Chapter 467 The Strange Mr. Fang
At three in the afternoon, Long Yuan drove me to the highway entrance. As we left, he told me to stop by the roadside before the entrance because Shaojie would be arriving a little later.
At the entrance, the two cars stopped. Long Yuan unloaded a plastic storage box. He opened the lid and said, "One leg of lamb, one leg of pork, and three broiler chickens. Everything's cleaned up."
"Why are you being so polite?"
"Compared to the help you've given me, what's this?"
I clicked the key, the tailgate rose, and he loaded it in.
At this time, Shaojie's car arrived. He came over with something and put it in the trunk, saying, "Two packs of cigarettes and some tea."
I gave a wry smile and said, "Why waste money?"
He handed me a gift box and said, "You must open this when you get home."
I asked, "Isn't it something valuable? I won't accept anything too valuable."
He said, "If you don't like it, please send it back to me, okay?"
Having said that, I accept it.
Shaking hands, waving, getting in the car. I started the car, passed through the entrance, got on the highway and sped all the way. After more than an hour, I got off the highway and got on the ring road.
When the car arrived at my door, I honked. My mother heard it and came out immediately. I opened the back cover and said, "My friends sent some pork and mutton."
I took it out, and it was so heavy. My mother opened the lid and saw, "Oh my! There are so many. Pigs, sheep, chickens."
I said, "Let's move together."
After moving the basket of ingredients into the storage room, my mother got busy, carving up the food. I parked the car in the garage, picked up the cigarettes and tea, and took the gift box upstairs.
Xiaolin said, "Are you back?"
"I even honked the horn, didn't you hear it?"
She took my things and said, "It's in the bathroom."
"Where's Xiaoyu?"
"Sister Guihua is carrying him outside. By the way, what's that in your hand?"
I sat down and said, "I don't know either. It was given to me by someone else." As I said that, I opened it and saw that it was the river stone.
Xiao Lin laughed and said, "I thought someone gave you a piece of jade."
I didn't say a word. I stood up and headed downstairs. In the study, I stroked a small stone. It wasn't big, but it held a special meaning. I had to make a shelf for it and place it on the bookshelf.
I took a picture of the stone, scanned it, and its dimensions appeared. This app is amazing. So, I headed out the door. I remembered seeing a shop called "Huaxi Arts" while driving last time, so I went there to see if they had any suitable shelves.
I walked along the way, slowly getting familiar with the new environment. In about ten minutes, I found the shop.
The boss was a man in his fifties, bald, with a large face and a tuft of beard. Calling him old man wasn't quite right; for people in their fifties these days, they weren't considered old at all.
He was sipping tea, and when he saw me walk into the shop, he smiled and nodded at me.
First, let's take a look at his wares: root carvings, small handicrafts, some stoneware, porcelain, etc. I picked up a root carving, looked it over, and was surprised to find it resembled a bird's nest.
According to my knowledge, roots spread out in all directions. How could it look like a bird's nest? I took it out and shook it towards him, asking, "Boss, how much is this?"
"Twenty thousand."
As soon as I heard his price, I knew he wasn't one to bargain. Pricing is a science, and few people quote a whole number; they always include a decimal, like 22,800 yuan. This decimal is used for bargaining.
I smiled and put the bird's nest back where it belonged. Looking at the other items, I could boldly conclude that this was the same thing I'd seen in Chenjia Town—at Lao Xiao's ex-lover's place.
He made some of the items in the shop himself. Just looking at them, you can tell he's a master of craftsmanship. I walked back and said, "Mr.'s craftsmanship is truly remarkable."
When he heard me call him "Boss" the first time and "Sir" the second time, he extended his hand and said, "Sit down, let's chat."
I sat down opposite him, and he washed and heated the cup, then poured me a small cup of tea and said, "Have some tea."
I nodded and smiled, "How did you make that bird's nest? The roots spread out as they grow downwards."
He laughed and said, "Think in reverse. Flatten the tree stump, turn it upside down on the ground, gather the roots together, and weave upwards like a bamboo basket."
I raised my head and smiled: "I am so stupid."
"It's not that you're clueless, but I rounded the edges of the stump, making it difficult for you to discern its shape. I also placed the bird's nest on its side. It looks like the roots grew like this. You're not the only one asking this question."
I took a sip of tea and asked, "Twenty thousand, no bargaining?"
He shook his head: "I open this shop not to make money, but to kill time."
Anyone else might think he's bragging, but I believe him. First, he's truly talented; his carvings have sales channels and he could make a lot of money. Second, his children are talented, and like Jiang Yiwei, they're opening a shop to enrich their lives.
I opened my phone, clicked on the photo, handed it to him, and said, "I want to make a bench out of this stone. I wonder if you'd be interested in this small business."
He looked at it carefully for a while and asked, "Do you like stones?"
I nodded.
He looked me over and said, "The pattern isn't very clear in the photo. You'd better bring the stone."
I said, "Just put the rocks up."
He said, "I know. This stone doesn't have any special features in appearance, but you have to have a reason for collecting it. It must be the pattern that has some special features. I'm going to design the shelf based on that pattern. I don't run a craft store."
I hurriedly asked, "Master, what's your name?"
"No need to worry about your surname being Fang, there's an extra dot on the beginning of the character 'wan'."
I smiled and said, "What a coincidence! My last name is Wan. I'll go get the stone."
I stood up and slowly walked back. I thought, this guy must have a story. Those who are arrogant are usually capable.
After walking for a few minutes, someone shouted, "Teacher Wan, Teacher Wan," and then a women's sports car stopped beside me.
"Yiwei?"
"Come up, why aren't you driving?"
I got on and said, "I was thinking of taking a walk, but now that the beauty is here, let's take a ride."
"When you have time, can you please go and check the feng shui of the shop for me?"
I smiled and said, "No need to look. There's an acupuncture shop across the street. You sell clothes, and it's called perfect."
She asked, "How do you know?"
"How can I not care about Yiwei's affairs?"
"Hey, seriously, how did you know?"
I said, "The acupuncture shop across the street is owned by my relative. He said there's a clothing store across the street, and the female owner is incredibly beautiful. "Beautiful" with the word "especially" in front of "beautiful"—of course it's you."
She gave me a glare and said, "No wonder Zuo Qingfen has such a crush on you."
"You're just talking nonsense."
Yiwei said seriously, "You really need to have less contact with her. If she doesn't marry in the future, you will be guilty."
"Drive carefully. New drivers shouldn't act like experienced drivers."
She smiled and walked me to the door. I waved and she left in a flash.
I took the stone and started to leave when I heard Xiaolin shouting from the second-floor balcony, "Dinner's in half an hour, where are you going?"
"Just go and come back."
I drove to the store, parked the car, walked into the store, and took out the stone.
Mr. Fang took it and placed it in a water jar beside him. I saw him smoking. I gave him a cigarette. He then put it aside, reached out and took the stone out of the jar, placed it on the tea tray, looked at it for a while, wiped it with a cloth, looked at it for a while, looked up and asked:
"What will you name him?"
"You live at the head of the Yangtze River."
He stared at me like I was a monster, and after a long while he said, "Come and pick it up at 5 pm."
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