Chapter 57 The Art of Mud and Fire, The Era When Toilets and Rice Bowls Flew Together...
On Lin Yue's desk was a pile of oddly shaped clay models, embodying his dreams of civilization. These were the prototypes of various toilets he had sculpted from clay over several sleepless nights. There were siphon-type toilets, direct-flush toilets, and even a deluxe version he had whimsically designed with a foot-operated flushing function.
However, these models sculpted from ordinary clay either crack during the drying process or have such complex structures that they cannot be fired using existing techniques. They are like a group of silent, crooked mockers, silently proclaiming a cruel truth.
He looked down at the heavy, ugly stone cup he used for drinking water, and then at a child not far away who was carefully trying to scoop up some purified water from the public reservoir by stacking two huge leaves together, but his hand trembled and he spilled most of it.
Lin Yue sighed deeply and shook his head self-deprecatingly.
"I've really lost my mind. I haven't even solved my basic needs like food and water, and I'm already thinking about how to make my job more respectable. This is putting the cart before the horse and giving orders that are completely detached from the people."
He suddenly realized that the progress of a civilization is not a castle in the air that can be built overnight, but is built on the most basic details of life, such as meals and dishes. Improving the quality of life for residents, allowing them to eat more decently and use things more comfortably, is also the key to uniting people's hearts and enhancing their sense of happiness, rather than making arbitrary decisions based on assumptions.
He pushed the toilet models aside for a moment, then strode out of the office.
"Sister Ella, Norm, all the skillful sisters, and all the brothers who are interested in sculpting clay, come here for a meeting! We're going to pull off something big!"
Well, another meeting, everyone thought, unsurprised.
Soon, a group of people, led by the Silent Woman Ella, curiously gathered in the open space of the pottery workshop.
"Everyone," Lin Yue said seriously, pointing to the various tableware in everyone's hands, from broken wooden bowls to stone ladles to large leaves, "we now have clean water and increasingly abundant food, but the tools we use for eating and drinking are still stuck in the Stone Age. Can we tolerate this?"
The group looked at each other, then shook their heads.
“I can’t stand it,” Lin Yue waved his hand. “So, starting today, we will establish a new workshop—Hope Town’s First Pottery Workshop. Our goal is not to make those crudely made pottery tubes and bricks, but to create the most exquisite, practical, and heirloom-worthy bowls, cups, plates, as well as spice jars and large-capacity vats for everyone in Hope Town.”
He solemnly handed Ella a wooden plaque inscribed with the words "Hope Town's First Pottery Workshop".
“Sister Ella, from today onwards, you and your team will be the vanguard of the life aesthetics revolution in Hope Town. Just ask for anything you need, and the work points subsidy will be the highest in the whole town.”
Holding the wooden plaque that still carried the fresh scent of wood, Ella's eyes welled up with tears. She hadn't expected that her pottery skills, inherited from her tribe and long considered useless, would receive such importance and respect in this place. She bowed deeply to Lin Yue, performing the most solemn gesture of respect for a Silent Speaker, and loudly promised, "Rest assured, my lord, Ella... will never betray your trust."
As expected, Ella displayed astonishing talent with her skillful hands, which seemed born for clay. She not only mastered the ancient, artistic pottery-making techniques of the Silent Ones, excelling at creating thin-walled, elegantly shaped objects, but also, far from rejecting Lin Yue's peculiar concepts of standardization, modularization, and assembly line production, she quickly grasped them and integrated them with traditional techniques.
She led a group of equally skillful Silent Women and human women into a vibrant creative endeavor in the workshop. They had a clear division of labor: some mixed the clay, some threw it, some sculpted it, and some trimmed the edges. Ordinary lumps of clay seemed to come alive in their hands, transforming into beautifully shaped and uniformly sized bowls, plates, cups, and jars.
Uncle Stone Fist, who had always scoffed at sculpting clay, finally couldn't resist his tech-geek heart after eating three days of the "Golden Potato Wheat Pancakes" specially made for him by Lin Yue with double the amount of diced meat. He joined in, grumbling and complaining.
"Hmph, look at you women, so slow and indecisive. You spend half a day firing a kiln, and you still can't control the heat properly," he said, circling the brick kiln twice with his hands behind his back. "This broken kiln won't do. It's too big, too wasteful of fuel. It's passable for firing bricks and water pipes, but it's too rough for firing your delicate bottles and jars."
Under Uncle Shi Quan's personal guidance, a brand new, smaller, and more complex modular pottery kiln rose up next to the blacksmith's shop.
This new kiln is a perfect blend of dwarven ingenuity and the needs of Hope Town. Stonefist cleverly divided the kiln into three sections: a preheating zone, a high-temperature firing zone, and a slow cooling zone, separated by a movable gate made of refractory bricks. This not only greatly improves thermal efficiency and saves fuel, but more importantly, it allows for more precise control of the temperature curve during firing, thereby significantly increasing the yield and quality of the pottery.
