0p0 Chapter 196 The Dilemma of Pottery Technique Inheritance
Chapter 196 The Dilemma of Pottery Technique Inheritance
Chapter 196 The Dilemma of Inheriting Pottery Techniques
The inheritance of pottery skills is facing difficulties.
As the celadon pottery jar cracked into three pieces at Su Yunlan's fingertips, the copper bells on the eaves rang out as the sudden mountain wind blew them.
She bent down to pick up the shards, the jade bracelet striking the cracked pottery with a hollow sound, startling Sun Jing, who was peeking out the window, so much so that he almost dropped the cinnabar pen in his hand.
"The seventh batch." Li the potter muttered, squatting in the corner, his pipe tapping against the rammed earth wall, producing a few sparks. "The star-patterned glaze of the Heluo people that Manager Su mentioned, is it something that only exists in legends?"
The mud and broken pottery shards stuck to the underside of the corridor after the rainstorm, much like the faded murals at the ancient kiln site that night.
Su Yunlan used cinnabar to outline the altar pattern on the blue brick floor, her fingertips bleeding from the grime: "When your grandfather fired the star-patterned pottery, did he leave behind any secret formula?"
&34; Boom—&34;
The moment the thunder roared, Sun Jing, clutching the parchment scroll, rushed into the rain.
Beneath the boy's raincoat, half a piece of animal bone pendant peeked out, gleaming eerily in the lightning: "Sister Su!"
The murals on the rammed earth wall have come to life! &34;
As Xiao Yuhan used the hilt of his sword to lift the wet vine curtain, he stumbled upon Su Yunlan kneeling in the mud, touching the mural.
The faded cinnabar spread in the rain, the meteorite in the priest's hand fell into the flames, and the iridescent colors flowing on the surface of the star-patterned pottery were exactly the same as the fragment of star-patterned glaze in the space.
Meteorite. Su Yunlan's cinnabar-stained fingertip touched the blood-written inscription on Xiao Yuhan's sword tassel. Zhao Taoshang's plan to burn down the ancient kiln ruins was probably not just for venting his anger.
Li Taogong's pipe clattered to the ground.
The old potter stared at the gradually clearer star trail pattern on the rammed earth wall, his Adam's apple bobbing violently: "My grandfather... he always kept saying 'Heavenly fire tempers the stars' before he died..."
As smoke rose from the pottery kiln in the backyard of the inn, Sun Jing was tiptoeing as he mixed meteorite powder into the glaze.
The boy coughed, choked by the cigarette ash, but the animal bone pendant in his hand emitted a buzzing sound that resonated with the mural: "Sister Su!"
The glaze now has star-like patterns! &34;
&34; Step back! &34;
Xiao Yuhan's black cloak swept Su Yunlan back three steps, and the newly formed pottery blank exploded into dust inside the kiln.
The splattered star-patterned glaze clung to Sun Jing's clothes, even scorching the coarse linen fabric.
Temperature. Su Yunlan stared at the wildly fluctuating red numbers in the space, her jade bracelet burning her wrist. Traditional dragon kilns simply couldn't reach the melting point of meteorite iron.
As dusk painted the pottery kiln red, potter Li squatted by the well, clutching the contract for switching to selling steamed buns.
The old potter poured the ash from his pipe into the glaze bucket, his cloudy eyes reflecting the sparks from the last kiln explosion: "Manager Su, I still have five grandchildren to support."
&34; When your grandfather used wood ash to mix the glaze, did he ever add anything else? &34; Su Yunlan immersed the fragments of the star-patterned glaze into the well water, watching the rainbow spread out like a silver river on the water's surface, &34; for example... fragments of quenched meteorite iron? &34;
The torrential rain returned at midnight.
Xiao Yuhan used the tip of his sword to pry open the latch of the inn's storeroom, revealing that the orders in the twelve nanmu wood chests were soaked with ink from the rain.
Su Yunlan walked barefoot across the scattered fragments of star-patterned glaze, the jade on her wrist gleaming with a faint blue light in the darkness.
Three hundred orders. Xiao Yuhan's sword tassel brushed against her glazed fingers. Zhao Taoshang's spies appeared at the pawnshop in the south of the city.
Sun Jing suddenly burst open the window, revealing a bone pendant wrapped with half a piece of charred parchment: "Sister Su!"
Li the potter was going to take the glaze formula to seek refuge with Zhao—&34;
The thunder swallowed the boy's last words.
Looking at the star-shaped glaze in his palm that changed with the temperature, Su Yunlan suddenly recalled what the collector Qian had said when he was caressing the teacup: "The true ancient methods are often hidden in the cracks from ninety-nine failed attempts."
The sound of rapid hoofbeats came from the depths of the rain curtain, and the bulging bundle under Li Taogong's raincoat flickered in the lightning.
Xiao Yuhan's sword blade reflected the starlight dancing in Su Yunlan's eyes, and she suddenly gripped the hot, star-patterned glaze fragment tightly.
The rain at dawn, still warm from the kiln, clung to Su Yunlan's bare feet as she walked through the iridescent fragments scattered on the ground.
