Chapter 49 Jealousy
Chapter Forty-Nine: Jealousy
Seeing the smile on her master's face, Li Yue looked around and, seeing no one was there, asked, "Master, aren't you afraid the people at the factory will find out? Aren't you afraid they'll blame you?"
Wang Yuanshan laughed coldly: "If we don't find him a job soon, he'll go crazy. This porcelain madman."
"What's wrong?" Li Yue asked curiously.
Chief craftsman Yuan's name is Yuan Qiren. He started making porcelain in the village with his grandfather when he was a child, and he always wanted to restore the Song Dynasty Ru porcelain. Later, he joined this Ru porcelain factory and met Wang Yuanshan. The two got along well and called each other brothers.
When the state assigned him the task of restoring the production of ancient Ru ware, he contributed all the results of his research.
After being fired, he not only lost his job and was devastated, but he was also labeled a "traitor." At that time, no other factory dared to hire him, so he had no choice but to return to his hometown to farm.
Besides farming, he also studied Ru ware. His family used to have an earthen kiln, and in order to conduct research and experiments, he restarted the kiln and continued to fire porcelain with firewood.
But once a person gets caught up in an obsession, they can easily go mad or become obsessed. They won't do any housework, and they won't care about their wives and children. He heard that there might be red agate in a certain river valley, so he went to the river to look for it and almost drowned.
Li Yue was stunned for a moment: "It's really possible to find red agate locally?"
According to some historical records, the red agate used in the glaze of Song Dynasty Ru ware was produced locally. Since the red agate has been exhausted, later generations could no longer reproduce Song Dynasty Ru ware. Currently, the agate used in factory research and experiments is purchased, but they still cannot replicate the subtle agate red hue found in the "sky-blue mist and rain" style.
Red agate is composed of silicon dioxide, and its red color comes from the residue of oxides. However, the content of these oxides varies, as does the hardness, and the difference caused by glazing.
Wang Yuanshan looked at his apprentice speechlessly: "Look at you, you only care about red agate."
Li Yue snapped out of her daze: "What happened to him afterwards? Is he alright?"
"He paddled ashore like a dog, and was fine. When I went to visit him, I found that his obsession was too deep and the situation was not right, so I wrote a letter to Hongxing and asked them to invite him to come out of retirement."
"Oh, but would the Red Star Porcelain Factory dare to hire him?"
"Why wouldn't we dare to use him? So many years have passed, who can say for sure what happened back then? He did make contributions after all. Besides, the Red Star Porcelain Factory has been suppressed by our factory. Who wouldn't want to stand out these past few years? They just happened to get a new factory director, who is quite capable, and they called him out of retirement."
After talking with her master, Li Yue suddenly felt more energetic to work.
Meanwhile, in the factory director's office, Director Lin, who had just received the news, almost smashed his teacup.
"Why did Yuan Qiren go to Hongxing? When did he go?"
Lin Chunlai said, "After being there for half a month, I have become familiar with their factory's business and am now reorganizing the team to restore Ru porcelain."
Director Lin said angrily, "Their original director has retired, and they promoted a key technical worker from the factory to be the director. I've met that person; he's only in his thirties, and that kid doesn't look like someone to be trifled with."
Lin Chunlai said, "I also saw him at the provincial trade fair."
“They’re clearly trying to compete with our factory. Chunlai, you should keep a close eye on their business in the future.”
"Know."
...
Recently, Li Yue has been bringing extra food with her every day, and at lunchtime, she takes the lunchbox to her master.
Today it's potato and chicken nuggets, tomorrow it'll be fried crispy pork, or maybe just a few more egg pancakes. Wang Yuanshan looked at his young apprentice: "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Li Yue replied.
"Then why do you come here every day instead of staying in the office?"
"I made extra dishes for you."
"Did your partner make all of this?"
"Some of them I made myself; I made the egg pancakes myself."
Sometimes when Ling Jianwei wasn't busy with work, he would drive her home, giving her time to make breakfast.
