In his previous life, as a university professor, his mother, who was a high-level intellectual, never engaged in any feudal superstitions, but this is such a person who went to the temple in the mountains to pray to God and worship Buddha like those rural aunts before he took the college entrance examination and left for college, and came back with a talisman or a amulet made of copper coins sewn into the lining of his clothes.

He was not sensible at that time, he was reluctant to take it every time, and he kept laughing at his mother's feudal superstition, but he couldn't resist his mother. It is rare for a mother with such a gentle personality to have such a tough attitude, and he has never understood it. It wasn't until he came home again, when his mother gave him the amulet again, that he saw her white hair and wrinkles on her face, that he vaguely understood her heart.

And now, from being a son of man to a father overnight, he was caught off guard by the change of identity. Even if he had always wanted to marry a wife and have children, from the bottom of his heart, he had always longed for a lovely child and a beautiful wife to have a happy family, but this discounted "happiness" came too suddenly, and he was completely unprepared.

When a man has a child, it means responsibility, and when he shoulders this responsibility, he slowly understands the feeling of his mother at that time. Today, he has become as feudal and superstitious as his mother, just because his heart is tied to his children, and he wants his children to be happy and healthy.

He has never missed his parents so much as he did at this moment, but the greatest pain in the world is that his son wants to support him but does not wait for his relatives. Li Ran always thought that he still had a long time to be filial to his parents, but he didn't expect to encounter this situation, and now he can only pray silently in his heart.

……

I took a taxi from the furniture city to the east city, and asked for directions everywhere, and went wrong several times along the way, and finally I happened to meet an uncle and the legendary Master Yan knew him and found him. There are really too many alleys in the LC area of Yanjing City, just like a labyrinth, and he, an old Yanjing native who is a native, can get lost, so you can imagine what it will be like for outsiders to come in.

Under the guidance of the uncle, he found the door of the main owner's house, an extremely simple courtyard. Unlike Li Ran's courtyard, this courtyard is the kind of simple courtyard surrounded by houses on all sides that ordinary people live in, which is even more simple than the courtyard where Li Ran lives now, and the gate is still the kind of walled door, with a small gatehouse.

This yard is not only small but also very shabby, and the word shabby cannot be used here as a whole word to describe it, but to be described separately as shabby and old. The small gatehouse of the gate has been demolished, the plastered walls seem to be able to grab a few handfuls of wall ash with a single wipe, and the gate is in disrepair and there is a hole with a large bowl mouth where the bolt should have been. I didn't go inside, but I could get a rough idea of what it was like.

In fact, there are many such courtyards in Yanjing City, not to mention the Qing Dynasty, it is too long, only the Republic of China has been until now, but most of the host families will work together with the residents to repair it a little, and it is really rare to break it like this.

Walking into the yard, as expected, the windows of the house are still made of paper paste, and the paint surface of the doors and windows has basically faded, and there are only a few pieces of dark red that can still be vaguely recognized in their original colors. The yard is full of potholes and piles of debris, giving people the impression of chaos and disorder.

The doors of the east and west wings were closed, and it seemed that she had gone out to work, and a woman in her thirties was packing up her clothes in the south room, and a large laundry basin was placed outside the door, as if to wash clothes.

"Sister-in-law, does Master Yan live here?" The sister-in-law focused on the affairs under her hands, and didn't notice that anyone had entered the courtyard at all, so Li Ran had no choice but to ask.

"What did you just say, who are you looking for?" the sound of his question startled the sister-in-law, who was obviously not usually seen in this courtyard.

"I said that there is a master surnamed Yan here?" Li Ran asked again, and then before he could reply, the sister-in-law came out of the door and shouted at the main house, "Dad, someone is looking for you." After speaking, he didn't wait for the people in the house to answer, and went back to the house to leave Li Ran outside alone.

Fortunately, the main master came out immediately, and that Master Yan didn't let Li Ran hang outside for too long, and came out after listening to the sound.

He is about 50 to 60 years old, with a weathered face, two deep-set eyes, a medium build, and a very tough body. A yellowed white shirt washed on the upper body, and gray cloth trousers on the lower body, typical of the seventies and eighties.

"Young man, what's the matter with my old man?" this Master Yan could see that he was a gentle person, with the polite demeanor unique to the old Yanjing people.

"You are Master Yan, I heard that your old silver-making is a good ancestral craft, so I came here to find you, and I want you to help me make two longevity locks for my children, do you think it can work?" Li Ran has a lot of respect for these old craftsmen, because they inherit the traditional skills of this country, so they speak with a little respect.

Master Yan was naturally happy that a customer came to the door, invited Li Ran into the room and sat down, poured a cup of tea for him with a Dayang porcelain jar, and then the two of them talked.

There was no much politeness, Li Ran directly cut to the point, and talked with Master Yan about the style, weight and price of the silver lock. In 93 years, the price of silver is not cheap compared to later generations, a gram costs five yuan, and a hollow silver lock is almost more than 20 grams and 30 grams plus the labor cost is about 150 for a silver lock, of course, this is only his own estimate of the price, in fact, it is much lower.

Paying so much money to buy a silver lock for a child is actually just a good meaning. It is impossible for him to let the child carry the silver lock all the time, so he will take it with him for 100 days, and then take it off.

Although silver itself has a health care effect on the human body, it is suitable for children with delicate physiques. And silver also has the effect of sterilization and poison testing, which is beneficial to growing children. Therefore, among the precious metals, silver is more suitable for children to wear: it is both beautiful and healthy. However, in the process of mining, smelting and making silver jewelry, it is inevitable that a small amount of radioactive elements remain in it, which is not good for the child's health, which is why Li Ran is reluctant to buy it in a jewelry store.

If you want to avoid the harm of silver jewelry to the human body, there is a stupid way, using the old silver to melt away to make new jewelry, there are two advantages, one is that many of the old silver that has been retained is the product of high purity under the special process of ancient times, and will not add other metals as it is now. Second, the old silver has basically been taken by people for a long time, and the small amount of radioactive elements in it has basically been consumed, and of course the value of the old silver is higher.

This Master Yan has old silver in his hands, and old artists, especially gold and silver craftsmen, have some old objects in their hands. But it wasn't easy to get rid of the stock he had.

But looking at the situation in this house, I also need money, how can a large family of people be crowded in such a small courtyard.

"I heard that your ancestor also made jewelry for the Empress Dowager Cixi, that craftsmanship must be extraordinary, and there must be a lot of people looking for you to make jewelry!" Li Ran wanted to get some old silver from him, so naturally he couldn't miss a compliment.

This person obviously eats this set, and he is very useful to Li Ran's sycophants, and his face is a little softer, but then he sighs again, "Hey! It's an old craft, and now people are willing to buy that machine carving, I haven't done it for many years, and I don't know if my hands are alive." Looking at the loneliness on Master Yan's face, Li Ran also felt a lot of regret, but this is a conflict between modern craftsmanship and old craftsmen, and no one can change it at this stage.

After talking with Master Yan for a while, he looked at the pattern he kept, and finally one chose a hollow ingot lock, the front is the word Fu and the back is a long life, and the other is a lotus hollow lock, the front is a pattern of carp playing in the water, and the back is a Fu word. There are three small silver bells under the two silver locks, and even on the pattern, it feels really good-looking.