Two weeks have passed in the blink of an eye, and it is another Saturday. Li Le, who originally planned to spend this day in Zhen Yan's jewelry store, was called by Hu Shu at two o'clock in the afternoon.

"What are you doing in such a hurry to ask me out?" When he saw Hu Shu, Li Le couldn't help but ask, he just asked him to come out quickly on the phone, and he didn't reveal what was going on.

"Good thing, you still have a stock of olive pits, they have already been carved." Hu Shu asked anxiously.

"Yes, what's wrong? Could it be that the matter of sales has eyebrows? Hearing Hu Shu's words, Li Le couldn't help but guess whether the problem of sales had been settled.

"There is a way, but I don't dare to pack a ticket if it doesn't work, in fact, you also know this person, do you remember the black bean?"

"Black beans?" Li Le thought for a moment, but he couldn't remember this person.

"Just three years ago, his bird and dog chased the one on our two streets."

Hearing Hu Shu say this, Li Lezhi really remembered it, and there was such an absurd experience in his memory.

The black bean in Hu Shu's mouth is called Song Xiaolong, because he has black skin and small eyes, so he gave him the nickname Black Bean. His family is quite wealthy, the old man is the former director of the Finance Bureau, there are two sons and a daughter under his knees, the eldest son is now in business by himself, and it seems that he is engaged in foreign trade on BJ's side, and his daughter is already a section chief in the Finance Bureau, and the younger son is a black bean, and he is also the most naughty one.

The old man is already in his sixties, and he has been retired for six years this year, and the old man at that time liked to tease birds, and there was a parrot at home, which was said to be some African red hair, which was quite expensive. At that time, Black Bean was very fond of dogs, and raised a wolf dog named Hanhan at home.

If you want to say that this father and son love dogs, and the other loves birds, it may be that this dog is really naïve with his name, and the bird likes to learn from Song Xiaolong to speak, so it forms a perfect combination.

One day three years ago, Song Xiaolong invited Hu Shu and Li Le to his home as guests. At home, the two saw a large unchained wolfdog and a red-haired parrot. Seeing that the two were afraid, Song Xiaolong told the two that the dog did not recognize life, but they must not provoke the parrot. Then he went upstairs and said he was going to take a shower.

After Song Xiaolong went upstairs, Hu Shu tried to touch the dog's head, and Han Han seemed to enjoy the feeling of being touched, which made the two no longer afraid of him.

After teasing for a while, the two lost any interest in Hanhan, and at this time Hu Shu caught a glimpse of the red-haired parrot, and then said to Li Le: "Why don't you let us touch that bird?"

"I know, but I don't think there's anything terrible about that bird, you see that such a scary wolf dog is not scary, and a red-haired thing can turn the sky upside down?"

"Why don't we try?" Hu Shu proposed.

"Then try it!" Young people always have a rebellious heart, and the more they don't let him do anything, the more he wants to do it. The two of them cautiously walked up to the red-haired parrot, and then slowly reached for it with their hands. At the moment of touching, it shrank back like lightning.

Nothing happened, the two looked at each other, reached out at the same time again and touched it, still fine.

"You said it wouldn't be Douzi who deliberately scared us, right?" Hu Shu said.

"Quite possibly, you see we've touched it twice!" Li Le said with certainty.

"Shall we proceed then?"

"Hmm!"

The two of them extended their claws to the red-haired parrot again, but this time it was not a one-touch approach. And the red-haired parrot seemed a little annoyed after being teased a few times, and then said: "I grass! Flirting is not! Hanhan, on, bite him to death. ”

At this moment, the two of them were stunned, and at this moment, the obedient Han Han also rushed towards the two after two shouts.

The two glanced at each other, and instantly rushed towards the gate, the speed was absolutely rocket-like.

In this way, the two of them chased two streets with a dog before the dog gave up. Such a chase also scared the two of them enough, and Song Xiaolong's home didn't dare to go back, and at the same time, he finally understood why Song Xiaolong warned them that the parrot couldn't be touched. Then I couldn't help but sigh at the cleverness of this parrot, Song Xiaolong's classic words could be learned by him word for word.

