As the weather gradually warms up, the long-lost sun also appears between the sea and the sky, and the cold winter seems to be slowly leaving.

On the morning of the second day after settling down, Liu Zheng, under the leadership of Kong Wuzi named Wang Qi, and more than ten young people in the village retrieved more than ten loads of high-quality black pottery clay from the mouth of the big river in the north, and then instructed the young people in the village to dig brick kilns, patiently teaching them how to dig pools, how to release water to soak mud, how to prepare materials, and how to make wooden molds.

On the afternoon of the second day after the completion of the mud soaking, Liu Cun led the young men to dig out a steamed bun-shaped pottery kiln with a length and width, two zhang and three zhang deep under the soil hill in the upper reaches of the river, and then made bricks with the participation of more than 80 people in the village.

At noon on the third day, the clay was basically dry, Liu Cun and a group of brothers in the village who were getting more and more familiar with each other used a bamboo sieve to make a rough selection twice, and then used the fine bamboo sieve made by the women in the village to complete the selection of the mud, poured the mud into the shallow pit of the stone slab and clay siege city, added water and two kinds of accessories quietly made to soak, and then let all the children in the village, including the excited Liu Zhen, jump into it and stomp on it.

Every night, with the help of Uncle Wang, the only carpenter in the village, Liu Cun made the most crucial pottery plates and several pottery tools, and with the help of the light of the blazing torches, he picked up a few shells from the sea and two sections of bamboo cut by the river to grind a set of pottery knives of different lengths and shapes.

At noon on the fifth day, after drying and drying, 8,000 bricks were sent to a simple mud kiln, stacked layer by layer according to the way that Liu Cun emphasized, the stratum and the surrounding area were pre-paved with more than 100 stones that Liu Cun picked back from seven miles away, and finally the village old Uncle Wang personally lit the fire, more than ten young people continued to stuff bundles of firewood and grass into the kiln mouth, and burned until the early morning of the next day, Liu Cun sealed the kiln with wet mud, and the firing method and the ingenious setting of the upper and lower kiln mouths greatly exceeded the expectations of the villagers.

After the kiln was opened on the sixth day, the villagers were excited to see the square red and yellow solid bricks, held them in their hands and sighed, and discussed whether to continue burning bricks to build new houses. Few people noticed that Liu Cun loaded two barrels of stone ash from the edges of both sides of the kiln bottom, thinking that what was burned out was the lime that was about to be used to build the kiln.

After another three days, in strict accordance with Liu Cun's requirements of the steamed bun brick kiln was finally built, prepared in advance and after a week of stale ceramic clay was repeatedly kneaded into a round cylinder by Liu Cun, set up in the riverside grass shed under the wheel under Liu Cun's feet to rotate happily, the village gathered old and young finally saw Liu Cun's superb pottery technology.

Seeing the pottery bowls and clay pots with different shapes and beautiful atmospheres gradually taking shape on Liu Cun's skillful hands and turntables, and seeing the last two brown pottery tripods that are three feet high and two feet wide, like bronze tripods, were carefully placed on the wooden frame by Liu Cun, the onlookers were thrilled again and again.

Uncle Wang, Uncle Wang, Fourth Uncle Wang, who is the most knowledgeable in the village, and the well-informed Wang Qi and Lin Shi and others are even more pleasantly surprised, they have imagined that Liu Cun's pottery skills must be very good, but no one expected that the exquisite utensils made by Liu Cun are far beyond everyone's imagination, so exquisite, so dignified and atmospheric, so beautiful and majestic.

In the evening, Liu Cun sent away the villagers who could not gather, under the six bright torches, began to carve two pieces of pottery tripod embryo surface imitating the three-legged bronze tripod of the Zhou Dynasty animal pattern, when a simple and elegant dragon and phoenix bird, a circle of precise stretching moire, paper pattern appeared on the embryo body, Wang Qi and Liu Zhen, who insisted on accompanying Liu Cun, couldn't help but rejoice.

On the afternoon of the twelfth day, one hundred and twenty-four pieces of pottery that had been dried and polished smoothly and brightly were sent to the new kiln under the expectant gaze of the whole village's fathers and villagers.

This fire burned from dusk and sunset to the rising sun the next day, and Liu Cun, who was in charge of the whole process, twice hooked out a few pieces of pottery embryos from the red and hot kiln to soak in water to observe, from time to time to increase or decrease the amount of dry firewood put into the kiln, and finally put a handful of sea salt into the kiln.

