Bone china

"Jingci." Gongshu Qiming squatted down, "Hurry up and salute the general."

The young man smiled like a flower, took a step forward, threw out the hem of his clothes, and said respectfully, "Gongshu Jingci sees the general, the general is full of soldiers and horses, and he has made great achievements in battle. He is the object of Jingci's worship. Jingci also wants to be a general when he grows up." people."

"Hahahaha!" General Zhou listened happily, "You boy, you are quite good at talking, Mr. Gongshu, if I read correctly, this kid will definitely be a powerful character when he grows up."

"General Zhou has given you a lot of awards, come on, please come inside General Zhou."

"Father! Is this a fox?" Gongshu Jingci noticed the iron cage dragged in by the servant behind him. He walked over and said as he walked, "Wow, there is such a fox in the world? It's so beautiful."

"Jingci! Stop!" Gongshu Qiming snapped, obviously in a hurry.

Hearing his father's stern yelling, Gongshu Jingci withdrew his hand like an electric shock, and three inches away from the iron cage, he saw a young fox looking at him fiercely.

"Jingci, how many times have I told you that foxes are vicious animals."

"But... Dad!" Gongshu Jingci felt aggrieved, and then turned her head to look at the little fox. It had retreated to the side of the big fox, and licked the big fox's brows and eyes with the tip of its tongue. The big fox seemed to be still sleeping, maybe, It must have been a misunderstanding.

The little fox thought he was going to hurt the big fox, so he went into a defensive state.

When Gongshu Jingci thought of it, her heart was full of pity. Although her father taught her since she was a child that animals are animals, people are people, and animals are bloodthirsty and ferocious, the first time she saw the little fox, even though it was not friendly to her, But it's not all bloodthirsty and ferocious.

Instead, when he saw the little fox snuggled up to the big one, he just thought it was cute.

"Jia De, lock up these two foxes, eat and drink well these days, remember to take good care of them!"

"Yes, master." The servant named Jia De led the cage and passed in front of Jingci.

"Father!" Jingci wanted to say something, but saw that Gongshu Qiming and General Zhou had entered the inner hall.

"Jingci, Dad and General Zhou have something to say, you can go to Teacher Qiu to learn how to make porcelain." After Gongshu Qiming finished speaking, the servant closed the door.

"Father..." Jingci pursed her lips, obviously feeling aggrieved. Since she was a child, although her father loves him, she always spends very little time with him, because he is the eldest son of a public loser. He has a huge family business and wants to continue to promote the unique porcelain-making method of the Gongshu family, so Gongshu Qiming found a porcelain-making teacher for him to teach him some basic porcelain-making methods.

Thinking of Teacher Qiu and his younger brother who studied porcelain making together with him, Gongshu Jingci was obviously a little melancholy.His younger brother, Gongshu Jing'an, was born as a concubine. He seemed to be dissatisfied with his father's preference for him as the eldest son who wanted to hand over the family business to him, so he opposed him everywhere.

He had pushed him down the steps with great force.

And said viciously, "I don't want you useless brother, why should my father entrust the family business to you? I am a hundred times better than you in learning how to make porcelain! Is it because you are older than me? But you only You are only a month older than me! Gongshu Jingci, listen up! One mountain cannot contain two tigers, and there will be days without you in the future!"

Since then, Jing Ci didn't like to go to Teacher Qiu's place. He liked to read books by himself and study on his own. Every time his father asked questions, he could answer them fluently, so he didn't want to study.

But today, he really wanted to ask Mr. Qiu about bone china. Although he had heard his father talk about it, what he really understood was only superficial.

It was evening, and Gongshu Jing'an must have gone back to rest. Jingci trotted all the way and finally arrived at Teacher Qiu's residence. This teacher Qiu lived in Gongshu's mansion, and he could only walk two miles.

There was a knock on the door, Teacher Qiu put down the book in his hand and opened the door, a little surprised, "It's Jingci, you haven't been here for a long time."

Jingci blinked, pursed her mouth, obviously a little ashamed, "Teacher..."

"Since you're here, come in quickly. As a teacher, I won't bother with you." Teacher Qiu led Jingci into the room while talking, "Tell me, why did you come to see the teacher today?"

Jingci organized her words a bit before saying, "Teacher, I want to know what the best porcelain is like?"

"Well..." Mr. Qiu stroked his beard, "Bone china is the undisputed king of porcelain, but there are also grades in this bone china, the best porcelain..."

Jingci widened her eyes curiously.

"It belongs to 'Qingyuan' 25 years ago."

"Qingyuan?"

"That's right, it was made by your grandfather Gongshu Longchun after 33 days and 980 seven processes. After Qingyuan was made, it immediately shocked the world. In our Qingqiu country, Her Majesty the Queen at that time also hosted a banquet for many neighboring countries. The monarch watched it together, and that night, there were singing and dancing in the prosperous age, but after that night, Qingyuan disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Jingci was taken aback, "Teacher, I heard about Qingyuan from my father, but my father didn't mention anything about it disappearing."

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you, because it has something to do with the old grievances of your Gongshu family for generations. Jingci, you will know in the future. Lord Gongshu has high hopes for you. I hope you will not let him down in the future."

Teacher Qiu's sudden earnest words made Jingci feel a burden, but no matter who called him the most cherished child of his father, no matter how heavy the burden of the family was, he believed that he could bear it.

