Chapter 35: Taiwan (4) - Apprenticeship in a ceramics workshop. ...

My previously aimless life has fallen into a strange rhythm.

During the day, Ah Kun goes to the beach to participate in community service, occasionally cleans the streets in Jiufen, attends educational classes on weekends, and goes to Uncle Lin's ceramics workshop every afternoon.

He began his work-for-debt scheme very reluctantly.

The main tasks were cleaning, removing residue and ashes, and moving raw materials.

Chichi already knew this schedule better than the other person. If Ah Kun didn't come to the ceramics workshop on time, she would take 1221 to stop him and not let him go anywhere.

Ah Kun always looked depressed whenever he appeared at the ceramics workshop, but strange things always seemed to happen to him.

Whenever he ignored the meddlesome little cat and went about his own business, he would inexplicably get hit twice. Although it didn't hurt much, it made him specially go and pray to Guanyin.

The result was still ineffective, and he had no choice but to accept the cat's supervision and management.

"I'm so unlucky." Ah Kun absentmindedly waved the broom, muttering to himself, "It must be because I'm offending Tai Sui. I'll go to another temple to pray next time."

Chichi jumped onto the other's shoulder and patted its head with its paw: "What bad luck could you possibly have? You're so lucky, you have me and Lao Lin with you."

"Hey you--"

Ah Kun slumped one shoulder and shook the swaggering kitten off.

"Hurry up, don't dawdle, we won't finish before dark."

Seeing that he wasn't doing any work, Uncle Lin said something in an annoyed tone.

As he spoke, his hands continued to knead a lump of mud, his movements skillful, with a unique rhythm and technique. The dusty mud became exceptionally obedient and docile in his hands, taking on countless shapes.

"You old geezer, stop nagging."

Ah Kun threw down the broom to grab the dustpan. As he walked to Uncle Lin's workbench, his eyes involuntarily glanced at the lump of mud in Uncle Lin's hand.

Ordinary clay rotates, rises, and deforms on the potter's wheel, eventually becoming a symmetrical and well-shaped pottery blank.

Chichi said to 1221, "He seems quite interested."

1221: "He kept glancing over there while I was sweeping, he was not paying attention."

Just as he was engrossed in watching, he noticed a kitten curiously observing him from the other side. Akun awkwardly looked away, still wearing a disdainful expression as if nothing was so great about him.

After sweeping the yard and cleaning up the kiln ash, he kicked a sack full of garbage out of boredom.

The broken pottery shards inside made a rustling sound. Ah Kun paused for a moment, then untied the sack and took a look.

Chichi also went over and leaned closer. The bag was full of fragments of clay. Old Lin hadn't thrown away the broken pieces of pottery from that day.

"That old geezer, he's too lazy to even take out the trash, he's just deliberately making me work for him for free."

The boy scoffed and deliberately smashed the broken pottery shards, making a loud crashing sound.

Just as he was dragging a sack of broken pottery shards to the yard to throw away the trash, Uncle Lin said, "Put it down, I still have a use for those."

"Why doesn't Old Lin throw away these blanks? Aren't they already broken?" Chi Chi asked.

"For artisans, there are no absolutely useless items; even broken items can be turned into treasures," 1221 said.

"What's the use of keeping this pile of junk? It'll just take up space." Ah Kun was puzzled, but he was happy to take it easy and dragged the sack back.

"What do you know?"

Uncle Lin didn't even look up, focusing on trimming the edges of a clay pottery piece.

"Even a broken ship has three thousand nails. Even if it's smashed, these might still come in handy later. They can be used for inlay or collage, and if they have unique shapes, they can become works of art in themselves. It all depends on how people use them."

Ah Kun pursed his lips, squatted down next to the sack, picked out a few pieces with interesting shapes, and used them as puzzle pieces to draw patterns.

Chichi poked at a shard of pottery with its paw, and 1221 floated over: "This one looks like a cat's ear."

“Let’s play a jigsaw puzzle too.” Chichi used her mouth to drag the piece of pottery she had chosen aside and started piecing it together with the boy next to her, as if they were having a competition.

