The Dao dies but I live on, the spiritual energy dries up but I remain evergreen

this day.

The clay king Zhang Huochai asked all the apprentices to put all the porcelains they had fired this month on the ground so that he could check the results.

Soon, the floor was filled with porcelain.

Some are burnt, some are semi-finished, and some are just average looking.

Zhang Huochai looked at them one by one, frowning, and seemed not very satisfied.

However, when he walked in front of Liu Han, he stopped, picked up a porcelain figure, and looked at it carefully from left to right and up to down.

His frown gradually relaxed.

As he nodded repeatedly, there was a hint of relief on his face.

He said "good" several times and patted Liu Han on the shoulder.

Liu Han was so excited that his face turned red, and he almost jumped up to celebrate. His lover Zhang Qiuci looked at this scene and covered her mouth and chuckled.

As soon as Zhang Huochai left, the bright girl immediately came to her lover and praised him, "Brother Liu, you are amazing. My father is very strict with porcelain, and you are the first one to be praised."

"No, no." Liu Han grabbed the back of his head, trying hard to suppress the upward curve of his mouth.

The other apprentices were jealous and resentful.

After the inspection was completed, according to the usual practice, two apprentices would be sent to take the porcelain to the town to sell it.

Half of the money earned is given to the Mud King, and the other half is distributed among the apprentices.

The next morning.

Zhang Huochai and Li Changxiao picked out the porcelain pieces that looked good one by one, and then placed them carefully on a wooden cart.

When the wooden cart was full, they secured it with ropes and coarse cloth, then the two men pulled the cart towards the town.

The porcelain craftsmanship of clay king Zhang Huochai is very famous in the town.

We had just arrived at the town and after shouting and calling for less than two hours, they were sold out.

Liu Han sighed, a hint of sadness appearing between his brows.

Li Changxiao was curious and asked Liu Han what was bothering him.

Liu Han told Li Changxiao that when he first became an apprentice, seven years ago, the porcelain he made was extremely popular.

Li Changxiao asked, "Isn't it very popular now?" So many porcelains were snatched away in less than two hours after arriving in the town.

Liu Han added, that’s different. In the past, these porcelains didn’t need to be taken to the small town to sell. They were purchased by the rich people in the small town who went to the Clay Figurine Village in person.

And about three years ago.

Porcelain is becoming increasingly difficult to sell, and it is getting harder every month.

Liu Han's eyes were full of worry. After thinking about it, he could only think of one reason: the increasing taxes.

On the way back to the village, Liu Han paid for a bowl of hot noodles for Li Changxiao out of his own pocket. The shop owner poured the mutton bone broth that had been simmered for ten hours on the noodles and sprinkled some chopped green onions on it, making the noodles fragrant.

After eating and drinking, the two men pulled the wooden cart towards the village. It was getting late and there were many jackals at night, so they had to get back as soon as possible.

On the way, Liu Han saw a colorful flower and thought of his sister who had prepared dinner in the porcelain kiln and was waiting for him, so he decided to pick one and take it back.

After picking the flowers, the two quickened their pace and finally arrived back at the Clay Figurine Village before the sun set.

Half of the money earned is given to the Mud King, and the other half is distributed among the apprentices.

Generally, apprentices who have studied for a longer time and have better skills can get more money.

Wait until all the copper coins in your hand are divided.

Someone immediately complained: "Liu Han, you took part of it for yourself, how could it be so little?"

"Yes, I am eight cents less than last month. How did you divide it?"

"You are so good, Liu Han, you are trying to be sneaky with me, right?"

The apprentices were filled with anger and immediately started to attack, as they had long been unhappy with Liu Han.

Zhang Han frowned, "You all know that under the current circumstances, the price of porcelain is too high and it is hard to sell. I, Zhang Han, did not take a penny! Brother Chang Xiao can testify for me on this point!"

Li Changxiao immediately raised his hand, "I can testify."

"You're not a witness!" An apprentice immediately pointed at Li Chang and cursed, "He's an outsider, who knows if he's in the same group with you?"

"I think the two of you are in cahoots with each other!!"

As soon as these words came out, other apprentices immediately responded, "Yes, they are in cahoots with each other!!"

"Qiu Ci is really blind to fall for someone like you!"

"I think Qiu Ci is not a good person either!!"

One of the apprentices even started to curse Qiu Ci.

Hearing this, Liu Han's expression instantly became murderous. He raised his fist and swung it at the apprentice.

Bang.

The apprentice's nose was bleeding.

Seeing this, others attacked Liu Han together.

He even didn't let Li Changxiao go, and wanted to drag him in and beat him up.

However, the dozen or so people present were all subdued by Li Changxiao in less than a few seconds.

When he was knocked to the ground, the apprentice who was about to attack Li Changxiao suddenly remembered that this guy was a famous martial artist with martial arts skills.

“What’s going on!??”

Zhang Huochai arrived late.

After learning the whole story, he was so angry that he scolded the apprentices present, saying that they were narrow-minded, small-minded, suspicious, and would never achieve anything great, and would never be able to make good porcelain in their entire lives!

"Master Zhang, you are not much better! You are also blinded by money. How much silver did Liu Han give you? You even sold your daughter to him!"

One of the apprentices no longer held back and directly retorted.

Perhaps he had learned enough skills, or perhaps he knew that there was no possibility for him and that bright and lovely girl to be together anymore, so the words he spoke were extremely unpleasant.

Zhang Huochai was so angry that he almost couldn't breathe, and he told the apprentice to get out.

The apprentice was straightforward. He glared at Zhang Huochai fiercely, strode out of the door, and when he passed by Liu Han, he deliberately bumped him with his shoulder.

However, when he passed by Li Changxiao, he suddenly restrained himself a lot, because he knew that this man could knock him down in just one second.

"Puchi." Li Changxiao couldn't hold back his laughter.

Not long after that apprentice left, the second, third, fourth...apprentices all walked out.

Until there were only four people left in the kiln: Li Changxiao, Liu Han, Zhang Qiuci, and Zhang Huochai.

Zhang Huochai was trembling all over, muttering "ungrateful wolves, all of them!"

He had long seen that Zhang Qiuci and Liu Han were in love and had reached the stage of discussing marriage. The reason he kept delaying the marriage was that he wanted to wait and see whether other apprentices still had a chance.

But I didn't expect that my good intentions would result in this.

Zhang Huochai's body became hunched, and he seemed to have aged many years in an instant.

"Qiu Ci, you and Liu Han choose a day. Also, Liu Han, from now on, I will completely stop practicing and pass on all my skills to you." Zhang Huochai said.

"Master..." Liu Han felt his arm being pinched by Zhang Qiuci, and quickly changed his words: "Dad, I will definitely treat Qiuci well!"

"I feel relieved after hearing your words." Zhang Huochai nodded, and then looked at Li Changxiao: "And you, when I teach Liu Han, you can just watch from the sidelines. Learn as much as you can. When you finish learning, it will be considered your talent, and I won't charge you any more money."

I can tell.

Zhang Huochai may not be without feelings for those apprentices.

The departure of his apprentice made him feel disappointed.

Some people say that the aging of the body is not real aging, but the aging of the heart is the real aging.

Li Changxiao felt that this sentence was very applicable to Zhang Huochai.

In just a few short minutes, he saw a person instantly go from middle age to old age.