At three o'clock in the afternoon, Shui Yiyao arrived at the agreed location to gather.
They agreed to meet directly at Mr. Sun’s Tieyu Pavilion.
Tieyu Pavilion, the name of Mr. Sun Jiyun's jade carving shop, is located on Nanyang's Old Street, a street full of custom handicrafts, including various jade carving shops.
Tieyu Pavilion is at the end of the old street. Generally, the main street is bustling, and the end of the street is close to the end of the street. The Tieyu Pavilion at the end of the street is not very lively.
When Shui Yiyao arrived at Tieyu Pavilion, there was no guest there.
"Hello, would you like to see the jade piece?"
When Shui Yiyao was pushed into the Iron Jade Pavilion by Ao Li, a middle-aged man from inside the shop immediately came forward with a polite smile. His gaze lingered on Shui Yiyao's wheelchair for a moment before he looked away. Still polite, he pointed at the display case and said, "Take a look, both new and old jades are available in this shop. If you like anything, please bring it out and have a look."
"Hello. I'm here to visit Mr. Sun. Is he not here?"
Shui Yiyao also asked politely.
It is understood that Mr. Sun is 70 years old, and the person in front of him looks no more than 50 years old, and is definitely not Mr. Sun himself.
The middle-aged man paused and looked at Shui Yiyao again. He was a little puzzled: "Are you... a friend of Teacher Zhao?"
Shui Yiyao nodded. "Teacher Zhao Mingjue and I came here together. I arrived in Nanyang first, so I came here first. He's still behind us, so he'll probably be here in a while."
The middle-aged man nodded: "Oh, I see."
He smiled. "My name is Mei Xiangming. I'm a clerk at the Iron Jade Pavilion. Mr. Sun hired me to occasionally help him run the shop. Mr. Sun went out to collect jade. Before he left, he told me that Mr. Zhao would be coming with a friend at 3 p.m. as scheduled. He said he would try to be back on time."
Shui Yiyao nodded: "Twenty minutes left, I think Teacher Zhao and the others will be here soon."
Mei Xiangming smiled and said, "There's no rush. Every time Grandpa Sun collects the jade, he has to take quite a while. He basically never comes back on time. I think today will be the same."
Mei Xiangming pointed to the display cabinet and said to Shui Yiyao: "These are all the old man's works, you can take a look."
Shui Yiyao looked at the display cabinet in front of her. The tall wooden-framed glass display cabinet was filled with various jade pieces, including seed jade and mountain jade. Most of them were made with northern-style craftsmanship, and the carvings were elegant and sophisticated.
But they are just better jade carvings, not iron jade.
"Isn't it Tieyu?"
"These aren't them. These are." Mei Xiangming pointed to the display cabinet at the back of the store. "The iron jade is all here."
Shui Yiyao looked towards the display case he pointed at, feeling a little surprised.
The shop wasn't very big, with only about five or six display cabinets. The iron jade was unexpectedly in the deepest display cabinet, the least visible part of the shop.
Iron jade is a kind of inlay method innovated by Mr. Sun. Logically, it should be the flagship work of Tieyu Pavilion. How could it be hidden so deep?
Ao Li pushed Shui Yiyao towards the iron jade display cabinet hidden deep in the store.
Stopping in front of the display case, Shui Yiyao looked up.
Sure enough, this display cabinet was filled with various iron jades.
The warm jade color is more or less mixed with a hint of cold and hard metallic luster, which is the embedded iron ore.
Shui Yiyao took the crutches from the wheelchair and wanted to stand up to take a closer look.
Ao Li handed her the crutch and helped her stand up: "Be careful."
Shui Yiyao held Ao Li's arm, took the crutch, and stood up.
She raised her hand and pointed at a piece of iron jade on the top layer: "Look at that."
Ao Li looked in the direction of her finger.
There is a jade ornament with an image of Guan Gong carved on it.
