The Azure Mountain

Chapter 90: Modifying the Kiln

Afternoon at Emerald Cloud Lane.

A white horse slowly stopped in front of the Chen Estate. Chen Wenzong dismounted nimbly; as he landed, a young servant of the estate had already approached to take the reins and horsewhip from his hands.

In silence, Chen Wenzong gently lifted the hem of his robe, crossing the high threshold and walking deep past the vermilion doors.

A sturdy servant carrying a gleaming copper basin approached: "Young Master, wipe your face."

Inside the copper basin was prepared hot water, with a white cloth draped over the edge of the basin. Chen Wenzong picked up the cloth, dipped it in the hot water, and wiped from his forehead to his chin twice, only then feeling a bit more refreshed.

Chen Wenzong folded the white cloth and draped it back over the edge of the copper basin, asking softly: "Where is Father?"

The sturdy servant whispered: "After the Master ordered that the young servant who embezzled the money be beaten to death with a cane, he had someone prepare the carriage and went to the yamen. It seems there is still official business to handle."

"Where is Mother?"

The sturdy servant answered: "Madam made an appointment with Madam Zhang to go to the Imperial Clothing Bureau to select silks and satins."

"Where is Wenxiao?"The sturdy servant continued answering: "Second Young Master went out with friends, saying he was going to the Eastern Market to play."

Chen Wenzong felt a momentary daze. A young servant died in the estate today, yet it seemed no one in the estate was affected; everything was as usual.

"Where is the butler?"

"After the butler received the plank beatings, we carried him back to his room to rest."

"I'll go see him." Chen Wenzong passed through the long vermilion corridor and arrived at the rear residence where the servants lived.

Just as he entered the courtyard, he heard the butler's cursing voice: "That little bastard has now latched onto the Prince's Estate and his wings have hardened, he actually dared to file a complaint in front of the Master... Ah, apply the medicine more gently!"

With a smack, it sounded like someone in the butler's room had received a crisp slap across the face, and soon a young servant's panicked voice was heard: "I will be gentler."

Chen Wenzong frowned. The butler's tone at this moment was completely different from what he usually heard; it was like two different people.

He walked forward and lifted the cotton door curtain, only to see the butler lying on his stomach on the bed with his bare buttocks. A young servant was applying medicine for him, and a plate of preserved fruits and pastries was placed by the edge of the bed.

Catching sight of Chen Wenzong entering from the corner of his eye, the butler immediately stood up and pulled up his pants, shedding tears of gratitude: "Young Master, why have you come to this rear courtyard to visit me? This filthy place where servants live is not somewhere you should come to."

Chen Wenzong spoke slowly: "Those ten cane blows you received were not light, you must make sure to rest and recuperate well... Just now I went to seek out Chen Ji, but couldn't bring him back."

The butler said in a condensed voice: "Young Master, why did you go seek him out? Despite his posturing right now, it's nothing more than a bitter flesh trick trying to manipulate the Master into feeling sorry for him. As long as you and the Master ignore him, after a few days he will naturally think of a way to return to the Chen Estate."

"Why?"

The butler vowed solemnly: "Despite him acting like he doesn't want to return to the estate right now, could he really forfeit the wealth and glory of the Chen Estate?"

That was true, the Chen family had been high officials for generations, and the current Family Head Chen Luchi was even the current Minister of Revenue. How many people could let go of such a prestigious family status?

However, Chen Wenzong recalled the Chen Ji he had just met. He distinctly felt that the other party's expression was certain and calm; he really wanted to sever all ties with the Chen Estate.

He was silent for a long time: "Butler, rest and recuperate well. I will go read books; instruct the rear kitchen that they do not need to prepare dinner for me tonight."

"Yes."

Chen Wenzong exited the door, crossed the deep courtyard, and returned to his own room. Sitting at his desk, he initially wanted to review the classics, but after flipping through the book a few times, he couldn't absorb anything no matter how hard he tried.

The day after tomorrow would be the Autumn Examination. He smoothed out the Xuan paper with a piece of black jade paperweight, wanting to write an essay on policy, but after saturating the writing brush with ink, he delayed putting pen to paper.

In Chen Wenzong's mind, the Commandery Princess's reprimand and the cheerful laughter on the ox cart kept echoing, unable to subside.

A moment later, he actually stood up and walked outside, saying to the young servant waiting at the door: "Prepare my horse."

Chen Wenzong hurriedly arrived at the door, mounted the horse, and lightly urged the horse's belly with his legs, galloping the horse towards the south of the city.

