Baking is an ancient profession that has existed since at least the Song Dynasty. Porcelain, although it is highly durable, is very brittle, and when you bump it, it will fall off the slag and shatter the heavy one, and it will become particularly unsightly. Therefore, there is such a kind of craftsman who can repair the porcelain. For example, if you have a porcelain bowl that falls to the ground and becomes three petals, it can't be used, and he has the ability to put it back together again. Or a porcelain plate has a corner off, and he can inlay a copper corner. This is called baked porcelain.

There are two kinds of baking craftsmen, one is called Changhuo and the other is called Xiuhuo. Chang Huo is to walk the streets and alleys to serve the poor, the common people are poor, and the porcelain bowl is reluctant to buy a new one, so they will find someone to make up for it. The old people who came from the old society all know that the baking craftsman will carry a pick on his shoulders and shout "curium pots, curium bowls, curium vats", which are several things commonly used by the common people. This kind of ever-living craftsman is called a furnace craftsman, and he is a ninth-rate. Now that the productivity has gone up, the daily porcelain is not worth much, and it will be replaced with a new one if it is broken, so the permanent life is almost extinct.

As for Xiuhuo, it was developed specifically for the repair of antique porcelain. Ancient porcelain is passed down from generation to generation, and it is inevitable that there will be incomplete times, and sometimes only a pile of broken porcelain pieces can be found. At this time, it is necessary to have a special craftsman to repair it, and it is not only necessary to repair it, but also to ensure the integrity of the art, and the requirements for the baked porcelain craftsman are higher, not only the craftsmanship, but also the artistry. Today, the cultural relics restoration profession still has to learn from these skills.

There is also a particularly famous story in the antique circle about Xiuhuo.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a Japanese nobleman named Taira Shigemori who donated gold to the Asoka Temple in Ningbo. As a return gift, Asoka Temple gave back a porcelain bowl from Longquan kiln, which was loved by Ping Chongsheng. Later, during the Muromachi period, this porcelain bowl was acquired by the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. Unfortunately, because of repeated wars, this porcelain bowl has several cracks. Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent an envoy to bring this bowl to Daming, hoping that Emperor Chenghua would give another one. However, after the changes of the times, the Longquan kiln can no longer burn porcelain bowls with the same glaze. Emperor Chenghua asked the imperial baked porcelain craftsman to repair this bowl and bring it back to Japan. This porcelain bowl has a few bean nails baked on it, and it looks a bit like a locust, so the Japanese named this porcelain bowl "Celadon Grasshopper Trip", which has become one of the most famous tea sets in Japan.

You see, the craft of baked porcelain has reached the point where it shines with the porcelain itself.

Then why did I immediately recognize Silversmith Yin as a baking craftsman as soon as I saw that tool?

The principle of baked porcelain is very simple, that is, drill a few holes in the porcelain, and then fix it with nails of different lengths. Among them, the drilling process is the most test of skill. The porcelain is thin and brittle, and to drill a hole in it, it is necessary to ensure that it does not break or crack, which requires a very delicate technique. The hole opening tool used by the baking master is an iron pen, which is inlaid with a diamond in the tip of the pen and gently ground on the part to be opened to grind out a hole.

There is a saying in China, "If it's not a diamond, don't do porcelain work", it is to fight here.

The iron pen in Yin's silversmith's toolbox has been rounded and pointed and used to process silverware—but the bamboo sleeve outside has leaked the bottom. Drilling holes for silverware is a test of strength, and if you make a mistake, you can return to the furnace and remelt; Drilling a hole in porcelain only has one chance, and it will break with the wrong force, so it requires extremely fine control. Adding a bamboo sleeve to the outside can improve finger friction.

Silversmith Yin must have done baked porcelain before, and he was still a showman. For some reason, he changed his trade, but the pen was still useful, so he changed it a little and turned it into a silver tool. If I didn't have that bamboo trap, I really wouldn't be able to see through it.

At that time in the capital, the outstanding skills of the show were all porcelain masters, and only with this vision did they dare to do it on the ancient porcelain. Since Yin's silversmith's old profession is baked porcelain, there is finally a direct connection between him and Wucan!

I secretly rejoiced. This flaw of Silversmith Yin is actually not a flaw at all. If you don't have an understanding of gold and silver processing and porcelain, you can't see it at all. Silverware is my family's knowledge, and the matter of baked porcelain was written in "Xuanci Chengjian". Thanks to the medicine, I didn't force me to make up for it for a while, and I was lucky enough to find out.

Sure enough, there are still benefits to reading more.

Of course, I didn't talk to Mo Xu too much, she is an outsider, and she may not be able to understand. I said a few casual words to her and sent her home, otherwise she would have some strange associations.

The next day, I came to the vicinity of the Bazi Bridge again. But this time I didn't rush closer, but peeked at the mouth of the alley from a distance. I was relieved to see Silversmith Yin open the door and move out of the workbench.

What I was most worried about was that I broke through the hidden matter and absconded overnight. I don't know Shaoxing well, but I have nowhere to find him.

The alley is very remote, I secretly monitored him all morning, and there were few people passing by, and there was no one who stopped to make things for him. The handmade silverware industry is really declining. In fact, not only silverware, but all craftsmen are having a hard time now. Modern industry and technology are developing too fast, making their living space smaller and smaller. I even suspect that Yin's silversmith changed from baking to baking because this business was almost extinct, and he had to find another way to make a living.

