Coinage Guild giving me a lead to take Ling off their hands and for coming up with the idea of a rocking chair.
If an idea caught on and was used in other cities, crafts people could pay a fee to license a patent. The guild would get most of the fee, but the rest would go to my business. Since there were cultivators who had patents, no one wanted to piss off the old people by taking their passive income. So, while it might be a trickle, patents could add up.
If a patent blew up enough, then the Wood Carvers Guild would buy out the patent and make the design public for all their members. This would involve tens of thousands of taels and was rarely done. But it was one way a craftsperson could elevate their family to the level of my father.
But such things were incredibly rare. There was rarely enough demand that people just wouldn’t pay the licensing fee for the patent in other cities. But it had been a possibility I had noticed when handling the patent on the reclining chair. I owned half that patent as well, but there had to be master woodcrafter listed in addition for the patent to be valid. That was the way the guild gave protection to its members.
A rich merchant couldn’t buy up the patents and cut the guild members out. That would defeat the purpose of the guild. However, having another name on a patent was also seen as a sign of protection. Ling would have that through me and me through my father and my father through the Cloudy Moon Sect.
It was complicated, but basically people didn’t want to offend super powerful organizations or people for no reason. A rocking chair was small potatoes. The furniture market was not exactly heated. There was drama, but it wasn’t like messing with the Alchemy Guild, which had direct ties to cultivators since a lot of cultivators rose through the Alchemy Guild initially. Messing around there would be stepping on a lot of toes.
The next day, I was in the workshop with two empty books in hand. I was recording the expenses and sales for Ling’s workshop in one book while the other one would be the book for all my businesses. The master book would use Arabic numerals to make it difficult to figure out, while the business specific financial book would be in the local script.
I watched silently in the workshop while Ling worked. Ting kept me supplied with a cup of water because of the dryness in the air. The back of the workshop was open to an alley shared by other businesses. If I had enough businesses perhaps, I might purchase a mall or a superstore in the center of the city, so people didn’t have to go to various individual shops.
One could go there and just browse and order things and they would all be delivered. It was an interesting idea, but I needed to focus on Ling and looking for any way to speed things up. He was quite efficient and never stopped moving. There was the occasional break, of course, but over three days I saw the rocking chair take shape.
I looked at the final version of the chair with Ling. It would need one more day for the glue to fully dry from the glue and varnish. “So, about two and a half days,” I said.
“I could get it down to one and a half per chair if I did them in batches of five,” Ling replied. That would put his labor at fifteen bronze coins and another fifteen for the chair itself. “No way to cut down the materials. I only went with three braces, which saved a lot of time, but any less than that is risky. A chair breaking would be terrible.”
“Three braces is fine. But the back and the seat. Could you use nails and boards instead of joining?” I asked.
“Nails cost a bronze coin each. That would quickly drive up the cost. That is the biggest cost of my reclining chairs on top of the cushions.” I nodded at this.
“Is this enough for a patent?” I asked.
“Yes. A functional design. We can go to the guild tomorrow,” Ling said with a bit of excitement. Having two patents under his name put him close to the title of grandmaster. If he got a third patent, he could take that title.
“What about toys?” I asked Ling.
“That isn’t my specialty, and I would need different tools. You need to work with a lot of small joints and detail work. While I can do some. I would hire an apprentice out if I needed something like that done. I could do it, but I wouldn’t be good at it,” he replied.
“I want to get you the title of grandmaster. It will generate a lot of interest in your shop when we sell the rocking chairs, but nothing is coming to mind.”
“The fact you thought of the rocking chair was inspired, young master. I am one step closer to my dream, thanks to you.” I nodded at the compliment but was trying to come up with another wood based product he could make to get that title.
A rolling chair wouldn’t work, since wheels would be impossible. Every wood product was varnished and a requirement of the Woodcrafters Guild. Unless there was a specific reason not to, it was part of the agreement they had with suppliers.
“A foldable table,” I finally said.
“What? How would a table fold?” Ling asked, and I smiled.
“We make the legs operate on a hinge and have a latch. There are tables where the legs separate, and make the table fold in the middle,” I said.