Wang Yuanshan narrowed his eyes, his eyes crinkling with wrinkles: "Are you really alright?"
Li Yue smiled and said, "Yes, there is."
"Tell me about it?"
"Could you introduce me to Teacher Yuan?"
Wang Yuanshan: "I knew it."
Li Yue looked at her master with embarrassment.
Wang Yuanshan said helplessly, "He lives at the factory now, and I call him out on Sundays."
Li Yue smiled and said, "Thank you, Master."
Wang Yuanshan shook his head: "Remember not to let the people in the factory see it, otherwise it will have a bad influence."
Li Yue asked, "Where would be a better place to meet?"
He thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we go to my house? I'll invite him home for dinner, and you can come too."
"good."
"However, he is currently working at another porcelain factory, so he can't just talk about any research results he may have. Be careful not to ask him any questions that might put him in a difficult position."
"Don't worry, Master, I know what I'm doing. I just want to get to know him."
When he got home, he excitedly told Ling Jianwei about it: "I'm going to visit my master's house on Sunday."
Ling Jianwei: "Is it his birthday?"
"No, I'm just going to his house for a while."
He didn't seem to care: "Go ahead."
"Also, the chief engineer who was dismissed will be there."
He still didn't take it to heart: "Hmm."
After a while, he asked, "You mainly want to see him, right?"
Li Yue nodded obediently: "His experience is quite legendary. Although the factory he works at now is a mortal enemy of our factory, I really want to get to know him. He is also my master's brother, so he can be considered my senior uncle or senior master."
“You call me ‘Master Uncle’ or ‘Master Master’?” Ling Jianwei’s tone was clearly sarcastic. “You call them that so affectionately.”
Li Yue smiled and said, "Are you free? Let's go together. My master has never met you. If you're not free, I'll go by myself. My master's house is in a small alley in the county."
Ling Jianwei was too lazy to answer her.
Li Yue: "Are you going or not?"
He said irritably, "I don't know if I'll be free right now."
"Oh, and also, are you too busy to take your family visit leave this year? My cousin asked me in his letter if I'm coming back to Beijing this year?"
Ling Jianwei: "I estimate I won't have time until next year."
"Okay, I'll reply to my uncle first."
The man grinned, watching her face, which remained undeterred in its excitement.
Recently, she's been beaming with joy, as if she'd struck gold. Unlike before, when she lived day to day, physically present but mentally elsewhere.
It was obvious at a glance that Chief Engineer Yuan had entered the rival porcelain factory, which had triggered some kind of stimuli in her.
He listened to her reports on the factory's affairs every night, learning the ins and outs of the matter in detail, which gave him a vague feeling that she would eventually not be able to stay there any longer.
He still couldn't understand her.
I could tell that she had feelings for him, but not much.
Thinking of this, the man frowned.
Even if he frowned, he still had to obediently accompany her to visit her master on Sunday.
They bought some things: a bag of apples, two pounds of pork, a pound of sugar, and two bottles of wine. The car stopped at the alley entrance and couldn't go any further. The two got out of the car, asked around, and finally found Wang Yuanshan's house.
Wang Yuanshan's house is quite large, with a small courtyard in front of it.
As soon as Li Yue reached the front gate, Wang Yuanshan's wife called out, "Yuanshan—"
Wang Yuanshan came out to greet them, followed by a very thin middle-aged man with gleaming eyes.
Li Yue called out, "Master."
Looking at the middle-aged man again, judging from his appearance, he guessed that he was older than his master, so he greeted him politely: "Uncle-Master".
Yuan Qiren smiled and said, "Uncle-Master? I'm a year younger than your master."
"Huh?" Li Yue was a little surprised. "Then I'll call you Martial Uncle."
Ling Jianwei coughed lightly, and Li Yue then introduced, "This is my lover, Ling Jianwei."
Wang Yuanshan then extended both hands to shake hands: "Hello, Battalion Commander Ling."
"You're here, why did you bring so much stuff? Don't be so formal."
"..."