I was thinking in my heart about how to gain the favor of Silversmith Yin. Sending something? Even natives like Mo Wishing don't know his hobbies; Do him a favor? He lived in a simple life, lived a simple life to the extreme, and almost did not communicate with the outside world; Bribe him with money? It's not a good idea, but judging by the strength of his return to me yesterday and then smashing the headdress, I'm afraid it will only be counterproductive.

This silversmith Yin is simply a freak and a hermit in modern society, out of step with this world, living only behind his workbench. For a moment, I was a bit of a rat eating a turtle - nowhere to put it.

By noon, Silversmith Yin had lifted the workbench back to the door, locked it, and paced out. I followed him, trying to keep my distance, and saw him walk across the Bazi Bridge to the stall where I had stinky tofu yesterday. Silversmith Yin picked up a long bench and sat down, ordered a plate of fried river shrimp and a plate of dried plum vegetables, and asked the shopkeeper to scald a pot of rice wine, and slowly ordered a bowl of rice to eat.

My eyes lit up, it seems that he is not completely ignorant of fireworks in the world, but he likes to drink, so it will be easy to do. I pretended to be casual and walked over to the shop to say hello to the owner, and then sat down across from Silversmith's desk.

Silversmith Yin looked up and saw that it was me, with an angry face, he put his rice bowl on the table and got up to leave. I didn't hurry up a flask and said I'll invite you for this meal, let's drink without saying anything, can it be done?

"Let's go! Walk! ”

Yin's silversmith didn't take this stubble, and stepped out with a calm face. I hurriedly grabbed his arm, and the silversmith shook it suddenly, and his strength was not small, shaking me away and walking away.

The owner of the shop was happy and said what are you looking for Lao Yin? I casually said I wanted to learn from him. The shopkeeper shook his head and said that Lao Yin usually doesn't like to interact with people, so he came to eat with me and could talk a few words. If you take the initiative to talk to him, he is the most annoying, and when he is annoyed, he has a neuropathy, as if he is called mania or something.

As soon as I heard this, I hurriedly asked the shopkeeper, it turns out that someone else has come to find Yin's silversmith?

The shopkeeper knocked the edge of the pot with a frying spoon, sighed, and said that there were people in the neighborhood who worked in the TV station in the past, and wanted to do a lost traditional handicraft, so he found Yin Silversmith here, but as soon as he saw the camera, he immediately turned his face and scolded a group of people directly out of the door. There was also a Hong Kong man who wanted to invite him to Guangzhou to do a silverware business, but as soon as he proposed it, he was rejected by Lao Yin. Hong Kong people felt that they didn't have enough money, so they came over with a bag of cash. Lao Yin poured it well, turned on the blowtorch directly, and lit his pocket. By the time the Hong Kong people put out the fire, more than half of the money had already been burned.

"If it were me, I would take the opportunity to blackmail Silversmith Yin to lose money, and if I couldn't afford to lose, I would get him to Guangzhou." I blurted out.

The shopkeeper smiled: "Hong Kong people also plan to do the same, but this person is really unseemly." Unexpectedly, Lao Yin took out two porcelain bowls from home and threw them over. The Hong Kong people asked someone to appraise it, and found that the two porcelain bowls were worth more than the money that was burned, so they had to leave with the ashes of the bowls. At that time, the entire Bazi Bridge was a sensation, and the neighbors were talking about it, this old Yin usually looked poor and sour, and he really had valuable things in his hands. ”

I hurriedly asked what the bowl was, and the shopkeeper scratched his head in embarrassment, saying that he didn't know. Think about it, that half pocket of money is at least tens of thousands of yuan, a small silversmith, actually has such a valuable porcelain bowl, this guy's bottom is really a bit mysterious.

The two of us were chatting when we heard footsteps outside the door. As soon as he looked up, Lao Yin actually came back, rolling his eyelids, as if he owed someone money. I didn't open my mouth yet, but I found that Lao Yin was actually followed by a person.

I also know this person, it is the boss of Lan Jizhai yesterday. We looked at each other, stunned, not expecting to see each other here. I saw that the boss was holding a gossip-patterned bottle in his hand, and the corner of the bottle mouth was missing, and my heart immediately became clear. This boss must have also seen through Yin's silversmith's baking porcelain craftsmanship and wanted to ask him to repair it.

The boss of Lan Jizhai looked at me, full of vigilance. He was probably thinking to himself at this time, good boy, you went to my store yesterday to find out what I was doing. I feel a little wronged, but I can't explain it at the moment, so I have to let him misunderstand.

As soon as Silversmith Yin went out, he was blocked by the boss of Lan Jizhai, and his mood was extremely bad, and his face shook and trembled, like the surface before a volcanic eruption, which could be submerged in scorching magma at any time. Usually going to him alone, it has made him so irritable that he is about to get sick; Now there are two such nasty ghosts, and it is possible to die of anger on the spot.

"Let me go back!" Silversmith Yin shouted loudly, but he was a little nervous.

I stopped him with a smile: "Mr. Yin, since you're here, why don't you drink and leave?" The boss of Lan Jizhai also blocked his retreat: "That's it, that's it, folks, you should move around more, I'll invite you this time." "Although the two of us are hostile to each other, we still have a consensus on holding down Silversmith Yin.

Yin Yinjiang was angry and began to scold people in Shaoxing dialect, anxious and fast. I don't understand much, so I don't care, the boss wants to come and be tested for a long time, and it won't be affected. Silversmith Yin was tired of scolding, snorting and panting, and found that the two of us were clearly not angry and scolding, and he didn't have a suitable weapon at hand, so he couldn't help it at all.

