But the bright moon shines on the ditch

When the news of Anan's imprisonment for adultery reached Jingdezhen, Liang Peiqiu was preparing to go to Xu Zhiliu's private house to appreciate lotus in summer.

I heard that he inscribed "Clouds and Waters" for his private house, and he couldn't help but think of the famous line of Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei, "Walk to the poor water, sit and watch the clouds rise".

She has already drawn the appearance of Yunshuijian thousands of times in her mind, thinking that she must not bring pig's trotters when she comes to the door this time, for fear that she will be beaten out by Shi Nian.

After much deliberation, Liang Peiqiu decided to personally bake a porcelain cup for Xu Zhiliu.

Such a visit as a guest should not be annoying.

Anqing Kiln is a large household that takes care of both firing and production. Liang Peiqiu can complete a piece of porcelain at home.Unlike other folk kilns, some only burn porcelain, and some are responsible for making blanks. You also need to step on the spot yourself and choose a reliable partner.

Each line also has its own rules.For example, if the kiln owners are not allowed to watch the kiln when they open the kiln, no compensation will be paid regardless of whether the porcelain is fired well or not.

This item was repeatedly banned in the previous dynasty, and now the rules have been relaxed a lot, and only compensation is still very controversial.Most of the time, if it burns out, there is no compensation, and there is no way for the official kiln to intervene in the production. Jingdezhen has a large number of firing tasks every year. Not only the court has a large demand, but the folk demand is also large, and the demand of foreigners is even greater.

This level of demand, in addition to official kilns and Baoqing kilns, must also be apportioned to private kilns.Some billet households rushed out their goods and couldn't wait for Baoqing Kiln's schedule or couldn't afford its kiln space, so they could only endure unfair treatment.

They usually lease a porcelain kiln with several blank households.

Of course, there is a way to choose between blank households.

The official kiln divides the blank making into twenty works, which means workshops, such as maoqi making, Zifa making, bodiless making, etc., that is, each kind of porcelain is produced by a corresponding workshop.Folk kiln blank households simplify this classification and are divided into round ware households, cutting ware households, and inlaid ware households.

Round ware is porcelain that can be formed by one-time drawing on a wheeled cart, such as a bowl; cutters can also be formed on a wheeled cart, but they cannot be completed in one go.For example, the celestial ball vase needs to be pulled out with a round belly first, then a straight neck, and then glued together; the setting is done by hand without a wheel.For example, for a square vase, you need to roll out the clay pieces first, and then put them together.

In terms of the complexity of handicrafts, inlaid wares are the most expensive, followed by cut wares and round wares.

Different vessel types and glaze forming conditions are different, so the corresponding position, atmosphere, and fire requirements in the kiln are also different.If every kiln household wants the position of the kiln head, it will definitely not be able to be arranged. This requires the devices of several kiln households, which just meet the needs of a kiln type before firing.

When all the conditions are unified and the kiln can be fully filled, firing the kiln is even more of a big project.

Taking the egg-shaped firewood kiln as an example, it consumes 22 tons of pine firewood once fired.These 22 tons are not dead branches and rotten wood. They must be two feet long and thick pine wood, and they must be half dry and half wet.

It takes one day to fill the kiln, two days to burn it, and one day to cool it down, a total of four days, and one kiln can produce [-] jin of porcelain.

Therefore, the birth of a piece of porcelain not only costs money, time, manpower, but also painstaking efforts.If it fails, the craftsmen in any link will be tortured.

The double mental and physical torture made them perform their duties in the so-called 72 processes under high-intensity industrial production, and they were refined into steel.

The above is the true status of ceramic production in Jingdezhen during the Wanqing period.

From this, we can also see the status of Hutian kiln and Anqing kiln in the folk. The so-called Bao Shaoqing is not just talking about it, and not everyone can have the confidence in it.

The manpower required for each process alone is far more than that of other kilns.

Liang Peiqiu, as the master of the pile, mainly observes the shape of the flame through the holes reserved on the stove and kiln body, and speculates whether the temperature inside meets the environment required for the glaze to change, so as to control the timing and amount of adding pine wood.

The shape of each kiln is different, and the timing of the reaction is also different. The master of the pile needs to adapt to the situation and not be distracted.

In the past, Wang Yunxian often accompanied Liang Peiqiu to walk around the kiln entrance, watching her chat with the firewood masters, and casually waved her hands to use tons of firewood.

He has said with emotion more than once: "Liang Peiqiu has ruthlessness in his bones."

The so-called ruthless strength lies in its "killing decisiveness", with a snap of fingers and calmness.I don't want to encounter Xu Zhiliu's broken cup, that "ruthless force" suddenly disappeared.

Wang Yunxian looked at her attached to the mouth of the fire, glanced cautiously, and then looked again.But after a while, I got up again to watch, and the Kung Fu of Banzhuxiang was played at least ten times.

He couldn't bear it anymore, grabbed the corner of her clothes, and muttered dissatisfiedly: "It's been four days, you don't plan to close your eyes anymore, right?"