This statue of Guan Gong is carved from reddish-brown seed material. Like other jade carvings, Guan Gong's image is majestic and dignified. However, Guan Gong's Green Dragon Crescent Blade is different. This long sword is inlaid with iron and jade. It is made of iron ore. The conspicuous metal texture makes it look like a real sword, as if it can cut through all evil in the world.
But because of the special way of inlaying, the iron knife and the whole piece of jade seem to be one and the same, without any distinction between you and me, not abrupt at all, but very natural.
Ao Li: "Just right, the finishing touch."
Shui Yiyao nodded: "That's right."
Mei Xiangming also stepped forward and smiled, "This is the old man's masterpiece. It took a year to make."
"pity……"
He stopped talking and sighed faintly, "It's been in this display case for almost a year, and few people have asked about it. Most of those who have asked think it's too expensive."
Little did people know that the price of this thing is just the cost price plus labor costs of less than 5,000 yuan.
Five thousand yuan... The work took over a year, and that works out to only 400 yuan a month. And they still think it's expensive. The expensive part is the material itself. This reddish-brown seed is quite large, and the cost is very high. Some jade buyers know this, but even knowing it, they still try to bargain down the price. They say—if it were just raw material, it would definitely fetch a high price, but you've processed it like this, and you're selling it for such a high price? Iron isn't worth much! Just make it cheaper!
It makes me angry just listening to it.
Shui Yiyao: "The iron ore is embedded, and the metallic luster is really beautiful. I like it."
Ao Li nodded and looked at Shui Yiyao: "Yes, it looks good."
There is a gentleness yet a strength in it, just like her.
The two were admiring the iron jade when suddenly there was movement at the door and someone came.
Shui Yiyao looked back and saw that the three people who came were the elder, Lu Jiayu and Zhao Mingjue.
She waved and greeted the three people at the door.
"Mr. Yuanlao, Sister Jiayu, Teacher Zhao. You are here."
The three people at the door looked incredulous when they saw Shui Yiyao.
They walked into the store and approached Shui Yiyao: "You're here already?"
Shui Yiyao: "I just arrived too. Mr. Sun went out to collect the jade and hasn't come back yet."
The elder looked at her feet and said, "You are still injured. We thought you would slow down and come a little later. Who knew you would be faster than us?"
Lu Jiayu walked over to Shui Yiyao and frowned worriedly at her feet. "Is it serious? That Jiu Zhangji is so shameless. How could he do such a thing!"
"Also, why don't you rest at home? You came here so soon. What are you in such a hurry for?"
Shui Yiyao smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern."
"I'm fine, just a minor injury. The doctor said I'll be back to full strength in a few days."
The three of them greeted Ao Li one by one.
The elder still looked down at Shui Yiyao's foot, which was being bandaged with gauze. "Do you want to go back and rest? I heard that your ankle bone is broken. Walking too much will affect the healing of the wound."
Shui Yiyao was stunned for a moment, then explained: "I don't have any broken bones, just a superficial injury."
"How did you hear that I had a broken bone?"
Lu Jiayu said, "The whole story is all written on the forum. It says that Jiu Zhangji hired someone to kill you and broke your leg."
"…It's not that serious. Did the forum say anything else?"
Zhao Mingjue, who was standing next to him, took out his phone, flipped through it, and handed it directly to Shui Yiyao: "Take a look for yourself."
Shui Yiyao said thank you and looked at the title of the forum post on Zhao Mingjue's mobile phone page.
[Wow! I heard Boss Chengyu got retaliated against. His leg is lame... so pitiful at such a young age. I've got pictures of the evidence.] "I'll look for it myself."
Ao Li helped her sit back in the wheelchair, she took out her cell phone and started searching for the post.
She was sitting in a wheelchair looking at the page on her phone.
It’s not difficult to find that post. It’s a high-level post, right on the homepage.
Just like what Lu Jiayu said, the post said her leg was broken by the hacking. The pictures provided in the post were of her entering and leaving the hospital.