I and the boss of Lan Jizhai can see that this Yin silversmith is manic on the surface, but he is actually a cowardly character in his bones. As long as you are fiercer and more aggressive than him, he will quickly succumb.

Seeing the appearance of the scoundrels who didn't eat oil and salt, Yin silversmith reluctantly took two steps back, sat on the chair and asked dejectedly, "What do you want to do?" ”

yes, what do we want to do?

In fact, my purpose is very simple, to ask Silversmith Yin to show me the fragment of the "Three Visits to the Thatched House". If he is familiar with porcelain, he may be able to see through the mystery of the white mouth.

As for the real purpose of the boss of Lan Ji Zhai, I am afraid it is not as simple as repairing the Cong bottle. It is not difficult to repair this bottle mouth, even if Shaoxing does not have it, there must be a master in Hangzhou, why choose such a difficult person as Yin silversmith? I see, his real intention was to find out what porcelain was still in Yin's house.

Businessmen chase profit like flies and smell, how can there be treasures, eager to dig three feet into the ground to buy them. This kind of guy who casually takes out two fine porcelain bowls must have more good goods in his hands.

Neither of us was willing to tell us what we were really about, so the situation fell into an awkward situation, and the shop fell silent for a while. Yin's face twitched again: "If you don't say it, then I'll go back." I glanced at the boss of Lan Jizhai and said at the same time, "We want to ask about the art of baking porcelain." ”

Silversmith Yin seemed to be very resistant to the word "baked porcelain", and when he heard us say this, his shoulders were high, and his breathing was heavy, as if he was about to get sick again. The shopkeeper was quick and handed over a bowl of rice wine. Silversmith Yin drank it all, wiped his mouth with his cuffs, and reluctantly suppressed his emotions: "I'm just a silversmith, and I can only work with silver." ”

The boss of Lan Jizhai preemptively said: "I don't bother you too much, I just want to inlay this porcelain bottle with a silver mouth." At the end of the day, you don't have to separate your family, you still do silver work. ”

This guy is a ** lake in the end, this is quite a doorway.

Anyone who knows a little about baked porcelain knows it. Some porcelain is broken, but the fragments are still there, which can be baked back to its original state with nails, which is the most basic means. But some porcelain, the missing part can no longer be found, in this case, the repair method is to use gold, silver, copper and other materials, into the missing shape inlaid - equivalent to the porcelain inlaid with a gold tooth - so this craft not only looks at repair, but also has to be repaired with a sense of art. People with high craftsmanship can repair the residual porcelain into patterns.

For example, if half of a tea cup is broken, it is inlaid with gold leaves, and the two sides are fixed with rice nail baked seeds, which has a new name, called Jin Ou Shortage. For example, if the spout of the pot collapses, then wrap a circle of silver edges, which is called shading. There is also a mending plate, which is inlaid with a string of copper bean nails, and a plain plate becomes a starry sky. The aforementioned "celadon locust stumbling" is an example of baking a broken product into a work of art.

Therefore, all baking craftsmen must have a unique skill in metal processing, and there are similarities and differences with professional silversmiths. The boss of Lan Jizhai deliberately confused the concept between the two, emphasizing that this commission was actually silverwork, and did not want to arouse the disgust of Yin's silversmith.

Silversmith Yin was noncommittal to the request, and turned to look at me again. I thought for a moment and said, "I have a piece of broken porcelain in my hand, and I want you to see the doorway." ”

Since it is broken porcelain, there is no need to bake it, he doesn't even have to use his hands, just look at it and move his mouth.

We can all see that Yin's silversmith is particularly resistant to baked porcelain, so he tries to make the requirements as simple as possible, and hollows out his mind not to rely on baking.

Silversmith Yin neither agreed nor refused, he asked for another bowl of rice wine and drank it, and burped: "I can only promise one person, you two can discuss it yourself." ”

Yes, this Yin silversmith looked at Mu Ne, and his brain was really good. Seeing that the two of us were entangled together, he simply caused trouble, transferred the contradictions, and let us tear up the bastard first, and he watched the excitement.

What is there to discuss, I and the boss of Lan Jizhai are determined to win, and no one will give up. The two of them were like fighting cocks, erecting feathers, cocking the cockscomb, and not giving in to each other, but they were still sitting in their seats for a while, and they didn't move.

Why not get your hands dirty? I'm afraid that as soon as we fight, Silversmith Yin will take the opportunity to run.

The shopkeeper next to him made a round: "Old Yin, aren't you provoking people to fight?" I can't hold two Bodhisattvas in this small shop. Why don't you mark a path for them? ”

Silversmith Yin was a little drunk at this time, his eyes were slightly red, and his voice was louder than just now: "Nacheng, aren't you here to find a baking job?" Then test your baking skills, and whoever knows more, I will agree to whomever they ask. ”

I glanced at the boss of Lan Jizhai and said in unison: "How to compare?" ”

Silversmith Yin thought for a moment and said you come with me, and then reached out and borrowed two large porcelain bowls containing wine from the shopkeeper. I was one with the boss of Lan Jizhai left and one right, for fear that he would run away, so I left the store half hijacking. The shopkeeper shook his head and continued to fry his stinky tofu.

The three of us didn't walk a few steps out of the store, and it was the eight-figure bridge. At this time, it was noon, the sun was blazing, and it was a rare sunny weather in Shaoxing. The golden light was thrown down, illuminating the sparkling water under the bridge, full of vitality. Only this blue-gray ancient bridge is not affected, and it still has a cold temperament that has lasted for thousands of years.

