Zheng Xiujin and his son looked at each other, not knowing why his father called him at this time, but he still took off the backpack containing quarrying tools from his back.
After entering the room, he saw that his father was already dressed and sitting by the bed. He looked energetic and did not look seriously ill at all. He was even in better condition than before he fell ill. How could Zheng Xiu Jin not be suspicious?
I'm afraid this might be my father's last gasp of energy, right?
Zheng Xiujin suppressed his heavy heart, forced a smile and walked over, "Dad, why don't you sleep a little longer?"
Father Zheng glanced at his son. How could he not see what he was thinking at this moment?
"Don't worry, I'm in good health. I didn't ask you to come here to tell me my last words. How could I bear to die before I see Brother Fu get married and have children?"
"Pah, pah, pah, why are you talking about death for no reason? Dad, you will definitely live a hundred years."
Father Zheng: "After you left last night, I saw Yu Nu again. She gave me a jade bead, saying that it has the ability to distinguish jadeite. If you wear the jade bead on your body to gamble on the rough stone, if there is jadeite in the rough stone, the jade bead will get hot. The better the quality of the jade, the higher the temperature of the jade bead."
Zheng Xiu Jin felt like he was listening to a fairy tale, and he opened his mouth for a long time, unable to react.
Zheng's father knew that he didn't believe it, so he took out the jade bead his daughter had given him and handed it to his son, saying, "Try it out and you'll know."
It just so happened that the Zheng family had a few pieces of rough materials hidden. Although the Zheng family had failed, it was once the number one jade family with a good foundation. There were several pieces of rough materials passed down from their ancestors, which were of excellent quality and the probability of producing jade was extremely high.
This was the foundation for the Zheng family's turnaround, so no matter how difficult the Zheng family had been over the years, they had never sold those pieces of raw material.
Zheng Xiujin came out of the house in a daze, holding a small jade bead.
"Dad, what does grandpa want to talk to you about?" Zheng Feibai came forward.
Zheng Xiujin took a deep breath, but said nothing. He only ordered, "Go and bring up those pieces of raw materials hidden in our cellar."
"ah?"
"Ah what? Go quickly."
"oh."
There were five pieces of raw material in total. The largest one was as big as a bathtub, and the smallest was only as big as a watermelon. The father and son took a lot of effort to move these pieces of raw material out of the cellar.
Zheng Xiujin held the jade bead in his left hand, walked to one of the rough materials, and touched it with his right hand.
At that moment, the originally cool jade bead in his left hand suddenly became hot, and the temperature continued to rise, as if it was going to burn through the palm of his hand.
Zheng Xiujin: “!!!”
He suddenly retracted his hand, and the temperature of the jade bead in his left hand gradually dropped.
He continued the experiment, and when he touched the second piece of raw material, the jade bead didn't react at all.
There were three pieces left, and only one made Yuzhu hot, but the temperature was nothing compared to the first piece.
Zheng Feibai watched his father's strange behavior and couldn't help asking, "Dad, what are you doing?"
Zheng Xiujin suppressed his inner excitement and said, "Bring me the stone-cutting tools."
Zheng Feibai was delighted. "Dad, you are finally willing to untie these pieces of wool?" He quickly took the things and handed them over. "Here."
Zheng Xiujing untied a piece of rough material that did not heat up the jade beads. Instead of doing it slowly, he simply and roughly placed the chisel on a certain part of the rough material and then hit it hard with a hammer.
After a few hits, the raw material cracked in the middle and split into two.
Although there was no electricity or machines in that era, the wisdom of the ancients was endless. There were special stone-cutting machines for cutting stones, and special jade-carving machines for carving jade. Jade and stone are essentially the same, so the principles of stone-cutting machines and jade-carving machines are also the same, except that jade-grinding machines are more sophisticated.
Both are made based on the prototype of a spinning wheel, which has a weight on it. When actually operating it, one sits on a high stool connected to the spinning wheel and keeps stepping on it like a water wheel. Driven by manpower, the weight in front of the spinning wheel will rotate rapidly, achieving the purpose of polishing jade.
Sometimes a person is needed in front to help move the jade and sprinkle water on it.
Therefore, the rotary mill is also called a water mill.
In addition to this foot-operated carousel, there is also a more convenient and compact carousel that can use a handle to drive the weight, so that one person can also operate it.
In addition to the millstone, some rotary machines are also equipped with a millstone. The millstone is the counterpoint and the millstone is the opposite point, which can directly cut off a large piece of stone.
What Zheng Feibai brought was a small stone-cutting machine that could be operated with a handle, but Zheng Xiujing didn't use it at all because he had already believed his father's words. There was no jade in the rough material to be cut, so there was naturally no need to be so careful and slow in figuring it out.
And the cross-section exposed after the stone cracked did not show any trace of jade.
Afraid that he had made a mistake, Zheng Xiujing even used a hammer to smash the two halves of the stone, but still no jade was found.
It seems that what my father said is true!
The magical power of the jade bead was verified, and Zheng Xiujing was so excited that he was trembling.
Zheng Feibai mistakenly thought that his father was devastated. After all, he had collected the rough material for so many years, but after unwrapping it, he didn't see any jade. No one could bear it.
"Dad, it doesn't matter if this one didn't come out. We still have four pieces. I'm sure one of them will come out."
Zheng Xiujin grinned, his entire face relaxed. As the de facto head of the family, burdened by the weight of life, he hadn't laughed so heartily in a long time. But at this moment, if he weren't concerned about his neighbors, he would have laughed out loud three times.
"Dad knows. Dad is not disappointed. Dad is happy."
Zheng Feibai became even more worried.
"Move these two pieces back." Zheng Xiujing was referring to the two pieces of raw materials that had made Yuzhu hot before.
He moved the other two jade beads that did not react directly to the corner of the wall.
After keeping the jade beads close to his body, he still took his son out to quarry stones.
Although he now has the jade beads, Zheng Xiujin is well aware of the principle of being in possession of a treasure, so he does not plan to make any changes for the time being. It will not be too late to take action after he has figured out how to use the jade beads without leaving any trace.
At noon, the father and son, who had been busy all morning, found a place with shade and sat down to eat the pancakes prepared by their daughter-in-law in the morning.
As he was eating, a neighbor came running over breathlessly, "Zheng, Brother Zheng, Feibai, something terrible has happened! Brother Fu was hit by a car and was bleeding profusely! He was already dead when he was brought back—"
Before the man could finish his words, Zheng Feibai had already run past him and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The pancake in Zheng Xiujin's hand fell to the ground. The moment he stood up, his eyes went dark and he staggered back a few steps. His foot was tripped by a stone and he fell to the ground.
The neighbor hurried forward to help him up, "Brother Zheng, you can't fall down."
Yes, he can't fall down. What will happen to his whole family if he falls down?
Zheng Xiujin suddenly felt a surge of strength and, with the help of his neighbor, he stood firm. "Let's go."
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