After clenching his fists vigorously and encouraging himself mentally, Liu Dong stood up and took a few steps forward. Then he bent down and pulled out an old-looking brown suitcase from under the bed.
The few clothes inside were the only things he took with him when he secretly left his hometown. Now, more than three years have passed.
In the past three years, he has almost changed into a different person, from a simple mountain village boy to a philistine businessman.
"Alas" Liu Dong sighed softly and couldn't help but shook his head. He didn't care about his changes. What really worried him was his hometown, which he hadn't returned to in three years, and his parents, who were getting older.
After a while, after sorting out his messy thoughts, Liu Dong opened the zipper of the suitcase, opened the lid of the suitcase, and took out a black wooden box with two vivid fish-shaped patterns carved on it from under his clothes.
Box, I remember when he first carved this black camphor wood box, it was more than a year ago.
That was the first time he made his first money relying on his woodcarving skills. At that time, the money was not much, only fifty yuan, but for Liu Dong, who had almost no job at the time and was half hungry and half full every day, it was already a lot of money.
It was a huge sum of money. Now, when I think about it, it all seems like it happened yesterday.
Putting all the more than 10,000 yuan in his hand into the box, he put the clothes away again, closed the lid, and pushed the box under the bed again. Liu Dong let out a light breath and stood up slowly, feeling overwhelmed in his heart.
There was an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Indeed, there is nothing more satisfying than receiving generous rewards after putting in a lot of hard work.
After putting away his things, he picked up the alarm clock on the bedside and took a look at it. He realized that it was almost nine o'clock in the evening.
After touching his empty belly and looking at the door, Liu Dong couldn't help but give up the idea of going to the kitchen to find something to eat. After the embarrassing scene just now, Liu Dong couldn't go out to cook anymore.
Fortunately, there is still half a pack of leftover instant noodles in the drawer beside the bed yesterday, and there is hot water in the thermos next to the door, which can help to cushion the stomach.
However, this amount of food was too little for a young man who was just twenty years old. Liu Dong swallowed all the instant noodles with hot water in a few mouthfuls.
After patting his belly and feeling that he was no longer so hungry, Liu Dong pulled out his chair and sat down in front of this somewhat old-style writing desk. This writing desk was bought after he moved to this community. It was not expensive and
It also exists as his carving workbench.
Now, there are band saws, wire saws, grinding wheels, files, grinding needles, diamond carving tools and other tools used for carving neatly placed on it. These are the guys who Liu Dong eats, and the whole set cost him nearly two thousand yuan.
, it can be said that in his rental house of less than fifteen square meters, this set of tools is the most valuable. Of course, at this moment, he is carefully taking out the one about ten centimeters high from the second drawer on the left side of the desk.
The jade sculpture of Maitreya Buddha, which looks a bit rough and has a big belly and a smiling mouth, is not included.
This jade carving of Maitreya Buddha made of Nanyang sapphire took Liu Dong more than a week to carve out bit by bit. The whole piece of jade and his hand carvings would be worth selling in a high-end store.
It’s not uncommon to pay tens of thousands of dollars. If you find something you like, the price will be even higher.
However, this piece of jade is not Liu Dong's own, but is made by him for a jade shop in the antique city. Every time such a jade ornament is carved, he will receive a commission based on the level of the jade carving.
In addition to selling his own wood carvings over the years, Liu Dong has also made a lot of money through this OEM business.
Looking through the Maitreya jade carving in his hand, Liu Dong checked it one last time and felt that there were no omissions, so he nodded with satisfaction. He reached out and took out a new piece of sandpaper from the drawer on the right and began to work on the last and most important part of the jade carving.
A key process - 'polishing'.
There is a saying that 'jade cannot be made without polishing'. Without polishing, it is impossible to show the smooth and round appearance and value of jade. In the past, the ancients used corn husks to polish jade, and the surface of such jade was also polished.
