Chapter 17 Chapter 17 "Is it really sold out?" At the entrance of the alley,...
"Are you really sold out?" A customer in his fifties stood in front of Jiang Wan's stall at the entrance of the alley, his face full of regret. "It's only noon, and they're selling out so quickly? Why don't you make more?"
"There's really only this one bowl left. If you're willing to wait a little longer, we'll release a new and improved product tomorrow. You'll definitely like it." Jiang Wan neatly packed the porcelain bowl, handed it to him with both hands, and introduced it.
"Are there any improvements? My wife bought two bowls from you yesterday. She said they are very useful, beautiful, sturdy, and affordable. It's only been two days since you made them, and the neighbors are already saying how good your celadon is."
Jiang Wan had been setting up shop here for three days, and the number of customers buying porcelain bowls was indeed increasing day by day. Yesterday's batch of forty-nine porcelain bowls had sold out by morning, and many customers still hadn't bought any, urging her to make more. So, taking advantage of the pawnshop's closed hours, she rushed to make more porcelain bowls overnight with her apprentice. Even Jiang An, who had a rare day off, was roped in to help. Jiang's mother, having recovered from her illness recently and regaining some strength, wanted to help out, but Jiang Wan and her siblings firmly pushed her back inside to rest.
Today, she loaded her cart with sixty pieces, but surprisingly, demand still outstripped supply. Apparently, in this era of celadon's infancy, before it became commonplace, improving it to be affordable was still very popular, which gave her a boost of confidence. Perhaps she'd hire a few long-term workers to make the porcelain someday.
She smiled and said, "I've been researching lately whether I can paint patterns on celadon bowls, just like on pottery bowls. I've made some progress so far. If you're free, come and see me tomorrow."
The customer's eyes widened. "How can celadon have patterns? I never said that. How is that possible? I must come and see it tomorrow."
Jiang Wan bid farewell to the guests, packed up his stall, and stopped by the main street to buy some blue paint. When he returned to the Jiang family cottage, the two apprentices were already in the yard. Wang Da sat in a daze under a bare tree, while Wang Er spun a freshly made bowl mold in circles.
"Master is back!" Wang Da stood up and went to help put the things in the cart away. "Are you all sold out today?"
"Yes." Jiang Wan responded with a smile and divided the money he earned between his two brothers.
"Really? All sixty are sold out? Master is so awesome!" Wang Er almost shouted out in excitement, but suddenly remembered that Jiang's mother was still taking a nap in the room, so he hurriedly covered his mouth.
Jiang Wan went inside and took out the glaze blowing turntable and asked, "How's the bowl body coming along?"
Wang Da replied, "As Master requested, after selling the sixty, there are still sixty left that haven't been sent for burning. Master, what are you going to teach us today?"
Jiang Wan picked up a bowl and placed it upside down in the center of the turntable, then gently spun it. She had read the system's description yesterday: this turntable only needed a little push to keep spinning at a constant speed, unless you pressed it to stop.
As she gently pushed the turntable, the bowl slowly turned.
"What is this? Why does it keep spinning?" Wang Er asked curiously.
"Uh..." Jiang Wan paused and began to talk nonsense. "Yesterday, I had a dream. In the dream, there was an old man with a big beard, sitting in a deer cart, and he said he wanted to give me this gift. He said it was called a glaze-blowing turntable, and he had injected divine power into it, so it could keep turning."
Wang Er felt that the Master's experience was just as magical as the fairy tales he had heard as a child. He couldn't help but ask, "What's the old man's name? How can I meet him? I want a gift, too."
Well-behaved children will see him in their dreams on snowy days, and he'll even put gifts in their socks. Jiang Wan touched his nose guiltily: "Maybe he's what the ancients called a saint... right?"
"Okay, let's get back to business. Today, I'm going to teach you how to blow glaze. Watch carefully." She picked up a tube of blue glaze and held it about an inch above the porcelain bowl. Carefully adjusting the position, she gently squeezed the tube with her thumb, controlling the amount of glaze flowing down, forming a thin but continuous line. Then, she blew gently on the blue glaze near the bowl, changing the position of the glaze.
This… this is also possible? Wang Da and Wang Er watched in amazement, holding their breath as they observed her movements. If Wang Da hadn't witnessed Master's previous skill in improving celadon, he would have thought it was a fantasy. But with the previous high sales volume, he was really looking forward to how Master would apply the glaze.
Jiang Wan carefully controlled the speed of the airflow, and the turntable spun very slowly, taking a cup of tea to complete one full rotation. A faint, almost invisible, yet perfectly neatly inscribed character for "Fu" remained on the bowl.
She stopped the turntable, removed the glaze tube, and breathed a sigh of relief. She had been concentrating and focused, but now that she relaxed, she felt her arms ache and shook them.
Wang Er eagerly came over and exclaimed in amazement at the first sight, "What a neatly crafted Chinese character for 'Fu'! Master, how can you blow such a beautiful word with just the airflow you use? Even Master Cheng couldn't blow it out!"