He wanted to sincerely and earnestly apologize to Chen Ji. His younger brother was injured yet he had never showed concern; as an elder brother, he truly felt ashamed facing the sages.

...

...

The official road after the snow melted was muddy and rugged. The closer it got to Liu Family Village, the blacker the road surface became, covered entirely in coal cinders that had leaked from ox carts.

Liu Family Village was not as secluded as imagined. At the entrance of the village, merchants and ox carts came and went in a continuous stream; some went in pulling clay, and others came out pulling porcelain wares.

Quite a few chimneys stood in the village, continuously spewing white smoke into the sky. On this first snow day, the porters wore thin single-layer clothes and stepped in leaky straw sandals, busily loading and unloading goods.

The entire Liu Family Village was a massive ceramics workshop.

Chen Wenzong, sitting on his horse, waved his hand to stop a porter and asked mildly: "Excuse me... have you seen the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess?"

The porter was somewhat bewildered: "Why would the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess come to a place like ours? Young Master, you must have come to the wrong place, right?"

Chen Wenzong fell silent for a moment. He also thought he had come to the wrong place, but Chen Ji had clearly said Liu Family Village in front of the clinic.

He asked again: "Then have you seen a group of eight people arriving at Liu Family Village? There's even a monk among them."

The porter realized: "You're talking about them! They just used a golden hairpin to take over the abandoned kiln factory of the old Zhou family. It's the third one after you turn left."

"Thanks," Chen Wenzong tossed two copper coins and continued moving forward through the mud on horseback. Seeing his tall and mighty horse and his grand and imposing manner, the porters stepped aside from the center of the road one after another.

After just a few steps, he heard Chen Ji's laughter drifting over from afar: "Everyone use cloth strips to cover your noses and mouths well. If you inhale the dust, it will be uncomfortable for quite a while."

Chen Wenzong reined in his horse and stopped at the entrance of the kiln factory. He looked down at the mud after the snow had melted on the road, then at the clean black official boots on his feet, hesitating for a moment whether to dismount or not.

He looked up and saw the kiln factory's large doors wide open, gray dust pervasive in the courtyard. Chen Ji and the others were covered in dirt, each covering their noses and mouths with cloth strips, pushing a massive stone roller in the courtyard to crush pieces of broken porcelain into powder.

This was entirely different from what Chen Wenzong had imagined. He thought the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess had come to happily enjoy the snow and search for plum blossoms, but he never expected the other party would actually huddle in a dilapidated kiln factory doing dirty and tiring work.

The Zhou family's kiln factory occupied about two mu of land. On the left was a row of low yellow earth houses with incomplete and broken roof tiles; in the middle was a massive flat kiln, which wasn't ignited at the moment; on the left were piled-up defective porcelain wares as high as a mountain, as well as a massive stone roller.

Liang Gou'er lay beneath the eaves of the yellow earth house, using a piece of dried tobacco leaf to cover his face, sound asleep. The Little Monk sat cross-legged on the ground, his eyes closed as he recited sutras. Chen Ji and the others pushed the heavy stone roller together, crushing pieces of broken porcelain into slag.

Bai Li held a short broom, constantly sweeping the crushed dust into a bamboo basket for future use.

At this moment, a handful of dust flew up, covering Commandery Princess Bai Li's face in a layer of dust.

The Prince Heir, who was pushing the stone roller, said with heartache: "Come here quickly, Brother will help you wipe your face."

Hearing this, Bai Li lifted her small face, but the Prince Heir didn't wipe her face for her. Instead, he wrote the character 'King' (王) on her forehead.

The Prince Heir laughed heartily: "Now you look even more like a little tiger!"

Anger surged from Bai Li's heart as she chased after him with the broom in her hand. The two chased each other around the stone roller, while the others pushed the massive stone roller together, laughing heartily.

Liu Quxing looked at She Dengke: "Should I also help you wipe your face?"

She Dengke sneered coldly: "Scram to the side and disgust people over there. Don't think I don't know you brat are brewing bad water again, you're secretly wicked!"

Chen Wenzong sat on his horse, watching silently. He didn't know why these people, covered in dirt while pushing a stone roller, could be so happy pushing it.

Finding joy amidst hardship?

But with such noble statuses as the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess Bai Li, why would they do these things like manual laborers?

After hesitating again and again, Chen Wenzong ultimately jumped down from the horse; as he landed, the black leather of his boots was splattered with mud droplets. He didn't speak up rashly, only quietly entering the courtyard of the kiln factory to observe silently.

