Chapter 189 Twenty-Four Pillars Luban Lock
"It counts! Of course it counts!" The old stall owner nodded quickly.
"Girl, pick whichever you like!"
Jiang Ling turned to Xiao Ran and Xiao Yi: "You two each pick one, take whichever you like."
Upon hearing this, the old stall owner's lips moved. He had only promised to give away one, but seeing Jiang Ling's generosity and amazing skills, his slight resentment vanished instantly. Oh well, what harm is there in giving away one more when you can meet such a kindred spirit!
Xiao Ran and Xiao Yi happily agreed and began to carefully select their items.
One chose the ingeniously structured Luban ball, and the other chose the uniquely shaped octagonal ball.
Jiang Ling took out some silver coins and said to the old stall owner, "The stall owner said he would give us one for free, so I will only pay for one."
The stall owner was somewhat surprised. He had just convinced himself to give away two, only to find that the other party had no intention of taking advantage of him at all; he had been cynical.
The old stall owner quickly waved his hand and said sincerely, "Young lady, your skills are superb, and you are truly destined to own these Luban locks. In that case, I'll give you both."
Seeing his resolute attitude, Jiang Ling stopped insisting on paying.
Her gaze swept over the stall again, and she asked with a hint of curiosity, "Why don't you have any 24-pillar Luban locks here, stall owner?"
"Twenty-four pillars?" The old stall owner was taken aback, then shook his head.
"The highest level of our ancestral craft is only eighteen pillars. I have never heard of anything with twenty-four pillars."
Jiang Ling was somewhat puzzled. Could it be that the Luban lock had not yet been developed to the twenty-four pillars in this era?
She suddenly felt a playful urge.
Without saying much, she picked up two twelve-pillar Luban locks from the stall, skillfully disassembled them into parts, took a few loose wooden strips from the stall table, slightly polished the long pillars inside, adjusted the interlocking angle of the tenons and mortises, and reassembled them, actually managing to put together a twenty-four-pillar Luban lock.
When she was little, she lost a few pieces while playing with a 24-pillar Luban lock. Then she had a sudden inspiration: she disassembled two 12-pillar Luban locks and combined them with the remaining parts to actually put together a 24-pillar Luban lock.
Fortunately, I still remembered how to do it.
She weighed it in her hand a couple of times to make sure the mortise and tenon joint was secure.
"Since the stall owner gave us two gifts, I will give him a gift in return."
Jiang Ling handed the unprecedented 24-pillar Luban lock to the old stall owner.
The old stall owner had been watching her movements the whole time, not understanding what she was doing. He thought she was just playing around and felt a little displeased.
But as the wooden block gradually took shape in her hands, his eyes widened in disbelief!
With trembling hands, he accepted the brand-new lock, so excited he could barely speak.
It is important to know that the ancestors of the clan devoted their efforts to gradually developing the Luban Lock from six pillars to eighteen pillars.
And this young girl in front of us actually created a 24-pillar Luban lock out of thin air!
"This...this..." The old stall owner looked at Jiang Ling, his eyes filled with shock and gratitude, as if he had seen the ancestral master appear.
He took a deep breath and bowed solemnly to Jiang Ling.
"Young lady, you are truly talented! I have learned a great deal from you! May I ask your honorable name?"
Jiang Ling smiled slightly: "I wouldn't call myself a great talent, it's just some small tricks, I'm glad the stall owner likes them."
Seeing that more and more people were gathering around, Zhao Jingxing, worried about Jiang Ling's safety, stepped forward.
"Miss Jiang, the tofu pudding is ready."
Cheng Jiaojiao immediately pulled Jiang Ling along, "Sister Jiang, let's go eat tofu pudding!"
As soon as the group left the stall, they were surrounded by a group of curious people.
On the stall, Xiao Ran asked curiously, "Sister Jiang is so amazing! How does Sister Jiang know all this knowledge?"
Jiang Ling thought for a moment, "Hmm...it's all from books. So you all need to study hard from now on, understand?"
After they finished eating the tofu pudding, they turned around and saw that the Luban lock stall was still there, but the stall owner and the twenty-four-pillar Luban lock had disappeared.
Jiang Ling glanced at it and thought to herself that the stall owner was too impatient; she hadn't even explained how to solve it yet.
However, considering that they are the inheritors of this skill, they should be able to find a solution soon.
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The old stall owner's surname was Lu, and his given name was Heng. He was one of the direct descendants of Luban lock craftsmanship in the capital.
He carried the twenty-four-pillar Luban lock and practically ran all the way back to the alley where his family lived.
This alley is hidden in the old neighborhood in the southwest corner of Beijing. The bluestone road meanders, and there are courtyards with blue bricks and gray tiles on both sides, with lanterns bearing the character "鲁" (Lu) hanging at the entrance.
The Lu family is renowned for its exquisite woodworking skills, especially its ancestral Luban lock craftsmanship, which is considered a family treasure.
However, although the technique has been passed down to this day and the ancient methods have been preserved, it has inevitably fallen into a bottleneck. The highest level it has evolved to is only eighteen pillars, and there has been no progress for many years.
As soon as he pushed open the main gate, Lu Heng shouted at the top of his lungs, "Clan leader! Elders! Something terrible has happened!"
Lu Heng went straight to several respected elders of the clan, including the clan chief who was over eighty years old and had white hair and beard.
When Lu Heng carefully presented the unprecedented 24-pillar Luban lock, the previously quiet hall erupted in a commotion.
The one leading the group was Lu Zhengming, the patriarch of the Lu family. He took the Luban lock, examined it carefully for a full quarter of an hour, and then slowly spoke:
“Our Lu family has been passed down for hundreds of years, and at most we have only made eighteen pillars. Today, someone has actually made a Luban lock with twenty-four pillars!”
"Lu Heng, where did you get this? Were you tricked by someone with some kind of contraption?" an impatient elder asked.
Lu Heng quickly recounted his extraordinary encounter at the temple fair, focusing on how the young woman effortlessly unlocked the Eighteen Arhat Locks and how she casually combined two twelve-pillar locks to create the twenty-four-pillar lock before him.
The other two elders also took turns taking the Luban lock and studying it.
An elder tried to move the outermost wooden pillar, but it did not budge.
Another elder tried to pry it open from the side, pressing his fingers until they turned red, but the lock remained secure.
The group sat around the Luban lock for half an hour, their paper filled with disassembly sketches, but they couldn't even take down a single wooden pillar. Frustration gradually crept onto their faces.
The twenty-four-pillar Luban lock was passed around among the people before finally returning to the table in front of the clan leader, still perfectly intact.
The clan chief remained silent until he reached out his hand, covered in age spots, and accepted the Luban lock.
My fingers gently caressed the intricate mortise and tenon structure.
The hall fell silent, and everyone held their breath as they watched the clan leader.
After a long while, the clan chief dejectedly lowered his hand and sighed deeply, "Ingenious craftsmanship...unbelievable...I...cannot solve it."
Even the most skilled and experienced clan leader was at a loss!
Now, no one doubted the lock's authenticity or value.
"The design concept of this lock is completely different from our traditional one. It's like taking a different approach and pushing the interlocking of mortise and tenon joints to the extreme. The person who can make this lock must be a top master of Luban lock making, and may even... have surpassed the techniques we have inherited."
"A prodigy! That girl must be an unparalleled genius!"
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