After bidding farewell to Fan Mi, Xin followed Fan Dou to Taofang.
It's said to be a workshop, but it's actually Fan Dou's home.
There is a small pottery kiln in the yard with a lot of pottery piled up.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, pottery production was already very mature.
Small places like Xinyi also have their own potters, and one or two people are enough to complete all the processes.
"Cough cough cough..."
There was a coughing sound inside.
Fan Dou quickly ran into the low adobe thatched house.
"Dad, how are you?" Fan Dou's voice came.
"I can't die! Go and see if the kiln fire is out! If you run out early in the morning, my pottery workshop is doomed!"
Snap!
The sound of broken utensils was heard in the house, and then Xin saw Fan Dou running out holding his head. Behind him, a lame old man hit Fan Dou on the head with a stick.
"stop!"
Xin yelled again and blocked the old man behind him.
"Doctor Yi..."
The fiery old man Fan Fou calmed down when he saw Xin You, and quickly bowed to Xin You.
"I asked your son to help me make some things, so I summoned him to Fan Jun's house. Why did you beat him indiscriminately?" Xin asked again.
"This kid is incompetent. I haven't passed on any of my craftsmanship. He just knows... knows how to wander around all day long." Fan Fou was very excited and couldn't help but cough a few more times.
Fan Dou knelt aside and didn't say a word, just looking at the ground.
"Did you make this, or did Fan Dou make it?"
Xin picked up another pottery tablet on the ground.
It is said to be Tao Ge, but it is different from the Tao Ge commonly used in Xinyi.
Pottery is a very ancient cooking utensil that can boil water and cook rice.
It looks like a jar with a round belly. The most typical feature is that there are three fat, bag-like "feet" on the lower body.
The three legs stretched Tao Ge's belly up, leaving a space like a lifted crotch. In this space, firewood can be put in, placed directly on the ground, and water can be boiled without setting up a shelf.
But this Tao Ge is different from the Tao Ge seen in Xinyou's home.
"This... I did it!"
Fan Fou gritted his teeth and said: "Gentlemen, don't make fun of me. I am old and what I do is not very good..."
Xin glanced at Fan Fou again, and then said: "Potter Fan, I remember that you hate people who don't make pottery according to the ancestral tradition the most. No matter how old you are, you can almost connect the three legs of the pottery together."
Already?"
The pottery Ge before Xinyi had a relatively high "crotch" with three pouches, which was to make it easier to put firewood underneath.
However, with the development of the times, due to the emergence of the "stove", this kind of high crotch has become unpopular, and has even become a decoration, and has gradually evolved into a "pot".
The thing in Xin You's hand has almost no "crotch" anymore. It just symbolically made three bag-like things under the jar. It looks a bit "ke", but in fact it is more like a cauldron.
In his previous life, Xin You graduated from the Department of History and knew a little bit about Tao Ke's development.
The style of the pottery Ge in his hand is relatively new.
The pottery in Xinyi itself is almost all in the shape of the Zongzhou (Western Zhou) period. This is also the tradition of Xinyi!
"All the works are the work of saints and cannot be tampered with..." Xin You said deliberately.
"A gentleman makes atonement! I will smash this piece of shit right now!"
Fan Fou stood up unsteadily and wanted to take Tao Ge away from Xin You's hand.
"Is this something you often say?" Xin asked again.
Fan Fou was stunned for a moment and nodded.
This sentence is indeed his creed, and it is also the "etiquette" observed by many craftsmen.
Xin shook his head again. Such a concept is also one of the reasons that hinders social progress.
"The saints made creations for the common people. If future generations change it, it is also for the common people. Why not? If you don't change it, then you will just have to eat hair and drink blood."
Xin You changed the subject: "I think this thing is much more practical than the previous pottery kettle. It can be placed directly on the stove to boil water."
"this……"
Fan Fou didn't expect Xin to say such words again. Fan Dou also raised his head, with a glimmer of light in his eyes.
"Fan Dou, did you come up with this thing yourself? Or have you seen it somewhere?" Xin asked again.
Xin You could tell at a glance that this thing was definitely made by Fan Dou, not Fan Fou.
The reason why Fan Fou said that was to "ward off sin" for his son.
"I dare not lie to you, gentleman. This thing was indeed made by a villain."
Fan Dou admitted: "This is not what a villain thought of, but what I saw in the royal city. Many of the utensils there are very different from those in Xinyi!"
These things are also the focus of conflicts between father and son.
Fan Dou had left Xinyi and had seen utensils made by craftsmen in other places.
Fan Fou stayed in Xinyi all his life, strictly abiding by the rules left by his ancestors.
"Such pottery can only be used in a small place like Xinyi. If it is sold in the markets in the surrounding big places, no one will buy it."
Xin You made a plan in his mind, but did not explain it.
If you can make excellent pottery, it can be regarded as an income for Xinyi.
But such ancient pottery will definitely not fetch a good price if sold elsewhere.
"The rituals are ruined and the music is ruined!"
At this moment, Fan Fou actually yelled: "The ancestors have already set the rules for how to make objects. We craftsmen just follow them. How can we modify the methods without authorization?"
"The gentleman also said that the saints created things for the common people! Now that we have stoves, we use tall kegs to boil water. It is difficult for the flames to reach the ke from the stove, so we should have stopped doing it long ago!"
For the first time, someone supported him, and Fan Dou finally had the courage to say what he had always wanted to say to his father.
"You... you are such a traitor!"
Fan Fou wanted to use the stick again.
"Fan Fou!" Xin You's face turned cold: "Let me ask you, what was the purpose of the saint creating Ge?!"
"Ge? Ge is just for boiling water..."
"Then the ke that your son made can boil water!?"
"This... boiling water is no problem."
Even though he was not interested in Li's appearance, Fan Fou was still very clear about its capabilities.
Xin continued: "The function of the pottery lid is to boil water. As long as it can boil water, it is a good utensil. As for the appearance, let me tell you that the pottery lid at the beginning of Zongzhou is exactly the same as the pottery lid you made.
Different!”
"Ah? My Tao Ge was passed down from Zong Zhou's time!" Fan Fou said.
"I still have pottery in my house that was used in the early days of Zongzhou. You can take a look." Xin You's tone calmed down: "What's more, you only pursue the appearance of the pottery that is consistent with the predecessors. Then let me ask you, what is the pottery you made?
, are each of them the same as those created by the saints?”
Fan Fou hesitated to speak, naturally he could not guarantee it.
Even the things that come out of the same kiln at the same time are different.
Following this line of thinking, who can make something that is the same as something made by a saint?
"What the saint said should not be tampered with, does not refer to the appearance, but the function of the utensil itself. Due to differences in raw materials, craftsmanship and even countries, the utensils cannot be exactly the same as those made by the saint. You only pursue the quality of the utensils
appearance, while ignoring the function of the utensils, it is really a neglect of the essentials, which violates the teachings of the saints and misinterprets the original intentions of the saints."
Who is Xin? He is a famous nerd in Xinyi.
He is not good at anything else. He ranks second in his familiarity with the words of saints. Who dares to rank first in Xinyi?
Xin re-explained Fan Fou's words again, whether Fan Fou believed it or not, he had to believe it.
Looking at the "defective products" made by his son, Fan Fou had doubts about his own views on pottery making for the first time.
It seems that I misunderstood what the saint said!
Fan Fou let out a long sigh and suddenly felt that he had lived for many years in vain. This chapter has been completed!