The three of us walked to the top of the bridge, and Yin's silversmith looked at the sky and said, "I have been putting away the baking craft for decades." Today, the two of you forced me to take it out, and it depends on whether you are qualified or not. Back then, the baked craftsmen accepted apprentices, one test of eyesight, two than hand power, and three than heart strength. After three levels, the master will begin to train the apprentices. If you want to see it, you have to follow this rule. After passing the three levels, whoever wins more will agree to whomever asks for it. ”

When he said this, Yin's back involuntarily straightened, and his temperament changed. The man who had a mental illness, a short temper, and a cowardly man was gone. Under the sun, Yin's slightly narrowed eyes revealed a hint of pride.

My heart moved, I had met an old man in Beijing before, who used to be the most famous kite master in the suburbs of Beijing, and no one could fight him, and then he was so depressed that he asked for food. But as soon as he touched the kite string with his hand, his whole spirit immediately changed, and he was majestic, just like the Yin silversmith in front of him.

Every artist actually has a reserve and pride in the professional field.

"This first hurdle is a test of eyesight."

Silversmith Yin lifted the two porcelain bowls and threw them down from the top of the bridge in both directions. The stone bridges were all granite, hard and uneven, and the two bowls were thrown down and shattered. Yin silversmith said: "You guys first compare your eyesight to see who can spell it back first." ”

This test is not outrageous. The first step of baking porcelain is to find the ballast, the seam, and the gap between the broken porcelain and the porcelain body. We now like to talk about looking for ballast and looking for ballast, in fact, it was the earliest term for baked porcelain.

The difficulty of finding ballast lies in the fact that the porcelain piece is thick, the shape can be aligned, and the thickness may not be able to fit tightly. At this time, it is necessary to bake the judgment of the porcelain craftsman, how to rub and knock, there are rules to follow. To put it bluntly, there is actually only one: see how accurate your eyesight is and how fast the puzzle is.

Boss Lan Jizhai and I didn't move in a hurry, looking at Silversmith Yin.

We fear that this is a ploy to divert the tiger from the mountain. When we used to pick up the debris, what if you ran away?

Silversmith Yin stomped on the bridge: "You two have one on each side of the bridge, how can I run?" "I glanced at the owner of the Lanji shop, which made sense, and then turned around and ran under the bridge at the same time.

This porcelain bowl is in a small shop, the most common coarse porcelain bowl, the strength is not high, when it touches the stone bridge of the Bazi Bridge, it is particularly broken, and the large and small ballasts are scattered on the ground. I leaned over and quickly picked up the big ones, and the boss of Lan Jizhai was also in the same mind. For a moment, I saw the two adults pouting their buttocks and picking up porcelain pieces between the steps.

I don't know where the boss of Lan Jizhai came from, but maybe he knows much more about porcelain than I do. But when it comes to playing puzzles, I don't lose to anyone. When I was a kid at home, my favorite game was to play with a map. My dad had a world atlas, and I cut it up and put it back together.

We quickly put away all the porcelain pieces we could pick up, sat down on the spot, and began to stumble back together. This bowl is not decorated, it is not easy to judge the position, and it is not flat, the porcelain pieces have arcs, it is a three-dimensional puzzle, and the difficulty is another level.

It's impossible to put a whole bowl back, we compare who is the right ballast.

I fought faster than the boss of Lan Jizhai, and in an instant, I put together a porcelain bowl with a seven, seven, eight, eight, eight, and eight, only a relatively large piece remained, and I didn't find a suitable position. Strange to say, no matter how much I stitched this fragment together, I couldn't match it. But this piece is very large, and if you give up, I'm afraid it will be inferior to your opponent in terms of integrity.

Puzzles often encounter such a thing, you think that a piece of the puzzle is in the right place, but in fact it is not, but it leads to other puzzles are wrong, wrong, messed up. I wondered where to put it together, tried back and forth, and had to take it apart and start over. After such a delay, the boss of Lan Jizhai finished the fight first, holding a broken bowl in both hands and handing it to Yin's silversmith.

He didn't fight as well as I did, and he missed a big hole in the bottom end, but he was fast. Silversmith Yin glanced at it and said that you won this level.

I was full of grievances, and then I glanced at the bowl in his hand, and suddenly understood: "This porcelain piece is yours!" ”

It turned out that after the silversmith Yin threw the porcelain bowl to both sides, the boss of Lan Jizhai picked up a piece of broken porcelain from his side and threw it over when I was not paying attention.

Puzzles are most taboo to mix with irrelevant pieces, which will mislead the puzzle maker and disrupt judgment. The two bowls were identical, so I didn't even notice it, but wasted precious time trying to find the pieces of the dove's nest.

The boss of Lan Jizhai gave up integrity, but won time, this trick is really too bad. I choked up so angry that I yelled at him for cheating! It's not fair! Yin silversmith said lightly: "You can't even tell which bowl the broken porcelain comes from, you don't lose unjustly." ”

I had nothing to say, so I had to glare at the boss of Lan Jizhai fiercely. He was triumphant and urged provocatively: "Hurry up to the next level, test your strength, right?" ”

The second process of baking porcelain is to drill holes in the porcelain so that the baking nails can be fixed. It's like punching holes in a stack of papers and then skewering the paper holes with a folder. However, it is much more difficult to make an eye on porcelain than on paper. The porcelain is thin and brittle, and the hand must be extremely stable to make an eye on it. Do you think that the wall of a piece of porcelain may only be a few millimeters thick, and if you want to make an eye on it, you can't penetrate it, how thin does this hole have to be?

