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墨書 Inktalez
On the morning of the fourth day, Peddler Zhang set off for the county town with ten new items. Before he left, Lin Dahe specifically instructed him, "If anyone asks the price, just say it's 'Heavenly Gift Ceramics.' If you turn it three times under the sun, you'll know if it's genuine."
As the sun began to dip in the west, Peddler Zhang hurriedly returned, having lost one of his straw sandals. "This is serious! Zhou Liangzhang is hosting a banquet at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, and there's someone in silk from Hangzhou who speaks Mandarin better than the county magistrate!" The old man leaned in closer, lowering his voice mysteriously. "They have our imitation pieces on their table, and I overheard them mumbling about 'maritime bans' and 'the Maritime Customs Office'..."
Lin Dahe exchanged a glance with Cui Xiaoman. That evening, the two of them stealthily made their way to the back alley of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. Through a hole in the paper window, they saw that the private room was in disarray. Zhou Liangzhang was bowing and pouring wine for a middle-aged man dressed in seemingly simple yet intricately woven Hangzhou silk. At his waist hung a forbidden jade pendant from Hetian.
"Rest assured, Manager Liu..." Zhou Liangzhang's voice drifted out. "The formula for the glaze has already..."
The man in silk suddenly raised his hand to interrupt. He picked up a star-patterned bowl from the table and turned it toward the candlelight. The faint wheat pattern on the bottom made him squint. "This isn't one of your imitations."
"How could that be!" Zhou Liangzhang snatched the bowl and spun it around vigorously. "It looks exactly the same..." He suddenly froze—at a certain angle, shards of glass on the bottom of the bowl refracted a clear outline of wheat!
The man in silk sneered and pulled an object from his sleeve, placing it on the table. Even from behind the paper window, Lin Dahe recognized it as a specially made trial glaze plate from an official kiln—its bottom clearly stamped with a maple leaf pattern identical to that on Cui Xiaoman's nape!
"The remnants of Yan Shen Town are still around." The man's voice was as cold as ice. "Notify the Maritime Customs Office and say... we've found the missing glassmaker from the Yongle era."
Cui Xiaoman's nails dug into the window frame. Lin Dahe quickly pulled her down, but they overheard an even more chilling exchange from inside:
"The saltpeter..."
"It will still go through the canal cargo ships." The man in silk chuckled lightly. "With the Ministry of War's wax seal, who would dare to investigate?"
Suddenly, clouds swallowed up the moonlight. As Lin Dahe dragged a trembling Cui Xiaoman away, a crimson warning flashed on his system screen: [Identity Exposure Crisis! Temporary Mission: Eliminate evidence linking to maple leaf pattern within 48 hours.]
The night breeze swept through the alley, lifting the wine banner in front of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion. In the dim light of lanterns, he caught a glimpse of the man's profile—a scar over his right eye that looked like it had been cut by some sharp object.
Days of continuous rain had turned the drying yard into a muddy pond. Lin Dahe squatted under an eave, watching as fine droplets formed on freshly shaped clay pieces due to humidity—three days had passed; if these pieces didn’t dry soon, they would miss their delivery deadline. Cui Xiaoman's raincoat dripped water as she emerged from the cellar with some spare dry clay, mud streaks marking her face.
"We need to think of something," she said, shaking her wet sleeves. "Uncle Zhang mentioned that the Zhou family set up an oilcloth shelter..."
Suddenly, Lin Dahe stood up; raindrops traced silver lines down his hat’s brim. He dashed into the wood shed and dragged out several bamboo poles left over from building a grape trellis. "Let’s make a drying room!"
The system screen responded immediately: [Environment humidity detected at 89%. Suggested plan: Hot air circulation drying chamber.] A schematic glowed blue in the rain; Lin Dahe's eyes brightened—wasn’t this just a simplified version of utilizing residual heat from a kiln?
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