Ah Kun fiddled with it for a while, his mind blank. Then, thinking of the horror movie he had watched earlier, he subconsciously pieced together a shape from a pile of broken pottery shards.

Chichi was still working on his own creation when he saw 1221 drift over to watch the fun. He then jumped onto Ah Kun's back and looked down from above.

A large skull, which looks somewhat ferocious.

"That's interesting." Chi Chi blinked. "He's pretty fast at assembling it."

The kitten jumped off the other's back and pieced together the "artwork" that belonged to the kitten.

Ah Kun laughed at her for being a little cat with a big mind and for liking to imitate people. He glanced at the few pieces of clay that the kitten had solemnly laid out and saw a shadow that looked just like the kitten itself in them.

"You pieced together yourself?"

Ah Kun was surprised that a kitten could actually understand what people were doing, and scratched his head: "It's quite like a cat."

"What do you mean by 'similar'?" Meow asked reluctantly. "It is exactly like that."

Ah Kun took out his phone and took a few pictures of the kitten puzzle, then took a picture of himself.

At some point, Uncle Lin put down the clay model he was working on and came over to examine their "masterpiece" in the courtyard. The boy who had been squatting on the ground stood up, waiting for him to say something.

However, the other party only glanced at it a few times, offering neither praise nor reprimand, and said in a flat tone: "Put it back."

Those few words, so light and airy, were like a bucket of cold water.

Ah Kun kicked the pattern around with his foot, then angrily squatted down to pick up the broken pottery shards again: "He doesn't talk nonsense, all he does is order people around. It's pointless."

He watched as the other person shoveled the broken pottery shards into the sack, deliberately making a clattering sound: "What's wrong with him? He's just playing around with these pieces and expects some praise?"

"He longs to be seen."

1221 said in a pretentious manner, "Young people who lack care and love from childhood often do unconventional things during adolescence because their feelings are not seen, and they are both proud and fragile."

I've come to understand it a little bit, but I still don't quite get it.

Even though the other party clearly sees Lao Lin as an annoying debt collector, why would he still crave to be seen by them?

Humans are indeed complex, especially teenagers who are still growing.

In between community service duties, to earn extra money, Ah Kun would still go to that mixed-race billiards hall to run errands, buying cigarettes and lunch boxes for people.

The place was shrouded in smoke, filled with people smoking and showing off their tattoos, and there were sounds of billiard balls hitting the ground and profanities. I hesitated to go in and could only watch from afar.

Ah Kun, head down and looking hurried, went inside with a cigarette. Not long after, a quarrel broke out between two groups of young men who frequented the area.

It's unclear which side started it, but in an instant, beer bottles and pool cues were being swung around.

"not good."

The kitten quickly ran over from under the tree across the street, but 1221 stopped her, saying, "I'll go in and take a look."

A transparent ball of light flew in instead of the kitten. Ah Kun, who had just arrived, was swept in and grabbed by the collar: "You're doing Ah Fei's bidding?"

Before Ah Kun could even speak, he was struck on the back by someone with a blunt object.

The pain was so intense that his vision went black and he almost collapsed to the ground.

"Damn it, what's it to me?"

He endured the pain and scrambled away from the melee, leaving behind shards of glass and the sounds of even more intense fighting.

"Don't run!" Someone noticed Ah Kun limping and shouted to the people still fighting, "Brother Bai, one got away!"

Ah Kun didn't dare to linger and immediately took off running. After he rushed out of the street and looked back, all he saw was a kitten chasing after him.

The boy gritted his teeth, took a few turns through several alleys in one go, and subconsciously fled to the gate of the ceramics workshop.

Looking at the sign at the entrance of the courtyard, Ah Kun realized that his legs had their own ideas and had unknowingly made the old man's place a refuge.

He hesitated, then received several blows to his back and legs, the pain coming in waves.

Seeing that the other person's white vest was slightly soaked with blood, he quickly climbed over the wall into the yard and shouted a few times to call out Uncle Lin.

"That loser is here?"