The test of hand strength is to test how strong a person's control over the fingers is when performing delicate work.

Silversmith Yin squatted down, cut off two small stones, the size of his thumb, from the stone crack on the top of the Bazi Bridge, and handed them to the two of us: "The stone of this Bazi Bridge is granite, which is very hard. Each of you picks a piece of broken porcelain of about the same size and uses this stone to engrave on it, 'Meritorious deeds'. Ten minutes is the limit, and whoever carves all the carvings wins. ”

Although he didn't let us drill holes in stones, it was no less difficult to carve words on porcelain with stones.

You know, taking a stone to engrave words on the porcelain surface is a particularly awkward way of writing. The stone coarse porcelain is slippery, it is difficult to control the brushstrokes, and it is difficult to draw a straight line, let alone write. The participants have to carve out six characters in ten minutes, and every stroke of each word must be clear, and the porcelain piece cannot collapse, which is definitely a big test.

"Virtue, meritorious service, and speech" comes from "Zuo Chuan", the original text is: "There is virtue on the Tai, followed by meritorious service, followed by speech, although it has not been abandoned for a long time, this is called three immortals." "It's about the three necessary steps to success. This sentence is very popular with the world, whether it is a pen holder, a book, an inkstone, a screen, a seal, porcelain, can often be seen. The glyphs of these words are strict and neat, and the strokes are moderate, so it is more suitable to take the test.

I couldn't help but glance at Silversmith Yin, to be able to think of such a fitting topic in such a short period of time, there must be a deep gully in my chest. This guy is by no means as simple as the eccentric silversmith on the surface, and even the identity of the baking craftsman is questionable.

I was stunned, and the boss of Lan Jizhai had already picked up the stone and carved it first, and the stone skin rubbed against the glaze, making an uncomfortable sharp sound. I was not in a hurry, I slowly lifted my stone, chose a convex corner as a pen, and then scratched it on the porcelain piece.

As soon as the stone tip was pressed down, it slipped on the porcelain surface, and there was no mark left at all. Although I was mentally prepared, I didn't expect it to be extremely difficult to operate. When the boss of Lan Jizhai saw that I had carved an empty space, he couldn't help but smile disdainfully, and continued to bury his head in carving.

I grabbed the stone and carved it a few times before I got the hang of it. Originally, the lettering on the glaze requires the stone tip to constantly change the force and angle, and every time it advances, it must be fine-tuned once, and a trace is made on the top of the glaze. This method requires very fine control of the strength of the five fingers, otherwise it will slide away at least and shatter at worst.

I concentrated and took out the strength of the Purple Mountain Monument, and my mind was empty, and I focused all my attention on this piece of porcelain. The boss of Lan Jizhai didn't care about laughing at me, and he was also engrossed.

Ten minutes passed, and Silversmith Yin said that the time was up. The two of us stopped, and at the same time let out a deep exhalation. I felt terrible pain from my wrist to my shoulder, and I was forced to mobilize the muscles of my entire arm in order to carve these words.

The two of us handed over the porcelain piece, and the silversmith Yin glanced at it, his eyes swept over the expectant boss of Lan Jizhai, and said to me: "Hand power off, you have won." ”

"Why!" The boss of Lan Jizhai jumped up and protested loudly. The two slender eyes were round, I really didn't know he could stare so round. Silversmith Yin turned over the two pieces of porcelain together with an expressionless face and showed them to the two of us.

The boss of Lan Jizhai engraved five and a half words on the porcelain piece, and the last word "Yan" was not engraved at the bottom of the word "mouth". He writes beautifully, and even in such a cramped environment, he still tries to make sure that he writes in regular script. And on my porcelain tiles, it's much simpler than his. In the middle of the porcelain piece, it is a big "Li" word, and then directly above and below the left and right corners, each with the words "virtue", "merit" and "speech".

Seeing such an ingenious arrangement, the boss of Lan Jizhai had bulging eyes, and wanted to protest that this was a trick, but in the end he flinched, just snorted coldly from his nose and said two words: "Take a trick." ”

I'm really tricky. This arrangement of characters has nothing to do with porcelain, but I borrowed it from the knowledge of seals. There is a type of engraving in the gold and stone seal, which is called the seal of the seal. There is a word in the middle, and there is a word in each of the four corners, and the Chinese character is read with the corner word. For example, there is a hidden word in the middle, and the four corners are engraved with the words "body, name, profit, and heart". When reading, it should be read as invisible, incognito, hidden, and hidden. This is called a quadruple seal.

I concocted the same on this porcelain piece. It's just that I changed the quadruple seal to a triple seal. The word "Li" is in the middle, and the triangle is virtue, merit, and speech, according to the rules of the seal, it should be read as "Lide Meritorious Service". In other words, the boss of Lan Jizhai worked hard to write five and a half words, which is not as complete as I wrote four words. Silversmith Yin said very clearly, the one who finishes writing first wins, and it is naturally me.

The shop of the owner of Lan Jizhai also sells seals, and he also knows this technique. It's a pity that he only thought about the porcelain and didn't think about it.

I'm taking a gamble. If Yin's silversmith is an ordinary baked porcelain maker and doesn't know anything about seals, my flattering eyes will be thrown to a blind man. But this guy recognized it at a glance as a variant of the Quadruple Seal, and knew its value, and that would determine my victory.

