Chapter 265
Chapter 265
After eating with Ji Yan’an, Jiang Yunsui wandered back next door with the Phoenix-Mimic Bird’s egg in her arms.
Of the three children she had taken in, only one was a little younger than she was. The other two were older.
They had conscientiously swept the courtyard clean. The youngest sat beneath the grapevine, and whenever a bird landed nearby, she would howl until she frightened it away.
They truly were carrying out Jiang Yunsui’s orders with utmost seriousness.
Little Mushroom nodded in satisfaction.
Then she picked a bunch of grapes and shared them among the three.
The children held the grapes, momentarily at a loss, as though gold had suddenly fallen from the sky.
“Why are you all standing there? Hurry up and eat! I’m telling you, the grapes I grew are delicious.”
Jiang Yunsui’s little face was full of contentment as she ate.
So good! She had to have another one.
Only then did the three children begin to eat. This time, they did not wolf down the food as they had at mealtime.
Instead, they ate with exquisite care.
They usually struggled to find even a proper meal and sometimes had to fight dogs for scraps. When had they ever tasted fruit like this?
With the first bite, all three felt as if they were dreaming.
How could anything in the world taste this good?
After finishing her grapes, Jiang Yunsui went back to tinkering with her cement.
The cement was being fired at the same site where the pottery kilns were located.
Once the clay suitable for porcelain-making had been transported from the bandit stronghold, Ji Yan’an had assembled a group of porcelain craftsmen to experiment with firing it.
He had only one requirement: it had to be beautiful.
He also encouraged the craftsmen to conduct their own experiments and try to produce porcelain in a greater variety of colors.
That idea, too, had come from Jiang Yunsui.
After all, Jiang Yunsui possessed many memories of things unknown in this era. Those memories sometimes influenced her, and strange comments frequently slipped from her lips.
One day, for example, she had stared at her cups and bowls and asked, “Ji Yan’an, are there bowls in other colors? Could you make a pink bowl? Or a green one…”
The finest porcelain available at present was generally white. Its beauty came from the different decorative patterns painted onto that white surface, as well as variations in shape and design.
When it came to color itself, however, no other truly striking hues had appeared.
“Miss Jiang is here.”
The craftsmen were now accustomed to seeing Jiang Yunsui arrive with two dogs flanking her like guards.
For the past few days, she had been sending people out to find all manner of peculiar things. Every material she requested was cheap and commonplace, and she then had the craftsmen fire them according to her instructions.
At first, no one had wanted to humor her. She was only six years old-surely this was nothing more than a child’s game.
Unfortunately for them, Jiang Yunsui was a wealthy little patron who paid far too generously to refuse.
After asking the Young Master and receiving his permission, the craftsmen had therefore been more than willing to play along.
“Have you made the thing I asked for?” Jiang Yunsui inquired the moment she arrived.
“We have, we have! Take a look, Miss Jiang. Is this what it’s supposed to look like?”
One of the craftsmen brought over the finished product: a drab-gray cement powder.
Jiang Yunsui blinked. “I think so. We’ll know once we test it.”
Little Mushroom began issuing a stream of instructions again.
There was only a small amount, so they mixed in an appropriate quantity of water, smoothed the mixture flat, and poured it into a square wooden mold.
“All done! Once it dries, we’ll know whether it worked.”
The mixture would take some time to dry. Jiang Yunsui decided to see how the craftsmen’s experiments with colored porcelain were progressing in the meantime.
As luck would have it, a kiln had just finished firing.
She joined the crowd to watch.
“Quick, take the porcelain out and let’s see it.”
As soon as the temperature was safe, someone climbed inside and carefully retrieved the porcelain.
The first piece was a plate.
The instant it emerged, everyone held their breath.
“We did it! We finally did it! Hahaha…”
It was not pure white like the porcelain they normally made. Instead, it had a pale blue-white hue.
“It’s blue!”
The color might be faint, but it was nonetheless a color distinct from white.
“Quick, bring it here and let me see.”
The master craftsman’s beard trembled with excitement.
Jiang Yunsui crowded closer too. The color really was quite pretty.
“Hurry, bring out the rest!”
As the pieces were removed from the kiln one by one, everyone stared at the new porcelain with the burning intensity of men beholding peerless beauties.
This success had come only after countless experiments and twenty-six failures.
They had produced other colors before, but poor temperature control, incorrectly proportioned glazes, and all manner of other problems meant that the color had come out uneven and rather ugly.
Those pieces had naturally been failures.
This was their first true success!
Jiang Yunsui crouched on the ground, holding a small blue-white bowl.
It was beautiful. She wanted this one.
“Quick, go inform the Young Master!”
Jiang Yunsui was running her hands over a large vase while everyone nearby watched anxiously, afraid she might knock it over, when Ji Yan’an arrived.
Nanshu, Nanmo, and Uncle Li came with him.
Their faces also brightened with surprise when they saw the porcelain.
“This color is quite beautiful!” Nanshu exclaimed.
Ji Yan’an picked up a cup, the corners of his lips rising.
“Well done.”
His voice had already finished changing. It had lost much of its youthful quality and gained a rich resonance, though it remained cool and reserved.
He sounded much more like a steady, mature adult now.
“Everyone will be rewarded.”
At those words, all the craftsmen broke into cheers.
Besides their inherent love of porcelain, the promised rewards were naturally another reason they had thrown themselves so enthusiastically into the research.
A generous employer was the greatest good fortune people like them could ask for.
“Ji Yan’an, I want this little bowl.”
Jiang Yunsui had already hugged her favorite bowl to her chest and was asking him for it.
Naturally, Ji Yan’an would not refuse such a small request.
This blue-white porcelain was only the beginning.
Ji Yan’an was confident that, now that they had made the first breakthrough, the craftsmen would develop many more colors in the future.
When they did, the porcelain alone would bring in a great deal of money.
Foreigners would not be the only ones who wanted it. The great clans and nobles of Great Liang would compete to buy it as well.
“Ji Yan’an, let’s hurry and look at the cement.”
Now that they had finished admiring the porcelain, the cement should be nearly dry.
Jiang Yunsui led Ji Yan’an to the mold. She crouched down and prodded the hardened cement.
It worked!
Her eyes curved with delight as she lifted her little face.
“Ji Yan’an, look! The cement worked!”
“Is this… stone?” Ji Yan’an asked.
Nanshu examined it. “What kind of stone is this? I’ve never seen it before, but what’s so unusual about it?”
It was only a small block. Nanshu and the others assumed a piece of stone had simply been shaped to fit the mold.
“It isn’t stone.”
The craftsman beside them could no longer contain his excitement.
“Young Master, this… this was nothing but powder before! We mixed some water into it, and once it dried, it turned into this solid block!”
Ji Yan’an immediately grasped what made the substance extraordinary.
“Nanmo, strike it with your blade.”
Without a word, Nanmo drew his saber and slashed down.
Crack!
Sparks flew, yet the cement block was left with only a shallow mark.