Chapter 17 — Pottery Kiln Fire Keeper

After nearly three weeks of busy searching, Khac Ben finally contacted his uncle who planted pine forests in the western mountains and agreed to provide a large amount of good quality pine firewood at a reasonable price, although long-distance transportation costs made the total cost significantly higher than the original estimate. Mr. Vong had to borrow another loan from the local credit fund, mortgaging part of his remaining assets to have enough capital to manage, a decision that made the whole family sad but left him with no other choice.

This special batch was prepared more carefully than any previous time. Van Khe and Khang spent hours recalculating the yeast ratio, adjusting the recipe based on what they learned from the previous test batch, and meticulously planning the kiln stacking to optimize the flow of fire and fly ash for the most important items — especially a large tea set, which is intended to be a representative work, containing the full essence of Nguyet Bach enamel if successful.

The day the fire was started, the weather was initially quite favorable, clear sky, light wind. But on the fourth day of the firing, when the kiln entered the most important heating stage, the weather station suddenly announced that a tropical depression was forming in the East Sea, likely to directly affect the area within the next forty-eight hours, accompanied by heavy rain and strong winds.

— Impossible, — Van Khe exclaimed when she heard the news, her face pale. — Right at the most important moment...

— We have to reinforce the roof of the shelter and prepare a more protective tarpaulin, — Khang said, trying to keep his voice calm even though he was no less worried inside. — If heavy rain dampens stored firewood, or gusts of wind suddenly change the airflow in the furnace, the consequences will be unpredictable.

The whole group - Van Khe, Khang, Khac Ben and a few more mobilized neighbors - worked all night to reinforce the entire area around the furnace, cover the pile of firewood with many layers of tarpaulin, and dig more drainage ditches around the furnace floor to avoid flooding. But despite our best efforts, no one can anticipate every situation that nature can bring.

*

The night the depression landed, the rain began to fall heavily from early evening, becoming more intense as the night wore on, accompanied by strong gusts of wind that made the whole factory shake. Van Khe, Khang and Khac Ben took turns standing by the furnace, constantly checking the air vents and adjusting the amount of firewood to maintain a stable temperature despite harsh weather conditions.

— There is a problem with the fifth compartment air vent! — Khac Ben shouted loudly through the howling wind and rain, running to check. — The pouring rain causes a sudden drop in temperature, the temperature gauge is dropping rapidly!

Van Khe rushed over and tried to cover the air vent with a spare tarp, but strong gusts of wind continuously tore the tarp from her hands. Khang rushed to support, both of them braced themselves against the wind, but the situation was still not very positive.

— The temperature dropped too quickly, — Van Khe said, panic gradually appearing in her voice. — If the heat is not compensated in time, the glaze will not flow evenly, possibly damaging the entire oven cavity!

They put all their strength into adding the remaining dry firewood stored carefully in the warehouse, trying to push the temperature back up, but the rain still showed no signs of letting up, and the wind continued to howl non-stop for many hours. By morning, when the rain began to subside, all three of them were completely exhausted, their clothes were soaked, their limbs were shaking from cold and fatigue, but their eyes still did not leave the oven doors, following every smallest movement of the fire inside.

— I tried my best, — Khang said, his voice hoarse from staying awake and screaming against the storm all night. — Now the only thing left to do is wait.

Van Khe nodded, but her heart was filled with a vague fear that she didn't dare put into words — the fear that, no matter how hard they tried, this sudden storm might have caused irreparable damage to the kiln on which the family had staked almost all their remaining hopes.

*

The next morning, when the sky had cleared, Mr. Vong went to the factory to check the situation. His face showed concern when he saw an unusual cloud of smoke rising from a different corner of the furnace than usual.

— Khe, come here and see, — he called, his voice tense.

Van Khe ran over and saw a long crack appearing on the wall of the furnace in the sixth compartment, where last night's strongest wind had attacked directly. The crack wasn't large, but it was enough for a blast of cold air to seep inside, completely disrupting the thermal balance they had tried to maintain all night.

— No, — she whispered, her trembling hand touching the crack in the wall of the furnace that had cooled but was still warm. — Impossible...

She knew that with such a crack appearing right in the middle of the important heating phase, there was a high possibility that all the ceramics in that kiln cavity, including the special tea set that she and Khang had put all their effort into testing the improved Nguyet Bach enamel formula, would not achieve the expected results, and could even completely crack due to heat shock.

But the furnace is still burning, the process must continue until complete, it cannot be stopped midway without causing even greater damage to all the other furnace chambers. Van Khe stood there, looking at the fateful crack, with a heavy foreboding of what was waiting ahead, when in three days, the kiln would be opened to reveal the final result of all the efforts, hopes, and debts that her family had bet on this fateful batch.

— Can I get a temporary filling? — Khang asked, running to her side, already holding some reserve plastic clay for emergency furnace repairs.

— Filling is okay, but it cannot completely restore the tightness as before, — Van Khe replied, her voice trembling, trying to suppress her despair. — This compartment is considered to have lost temperature control, we can only try to minimize damage to neighboring compartments.

She carefully filled the crack with flexible clay, her hands shaking from both cold and anxiety. Khac Ben held the temporary shield tightly while the clay began to harden under the residual heat from the kiln walls. The job requires absolute meticulousness, because even if the filling is uneven, small gaps can still cause cold air to continue to creep in, further damaging neighboring oven compartments.

— Ms. Khe, — Khac Ben spoke up, his voice trying to be encouraging even though he was also full of worry, — even if compartment six was okay, the remaining five compartments were still stable all night long. It's not a complete loss, don't be discouraged.

Van Khe nodded, trying to give a forced smile, but in her heart, the worry about the special tea set - the thing that carried both enthusiasm and hope for perfecting Nguyet Bach enamel - still did not subside. She remembered every hour of working hard at the turntable to shape each small bowl, every night staying up late with Khang calculating the yeast ratio, all of which could now go up in smoke just because of a sudden tropical depression.

The next three days of waiting passed more intensely than any previous wait for the oven to cool. No one in the house said much, each person had their own anxiety, trying to stay busy with odd jobs so as not to have to face directly the insecurity that was growing with each passing hour. Mr. Vong, even though he tried to appear calm in front of his daughter, still often stood silently in front of the kiln late at night, looking distantly at the kiln cavity with the fateful crack, as if silently praying for a miracle to come, even though he himself clearly understood that in the wood-fired pottery profession, miracles are rarer than anything else.

Khang also cannot avoid sleepless nights. He spent most of the waiting time reviewing all the notes and calculations he had made, trying to find out if there were any technical errors, even though in his heart he clearly understood that the sudden tropical depression was something beyond anyone's control.

— If the results are not as expected, — he told Van Khe one evening, when the two of them sat together on the porch, — don't blame yourself. Natural disasters are something that no one can predict, even the most skilled artisans have encountered them.

— I know, — Van Khe replied, her voice sad, — but I still can't help but think, if I had prepared more carefully, reinforced sooner, maybe things would have been different. The whole family took out more debt to make this batch. If it fails, I really don't know what to do next.

Khang held her hand tightly, his eyes steadfast in the darkness.

— No matter the outcome, I will be here with you, — he said. — We will find a way together, even if we have to start from the beginning.

That promise somewhat eased the anxiety in Van Khe's heart, but could not completely erase the feeling of insecurity that was weighing on the whole family, as the fateful day of opening the furnace was approaching every hour and every minute.