Chapter 223: Accent

The spring breeze blew gently, drifting into the screen window.

A spring swallow carrying mud darted past, and two silhouettes flashed across the glass.

The finance department handed over a material list, and Wang Qi Zhi took it with both hands.

Dissolving solutions, colorimetric reagents, silicon carbide abrasives, as well as test paper, filter paper, crucibles, pipettes, and potentially available equipment and instruments.

It was a long list spanning two full pages, with the cost of each item and the weekly laboratory rental fee clearly itemized.

After a quick scan, Wang Qi Zhi said half-jokingly, "Two leaders, we are looking for a local porcelain kiln site, purely contributing to the region, so why are there fees?"

The two persons in charge from the Municipal Museum sat opposite, one principal and one deputy, and explained with a smile, "Professor Wang, many of the materials you need are basically not used in the museum, so they must be purchased immediately. And the museum's funds are limited, so you have to be understanding..."

Wang Qi Zhi smiled, "Fine, no problem!"

The museum was the most underfunded of all underfunded institutions, with limited support from superiors; Wang Qi Zhi certainly understood. He even understood the daily laboratory rental fees.

But some things had to be asked clearly in advance.

Just like the Yaozhou Porcelain; they were merely investigating and studying celadon craftsmanship, but through a twist of fate, Lin Sicheng ended up producing tea dust glaze.

If something were to be produced in Yuncheng as well, and it wasn't agreed upon beforehand, it could lead to disputes later.

Wang Qi Zhi smiled, "If there is any progress, or even a breakthrough research discovery, how will that be handled?"

The two leaders nodded in unison, "Whatever you research is naturally yours; we will absolutely not interfere!"

That's good!

Wang Qi Zhi nodded, signed his name with a few quick strokes, and had his assistant follow the finance person to swipe the card.

Tens of thousands of yuan—it wasn't a lot, but it wasn't a little either. But Wang Qi Zhi felt that things that could be solved with money were basically not issues at all...

It was finished quickly, and Wang Qi Zhi went down to the second floor.

The laboratory was not large, about fifty or sixty square meters. The instruments were not very complete and were quite old, but it had already been agreed that if the ones here were not suitable, the Municipal Museum would be responsible for contacting others. Of course, that would cost money...

If it really didn't work, they would return to Xijing. It was only about two hundred kilometers away; even taking the national highway, one could make a round trip in a day.

When he entered, Lin Sicheng was typing on the keyboard, and Ye Anning and the Data Clerk Xiao Liu were standing by the printer.

With a "clatter-clatter," the printer began to spit out paper, one sheet after another.

Wang Qi Zhi walked over, "How is it?"

"Not bad!"

Lin Sicheng picked up the data, "Teacher, look, this is the composition of the fetal clay of those fine white porcelain shards, which are suspected to be Song Porcelain: besides silicon and aluminum, there is also iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, manganese, calcium..."

"From this, we can infer that in addition to the common kaolinite, montmorillonite, feldspar, quartz, etc., in the original ceramic clay, there should also be amphibole and piedmontite. Because the particles are very fine, they were not filtered out. Therefore, this should be the silty clay unique to the Loess Plateau, formed by the alluvial deposits in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River..."

"The most critical point is that the silicon content is only 40%, while the aluminum content reaches a staggering 38% or more, accompanied by a significant proportion of calcium, as well as small amounts of manganese and titanium... This is low-silicon, high-aluminum, calcium-rich ceramic clay. In the northwestern provinces and Shanxi, only the ceramic clay mines on the southern foothills of the Luliang Mountains along the Yellow River meet these characteristics..."

"In this way, the production area of the ceramic clay can be narrowed down to a certain range: south to Yongji, north to Xiangning, and it must be close to the Yellow River... Counting them up, there are only those seven or eight counties..."

Lin Sicheng picked up another sheet, "Teacher, look at this again. These are the shards of pottery and sandware. Although the impurities are extremely high, the ratio of the main components is exactly the same as the fine white porcelain, indicating that they all come from the same region."

"The difference is that the former was carefully filtered, while the latter was fired directly using raw ceramic clay... The most critical point is that both types of shards contain coal..."

Coal?

Wang Qi Zhi was confused, "Lin Sicheng, don't over seventy percent of the counties and cities in Shanxi produce coal?"

"Teacher, isn't there still thirty percent left?" Lin Sicheng smiled, "Seventy percent of this thirty percent is concentrated along the Yellow River..."

Wang Qi Zhi suddenly realized: did that mean Lin Sicheng had narrowed the range of the ceramic clay mine by several times again?

"Where exactly is it?"

"Yongji, Hejin, Xiangning—it likely won't escape these three counties!"

Lin Sicheng picked up a copy of the *Local Chronicles of Hedong*, "Coincidentally, all three places belong to the southern foothills of the Luliang Mountains and are near the Yellow River, and they produce both ceramic clay and coal... What's more coincidental is that both Yongji and Xiangning have fired ceramics for a long time in ancient times... Especially Xiangning County, which basically never stopped from the Tang Dynasty to the Republic of China..."

