As the proverb goes, there are three hardships in life, and the boat is used to sell tofu.

As a palace-level representative of the "worst profession in history", boating, iron-striking and selling tofu are all laborious, time-consuming, careful, and unprofitable jobs without exception.

Those who support the boat are afraid of drowning people, those who strike iron are afraid of going crooked, and those who sell tofu are afraid of shattering the goods.

This has become an almost eternal truth.

However, in the long flow of time, many "truths" that carry the wisdom of their predecessors have begun to embark on a biased road of no return.

The suffering of supporting the boat, suffering in drinking the water in the river, living in the boat in the river, coming and going in the wind and rain, the lonely boat drifting between the rivers and lakes, suffering in the body, and even more suffering in the heart.

In ancient times, boating was a rigid occupation.

If the technology is not good, or if the heavens are not beautiful and people are drowned, then the life of the propeller is over.

In modern times, boating is a recreational profession.

The chore has long since been replaced by bridges and powerful ships.

If you want to find a boatman, most of you have to go to the number of scenic spots.

Go farther.

Follow Xu Zhimo's poems to Cambridge University to find a boatman to sail on the Kang River.

Go to Venice to find a gondolier to support the gondola and think about the past and present life of the water city.

Which one is not an elegant and expensive job?

Closer.

Whether it is the canopy boat in Wuzhen or the nine-curved bamboo raft in Wuyi Mountain.

Which one is not a safe and profitable job?

There are three hardships in life, and this is one of them.

Besides, those who sell tofu are afraid of shattering the goods when they get up early and are afraid of shattering, so they don't pay attention to modern machinery and plastic packaging at all.

Not to mention the soy product companies that have been listed for a while, just the level of tofu packaging in any small factory.

As long as there is no strong impact of the earth-shaking mountain, it is impossible to shatter.

In case there really isn't even a machine, only the ancestral ability to make tofu.

In a country where food is the sky, hand-ground tofu is more expensive than meat.

As long as the craftsmanship is good enough, the "ancient tofu" for 100 yuan is not unsold.

More of them are eager gourmets, and really delicious tofu is not afraid of being expensive and not worried about selling.

There are three hardships in life, and this is the second.

If there is really any suffering, it is from ancient times to the present, and there is only the occupation of hand-made iron, which is on the verge of extinction in China.

Without the two bitterness of supporting the boat and selling tofu, the "only seedling" of iron has reached a new height.

I've heard of thousands of hand-fired porcelain bowls from Copenhagen, Denmark.

I HAVE ALSO HEARD OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS APIECE, PURE HAND-WOVEN BOTTEGA VENETA BAGS.

Ever heard of a handmade pressure cooker?

Even if there is, the quality is not comparable to that made by machines.

A little impurity is not clean, a small crack is not dealt with properly, and it will explode if it is said to explode, without discussion.

The iron tools tempered with industrious hands at once, whether in terms of quantity, quality, or safety, can not be compared to machine smelting.

To this day, most of the people who still think about making a living from the traditional iron-making skills are bleak at night.

As one of the most "brave" professions in the era of cold weapons, blacksmiths firmly occupy the top spot in China's dying profession.

Qi Yu has such a "brave" family background.

Eight generations of her family have been blacksmiths, starting with the grandfather of her grandfather's grandfather.

And it is also the kind of handmade, ancient method, and iron-striking family that has been inherited very well and is like a fake exchange.

Eight generations go forward, because the genealogy is broken, so there is no way to verify.

In the family history that began with the oral tradition of eight generations of ancestors, the first sword in the world engraved with the eight-character bird seal inscription of [Yue Wang Jiu Qian Zi Cha Sword] - Yue Wang Goujian Sword originated from the ancestral craftsmanship of the Qi family.

Even historians have not figured out who made the famous sword of King Goujian of Yue, and the credibility of the family history is comparable to myths and legends in Qi Yu's view.

The family history of the Qi family's "bravery" did not leave any blessing to the younger generations, if you have to say anything, grandpa's father used the family's financial resources to send Qiyu's great-grandfather overseas in the war-torn era.

With his ancestral iron-striking skills, Grandpa Tai earned a little money in Malaysia and became a non-famous patriotic overseas Chinese.

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, when the motherland needed foreign exchange the most, my grandfather used overseas Chinese remittances to buy a three-story small building with paving in the center of the city and became a returned overseas Chinese.

Grandma wrote down the words "Qijia Iron Shop" by herself and made a gilded plaque.

Grandpa Tai took his grandfather, who was not yet an adult at the time, to make iron in the Qijia iron shop every day, and because of his outstanding craftsmanship, he was deeply loved by the neighbors.

