These Were His People!

A faint scent of rendered fat hung in the Bright Illumination Studio workshop, the oily smell left by ox horn.

An assistant picked up an ox horn and began explaining how they made the lamps.

"First, we select the horn. At Bright Illumination Studio, we only use the upper horns of old yellow oxen. The lower horns are too oily and porous to be of any use. Years of wind and frost leave the upper horns dense, with a deep, steady sheen."

As he spoke, the assistant tapped the horn with his fingernail. "A clear ring means it's a good horn. A dull sound means there's a hollow inside, and that makes it scrap.

"The horns we select soak in warm vinegar water for three days to remove the smell and oil. It's just like preparing jade to receive light."

After explaining horn selection, the assistant went over to an iron pot. "Once the horns come out of the water, we move to the second step: splitting them into sheets. Some workshops use fire straightaway. Bright Illumination Studio does it differently. We add ingredients and boil the horns until they're soft."

Zhang Laifu asked, "What ingredients?"

The assistant glared at him. "You think I can tell you that? It's Bright Illumination Studio's secret recipe!"

Zhang Laifu asked no more. The assistant went on. "When they've boiled long enough, we split them open with a small knife, then slowly spread them with wooden wedges. After that, we heat them over a fire, press them flat once they soften, and leave them overnight. When the horn sheets are as smooth as jade, that's Bright Illumination Studio craftsmanship."

It sounded complicated, but they were really just heating the horns and pressing them into thin sheets. Zhang Laifu understood that much.

"The third step is scraping and polishing. We trim off the burrs with a small knife, rough-polish with sharkskin, then finish with fine ash powder. Once they're scraped, we rub on a little tung oil with a linen cloth. It seals the horn and enriches its color."

By this point, Zhang Laifu felt the goddess rising higher and higher above him.

"The fourth step is assembling the lamp. We bond the shade with fish-bladder glue mixed with glutinous-rice paste. The lamp you bought also needs bronze trim. We carve cloud patterns into the bronze strips with a small chisel, then fasten them with fine nails. The edging has to lie flat and straight. It can't bite into the horn or leave a gap.

"We turn an ebony base on a lathe and inlay it with the character 'Bright' in silver wire. The horn shade, bronze edging, wooden base, and wick holder are fitted together layer by layer, then secured with bamboo pins."

By this point, Zhang Laifu felt the goddess slipping farther and farther away.

A-Qiang continued, "The last step is testing the light. We test lamps at night, using a wick dipped in sheep fat. It smells pleasant without being cloying, and its flame gives off a warm glow. It mustn't glare, leak firelight, or show the wick. Only when it passes all three tests is it a good lamp."

"A good lamp!" Zhang Laifu praised it. He was seriously weighing whether he belonged to this trade.

The assistant had shown him the entire process of making an ox-horn lamp, and Zhang Laifu's sense of connection was indeed much stronger than it had been in the candle shop.

But a goddess was still a goddess. Zhang Laifu couldn't shake the feeling that he and ox-horn lamps lived in different worlds.

"A horn grows for a hundred years, all to shine tonight." The shopkeeper approached Zhang Laifu carrying an ox-horn lamp. "At Bright Illumination Studio, we make lamps not to light the road, but to light the heart. My friend, you're a Craftsman who has entered the trades, but you haven't found your Trade Circles yet, have you?"

Zhang Laifu started. This shopkeeper was formidable. He really had lit up what was in his heart.

Ox-Horn Lamp Maker was one of the three hundred and sixty trades.

The old shopkeeper had just used Patterned Shadow Heart-Peering, the signature skill of the ox-horn lamp trade.

Different ox-horn lamps cast different patterns, and those patterns changed in different ways when they fell across different faces.

Zhang Laifu didn't hide it. "I did come looking for my Trade Circles. It's just that..."

"You don't think this is it?" The shopkeeper smiled. "I can't see a person's Trade Circles either. But I don't think you belong to my trade. Yours isn't far from here, though. Do you still want this lamp?"

"Yes!"

He had to buy it. The shopkeeper had only let him see the workshop because he'd agreed to buy the lamp.

In fact, the shopkeeper had done him a favor. "Young man, if I hadn't thought your Trade Circles were close to mine, I wouldn't have let you into the workshop for eighty Silver Dollars, much less eight."

"If my trade doesn't feel right, go have a look at Auspicious Splendor Workshop. A-Qiang, show him the way."

A-Qiang took Zhang Laifu to Auspicious Splendor Workshop. The shop was much larger than Bright Illumination Studio. A vermilion signboard with great gold-painted characters hung in the center, flanked by a couplet. The first line read: A lamp before the people, a hundred households' stories beneath its glow. The second read: A thousand layers of gauze in the hand, ten miles of spring within the silk.

This shop didn't sell ox-horn lamps. It sold Silk Lanterns.

The great palace lanterns at wealthy households' gates, the sign lanterns outside businesses, and the lanterns beneath the eaves of sprawling estates were generally all Silk Lanterns.

Silk Lanterns were plainly less translucent than ox-horn lamps, but the halo beneath the light gauze felt warmly familiar to Zhang Laifu. At least they didn't seem as far beyond his reach.

Silk Lanterns of every color hung from rows of racks inside the shop. An assistant came out to greet them. "Looking to buy a lantern, sir?"

Before Zhang Laifu could speak, A-Qiang said, "Shopkeeper Qian sent him. He's here to take a look at the Trade Circles."

Only then did Zhang Laifu learn that the old shopkeeper at Bright Illumination Studio was surnamed Qian.

