March is the season of chūn, and even the woodcutters, who rarely go up the mountain in the cold of winter, are gradually getting up early in the morning. At this moment, there are already many people coming down from the mountain carrying heavy stacks of firewood on the peak. Among them, an old man with two young strong men came to the grass hut at the foot of the peak, and tore his throat in front of the fence and screamed loudly.

"Hey, the pine wood is here!"

He shouted, and a middle-aged man opened the door and came out when the grass hut was neutral. He pulled his shoes to the front of the fence and opened the door, he looked at the heavy stack of firewood on the old man's body, and said with a smile: "The old man is diligent, and there are more of these sent today than yesterday." Let's put it down...... Hmm, how about adding these pine trees from the three of you together, and counting it as sixty yuan? ”

Because Du Shiyi said that the price of this woodcutter might as well be relaxed a little, and he didn't pay for it himself, the middle-aged ink worker Zhang Du was naturally happy to be a good person. Hearing this, Qiao Weng naturally nodded with a smile, and shouted for his two sons to put down the burden on their shoulders, and thoughtfully helped to move these pine trees to the shed on the side and stack them neatly, so he asked while wiping his sweat: "Is Du Langjun okay in the Lu family's thatched cottage?" He rarely comes back now, and I don't see him very often. Hey, he took care of me again and again, but now that Little Lady Du doesn't live here, I can't even find someone to say thank you. ”

"If my uncle wants to see Du Langjun, it is better to wait with your eldest Lang Erlang, he will definitely come back today. Didn't you ask your eldest brother Erlang to help lay bricks a while ago? Now that this ink kiln has finally been built, it's time to burn ink, speaking of which, I'm afraid that the two of me will not be enough in the future, if your eldest Lang Erlang is willing, you might as well stay here to help. Du Langjun is kind and will never treat the two of them badly. ”

"That's good!" Qiao Weng was overjoyed immediately, and immediately said to his two sons without looking back, "I earn money in the mountains all day long, and when I get old, I will be like your grandfather and me." You guys are here to help, Du Langjun is a kind person, and he is very capable! ”

"Uncle, you praise me behind your back, I can't hear you! You have to thank me, and make some bacon for me at the end of the year, and I will appreciate it! ”

Hearing the voice behind him, the woodcutter hurriedly turned around and recognized that the young man in the kudzu robe was Du Shiyi, and he hurriedly greeted him with a smile on his face.

He met Du Shiyi when he used to climb the mountain every morning, and at first he looked at the poor young man who was thin and out of breath and had to climb the mountain, and helped him several times, nagging and saying many words of warning. Later, Du Shiyi taught him one poem after another, so that his Qiao singing was far ahead of anyone in the Qiao Zizi of the steep peak of Song Mountain, and in his opinion, it was also because of his words that Du Shiyi went to the Lu Thatched Cottage of the Hanging Peak, and worshiped the famous Lu Gongmen, so he was honored.

Later, Du Shiyi also made a lot of money for his pickling skills, at least the little grandson could afford to eat meat and recognize words, and even the books were given by Du Shiyi.

"Du Langjun, I'm not praising people behind my back, I'm also praising in front of you! My two sons are here to help, Du Langjun must not dislike them for being clumsy! ”

"Where I dislike, I'm worried about the lack of manpower, and it's just right to have them as reliable. In fact, what they want to do at the moment is very simple, and it is not easy to burn the whole pine wood, so I asked them to show their own skills and split these pine trees into pieces one by one. ”

Du Shiyi said while looking at the ink kiln built according to the slope, and knew in her heart that the next was the most critical moment. This ink kiln is based on the drawings he painted together based on the Chao Jiyi "Ink Classic" that he copied in the past, as well as the perception of a handmade pine smoke ink manufacturing workshop in modern times. When he talked to two ink workers before, he learned that most of the pine smoke kilns are vertical nowadays, and the construction is simple, but the output of tobacco is not high, and the size of the pine smoke particles is different, and it often takes a lot of effort to make ink later, so even if it is much more difficult to build a horizontal kiln, he still adopts this somewhat risky approach. Finally, after a month of research and pondering, the brick kiln was finally completed, in addition to the two ink workers who knew how to do it, the two sons of the old woodcutter also contributed a lot.

Therefore, at this moment, he once again took Zhang Du and Zhang Shen brothers, carefully compared the drawings inside and outside the ink kiln, from the hearth to the flue and then to a total of eight large and small smoke rooms, to make sure that there was no mistake, he bowed the first to come out of a smoke room in Zuihou, and after standing still, he said: "Since everything is ready, let's start immediately." When firing pine, don't be too hasty, just two or three pieces of pine at a time. It must burn slowly, you are the most familiar with the fire, so I don't need to say more. ”

Wang Wei is very clear about Du Shiyi's needs, and the two inkers he recommended this time are both ink-making workers who have been making ink in Henan Province for many years, but the ink they sell is mediocre. Therefore, although the two came to this Songshan from the eastern capital, they lived in seclusion

rìzi, but for them who used to make ink in Wangwu Mountain for many years, this kind of mountain dwelling is really nothing.