My master also has an elderly mother in her seventies and four children at home, the eldest of whom is also working.
Li Yue and Ling Jianwei were welcomed into the home and sat down for a chat. Back when they were in the factory, they were both spirited young men, Wang Yuanshan said, "Now they're almost fifty."
Yuan Qiren married his wife after he was expelled from the army and returned to his village. He had gone through a difficult period, which is why he looked older. He was a man of few words, rarely talking about his family or how difficult the past had been. However, when it came to Ru porcelain, he would become very talkative.
He said he had fired a batch of high-quality crackle porcelain at home using an earthen kiln, which he sold privately. He had no choice; his family needed to eat too.
Li Yue asked, "My master said you went to look for red agate, did you find it?"
He said, "I found stones that look like red agate, which are also agate stones, but they are not of high quality. I ground them into powder and added them to the glaze. The good porcelain was then glazed with this type of glaze."
Li Yueliang looked at him with sparkling eyes: "Really? Then we still need to use local agate?"
He shook his head: "We haven't conducted enough experiments yet, so we can't draw any conclusions."
"..."
The master's wife prepared the dishes and served them on the table. They ate and drank together. Ling Jianwei had to drive and couldn't drink, so Li Yue ate with him and kept asking the questions she wanted to ask.
Although he now works at a rival porcelain factory, once they started chatting, he didn't hold back and shared all the research he had done over the years. He even said, "Next time I have time, I'll bring a bowl for you to see. It's the most successful piece I fired last time. The crackle is beautiful, but the glaze isn't good enough."
Li Yue nodded happily, "Okay, thank you, Martial Uncle."
Although Ling Jianwei didn't say anything during the meal, on the way back, seeing her happy expression, she couldn't help but purse her lips: "You've been praising your martial uncle to the point of making him sound like a hermit master all the way back."
Li Yue: "He has the air of a reclusive master. My master said he's a porcelain fanatic."
Ling Jianwei glanced over: "Then you're like a little madman."
Li Yue: "I'm far inferior to my martial uncle."
As it was time to go to sleep that night, Li Yue lay in bed and couldn't help but bring up her uncle's matter again, saying that she was looking forward to the crackle porcelain he would make in private.
He was drying his hair, gritting his teeth: "Can we not talk about your martial uncle anymore?"
"Why?"
"Didn't you notice I was jealous?"
Li Yue's eyes widened: "No way, my martial uncle is a little old geezer?"
There's absolutely no need to be jealous of him.
"Am I jealous of him?" he said, putting down the towel. "I've noticed that you only have eyes for porcelain."
Li Yue finally realized that he had been acting strangely all day because he was jealous, so she quickly coaxed him, "No, there's something else, including you."
The man looked at her intently: "How much?"
Li Yue reached out and hugged him, then wrapped her arms around his waist, looking at him: "There are many."
"How much is 'a lot'?" he asked, holding her close, after all, he hadn't sensed anything about the porcelain at all.
Li Yue: "Anyway, there are a lot."
She couldn't even come up with sweet words to coax him. The man bit her lip, his tongue exploring and swirling around, kissing her until her tongue went numb.
As these trivial details piled up, he realized that he really cared about this. Although it was a good thing that she had her own preferences, he had nothing to do with them. He really didn't want to admit defeat.
He has self-respect, and he's quite proud when it comes to relationships.
Therefore, in bed, the man's movements became a bit more forceful and he was a bit more aggressive, and later he dissatisfiedly made her sit on his lap.
Sure enough, when the girl opened her eyes the next morning, she complained of backache and leg pain.
Tsk, how could she have the nerve?
How many minutes did I hold on? Was it even three minutes? I whispered in his ear that I had no strength left.
But he always softens when it comes to her.
Her voice was soft and seductive, she pinched her throat and swayed her waist, her eyes were filled with tears, and she pitifully acted coquettishly towards him, and he had no choice but to give in.
He grabbed her soft lips as he got up, his hatred still lingering.
Sooner or later, we'll have to settle the score.
_
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Author's Note: Second update tonight.
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