With such a memory, Li Le also remembered the black beans that Hu Shu said.

"I don't seem to have been in touch with him for a long time, what, can he help?"

"It's not him, it's the old man." Then Hu Shu told what happened, and Li Le understood the reason for his words.

This matter has to start in the morning, Hu Shu happened to meet Song Xiaolong who came back from other places when he was shopping, and the two hadn't seen each other for a few months. Then Song Xiaolong invited Hu Shu to his home for dinner, to say that Song Xiaolong is now following his eldest brother to work in BJ, Hu Shu remembered the sales of Li Le's nuclear carving.

After talking briefly to Song Xiaolong, he took out the nuclear carving gourd that Li Le gave him and showed it to Song Xiaolong.

After watching it for a while, Song Xiaolong only said that he would go back to Beijing for a while to help Li Le inquire, but at this moment, he ran into the old man who was going downstairs.

The old man's eyes were sharp, and he found the nuclear carving gourd in his son's hand, so he asked to see it.

It turns out that after the current old man retired, he fell in love with literary play when he had nothing to do.

The so-called cultural play refers to the four treasures of the study and the various stationery toys derived from it. Among the traditional study utensils, pen, ink, paper, and inkstone are the most basic study utensils. Later, it further developed a variety of supporting stationery, such as pen holders, pen washes, ink beds, inkstones, water forms, arm rests, paperweights, printing boxes, seals and so on. These stationery utensils are of different shapes, finely carved, and can be appreciated, so they are also called cultural toys.

With the development, the content of cultural games is becoming more and more extensive. Nowadays, there are thousands of cultural toys, and the modern meaning of cultural toys can be popularly understood as toys or handles with traditional cultural atmosphere. A good cultural play must be a kind of spiritual "materialization" carrying, big or small, clever or clumsy, through the years of washing, and the owner is closely connected, while cultivating the body, but also highlighting the owner's taste.

If you want to talk about the background of cultural play, it is very mellow. Literary play originated from the Han and Sui dynasties, and began to be popular among emperors and generals, dignitaries, and literati, also known as "playing". After more than 2,000 years of historical and cultural perfection, the "Royal Ten Tricks" with traditional Chinese cultural characteristics were formed, but the Ming and Qing dynasties reached their heyday.

The "Royal Ten Plays" are also divided into five upper and lower five. The upper five games are composed of walnuts, hand-twisted gourds, Buddha beads, Bodhi, and Hetian jade. The next five games are composed of purple clay pots, folding fans, pipes, cage birds, and crickets. For example, the old man's original parrot belonged to the category of caged birds.

As a desk case, the first major feature is that it is small, generally not too large, not less than an inch, which can be set up on the case, but also can be played in the hand, can be viewed from afar, and can also be taken closely. In particular, there are some ornaments that are often condensed in large pieces and reduced in large pieces, so there is a saying of "small utensils and big samples" in the antique world.

The second characteristic of cultural play is elegance. Its materials and craftsmanship often reflect the taste of literati. Most of the craftsmen and artists adapted to the aesthetic tastes of the literati and played the sword, and some of them came directly from the creativity of the literati. There are even some improvisations made by literati and scholars, so the cultural connotation and accumulation are the richest.

Another characteristic of it is that it is complicated. One is the miscellaneous type, even if it is each independent cultural play, its instrument type can be described as ever-changing, typical such as inkstone, its varieties are thousands. The second is that the use is mixed, the division of labor is often very subtle and trivial, each of them is irrelevant to each other, and all kinds of things are rarely duplicated. Finally, there are miscellaneous materials, such as porcelain, jade, bamboo, wood, ivory, copper, stone, lacquer, material, agate, purple sand, crystal, etc. It's really in good condition.

Nowadays, the nuclear carvings made by Li Le can be regarded as cultural toys, which can be used as accessories, pendants, and bracelets.

