Riding the wind of rebirth

Hidden-source goods do not necessarily mean lower quality than official goods; on the contrary, there are many high-quality goods among them.

For example, the large Tianhuang seal engraved with Dongpo's poems and landscapes by Huang Tingjian that he received earlier, the blue and white dragon-patterned lotus leaf-covered jar from Jingdezhen of the Yuan Dynasty, porcelains from the five famous kilns of the Song and Jin Dynasties, Jing Hao's "Shu Mountain Picture", and the ancient "Sitting Dragon Picture". If any one of them were to be made public, it would shock the cultural and collectibles world.

However, Mai Xiaomiao did not quite understand these priceless things. Instead, he was more interested in the enamel and pastel colors of the Qing Dynasty. After all, these porcelains had beautiful shapes, beautiful glazes, and exquisite pictures.

There are actually quite a few worthless things here, such as the Song Dynasty Hutian Kiln collected by Zhouzhi in his early years, local folk kilns, late Qing Dynasty antique blue and white porcelain, and ordinary white porcelain from the Republic of China. Most of them have been processed by Zhouzhi, leaving only some fine products and sets.

Mai Xiaomiao really likes this set of small cups, small plates and small teapots with fresh and cute bean green glaze.

"This little thing isn't worth much," Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "If you like it, pick up a set and play with it."

As he spoke, he began to work, taking out a bean green plate: "This can be used as a pot holder."

Then he picked up a small plum green teapot and teacup: "How does it look like this?"

Mai Xiaomiao also picked a cup and placed it next to the one Zhou Zhi picked: "Okay."

"Do you want the white porcelain one?" Zhou Zhi asked. "This one is from a recent era. My family dug it out when we were building the building. I exchanged it for candy with my friends in the building."

When the Sugar and Wine Company was renovating its new building, two jars of porcelain were dug out. They should have been the cellars of a tavern during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period. They were both white porcelain, with fine texture and elegant shape.

The cultural center came to appraise the porcelain and decided that it had no value, so they only took away a dozen Yuan Datou coins, and the porcelain was left for everyone to do with.

Many of them were snatched away by children who came to watch the fun and took them home.

When Zhou Zhi returned home, he found that everything had been divided up. Fortunately, there were still a lot of candies at home, so he took them out and exchanged them with his friends. Gradually, many of the porcelain pieces fell into Zhou Zhi's hands again.

"How old were you then?"

"About 11 or 12 years old." Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "That's the age when I followed my fourth cousin to learn how to identify porcelain. I was addicted to porcelain and I treated every piece of white porcelain from the Republic of China as a treasure."

"It still looks good." Mai Xiaomiao picked up a small porcelain object with a small cone at the bottom and a trumpet at the top: "What is this used for?"

"This is called a wine jar. One jar can hold two taels of liquor. At that time, people drank loose liquor. That is, a large jar was placed behind the counter. When a customer came to the tavern and ordered a dish and two taels of liquor, the boss would put the liquor in such a wine jar and place the dish and the cup in front of the customer."

As he spoke, he took a square disk as a tray and demonstrated to Mai Xiaomiao.

Mai Xiaomiao was quite cooperative. Maybe he remembered playing house when he was a kid. He picked up the empty wine horn and poured it into the empty cup twice. He handed a cup to Zhou Zhi, picked up another cup for himself, and clinked glasses with Zhou Zhi: "Elbow, have a drink."

“Ah, this…” Zhou Zhi didn’t expect Mai Xiaomiao to do this. Now that it has come to this, he has no choice but to accompany Mai Xiaomiao to finish the trick: “Thank you, Xiaomiao.”

After taking a sip, Zhou Zhi thought it was too funny: "What are we doing? It's not like there's nothing to eat outside. Let's go get some midnight snack!"

There were several well-growing osmanthus trees on the slope leading to the river outside Suihuaxuan. Guan's mother used osmanthus flowers, oranges and tangerines to make a jar of kumquat and osmanthus wine.

