Reborn in 1977

Chapter 159: Small Calculations

Pottery is a technical skill, broadly divided into three steps.

Shaping the clay, applying glaze, and firing in a kiln.

Of course, this is the simplest way. For something more complex, how to prepare the clay, how to shape it, how many days to dry it before glazing, how to color it, and how to fire the kiln all require great attention to detail. Otherwise, there wouldn't be such a thing as a pottery master.

Chen Fan had carefully read "Earthen Kiln Pottery" twice last night. He had also dug a simple pit kiln himself. He barely managed to level up his pottery skill to LV2 (5/50), finally reaching apprentice level.

Although there was no experienced master to guide him, he felt he could give it a try.

Anyway, with the skill panel, he could still gain experience even if he failed. After failing a few more times, he could directly become a master and build his own fixed kiln.

If he succeeded by chance, it would be a pure profit!

With this mindset, he began to prepare the clay. He repeatedly stirred the clay, discarding the impurities, taking only the finest part, and placing it in a wooden basin.

Then he let Jiang Lili play with mud under the eaves, while he took out some colorful pebbles and crushed them into powder with a hammer.

He got these pebbles from the brigade headquarters. Lu Jiawan had done a lot of water conservancy projects before, and some building materials were left over, all piled up in a shed at the brigade headquarters.

When he went to the brigade headquarters to ask Luo, the storekeeper, for them, Luo thought he wanted a lot. But he only took a jar of pebbles and a ladle of lime. Luo was too lazy to even register it and just let him take it away.

The reason for finding this kind of colored gravel is that it contains metal. Using lime as the main raw material, mixed with this gravel powder in a certain proportion, you can make a less standard "lime glaze".

Anyway, Chen Fan didn't care about the color, as long as he could add a smooth glaze layer to the surface of the pottery, it would be considered a success.

After crushing the stones and preparing the glaze, Chen Fan went to check on Jiang Lili.

He looked at the pottery bowl in front of Jiang Lili, her facial features squeezed together, "What shape are you trying to make?"

Jiang Lili puffed up her cheeks, unconsciously pouting her lips, "I want to make a bowl, but I can't make it round."

Chen Fan saw this expression of hers for the first time, and couldn't help but rub his face, trying to restore his expression to normal, and then said, "Then just make one that's not round."

Jiang Lili widened her eyes, "Can a bowl not be round?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Anyway, you're not taking it out to sell. It's something you're keeping for yourself. As long as it can hold things, not to mention not round, you can make it square. If that doesn't work, make it irregular. Do whatever you want, no one can stop you."

As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of clay, "Look, I'm going to make a clay slab now, just press it onto the wooden board like this…"

In a short while, an irregular rectangular clay slab was made.

Chen Fan took out a bamboo strip and cut off the irregular edges, and it became a square clay slab. He flattened the cut-off clay again, and it became a round clay slab.

Jiang Lili looked at what he made, and seemed to understand a little. So it turned out that making pottery could be so casual?

So she began to use her imagination, kneading out small pottery blanks one by one.

Under the moonlight of a winter night, the ice and snow on the ground did not melt at all, reflecting the moonlight and illuminating the sky and earth.

In the educated youth courtyard, an orange light illuminated the room, and also illuminated the two figures at the door.

Chen Fan and Jiang Lili sat on small benches, facing a basin of clay, you saying a word, I saying a word, you kneading a bowl, I kneading a pot. On the large wooden board next to them, there were more and more pottery blanks of various shapes. A gust of wind blew, and the bursts of laughter scattered with the wind, disappearing into the night sky.

…

February 10th, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Northern Lunar New Year.

Unfortunately, this is Jiangnan, and the Little New Year is celebrated on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, so today is still an ordinary day.

Chen Fan got up early in the morning and yawned.

He stayed up late yesterday, not going to bed until 10 o'clock. … Wait, 10 o'clock? Only?

Chen Fan reacted and couldn't help but feel a little dazed.

Before the transmigration, it seemed like 10 o'clock at night was when he had just finished work and was about to lie in bed and browse his phone? Or was he still working overtime at the company, preparing to stay up until midnight?

Coming to this era, going to bed at 10 o'clock is already very late. Unconsciously, he has also become a person of this era.

Scooping water from the water tank, brushing his teeth with toothpaste on a toothbrush, fetching water from the earthenware jar to wash his face, and drying the towel on the bamboo pole…

Actually, there's nothing that can't be adapted to.