Seeing that the boss was still not convinced, Silversmith Yin said, "This is not a trick. It's not just the technique of drilling holes. The porcelain style is different, the decoration is different, and the cracks are different, so when the baking craftsman chooses the location of the eye, he must have a comprehensive consideration, taking into account both practicality and beauty. This gentleman uses a quadrangle, which is both elegant and space-saving, which is the embodiment of hand strength. Stuffy engraving is not the way to win. ”

After listening to it, it dawned on me. The title of this second level actually hides such a deep meaning. The boss of Lan Jizhai moved his mouth and was speechless.

Yin silversmith said: "Now it's a one-to-one draw. Next, it's the heart level. ”

The two of us tensed up at the same time. The first two levels seem simple, but in fact, they have their own hidden scheming. The topic of this level should be listened to well, so as not to go astray.

Silversmith Yin slowly walked down the eight-character bridge and patted the pillar on the side of the bridge: "Have you seen the lotus on the top of this pillar?" Pick up the porcelain tiles in your hands and find a way to get together with this lotus cover to see who can make it look good - be careful, don't damage the lotus pillar, this is a monument. ”

This time, the intention of the topic is clear at a glance. Since it is called Xinliguan, it is naturally related to the heart, and what is tested is actually beauty. Beauty is such an ethereal thing that I can't describe in clear words, but it's everywhere and extremely important. The same is the three baking nails on the pastel, some people bake it like three stars in the sky, and some people bake it up like three flies, this is the aesthetic gap.

But...... Although this question is clearly understood, it is difficult to operate in practice.

I walked to a lookout pillar, the bottom of which was a round stone pillar, connected to the stone guardrail, and covered with a flat stone wheel about ten centimeters thick, and the side of the stone wheel was carved into a lotus pattern with a petal, which was intersected from top to bottom. This is carved in the Song Dynasty, and the eight-character bridge is the same age. Now the stone surface is mottled, but the lotus petals are still clearly visible, full of antiquity. If it was elsewhere, I was afraid that it would have been enclosed as a cultural relic, but Shaoxing left it among the houses and let the people walk beside it, so compared to the rigidity in the museum, it is a little more vibrant.

Such a beautiful lotus-covered stone pillar, and the fragment of this broken porcelain bowl in his hand, how can he make it beautiful? It's so embarrassing. I used to rely on treasure appreciation, but now it depends entirely on artistic accomplishment - this is precisely my weakness. I don't have any aesthetics, I don't usually know how to dress at all, if it's medicine or smoke here, maybe I can give some advice. What can I do on my own?

I peeked sideways, and the boss of Lan Jizhai was also scratching his ears and cheeks. It's not like eyesight and hand, there is a clear goal to strive for, and hard work is. The subjective color of the four words "make it good" is too strong, who knows what kind of taste Yin silversmith has?

After a few minutes, the boss of Lan Jizhai seemed to think of something, squatted on the ground, and began to grind the porcelain tiles vigorously with stone steps, making a stabbing sound, which was very ugly. I realized that he was going to work on the porcelain tiles, and it seemed that he already had a case, and I couldn't help but get nervous.

The top of this lotus-covered stone pillar is flat, and you can put a bowl no problem. But this porcelain piece is too bad, horizontally and vertically, it is unsightly.

I looked up, and Silversmith Yin was standing at the top of the bridge with his hands behind his back, looking down on us condescendingly. The sun in the sky shone down, which happened to be a backlight, making him a majestic black shadow, and there were clusters of apertures shrouded, which looked particularly **. Don't look at his reluctance just now, as soon as the topic comes out, he immediately changes to another person. This is almost like a character in a foreign thriller novel, with a dual personality.

I quickly shook my head and threw these distractions out. That's when a thought came to mind.

yes, I can!

I also leaned down and used the steps to grind the porcelain piece back and forth, grinding it as narrow as possible, with some deep marks in the middle. This is a bamboo branch, and the deep mark is a bamboo joint, which is put together with the lotus flower, which happens to be the shape of the lotus bamboo headdress that does not make a wish. I don't know where Silversmith Yin learned this look, but he should have liked it very much, otherwise he wouldn't have switched to making silverware and continued to use it.

Although this idea is a bit rough, it is still a good idea. The hardware conditions of this broken porcelain piece are too poor, and it can only be used as much as possible from the creative side.

The time was fast approaching, and the two of us took a step back. I put a long piece of porcelain next to the lotus, to be honest, it's a bit ugly, but the lotus bamboo can still be seen.

Silversmith Yin walked past me with his hands behind his back, glanced at it, and said nothing, no praise or criticism on his face. He slowly paced to the Wangqiao pillar of the boss of Lanjizhai, and saw a lot of white powder sprinkled on the lotus, mixed between the lotus petals, and was slightly stunned. I'm also surprised, what is this called? On second thought, this should be porcelain powder.

The boss of Lanjizhai grinded the porcelain pieces out of a handful of finely crushed porcelain powder and sprinkled it like pepper noodles.

I'm a good look, what the hell is this? Silversmith Yin was also inexplicable, I don't know what the purpose is.

"Stand still, wait and see." The boss of Lan Jizhai said confidently, holding his arms with both hands. I thought to myself, can he still do magic and conjure a pigeon from **?

Boss Lan Jizhai didn't do anything, just moved his body slightly.

Where he was standing just now, his own shadow happened to be obscured from the pillar of the lookout. Now as soon as it moves, the sun is shining right on the pillar. The porcelain powder covered with lotus petals reflected the light, forming countless small halos. The whole lotus flower suddenly became dazzling and shining, as if the light of the Buddha had descended. It suddenly changed from an ancient relic to a treasure weapon.

