usatvline Chapter 546 Ancient Artifacts Reveal New Traces of Craftsmanship
Chapter 546 Ancient Artifacts Reveal New Traces of Craftsmanship
Gu Fanxing was awakened in the early morning by a slight noise coming from outside the tent.
That was the sound of the bamboo sieve shaking, and the low sigh of craftsman Chen.
She rubbed her eyes, put on the light jacket that Pei Luonan had found for her yesterday, and went outside. She saw Craftsman Chen squatting on the open ground next to the dragon kiln, carefully arranging the porcelain-firing tools.
Brushes with jujube wood handles were neatly arranged on a wooden tray, bamboo sieves were wiped clean, and several gleaming iron shovels were laid out. Pei Luonan squatted down beside Craftsman Chen, carefully filling bags with dried pine needle ash, occasionally asking, "Master Chen, how many times should the pine needle ash be sifted before use? Is finer the better?"
"Are you awake?"
Pei Luonan noticed Gu Fanxing first, a gentle smile on his face. He casually picked up a steaming meat bun from the bamboo basket beside him and handed it to Gu Fanxing. "I just bought this from the breakfast stall in town. I asked the owner to steam it a little longer so the meat inside wouldn't be fully cooked. Oh, by the way, the package your aunt and uncle sent arrived. I picked it up and put it at the foot of your tent. It contains a sun-protective shirt, dried mangoes, and a thin shawl she knitted."
Gu Fanxing took the meat bun, feeling the warmth on her fingertips. She took a bite; it was the flavor she had loved since childhood.
She walked to her tent, opened the package, and the first thing she saw was a sun-protective shirt. Underneath the shirt was a light gray shawl, and underneath that was a neatly folded note in her mother's familiar, delicate handwriting: "Xingxing, the temperature difference between day and night in Qinglongpo is large. Remember to wear the shawl in the morning and evening so you don't catch a cold."
Eat dried mango every day to supplement your vitamin intake.
By the way, Pei Luonan is a good kid, sincere and considerate. You should get along well with him and not always act childish.
Gu Fanxing couldn't help but smile, her heart filled with warmth.
She took out her phone and sent a voice message to her parents, her tone slightly coquettish: "Mom and Dad, I received the package! We're going to clean up the pile of pottery tools on the east side of the kiln site today. Maybe we can find a complete pottery-making board. I'll take a picture and show it to you when we find it."
Not long after, my parents sent me a video call request.
Gu Fanxing quickly answered the call, and her parents immediately appeared on the screen—they were sitting on the hotel balcony, with lush sycamore trees behind them and the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
"Star, does the shawl look good?"
Mrs. Gu leaned closer to the screen, her eyes filled with excitement.
"Where's Luo Nan? I haven't seen him. Is he helping you sort through the pottery shards again? I was telling your dad yesterday that Luo Nan is a reliable kid, unlike some young people who just stand by and watch."
"He's helping Master Chen sift pine needle ash to prepare the glaze."
As Gu Fanxing spoke, she turned her phone camera towards the dragon kiln.
On the screen, Pei Luonan was holding a bamboo sieve, carefully sifting pine needle ash, his movements slow and meticulous.
"Look how carefully he sifted it. He sifted it so thoroughly each time that not a single grain of coarse residue was left."
Looking at Pei Luonan on the screen, Mr. Gu nodded in satisfaction: "Luonan is such a dedicated child, just like you."
After hanging up the phone, Gu Fanxing took the sun-protective clothing and walked to Pei Luonan's side.
"Thank you for picking up my package and buying me breakfast."
Her tone was gentle, "Why don't you try this sun-protective clothing? I think the size is quite large, so you can wear it when you're shielding me from the sun, and I won't get sunburned all the time."
Pei Luonan paused for a moment, then took the sun-protective clothing and said with a smile, "No need, I'm thick-skinned and not afraid of the sun. You can wear it." As he spoke, he picked up a soft measuring tape, preparing to measure the location of the pile of pottery tools he had discovered yesterday.
Just then, craftsman Chen suddenly let out a low cry of surprise.