After watching all night, no one wanted to leave, all of them looked solemn and extremely pious, no one dared to ask Liu Cun, and they all closed their mouths and waited quietly around the pottery kiln, as if they were worried that the ghosts and gods would snatch away the treasure pottery that contained infinite hope in the kiln.

Looking at the villagers who were waiting quietly, Liu Cun felt quite emotional in his heart, he didn't expect such an ordinary pottery to be so important in the minds of his fathers and fellow villagers.

The long wait was coming to an end, Liu Cun, who had worked hard all night, silently drank the sour wine without a little alcohol in the bowl, turned around and took the sleeping child from Lin Shi's arms on the side, looked at the white and dignified face and crystal charming eyes of the woman in front of him, and suddenly found that she looked so gentle and beautiful.

After a long time, Liu Cun took a deep breath and whispered to Lin Shi, who was sitting beside him with red ears: "Uncle said, after the sowing is completed in a few days, I will build two spacious and sturdy wooden houses under the ginkgo trees opposite the river bay, use the best hundred-year-old elm wood as beams and columns, and the roofs are all covered with five-foot-long and wide cypress bark, and then build the courtyard wall in front and back, and reclaim fifty acres of land for me around the periphery, and sow seeds in the tail of the season. ”

Lin quickly wiped away the tears of joy that were rolling down, buried his head between his legs, and raised his head shyly for a long time, nodding slightly to Liu Cun, who was staring in anticipation.

The sun sets slowly on the top of the mountain in the west, and the gorgeous glow coats the mountain village with a soft golden glow.

The old and young people in the village slowly gathered at the mouth of the kiln, reverently watching Uncle Wang and other elders put up the incense table, kneeling down to pray to the sky, the last melted ice floating in the river occasionally made a crisp crashing sound, countless pairs of eyes stared at Liu Cun who carefully opened the kiln door with iron tongs in his hand, Wang Qi and other strong men stood respectfully behind Liu Cun.

After opening the kiln door for a while, the large and small exquisite pottery was held out of the kiln door one after another in the cheers, and all the men holding the pottery did not dare to pant loudly, and cautiously walked to the long table that was temporarily erected, and put the exquisite pottery that still exuded heat in his arms on the table.

Finally, after Liu Cun's inspection was completed, Uncle Wang and Fourth Uncle Wang, who were so excited that their faces were red, immediately knelt down in front of the long table, picked up the clay pot that was as bright as black jade and the two pottery tripods with glittering and dignified atmosphere, and wiped the ashes on it with their hands, and tears slowly flowed from their cloudy eyes.

"Artifact!"

"Heaven bless, intact!"

Liu Cun, who walked towards the Lin family, looked back in surprise and saw a few old men and Wang Qi and other men who were holding pottery and crying like people, and felt very incredible.

Lin explained in a low voice: "I have grown so big, the first time I have seen such exquisite and moist pottery, especially the two black jade pottery tripods in the middle, which are a godsend that I have never seen, such pottery tripods are rare even in a century-old family, as long as anyone has one, they can show their piety and remembrance to the gods and ancestors, which is enough to comfort their ancestors, so Uncle Wang They are so excited." ”

Liu Cun thought for a while and asked in a low voice, "If you take it out and sell it, how much money do you think it will be worth?" ”

The little lady of the Lin family was quite surprised, and after pondering for a long time, she replied in a low voice: "I have never seen such beautiful pottery, I dare not say that it is difficult to find a thousand gold, it should be easy to sell it for a hundred gold, even if it is a random pottery bowl over there, it can be sold for three or five thousand yuan." ”

"Is it gold?" Liu Cun's eyes sparkled.

The little lady of the Lin family nodded: "Five years ago, there was a potter in Runan who burned a cyan pottery bottle, it is said that the color is like the azure sound such as the chime, the county order was immediately sent to the court to dedicate to the emperor, the emperor regarded it as a godsend, and rewarded the potter with fifty catties of gold, five hundred silk horses and an imperial carriage under great joy, and the county order was also promoted to three levels, in comparison, I think the pottery you made is not inferior, especially the two pottery tripods, even if they are sent to Xiahe City or Kaiyang Wangcheng, they can be sold for 100 gold casually. ”

Liu Cun has a bottom in his heart, limited to the current conditions, he can only make this kind of hard black pottery with a kiln temperature of about 1,000 degrees on the raw materials and Jiandan tools at hand, and use a simple salt glaze method to obtain the luster and waterproof effect of the pottery, and so on to settle down in the future, prepare all kinds of auxiliary materials and do a good job of various tools to slowly prepare materials for processing, and can fully produce all kinds of exquisite porcelain.

