After having a light meal, Zhang Laifu followed Zhou Daguang back to the township, leaving Zhong Yue in the old ink factory.

"Zhong Yue, you have to figure it out. Do you really want to learn how to refine ink?"

Zhong Yue nodded, "Director Liu, yes, I'm sure." ”

Liu Yongxin smiled knowingly, "Don't be in a hurry to make sure first, wait until you see the master of ink making, and then you can make up your mind." ”

Although it is now the era of industrial production, the old ink factory still retains the traditional ancient method of smelting. This is also closely related to sales.

Zhong Yue followed Liu Yongxin into a somewhat gray factory, and immediately made Zhong Yue realize what it means to be dirty. The working environment here is ridiculously poor, everyone is dark, especially the hands, which are simply black and shiny.

The ink masters who carried the hammers were covered in ink, and they looked like a black man.

Director Liu...... Is this ink still so primitive?"

"Otherwise, what do you think? The introduction of a set of top industrial assembly lines, at least 1.8 million, now the output of the old ink factory has been declining year after year, and the ink ingots made by the machine are not as good as those cast manually, so this set of traditional craftsmanship has been continuing. ”

He took Zhong Yue to a place where he was tempered, and said with a smile: "Xiao Hu, bring you a new apprentice, saying that you want to learn to refine ink, do you want to bring it to you without being tired?"

The middle-aged uncle who was sweating and holding a cigarette raised his head and glanced at Zhong Yue, "Learn to make ink? Director Liu, no kidding." ”

"I guess it's a joke with you? I was introduced by a worker in the old pen factory, and I'm still a college student, so I'll bring it to you." ”

"It's fresh, let me bring a college student who is so uneducated? Lao Liu, aren't you making things difficult for me? ”

Liu Yongxin waved his hand, "Come on, I don't know yet, take him well, I still have something to do, Zhong Yue, you just follow this Master Hu." ”

Zhong Yue nodded, "Okay." ”

Master Hu glanced at Zhong Yue's outfit and said, "Can you lift this hammer with your body?"

"It should work. ”

Master Hu said: "It's not like hammering once or twice, it takes hours of work, ordinary people can't do it, and your white T-shirt, not to mention beating this ink ball, even if you stay here for a long time, the ink smoke will stain your clothes." ”

Zhong Yue said, "It doesn't matter, Master Hu, you can teach me." ”

Seeing Zhong Yue's serious appearance, Master Hu stepped on the cigarette butt on the ground, "Nacheng, you can take over." ”

"Aren't you going to teach you some tricks?"

Master Hu grinned, "I'll tell you the truth, ink making, there is no skill or skill, it depends on hard work, if you have to say anything technical, it is to use skill, come, you try." ”

Zhong Yue put his schoolbag aside and picked up the sledgehammer on the board.

"This hammer ......"

"Twenty pounds. ”

No wonder Lao Hu used two hands just now, the hammer of feelings is really heavy. Zhong Yue was on the board, hammering the ink ball dozens of times, and he felt too tired to do it.

Master Hu smiled: "Young man, the strength is insufficient." Put it down, and I'll show you the whole process of making ink. ”

The whole process is done in this workshop.

Master Hu lit a cigarette and took Zhong Yue to the corner, "The most important thing in ink making is the ink square." In the past, there were many well-known ink-making families in Z County, and the ink recipes of each family were kept secret, and then they were gradually lost. Now the recipes of the old ink factory are still incomplete. ”

Zhong Yue was stunned for a moment, "Crippled?"

Master Hu nodded, "The ink factory was closed for a while decades ago, and after it was reorganized, this ink recipe disappeared, and the current ink recipe was pieced together by the memories of some old masters. ”

Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat, so to speak, the complete five hundred catties of oil ancient ink recipe in his hand has become a rare treasure?

Master Hu looked at the cutting mixer and said, "In the past, the raw materials were ground by stone mills, ground into fine powder, and then added to the fumes taken, so let alone the naked eye, even the most advanced instruments are difficult to detect the ingredients in the ink ingots." ”

The stirred ink ball, just like you just saw, is beaten by hand, and then it is divided like making rice cakes, and then put into the ink board to be pressed and formed, and dried in the shade.

Master Hu took Zhong Yue to the yin room and pointed to the ink ingots placed on the bamboo board, "These are all finished products from three months ago, and it will take at least three months to leave the factory." ”

Master Hu walked to the front, picked up an ink ingot, put it in front of his nose and sniffed it, "Smell it, how does this ink ingot smell?"

Zhong Yue took the ink ingot and sniffed vigorously, "No smell?"

Master Hu smiled: "It's right if it doesn't taste." A good ink ingot will not emit the fragrance of ink after drying, and only by grinding it with water will it show the original ink fragrance. ”

Zhong Yue asked, "Master Hu, if I know how to use my own ink recipe to make ink, I don't know if it's feasible?"

Lao Hu, who was still pointing at Zhong Yue, was suddenly stunned, "You...... Your own ink square?"

Zhong Yue smiled and said, "Yes, my own." ”

"Can you show me?"

Zhong Yue now understood the preciousness of the ink cube at hand, and said, "I'm afraid this is inconvenient. ”

"That's right...... The assembly lines of the ink factory are all unified, if you really want to use your own formula, you can only tell Director Liu, I can't be the master. ”

"That's fine. ”

"By the way, how many kinds of materials do you have in that ink cube? If there are not a hundred kinds, I advise you not to tell Director Liu. ”

Zhong Yue smiled, "Almost." He was sloppy, after all, he didn't know much about this Master Hu, and he spoke too carefully, which would inevitably make people covet this ink square.

He plans to familiarize himself with the ink-making process in this workshop, and when all the operations are mastered, it is estimated that the ingredients have been found and he can start the ink-making process.

At the end of the morning, Zhong Yue had back pain, which was really a hard work. To start taking the oil fumes is to prevent the mixed oil scraped in the iron pot from burning completely. Because the old ink factory did not have any good collection equipment, Zhong Yue was unkempt, and he got a hand of ink when he tempered the ink group, when he came out of the ink factory, Zhong Yue's whole person seemed to be fished out of the coal kiln.

Zhong Yue squatted by the well, rubbing it with sawdust and laundry detergent for a long time, and the ink on his hands could not be cleaned.

Several old masters smiled and said, "Young man, now you know that this bowl of rice is not delicious." A lot of young men can't survive for a few days, they are dirty and tired, I advise you, it's better to go back to study early. ”

Zhong Yue smiled with his big white teeth, "It's okay, I'm not tired." ”

"Haha, see how many days you can last. ”