Sos Roofline Systems

This is a real-life story. A poor ironsmith was unexpectedly offered 25,000 US dollars for his small purple clay teapot! But in the end he made a ‘crazy’ decision. Is he crazy or something? Can we ever understand what he really wanted?

Here, our leading character is an elderly ironsmith. He opened a forge shop on an old street, and the shop is also his home. He runs his business in a very traditional way: he never shouts to those who go by or bargains with his customers. And he never closes the shutters at night.

If you pass by his shop, most likely you can see him relaxing on an old lounge chair. There is always a small radio in his palm, and an old-fashioned purple clay teapot by his side. Apart from food and tea, he needs nothing more.

One day an antique dealer happened to pass through the old street. By chance, he noticed the purple clay teapot beside the old blacksmith. The pot looked old and elegant, and was as dark as ink, which reminded the dealer of a master potter named Dai Zhengong.

The merchant could not help coming up to the ironsmith. He took up the teapot, and looked at it carefully. At the base of the spout, he found a small inscription with the name ‘Dai Zhengong.’ The merchant was pleased beyond expectation, for he knew clearly that each of the artist’s works was more valuable than its weight in gold.

It was said that only three of Dai’s masterpieces survived to the present: one was in the New York, another in Taiwan, and the last one was in the possession of a Chinese collector.

The merchant told the ironsmith that he was willing to pay 100,000 yuan (USD $14,700) for the pot. The old man was taken back at first, and then he turned down the offer. As his grandfather had passed on the pot to his father, this pot was an important piece of his own family’s tradition. To enjoy tea from this teapot while forging iron was an important tradition in his family.

The dealer had to go off empty-handed, but the old smith could not rest easy any more. He thought about the matter over and over again, and kept asking himself: What made him want to buy my ordinary teapot for so much money? This question clouded his mind, and he could not make sense of it.

In the past, he used to drink tea lying there, paying no attention to his teapot. At present, however, he sat up and stared at the pot for several minutes. This upset him quite a lot. When it got around that the ironsmith owned a precious purple clay teapot, people kept visiting his shop. Some wondered if he had another valuable thing, and some even asked him to lend money to them. Furthermore, some people would knock on his door late at night asking these questions. His life was thrown into confusion. He had no idea what to do about his pot.

A few days later, the merchant came over to the forge shop once again, bringing 200,000 yuan in cash. This turned out to be more than the ironsmith could bear. He called some of his neighbors to his shop, and broke up his purple clay teapot on the spot.

At present, the old black smith is 102 years old. He is still selling iron pans, axes, and dog chains.

The Chinese wisdom of life: For those who really enjoy their lives, anything superfluous is unnecessary. Most people will not be burdened with this kind of foolish parcel.