The old man of Song Xiaolong's family is now in love with cultural play, so as soon as he saw the nuclear carved gourd, he immediately took it in his hand and put it down. This plate is also more and more fond of this carving. Don't be old, but this eyesight is not bad, and then asked Hu Shu about the origin of this nuclear carving.

Hu Shu saw that the old man was excited, and he gave a general introduction to Li Le's situation without reservation, which made the old man even more surprised. Hearing that the nuclear carving in his hand was only carved by a young man in his twenties, the old man proposed the idea of meeting Li Le, and by the way, asked him to bring as many works as he could if he could.

Li Le can also feel that his opportunity is really on the old man at this moment, if his work can satisfy the old man, maybe it can really solve the problem of sales.

Urging Hu Shu to go home quickly, after Li Le took three carvings, the two hurried towards Song Xiaolong's house.

When he arrived at Song Xiaolong's house, Li Le slowed down, straightened his clothes slightly, and walked in.

Compared with three years ago, Song Xiaolong's Jiali has changed a little, this is a small villa with a single door and a single courtyard. The original red cockatoo and the Han Han are gone, and the house has been renovated.

The hall on the first floor is very spacious, and a gorgeous chandelier is on the top of the hall, which looks graceful and atmospheric. The wooden floors have a translucent sheen. The Bogu shelf in one corner of the hall is full of various decorations of different shapes and beautiful shapes. Four thick marble beams rose to the sky, and in the center of the hall was a set of black leather sofas, in the center of which was a blanket floor, on which was placed a red coffee table, which Li Le could tell at a glance was made of mahogany, and the price was high. On the opposite side of the sofa is a decorative wall with a large 32-inch color TV.

At this moment, the old man is slowly sipping tea on the sofa, not as old as he imagined, although his hair is a little gray, but the red light on his face is visible, although there are wrinkles, but only a little, the rich body makes his whole person look particularly loving. At the moment, he was the only one in the living room, and Song Xiaolong didn't know where he had gone.

"Hello, old man!" Li Le bowed slightly and said hello, looking neither humble nor arrogant. Although it stands to reason that he can call the old man Uncle Song, he only thought about it in his heart, but he never dared to shout it out of his mouth. Hu Shu also called out to the old man behind him.

"You're Xiao Li, aren't you? Are there any completed nuclear carvings? Show it to me. The old man went straight to the topic, which made Li Le a little stunned. Then I saw the old man's expectant eyes, and my heart was also happy, it seems that the old man is a lover.

He took out the plastic tape in his hand and handed it over, "It's all here." ”

There are not many works in the tape, and only a week has passed at this time, and he has only completed two or three works, which are basically single pieces. This is also the day after Hu Shu said that he wanted to help with sales, Li Le deliberately worked overtime.

Three single-core creations of the thousand-armed Guanyin, Guan Erye and an incense burner.

After the old man took the bag, he opened it carefully, and then picked up the three works in his hand and looked through them, and for a while he seemed to have forgotten the existence of Li Le.

At this moment, Li Le is also quite embarrassed, this old man, is it so difficult to even say that he can sit down? However, he didn't dare to show a dissatisfied look on his face, so he still smiled there, waiting for when the old man would remember himself. Hu Shu was also standing behind Li Le at the moment.

The old man was watching intently at the moment, holding a magnifying glass in his hand that he had found out of nowhere. Sometimes there will be two sentences of praise in the mouth.

The door opened at this time, but it was Song Xiaolong and an older woman. Song Xiaolong saw that Li Le and Hu Shu were both standing there, and his old man was holding a magnifying glass to look at it happily, so he hurriedly strode in.

"I said, old man, you don't invite my classmates to sit down, do you?" Song Xiaolong walked over, took out Bao Zhonghua, handed one to each person, and gave him another one to the old man. Then they had to help with the point, and the two waved their hands, how dare they smoke in the house.

