Shui Yiyao: "But, if no one learns this craft, it will be lost."
The old man is already seventy years old this year. If he doesn't have a successor to truly inherit the craft, then this craft will be lost.
Old Master Sun turned his head to look out the window and shook his head: "It's lost——"
"It was meaningless to begin with. If it's lost, then it's lost."
Elder: "How can it be meaningless?"
He frowned, disapproving. "Your iron-jade fusion technique successfully blends the iron and jade into one, recreating the fusion technique used on the jade-handled iron sword from three thousand years ago. The excavation of the jade-handled iron sword directly set a new record for the earliest beginnings of iron smelting in my country."
"You've recovered not only technology from thousands of years ago, but also the wisdom of our ancestors from thousands of years ago. The significance of this is self-evident."
Sun Jiyun listened to the elder, looked at him, smiled bitterly, and shook his head: "Meaningful things have the opportunity to be passed down on their own. There is no need to force it."
Elder: "How do you know that now is not that 'opportunity'?"
Sun Jiyun didn't say anything, just lowered his head, shook his head and sighed.
Zhao Mingjue also spoke up, "Master Sun, maybe now is the right opportunity. We are all here sincerely to learn the art. Why don't you give it a try?"
Sun Jiyun: "My apprentices also told me that they were sincere in learning the art. I taught forty-five apprentices, but not a single one of them succeeded. They all went their separate ways."
He shook his head: "I am sorry for them."
Craftsmen, craftsmen, make their living by their craft. As a master who teaches a craft, he didn't pass on his skills properly. Even among his forty-five apprentices, although a few learned the craft, in the end, none of them could make a living by using it. They could only rely on government subsidies, but how long would those subsidies last?
If we cannot create social benefits and still have to rely on social subsidies, what is the point of inheritance?
Several people were silent.
Shui Yiyao suddenly asked, "Then why do you insist on doing this?"
Upon hearing this, Sun Jiyun looked at Shui Yiyao and frowned suddenly.
But he didn't answer anything, only his pupils seemed to dilate slightly.
After waiting for a while, no one in the room spoke, there was just silence.
Zhao Mingjue advised, "Master Sun, let's just forget about us. Look at our little girl, she's injured and in a wheelchair, and she came to see you. It's not easy. It's not kind of you to let her go back empty-handed."
Sun Jiyun listened to this and looked at Shui Yiyao's legs, slightly concerned: "What is this...?"
Shui Yiyao didn't care much: "It's just a minor injury. I did it by accident, don't worry about it."
It wasn't Old Sun who injured her leg, so how could she use this to pressure him? Besides, she could understand some of what Old Sun said.
Just like with finger knife carving, she never dared to take in apprentices. Whether they could be taught well or not was still a question, and whether the apprentices could make a living from this skill was also a question.
In this society, not everyone is like her, where one person feeds the whole family. If her apprentice cannot make money to support his family with this skill, she cannot bear the responsibility.
Making iron jade is difficult, and Mr. Sun can't guarantee that he will teach them. If they don't learn it and waste time, it will be a waste of time.
Even if you learn it, no one can guarantee that you will win a prize, and you won't make any money. Ultimately, it's just a waste of energy and time.
Mr. Sun didn't want to see such consequences, so naturally he was unwilling to teach.
She understood...but it was such a pity.
"This..." Old Master Sun looked at Shui Yiyao's wheelchair, feeling somewhat moved. He stood up and said, "I have something here that you might need. I'll find it for you. Wait a minute."
Shui Yiyao: “?”
After Mr. Sun stood up, he walked into the store.
After a while, Mr. Sun came out with something in his hand.
"Can you see if this can be used?"
He brought the thing directly to Shui Yiyao and handed it to her.
Shui Yiyao looked at the thing in front of her. It was just a wooden product, like a big pair of pliers.
Mr. Sun: "It's a robotic wooden arm. If you have difficulty moving, this can help you get things. If you sit like this, you can reach things on high shelves."
"I made this out of boredom. See if it works."
Shui Yiyao took it.
It's made of wood, but it's just a stand, not heavy at all. It looks like a pair of pliers, and the brakes use a gear system, so it seems simple and convenient to use.
Old Sun pointed to a brush on the display cabinet and said, "Try to see if it works. I haven't used it in a long time."
Shui Yiyao followed Elder Sun's instructions and tried to pick up the brush. She was not very skilled at first, but after trying twice, she gradually became more stable and easily took it down.
This wooden arm is really convenient.
She took the brush off and put it in her hand: "Your brush is really useful."
Old Sun smiled and said cheerfully, "If you can use it, take it and use it."
Shui Yiyao was surprised: "I'm so sorry to take your things for free."
Mr. Sun: "It's not a rare thing. I made it myself, just two pieces of wood."
Shui Yiyao stroked her wooden arm and said, "That's not what I meant."
She suddenly looked up, as if remembering something, and took out her own bag from the bag next to her wheelchair. She began to search inside. "It's really not good to ask for a gift from you for nothing. I just happened to bring a toy that I made myself, so I'll give it to you as a return gift."
She took out a piece of jade from her bag.
It was a piece of ordinary Qinghai material, not particularly valuable. It also depicted Guan Gong, a figure she had carved before on a white jade folding screen. She'd taken time to practice Tibetan line carving, fearing her hands were rusty. The result was quite good, though it wasn't polished, so it wasn't as shiny.
