Su You asked Shi Da to make a pottery mouth with only a small opening at the front and a porcelain plate with a circular groove pressed out with a round bamboo stick.

Then use bamboo to make a pump, put the mouthpiece on the pump, mix graphite with clay to make black mud, squeeze the graphite mud through the small holes of the pump like toothpaste on the small grooves of the porcelain plate, and send it

Put it into the kiln and bake it together with the pottery bowl.

In the same way, more than ten kinds were prepared according to different proportions. After they were fired, they were tested one by one on the pottery bowl.

There is no way, the current writing paper is too soft and cannot bear the tip of the pencil.

However, I finally burned out a suitable pencil lead and noted down the ratio of various blacknesses.

Cheng Wenying became more confident after seeing the clay materials for sealing. He came over to see what Su You had tinkered with and asked, "My dear nephew, what is this?"

Su You said: "This, I call it a pencil."

Cheng Wenying said curiously: "It's obviously..."

After saying this, he suddenly became alert and whispered: "Understood, misleading outsiders, right? The scratches on this pottery pot really look like lead marks."

After saying that, he looked at the pen refill and said, "This is too thin and I can't hold it."

Su You broke off a branch and asked Shi Da to cut it in half, clean the veins in it, and just enough to insert a piece of pen refill. Then he applied sawdust and glue, clamped the refill, and set it on fire to dry.

He scraped the outer skin smooth and sharpened the nib. He smiled at Cheng Wenying and said, "Look, uncle-in-law, this is enough."

Cheng Wenying took a piece of pottery and lightly scratched it with a brush: "It's not easy to use."

Su You smiled and took the pencil, put the pottery piece on the table, and wrote ten words on it: "The sun sets over the mountains, and the Yellow River flows into the sea." Then he said: "Brother-in-law, this is how you should use this money."

Cheng Wenying smiled and said: "That's not bad. At least the characters are small and it saves paper. Oops, it's hard to find paper that can handle your money."

Su You said: "Indeed, so paper also needs to be modified."

Cheng Wenying was holding a water cup and wanted to take a drink of water. Hearing this, he felt that his temples began to feel tight again: "My nephew, according to your opinion, should we go to the paper mill again? I used to be really leisurely..."

Su You said: "If there was a kind of paper that could be printed on both sides..."

Cheng Wenying put the cup on the table and said, "What are you talking about?! Hurry up!"

Su You said: "Wait a minute, I'll bring some Guanyin clay powder."

I brought a basket of the finest Guanyin clay powder, said goodbye to Shi Dongxiu, and made an appointment to bring someone from the bookstore to make the printing embryo tomorrow.

Su You and Cheng Wenying rushed to the Cheng family's papermaking workshop.

Papermaking requires a lot of water, so it's usually near a stream.

The papermaking workshop is surrounded by bamboo trees and has a beautiful environment, but you can smell it from a distance.

Su You thought, maybe it's time to make some masks.

The foreman of the papermaking workshop was Lao Xu. When his employer came over, he thought something was wrong. When he found out, it was the young master of the Su family who wanted to conduct an experiment.

New paper still starts from experiments.

Su You asked Lao Xu to drag over a large vat with similar equipment. The first difference was that Su You added some Guanyin soil mud to the paper pulp, accounting for about 20% of the pulp.

After letting the workers mix it into a suspension, start paper manipulation.

The second difference is that the number of paper operations has doubled with the new method, which means that the theoretical thickness of the final paper will be twice as thick as normal book paper.

Then the third difference is that Suyou did not let the workers stick the paper to the wall. Instead, he spread fine cloth on the wooden board, spread the paper, pressed the fine cloth, the wooden board, and then pressed the stone slab.

Just like this, one piece of paper was processed, and after a while, all the stone slabs on the small dam of the workshop were used up.

Then Su You asked the workers to light a fire under the stone table and bake it.

Soon, new types of paper came out.

This paper has been pressed, and its thickness is about the same as rice paper, but it is obviously much tighter and wider than rice paper. When I shake it with my hand, it makes a squeaking sound.

And with the addition of Guanyin soil, the whiteness has also increased a lot.

There are also fine lines of cloth printed on the paper.

Su You then asked workers to polish the paper surface with smooth pebbles, and then removed the fine powder attached to the surface. The white paper became smoother.

The fibers are covered with Guanyin soil powder, leaving almost no trace.