The old man looked at Li Le and Hu Shu, and said casually: "Smoke, it's okay, I'm a cigarette can." As soon as I saw this nuclear eagle just now, I fell into a trance, and I forgot to beckon you to sit down, don't blame, don't blame it! ”

Then he got up and asked Li Le and the two to sit down, and asked Song Xiaolong to pour tea for the two. The two of them said this very much, and they dared to light the cigarette.

At this moment, the old woman had already walked over, and when she saw Li Le, she said with a kind face: "You are the Li Le that Xiao Shu's child said, you seem to have come to our house before, right?"

"You still have a good memory, you have been here before, and when you ate the food you cooked, I thought it was very fragrant!"

"You kid, you look liked, unlike our little dragon, who is always thin and doesn't grow meat at all. In this way, don't leave tonight, eat here with Xiao Shu, and Aunt Liu will make you something delicious. The old lady was so enthusiastic that Li Le was a little embarrassed.

"I haven't seen each other for a long time, drink some in the evening and have a good chat." Song Xiaolong also responded enthusiastically.

"Then it's decided, our family hasn't been lively for a long time." Li Le and Hu Shu were not allowed to refuse, and the old man directly gave the final word.

Hearing the old man's words, how could the two of them not agree, and besides, they had to ask the old man for something.

The old lady went out happily again, saying that she was going to buy some vegetables.

Suddenly, the three children and one old man in the living room began to talk again. The old man had already put down the magnifying glass in his hand at this time, but he was still playing with the diamond bracelet in his hand, obviously liking it tightly.

"Xiao Li, are these works really carved by you?" The old man looked at Li Le, his eyes unabashedly revealing a sense of surprise and doubt.

"I carved it."

"Don't be surprised, I've taken a closer look at these nuclear carvings, and they will never reach this level without decades of craftsmanship. I didn't expect you to have such skills at such a young age, it's really the back waves of the Yangtze River pushing the front waves! The old man's words were a little emotional, but the affirmation of Li Le was also overflowing.

"Old man, you've won the prize." Li Lezhi didn't blush anything, he was still confident in his carving skills, so many years of immersion, can he not do some effort. However, appropriate modesty is necessary at this moment.

"I don't know if I can't win the prize? I don't dare to say anything else, but you think you can be regarded as the top in terms of the transition and handling of those details. ”

"Old man, is it as amazing as you boast about?" Seeing the old man's praise one after another, Song Xiaolong couldn't help but be a little surprised. He knows the old man's temperament, although he is a little playful, but he never praises people easily.

"What do you know, if you have half of Xiao Li's craftsmanship, I can wake up laughing in my dreams."

"Isn't it true that I won't, and besides, don't you want me to learn business with my eldest brother?" Song Xiaolong's face was a little bitter, he never thought that his words would attract the old man's firepower.

"Doing business? You and I don't know what you're doing in BJ, if you really want to learn to do business, first of all, you have to correct your attitude, and study hard. Speaking of business, the old man was a little angry, obviously a little dissatisfied with Song Xiaolong's behavior in BJ.

Song Xiaolong saw that the old man was about to get angry, so he immediately turned out his voice and didn't dare to go any further.

Li Le saw that the atmosphere was a little cold, and hurriedly answered: "Old man, I just have such a little skill, if you want to talk about other aspects, it must not be as good as Xiaolong."

"Don't talk for him, I don't know his temperament, I know what to fart when I pout my ass."

"Anyway, I'm also your son, can you save me some face? I promised not to make trouble when I went back to BJ this time, and I learned from my eldest brother. Song Xiaolong assured the old man with a bitter face, he didn't want to be his criticism meeting today.

The old man saw that he had made a guarantee, and that Li Le and Hu Shu were there, so he went down the steps. Then he remembered what Hu Shu said, so he said to Li Le: "I heard Xiao Shu say that your nuclear carving is not marketable?"

Hearing the old man talk about this, Li Le also looked sad, "I thought that I could sell it if I made it at the beginning, but when I heard Hu Shu give me an analysis that day, I felt that I was a little naïve." ”

"If you want to say that we are here in Jingzhou, there is really no market. I have a friend in Wuhan who does this, and he also took me to play cultural games. I'll give you a call, you can contact him tomorrow, I'll say hello in the evening, and you can send him the work to show him at that time, and he should be able to see it with your carving. With that, the old man got up and took out a small notebook from the table next to him, and then flipped to a phone and asked Li Le to write it down.