When Uncle Lin saw the familiar kitten tugging at his trouser leg, he went over and opened the gate. As soon as the gate opened, he saw the disheveled boy about to leave, limping.

Seeing the other person's injuries and unnatural gait, Uncle Lin frowned deeply, his face filled with undisguised anger: "Where have you been causing trouble again? What are you doing here? Don't bring your enemies here to smash up my yard."

Ah Kun's face turned pale and then red, and he stubbornly walked back despite the pain in his legs.

"Why aren't you getting in here yet? Do you want to go back and get beaten up again?"

Uncle Lin's tone remained harsh. He slammed the door shut without closing it, then turned and strode back into the house.

Shame and pain intertwined. Ah Kun struggled for a moment, feeling something brush against his leg. He looked down at the kitten pacing anxiously at his feet.

Chi Chi meowed softly, gesturing for the other person to go inside.

Seeing that the boy was being stubborn again, she used her teeth to bite his trouser leg and drag him into the yard, whereupon he staggered in.

He hesitated for a moment, then used his head to close the door to prevent anyone from chasing after him. Uncle Lin was rummaging through drawers and cabinets in the house looking for a first-aid kit. His back was to Ah Kun, and you could tell from his back that he was very angry.

Ah Kun stood leaning against the wall, silent.

Uncle Lin found a bottle of iodine and some cotton swabs, his face pale: "Come sit down, are you waiting for someone to help you?"

Ah Kun slowly walked over, took off his dirty vest, revealing the broken and swollen bruises from his shoulder blade to his waist.

Chi Chi leaned over to take a look at the injury on his back. It looked quite serious, a long line that had swelled up in a short time, but it didn't seem to have broken any bones.

The cold iodine solution applied to it caused an even more intense stinging pain than before. The boy arched his back, gasped, and cried out in pain.

"Now you know what pain is? What were you doing when you were fighting?" Uncle Lin disinfected the wound with rather harsh movements, and scolded sternly, "Be careful next time you'll have both your legs broken."

"I didn't fight!"

Ah Kun squeezed out through gritted teeth, "They started it. I was just... passing by."

"Just passing by?" Uncle Lin tightened his grip, eliciting another gasp.

Chichi meowed and quickly spoke up for the other cat: "This cat can testify that he didn't intentionally fight with others; he was just unlucky."

1221: "I was just trying to earn some errand fees, but I ended up getting hit by a few sticks for no reason. This guy is really unlucky."

"Can't I go run errands to earn some money?" Ah Kun defended himself.

“If you keep hanging around those shady places, trouble will come knocking on your door. I advise you to behave yourself in the future, otherwise I’m afraid you’ll earn money but not live to spend it.”

"If I don't earn money, I won't have anything to eat, and I'll just end up dying anyway."

Ah Kun's voice was filled with a sense of despair and indignation, and the large, dark blue characters on his arm were particularly glaring.

As soon as he said that, Uncle Lin fell silent. The only sound was the soft thud of the iodine bottle being placed on the table. He nudged the other man's foot, prompting him to roll up his trousers.

“There are many other ways to make money.” Old Lin’s voice deepened. “Not every kind of money can be put into your pocket cleanly, and not every penny is worth risking your life for. Today you can earn some money by running errands, and tomorrow you can fight for someone else. By then, you won’t be able to get out of that situation even if you want to.”

Ah Kun lowered his head and stopped arguing.

He frequented those places all the time, how could he not know the dangers there? But as a dropout, besides his strength and fearless spirit, he could quickly exchange everything for money.

After the leg was disinfected, Uncle Lin said, "Go to the hospital for a bandage. Iodine alone won't do."

Chichi jumped onto the table and licked the other person's hand as a form of comfort. It would be better to go to the hospital to get checked out, otherwise he probably wouldn't be able to sleep for the next few nights.

The damp, itchy sensation on his hands overshadowed the pain in his back and legs. Ah Kun removed his hands, ignoring both the kitten and Old Lin, and stubbornly declared, "I'm not going!"

"go."

Uncle Lin's voice had lost its previous hostility: "I'll pay for your medical expenses. Starting tomorrow, you'll come and be my apprentice."