Zhou Zhi set up the dojo in the large study room, took out a box with pine nuts, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, strange-tasting broad beans in it, put cold rabbit and cold beef on small plates, took out a large bowl and poured warm water in it, poured the wine into the clean wine jar to warm it up, then filled the four-cent small cups for himself and Mai Xiaomiao: "Hahaha, we are long past the age of playing house, Xiao Miao, come on, let's drink some real wine."

"It's delicious..." Rock sugar was added to the kumquat and osmanthus wine, which tasted mellow and sweet. Mai Xiaomiao found the way to drink it interesting, and it was very comfortable to take a sip in the winter: "This is much better than the corn liquor that Grandpa Chi Ri and the others drink." "There are many more kinds here." Zhou Zhi said: "Let's try the longan wine later. It's made with the secret recipe of my fourth cousin, and it tastes even better."

The two of them began to clink glasses and drink nuts and cold meats, and they were in perfect harmony.

"Elbow." Mai Xiaomiao's alcohol tolerance was average, and her face turned red after a few drinks. She leaned softly on Zhou Zhi out of habit, holding the empty wine glass between her index fingers and shaking it in front of her eyes: "The time I've been with you is the happiest time for me, hehe..."

"Xiao Miao, I'm sorry. I refused you to go to Liangshan Prefecture at first because the conditions there were too difficult." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Actually, I'm very happy to be with you."

"Really?" Mai Xiaomiao tilted her head and looked at Zhou Zhi: "You didn't make me happy?"

"I'm telling the truth..." Only when he said this did Zhou Zhi suddenly realize that during the time he spent with Mai Xiaomiao, he felt extremely fulfilled both mentally and emotionally.

When he first arrived in Liangshan Prefecture, Zhou Zhi actually had a sense of escape in his heart. Even though he kept himself busy with affairs, he still couldn't stand the feeling of emptiness when it was late at night.

When did this start to change?

It seems like... it starts with the addition of someone who needs care?

Although Mai Xiaomiao is an academic expert, she is a little confused in life. She is naive and romantic, and very easy to satisfy. A little favor can make her very happy, and sometimes Zhou Zhi feels embarrassed to bully her.

In addition to her persistence in work, Mai Xiaomiao is usually well-behaved, sensible and obedient. She also expresses her emotional value at every turn, making Zhou Zhi feel that "his love for this girl is not in vain."

She was not someone who knew how to create humor, but she understood humor very well and was often amused by Zhou Zhi's casual jokes and witty remarks.

This kind of emotion of hers can infect the people around her, making everyone feel relaxed and happy to be with her.

After saying that, Zhou Zhi suddenly realized that this girl had occupied a significant place in his heart without him realizing it.

Even...filling the previous gap.

"Xiao Miao, will you be my girlfriend?"

"What?" Mai Xiaomiao turned over and lay on Zhou Zhi: "Say it again?"

"Xiao Miao, I want to officially date you. Please agree to be my girlfriend." Zhou Zhi said gently and seriously.

Mai Xiaomiao's hands went limp and she could no longer support her body, so she buried her head in Zhou Zhi's chest.

However, her slightly trembling body revealed her inner feelings.

Zhou Zhi hugged her gently, and wanted to tease her again: "It doesn't matter if you don't agree..."

“Yes!” Mai Xiaomiao raised her head suddenly and saw Zhou Zhi’s smiling face: “You bad guy! You teased me again!”

"You haven't finished yet, what do you want? Do you want to be my girlfriend, or do you want to turn against me?"

Mai Xiaomiao was not fooled this time. She leaned her head back and just hugged Zhou Zhi and shook him to express her protest.

The two were both happy, and they just hugged each other quietly. After a long while, Mai Xiaomiao asked in a muffled voice: "So... we are... like this... what do we need to do?" (End of this chapter)