"Old man, thank you so much." Seeing that the old man helped him solve the matter, Li Le was very grateful.

"What's the thanks, if it doesn't work out, you have to knock on the board over there in the end. But I love this nucleus when I arrive, can you sell me one? ”

"Old man, what do you say, which one do you fancy and I'll give it to you." Because he still needs to show it to the person introduced by the old man, Li Le didn't dare to say more.

"This is not good, no, how much is it, you say a price, I can't ask you for nothing." Hearing Li Le say to give it to himself, the old man hurriedly shook his head and refused.

"Old man, it's vulgar to talk about money again, isn't it? If you say so, then I have to pay for dinner at night, can I? ”

"Huh?" The old man was asked by Li Le and had nothing to say for a while, and then shook his head self-deprecatingly, "I didn't expect that my old man would be left speechless by your junior today, Cheng, then I will accept it!" ”

"That's right!"

As soon as the matter was over, Li Le suddenly felt a lot more comfortable, and the three old and one young chatted for an afternoon. Xu received Li Le's gift, and the old man was happy, so he took out all the best red robes treasured at home and soaked them, and took out two packs of 1916 and threw one bag to one person.

In the evening, it was another hospitality, good food, good wine and good cigarettes were entertained, and the old man's alcohol was also good, and the four of them had to dry five bottles of Wuliangye before they stopped. In the end, Li Le and Hu Shu took the car to Song Xiaolong's place, and drunkenly took a taxi back.

After returning home in a daze, Li Le fell asleep on the bed.

The next day, Li Le came to Zhen Yan's shop early, and during this time, he was delayed a lot of time by big and small things, and basically failed to work well, which made Li Le feel guilty for Zhen Yan who reached out to help him in times of difficulty.

Bringing two small objects carved by himself, Li Le was ready to give them to Zhen Yan and Yao Hong.

After coming to the store, Li Le saw Zhen Yan and Yao Hong sitting together chatting. This made Li Le feel quite coincidental, he thought that Zhen Yan was not there as usual, but he didn't expect the two of them to get together today.

"Morning, Sister Zhen, Sister Yao." Li Le smiled and said hello.

"It's Xiaole, I'm talking to you Sister Yao about you." Seeing Li Le, Zhen Yan also showed a charming smile.

"Say me? What do you say? Li Le asked curiously.

"Your sister Zhen said when you brought your girlfriend to her. I told your sister Zhen that your girlfriend was beautiful, but your sister Zhen still didn't believe it. ”

This was to embarrass Li Le, and when he borrowed money last time, he said that Liu Yunyao was his girlfriend, which was a helpless move. Not to mention being a girlfriend, it's hard to see each other so far.

"Huh! I'll talk about it when I'm free, I'll talk about it when I'm free. Li Le can't tell himself a lie at this moment, so he can only make a haha.

"Why, there's a beautiful girlfriend still hidden? Still don't want to show you Sister Zhen? Zhen Yan straightened her face and pretended to be angry.

"Huh! No...... There is really no ......" Li Le was a little anxious when Zhen Yan said this, and he didn't hold back the following words for a long time after spitting out a few words, he really didn't know how to answer.

"Look at you like that, Sister Zhen is joking with you." Seeing that Li Le's face was red, Zhen Yan immediately smiled.

"Huh!" Li Le saw Zhen Yan's expression and suddenly felt a little depressed, saying that a woman's mood is unpredictable, you never know what she will be thinking in the next moment. "By the way, here are two gadgets for you." Li Le remembered the nuclear carving he brought, and immediately took it out of his pocket, one carved with a feast of flowers, and the other carved with a dragon and phoenix.