At that time, those who had a little extra money at home were willing to use a handmade Qijia knife to come to their own kitchen in a town.

In the fifties and sixties of the last century, there was no way to know how the iron shop business was in other places, but the Qijia iron shop was definitely a good existence.

It was also the most glorious year in the modern history of Qi Yujia.

It's a pity that Qi Yu's grandfather lacked brand awareness and failed to grasp the pulse of the times, making [Qijia Iron Shop] a national brand like Zhang Xiaoquan.

Some crafts, persistently, there will always be a time to shine, but a sunset industry like iron, if you have to cherish the broom, adhere to the family inheritance and use the ancient method of handmade iron, there will be no chance to burn at all.

In the center of the 80s of the last century, the neighborhood slowly began to have brand awareness, and gradually used Shuangxi knife, Zhang Xiaoquan knife, Kinmen knife, and people with better conditions even began to use German Zwilling knives.

The neighbors used to praise the craftsmanship of the iron shop, but at this time they began to dislike the vulgarity and nuisance of the people.

In the eyes of the people in the city, the Qi family's iron shop slowly became out of place, so that the door was crowded.

The once glorious Qijia iron shop, in the hands of Qi Yu's grandfather, who was unwilling to keep pace with the times, became a dilapidated house in disrepair.

Occasionally, there are people who come to make a knife or some other tools, all of whom are old people who had a friendship with grandpa back then and wanted to be nostalgic.

Grandpa Qi had to support a large family and provide for his father to study, and it was not easy to make money in that era, and his grandfather was not able to do a thorough overhaul of his dilapidated house until he died.

Grandpa Qi died with hatred, and the only thing that could make him feel gratified was that he trained Qi's father to become a college student and was assigned to work in the city's metallurgical factory.

In Grandpa Qi's view, metallurgy is a higher level of iron-making, and it can be regarded as a son inheriting his father's business, and he can also have the face to go down to see the ancestors of the Qi family.

However, contrary to expectations, in a highly mechanized metallurgical plant, it is impossible to find a job with a hammer to beat iron.

Qi's father worked in the metallurgical factory for ten years, and Qi's grandfather showed off his college student son to the neighborhood for ten years.

But Father Qi's face never had a smile on his face, so that his face was so dark that he didn't even get a daughter-in-law.

After Grandpa Qi died, Dad Qi began to work the iron ancestral business.

The iron-striking genes that go deep into the bone marrow, coupled with the exposure of his ears and eyes since childhood, Qi's father's iron-striking skills can be said to be better than the blue.

Unfortunately, when the times want to obscure a profession, it is impossible to rely on family legends and personal craftsmanship alone.

If it is said that the Qi family iron shop in Grandpa Qi's hand is a door, then the Qi family iron shop in Qi's father's hand is unpopular.

If you don't have a job, it means you don't make any money.

Qi's father, who couldn't make ends meet and barely survived by striking iron, had a lot more smiles on his face than when he was in the metallurgical plant.

I don't know if it's because of his love of laughter that makes Dad Qi's appearance more thoughtful, or because he has a three-story building in the city center, and after a year of iron, Dad Qi has completed the first step of starting a family.

That year, Qi's father was already a thirty-two-year-old man, and Qi's mother was only twenty-two years old.

Those neighbors who have moved away because of the demolition say that this is the blessing that Qi's father has accumulated in his previous life.

Father Qi thought so.

The first thing Qi's mother did when she got married was to think about how to sell this three-story building, and then buy a house with an elevator in a high-end community that was about to be built nearby.

The nearly fifty-year-old house, whether it was repaired or rebuilt, required a large amount of money that Qi's father couldn't come up with at that time.

Selling the dilapidated house and buying a "more livable" next to it is, in Qi's mother's view, a solution that everyone is happy with.

Especially under the premise that Qi Yu's mother was pregnant with Qi Yu as soon as she got married.

"The ancestral house of the Qi family can't be sold!" Qi's father rejected Qi's mother's proposal.

"Why can't it be sold? Look at the side, the selling, moving, and demolishing are all about to become a ruin, who still lives in a house like ours, the best thing to say is a small western-style building, and the ugly thing is a dilapidated house. "Mother Qi couldn't understand it.

"If it really becomes a dilapidated house, I will find a way to make money if it is demolished and rebuilt. Selling is definitely not selling. "Dad Qi didn't give an inch.

"Don't sell? Do you think you'll stay if you don't sell?"

