A crack opened in the door, and an old man in his fifties and sixties, with some gray hair, poked his head out and looked out. When I saw Zhang Ran and the two outside the door, I couldn't help but be happy, and said with a smile: "Hey, it's Sankui and Brother Ran, you two, but it's a rare guest!" Come, come inside and talk! ”

The old stonemason was extremely enthusiastic, and after meeting, he couldn't help but say, so he pulled Zhang Ran and Sankui into the courtyard, and beckoned his son to pour two bowls of water for the two.

After a lot of work, the old stonemason pulled Zhang Ran and the two to sit on the stone pier, and smiled at Zhang Ran: "I haven't seen you two little dolls for a few days, what have you been busy with lately?" Didn't see a figure all day? ”

Seeing that the old stonemason's words were quite warm, Zhang Ran also smiled and replied: "In the past two days, Ah Weng, who accompanied Sankui, went to the county seat twice, and after he came back, he was busy working in the field..."

"I see!" The old stonemason laughed, pointed at Zhang Ran and praised: "I haven't seen you for a few days, even you two little leather monkeys know that you have helped the family, not bad, not bad..."

After laughing, the old stonemason suddenly changed his words, and asked Zhang Ran and the two with a smile: "By the way, what is the matter with the two of you coming to me?" ”

"I want to ask you for a little favor~" Zhang Ran pointed to the various stone tools that filled most of the yard, and said with a smile: "I didn't hear that you are doing a good job of old stone tools, so I came here and wanted to ask you to make something!" ”

When the old stonemason heard this, he couldn't help laughing and scolding: "I haven't seen you for two days, but my words have suddenly become civil, and I still admire... I'm just a poor stonemason, what kind of fame do I have for you! Tell me, what do you want to make? ”

Zhang Ran looked around and looked at all kinds of stone objects of different sizes visited in the courtyard, and found that most of them were common stone daily necessities such as stone hoes, stone mortars, stone troughs, and stone slabs.

These things are relatively rough in workmanship, and they are bargains at first glance, so Zhang Ran can't help but have some doubts about the craftsmanship of the old stonemason.

However, there is only one stonemason in dozens of families in Zhangli, and Zhang Ran basically has no choice, so he can only get straight to the point and say: "I want to ask you to make a stone mill, I don't know if it's okay?" ”

"Stone mill?" Hearing Zhang Ran's request, the old stonemason smiled and said, "What kind of delicate things did I have at that time, it turned out to be a stone mill!" What do you want? I have a freshly made one, if you want it, just take it! ”

As he spoke, he pointed to a corner of the courtyard, and sure enough, there was a small stone mill there.

Looking at the stone mill in the corner of the courtyard from a distance, Zhang Ran could see at a glance that the workmanship of this stone mill was extremely rough, almost the same as that of the Sankui family, and the size was even smaller than that of the Sankui family.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Ran couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment and said: "This kind of stone grinding is not good, what I want is a new type of stone grinding, and I need to do it again!" ”

"A new stone mill?" The old stonemason raised his eyebrows, pondered for a moment, and frowned: "The old man has lived for most of his life, and he has always been making this kind of stone grinding, which is a craft handed down by the grandfather (Lu Ban)... Moreover, in recent years, I haven't heard of any new stone mills? ”

Seeing the old stonemason's puzzled face, he frowned. Zhang Ran pondered for a moment and explained: "That's the case, in the past two days, I have used the stone mill of the Sankui family to grind some bean juice and taste it. However, I found that the ground soybean juice was very cloudy, mixed with a large amount of soybean crumbs, and it was difficult to eat when cooked. So I'm going to improve it a little bit and make the grinding teeth a little more fine. ”

"Oh? Do you know any more? The old stonemason said with some disbelief.

"It's just a little immature idea, you can always show it!"