It didn't take long for the boss of Lan Jizhai to stand back in place. The shadow emerged, and the lotus-covered stone pillar returned to its original state.

Silversmith Yin looked at me: "You don't have to say it, right? ”

I sat down on the ground in a daze, this time I really lost completely, the gap was too big. Don't look at the character of this guy, this aesthetic is indeed higher than me. He knows how to match the porcelain tiles, they are all very ugly, and he actually came up with this method in a unique way, turning waste into treasure, there is really him.

One to two, I still lost the fight - no, it's not a fight, it has nothing to do with luck. I lost in my understanding of baking, and my level was not enough, and I lost really.

"You come with me." Silversmith Yin pointed to the boss of Lan Jizhai, put his hands behind his back, and walked towards the alley of his house. The latter gave me a smug look, a victor's smile, and trailed away.

"Wait!" I shouted.

The boss of Lan Jizhai said: "I am willing to gamble and lose, friend, it's not good to be a scoundrel." There was sarcasm in his tone.

"I'm not as good as a man, so I don't have anything to excuse. But I won once, can you just watch and let me see the real baking? ”

This request is not excessive, even a bit groveling. The boss of Lan Jizhai smiled and said to Yin Silversmith, "You have an idea." Silversmith Yin glanced at me: "Just look, don't speak." ”

"Okay!" I was overjoyed.

The three of us went to Yin's silversmith's house again. He opened the door and let us in. It was a bit cold in the room, and I stepped into it and shivered. The furnishings of the main hall are extremely simple, a cabinet, a table, a bed and a chair, gone, and all that remains are silverware equipment and materials. The only appliances were an old-fashioned radio and an eighty-watt incandescent light bulb. There was a faint musty smell wafting through the air, as if it hadn't been ventilated for a long time. A door next to it leads to the back hall, and the old patterns on the door are quite old.

In the whole hall, what really caught the eye was the cabinet. This is not an ordinary large wardrobe, but a cabinet of yellow pear. The upper layer is open on three sides, and on all four sides are bead-patterned circles and teeth. Inside is a table clock and a statue of the Virgin, behind which hangs a rudimentary silver cross. The lower part of the two doors is open, and the hall is inlaid with a plain plate heart, and the square legs are straight below. This cabinet does not have any superfluous carvings, and even the lacquer is not painted, and the color of Huanghuali "not quiet and noisy" can be fully reflected.

This is not uncommon in Jiangnan. Often in the back room of an ordinary family, there is good furniture used by the ancestors.

Since the boss of Lan Jizhai entered the house, he has never taken his eyes off the cabinet. With his eyesight, he naturally knew that this cabinet was of the highest quality. But he was afraid that the drunkard did not mean the wine, but the porcelain hidden in the cupboard.

The silverware workbench rested on the inner wall of the door, and the silversmith put his arms on both sides of the table, shook it slightly, moved it out, and straightened it. Then he turned and opened the cabinet and pulled out a roll of things. This thing seems to be made of cowhide, folded into a round roll, and it is covered with thick dust, and it looks like it has not been used for a long time.

The boss of Lan Jizhai stretched his neck and wanted to look into the cabinet, but the silversmith Yin closed it again with a "snap", and he had to retract it.

Silversmith Yin picked up the cowhide scroll, brushed the dust from it, and slowly unfolded it. It turned out to be a long strip of cowhide similar to Hada, black and brown, with a row of delicate gadgets pinned to it, hooks and shovels, thorns and drills, and a cloud-edged handshake of boxwood, the same length. The moment it spread out, for some reason, my heart pounded hard. Because in the corners, there are small lotus bamboo patterns engraved. Although this pattern is also old, it is obvious that it was engraved later.

Silversmith Yin took a few tools from the cowhide scroll, looked up and said, "Don't you have a bottle to mend?" Take it. ”

The boss of Lan Jizhai hurriedly took the cong-style bottle over, saying that his mouth had collapsed, and he wanted to set a silver-clad edge to cover the light. Silversmith Yin took the jar and looked at it for a moment, but his brows furrowed.

Generally, the baking treatment of the collapse does not require baking nails, but a small circle of silver or gold is set in the mouth of the mangkou to cover the collapse - but the one to be repaired now is a Cong-style bottle, which is not quite the same as other porcelain.

In "Xuanci Chengjian", I deliberately took out the Cong-style bottle separately and talked about it, and I was quite impressed by that chapter. The cong-style bottle is not a practical vessel, but a ritual vessel for sacrifice. In ancient times, there was a jade cong, and the basic type of instrument was a square column, a round hole, a short neck, a circle foot, the same size of the mouth and feet, and a raised horizontal line on all sides. In the past dynasties, there have been imitations of Cong-style bottles, and the shapes are different. In the Qing Dynasty, the raised horizontal lines on all sides were replaced by Bagua patterns, so they were also called Bagua bottles, and they were fired the most. There are also blue and white glazes, white glazes, imitation Jun glazes, and imitation kiln glazes, forming a large category.

The biggest feature of the bottle is that it is round inside and outside, symbolizing the round sky and the place. And the difficulty of repairing this bottle lies precisely in these four words.

To bake the mang, you need to create a long silver bar, fold it in half, and then set it in the porcelain mangkou and knock it down. Most porcelain has a round mouth, so it is easy to achieve this process.

And the bottle sent by the boss of Lanjizhai is round inside and square outside, and the collapse is a bit big, spreading from the inner circle to the outer circle. In order to cover the light, the inlay must take into account both the inside and outside, and wrap it at the same time to be stable and secure. As you can imagine, the silversmith Yin had to knead a ball of silver clay into a double-structure ring with an inner circle and an outer square in an instant, and set the bottle.