Ling grew thoughtful at the idea. “It could work. But I would need to check the patent registry to be sure about something like that. With the rocking chair, I had searched the registry for anything about reclining chairs already, young master.” I nodded at this.
“That is fine. Is it free to access?” I asked him.
“Yes. Part of a patent application is listing out similar items that might interfere with your patent and explaining how your invention is different.” I nodded at this.
“Alright, well you look into that today and schedule a patent hearing for the rocking chair,” I said.
“I will need to submit the fee first.”
“We will go together then,” I replied. I was not just giving him a tael and letting him loose.
We made our way to the Woodcrafters Guild. Ling filled out the forms and I noted they listed me as a co-inventor slash owner of the patent.
I paid the tael fee, and the hearing would be in ten days. Notices were needed so other master woodcrafters could come evaluate and vote if they would approve the patent. Ling had assured me that patents that were novel like the reclining and rocking chair would easily be approved. But small iterations on a design had a much harder time getting signed off on.
Sometimes a patent would be listed as derivative, and the new developer would owe half their patent to the main patent. Derivative patents didn’t count towards the title of grandmaster. The longest patent chain was for dolls, apparently, with a chain of five patents.
Also, other wood crafters wouldn’t vote against patents normally, since it enhanced the prestige of a city, and they didn’t want people to vote against them. It was more about not letting stupid patents and very minor derivative patents through.
We spent part of the afternoon looking through the enormous books for any related patent. I had to pay a fee of ten bronze coins to look since I wasn’t a guild member. But there was a sketch, description, and listing of who owned the patent for each item and if there was a derivative.
The patent books were based on when patents were filed and were still active, with the registry being updated between cities yearly. Patents were checked once every fifty years for ownership and there was a book of patents that had been lost for various reasons as well. One couldn’t take on a patent on those inventions either.
The closest thing we found was a table with detachable legs, but it didn’t fold and the legs didn’t fold. So that meant we were in business.
With the evaluation scheduled, I spent the next few days with Ling as he worked out the design for a foldable table. I had Ting manage the front of the store while I did this since I wanted Ling to be focused. I had talked to him about having his wife watch the front of the store and that was the plan once she recovered from her most recent birth or having his youngest son interact with the customers. With Ting watching things, Ling had his youngest son in the shop watching the wood carving. He fidgeted, but he kept silent and would occasionally glance at me.
Eventually, the foldable table was done, and I paid another tael to submit a second patent application at the Wood Crafters Guild. They would evaluate both items at the same time.
The day finally came, and I was allowed to be present as a co-owner of the patent, but wasn’t allowed to speak. Only Ling could speak in the guild meeting as a member of the guild. He presented both items, the rocking chair and the foldable table.
Many people tried them out, with a lot of interest in the rocking chair. Ling had made a second version for the presentation, so multiple wood crafting masters could test them out and evaluate them.
Eventually, the votes were held. The rocking chair passed with 23 votes in favor and 7 votes against. That was expected, and the votes were more based on politics. There would be no objection. The folding table was a lot more heated.
“It is a derivative work of the separating table.”
“It uses hinges. Those are metal, not wood. It is not an innovation of the wood crafters guild.”
“Who would even use such a thing? A rocking chair relaxes a person, but a folding table is only an incremental improvement.”
Ling had experience from his reclining chair, so while it got heated, the vote passed and they awarded him the patent for the foldable table in a vote of 16 in favor and 14 against.
The guild master stood up and stepped forward. “It is with great honor that with three original patents to his name, Master Ling has now earned the title of Grandmaster Ling.” There was applause at this, and I clapped as well.
The title was more ceremonial than anything, but it had some benefits. His work would be viewed in a better light. He could hire a single apprentice without paying the guild fees for them. That would allow him to recruit someone for free with the expectation of training them. He could travel to other cities and would retain the title of master in other cities.
That was it beyond the prestige attached to the title. No extra authority or voting power. Still, I noticed many older men frowning slightly that a young man like Ling had earned the title of grandmaster wood carver.