"Fanxing, Luonan, come quick! This is a complete blanking board!"
Gu Fanxing and Pei Luonan quickly went over and saw that the craftsman Chen was holding a rectangular pottery slab. Although the edges were somewhat worn, there was no sign of breakage. The fine, evenly spaced diamond-shaped anti-slip patterns were clearly meticulously crafted.
"This is so complete!"
Gu Fanxing immediately took out her camera and took several photos of the front, side, and back of the ceramic slab, afraid of missing any detail.
"Master Chen, were your old floor mats like this too? Did they have any craftsman's markings?"
"Yes! On the lower right corner of the pad, there is a character 'Chen' engraved, which is my great-grandfather's mark."
As Chen the craftsman spoke, he pointed to a faint engraving in the lower right corner. “Look here, isn’t there a blurry character ‘Li’? This should be the mark of the craftsman surnamed Li from back then. Song Dynasty kiln workers liked to engrave their surnames on their commonly used tools, firstly for easy identification, and secondly as a way of remembering their craft.”
Pei Luonan carefully measured the dimensions of the ceramic slab: "It is 58 centimeters long, 38 centimeters wide, and 5 centimeters thick, just enough to fit a large bowl blank. Professor Wang would be very happy if he saw this—it is so important for studying the Song Dynasty's pottery-making process and tool specifications, much more intuitive than the descriptions in the literature."
Ling Jiu'er also ran over, holding a large pottery knife in her hand.
“Xingxing, President Pei, I found it in the soil next to the pad! Look at this blade, it’s made of kaolin mixed with clay and fired, the hardness is just right, not brittle or soft, it won’t scratch the porcelain blank when trimming, and it’s not easy to chip.”
The craftsman, Chen, took the potter's knife, ran his fingertip over the sharpness of the blade, his eyes filled with nostalgia: "This knife was fired just right, perfectly fired. This kind of pottery knife is easier to use than an iron knife—iron knives are too hard and easily crack the porcelain blank. This kind of pottery knife allows for better control over the force used when trimming the blank."
As he spoke, he picked up a piece of damp clay from the side and gently scraped it with a potter's knife.
The potter's knife moved as nimbly as a pen in his hands, and in no time, an irregular piece of clay was shaped into a small bowl blank with smooth edges and even curves.
The sun grew stronger, so Gu Fanxing put on sun-protective clothing and continued cleaning the pile of pottery tools.
Pei Luonan specially found a small stool from the tent and placed it under the shade of a tree, so that she could sit there and record the items she found, while he squatted down next to her and cleaned up the dirt.
"You take a break, I'll clean it up. I'll call you if I find anything."
As he spoke, he gently scraped away the surface soil with a small shovel. When he encountered areas that looked like pottery shards, he switched to a soft-bristled brush, afraid of damaging the objects inside.
Gu Fanxing sat on a small stool, holding a notebook in her hand, carefully recording each item she discovered.
"A complete ceramic kneading board with the character 'Li' on it; a ceramic knife with an intact blade and signs of use on the handle; three fragments of a ceramic kneading basin with worn edges..."
She looked up at Pei Luonan's busy figure, couldn't help but take out her phone, and filmed a short video of his back, adding a caption.
"Mom and Dad, we found the complete pottery-making board and pottery knife. Pei Luonan is helping me clean the soil. He's being very careful, afraid of damaging the artifact."
Soon, Mom replied to the message, along with a "thumbs up" emoji.
"Luonan is a really good person to look at. He's serious and responsible in his work, and he's also very considerate towards you. You should cherish him and not miss out on such a wonderful person."
Gu Fanxing couldn't help but smile as she read her mother's reply.
At that moment, Pei Luonan had just unearthed a patterned pottery shard. He waved at her, his eyes full of smiles, holding the shard as if it were a rare treasure.
Gu Fanxing suddenly felt that although life in Qinglongpo was busy, it was full of warmth and hope—she had the archaeological work she loved, her parents who cared about her, the considerate Pei Luonan, and a group of like-minded partners. Such a life was simple and happy, it was wonderful.