The third quarter of Mao hour in West Market was suffused with the scent of pottery clay, and the kiln fires of Porcelain Kiln Alley cast a ruddy glow over the bluestone slabs. Moli stood under the pottery rack in front of the Cyan Ox Porcelain Workshop, where the four large characters "The Merchant Way Lacks Integrity" on the plain silk banner were dyed crimson by the kiln flames. Her wolf-hair brush was saturated with cinnabar, and its tip pointed directly at Zhang Yifan, who was inspecting the cargo: "The merchant way is like a porcelain kiln; whatever the tongues of fire lick away is purely for profit. Where is there even a shred of integrity?"
"Miss Xiao, look at this porcelain glaze—" Zhang Yifan's abacus beads clicked and danced across the unbaked clay vessel, pointing at the "kiln-guarding ghost-face porcelain" freshly fired by the artisans. The ghost face's abacus-bead eyes were fixed right on the kiln-changed patterns. "The potters of Cyan Ox Village use dregs from medicine shops as glaze, and the porcelain they fire naturally carries an insect-repelling fragrance. The proceeds from selling this porcelain were exchanged for two hundred doses of fritillary bulb, enough to treat the autumn coughs of the children in the south of the city."
Huwa suddenly poked his head out from behind the kiln, holding a carving knife and half of an unglazed pottery pot. Carved onto the body of the pot was a ghost face lifting a potter's wheel: "Big Sister Xiao, look quickly! Brother …
Chapter 76