Liu Cun looked at the undulating sea from afar, and suddenly saw Uncle Wang leading the villagers to his side to give a salute, so frightened that he hurriedly stepped forward and said earnestly to Uncle Wang and the fourth uncle who bent down and bowed: "The elders are ashamed of the younger generations, just a few pottery, it is not worth such a big gift!" ”

Uncle Wang laughed, and then asked Liu Cun expectantly: "Little Brother Liu, can you pass on the pottery making skills to the children of my Wang family?" If you need anything, just ask, as long as we have it, never say a word! ”

Liu Cun finally understood, ignored the Lu family brothers who were blinking at him not far away, and responded generously: "Why not? The younger generation has been displaced here, and they have been taken care of by all the uncles and fathers and villagers, and they don't know how to repay it. ”

After speaking, Liu Cun turned to Wang Qi, who was full of joy: "Brother Wang, although we have known each other for a short time, my brother is very admirable, and there are still many places that rely on my brother and brothers in the future. ”

Wang Qi grabbed Liu Cun's arms: "So, brother, you agreed?" ”

"Aren't all the brethren doing it with me these days? I'll teach you how to prepare materials, how to pull blanks, how to repair blanks and go to the kiln for firing, and you will understand after a few more times, rest assured, I won't hide it. ”

Liu Cun explained generously, looking extremely sincere, but he had already made up his mind what should be passed on and what should be kept, not to mention anything else, at least for a long time, he would never reveal to anyone the secrets related to the selection and production process of porcelain, the formula and production method of glazes, etc., which involve major interests.

How did the excited Wang Qi know what Liu Cun was thinking, he pulled Liu Cun to the altar, personally poured two large bowls of wine and saluted with both hands: "If you don't dislike it, brother, from now on, call me Brother Sheng, from now on, you will be my Wang Qi's brother!" ”

Liu Cun took the wine bowl and drank it all, and couldn't help frowning after drinking.

Wang Qi thought that he was too drunk to resist, so he laughed happily, took Liu Cun's hand and announced loudly to the surroundings: "From now on, Brother Liu Cun is my Wang Qi's brother-in-law, and he is our own person in Wangjiazhai!" ”

The villagers all congratulated Liu Cun loudly, the smiles on each face were very sincere, Uncle Wang and Fourth Uncle Wang were even more smiling, but the Lu family brothers were bitter and remorseful, and they couldn't accept the reality that Liu Cun passed on the amazing skills to the people of Wangjia Village.

After a night of drunkenness, Liu Cun, who woke up, called out to the Lu brothers and Liu Zhen in front of him, and solemnly warned them: "I know what you have in mind, but don't forget how we got here. Pottery is just a small skill, not worth your distress like this, compared to the acceptance of the villagers in the village, what is it to teach some craftsmanship? Lu Ping, Lu An, since you follow me, you must be more open-minded and open-minded, don't care about temporary gains and losses, and treat every villager in the village sincerely, otherwise I have no choice but to let you leave. ”

"Lord, please calm your wrath!"

"If you make a mistake, please punish the Lord!" The Lu brothers hurriedly knelt down and begged for mercy.

Liu Cun nodded slightly: "It's good to understand, get up, Lu An-"

"The little ones are here." Lu An, who had just gotten up, knelt down again.

Liu Cun grabbed him, stared into his eyes and admonished: "From now on, you will be my housekeeper, and in the future, the family's income and expenditure and land will be under your control, don't let me down." ”

Lu An was overjoyed, and knelt down and kowtowed with a pop: "Lord, the little one is willing to break his bones and repay the kindness of the Lord!" ”

Liu Cun shook his head helplessly, and turned to Lu Ping, who was quite lost: "You have an easy-going personality, thoughtful, and quite disciplined in dealing with people, although you can't read, but you can count, so from today on, you follow me, I will teach you some business things, and when our house is built and settled, let Uncle Wang go to Xiahe City to register for us, and then set up a caravan with the people in the village, and you will be responsible for taking the pottery to Xiahe City to sell, and then buy back all kinds of things we need, are you willing?" ”

Lu Ping was overjoyed, and immediately knelt down and kowtowed: "Thank you, the little one remembers the kindness of the Lord!" ”

Liu Cun nodded, too lazy to care about the brothers of the Lu family who liked to kneel, and strode out of the door with the carved black pottery cup he had quietly fired.