That's right, when the pottery skill is improved, he must burn a set of bathroom supplies. Then he will build a "modern" toilet and get a set of earthen shower equipment. It would be best to burn a large bathtub!

Everything else in this era can be tolerated, but the toilet cannot be tolerated.

Really, if the office buildings were all like the current dry toilets, "paid shitting" would definitely not exist. Chen Fan believes that no one can browse their phone for half an hour in a dry toilet!

After having a sweet dream and finishing breakfast, he carefully checked the pottery blanks he had made last night and found no cracks. He then inspected the various animals he was raising, fed the peregrine falcon two pieces of fish, and prepared to go to work with all his things. Jiang Lili hugged the puppy and went to the back to play with the ponies and sheep, and boiled pig food.

Just as he walked to the gate of the yard, the door was knocked.

Chen Fan opened the door and saw Captain Yang standing at the door. He was immediately stunned and didn't invite him into the house. He directly asked, "Captain, is there something wrong?"

Captain Yang looked at the things on his body, "Oh, you joined the militia?"

Chen Fan raised the gun in his hand and quickly shook his head and smiled, "No, this is a discarded gun. Company Commander Zhang gave it to me for practice."

"Oh."

Captain Yang's eyes turned slightly, not knowing what he was thinking.

Chen Fan asked again, "Are you here at this time because there is something important?"

The meaning was, if it's not important, I'm going to go to work!

"Ah, there's something."

Captain Yang habitually glanced at the courtyard. He didn't see Jiang Lili, but he saw a large wooden board erected under the eaves of Chen Fan's room, filled with various things. He couldn't help but be a little surprised, "What are those?"

As he spoke, he walked in.

If it were someone else's house, he would definitely not do this, but this educated youth spot was originally a semi-open place. As long as you don't enter the room, other places are undefended, so it doesn't matter.

Seeing that he had gone in, Chen Fan could only follow behind with a wry smile and said, "These are all pottery blanks. I want to try firing a kiln of pottery myself."

Captain Yang suddenly turned his head, staring at him intently, his eyes full of surprise, "You can make pottery?"

If Chen Fan could make pottery, wouldn't the team not have to buy bowls in the future? Even further, could he start a sideline team?!

Private individuals are not allowed to run factories, but production teams are not included in this restriction. The production team had run many sidelines before, but unfortunately they were all taken over by the commune. Now only the oil press, mill, and cotton gin in Team 10 are left. These three are closely related to farmers' lives, and cannot be taken away, so they were barely preserved.

Chen Fan said with a wry smile, "No, no, didn't I go to the commune the other day? I happened to meet Master Zhu…"

He briefly explained the situation, and finally said, "One of the books is "Earthen Kiln Pottery", so I wanted to try firing it myself."

Then he pointed to the direction of the backyard, "Anyway, there are many miscellaneous trees there, and digging a pit won't take much effort, so I'll just give it a try."

Captain Yang listened, and couldn't help but smack his lips and shake his head, "It still has to be you intellectuals. We rough guys may not be able to learn even with someone teaching us, let alone learning by ourselves with books."

Then he smiled and said, "Okay, you can try slowly. If you need any help, just say so."

Chen Fan smiled, "Okay, I will definitely ask the leader for help if I have any difficulties."

Captain Yang immediately laughed, "What kind of leader am I? At least it has to be a cadre from the brigade headquarters. If you really count, you are one of the leaders in our brigade."

Chen Fan laughed awkwardly. If he counts as a leader, then there would be too many leaders in the country.

At this time, Captain Yang finally remembered his intention. He coughed dryly and said softly, "Can you come back this morning after you finish work?"

Before Chen Fan could ask, he continued, "I asked the commune elementary school for a set of test papers, but there are not many intellectuals in our team. The highest education is only elementary school graduation, and it's been many years. It would be best if you could come and preside over the exam."

Chen Fan understood. He was talking about the veterinarian selection exam, which was decided the day before yesterday.

He immediately nodded and said, "Okay, if there are no special circumstances at the brigade headquarters, I will definitely rush back."

In fact, he has been coming back every day these past few days, but the educated youth spot is at the very back, separated by a small forest, so the people in the village don't know.

Captain Yang nodded in satisfaction when he saw that he agreed so readily, "Okay, then don't bother with lunch today, just eat at my house."

After speaking, he left with his hands behind his back.

As he walked, he looked at the pottery blanks on the wooden board, silently making calculations in his mind.

Tomorrow should return to normal.