Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1314: Chapter 1310: Tung Oil

Seeing this jar, not only did Qin Lianshan become intrigued, but even the shopkeeper and the old cashier standing in the store gathered around, curiously examining the jar.

”The texture of this is quite thin, somewhat like pottery, but the patina and glaze color seem a bit strange. What is this thing?”

Qin Lianshan took out a magnifying glass and looked around the jar from front to back, top to bottom. He again circled the wide brim and belly of the jar for a half day, knocking on it with his hand, yet he couldn’t discern what it was.

He straightened up, a look of disappointment on his face. He felt it neither looked like black pottery nor porcelain; instead, it seemed like an imitation made to look old. He wondered why Huo Sining bought it, probably mistaking it nine times out of ten.

Qin Lianshan had never seen genuine Liang-Jin Zitao before, and the jar bought by Huo Sining was coated with a thick layer of black grime, not matching the legendary ”as thin as paper, purple hue” features of Zitao.

”Purple hue” doesn’t refer to the purple color of the Zitao itself but rather the purple halo it casts under light, seemingly about to shine through.

However, the light in this shop was quite dim, and this piece of Zitao was sullied with grime, causing even its patina to be less solid. Thus, it looked dull, and it was indeed hard to see any problems with the naked eye.

The old man glanced at Qin Lianshan’s expression, realizing he couldn’t discern this item. He couldn’t help but chuckle a few times, turned to Huo Sining, and asked, ”Young lady, would you mind if I help you clean this up?”

Huo Sining was somewhat surprised as she looked at the old man. Seeing his confident demeanor, she knew he had noticed something was applied on the jar, so she nodded and said, ”It would be my pleasure if the gentleman would oblige.”

Upon receiving Huo Sining’s consent, the old man did not hesitate and turned to the old cashier in the store, saying, ”Yu Zhanggui, do you have any tung oil and clean white gauze? If you could kindly fetch them for me.”

”Tung oil?”

Qin Lianshan was puzzled for a moment. Tung oil is usually applied to wooden furniture for maintenance; what was Old Bai planning to use tung oil for?

The old cashier also showed a look of confusion. Having been immersed in the ceramics industry for decades, he had never heard of using tung oil to clean ceramics. However, since Mr. Bai said so, he surely had his reasons. The shopkeeper dared not ask more and hastened to prepare the tung oil and gauze.

Tung oil is the oil extracted from the seeds of the tung tree, which has a long cultivation history in our country. As early as over a thousand years ago during the Tang Dynasty, it was recorded, and during the Yuan Dynasty, it was introduced overseas by the Italian explorer Marco Polo for cultivation.

Tung oil appears clear and transparent, dries quickly when applied on wooden items, and can withstand high temperatures and corrosion.

In ancient times, tung oil was used in many places, such as in furniture, ships, and buildings, as a maintenance cure-all for wooden items before the advent of paints.

Antiques and precious items covered in grime cannot be casually dealt with; one must specifically analyze the substance coating them before concocting a specialized formula for cleaning.

Huo Sining knew only that the Zitao she bought was covered in a layer of black grime, but she didn’t know what the grime was, making the cleaning process rather troublesome.

However, when this man named Bai spoke up, Huo Sining understood what he intended to do.

Still, it was her first time learning that tung oil could also be used to maintain ceramic items, which made Huo Sining very curious.

While this group was waiting, Yu Zhanggui returned after more than ten minutes, panting heavily.

He was carrying a small bowl and had a thick stack of white gauze draped over his shoulder. He rushed into the room and placed everything on the table, awkwardly smiling:

”Mr. Bai, sorry to keep you waiting. Our store usually doesn’t keep this stuff in stock, so I had to borrow it from the furniture store across the street.”

This was true. Ordinary furniture stores keep some tung oil available, but ceramic shops definitely do not.

Though tung oil is transparent, it contained a lot of impurities, which was clearly poor-quality.

Seeing that tung oil, Mr. Bai frowned but had no choice. It was already challenging enough to obtain this much tung oil.

Given the limited conditions, he didn’t fuss over it, and instructed Yu Zhanggui further: ”Yu Zhanggui, could you please bring two more large bowls and a bottle of clean water?”

With the items fetched, Mr. Bai then folded the gauze into three layers over the bowl and slowly poured the small bowl of tung oil onto the gauze.

The tung oil seeped through the gauze, dripping into the bowl, leaving a thick layer of impurities on the gauze.

After filtering in this manner two or three times, the impurities in the small bowl of tung oil were cleaned out.

Once filtered, Mr. Bai poured a bottle of mineral water into another clean bowl, then added about a spoonful of the filtered tung oil, using a chopstick to stir continuously in a clockwise direction.

Chemically speaking, oil is insoluble in water, but as Mr. Bai stirred, the tung oil, originally like egg white, visibly dissolved into the water.

Seeing this scene, everyone was dumbfounded.

Even Qin Lianshan was astonished; it was his first time knowing tung oil could be configured into such a secret formula.

After mixing tung oil and water, Mr. Bai soaked a clean gauze into the mixture. Once the gauze was saturated, the old cashier, following Mr. Bai’s instructions to clean the black ceramic jar, also brought the jar back.

This jar, despite being washed, still had black grime covering its surface, looking dull and quite unappealing.

The person using the Hidden Mist technique cleverly applied a layer of black oil on the surface of the pottery, making it seem like a layer of grime formed from oxidation after the pottery had aged, which generally went unnoticed by most people.

This is a characteristic of pottery; like porcelain that turns slightly yellow over time, pottery, when eroded by time, forms a layer of substance on its surface, giving it a dusty, dull appearance.

Grabbing the clean gauze to dry the pottery, Mr. Bai then reached for the gauze soaked in the tung oil mixture. He meticulously began wiping the entire surface of the Zitao with the tung oil-soaked gauze.

After each part of the jar was evenly coated with the tung oil mixture, Mr. Bai swiftly took a fresh piece of clean gauze and vigorously rubbed it over the jar.

The curious onlookers watched Mr. Bai’s actions without blinking, and soon everyone’s mouths gaped in surprise.

As Mr. Bai vigorously rubbed, a thick layer of black grime quickly appeared on the clean gauze.

And where the grime had been wiped off the jar, a deep, vibrant purple hue revealed itself to the crowd.