Liu Zhen, who had been watching from the side, was stunned and chased out, stopped in front of Liu Cun and asked with red eyes: "Uncle, everyone has a job, why don't I be the only one?" ”

Liu Cun stopped: "Say, what do you want to do in this life?" ”

Liu Zhen scratched his head and said in a low voice for a long time: "I want to learn pottery from my uncle and burn the best pottery, better than anyone else!" ”

Liu Cun didn't expect that Liu Zhen, who was quite smart, was this ambition, and after thinking for a while, he asked solemnly: "It is very simple to burn pottery, but it is difficult to become a skilled master craftsman, it is not something that can be learned in a day or two, it takes years or even decades of hard work!" Tell me, to what extent do you want to learn? If you want to become an ordinary potter, I can teach you in three or five months, but if you want to become a world-famous master, I am afraid that it will take a lifetime of hard work, very hard. ”

Liu Zhen thought for a long time, raised his head and replied resolutely: "I want to become a world-famous master craftsman!" ”

"Maybe it will take five years, maybe it will take ten years, can you endure this hardship?"

Liu Cun really can't believe Liu Zhen's perseverance, although he can survive in a difficult and harsh environment until now, and his personality is more mature than children of the same age after suffering hardships, but the process of learning pottery is very boring, Liu Cun is worried that he will not be able to persist until the end, and then he will not be able to become a climate, but destroy the talent he may have in other aspects, and it will outweigh the losses.

I saw Liu Zhen kneeling down heavily, raising his little face and swearing loudly to the sky: "The sky is proof, if I can't endure hardship, the sky will thunder!" ”

Liu Cun was stunned, and pulled Liu Zhen up: "Okay, as for it?" Since you choose this path, from today to learn literacy and painting with me, I also followed my father to learn this way since I was a child, but when I grew up, I lost patience, and slowly threw away this craft to do something else, only the leisure time is interested, will start to burn one or two small utensils, but many things are remembered in the mind, want to forget and can not forget, from today, I will teach you little by little, I hope you will be better than me in the future a hundred times. ”

Liu Zhen excitedly knelt down again and kowtowed twice in a row, jumped up and grabbed Liu Cun's sleeve: "Uncle, is it difficult to learn to paint?" Can I carve a beautiful ornament with a shell knife like you? ”

Liu Cun thought for a while: "General painting skills and carving skills are not difficult to master, the main thing is to learn more and practice, practice makes perfect, but if you want to become a top master, in addition to diligence, talent is very important, I just don't have such talent, and finally gave up the art of ceramics, alas!" Needless to say, since you have made up your mind, take your time, I will try to teach you what I know, and it is up to you how much you learn, and to a certain extent, no one can help you. ”

After walking for several miles, the front was full of thorns, and it was becoming more and more difficult to walk, Liu Zhen, who was excited, suddenly came back to his senses, looked at the mountains in front of him, and then looked at the sea in the east, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Uncle, where are we going?" ”

Liu Cun pointed to the crystal waterfall that thawed and flowed in front of him: "Do you see the waterfall on the mountainside in front?" The amount of water is not small, from the waterfall to the seaside of the river on both sides and up and down the hills, up and down the five or six miles are full of big trees that have grown for hundreds of years, if the two sides of the river are reclaimed, at least there can be tens of thousands of acres of fields, this is a treasure of feng shui! ”

"In the future, I will build our house in this place, and then find a way to get some people back, build a dam and build a reservoir above the waterfall, and then use the drop of the water flow to build a few strong diversion canals, use the drop and flow of the water flow, do some work that cannot be done by manpower, anyway, use all favorable conditions to make our family business bigger."