"Take a look at the Trade Circles?" The assistant couldn't decide that himself, so he hurried off to find the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper of Auspicious Splendor Workshop came over, exchanged a few pleasantries with A-Qiang, then turned to Zhang Laifu. "Every trade has its rules. Some things aren't for outsiders to see. But since Bright Illumination Studio sent you, please tell Shopkeeper Qian I've granted him this favor!"

Zhang Laifu had bought an ox-horn lamp, and Shopkeeper Qian had not only sent A-Qiang to show him the way, but had also had him make an introduction. Those eight Silver Dollars had been well spent.

The shopkeeper called over an assistant and asked him to take Zhang Laifu around the workshop.

The workshop stood in the back courtyard and had three sections. The front was for cutting paper and making frames; the middle was a dry room for applying glue and mounting gauze; the rear was an open courtyard for drying lanterns. Rows of bamboo poles stood high overhead, crowded with hanging Silk Lanterns.

The assistant gave him a rough explanation. "There are five steps to making a Silk Lantern. First, build the frame by weaving thin bamboo strips or willow slats together.

"Second, paste on the gauze. We make paste from rice slurry and use it to stick the gauze to the bamboo frame.

"Third, paint the designs. The painters put flowers, birds, and people on the lanterns. Their brushwork isn't as fine as a painting studio's, but the colors have to be bright and lively.

"Fourth, seal the openings and apply oil. Once a lantern dries, we brush on a coat of oil to give it a soft sheen and protect it from damp.

"Fifth, fit the light—which just means putting in a candle.

"That's the whole process. Have a look around."

Zhang Laifu looked around the workshop, his heart stirring strongly.

To Zhang Laifu, Silk Lanterns seemed a better match than ox-horn lamps. This wasn't a goddess. It felt more like the prettiest girl at school. He touched a big red lantern, as though brushing that girl's flushed cheek.

"How much is this lantern?" Zhang Laifu wanted to buy the red Silk Lantern.

The assistant replied, "This red Silk Lantern is finely made, with choice materials. One costs thirty-eight coppers, or seventy for a pair. A Silver Dollar will buy you five."

Zhang Laifu nodded. "That's much cheaper than an ox-horn lamp."

The assistant smiled. "Brother, don't let the lower price fool you. We sell far more than the ox-horn shops. Theater troupes, teahouses, temple fairs, and spring lantern festivals all order from us—dozens or hundreds at a time. If you're a Craftsman, you won't lose out in this trade."

Zhang Laifu nodded slightly. "I think these are my people!"

Seeing that his errand was done, A-Qiang hurried back to his own shop.

Zhang Laifu approached the shopkeeper of Auspicious Splendor Workshop. "I've decided to enter this trade."

The shopkeeper was going over the accounts. Without looking up from the ledger, he asked, "You want to apprentice under me?"

Zhang Laifu nodded. "I do!"

"Young man, don't rush. Think it through first." The shopkeeper set down his abacus and looked up at Zhang Laifu. "An apprenticeship here lasts three years. I'll provide food and lodging, but no wages. Once you sign the agreement, it'll be too late to change your mind."

Three years?

Was this what people meant when they talked about spending years looking for their Trade Circles?

He really did need to be careful.

The shopkeeper pointed outside. "There's a teahouse across the road. Go have a cup of tea, think it over, and come back when you've decided."

Zhang Laifu bought the red gauze lantern and went to the teahouse. He ordered a pot of jasmine tea made from sifted leaf fragments and pondered the Trade Circle as he drank.

He touched the red Silk Lantern, and his heart beat faster and faster. Then he touched the ox-horn lamp. Despite the distance he felt from it, it still excited him.

Which one was his Trade Circles?

This business of Trade Circles was too subjective. People said you would sense yours, but not how strongly, or how fast your heart should beat, or how high your blood pressure should climb.

After drinking the pot of tea, Zhang Laifu felt a little shaky. The tea was made from the fragments left after sifting, so it didn't look like much, but the leaves themselves were good. It really did aid digestion.

Zhang Laifu had barely eaten at noon. Now it was evening, and he was hungry.

Standing on Candle Oil Road, Zhang Laifu looked around for food. There was a noodle stall by the street, but just as he was about to go over, the tip of his heart gave a sudden quiver.

Just once!

He turned and saw a passerby walking past with a lantern in his hand.

The lantern was white. There didn't seem to be anything special about it.

Zhang Laifu steadied himself and walked on along the street. After a while, he couldn't help shivering again.

What was going on?

This feeling was strange.

It wasn't strong, but it was clear.

Zhang Laifu looked around and noticed that quite a few passersby were carrying lanterns.

Every time he saw one of those lanterns, he felt the same connection—not particularly strong, but unmistakably real.

What was so special about these lanterns?

Zhang Laifu was about to ask a passerby when an assistant came running out of the teahouse. "Sir, it's getting late. Take a lantern with you."

The assistant pressed a small paper lantern into Zhang Laifu's hand.

Zhang Laifu looked at the lantern, then up at the assistant. "How much is it?"

"Nothing. It's on the house. Have a safe walk, sir." The assistant went back into the teahouse.

Zhang Laifu had ordered a pot of tea, a plate of fruit, and a plate of melon seeds and peanuts. It had all cost sixteen coppers, and they had thrown in a lantern.

He stood in the wind for a long while, gripping the lantern.

His heart wasn't beating as fast, and his blood pressure didn't feel as high, but the hand holding the lantern simply didn't want to let go.

It felt like he was holding his wife's hand.

P.S. The Paper Lantern Craftsman was one of the three hundred and sixty trades. Craftsmen in this trade made frames from bamboo strips and pasted paper over them to form shades. They made the plainest lanterns, the kind ordinary households used most. And their signature skill was formidable!