She handed the jade forward to Mr. Sun: "Take a look, I carved it myself." She smiled and imitated what Mr. Sun had said before: "It's just a stone. If you like it, keep it."
When Mr. Sun saw the jade carving she handed over, he wanted to refuse it, but before he could say anything, his eyes fixed on it and he stopped talking.
He took a look at it and took the jade carving hesitantly.
After getting the jade carving, he held it above his head and looked at it carefully under the light.
"Is this a Tibetan line engraving?"
"yes."
"I remember it, it's lost."
“When I learned it, it hadn’t been lost yet.”
Old Sun looked at the jade carving in his hand carefully again.
"Beautiful." He sighed.
Shui Yiyao: "Not bad."
The lines of Tibetan line engraving are very rich and the patterns are flexible, so it looks beautiful.
Elder Sun looked at Shui Yiyao and asked, "Did you make this?"
Shui Yiyao nodded: "Yes."
Old Sun took out another pair of glasses from the display case, put them on, and looked at the jade carving again. "Tibetan line carving is even more difficult than refining iron jade. It must have taken you a lot of effort to learn this, right?"
Shui Yiyao nodded: "It took quite a bit of effort."
Old Sun took a look and asked Shui Yiyao, "Young friend, can you carve with your finger?"
"It's my old profession."
"Do you know how to carve gossamer hair?"
"Just so."
Old Sun nodded and looked at Shui Yiyao with some disbelief.
He looked at and stroked the jade in his hand, muttering to himself, "What would the effect be if iron ore was melted into the carving marks of the hairspring..."
He looked at Shui Yiyao and asked, "Young friend, do you want to visit my workshop?"
Shui Yiyao was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then immediately replied, "Yes, I do. I really do."
Did Mr. Sun finally give in? He suddenly asked her to visit the Iron Jade Workshop?
Mr. Sun: "Let's go, it's just behind the yard."
He said to everyone, "Will you be so kind as to go and take a look together?"
The elder breathed a sigh of relief.
This is a willingness. He looked at the Tibetan jade carving of Guan Gong in Sun's hand, which he was unwilling to let go. He probably knew why Grandpa Sun changed his mind.
Maybe he felt that he saw hope.
If Shui Yiyao can learn hidden line engraving, then the success rate of learning to fuse iron and jade will be at least very high. Not to mention Shui Yiyao, all the jade carvers on this trip have a solid foundation in basic skills, so there is basically no need to worry about the problem of not being able to learn by teaching.
More importantly, the old man may have thought that there was a way out by integrating iron jade into Tibetan line carvings, which could make the iron jade better and the Tibetan line carvings better.
This person is not afraid of anything except losing hope.
As long as there is hope, who wouldn’t want to give it a try?
Ao Li pushed Shui Yiyao's wheelchair and followed behind Old Sun to the backyard. The three elders also followed behind.
The backyard of Tieyuge is larger than the storefront. It is a large shed. When you walk into the door of the backyard, you will see a huge boiler with some tools placed next to it.
hot.
The boiler should still be on. The temperature in the entire backyard is much higher than outside and it is very stuffy.
The walls of the greenhouse are also black, and it can be seen that they were blackened by smoke in the later period.
When Mr. Sun came in, he took off his coat and put it on the shelf next to him. He walked towards the boiler and rolled up his sleeves: "We need to melt iron, so it's always high temperature work."
Everyone followed him.
There is a big basket next to the boiler, which is filled with some black metal materials, big or small, piled together. The pile of black metal blocks is taller than a person.
Old Sun pointed and said, "Those are waste iron from smelting. There are too many impurities and they can't be used anymore. They need to be purified again."
Shui Yiyao looked around and took a look at the layout of the backyard.
After looking around, she pointed to one of the large baskets next to the boiler and said, "That's filled with iron ore."
Elder Sun nodded: "That's right."
She looked at the other large baskets again: "Where is the iron smelting agent?"
"yes."
Shui Yiyao took a look and speculated, "That's iron ore mixed with a molten iron agent, put into a boiler to turn into molten iron, taken out of the boiler, cooled into iron mud, and then directly applied to the jade before it sets."
"Water enters, the iron smelting agent evaporates, and the iron ore is left behind."
"Polishing and polishing."
"The finished product is out."
Elder Sun nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "That's right. That's right."
Although the process only consists of a few steps, Shui Yiyao saw it clearly at a glance when she came in and was very insightful.
Shui Yiyao: "I want to try."
Old Sun looked at her, tightened his grip on the Tibetan jade carving of Guan Gong, looked at the large boiler next to him, and nodded: "Then you can try it."
Ao Li immediately lowered his head to look at Shui Yiyao, and looked at the foot in her hand.
"It's too hot near the boiler, and your wound hasn't healed yet, so it will hurt."
Shui Yiyao didn't care: "It's okay, just for a moment."
Just a moment?
Ao Li looked at her feet. Of course, it was only for a moment, but if Old Sun really decided to teach her skills, it would take more than a moment.
She will continue to learn here for a long time, even though her foot injury has not yet healed.
But there's nothing I can do.
This is her.
Ao Li sighed softly and pushed Shui Yiyao's wheelchair to the workbench close to the boiler.
He stood nearby, trying to position himself between Shui Yiyao and the boiler, shielding himself from the scorching heat emanating from it. "Tell me what you want."
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