Shui Yiyao looked at several floors and felt sorry for her.
Shui Yiyao: “…”
She followed the post below.
CD: I'm not lame, just injured. I'll be back in two weeks at most. Thank you for your concern.
After she clarified, she left the forum and returned to the homepage. Just as she was about to close the forum, she saw another message, also about her.
Or rather, about their group of people.
[I heard that Mingjue, Jiayu, and Chengyu, the three confirmed league players, have gone to Nanyang to look for Mr. Sun Jiyun. Will they succeed? I think it's doubtful.] Shui Yiyao paused and clicked on the post.
The jade carving circle is small, and no matter how small the situation is, it cannot be concealed. Everyone knows about any small thing that happens.
But what does this mean?
[That's Old Master Sun. Actually, I also think iron jade, while not very valuable, is aesthetically pleasing. If it could make it to the league, it would definitely be a plus, no doubt. It's a shame Old Master Sun never teaches anyone. I remember the last time the Luo family's talented jade carver wanted to learn, she was rejected. She pestered Old Master Sun for a month, but to no avail.] [It's probably difficult for Chengyu and the others, too. Is there anyone among them who would please Old Master more than Xiao Luo? Probably not. Xiao Luo is only eighteen, still young.] [I really don't think they can learn iron jade.]
They'll only be met with disappointment if they go to Old Master Sun. Just wait and see, they'll definitely return empty-handed. Some things, though, will simply be lost.
Shui Yiyao looked at these comments with some confusion. It seemed that none of the jade carvers on the forum were optimistic that they could learn the iron jade inlay method at the Tieyu Pavilion.
Mr. Sun is unwilling to teach?
"Sorry I'm late."
Just as Shui Yiyao put away her phone in confusion, voices were heard again at the store door.
She looked over and saw an old man with white hair, who looked energetic. He was carrying a large backpack that looked bulging.
Mei Xiangming went out to greet him: "Old man, you are back, the distinguished guests are here!"
He held onto the old man's backpack and took it off. "Is this the new jade you collected? I'll take it to the back for you."
Sun Jiyun nodded: "Thank you."
Mei Xiangming took the big bag of jade materials that the old man had received and went to the back.
Sun Jiyun first looked at Zhao Mingjue: "Hello, Teacher Mingjue!"
Zhao Mingjue also greeted him: "Hello, old man. I agreed to bring a few friends to visit the iron jade."
Sun Jiyun smiled and greeted everyone one by one.
After everyone greeted each other politely, the elder began to explain his purpose.
"The league is about to start. We'd like to learn the iron jade inlay technique from you. It will definitely be a plus in the competition."
Sun Jiyun had been smiling politely, but after hearing what the elder said, he stopped smiling, frowned, and shook his head: "This is inappropriate."
"What's inappropriate?" Shui Yiyao asked with a frown.
Sun Jiyun: "Iron and jade inlay is very difficult. If you only learn it for the sake of winning an award, it's not worth it."
Lu Jiayu: "Why not? If we take this to the competition, maybe we can win a gold medal."
The iron-jade inlay technique was invented by Sun Jiyun and has been certified as a national intangible cultural heritage item. This is a plus point in the competition.
Mr. Sun shook his head and said, "This technique is difficult. Instead of learning this, it's better to practice something else. There are many intangible cultural heritages. Anyway, if you want to win an award, intangible cultural heritage will be a bonus."
"It's too easy to fail when you practice this. Failure is a waste of time. So, if you're not truly interested, I advise you not to come and learn."
Lu Jiayu: "Your iron-jade inlay technique is a brand-new technology that has given new vitality to jade carving. We are indeed very interested in it, not just for the sake of winning the award."
Mr. Sun listened carefully to her words, and when she finished, he said seriously, "I won't teach you this. For decades, no apprentice has ever been willing to learn it seriously. I don't blame them. It's difficult and not worth it. You don't need to learn this. Learn something better. If you learn this, you won't even have enough to eat."
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