The flowers carved with a hundred flowers are soft, the flowers are clustered, one after another, the lines are clear and clear, and the flowers are presented in relief techniques, full of texture. Both the leaves and the petals are distinct, but they are vivid and vivid. It was a big scene of competing for beauty, but it was condensed on this small olive core, without a trace of restraint, and the artistic conception was perfectly presented.

Besides, the dragon and phoenix are auspicious, combined with the technique of embossing the nuclear wisp of the hollow carving, one side is the dragon, and the other side is the phoenix. The dragon's body winds upward, whether it is the scales, dragon claws, or the dragon's expression, all of which are vivid, delicate and not lacking in the mighty atmosphere of the dragon type. The phoenix on the other side is much softer, with a slender body and soft curves. In particular, the carving of the tail is slender and gentle, and it has a sense of Fengyi in the world.

When these two works were taken out, Zhen Yan and Yao Hong's eyes were immediately attracted. Then Zhen Yan picked up the nuclear carving of a hundred flowers, and Yao Hong picked up the nuclear carving of the dragon and phoenix, all of which were carefully observed in the palm of their hands.

I only felt that the eyes of the two girls were getting brighter and brighter, and Li Le also felt very happy. After all, the things you give to others can be liked by others, which is a great comfort and encouragement for creation.

"Xiaole, I like the gift you gave Sister Zhen very much, and I won't hurt you in vain to Sister Zhen." Zhen Yan's face showed a stunning beauty, obviously feeling very happy with this gift.

"And you, Sister Yao, I really don't know how you came out of this little monster, this hand carving kung fu is simply amazing." Yao Hong also lavishly gave her praise.

"If you like it, you can take care of it for so long, and there is nothing in return, only two small items that are so cheap for you."

"Okay, you have some thoughts, Sister Zhen is already very happy, and in my eyes, this is not a cheap little thing, such a beautiful thing can't be bought with money."

"That's it, we are very happy that you can remember your Sister Yao and Sister Zhen."

"If you praise me again, I'm going to go to heaven, and I haven't done any serious help to the store these days, and I can't help anymore."

"You can come here to help Sister Zhen a lot, Sister Zhen knows that you are still in school and can understand you." Zhen Yan looked a little gentle at the moment, and her eyes when she looked at Li Le were also full of love.

"Then I'll go and get busy first, there is still more than a week before the National Day, I will hurry up and make more things out." After greeting the two, Li Le walked to the workshop.

All morning, Li Le stayed in the workshop and kept carving, until half past eleven Li Le stopped what he was doing, and then took out the phone and dialed the phone number he copied from Mr. Song yesterday.

"Hello? Who are you? On the other end of the line was a slightly older voice.

"Hello! May I ask if it's Elder Yang? I'm Li Le, I don't know if Old Man Song has mentioned it to you. ”

"Oh! You are the Xiao Li that Lao Song said, he told me about you. You send me the stuff first, and then we'll talk about the rest, don't you think? ”

"Hmmm! Everything is up to you, then you always leave me an address, and I will send you something. ”

"Okay, you take a pen and write down, Wuhan City, No. 205, Hong Kong Road Cultural Relics Market, Yang Guoxiang received."

Li Le repeated it again, and after confirming that it was correct, the two of them said a few more polite words before hanging up the phone.

After the matter was confirmed, Li Le prepared to go home and send the things out at noon. After leaving the workshop, Zhen Yan was no longer visible, probably because something had left. When Yao Hong saw Li Le coming out, she wanted to take Li Le to eat with her at noon. Li Le repeatedly said that he was let go by Yao Hong after he had something at noon, but it also made Li Le really feel warm in his heart.

Although being reborn in the body of a second ancestor made Li Le have to bear the mistakes he had made, he was disgusted and snubbed by many people.

But he also experienced the warmth that he had not had in his previous life, whether it was Li Hong, Hu Shu, or Zhen Yan and Yao Hong, or even the old man Song who he only met yesterday, he felt the warmth that he rarely had in his previous life.

At this moment, Li Le suddenly felt in his heart that even if he had so many mistakes and had to repay so many debts, it was not a big deal.