Green Mountain
Chapter 119 - 89, Gai Kiln-2

Chapter 119: 89, Gai Kiln-2

He looked up and saw the door of the kiln factory wide open; the courtyard was pervaded by gray dust, Chen Ji and others had their faces and heads covered in dirt, each with a strip of cloth tied around their mouth and nose, pushing a huge stone roller in the courtyard, grinding pieces of broken porcelain into powder.

This was completely different from what Chen Wenzong had imagined. He thought the Princely Heir and the Commandery Princess had come to enjoy a joyful outing in the snow looking for plum blossoms, but unexpectedly, they were engaged in dirty and tiring work in a dilapidated kiln factory.

The Zhou Family Pottery Factory covered about two acres. To the left was a row of low earthen houses with broken roof tiles; in the middle was a large flat kiln that was not yet lit; to the left, piles of defective porcelain towered like mountains, along with a huge stone roller.

Liang Gou’er lay under the eaves of the earthen house, covering his face with a dried tobacco leaf, sleeping soundly. The little monk sat cross-legged on the ground, chanting with closed eyes, while Chen Ji and others pushed the heavy stone roller, grinding pieces of porcelain into slag.

Bai Li held a short broom, incessantly sweeping the finely ground dust into a bamboo basket for later use.

At that moment, a puff of dust rose, and a layer of dust covered the face of Princess Bai Li.

The Princely Heir, pushing the stone roller, said with concern, "Come here, let me wipe your face."

Bai Li looked up at his words, but the Princely Heir didn’t wipe her face; instead, he wrote the character ’王’ on her forehead.

The Princely Heir laughed heartily, "Now you look even more like a little tiger!"

Bai Li, furious, chased after him with the broom in hand, chasing each other around the stone roller while the others, pushing the massive roller, laughed heartily.

Liu Quxing looked at She Dengke, "Shall I wipe your face too?"

She Dengke sneered, "Go disgust someone else, don’t think I don’t know you’re up to no good again, you sneaky trickster!"

Chen Wenzong, sitting on his horse, silently watched. He didn’t know why, but these people, with their faces and heads covered in dust pushing a stone roller, seemed to be having such a great time.

Making the best out of a bad situation?

Yet why would people of such noble status as the Princely Heir and Princess Bai Li do these things like laborers?

After much hesitation, Chen Wenzong finally dismounted. As he landed, mud splashed onto the black leather of his boots. He didn’t speak rashly but quietly entered the courtyard of the kiln factory to observe silently.

Then he heard Chen Ji saying, "Let’s grind this much first. I need to see the results to know how to adjust next. We need to prepare for a prolonged effort."

His knowledge of cement came from the widely circulated secret of "Two Grinding and One Firing."

It sounds simple: 75:25 ratio mix of limestone and clay burned together was enough, though not up to the standard of specialized cements, but it was definitely sufficient for that era.

The kiln factory had heaps of broken porcelain, all defective pieces discarded by the factory that could be directly used as already burned clay material. As for quicklime, known as white ash in the Ning Dynasty, it was widely used in many areas; buying ready-made was fine.

With all the raw materials present, it seemed all that was left was to grind and mix.

But Chen Ji knew, like the method of bleaching sugar with yellow mud, many things sound simple but are difficult to execute; making cement was easy, making qualified cement challenging.

At that moment, unnoticed by anyone, Chen Wenzong arrived and silently watched what the Princely Heir and the others were up to.

Chen Ji mixed the ground white ash with Ceramic Ash on the ground of the kiln factory, then added water in the same ratio and stirred the mixture into a paste.

Once it was uniformly mixed, he spread the cement on a piece of green brick to dry as a group of dust-covered people squatted beside it, waiting.

The Princely Heir, squatting with knees hugged, asked softly, "Chen Ji, how long do we have to wait?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment, "It needs to be initially set in over three quarters, and finally set within three hours to be considered qualified."

"Three hours, that’s so long?"

Chen Ji said sternly, "Patience, great undertakings require patience!"

"Oh... well, shall we play Pai Gow for a while?"

"Did you bring Pai Gow?"

"I didn’t, we’ll bring it when we come tomorrow."

"Okay."

Bai Li smiled, "Though I don’t know if this thing called cement will be as durable as Chen Ji says once made, working here feels much more interesting and fulfilling than studying in the academy."

Chen Ji smiled and replied, "Commandery Princess, this is just the novelty phase for you. If you had to work like those strong men, you definitely wouldn’t enjoy it."

At this, Bai Li frowned, "I used to like asking Xibing and Xitang about the outside world, wanting to see how the common people lived. Hearing them talk made it seem like the common people had a hard life, but seeing today how the strong man uncles still wear straw shoes in the winter, I understand their suffering isn’t something you can just imagine."

After a moment of silence, Chen Ji said, "Both the Commandery Princess and the Princely Heir were born into wealth, so you wouldn’t understand the hardships of making a living, but your willingness to understand these things is commendable."

The Princely Heir retorted, "Maybe those distinguished gentlemen in court should come and see what kind of life their governed people are living."

Watching this, Chen Wenzong suddenly spoke up from behind them, "The gentlemen in court also care deeply for the Society; they exhaust their minds daily forming policies to save the people from calamity. If there is to blame, it can only be blamed on the Jing Dynasty and our Ning Dynasty waging wars for years, leading to the people’s suffering. The Princely Heir and Commandery Princess, noble as you are, shouldn’t be idling in the countryside, and even less should you be conspiring behind the backs of the court’s gentlemen."

The people squatting on the ground, hearing this, all turned their heads to look at him, "Eh, how did you get here?!"

Chen Wenzong didn’t answer this question, but earnestly said, "Princely Heir, Commandery Princess, you should go back and diligently study the sages’ teachings, to bring benefits to the land in the future."