Liang Peiqiu frowned, and waved his hand at him: "How can it be? The dragon kiln is burning next to it, and I have to go and see it later."

"Do you dare to shirk your responsibility? How about I ask Master Zhuang to come back and replace you?"

Master Zhuang is also one of the pile masters employed by Anqing Kiln.

"really?"

"What do you think?"

Seeing him baring his teeth, Liang Peiqiu smiled, but realized that he was deliberately sarcastic and gave him a blank look.

Wang Yunxian turned back fiercely, and pushed her to sit on the woodpile: "Tell me, how many days have you worked hard for this broken cup?"

Although her porcelain making skills are good, she is not considered a natural talent. She can take care of multiple skills such as blank casting and sharpening, which completely depends on years of hard training in the kiln.In Wang Yu's words, hard work can make up for one's weakness, and the so-called talent is obtained through thousands of times of trials and efforts.

But she still didn't know whether she was going to die or not, so she decided to burn an "egg curtain cup" for Xu Zhiliu.What is an egg curtain cup?As the name suggests, it is as thin as a cicada's wings, without any fetal bones.

You can tell how difficult it is.

In the previous dynasty, only one master made egg-curtain cups. The cups were as thin as eggshells, each weighing only about half a baht, and as light as floating clouds. They were uniquely crafted and loved by emperors.The degree of its love can be said to be the leader in the past, unparalleled.

Now Liang Peiqiu wants to create a fever, how difficult is it?

In addition to taking care of the kiln fire and fire, she spent almost all day in the blank room, grinding the blank tires again and again, and it took half a month to make one.Still not satisfied with this, she wanted to try again, if Wang Yunxian hadn't stared at her all the time, she would really have slept in the blank room.

Looking at the current situation again, I am afraid that even if he escaped the blank house, he could not escape the kiln house.

Wang Yunxian became angry when he thought of it, and he spoke with a sour taste unconsciously: "It seems that the black chicken soup and keel porridge I carefully cooked a few days ago have been fed to the dogs."

Liang Peiqiu: ...

There is no need to point fingers at Sang and scold Huai.

Seeing that she was at a loss for words, Wang Yunxian persuaded her earnestly: "Even a body made of iron can't stand such abuse like you. Look, I've lost weight these days!"

Liang Peiqiu was about to open her mouth, but Wang Yunxian seemed to guess what she was going to say, and said first, "Are you trying to say that he saved you and me after all, right? Liang Peiqiu, you really think I'm easy to fool? Do you want Why do you have to do it yourself to repay him? There are so many treasures in the private treasury, I went to discuss with the old man, if I don’t believe him, I won’t give up any of them! In the end, you just want to make teacups for him with your own hands, so that he can think of you every day when he drinks tea , yes or no?"

Liang Peiqiu thought, killing people and punishing them is nothing more than that.

Wang Yunxian was even angrier seeing her acquiescing, and put his hands on his hips, with an unreasonable look, "I don't care, I will also receive a cup made by you for my birthday this year. If you want a pair, you have one and I have one. The egg curtain cup is thinner, thinner, and more transparent. I want you to draw the silhouette of you and me drinking against the moon on it, so that when I drink from this cup when I am old, I can still think of you always dying of anger when I was young. My situation."

He said, "Even if you are really mad at me, I will never forget you for the rest of my life."

Liang Peiqiu originally wanted him to stop messing around, but after hearing this, his heart softened.

Wang Yunxian is half a year younger than her, and her birthday falls on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Last year, she traveled all over the town and bought a piece of the best suet white jade she could afford for him.He was very happy, and specially found a craftsman to polish that piece of jade into a pendant, which was hung around his neck every day, and threatened that as long as the jade was not broken, he would wear it until old age.

At that time, they thought that they would never be separated for the rest of their lives.

But to this day, for some reason, the words and tone are still the same, but the mood has changed.No one can predict what will happen in the future, and no one can be sure that they will still be together next year.

Obviously they are all fine, no different from before, but unknowingly added a touch of sadness, a kind of sorrow that is destined to be separated.

This kind of worry is hidden in the seemingly inadvertent behavior, and it needs to be very familiar to understand it.

Liang Peiqiu looked at Wang Yunxian, who coughed and pretended to look away.

She can only respond well.

When Wang Yu occasionally remembered the eldest son who died young, he told her that there is a price for growing up.It's just that they don't know when the so-called price will come, and in what form it will come.

After a few days, the kiln will be opened, and the sand caps will be collected and brought into the market.

This is also a process that requires specialized workers to move the porcelain out of the kiln.At this time, the temperature of the kiln is very high, and those who collect sand hats must wear several layers of cotton-padded clothes and cotton hats inside and outside, and wear thick gloves, so as not to get burned when moving the sagger.