"Teacher, you don't have to worry about me, I will not let you down in the future."

Looking at the teacher's eyes of praise, Jingci hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Teacher, what is the old grudge you just mentioned?"

Teacher Qiu shook his head, "There's no need to delve into it, you will understand when the time comes."

"Oh." Jingci nodded blankly as she listened. Teacher Qiu always likes to talk about some big principles that are hard for him to understand. That's all, there are still some important things to ask Teacher Qiu for advice.

"Teacher, can you tell me how to make bone china?"

Seeing Teacher Qiu shaking his head, Jingci was very disappointed, "Can't?"

"No." Teacher Qiu paused, "It's just that what I know is just superficial. What's the point of telling you what you know? The essence of making bone china is only the Gongshu family. My master knows, Jingci, Lord Gongshu will teach you this set of methods sooner or later, so there is no rush."

"Then I will go to ask my father for advice tomorrow, teacher, and I will take my leave now." Jingci bowed and ran away in a hurry.

"This boy!" Mr. Qiu was cursing but smiling. Seeing Jingci running away, he was relieved that Jingci already looked like an adult.

The night was not long, Jingci was thinking about it on the bed, and the sky dawned.

He was thinking that the two red foxes he saw during the day should be the raw material for making porcelain. Bone china, as the name suggests, is porcelain made of bones. die?

When Jingci closed her eyes, she remembered the scene of the little fox snuggling up to the big fox, just like snuggling up in her mother's arms when she was a child, such a harmonious scene really melted his heart.

What a cute fox.

Ever since I became conscious, I have been fond of small animals, birds in the sky, fish in the water, galloping horses in the fields, big yellow dogs in ordinary people's houses...

But my father told me that animals have temperaments, and gentle animals can naturally be touched, but ferocious ones should be kept at a respectful distance. Animals like wolves, eagles, snakes, and foxes should all be kept away.

fox?I had seen a lot before, but the two I saw during the day were obviously not evil, because Jingci saw that even when the little fox gave her a fierce warning, its legs were trembling.

Because it is afraid.

Jingci seems to realize for the first time that what her father said may not be true. People may be afraid of fierce animals, but sometimes animals are also afraid of people.

After a sleepless night, he finally hurried to find his father when the sun rose.

"Father, can you tell me how to make bone china?"

Gongshu Qiming gently held Jingci's hand in his palm, "Do you want to learn, Ci'er?"

"Think and think." The innocence and eagerness to learn unconsciously revealed in Jingci's eyes made Gongshu Qiming unable to refuse, although the knowledge was too profound for him now, but...

He looked at the young Jingci, "Waiting for my father in the study for a while, and my father will take you to the fox prison later."

The fox prison, as the name suggests, is a cage for foxes, but the fox prison of the Gongshu family is not dark, damp, and messy. On the contrary, the fox prison here is very luxuriously decorated, and the cage for the fox is very large. In addition, every inch of the cage here is made of gold, and even the utensils containing food are made of pure gold. The life of foxes here is much better than in the wild. They are not hungry or cold. no freedom.

The little fox looked at the food that the servant handed in from outside the cage, and then at the high wall that looked like an iron wall. His mother had already woken up from the drug. He held the container in his mouth and dragged it all the way to his mother.

"Mom... let's eat something..."

"Yao'er..." Just as he was speaking, the heavy iron door opened, and the little fox looked towards the door with curiosity and fear just like everyone else.

Gongshu Qiming led Jingci in, "Ci'er, look at these foxes. The first step in making bone china is to learn to distinguish the types of animals. Compare the fur color and appearance of animals of the same type. The last step is to touch the bones. Touching the bone is one of the keys to making bone china, and it is not easy to learn, so, father, I will teach you from identifying the type of fox first."

Gongshu Qiming led Jingci to recognize it from the first cage on the left and right, "Look, this is a gray fox. Its main features are short nose and limbs, but large toe pads on its feet, and the upper part is gray. , the lower part is golden yellow, and the abdomen is white."

"Oh." Jingci nodded, remembering it carefully.

Walking to the next cage, Gongshu Qiming said again, "This is a blue fox. It is quite big. Look, its back is gray or sometimes dark brown. There are also various colors of its belly, usually white, light gray and gray. Mostly brown."

"Yeah." Jingci observed carefully.

"This one is a blue fox, named for its light blue fur."

Jingci followed her father around the huge fox prison, and finally came to the last cage. Jingci recognized the two foxes, one big and one small, that she saw yesterday. He asked through his father's sleeve, "Father, why are there only two foxes in such a big cage?"

"Hehehe..." Gongshu Qiming smiled while stroking his beard, "These two foxes are not simple, they are hard to find in the world."

"Is it because of beauty?" Jingci thought, "They are indeed much more beautiful than other foxes!"

"Not only is it much more beautiful, the bone china made from them is a treasure that shocked the world. Twenty-five years ago, when your grandfather was 25 years old, he used this fox bone to make Qingyuan, which was highly praised by the world. At that time, Gongshu The status of the family is simply incomparable..." Gongshu Qiming said as if he was caught in a distant memory, but at the end of the memory, tears filled his eyes, and he looked at the mandarin-eyed fox in the cage with uncontrollable excitement, "Jingci, dad wait After waiting for this day for 49 years, the Gongshu family’s porcelain-making accomplishments will finally be carried forward in my hands again.”

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