With virtue

Dingzhou kiln is famous for its white porcelain, which is as thin as paper and as white as snow. These items are now priceless treasures at auction houses; a single Ding kiln white porcelain bowl can be exchanged for a house.

But just knowing these things isn't enough. When the kiln masters ask you where you learned from or who you have a past relationship with, you can't exactly tell them, "I saw your products in a museum in my past life."

Fortunately, he actually knew one.

During the few years the old Taoist priest stayed outside Dingzhou City, although he didn't often go down the mountain, he would occasionally take on odd jobs. Once, a family in Dingzhou City who made porcelain were haunted by evil spirits, and the old Taoist priest brought them to exorcise them.

The family's surname was Zhou, and the head of the household was Zhou Cheng'an. He had been a potter at the Dingzhou Kiln for most of his life, and his craftsmanship was extremely exquisite. It was said that the porcelain used in the Jiedushi's mansion was all hand-thrown by him.

The evil spirit wasn't anything particularly powerful; it was just that a kiln had ruined a batch of porcelain, which attracted a little demon that was making a racket in the kiln at night, scaring the craftsmen on night watch.

The old Taoist priest spent less than half an hour exorcising the little demon. Afterwards, he hurriedly said that he did not want any money, but took a pair of white porcelain teacups as a thank you gift.

Zhou Cheng'an was extremely grateful and drank with the old Taoist priest for half the night. When he got emotional, tears streamed down his face—his son had died in the war, and his grandson had also perished. The kiln was now in ruins, and the craft had no successor.

At that time, Zhao Yunshu was only twelve or thirteen years old. He sat next to the two old men chatting and kept dozing off. Moreover, the white porcelain actually looked very rough and was not as good as the ordinary white bowls that cost two yuan a pair to modern people, so he didn't care much.

However, the old Taoist priest later treasured those white porcelain teacups, placing them on his table to drink water from every day. After finishing, he would hold them up to the light, turning them around to look at them, muttering, "What a wonderful thing!"

Later, the old Taoist priest chose a location, but he still didn't have enough money. So he used his life savings to make up the difference, but it was still not enough. He was short of money, so he sold the porcelain bowl and used all the money to buy building materials and manpower to rebuild the small Taoist temple.

That's just how the world is. If you're born into a place like this, whether you're trying to escape or just trying to survive, there's one thing you can't do without.

That's money...

Drawing talismans requires yellow paper and ink, and spells require various materials. Even breathing consumes grains and cereals. Without money, all of these are gone.

But making money is easier said than done. For example, if you become an apprentice at a warehouse, you're lucky if you get food; you're not entitled to any wages. You have to wait eight or ten years to graduate before you can start earning money.

Even so, one still has to beg and plead with others to become an apprentice; otherwise, one can't even earn a living.

In places like Dingzhou Kiln, craftsmanship is valuable; learning it means a lifetime of livelihood. However, the threshold for working at the kiln is even higher than that for a warehouse; ordinary people don't even know which way the kiln's gate faces.

So this time, the young Taoist priest was trying to find a way out for these children, and also to earn some money for himself.

In these chaotic times, there's nothing we can do.

Firewood, rice, oil, and salt cost money; talismans, cinnabar, and talismans cost money; repairing a house costs money; running errands costs money; even breathing costs money. And the ways to make money are pitifully few; you can only do what you can.

The Ding kiln was used for firing porcelain, which involved a lot of smoke and fire. It was dangerous, dirty, and likely to attract covetousness, so it definitely couldn't be located within the city.

In reality, the true location of Ding kiln was in the countryside surrounding Quyang County, outside Dingzhou City.

However, Dingzhou City, as the largest city in Dingzhou, has a population of over 100,000 and many traveling merchants like Chen Wanchuan. Therefore, there are shops in the city selling their porcelain. So Zhao Yunshu decided to go to the shops in Dingzhou City first, find a place to rest, and observe the situation further.

Zhao Yunshu led the way, and the group walked along the main street of the South Gate for about fifteen minutes before Zhao Yunshu stopped at a fork in the road.

Zhao Yunshu stopped and pointed to a slightly narrower street on the right, saying, "This is Porcelain Alley; the shops of Dingzhou Kiln are located here."

Chen Wanchuan looked at Zhao Yunshu and secretly made a mental note of it.

It turns out that this Taoist priest may look young, but he must have been a wanderer in the martial arts world, otherwise he wouldn't know so much.

The boy, Wang Haiting, couldn't wait to take a few steps. Then, he looked up with hopeful eyes and saw that this alley was indeed different from the main street.

Although the streets were narrow, they were much cleaner and tidier, with blue bricks paving the road surface and no weeds in the gaps.

The storefronts on both sides are also exquisite—rows of lampshades hang under the eaves, with simple patterns painted on them. Even without the lights on, they exude an air of elegance just by hanging there.

Several shops had waist-high white porcelain vases displayed in front of them, their glazes smooth and lustrous, gleaming ivory white in the sunlight. A blue cloth banner fluttered in the wind at the alley entrance, bearing the four large characters "Ding Kiln White Porcelain" in neat and steady handwriting, with the inscription "Inscribed by the Yiwu Army Military Governor's Office".

These words couldn't be clearer—this business is under the protection of the military governor's office, and ordinary thugs and ruffians would avoid it if they saw this sign.

The flow of people at the alley entrance was noticeably less than on the main street, but most of the people coming and going were well-dressed, including merchants in silk and satin, scholars, and occasionally one or two constables in official boots would come out of the shops, holding brocade boxes in their hands and carefully handing them to their attendants.

Chen Wanchuan lowered his voice and said, "The customers who come here are all important figures. I heard that the governor's mansion orders a batch of porcelain from here every year. This shop is the Dingzhou Kiln's business in the city. The kiln's products are sent here first after they are fired. The shop's craftsmen sort them by grade. The best batch of tribute is sent directly to the governor's mansion, the next grade is sold to high-ranking officials and nobles, and the next grade is sold to ordinary wealthy households. As for those that have defects, they are either smashed on the spot or sold on the general stores outside, where the price can be a hundred times different."

Wang Haiting watched and listened, his eyes gleaming, then he pulled Zhao Yunshu and said, "Uncle, I want to go to Ding Kiln."

"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly saying this?" Zhao Yunshu turned around to look at Wang Haiting, and then at the two children.

Those two children were just like most children, timid and hesitant. Although they were curious and fearful, they were mostly confused and simply followed the adults.

Wang Haiting was only slightly older, but the determination in his expression was almost impossible to conceal.

"If I learn how to make porcelain, my mother probably won't stop me from going home, right?" Wang Haiting said.

Zhao Yunshu paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Of course."

Chen Wanchuan glanced at it, then walked into the shop as if he hadn't heard, and said, "Shopkeeper! Is anyone here?"

He was dressed as a peddler, and when he came in, he naturally attracted the attention of the shop assistants, and several of them immediately came over.