{"product_id":"xi-shi-teapot-180cc","title":"Xi Shi teapot, 180cc","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen the greyish-blue morning light climbed up the bookcase, Zhou Mingyuan was pounding mud again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThose hands, covered with age spots, rested on the red clay ball, with the knuckles protruding like old bamboo roots. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBeside the clay stool are seven Xishi teapots. From their greenness to maturity, the bodies of the teapots have witnessed \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe passage of fifty years of dawn and dusk.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Old Zhou, it's time to take the medicine.\" Lin Wanqiu came in carrying a white porcelain bowl, with a few pieces of Angelica \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esinensis deposited at the bottom. She always says that the medicine in a purple clay teapot is warm, but she doesn't know \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethat her husband secretly pours the medicine into a pot of asparagus fern in the corner. The asparagus fern became even more verdant, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003erustling in the through wind as if laughing at its childishness.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMingyuan suddenly grabbed Wanqiu's wrist, his cloudy eyes reflecting the golden ginkgo outside the window:  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Xi Shi's shoulders should be rounder.\"  Wanqiu's hand trembled, and the medicinal liquid rippled along the rim of the bowl. Ever since \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMingyuan's Alzheimer's disease worsened, her husband has always regarded her as an apprentice at the Dingshu Town Purple Clay \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFactory in the past.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe purple clay on the clay stool was tinged with a warm ochre red, which was the decayed bottom trough clear that Wanqiu had left \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eovernight. When Mingyuan's fingers drew arcs on the mud pieces, his wrist suddenly trembled severely. The clay strip snapped into \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003etwo pieces with a \"pop\", and the splashed clay stars landed on the front of Wanqiu Yuebai's dress, scattering specks of cinnabar.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"I'll come.\" Wanqiu sat down next to her husband. Two pairs of withered and wrinkled hands were folded on the turntable, like two \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eentwined old vines. The turntable creaked and sang an old tune, and the clay strips stretched out into a full moon in their palms.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen the clay body was about to take shape, Mingyuan suddenly hummed \"Jasmine Flower\", the tune they always sang when \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003efacing the clay body beside the dragon kiln in 1968.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn the day of Cold Dew, Wanqiu fainted while carrying purple clay. The diagnosis certificate was hidden at the very bottom of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003echest of drawers, pressing down the photo of them on their golden wedding anniversary. Recently, Mingyuan has been talking to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe air, saying that the newly obtained peach blossom clay pairs perfectly with the bluish-gray segments, and that what kind of glaze \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eshould be matched with Master Gu Jingzhou's Tibi teapot. Wanqiu was often awakened by the noise of the clay stool in the middle of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe night. She saw her husband holding a bone needle and carving characters on the still wet body of the teapot. After carving, he would \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003equietly smooth it out with mud.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn the early morning of the Winter Solstice, Wanqiu never woke up again. Beside her pillow lay a newly made Xi Shi teapot. The knob of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe teapot was carved into double lotus flowers, and the two characters \"Far Autumn\" were hidden at the bottom of the teapot. Mingyuan \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esat in the rattan chair with the teapot in his arms all day long. Snow particles tapped on the flower window and accumulated a thin layer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eon his shoulders.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe following spring, when the son was tidying up the workshop, he found an unburned teapot. The body of the teapot is tilted like an \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eold woman on the verge of death, but there is a silver ring embedded in the handle - precisely the dragon and phoenix bracelet that Wanqiu \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eused as her dowry back then. When the kiln fire reached 1280 degrees, the lid of the teapot suddenly emitted a clear and melodious sound.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe body of the teapot that came out of the oven was emitting a strange metallic luster. Facing the light, one could see the fine fingerprints \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eon the inner wall of the teapot, pair upon pair, like palm lines that could never be touched.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt the bottom of the teapot, there is a double lotus flower, and the character \"autumn\" hidden in the center of the lotus is still stained with purple clay.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe character \"yuan\" at the stem of the lotus is slanted, with its last vertical stroke stretched out very long, like a ferry crossing where no one can return.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"www.chinxingtc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44776370045126,"sku":null,"price":105.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0689\/3781\/0118\/files\/x1.jpg?v=1753752801","url":"https:\/\/www.chinxingtc.com\/zh\/products\/xi-shi-teapot-180cc","provider":"www.chinxingtc","version":"1.0","type":"link"}