The jade bracelet felt cool against my wrist, and the red numbers that were jumping around in the space were frozen at 1280°C, which coincided with the temperature of the meteorite held aloft by the priest in the mural.
&34; The ancient star-patterned glaze requires two firings. &34; She suddenly gripped Xiao Yuhan's sleeve, which was scorched by sparks, her eyes shining brightly beneath her rain-soaked eyelashes, &34; First, the meteorite iron is quenched in an ordinary dragon kiln, then mixed with wood ash... &34;
Xiao Yuhan picked up a fragment of star-patterned glaze that was still glowing with the tip of his sword, watching the iridescent colors shimmer in the last lightning bolt before dawn: "Just like the night you saved the Xiao family, using the nine-steaming and nine-drying method to remove the arsenic?"
In the morning light, broken pottery shards piled up into a small mountain, and Su Yunlan used cinnabar to outline the process on faded parchment.
When Sun Jing rushed in carrying half a pottery urn he had dug out from the ancient kiln site, he caught her sprinkling meteorite powder into the dew collected the night before—the faded star pattern on the bottom of the urn matched the pattern on the new formula perfectly.
"It's done!" The star-patterned glaze on the boy's raincoat suddenly buzzed, and the animal bone pendant reflected iridescent colors in the morning mist. "Look at the cracks at the bottom of the urn!"
As the old potters, their fingers wrapped in gauze, gathered around, Su Yunlan was using a silver needle to pry open the grime in the mortar of the pottery urn.
Blackened meteorite fragments fell in a flurry, instantly mingling with the dew and rising in wisps of smoke, causing the space thermometer reading to plummet to 800°C.
&34；双窑烧制法！&34；最年长的陶工突然捶打自己佝偻的后背，浑浊的眼珠泛起水光，&34；我祖父醉酒时提过，星纹釉要在&39；天火窑&39；炼铁，&39；地火窑&39；融釉！&34；
Xiao Yuhan's sword tassel brushed against Su Yunlan's neck, brushing aside her wisps of hair stained with vermilion: "Last night, when we intercepted Li Taogong, he had hidden saltpeter given to him by Zhao Taoshang in his bundle."
At noon, two plumes of smoke rose from the pottery kiln.
In the Heavenly Fire Kiln, meteorite iron melted into silver paste with the help of saltpeter, while in the Earthly Fire Kiln, Sun Jing tiptoed to pour star-patterned glaze onto the pottery blank.
When the first star-patterned pottery jar came out of the kiln intact, the old potters suddenly knelt down in unison, facing the ancient kiln site, their foreheads pressed against the scorching hot brick ground.
&34; Star pattern... It really is a flowing star pattern... &34; Sun Jing's animal bone pendant was attached to the surface of the pottery jar, and the rainbow actually climbed along the bone pattern to form a complete star map.
The boy suddenly turned and ran towards the puddles that hadn't dried up from the downpour, holding the earthenware jar that reflected the clouds, laughing and crying at the same time: "Grandpa didn't lie to me!"
The star-patterned pottery of the Heluo people can truly hold the Milky Way! &34;
Xiao Yuhan's black cloak covered Su Yunlan's thin shoulders, and the blood-written letter wrapped around the sword hilt was lifted by a corner in the wind.
That was the cinnabar seal that was found on Zhao Tao's spies this morning—"The one who destroys the kiln will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold"—still damp with dew.
"Look, boss!" The mute potter in charge of firing the kiln suddenly dragged them to the warehouse window.
Thirty-six potters were passing around a star-patterned pottery jar in the courtyard. Each of them pressed their cinnabar fingerprint on the bottom of the jar, and finally buried the jar under the sycamore tree in front of the inn.
Xiao Yuhan's palm covered Su Yunlan's scabbed fingers: "They are making a vow at the kiln."
As dusk painted the pottery kiln red, Su Yunlan was suddenly awakened by a strong, earthy smell.
The fragment of star-patterned glaze in the space was flashing wildly, guiding her barefoot into the mud pit behind the mountain.
The moment the jade bracelet sank into the mud, my fingertips touched a cool and delicate texture.
Yunlan! Xiao Yuhan's sword cleaved through the water plants that were wrapped around her ankles.
The black iron reflected the silvery soil layer at the bottom of the pool. The special clay resonated with the fragments of star-patterned glaze, projecting a scarlet warning of "critical reserves: 3%" onto the space thermometer.
The torrential rain poured down without warning, and Su Yunlan, clutching the last handful of silvery soil, climbed out of the mud.
When Xiao Yuhan wrapped her trembling body in his cloak, he noticed that her palms had been scorched by clay with the same scorch marks as those on star-patterned glaze.
"This soil..." He picked up a wisp of shimmering mud with the tip of his sword, "It smells like the wound medicine you used to save me that night."
Su Yunlan buried his face in his gunpowder-smelling clothes, listening to the celebratory songs of the potters in the warehouse filtering through the rain.
The last three baskets of silvery soil in the space were rapidly decreasing, while the sample taken from the bottom of the pool reflected four small characters on the jade bracelet: "Unique Product from the Meteorite Crater".