Xu Wen caught what Lian Tianqing threw over and looked at it carefully.

It was a round pen holder, short and stocky, as if it had been dug out of the soil not long ago, and was covered with loess.

Xu Wen peeled off a bit of the yellow clay shell, trying to identify the material underneath.

"The boxwood pen holder is quite thick, but the material is still not big, what can be changed to this?"

Boxwood is extremely difficult to grow, and it is usually only seen in small vessels, and it is difficult to find large materials.

The wooden box that Master Yao asked for yesterday was flat and neat, and it could be used for other purposes after being cleaned up, but the pen holder was less useful.

"Look closely. Lian Tianqing said lightly.

The color of yellow mud and boxwood is a little similar, and the pen holder has been buried in the soil for too long, and it is a little difficult to distinguish between the two. You can barely see that there are some patterns on the surface of the pen holder, but the soil is filled in the gaps, and it is difficult to see what the specific pattern is.

Xu Wen carefully identified it for a long time, and could only shake his head at Lian Tianqing.

"Follow me. Lian Tianqing said casually and walked towards the corner of the courtyard.

When he got closer, Xu Wen found that there was a small wooden house here, which seemed to be made of old wood, and it was not conspicuous at all when mixed in the old wood.

The wooden house is very small, about three square meters in size, about the size of a toilet in a modern house.

Lian Tianqing walked over, and he didn't know what switch he pressed, the front and back walls of the wooden house suddenly fell at the same time, and a large window opened on the other side of the wall, and the whole wooden house suddenly became very transparent.

Lian Tianqing walked in, Xu Wen followed behind, only to find that the wooden house was full of all kinds of tools, and immediately understood that this should be Lian Tianqing's workshop.

Lian Tianqing pressed the switch again, and the floor opened, turning over a very thick wooden plank. The planks are spread out flat on both sides and become a workbench. There are many fixed wooden boxes on both sides of the table, which are filled with bottles and jars.

This series of changes was dazzling, and Lian Tianqing took the pen holder from Xu Wen's hand and put it on the wooden table.

"Look. Lian Tianqing said casually, picked up a spatula, and scraped off the more obvious loess blocks on the pen holder little by little.

His movements were very fast, the plaster was pouring down, and in the blink of an eye, the pen holder was a flat low cylinder.

He put down the spatula and used a brush to remove the remaining dust, then replaced it with a brush dipped in some brown liquid of unknown nature, and cleaned it up little by little along the cracks of the pen holder.

The hard mud mixes with the liquid and turns into a thick muddy water, which is brushed away.

Lian Tianqing was calm, holding the pen holder in his left hand, turning it a little bit, and holding the small brush in his right hand, constantly brushing on the wall of the cylinder.

Even Tianqing's movements are skillful and swift, but even with the help of that liquid, the thick mud adheres tightly to the walls of the cylinder, and it is difficult to remove it completely. He could only clean inch by inch, slowly and continuously.

It was a long process, Xu Wen stood aside, and saw with his own eyes that the yellow mud disappeared little by little, and the patterns on the boxwood gradually became clear.

There was an indescribable sense of pleasure in the process, as if the whole world had become so clear.

After cleaning the outer wall, Lian Tianqing continued to clean the inside of the pen holder.

In the end, Lian Tianqing used a dry cloth to wipe off all the remaining traces on it, waxed it all over, and handed it to Xu Wen's hand.

Xu Wen took it in amazement.

At this time, the pen holder is still as short and stocky as before, but it feels completely different.

The pen holder is made of boxwood, the inner wall is brushed with a layer of black lacquer, and a poem is engraved on the outside.

Xu Wen gently turned the pen holder, and the poem was read out of his mouth unconsciously.

Zhizhang rode a horse like a boat, and fell asleep at the bottom of the well. Ruyang Sandou begins to face the sky, drinking like a long whale sucking a hundred rivers......"

The words are grass, and some words may not be recognizable, but this poem is familiar to him.

Du Fu's "Song of the Eight Immortals in Drinking" is engraved on this boxwood pen holder, which adds a bit of bookish and literary atmosphere.

"Yes, I can pronounce it. Lian Tianqing seemed a little surprised, and then asked, "How is this character written?"

"It's ...... The font is beautiful and round, and it looks good. ”

Xu Wen had seen others commenting on calligraphy in books before, and the words and sentences were all set up, which sounded very gorgeous. But now that he has changed, after scratching his ears and cheeks and coming up with two adjectives, he can only say "good-looking" in an ordinary way.

Fortunately, he is only a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child now, and even Tianqing has not placed too high expectations on him.

He pointed to a corner at the back of the poem and asked, "Can you see what these two seals are?"

Xu Wen carefully identified it, and could only recognize that it was all seal scripts, and he couldn't recognize a single word of what it was.

He was a little ashamed, but even Tianqing didn't care.

The two words above the square seal are the inscriptions. Qichang is Dong Qichang. The following two seals are his, one is the three characters of Dong Qichang, and the other is the bachelor of Zongbo. ”

Dong Qichang was a famous calligrapher and painter in the Ming Dynasty, whose calligraphy was in its own style, and his painting and painting theory had a great influence on the following era. Even Xu Wen had heard his name.

He stared at the pen holder and heard Lian Tianqing continue, "Xing Zhang Mi Dong, its Chang Lin Duobao Pagoda, the style of calligraphy of the Jin, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, is self-contained. This song of the eight immortals in this drink is elegant and ethereal, and it is self-sufficient. Good words need good work, this cylinder carving is excellent, the knife is like a pen, there is a sense of completion in one go, it is really everyone's work. ”

"In other words, this pen holder is actually very precious?" Xu asked.

"Celebrity calligraphy, everyone carvers, I don't know which collection has been shed out and buried in the soil to this day. Lian Tianqing's tone was light, but there were some other meanings that were inexplicable.

At this time, Xu Wen completely understood.

Treating old wood as pure wood is the mindset he was brought out during this time.

In fact, these old woods may have been just wood at one time, but they were all made into some kind of utensils.

Most of them come from the private sector, and even if they are depreciated, they are just waste wood, and they continue to be used in a different way after treatment. But there are also some of them, made by skilled craftsmen, who are genuine collectibles, in other words, antique artifacts.

These are the most precious things in this old wood yard, and the real value lies!

"What I'm really good at is not carpenter's craft. My life's work has been to restore these treasures. You take me as your teacher, and what you learn may not be what you think. Although you have already worshiped Master Lu Ban with me, I can give you another chance. ”

Lian Tianqing put his hands behind his back, stared at the pen holder, and said slowly word by word. Finally he turned and asked—

"Are you really willing to worship under my door and learn these restoration techniques with me?"

He stared at Xu Wen, as if to see his true thoughts from his face.

Xu Wen's expression was also a little strange, like an accident and a surprise. As soon as Lian Tianqing's words fell, he said without hesitation: "I am willing!"

He was so crisp that even Tianqing was stunned by him.

"You know what I'm talking about?"