In the following days, Zhenniang immersed herself completely in the lamp-lighting and material extraction process.
She deliberately made sleeve covers, leg wraps, and an apron from old clothes. The soot was extremely light – even the air movement from walking could blow it away, and that would be a waste.
She also made a simple mask from cotton gauze for her health.
After all these preparations, she shut herself in the woodshed.
Several days passed before she transformed the twenty jin of tung oil into nearly half a ceramic jar of fine soot.
These days passed in a blur. Not that Zhenniang stayed in the woodshed constantly – she came out to eat and returned to her room to sleep at night, but her mind was solely focused on the soot. Whether eating or sleeping, she rushed through everything, not even caring if it was sunny or raining outside.
“Oh my, this is torture! How can a young lady do such work as burning smoke? Look at this girl, her face is as black as Judge Bao’s. Such a pretty girl reduced to this state,” Madam Wu sat at the doorway sewing and exclaimed with concern when she saw Zhenniang emerge with the ceramic jar.
The old shopkeeper Li, leaning against the courtyard wall sunbathing, replied, “This is the nature of ink-making. I think Zhenniang has a talent for this trade.”
There was a hint of regret in the old shopkeeper’s voice – if only Zhenniang had been born a boy.
To the old shopkeeper, Zhenniang’s soot-covered face was all too familiar, reminiscent of his days at the ink workshop. He spoke with some emotion, then beckoned Zhenniang to bring the extracted soot for his inspection.
Zhenniang crouched beside her grandfather, holding the soot. She took a pinch and gently rubbed it between her fingers, which instantly turned black. Sunlight filtering through the pomegranate tree at the entrance fell upon her fingers.
Remarkably, the black powder on her fingers displayed hexagonal, diamond-like iridescent lights.
“Ink luster…” the old shopkeeper exclaimed in surprise. How could ink luster, typically found only in the finest finished ink, appear in raw soot?
“Grandfather, this isn’t truly inked luster. It’s because I extracted, particularly fine soot, and combined it with the tung oil’s sheen, it creates a kind of living light similar to the ‘flying white’ effect in calligraphy. This living light, reflecting the sun’s rays, appears like ink luster.”
“Ah, that makes sense.” The old shopkeeper nodded repeatedly, his previously labored breathing seeming to ease. He then asked, “How much soot did you extract?”
“One jin and six liang,” Zhenniang replied proudly.
“Excellent, excellent! You’ve far surpassed your grandfather in this regard,” the old shopkeeper said joyfully.
“Alright, go wash up quickly,” Zhao shi came over, pushing Zhenniang toward the house. She had already prepared the bath water.
Zhenniang didn’t hesitate. Entering the room, she undressed and soaked in the wooden tub.
The water temperature was perfect, and as Zhenniang bathed, she fell asleep.
When she awoke, she was no longer in the tub but in bed, and outside it was already growing dark. In Chengmen Dong, except for occasional sunlight at noon, it was usually dim throughout the day, so Zhenniang couldn’t tell the exact time.
But she had slept deeply, so it must have been quite a while.
Through the window beside her bed, she could hear her family talking in the courtyard.
“Mother, the thermos containers aren’t selling well these days, and even straw is hard to get,” Du shi said anxiously. The thermos containers were too simple – one look and anyone could figure them out. Rich families looked down on them, and poor families could make their own. Only some lazy housewives would buy them.
Moreover, some enterprising people had learned to make and sell them too, naturally affecting their business.
“Well, let’s finish weaving what straw we have and then stop. As Zhenniang said, this only brings in pocket money anyway,” Zhao shi said. She continued, “Besides, it’s almost time to get silkworm eggs. Once we start raising silkworms, we won’t have time for weaving these.”
“That’s true,” Du shi nodded. Then she smiled, “We’re fortunate to have sold some thermos containers, or we wouldn’t even have money for silkworm eggs. I don’t know where Zhenniang got these ideas from, but she’s helped the family.”
“Don’t you know that girl? She’s always been clever about food since she was little, always hiding snacks. She probably figured this out just to avoid eating cold food,” Zhao shi said teasingly.
Zhenniang, listening from inside, was speechless. She hadn’t expected Zhao shi to connect this with the original Zhenniang’s childhood habit of sneaking food.
Still, it wasn’t a bad explanation.
Thinking this, Zhenniang left the room, washed her face to wake up fully, and checked the time. It was only the hour of Shen – still time to deliver to the Li family ink workshop. She popped a piece of rice crust in her mouth to fill her stomach and carried the prepared soot to the workshop.
“Zhenniang, you’re here to deliver?” Just as she entered the workshop, she met Sun Yue Juan’s second brother, Sun Qianyi, who was also there to deliver.
“Yes,” Zhenniang nodded.
“You can go ahead of me,” Sun Qianyi said, looking at the long queue.
“No need, thank you, Second Brother Sun,” Zhenniang replied with a faint smile. This wasn’t like her previous life – she knew Sun Qianyi had feelings for her, but firstly, she felt nothing for him, and secondly, his mother Madam Feng guarded against her as if afraid she would seduce Sun Qianyi. Zhenniang wouldn’t waste her warmth where it wasn’t wanted, so she could only pretend not to notice his kindness.
Hearing Zhenniang’s response, Sun Qianyi awkwardly fell silent.
Zhenniang quietly stood at the end of the line, looking ahead. Manager Zheng was still checking the goods, but he worked quickly. Those bringing in processed materials were all familiar faces and their skill levels were similar. Manager Zheng usually just checked the soot’s color, and only if uncertain would he pinch and feel it. If it was roughly acceptable, he would accept it.
Soon it was Zhenniang’s turn. First came the weighing – when one jin and six liang was announced, there was a collective gasp. Until now, the most anyone had produced was just over one jin and four liang, and that was from someone who had been burning smoke for nearly twenty years.
One jin and six liang were unheard of.
Manager Zheng had noticed Zhenniang’s arrival early on and had been waiting for her to embarrass herself. He couldn’t believe she had produced one jin and six liang – even if Li Jinshui himself had done it, such an amount would have been difficult.
Immediately, Manager Zheng held the jar up to the light and noticed a hint of gray floating on the soot. He sneered: “Miss Zhenniang, this isn’t how you fake things. There’s something wrong with your soot, isn’t there? Look at everyone else’s – it’s pitch black. Why is yours grayish? You must have mixed in pine soot. I’m not criticizing, but if you can’t do it, don’t try. Don’t resort to these tricks. I wonder what kind of teaching you got at home.” Then he muttered under his breath, “Well, like father, like daughter.”
After Manager Zheng’s words, there was a burst of whispers around them.
Zhenniang clenched her fists, her face pale, her eyes cold as they pierced Manager Zheng: “Manager Zheng, look more carefully. You can pinch the soot to understand. Stop making such harmful accusations.”
The grayish tinge in the black soot was because her soot was extremely fine – the finer it was, the lighter its color appeared. This was just a visual effect that would be clear with a simple touch.
“Bah! I’ve been examining soot for over ten years. One look at this color and I know it’s mixed with pine soot. Never mind, considering you’re a Li family member, I’ll give you a face and accept it today. The workshop can afford this small loss. However, don’t collect any more materials in the future. Return the oil lamps and porcelain bowls, and we’ll consider this matter closed.”
With that, Manager Zheng ordered a worker to take away the jar.
At this point, Zhenniang darted forward and snatched the jar from the worker’s hands, holding it to her chest: “Manager Zheng, just wait. You must give me a proper explanation for this.”
Gritting her teeth as she finished speaking, Zhenniang turned and left with the jar in her arms.