I got some looks as well, but no one said anything. My presence here was all about support and connections. My father, Yuan Chen, had a lot of pull in the city. So, they were giving his son some face by passing the second vote. That was the local cultural term for respect, but it was considered rude to say it publicly. With the evaluation and promotion ended, one of the older men came up to me.
“Young master Yuan, I am grandmaster woodcarver Kang.” I gave him a slight bow, which he returned. Our status was about equal. It was hard to say precisely, since my father clearly outranked him, but that was my father and I was a seventh son.
So, it was about even compared to a grandmaster by my social estimates. Also, I was showing him respect by bowing slightly. No need to be rude.
“Grandmaster woodcarver Kang, it is a pleasure,” I replied as he looked down at me. I hated being so short.
“Interesting that Yuan Chen would send his seventh son out into the world.” It was a soft challenge to how much support I truly had. I smiled politely back.
“My father is aware of my activities. He has called me a genius, and while he watches over me, he lets me chart my own path.”
“I noticed your name is on all three patents. I trained young Ling myself. A rocking chair and a foldable table are things he would not have thought of.”
“They say that heaven and earth favor geniuses, but I like to believe it is insight and hard work that provide the foundation to such claims.”
“Even at your young age?” Kang asked me.
“I have been evaluated by Cultivator Yi Rong, who has found no fault with me,” I replied. Everyone chatting nearby, but who was really listening in, quickly grew silent. That was a direct rebuke, invoking a cultivator’s name.
“Ah, my apologies, young master Yuan. I did not mean to overstep,” Kang said.
“No offense has been taken. I completely understand the concern people might have with me being so young. All I can do is prove myself one day at a time and hopefully not lose all the money my father has gifted me,” I replied.
“Well, if you come up with any more ideas, my door is always open.”
“Perhaps. While there are many toys on the market, the selection is quite limited. I had some ideas and grandmaster Ling is an expert on chairs and tables, not toys,” I said, and Kang smiled at that. Ling had told me about his old master. He had cornered the toy market.
“Indeed. I have dabbled in toy making myself. The detail work is what drives up the cost.” I nodded at this.
“I understand. Carving and painting take a considerable amount of time. I have seen grandmaster Ling craft the furniture, but there is a vast difference between toys and furniture, so he tells me.” Kang nodded at this.
“Indeed. I once spent an entire month on a single doll for one of your sisters. A masterwork, if I had to say.” I nodded respectfully at this. Kang was an old grandmaster who had the largest woodshop in the city. He had apprentices in every field working under him and even a few masters as well.
His backing and faction were the reason the approval of the table went through. I had to show this man quite a bit of face to repay him for his help. If I didn’t, then people would not support me ahead of time without concrete benefits first, which would make things much harder.
“Perhaps some tea. To discuss business and ideas in a more private setting. The Illuminated Moon is quite good, I hear, and it would be my treat.” This was a restaurant in the center of the city. It would be pricey, but they would view anything less as being poor and not doing things properly. Etiquette was something that had been hammered into me by my tutors.
“That sounds wonderful. I am free tomorrow,” he offered.
“Then let us meet there two hours after mid-day.” There were city bells that rang out the time. Grandmaster Kang smiled and said his goodbyes. I left after that. I didn’t want to get too caught up in the Woodcarvers Guild internal politics. Showing face to Kang was more than enough to show I was appreciative, but I would not involve myself anymore.
I had Ling and my business plan. I would offer to support an apprentice that was moving up to master. One requirement for the title was having your own shop. That was how Kang had his large faction. He had supported the rise of several people and his son and grandson were both masters as well. That was another minor benefit of being a grandmaster. Other masters could work under you if they were family, and the guild confirmed their rank.
He clearly wanted to move people out and increase his power base some more and perhaps create a landing point for one of his grandsons to have his own shop. Ling had been quite helpful in explaining all the internal politics to me ahead of time and what Kang would probably ask of me.
Financing a shop would be expensive, but getting a second woodcarver making toys under me would be a tremendous boon to my business plans. I smiled as I walked into another mote of Qi and kept it inside of myself.