Su You handed the paper to Cheng Wenying: "Uncle-in-law, look at it."

Cheng Wenying was an expert and could see the usefulness of this paper at a glance: "My dear nephew, you want to lie to me again. This paper can be printed on both sides, and it is also excellent for making book covers. But you are afraid that it is because of your weird

Is it designed with a pencil?”

Su You chuckled: "I can't hide anything from you, uncle-in-law, you see."

After speaking, he took a pencil and wrote on the paper, "If you want to see a thousand miles away, reach a higher level." Then he handed the pen to Cheng Wenying: "Brother-in-law, come and try it."

Cheng Wen took the test with two words, laughed loudly and waved his hands and said: "No, no, it seems that you need to practice this pencil calligraphy alone. I can't even compare with your five-year-old child! Your calligraphy is suitable for children.

I can only write small characters, not big characters."

Su You smiled and said: "Indeed, but this paper has another big advantage."

After saying that, he picked up a cooking cake on the table, took off a piece and rubbed it on the words. The two ugly words of Cheng Wenying disappeared without any trace.

Su You smiled and said: "The advantage of this thing is not in literature, but in the workshop."

It was Cheng Wenying's turn to be lost in thought again. After coming back to his senses, he quickly grabbed the cakes and pencils and observed them carefully. After a while, he was surprised and said: "What kind of saying is this?"

Su You pursed his lips and said, "In this case, put the paper away first and then show it to your uncle-in-law when you get back."

After rolling up the paper, the old man and the young man returned to the city.

When he came to the study, Su You took out a newly made small ruler, compass, set square, caliper, took out a pot lid, and said, "Uncle-in-law, let me demonstrate it to you now."

After measuring and drawing on the cassette, a pattern of a pot lid was quickly displayed on the white paper.

Standard engineering drawings, three views, top view, front view, there is no left view of the pot lid, so a cross-sectional view was drawn.

Various detailed parameters mark all the minute dimensions of the pot lid.

Lao Yu and Lao Han came over to report on the progress of the day's work. When they saw the drawing, they immediately understood the benefits: "Oh! This French drawing is as fine as a millimeter. With this French drawing and our small ruler, the potter can make exactly the same pot lid.

Come!"

Lao Yu happily picked up the caliper and measured the pot lid while comparing the numbers on the drawing: "Wonderful! Wonderful! In the past French drawings, the pictures are pictures and the text descriptions are text descriptions. How can it be so clear at a glance!"

Su You said: "This method cannot be used by people like you, Yu Gong. All the laws are in your hearts. Just like the Master said, 'Follow what your heart desires without going beyond the limit.'"

"But for skills to reach your level, it takes decades of hard work. And this method is to let the big workers leave the drawings, so that all the small workers can make according to the drawings and measuring tools.

You can free up your hands to improve things that are the same as great craftsmanship. This is the value of this method!"

Lao Yu and Lao Han were horrified, but Lao Han was fine. Lao Yu bowed his hands to Su You and said, "Old worker, on behalf of my two incompetent sons, Yu Da Er, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Su."

Cheng Wenying thought a little deeper: "In those days, the Master handed down poems and books, teaching all kinds of things, so that I can continue the Chinese ethics and culture. My dear nephew, the value of your move, to Baigong, is probably...

I’m afraid…”

After I finished speaking, I felt a bit embarrassed about the words. I felt ridiculous comparing a five-year-old child to the Master.

Su You said: "I don't dare to compare myself to Master. Su You just thinks that many of our Song Dynasty's exquisite craftsmanship have been passed down orally for thousands of years and have been lost. For example, Lu Ban's flying wooden bird, the mouse machine man, such as Tang Mo's knife shape,

For example, Zhuge Mu’s cows and horses...it’s such a pity.”

Cheng Wenying breathed a sigh of relief and felt okay. If this nephew really did it deliberately, his heart would be a bit too big.

After eating, Cheng Wenying completely relaxed and Su You's behavior returned to normal. This kid is a glutton!

He is directing Ma Li and Chef Zhou to make kimchi!

The mustard greens and ginger, which are specialties of southern Sichuan, were given to Suyou and Shi Da made a lot of them in the vegetable garden yesterday, and they are now wilting in the sun.

Cheng Wenying felt quite distressed when he saw Su You using large jars of snow salt to make brine.
Chapter completed!