Return Home, The Ink Not Yet Deep (20 episodes)
Chen Yan returns to the ancient town planning to stay only three to five days, but discovers that his father, Chen Shoumo, is behind on utility bills and…
Chen Yan returns to the ancient town planning to stay only three to five days, but discovers that his father, Chen Shoumo, is behind on utility bills and struggling to keep the "Chen Family Ink Workshop" afloat despite suffering from cataracts. His father even plans to sell ten-year-old aged ink and the land deed to pay off debts in the city. When Chen Shoumo soaks the aged ink in water to stop a buyer, A Lian reveals that money meant for his medicine was spent on tung oil instead. Chen Yan decides to stay and craft ink in his father's stead. Enduring cracked ink blocks and repeated failures with traditional techniques, he masters the process of nine steamings and nine sun-dryings as well as gold tracing. After sending his father for surgery and rejecting an acquisition offer from a tourism company, he terminates his city lease and returns to the town for good. Together with his father and A Lian, he tends the kiln, makes ink, opens experience workshops, and traces his late mother's beloved interlocking lotus patterns, carrying forward the daily life of the ink workshop.