Wang Qi Zhi was stunned and really wanted to give a thumbs up.

It had been only five days since they brought back those five baskets of porcelain shards. Zhao Xiuneng hadn't even managed to get any information out of that Pangzi, not even a hair's worth.

Zhao Da and Zhao Er had been gone for four days; they had asked about many waste porcelain pits, but who knew which pit the Pangzi had actually dug the shards from?

And he himself had only finished talking to the Municipal Museum the day before yesterday, and Lin Sicheng had only entered the laboratory yesterday. In just a day and a half, he had locked the range of the ceramic clay mine down to three counties?

Oh no, two counties...

Wang Qi Zhi found something wrong again, "Does that mean Hejin didn't fire porcelain in ancient times?"

"Checking historical materials and documents, there is indeed no record."

"Then how do you explain the many waste porcelain pits the two brothers found in Hejin, and even Tang Porcelain?"

"Hejin was a transportation hub in ancient times. Longkou Ferry went west to Weinan, east to Jinyang, south to Chang'an and Luoyang, and north to He Tao... Those porcelain pits should be the discarded waste products damaged during the loading and unloading of cargo ships transporting porcelain to Jinyang or from Jinyang to other places..."

"Teacher, there is also this here..."

Lin Sicheng opened the local chronicles to a section, "Look!"

Wang Qi Zhi looked down, and his eyes narrowed: Republic of China Blue and White Porcelain?

The local chronicles recorded it clearly: during the Republic of China, there were three government-run porcelain factories in Shanxi: the Baojin Company Porcelain Factory, the Shanxi Northwest Kiln Factory, and the Taiyuan Industrial Vocational School Porcelain Factory.

Their affiliated companies were spread across most of Shanxi, all using the most advanced porcelain-making technology of the time and hiring professional personnel from Jingdezhen as technical instructors.

Besides that, there were also many local folk kilns; there were 217 porcelain kilns in 48 counties recorded, and although they produced civilian porcelain, half of them produced blue and white porcelain.

Among them were also Yongji and Xiangning, which meant the possibility had increased by another point.

"We have to go and see for ourselves." Wang Qi Zhi let out a breath, "When shall we set off?"

"Tomorrow!"

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment, "I'll make a call later and have Senior Brother Qin (a core researcher at the Center) bring two people over to provide support..."

"Right, support is indeed needed."

Once Lin Sicheng left, the testing would have to stop, so personnel must be transferred as soon as possible.

Qin Tao had a doctorate in physical chemistry and was very capable at handling this.

The two discussed a few more things, and the phone buzzed. Lin Sicheng glanced at it and answered it.

"Boheng (Zhao Da)!"

"Master, the basket has been found, and the broomcorn millet fried cakes have also been found; they are right here in Hejin!"

Huh?

Lin Sicheng paused for a moment: "Where were they found?"

"Right in the city!"

"Is it far from those Waste Porcelain Pits?"

"Not too far, about ten kilometers or so!"

It was indeed not far, but whether it was or wasn't, one could only know after going to see it.

"Thank you for your hard work!"

Hanging up the phone, Lin Sicheng immediately took off his white lab coat: "Teacher, let's not wait until tomorrow; let's set off now."

Wang Qi Zhi nodded.

After tidying up the materials and giving instructions to the Data Clerk, they both turned around, but Lin Sicheng remembered something: there was still an extra-budgetary person here?

He turned back: "Sister Anning, are you going?"

Ye Anning nodded vigorously, her eyes crinkling into two slits: "Yes!"

After tidying up a bit and calling Zhao Xiuneng, Wang Qi Zhi borrowed a car from the Industrial Bureau, and the seven of them set off in two cars.

It was already mid-March; green was faintly visible on the sunny slopes of the roadbed, and the wheat fields in the distance were lush and green.

In the empty field nearby, an old farmer was driving an ox to plow the land.

Having rarely been to the countryside, Ye Anning found everything she saw novel.

"Oh, it's only March, is the wheat already this tall?"

"This is winter wheat!"

"Oh, oh... Hey, Lin Sicheng, look quickly, is that a two-ox plow?"

Lin Sicheng was too lazy to even turn his head: "Don't make such a fuss!"

"No... this plot of land is so big, why not use a machine?"

"This is a vegetable field. After the wheels roll over it, the soil will be compressed very tightly, which will affect the sprouting."

Ye Anning looked surprised: "How do you know so clearly?"

"I've farmed!"

"Impossible!"

Although Lin Sicheng's ancestral home was in the countryside, his family had stopped farming since his grandfather's generation; where could Lin Sicheng have farmed?

Lin Sicheng just smiled.

At twenty-one, he certainly hadn't farmed, but the thirty-eight-year-old Lin Sicheng really had.

Some ancient tomb excavations would stop halfway for various reasons. They wouldn't give time off, wouldn't let people run around, and there was no internet.

Lin Sicheng's energy was unusually abundant, and being bored with nothing to do, he could only help the farmers with their farming...

Chatting idly, they left the provincial road and entered the county road.