Liu Zhen looked at the cottage behind him: "Uncle, if you build a house in this place, you will stay away from the village, will the elders in the village agree?" ”

"Yes, I asked, except for the trees and fields within a radius of two miles around the village, the rest of the place is ownerless wasteland, there are few people in the village, there is no strength to cultivate, and I am worried that the land reclamation will pay more taxes, so it has been abandoned until now, and there are many snakes and insects in this place, there are elk, yellow and many beasts and birds in the mountains on the side and the big pearl mountain in front of it, and wild wolves often run out to hurt people, but it is not a problem for us, it is a rich and stable family business, and now I do not have the financial resources and manpower to reclaim for the time being, Take your time. ”

Liu Cun looked up at the lush mountains behind him, and pointed to the sea two kilometers to the east with a long breath: "Let's go, let's go along the river to the beach to have a look, I don't know if we can build a few salt pans." ”

Liu Zhen became excited again: "Is it the kind of method you said before that you don't need to cook in an iron pot, you only need to use the sea tide and the salt mud on the seaside to get the white flower sea salt?" ”

Liu Cun was quite surprised: "I seem to have only said it once, do you remember?" ”

Liu Zhen smiled: "I have memorized a lot of what you said, and ah, I also remember the method you used wormwood and yellow vitex root to make a decoction to cure Aunt Lin." ”

Liu Cun praised happily: "Not bad! I've decided to start teaching you literacy from tonight, as well as some of the more special words and symbols, as well as arithmetic and geometry, and once you've mastered the basics, you'll be able to learn anything else. ”

Liu Zhen was very happy to hear that he could learn literacy, but he didn't expect that Liu Cun had never seen any of today's books, and the knowledge that was about to be handed over to him was probably something that many people couldn't understand now.

Although Liu Cun, like his brother who is famous in the Qilu ceramics industry, was held by his father to write calligraphy since he was a child, and later wrote and sketched patterns on the porcelain embryo, he had no bottom on everything in front of him, so he had made up his mind to get the Lin family lady who could write and calculate as soon as possible, and learn from the Lin family lady for advice.

At noon, Liu Cun and Liu Zhen returned to the south of the village along the coast, and found Wang Qi standing on the ridge beckoning to him, apparently waiting for a long time.

Liu Cun hurriedly rushed over, and Wang Qi greeted him and said in a low voice: "Brother, the elders of the village agree to divide five people to form a caravan, and then divide ten people to burn pottery with you, and take the burned pottery to Xiahe City in the south as soon as possible to sell, and buy some iron farming tools and a few ploughing cattle for the village to come back, do you agree?" ”

"That's a good thing! Let's go, first find some fire-resistant good soil to burn a kiln brick, and then build a better new kiln to increase the output, otherwise you can only burn 100 pieces of general pottery at a time, which is not cost-effective. Liu Cun not only happily agreed, but also tried every means to increase production.

"Wait!"

Wang Qi grabbed Liu Cun and explained embarrassedly: "Brother, the pottery you burned is so good, so good that we don't dare to sell it, so everyone wants you to burn a little bit of pottery, otherwise I am afraid that it will cause the greed of outsiders, and it will be inappropriate to suffer disasters if the money is not earned!" ”

Liu Cun was slightly surprised, and after careful weighing, he felt that it made sense, but after thinking about it, he felt that this was not a way after all: "Big brother, no matter how you fire it, the pottery I make will be much better than others, and if you want to make money for a long time, you can't deal with it perfunctorily, you have to rely on good pottery." ”

Wang Qi was quite embarrassed: "I can't think of a way to come here to wait for you, I want you to help me come up with an idea, otherwise this money-making business really can't be done!" ”

Liu Cun pulled him forward: "Big brother, wait a while, you can get a jar of wine and two chickens for the younger brother, the little brother is full of food and drink, and he will definitely be able to come up with a good way for you." ”

"Really?"

"Really."

"Good! As long as there is a way, don't say a jar of wine and two chickens, you can get a yellow sheep back and roast and eat! ”

"There are yellow sheep on the mountain?"

"It's been less in the past two years, but the yellow sheep after the autumn is fat, another day you go to the back room of my house to see, both walls are hung with sheepskin, deerskin and wolf skin, our whole village boots are sewn with deerskin and cowhide, not much worse than the pair of black leather boots you quietly put away, hehe!"

"How did you get the elk and the wolf?"

"Cover it, dig traps, shoot bows and crossbows, etc., there are many ways! You don't understand this, and you don't need to understand, the elders are right, you are different from us, you are not an ordinary person, you are a star in the sky, you can't let you go to farm to boil salt, stay at home and burn a kiln of pottery, and we will work hard all our lives, haha! ”