He then heard Chen Ji say: "Alright, let's grind this much for now. I need to see the results before knowing how to adjust later. We must be prepared for a protracted battle this time."

His understanding of cement came from the widely circulated "two grinds and one firing" secret.

It sounded simple: evenly mix the raw materials obtained after calcining lime and clay at a ratio of 75:25. Although it couldn't compare to special cement, it was definitely sufficient for this era.

There were broken porcelain wares piled up like mountains in the kiln factory. These were defective products discarded by the kiln factory in the past and could directly serve as the already fired clay raw material. As for slaked lime, it was called chalk ash (E hui) in the Ning Dynasty and had long been widely used in many fields, so they could just buy it ready-made.

Seeing that the raw materials were all available, it seemed only grinding and mixing were left.

But Chen Ji knew that, just like the method of using yellow mud to decolorize sugar, many things sounded simple but were difficult to execute. It was easy to make cement, but difficult to make qualified cement.

At this moment, no one noticed Chen Wenzong's arrival, so he watched silently, wanting to see what the Prince Heir and the others wanted to do.

Chen Ji poured the ground chalk ash and porcelain ash onto the open ground of the kiln factory, then poured an equal proportion of water to stir the pile of powder into a paste.

Once it was stirred evenly, he smeared the cement onto a gray brick and left it undisturbed to dry. A group of dirt-covered people squatted beside it and waited.

The Prince Heir squatted hugging his knees, asking softly: "Chen Ji, how long do we have to wait?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Initial setting takes over three quarters of an hour, and final setting requires within three shichen (six hours) to be considered qualified."

"Three shichen, that long?"

Chen Ji said seriously: "Patience, doing great things requires patience!"

"Oh... then should we play Pai Gow for a bit?"

"Did you bring Pai Gow?"

"No, let's bring it when we come again tomorrow."

"Alright."

Bai Li smiled and said: "Although I don't know if this thing called cement will be as sturdy as Chen Ji said after it's made, working here feels much more interesting than studying in the academy; it's very fulfilling."

Chen Ji smiled: "Commandery Princess, you guys are just feeling a burst of novelty. If I made you act like those porters, you definitely wouldn't be willing."

Speaking of this, Bai Li suddenly felt gloomy: "I used to always like asking Xi Bing and Xi Tang about the world outside the estate, wanting to see how the commoners lived. Back then, just hearing them speak made me feel the commoners lived bitterly. But today, seeing the porter uncles still wearing straw sandals in winter, I finally understood that their bitterness is not something that can be imagined."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment before saying: "The Commandery Princess and Prince Heir were born into wealth and nobility so you wouldn't understand the hardships of making a living, but your willingness to understand these things is already not easy."

The Prince Heir curled his lips and said: "We should probably also call the multitude of lords in the imperial court to come take a look at what kind of lives the commoners under their rule are living."

Watching this scene, Chen Wenzong suddenly spoke out from behind them, interrupting: "The multitude of lords in the imperial court also hold the nation in their hearts; they exhaust their minds day after day formulating decrees to save the commoners from deep waters and scorching fire. If you want to place blame, you can only blame the successive years of war between the Jing Dynasty and our Ning Dynasty, leading to the people having no means of livelihood. The Prince Heir and Commandery Princess are of golden branches and jade leaves, you shouldn't have mingled in the countryside wasting time, much less arbitrarily criticize the lords of the imperial court behind their backs."

Hearing the voice, the crowd squatting on the ground all turned their heads to look at him: "Eh, why are you here?!"

Chen Wenzong didn't answer this question, only saying sincerely: "Prince Heir, Commandery Princess, you should return and study the books of the sages diligently to bring benefit to a region in the future."

The Prince Heir squatted on the ground, saying carelessly: "We are doing a great matter concerning military strategy; a bookworm like you wouldn't understand!"

Chen Wenzong's breath stalled: "How could you possibly do a great matter that affects military strategy in this dirty and messy Liu Family Village!"

The Prince Heir chuckled happily: "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand."

Chen Wenzong said in a condensed voice: "If you don't tell me, how would I understand?"

The Prince Heir said hesitantly: "...Mainly because I don't understand either."

Chen Wenzong muttered: "Your Highness the Prince Heir, you sure are quite honest."

To the side, Chen Ji glanced at him: "Brother, if you want to watch, then stand to the side and watch, don't talk nonsense. You also shouldn't look down on the things we are doing right now; the ultimate goal of scholarship is practical application to benefit society and the commoners. Empty talk will only ruin the country."