In order to save money, some folk kilns will install another kiln as soon as possible before the kiln temperature cools down, so as to use the residual temperature in the kiln to dry the porcelain blanks and save firewood.This is not necessary for Anqing Kiln, but there are costs that must be considered. Of course, the sooner the kiln is vacated, the better.

Liang Peiqiu couldn't wait for the stacks of sand hats to be brought out, so she put on a thick cotton coat and entered the arena.Among the red-burning kiln walls, he found the sagger that he had placed accurately, folded his hands in front of his chest, and drilled out through the kiln door on one side.

Wang Yunxian was waiting for her outside, and it seemed that it was the first time in his life that he accompanied her through a piece of porcelain. He also had a lot of curiosity and eagerness, wanting to see how the final product would look.

"Come and see."

In order not to interfere with other people's work, the two quickly moved aside.Liang Peiqiu put the sagger on the wooden bench, first let the heat air on it, and then exchanged a glance with Wang Yunxian.

Wang Yunxian thought she was going to open the sagger, but she didn't want her to make a fool of it, and said with a smile: "Do you think it has been fired?"

"At this time, are you still tempting me? If you don't open it again, I will smash it."

"You are impatient, let the master see you and say you again."

Liang Peiqiu acted slowly, as if deliberately teasing him, staring at the sagger for a long time before knocking hard.The sagger shattered, revealing a corner as white as jade.

Wang Yunxian was fascinated by it.

Although only a corner has emerged, the color is more lustrous than the big pearl of the East China Sea. Under the sun, the whole body is shining, with rainbow-like pearl luster, like the delicate skin of a newborn baby. Not exaggerating.

Wang Yunxian felt quite a sense of pride, and handed it over with both hands, wanting to take the egg curtain cup.

At this time, someone shouted from a distance: "Young master, is the young master here?"

The boy's voice was extremely loud, and when Wang Yunxian was holding his breath, his scalp became numb from the shout, and he raised his voice, "What's the matter?"

The boy was separated by a wall, panting and shouting: "It's not good!"

Where can you say bad things at the kiln stall?

Wang Yunxian withdrew his hand, straightened up and cursed: "Shut your mouth!"

Liang Peiqiu smiled and said nothing, pushed aside the sagger with one hand, and held the cup with the other.

At this time, a voice behind the wall was heard.

"Something really happened! An, An... the eunuch is back."

Liang Peiqiu paused.

Wang Yunxian was more excited than her, jumped up and said, "An Nineteen?!"

"Yes."

The boy finally bypassed the wall and ran in front of the two, with his hands on his knees, his chest heaving violently, apparently he had gotten the news and ran all the way in from outside.

Wang Yunxian was so anxious that he didn't know where to look first.

Fortunately, at this time, the young man was relieved, and then said: "I came back a few days ago, and today the official kiln has posted a new notice to welcome the pottery supervisor. I will go to inquire and find out that it is him. .”

"Why is it still him?"

Wang Yunxian had nothing to do with An Nineteen. Hearing the news could not be called joy or sorrow. Liang Peiqiu was different. Almost at the moment when the servant finished speaking, he recalled the sword in Xu Zhiliu's belly.

In order to force An Nineteen back to the capital, he did not hesitate to sue his superiors and almost lost his life.The sword was extremely deep, wrapped in a thick bandage, and blood was still oozing out.

Even so, An Nineteen is still back?
Isn't he...

Would not it be……

She didn't dare to think about it anymore, she subconsciously looked at the boy, her ears were buzzing.After a long time, he woke up after a violent shaking, and met Wang Yunxian's worried eyes head-on.

"Peiqiu, are you crazy? Show me if your hand is hurt?"

She followed Wang Yunxian's line of sight and looked down, only to realize that she had used too much force and crushed the egg curtain cup with her bare hands.The fetal bone, which was as white as jade, was shattered in her palm before it could be alive.

with blood.

White and rosy, coquettish like a flower.

The servant's voice was still echoing in her ears: "On the way back, I saw Xu Shaodong's family running into the street in disheveled clothes, and he described it as a very embarrassing situation."

Speaking of this, he paused for a moment, until he met Liang Peiqiu's eyes, then he stumbled and finished the second half of the sentence: "Listen, I heard from the neighbors nearby that something urgent happened at his home."

If this young man recalled, during his years in Anqing Kiln, it was the first time he saw that kind of gaze from the little god, heartache, patience, and anger and hatred at the same time, at that moment, He seemed to have experienced all the unbearable weight of life.

She just squatted like that, letting the Young Master hurriedly call for someone to wipe the blood from her palms, and stared at him like a torch all the time.

He didn't dare to look at it, but he didn't dare to avoid it. After an unknown period of time, she got up suddenly as if she had just woken up from a dream, and ran out without caring about the troubles of her boss.

There was a string of bright red blood under her feet.

From then on, the bright red color melted into the egg curtain cup and was buried in the soil.

After the wind and sand migration, the sun, the moon and the stars, until the day when the later generations will reveal it, maybe someone will want to explore the long and beautiful story behind the broken and blood-stained egg curtain cup?