What exactly is this?
A poem can describe it: A somber mood is rare in this world, comparable to pearls and jade in the capital. The mire cannot damage its unyielding spirit; once it enters the grand hall, its radiance shines upon its garments.
If Li Xiangdong wasn't mistaken, the wood in this pool was indeed the ebony wood, which was said to be "better to have a somber place than ten thousand taels of gold!"
Actually, ebony is not a single type of wood.
It was formed 10,000 years ago when precious tree species such as Phoebe zhennan, rosewood, and walnut were buried deep underground due to natural changes such as earthquakes, floods, and mudslides, and then carbonized over a long period of time.
Submerged wood resembles both wood and stone. Although its appearance is rough and looks like rotten wood, after polishing, it becomes glossy and shiny, smooth to the touch, has a high wood density, a special fragrance, and is extremely resistant to decay.
The ancients once described ebony as follows: "Because it carries the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and gathers the essence of the sun and moon, it is the spirit of all trees and the most revered of all spiritual woods."
Therefore, ebony is also known as "Oriental Sacred Wood".
In fact, ebony has long transcended the category of wood and entered the ranks of treasures. Ebony is rare and hard to come by, and in terms of both cultural and economic value, it can be compared with precious sandalwood.
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a Treasure Garden, which houses a large collection of wood carvings made from submerged wood. These carvings are said to bring good fortune and ward off misfortune.
Li Xiangdong walked step by step to the nearest log, pulled out an axe from his waist, and chopped it with all his might.
"Ding-dong~"
The sound of the axe striking the wood was like the sound of metal striking stone, demonstrating the wood's dense and solid texture.
Despite using so much force, Li Xiangdong only managed to leave a white mark on the outer surface of the wood, without damaging the interior at all.
"Grandpa, Uncle Yulong, please help me drag this log up!"
With the combined efforts of the three men, fortunately, the thick log wasn't buried too much in the mud; most of it was still hanging in the air, and they managed to pull it out without much trouble.
"What kind of wood is this? How can such a small piece be so heavy!"
Bai Yulong finally realized that this was not some rotten wood at all; its weight was greater than that of a redwood tree as thick as a bucket!
The log was dragged ashore, and Li Xiangdong took a look. The log was about three meters long and more than ten centimeters thick, much taller and thicker than the feng shui pillar he had placed in his office before!
Li Xiangdong asked Bai Yulong to chop off the end of the wood with an axe. Bai Yulong chopped dozens of times, sweating profusely, and finally managed to chop off a small section.
The exposed cross-section was smooth and shiny like wax. Li Xiangdong scratched it hard with his fingernail, but it didn't leave a single scratch.
If you bend down and take a closer sniff, you can still smell a faint, refreshing fragrance.
Li Xiangdong is now absolutely certain that this is indeed precious petrified wood!
ebony exterior
Cross-section of ebony
"Grandpa, Uncle Yulong, this is the wood I've been looking for. Let's hurry and move all this wood upstairs!"
Seeing Li Xiangdong's barely concealed excitement, Luo Hongkai and Bai Yulong both understood that this must be something extremely precious.
Otherwise, how could Li Xiangdong, who is usually so composed, be so overjoyed?
Without further ado, the three of them carried out all the easily accessible pieces of ebony floating on the surface of the pool, not even leaving behind a small wooden stump.
After all, even a simple bracelet made from this stuff would be worth hundreds of thousands!
After Luo Hongkai carried a log up, He Chaochao and Luo Yonggang went down to patrol and keep watch.
He Chaochao's strength paid off, and the other three were also quite strong. Even so, it took them five or six hours to move the six pieces of ebony wood onto the surface.
The process of transporting it back was even more arduous. Fortunately, they ran into a few people, including the man with the missing teeth, who rushed back and helped them deliver the ebony back home.
"What is this thing? Why is it so heavy!"
When the man with the missing teeth took over, he didn't think the little piece of wood could be very heavy, but when he picked it up, it felt so heavy that he almost stumbled.
Erjie also said, "I've never seen such a heavy piece of wood before."
Luo Hongkai laughed and said, "This is just a pine tree, a bit oilier. It's not as exaggerated as you're making it out to be!"
After examining the rough, rotten, and whitish wood closely, everyone exclaimed, "Why go through all that trouble to drag it back?"
Luo Hongkai explained, "My grandson likes it and wants to take it back to use as kindling."
Li Xiangdong also said, "We use tarpaulins to start fires where we're from, but tarpaulins are too expensive, we can't afford to burn them! Luckily, there's a big truck hauling pigs, so I'll take some wood back to burn and save money!"
Everyone suddenly realized, "Oh, the people of the plains are so pitiful, they even cherish a broken piece of wood like this!"
But when they got home, they wondered if they could start a fire without any dry grass or anything.
As soon as he said this, his wife, who was just about to fall asleep, slapped him. "Look at you, dawdling like that! The God of Wealth who came to buy wild boar only took some wood back with him, and you're already making such wild guesses!"
After being slapped by their wives, they stopped thinking about it and drifted off to sleep.
The next day, some people even brought a lot of pine roots cut into small strips.
"Head east, this stuff is very oily, it catches fire very easily."
"Take this bag and burn it first. I'll get you some next time you come."
Li Xiangdong accepted the gifts with a smile, and took out several feet of Dacron fabric from his own bag as a return gift.
After going for two or three days in a row, Li Xiangdong felt like his whole body was about to fall apart, and everyone else felt the same way.
So, the group decided to rest for two days before going up the mountain.
Li Xiangdong slept for eighteen or nineteen hours before he could finally recover. Li Jiabao was so scared when he saw that his second brother was still not awake that he would climb onto the bed from time to time and use his index finger to check if his second brother was still breathing.
When Li Xiangdong woke up groggily, Li Jiabao was tiptoeing over again.
He wanted to tease his younger brother, so when Li Jiabao put his finger to his nose, he deliberately held his breath and didn't pant.
Li Jiabao waited for a long time, but why couldn't his second brother breathe through his nose?
After thinking for a while, his face turned pale!
"Wow--"
Li Jiabao suddenly burst into a loud cry, running outside while sobbing, "My second brother is dead—"
Luo Yonggang, who was cooking in the main room, dropped his ladle into the pot with a clatter. Ignoring the fire on the stove, he hurried inside.
Li Xiangdong hadn't expected to frighten his younger brother so much, so he quickly sat up and called out to Li Jiabao.
"I'm not dead!"
When Li Jiabao turned around, he cried even harder, "It's come back to life—!"
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