"It's a shame that few people look down on your blacksmithing skills, and occasionally give you a chance to knock on the chin or two. ”

"If you beat you all day long, and the few remaining neighbors don't look for you, the EPA will fine you." ”

When Qi's mother married Qi's father, she heard that the Qi family's house was about to be demolished, and I also heard that Grandma Qi was a farmer who paid three for one, and no matter how bad the demolition compensation was, there would be several millions.

Seeing that the nearby houses were almost demolished, but the Qi family's "dilapidated house" had never been demolished, Qi's mother began to be anxious.

"The house was passed on to my father by my grandfather, and when my father left, he only explained that he could not sell the house. I can not strike iron, but I can't sell the house left by my grandfather. "Father Qi's grandfather is Qi Yu's grandfather.

Since marrying Mother Qi's "Flower of Ten Miles", Father Qi has always been obedient, and it is the first time that he has been so stubborn.

"Your father has been dead for two years, and now you are telling me about your grandfather, isn't it a bit excessive, why don't you want to think about your child?" Qi's mother was very aggrieved.

Father Qi couldn't see his flower-like wife with red eyes, so he had to adjust his tone:

"Listen to me, my grandfather is a returned overseas Chinese, so he bought an overseas Chinese house at that time and has a permanent property right. ”

"Overseas Chinese houses can only be inherited and cannot be bought and sold, and once they are bought and sold, they will become ordinary commercial houses, with only 70 years of property rights. ”

Freehold property rights are not unique to foreign countries, and China also has a number of freehold houses.

It belongs to the historical legacy from the Republic of China to the early days of the founding of New China, and it was a freehold property right when it was bought, and as long as there is no transaction, it will not change.

"Everyone else is looking forward to demolition, but your cat is doing work that can't be put on the table in such a dilapidated place. ”

"This is the city, you go and take a look, whose façade is used for iron?"

"You're so brainless, you can't get by?"

Qi's mother has always been the most favored child in the family because of her good looks, and she can't stand any grievances.

"You wait a few more years. When our house is really in dilapidation, we can tear it down and rebuild it. ”

"I've asked, but it's not yet a dilapidated house. ”

"I'll go to my classmates in two days and find a way to make more money in the next two years, don't worry, I will definitely not let you suffer with me all the time. ”

"Think about it, who doesn't envy you for having a big villa in the center of the city?"

"It's all iron, and the technology of our Qi family is not comparable to those wild roads outside. ”

Qi's father began to draw cakes for his new daughter-in-law, he was ten years older than Qi's mother, and he would never be as familiar as a "little girl".

"If it weren't for the person who introduced you to say that your house was about to be demolished, and at least three sets would be available after the demolition, do you think I would marry someone like you?"

"What kind of person am I?" Father Qi struggled to control his emotions.

"Jobless vagrants. "Mother Qi didn't leave any face for Father Qi.

"I don't want to quarrel with you. "Dad Qi doesn't want to say more and more ugly words when he is irrational.

"Do you think I'm interested in arguing with you?"

"I knew I was going to live in such a shabby place, so I wouldn't have married you!"

"If it weren't for the fact that I couldn't have an abortion when I was a month old, I would have beaten the child and divorced you right now. ”

Mother Qi roared like this, no matter how good Father Qi was, he couldn't listen to it.

Does this sound like what a soon-to-be mom would say?

Shouldn't it be in a mother's nature to love her child?

In the quarrel between Qi's father and Qi's mother became more and more fierce every time, Qi Yu came to this world.

She picked a good time, January 1, 2000, as if the millennial baby was replaced.

After Qi's mother gave birth, she didn't give Qi Yu a mouthful of milk to eat, so she filed for divorce.

Qi's father thought that Qi's mother had just given birth and was emotionally unstable, so he could only comfort Qi Yu while looking for milk powder for Qi Yu.

But Qi's mother's determination to leave Qi's father is far beyond the scope that normal people can understand.

Not long after the confinement period, Qi's mother, who had just recovered, left a letter to Qi's father:

[Since I have to live with the poor, why don't I find a young and handsome one. 】

[I'm going to work in the United States with someone I like, and I won't come back if I go. 】

[You just hold your daughter and live in a broken house. 】

Qi's mother wrote this, and she really left without looking back.

If it wasn't premeditated to get to the United States so soon, it would certainly not be a serious way.

Compared with the three hardships of life of supporting boats, iron, and selling tofu, Qi's mother left, which made Qi's father understand what it means to have suffering.

Of course, the milk doll Qiyu, who was less than two months old, didn't know anything about it, she had just learned a new skill, and smiled crookedly at her father.