Approaching the city, Ye Anning poked him with her finger: "Lin Sicheng, what are they building over there?"

Lin Sicheng turned to look out the window: it wasn't far, just one or two kilometers away, with eight or nine small mounds scattered about. On the top of the highest one, a very tall platform was being erected with scaffolding.

Below, dust was flying, and there were both people and machines.

"Nine Dragon Mound, Jiulong Tower!"

Ye Anning paused.

That day at Guan Sheng Temple, Zhuang Yi said she wanted to invite them to play at her hometown; it seemed she had mentioned some Jiulong Temple?

As the thought turned in her mind, she was about to say something, but swallowed the words back.

Forget it, Lin Sicheng said her mouth was blessed.

Just like last time, she had only teased him and made a casual joke with Lin Sicheng. As a result, it really happened...

After driving for a while longer, the two cars entered the city.

It was a northern agricultural county-level city; there weren't many high-rise buildings, and it couldn't be considered prosperous. And since it was the busy spring plowing season, there weren't many people on the street.

But it was very tidy, and the roads were swept clean.

They found a restaurant, ordered dishes, and called Zhao Da again.

In a short while, the two brothers arrived. They carried half a bag of fried cakes and set it on the table.

"Master, the place that sells the baskets has been found; it's just on the north side of the city!"

"What about the Waste Porcelain Pits?"

"They are on the river beach along the Yellow River, about twelve or thirteen kilometers north of here. They said there used to be several, but the city had them plant peanuts on the river beach in the last two years, and the flat land was all dug up... We searched for two days, let alone porcelain shards, we didn't even find a piece of porcelain slag..."

Planting peanuts required intensive cultivation, so it must have been picked clean long ago.

Lin Sicheng nodded and took out a fried cake.

Hard broomcorn millet was ground into flour, filled with white sugar and sesame seeds, and then deep-fried in flaxseed oil.

The outer skin was crispy, the inside was soft and glutinous, and when broken gently, sugar water mixed with sesame seeds flowed out.

The fat boss had eaten this kind, but it felt a bit harder than this one.

"When did you buy it?"

"Right when you called."

More than two hours, and it hadn't set yet?

Lin Sicheng nodded, and tasted it again... Good heavens, so sticky?

Lin Sicheng picked up the bag and distributed one to each person.

He had just taken a bite when Zhao Xiuneng let out an "ah." Everyone followed the sound and looked over, immediately amused: he hadn't bitten off a piece of the fried cake, but had instead stuck a denture to it.

"Why is it so sticky?"

Zhao Xiuneng muttered, stuffing the denture back in.

Wang Qi Zhi also took a bite, his brows furrowing: "Too sweet, and the key is it's too sticky, and tough!"

Ye Anning said bluntly: "It's not good!"

If even Ye Anning thought it wasn't good, then it definitely wasn't good...

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "This fried cake wasn't bought here, and Pangzi didn't haul the porcelain shards from here either; it's very likely he isn't from around here."

The group was stunned for a moment.

"These few pieces have sugar water flowing out, but the ones in the pickup truck were on the verge of setting, which means the fat boss went somewhere further away. The key is the fried cake..."

Lin Sicheng took another bite, chewing several times before swallowing, "This thing should be eaten after it's been frozen cold..."

Just then, someone knocked on the door; two servers entered, one carrying a pot, the other holding a dish.

Lin Sicheng held it up and looked at the older one: "Big sister, is this cake meant to be eaten cold?"

The big sister took a look, nodded, and smiled: "The boss is from out of town, right? This is a cold oil cake made of dead yellow flour (broomcorn millet). You have to put it in the refrigerator to freeze the sugar water before eating it, otherwise, it can stick your teeth out..."

And hadn't it just stuck Zhao Xiuneng's tooth out?

"Is it only found around here?"

"It's everywhere nearby, all along this stretch of the Yellow River, wherever they grow broomcorn millet on the riverbanks—places like Wanrong and Xiangning all make it!"

Lin Sicheng nodded: "Big sister, may I ask one more thing? Pronouncing 'white' as 'pia'—what accent is that?"

"Only people from Xiangning say it like that; we all say 'bie' here..."

"And pronouncing 'clothes' as 'nishe'—what accent is that?"

"That's also people from Xiangning!"

Lin Sicheng smiled and said thank you.

Alright, at least he could be certain that Pangzi was not a local. Nine times out of ten, the porcelain shards weren't hauled from here either...

The few of them frowned, struggling to recall.

Most of them sitting here had seen that Pangzi. Especially the second time, Zhao Xiuneng had chatted with him for quite a while. Pangzi had been rambling on, saying quite a lot.

They only knew his accent was a bit heavy, but as a group of Shaanxi locals, who would pay attention to which of Pangzi's sentences had what accent, or which phrase had what regional characteristics?

The group looked at each other in dismay, and Lin Sicheng pointed to the hot pot: "Teacher, Senior Brother, let's eat first. After we finish, we'll go to the Waste Porcelain Pit and take a look!"

The few of them snapped out of their daze...