However, the real technological innovation is yet to come.
Ordinary pottery, while usable, has a rough surface, is prone to water seepage, and is difficult to clean. To truly improve the quality of life, we must create ceramics.
The key lies in the glazing process.
As a theorist, Lin Yue guided Norm and his eager apprentices in the research and development of the original glaze, based on the specific formula provided by the system.
He instructed Norm and his men to collect the finest wood ash left over from burning firewood, and to crush feldspar—a glass-like by-product mineral they had found while searching for limestone—and grind it into the finest powder using a stone mill. Finally, they mixed in a small amount of red iron oxide powder scraped from iron ore.
These three powders were added to water in a certain proportion and stirred evenly to make the first batch of the most primitive and rudimentary glazes in Hope Town.
When Ella and her sisters saw Lin Yue have someone dip their painstakingly crafted, dried, and exquisite pottery blanks into the murky, grayish mud, they all wore expressions of heartache and bewilderment. This… wasn't this just ruining perfectly good things?
"Believe me," Lin Yue smiled mysteriously, "when it comes out of the fire, it will give you a huge surprise!"
And so, amidst great anticipation, the first official firing of the pottery workshop began.
Ella personally supervised the kiln's preparation, while Stonefist personally controlled the fire. The brand-new pottery kiln, like a fire dragon awakened, saw the flames inside change from orange-red to bright yellow, and then to dazzling incandescent white!
It underwent a full day and night of high-temperature heating and slow cooling.
When the kiln door was opened again, everyone held their breath.
A burst of hot air rushed out, and then, Ella carefully used long iron tongs to remove the first fired ceramic bowl.
"Oh my god!"
An uncontrollable gasp erupted from the crowd.
That was no longer the rough, earthen-red pottery they were familiar with.
Instead, it is a work of art with a warm, bluish-gray color throughout, covered with a smooth, jade-like, crystal-clear film, and shimmering with a captivating luster!
It feels smooth and delicate to the touch, with a warm and gentle feel. A light tap with your knuckles produces a crisp, melodious "ding" sound, like a wind chime or a jade chime!
This is no longer just simple pottery; this is ceramics in the truest sense.
[System Notification: The first batch of [Celadon Ceramic Tableware] has been successfully fired! Quality: Excellent! Attributes: Durability +40, Water Resistance +99%, Cleanliness +99%, Aesthetics +60! Unlocked Achievement: [The Art of Clay and Fire]! Gained Experience Points +2000, System Points +500! Community life quality greatly improved!]
The birth of the first batch of ceramics caused an even greater sensation in Hope Town than red bricks and cement.
If red bricks and cement solved the problem of survival, then the emergence of ceramics signified that they began to pursue a better life.
Lin Yue immediately explained that these exquisite ceramic tableware pieces would serve as the highest reward for model workers and key technical personnel. Each family could redeem a limited number of these pieces using a high amount of work points.
Suddenly, owning a complete set of Hope brand ceramic tableware became a new and fashionable symbol of status and quality of life in the community. Everyone's enthusiasm for work was once again pushed to a new peak.
Just as the whole nation was going crazy for ceramics, Lin Yue turned his attention back to the oddly shaped clay toilet models in his office that had been neglected for a long time.
He smashed all the failed clay toilet models in his office and then took out his latest design – the Hope Town 1.0 ceramic flush toilet.
He explained his ultimate idea to Ella and Stonefist in detail: using newly fired, high-strength, and waterproof ceramics to make the toilet body and the crucial S-trap, which would fundamentally solve the problems of leakage and cleaning.
A high-level technical research project centered on the issue of "pooping" has been launched in Hope Town.
This time, it's the three giants joining forces again.
Ella, the newly appointed head potter, once again demonstrated her astonishing artistic talent and learning ability. Faced with the astronomical book provided by Lin Yue, filled with various cross-sectional diagrams and data annotations, she actually grasped the concepts of the siphon effect and water seal height. After countless failures and attempts, she successfully fired a ceramic toilet body with a smooth, beautiful shape, a mirror-like inner wall, and a single, seamless molding. Its pure white glaze shimmered with a holy light in the sunlight, making it seem less like a toilet utensil and more like a sacrificial vessel prepared for the gods.
Uncle Stone Fist, after initially expressing strong disdain for such a fuss over taking a dump, ultimately couldn't resist his desire to explore mechanical structures. He studied Lin Yue's rudimentary sketch of the float valve for two whole days, then scoffed dismissively and threw out an even more awesome modification plan.
He abandoned Lin Yue's unreliable animal hide membrane valve and instead cleverly utilized the lever principle to design a "Dwarf Wisdom Lever Float Valve." This system consisted of a smoothed ironwood rod, a hollowed-out gourd sealed with beeswax as a float, and a round stone piece he had personally polished to perfectly fit the spout as a valve plug. This simple yet durable device achieved the core functions of automatic water filling and metered flushing, its ingenuity leaving even Lin Yue in awe.
