Village Chief Xu gave Uncle Xu a thumbs up: "Uncle Xu, I didn't expect that your hearing is much better than mine."
"I could hear the car from that far away. He really is the best carver in our village, with such sharp hearing and eyesight!"
Uncle Xu smiled awkwardly, thinking to himself: He was just lucky; who would have thought that they would arrive just as he casually mentioned it.
The brigade secretary realized that Uncle Xu probably didn't want to listen to Village Chief Xu, so he just said it casually.
"Alright, let's hurry out and greet them. We can't keep them waiting."
When Village Chief Xu and his group saw two cars, they were already surprised. But after Huang Qinqin and the others got out of the car, they said there was another one behind them.
"Secretary, Village Chief Xu, we may have to trouble you to wait a little while, there is another vehicle that has not yet arrived."
The last bus was carrying Japanese people. Halfway there, one of the Japanese people needed to use the restroom, so we haven't arrived yet.
While waiting for others, Huang Qinqin introduced George to Village Chief Xu and the others.
George knew that Uncle Xu was the craftsman who would be carving for him today, and he politely shook hands with him.
After shaking hands with George, Uncle Xu was a little dizzy. He never expected that at his age, almost in his coffin, he could still shake hands with a foreigner.
It's true that even if someone lives to be a hundred, there's still plenty of excitement to be had.
The group waited another ten minutes, but the Japanese car still hadn't arrived. Huang Qinqin noticed that George was starting to sweat and his expression was gradually becoming impatient.
He whispered to Manager Gao, "Manager Gao, why don't we go over with Mr. George first? I see Mr. George is sweating."
Manager Gao was also very dissatisfied with the Japanese, feeling that they were really lazy and had too much to do.
“Mr. George, how about we split up? Let’s go see the craftsman carve for you first.”
"As for our guests from Japan, we can leave two people here to wait for them. Mr. George, this way please."
George was already getting impatient and was thinking of just giving up, but seeing that Manager Gao and his group didn't wait for the Japanese made him feel much better.
"Okay, let's go take a look first."
......
Village Chief Xu kept Huang Qinqin's words in mind: it was essential to highlight that the carving was very difficult and precious.
So today he specially arranged for the carving to take place in a warehouse in the workshop.
Yesterday they urgently moved the bamboo cups out of the room and decorated it to look like a carving workshop.
So when George walked in, he saw a bunch of fancy tools and dozens of polished bamboo cups with no patterns on them.
As the saying goes, experts see the details, while laymen just watch the spectacle.
If someone knowledgeable were here, they would know that most of the tools in this room are not used for carving.
However, George and his friends didn't understand. Seeing so many unused tools in the room, they assumed that the owner of the room must be a master!
George asked with some anticipation, "Are all the tools in this room this master's?"
When Uncle Xu heard George's question, he felt guilty and dared not answer.
Because this room was decorated by Village Chief Xu overnight, it was the first time Uncle Xu had seen the decorated room.
The main reason he felt guilty was that he saw the sickles they used during the autumn harvest still in the room!
Using tools to make a scene is one thing, but this is just too outrageous!
Seeing that Uncle Xu Liu hadn't answered the question for a long time, Village Chief Xu answered for him directly: "Yes, they are all his tools."
Upon hearing this, George nodded in satisfaction and then handed the two portraits he had prepared in advance to Uncle Xu.
"I want to have portraits of these people engraved on the surface of the cups. Can only one person be engraved on each cup, or can all of them be engraved?"
George prepared two paintings, one of which featured most of the characters from the Sherlock Holmes books.
The other painting only features five important characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, James Moriarty, Irene Adler, and Mycroft Holmes.
Since it was Village Chief Xu who had just answered, George assumed that Village Chief Xu was Uncle Xu Liu's assistant, so George was asking him this question.
However, this really touched on a blind spot in Village Chief Xu's knowledge. He had no idea how to carve, so he could only look to Uncle Xu Liu and wait for his answer.
Uncle Xu originally wanted to say that it was fine, but then he remembered what Village Chief Xu had said yesterday: the carving had to be made to look difficult in order to earn more money.
He then changed his tune, saying, "Each cup can only be engraved with one person. If you want to replicate both paintings, it's very difficult and will cost extra."
George expressed his understanding and said, "Of course, now please sculpt this figure first."
Uncle Xu nodded as he looked at the person George was pointing at, and then picked up his tools and began carving without saying a word.
George was initially very interested in watching, but after 20 minutes, when he realized that Uncle Xu had only carved one head, he became restless.
However, judging from the parts that Uncle Xu had already carved, George knew that he could definitely replicate it to an 80-90% degree.
Just then, all the Japanese people arrived, and George suggested, "There are too many people, and the friends who come later won't be able to see anything. Why don't I go for a walk?"
"This gives the friends who come later a chance to see it. I think the replica is perfect. They can just come back and see the finished product."
"Mr. Dumpling, you're so thoughtful. Let's go out for a stroll then."
Manager Gao asked Fang Chuchu and Huang Qinqin to stay, instructing them, "You two stay here."
"If it's already finished carving, but we haven't come back yet, Chuchu, come out and look for us."
"Okay, no problem."
When Uncle Xu first noticed that George had gotten up, he panicked, thinking that George was dissatisfied.
Later, after hearing the translator's words, I realized that he just wanted to go out for a walk, probably because he had been waiting for too long.
In fact, with Uncle Xu's skills, it could be completely carved in half an hour.
However, Village Chief Xu instructed him to carve slowly, partly to ensure a perfect replica, and partly to give people the impression that the carving was very difficult.
Now that George is about to go out, Uncle Xu looks at Village Chief Xu with his eyes and asks: Should I take it slow?
Village Chief Xu nodded: Of course, take it slow, don't rush.
Uncle Xu continued carving slowly this time. The Japanese people who came later were amazed when they saw the parts that Uncle Xu had already replicated.
"Oh my god!"
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