At this moment, according to Du Shiyi's request, the two brothers took turns to burn smoke and watch the fire in front of the hearth. This round is a full two hours, seeing that Du Shiyi has been concentrating on staying by the side, and has no intention of going to rest in the grass hut at all, they naturally have enough jīng gods, plus Qiao Weng looked at the two sons who fought and interjected from time to time, but this time was not boring.

It wasn't until a cooing voice suddenly came, and everyone looked at each other, that they realized that it was the eldest son of the woodcutter, and then they realized that they had even forgotten to eat.

"Eat lunch first after these pieces are burned, and you must sharpen your tools before you do a good job, and it's the same for work!"

Since Du Shiyi said so, the brothers Zhang Du and Zhang Shen naturally had nothing to say, and the three Qiao Weng father and son also nodded hurriedly. When everyone returned to the thatched hut, the Zhang brothers were a little embarrassed to take out the leftover soup cakes they had eaten in the morning, but seeing that Du Shiyi was eating like everyone else, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. After hurriedly settling the meal and going out, Du Shiyi stopped them from continuing to burn pine wood, and said thoughtfully: "Try these today, and then go into the smoke room to have a look." Although it has only been two hours, there should be some clues. ”

This ink kiln is built along the mountain, the hearth of burning pine wood is located at the lowest place, the flue of two feet square is fifty feet, among the eight smoke chambers above, the small smoke room is only eight feet square, and the large smoke room is forty feet square, each smoke room is blocked by a wooden baffle, and a small hole of one foot square is set in the middle of the baffle for smoke to enter and exit. When he cautiously followed the Zhang brothers into the small smoking room at the very end, looked around for a long time, and scraped the only little pine pinch with his fingernails from the brick that was only slightly marked, and put it in his hand, he immediately smiled.

The faces of the Zhang brothers were even more joyful. The younger brother Zhang Shen shouted even more uncontrollably: "What a fine pine smoke, it is really outstanding when fired like this!" No wonder Du Langjun is reluctant to go to the kind of place where there are more pines in Wangwu Mountain, where there are the most ink workers, such a wonderful method, maybe it will be learned in an instant! ”

When the woodcutter who came in with his two sons to probe his brain, he immediately turned around and taught his son: "You two can remember, don't say anything to your daughter-in-law when you go back, don't make trouble for Du Langjun!" ”

Seeing the brothers of the Zhang family and the two honest sons of the woodcutter nodding desperately, Du Shiyi suddenly laughed: "This kiln for burning smoke is important, but the method of glue is equally important, and I have to add additional medicine, just learning this kiln is useless." What's more, ink making is about reputation, if the imitators can overshadow the original owner, then the world is already famous all over the world. ”

The Zhang brothers were deeply touched by this, and naturally nodded again and again when they heard this. After a whole afternoon, the two taught the sons of the woodcutter to fire, and when Du Shiyi and the father and son of the woodcutter went back, they went into the smoke room and carefully divided the smoke room to take the pine qi.

In a flash, it was another month, and Du Shiyi came every three or five times, according to the secret recipe he had seen in those rubbings of ancient books, and mixed various levels of pine qi and glue, and he and the Zhang brothers had already lost count of how many times they had failed. However, the quality of the ink is getting better and better, and even the Zhang brothers, who have been making ink for half their lives, are becoming more and more happy with this progress.

At this time, Du Shiyi came to the thatched hut again. This time, the Zhang brothers even the deer glue has been boiled, after entering the grass house, the three of them according to the last final recipe to adjust the proportion of tobacco glue, that is, according to the season slightly reduce the glue and increase the water, and when the Zhang brothers began to make it, Du Shiyi took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms, poured all the liquid into it, but did not add other kinds of medicinal materials, Zuihou only said two words to the two ink workers.

"You are far more skilled than me in the process of making and pounding the mold, but the mold is postponed for a while, I have already asked people to rebuild the mold in Dengfeng County, and you can get it with one or two rì, and then you will use this new one."

"Just according to Du Langjun's orders." Zhang Du twitched his nose vigorously to think about what this good fragrance was, but thinking about how many of these famous nobles had a unique method of combining incense, even if he secretly wondered, it was not easy to get to the bottom of it.

When Du Shiyi came to the thatched hut at the foot of Junji Peak again, he saw Zhang Du smiling and walking forward quickly with the ink ingot that had been painted with gold on his face, and shouted repeatedly: "Du Langjun, this is the ink made by the best Songqi, its moist yù drops, its light can be seen, my brother has been making ink for so many years, and it is the first time that he has been making ink so well!" It's a pity that I wasted too much before, so I only got this ingot, and the rest have more than two or three pieces, but I don't know how to use it! ”

"It's easy to do." Du Shiyi took the ink in his hand, and then said with a smile, "Lu Shigong paints good books, if he is allowed to use them, isn't it the pros and cons that can be known at a try?" ”