Lin Yue was responsible for perfectly and seamlessly integrating all these components that embodied the wisdom of different civilizations—the pristine white ceramic toilet, the perfectly curved S-shaped water trap, the dwarf-inspired lever float valve, and the ceramic pipes connecting the waterworks and the future sewage system.
Finally, amidst the eager anticipation of all the core members, the first complete and truly independent bathroom system in Hope Town, and indeed the entire Cursed Land, was installed in Lin Yue's main house!
To showcase the greatness of this groundbreaking invention, Lin Yue decided to hold a grand product launch event.
He invited all the core members of the small museum and representatives of each working group to his small director's office, which had just had its bathroom system upgraded.
Amidst the curious, puzzled, and even curious onlookers, Lin Yue solemnly pulled out a piece of "simulated excrement" from his pocket. It was made of clay and some red jam, and its color, shape, and texture were extremely realistic.
Amidst gasps and disgusted stares, he calmly tossed the "work of art" into the pristine, gleaming ceramic toilet with a "plop."
Then, he walked to the toilet, a confident and composed smile on his face, like Steve Jobs unveiling a new iPhone, and casually grasped the wooden lever connected to the flushing device, pressing it down forcefully.
"Splash—!!!"
A stream of clear water gushed out from the flush hole on the inner wall of the toilet, forming a powerful and beautiful vortex.
To everyone's astonishment, the clear water, with an unstoppable and overwhelming force, instantly swept the unsightly "simulated excrement" into the depths of the whirlpool, and then swept it away without a trace along the mysterious S-curve.
The whole process was clean, efficient, and effective!
When the water flow stops, the toilet automatically refills with a layer of clear water, forming a stable water seal that isolates all possible odors below the pipes...
The entire venue fell silent for three seconds.
Immediately, a thunderous roar of exclamations and applause erupted, a mixture of shock, ecstasy, and utter disbelief!
"Oh my god! It's gone! Just like that, it's all clean!" Aunt Leah was so excited that she couldn't speak coherently. She covered her mouth tightly, afraid that she would scream out loud.
Mia was so excited that she hugged Ella tightly, her eyes reddening. As a woman who had to wash countless filthy clothes every day, she understood the greatness of this invention better than anyone else. If elderly people and children with limited mobility could use this, it would mean they could say goodbye to the dirtiest, heaviest, and most disgusting jobs.
Elder Farador gazed at the white throne, still pristine and gleaming even after being flushed, his cloudy old eyes filled with disbelief. He murmured to himself, "This...this is no creation of mortals...what exquisite alchemical art...a perfect union of water and earth..."
Uncle Shi Quan's eyes widened as well. Although he had participated in the design of the flushing device, he was still deeply shocked when he saw the complete and smooth effect with his own eyes.
Then, people would always find various excuses to go to Lin Yue's main house to relieve themselves... and nobody cared whether Lin Yue actually needed to use the restroom or not...
At this historic moment, Lin Yue and Ella never expected that while they were busy building their new home, their pottery kiln and ceramics would become the best of the entire event.
The incident was simple and real—during a small-scale test firing, Ella accidentally put an unglazed toilet model and a batch of ceramic blanks destined for tableware into the same kiln.
As a result, when the kiln door was opened, a scene that was both laughable and absurd unfolded.
Those bowls, plates, and cups were all successfully fired into exquisite ceramics, shimmering with a warm luster.
The toilet model, though exceptionally sturdy from firing, had melted somewhat because it wasn't glazed and had stuck to some tableware, giving the tableware an indescribable "smell."
"Oh no! What... what are we going to do?!"
"Can this bowl still be used for eating?"
Lin Yue rushed over upon hearing the news and was both amused and exasperated by what he saw.
An artwork primarily used for eating and drinking, and a sanitary ware primarily used for the cycle of life, were actually born in the same cradle! The scene was so beautiful that he almost dared not look!
"Hahahaha!" Uncle Stone Fist was the first to burst into deafening laughter. "What did I tell you? Playing with mud is unreliable. Look, now look what's happened! The rice bowl and the latrine have become one family!"
Lin Yue glared at him, then cleared his throat and said in a deliberately profound tone, "No, you don't understand. This precisely proves the versatility and advancement of our technology. It shows that the official kilns in Xiwang Town can not only produce works of art that meet our spiritual needs, but also practical tools that solve our material needs. This is the perfect sublimation of the art of clay and fire in two different dimensions!"
Although no one understood what he was saying, that didn't stop him from elevating this accident to the level of philosophy and art.
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The author says: Lin Yue, holding up a "toilet bowl," solemnly declares: "Art and practicality share the same origin!"
Shi Quan slammed his fist on the table and laughed wildly: "Get it away! I'm going to throw up the pancake I just ate!"
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