Hearing this, Chen Wenzong wanted to get angry. Confucianism dictated brotherly love—a friendly elder brother and an obedient younger brother—yet Chen Ji didn't care about these rites and laws at all, completely disregarding him as an elder brother.

But thinking of the purpose of his trip, he ultimately endured it. He didn't want to squat on the ground like these people before him and disgrace his scholarly dignity. So he stood to the side, waiting quietly, wanting to see what kind of mess this group of people was going to stir up.

It was just...

Chen Wenzong asked in confusion: "From listening to your conversation just now, it seems Chen Ji is the one in charge here?"

The crowd looked at each other, not knowing what kind of question this was. After pondering for a moment, the Prince Heir asked back: "Otherwise what?"

Chen Wenzong was dumbfounded. The butler had always been saying that Chen Ji was acting subserviently to latch onto the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess, but looking at it now, what the butler said was completely wrong!

Bai Li tugged at the Prince Heir's arm: "Brother, ignore him, we won't play with him."

Chen Wenzong: "..."

He didn't know how long he waited, perhaps two shichen, perhaps three shichen. Their legs went numb from squatting, so they brought out wooden chairs from the house to continue waiting.

It was not until the sun set in the west that Chen Ji suddenly said: "It should be okay now. The initial setting time and final setting time are both passably qualified, just don't know if it's sturdy enough."

The Prince Heir leaned in to check, only to see that the mud paste smeared on the brick stone had already solidified, bonding into one body with the gray brick.

His eyes lit up as he looked at Chen Ji: "How long does ordinary glutinous rice mortar take to solidify?"

Chen Ji said: "Ten days."

The Prince Heir asked again: "If this thing really can replace glutinous rice mortar, Father wouldn't have to worry anymore! Chalk ash and clay can be obtained everywhere, and many commoners wouldn't have to starve because of the requisition of glutinous rice!"

Chen Ji picked up the gray brick and carefully examined the solidified structure of the cement, suddenly saying: "Don't rejoice too early."

After speaking, he reached out and gently rubbed it with his thumb. The cement that should have been solid and sturdy was actually rubbed away like tofu dregs.

If this cement was used to build cities in the border towns, it would probably collapse before the Jing Dynasty even came to attack. When that time came, the Prince Heir and Bai Li might be fine, but Chen Ji would probably be beheaded...

Where did the problem lie?

Chen Ji liked reading popular science knowledge, so he had broad knowledge. But broad knowledge usually meant that each facet of knowledge was only superficially understood, unable to be deeply investigated.

He could speak logically and clearly about the theories, but truly doing it required walking many detours.

Chen Ji sighed: "It definitely cannot be used like this right now."

The Prince Heir asked: "Then what should we do?"

Chen Ji pondered for a moment: "These ground porcelain powders need to be sifted even finer. Commandery Princess, take She Dengke and Big Brother Mao'er to search the village again to see if there are sieves with finer mesh. Prince Heir, wait a bit and go with Senior Brother Liu and the Little Monk to buy some more chalk ash..."

Chen Ji always felt something was not quite right; it seemed he had missed an extremely crucial step.

Chen Wenzong looked at Chen Ji's focused and thoughtful appearance, only feeling that the other party was exceptionally unfamiliar.

In the past at the Chen Estate, Chen Ji lived alone in a courtyard, ate alone, and slept alone. Even the private academy he went to study at was different from the one he and Wenxiao went to. Mother would also always use Chen Ji's stubbornness and mischievousness as an excuse to prevent them from spending time together.

Despite being blood brothers living in the same residence, it was as if they lived in two different worlds.

It was only at this moment that Chen Wenzong realized he had never truly understood this younger brother.

Right at this moment, Chen Ji suddenly looked up at the massive earth kiln in the middle of the courtyard: "No, it's this kiln that is wrong; no wonder the boss hemmed and hawed when taking over this kiln factory!"

After speaking, he grabbed a tree branch, squatted on the ground, and drew a gourd: "This is a cross-draft kiln (updraft kiln). The temperature cannot reach the requirement for firing cement, it must be changed to a gourd kiln or a mantou kiln (steamed bun kiln), turning an updraft into a downdraft. Prince Heir, go gather the porters in Liu Family Village over here."

The Prince Heir was curious: "What do you want to do?"

Chen Ji said with certainty: "I want to modify the kiln!"