You must know that silver clay is not plasticine, it is in a state of high-temperature melting, and it cannot be finely controlled by hand. It is difficult to knead a high-temperature metal into such a complex shape in an instant.

No wonder the boss of Lan Jizhai worked hard to invite Yin Silversmith out of the mountain.

Silversmith Yin put on a magnifying glass, looked at it intently for a long time, and then pulled out a small file from the cowhide case. After so many years, the luster of this small file is still sharp. As soon as the silversmith Yin tightened his grip on the small file, the whole person immediately entered a mysterious state. I can feel that this is a little more clever than the realm of "nothing outside the mind", which is "nothing outside the mind". The former forgets things and focuses on me; The latter is selfless and focuses on things.

He carefully filed the edge of the flask and drew a fine circle on it with a flat needle dipped in paint. After doing this, he pondered for a moment, scribbled on the paper with a pencil for a while, and then took a small silver collar.

Silversmith Yin put the small silver collar on the crucible and cut it up, heated it with an acetylene blowtorch, and the silver collar quickly melted into a trembling ball of small silver beads. At this time, the silversmith Yin made a strange movement, he stretched out his two arms, and his ten fingers overlapped together in a particularly complex way, like a fishing net. Then the ten fingers moved in turn, first one, then two, three, and the fingers were interspersed and fastened with each other, and the speed was more and more dazzling.

How so...... In the face change in Sichuan opera, the actor has to practice the copper coin palm first, overlap the ten fingers together, and change the gesture at a very high speed. After practicing this teacher, you can officially learn to change your face. Silversmith Yin's actions at this time were very similar to that. I watched from the sidelines, dumbfounded.

When the set of gestures was done, Yin's face was slightly red, and sweat was dripping from his forehead. It seems that this unique job is not a small burden on his body. Suddenly, he untied his hands, pulled a small hook and a small clip from the leather belt, and inserted them directly into the silver beads on the crucible. I saw a slight movement of my wrist, a hook and a clamp like a thread, pulling out a silver thread from the water droplets.

The silver thread crossed a graceful arc in mid-air, and Yin's silversmith carried the thread around the mouth of the bottle with his left hand, and at the same time pressed the outer circle with a clamp with his right hand, as if lifting a weight in Tai Chi. The silver thread is extremely obedient under the ** of the two-hand hook, and it is quickly wound into a long belt at the mouth of the bottle, lattice the shape of the inner circle and the outer square. Yin's arms sank suddenly, and the silver bar was firmly attached to the porcelain mouth and began to solidify. He took the opportunity to pinch the edge and press the seam to fill the gap, then put the tool down, and turned around the side with his thumbs in both hands.

When it was time to stop, the mouth of the bottle had been firmly inlaid with a circle of silver, which was not only not abrupt, but added a bit of grace.

The whole process is smooth and smooth, and it takes only a few minutes before and after.

I have never heard of this kind of technique of pulling silver into porcelain, and it is really amazing. I looked sideways, and the boss of Lan Jizhai opened his mouth wide, and he was also stunned in place. The more people who know how to bake, the more shocked they are when they see this situation. Even in "Xuanci Chengjian", there is no mention of such a magical baking technique.

The silversmith put the jar back on the table, and made some detailed repairs with tools, not forgetting to put some ornaments on the silver bars. Half an hour later, he wiped the bottle around and handed it to the boss of Lan Jizhai: "One hundred yuan." You're good to go. ”

The boss of Lan Jizhai hurriedly took out the money and put it in front of him respectfully, before he dared to take the bottle. He calmed down and asked, "Do you have a background for this unique job just now?" ”

"Nope." Silversmith Yin reverted to a wooden old man, and he slowly inserted the tools back into the cowhide one by one, and there was no more sharpness in his eyes.

The boss of Lan Jizhai seemed to be unwilling: "The tools in your kraft roll have been looking like they have been for many years, at least they must be from the late Qing Dynasty, right?" Passed down from home? Silversmith Yin still ignored him, and buried himself in rolling the cowhide and tying it with a buckle. The boss of Lan Jizhai was talking nonsense on the side, and talked nonsense for a long time, which made Yin's silversmith very annoyed, and waved his hand and scolded: "You two go quickly!" Come on! ”

Hey, even I got it. Originally, I was going to take the opportunity to ask a few words, but this time, I was driven away.

I was thinking about how I could stay, when the boss of Lan Jizhai suddenly tilted his head, as if he heard something outside. Then he straightened his waist, and his humble and respectful expression disappeared, replaced by a weird smile: "I remember, isn't the old man's unique skill, isn't it the 'Flying Bridge Ascending Immortal' who has been extinct in the rivers and lakes for decades?" ”

Silversmith Yin's buckled hands stopped, and his left eye jumped sharply. He looked at the boss of Lan Jizhai in disbelief, as if he had been stabbed in some vital matter. There was both shock and trepidation in his eyes.

If you think about it, the name "Flying Bridge Dengxian" is really appropriate. The scene just now was so beautiful, the little hook led the silver thread to fly through the air, fast and elegant, really like a leading immortal - but why did Silversmith Yin react so much?

At this time, outside the room, there was a sudden sound of slapping, not slow, a total of six. The applause was loud, and it was clearly heard in the room. But there was no enthusiasm in it, but it had a bit of a cold and sinister taste, like the footsteps of a beast approaching.