It looks exceptionally smooth and moist, but now that we have sandpaper and polishing powder, no one uses this ancient method anymore.
Nearly three years of jade carving career have made Liu Dong extremely familiar with all the processes of jade carving, but at this moment, the expression on his face is still as focused as ever, and the movements in his hands are even more skillful and natural.
As time passed little by little, layers of jade chips as fine as dust slowly peeled off, and the originally rough and dull-looking jade sculpture of Maitreya Buddha gradually revealed itself under Liu Dong's skillful hands.
It showed a gentle and smooth appearance. Soon, a Maitreya Buddha statue with big ears, lop shoulders, open breasts, smooth lines of clothes, and reclining on the lotus throne gradually bloomed with dazzling brilliance.
After polishing and applying polishing powder again, Liu Dong looked over the jade Buddha, took out the carving knife again and made some small-scale modifications, and then nodded with satisfaction. He held the jade carving in both hands,
He placed it under the bright incandescent light in the room and squinted his eyes to examine it.
I saw that the Nanyang sapphire that originally looked a little turbid immediately became crystal clear under the dazzling light, and the expression of Maitreya Buddha sitting cross-legged on the lotus seat became even more vivid.
Just like this, after holding it in his hand and playing with it for three to four minutes, Liu Dong gently placed the jade sculpture of Maitreya Buddha on the table. Then he took out a beautifully packaged red box from the side, and then put some sponges inside.
Then he picked up the jade carving on the table and gently put it in.
After closing the lid of the box and temporarily putting it aside, Liu Dong took out four boxes with the same exquisite packaging but only the size of an ordinary jewelry box from the drawer on the left hand side, and placed them on the table.
It is placed together with the brocade box that originally contained the jade carving of Maitreya Buddha.
In fact, the items in these small boxes are jade materials that he purchased from the jade shop where he worked as an OEM, and then carved out some small jade carving pendants, which are basically in the shape of the common images of Guanyin and Buddha.
Jade sculptures. Although the costs are quite high and the risks are relatively high, compared to pure OEM, these small pieces of jade sculptures can make a lot more money.
After sorting out all the jade carvings that were to be handed over tomorrow, Liu Dong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After looking back at the bedside alarm clock, he realized that more than an hour had passed without him realizing it.
.It is already ten o'clock in the evening.
After standing up, stretching his stiff neck and stretching his legs and feet, Liu Dong put on the dark blue sandals he placed by the door. After listening to the noise outside, he opened the door and left.
come out.
As he expected, the living room was already dark at this time, with only the faint sound of music coming from Wang Qiang's bedroom opposite. From the familiar melody, Liu Dong immediately understood that this person who was four or five years older than him was
The beautiful lady must be holding her computer and watching "Huanzhugege" again!
The reason why he carved the wooden sculptures of the protagonists in Huanzhugege was to some extent influenced by Wang Qiang.
After turning on the light in the toilet and flushing his feet quickly, Liu Dong returned to his bedroom. After closing the door and turning off the light, Liu Dong lay on his bed. After a while, he slowly snored.
Fell into his own dreamland.
The night passed quickly. At 5:30 in the morning, when the misty light began to appear in the sky, Liu Dong opened his eyes on time.
He turned over and sat up, put on a simple pair of waistcoat shorts, and walked out of the house quickly. However, he did not go downstairs, but climbed the stairs to the roof.
Although it is July, the hottest month of the year in the north, the temperature in the morning is still a bit cool, but Liu Dong, who was already sweating a little while climbing the stairs, didn't feel anything about it.
Looking at the open roof, Liu Dong's mind expanded. He walked around on it and found a clean place. Then he faced the east, sat down slowly with a solemn expression, and then posed
The five-heart posture common in Taoist meditation. After adjusting his breathing, he slowly closed his eyes, and the muscles in his body slowly relaxed. He had been practicing the unknown internal skill for more than ten years.