"But it looks a bit pale," Wang Da objected. He knew that ordinary glazes would fade easily on celadon, practically fading with just water. Even if a wealthy family hired a specialized craftsman and used the finest glaze, it wouldn't last more than a month. Therefore, most current celadon is unglazed.
Is it really possible to prevent the color from fading by blowing glaze? Even if it doesn't fade, the character "Fu" looks too light.
Jiang Wan smiled and said, "No rush, just two more floors."
After a short rest, her arms no longer sore, she picked up the paint tube again and started spinning the dial. She used the same method as before, but with the foundation of the first "Fu" character, it was much easier. After two turns, the blue ink was clearly visible. Jiang Wan glazed very slowly, applying only a thin layer at a time, so the glaze landed on the bowl and was quickly absorbed, without spreading or flowing.
The effect seems to be good. Next, we have to wait until the firing is completed to see if it can be melted by water.
This method was time-consuming and required a higher level of airflow control, so Jiang Wan was still the first to complete the first lap, with Wang Da being allowed to try it only after the second and third laps. Fortunately, Wang Da had always been steady and talented, and after failing twice, he was able to master the range of blowing the glaze, depicting the word "Fu" almost perfectly.
As for Wang Er, Jiang Wan first had him blew the word "Fu" (good fortune) onto the ground with paint. Once he'd mastered it, he could move on to the art of glazing. By sunset, the three of them had glazed twelve porcelain bowls. Aside from two failures, the other ten came out quite well. They separated the well-glazed bowls from the unglazed ones, packed them separately, and sent them to the kiln for firing.
After all, it was her first time trying to glaze, and she was not sure whether the adhesion would be good. If it failed, she could fire more unglazed ones, so that at least there would be some to sell tomorrow.
The kiln worker's eyes widened when he saw the glazed bowls. But after his previous experience, he didn't question Jiang Wan. He simply said he would fire her batch of bowls first, eager to see how they turned out. Hearing that she could get the finished bowls the next morning, she thanked the worker and paid the extra expedited fee.
After leaving the kiln, Jiang Wan said to his two apprentices, "I have to go to the pawnshop to work tonight. You should go back and rest early. You need to get up early tomorrow. Come here first to get the porcelain bowls before setting up the stall."
"Okay!" The two brothers, at their energetic age, agreed enthusiastically, already thinking about going back to practice their glaze blowing skills. Although they didn't know whether this method would work, in their hearts, they had already tacitly agreed that the master's method would work.
"Wait," Jiang Wan suddenly stopped them, "Let's have a good dinner and change into warm clothes. We're not broke, so don't treat yourselves badly."
Wang Da paused, seemingly dazed. After a long moment, he lowered his head and said, "Buy some clothes for your brother. I won't buy anything else. I'll save some money for the future."
"Just buy it. There will be more money in the future. I promise." Jiang Wan said firmly.
If anyone else had said this, Wang Da wouldn't have believed it. But at this moment, Jiang Wan smiled faintly, her back to the brilliant sunset, her eyes warm and resolute. Although she was only sixteen or seventeen, not much older than Wang Da, she gave him a sense of stability and trustworthiness.
He has always taken care of his younger brother by himself since he was a child. This is the first time someone has told him to eat something good and change into warm clothes.
Seeing Wang Dasha staring at her blankly, his eyes gradually reddened, Jiang Wan couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
Looking at his master's concerned face, Wang Da secretly swore in his heart that no matter what the future holds, he has decided to believe her at this moment and will always believe in her from now on.
"Nothing, let's go back first." Wang Da suppressed the moisture in the corners of his eyes, took his brother's hand and walked away.
At night, Xu's Pawnshop was brightly lit. On the first day of business, Spring Festival couplets were posted on the door, and the owner and his employees were all beaming with joy.
Jiang Wan sat down by the second-floor window as usual, helping to sort the merchandise while gazing out at the night sky. On her first day at work, while the pawnshop had many customers, there weren't many treasures she needed to personally appraise. Therefore, she was happy to have some free time. While sorting the merchandise, she could also calm down and gather her thoughts, thinking about selling the new porcelain bowls tomorrow.
Suddenly I heard a noise coming from downstairs.
"You have such a big pawnshop, why don't you even have a nice hairpin? Are you deliberately refusing to sell it to me?" asked an angry male voice.
"Please calm down, sir. It's not that we are hiding something from you, but the design you are talking about is really bizarre. Not to mention that I don't have it, I have never even seen it before!" The shopkeeper's voice was filled with panic and flattery.
Jiang Wan stood up and looked down from the window. From this angle, he could only see the guest's back. He was dressed in gorgeous Loulan clothing, a brocade hat, a sable fur coat, a red shawl, and a belt with a sun pattern unique to Loulan nobles.
She chuckled and walked downstairs.
"I wonder what kind of hairpin you would like?"
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