As he spoke, Zhang Ran picked up a branch, sketched on the ground, and drew the diagonal pattern of the eight districts in the later generations, little by little, while drawing, he also explained to the old stonemason: "I plan to change the pit surface of the grinding piece into a striped shape, so that when the stone grinding is running-in, it will be more close...... I plan to divide the new stone mill into eight small pieces, each of which will be chiseled with a chisel to make this oblique stripe, and the upper and lower grinding discs will all use this eight-zone diagonal pattern. ”

Looking at the pattern under Zhang Ran's feet, the old stonemason touched his beard and muttered: "This kind of pattern is very simple, and it is easy to chisel out. But does this line really work? ”

"Haha~" Zhang Ran threw away the branches, patted the dust on his hands, stood up and smiled: "I don't know if I have tried it!" You just need to tell me if you can do it and how long it will take to do it! ”

Hearing the doubts in Zhang Ran's tone, the old stonemason's eyes widened, he slapped his thigh suddenly, stood up, and said categorically: "Of course you can do it!" Give me a day, and I promise that before it gets dark, I can reproduce the stripes you just said, exactly the same! ”

"Good! How much does it cost in total? Zhang Ran took out the money bag from his arms and asked the old stonemason.

"Humph!" The old stonemason snorted disdainfully, and waved his big hand: "If you don't have money, I'll talk about it later, and when I finish the stone grinding for you, I'll send it to your home... Let's see if it will work and then withdraw money! ”

"Okay, then do as you say!"

As the saying goes, it is better to be a general than a general, the old stonemason didn't even need to be excited, so he took the bait himself, Zhang Ran was naturally happy, and he was too lazy to argue with him.

Therefore, Zhang Ran directly agreed to the old stonemason's method of inspecting the goods first and giving money later. Then, he took Sankui's farewell and left.

If you don't go, you can't go, Zhang Ran is really afraid that the old guy's temper will come up and pick up a stick to drive people away. When the time comes, if you can't dodge, if you suffer all of a sudden, Zhang Ran will have no place to reason... Who makes the family an elder!

......

Coming out of the old stonemason's house, Zhang Ran and Sankui went to the river to collect the fish cage again, brought the collected fish back to Sankui's house, and put them in the pool to raise them temporarily. Then he went into the mountains to cut bamboo, and came back to continue weaving fish cages.

During this period, Zhang Ran also took time to make a tofu mold and some other necessary small objects with the cut bamboo, and soaked some soybeans in the bucket at home, waiting for the arrival of the new stone mill.

In the evening, the old stonemason really took his son as promised, pushed a wooden cart, and sent Zhang Ran's specially customized new stone mill to Zhang Ran's house.

Zhang Ran was very pleased with the arrival of the old stonemason and the new stone mill, warmly welcomed the two into the yard, and personally placed the stone mill in the backyard with the old stonemason.

"Let's see, our stone mill is exactly the same as what you said!" After installing the stone mill, the old stonemason patted the grinding disc vividly.

"I'll take a look!"

Zhang Ran also cooperated to go around the stone mill, carefully inspected every corner of the stone mill, and even lifted the grinding piece of the stone mill and looked at the shape of the stripes inside...

In the end, Zhang Ran found that this new stone mill with a diameter of only about one meter, after the transformation of the old stonemason, not only the grinding teeth are exactly the same as the shape of the eight-zone diagonal line drawn by Zhang Ran, but even the edge position has been chiseled out of a special groove, except for the workmanship is a little rough, both the shape and size are almost the same as the stone mill of later generations in Zhang Ran's impression.

The old stonemason's craftsmanship is good, and the newly created stone mill is completely in line with Zhang Ran's expectations, and it is the kind of stone mill that Zhang Ran wants that can be used to grind tofu.

"Fourth uncle, you can't say anything about your craftsmanship! This stone mill is really top-notch! The ideal result was achieved, and Zhang Ran naturally praised the old stonemason fiercely.

The old stonemason stroked his beard, raised his chin arrogantly, tilted his head and glanced at Zhang Ran with his residual vision, and said, "Hmph! Who said before that the old man couldn't make it? ”

"Uh" Zhang Ran touched his nose in embarrassment, lowered his head and said, "That, it's my fault, you shouldn't doubt your craftsmanship!" ”

Hearing Zhang Ran's words, the old stonemason's expression immediately softened, and he stepped forward and patted Zhang Ran on the shoulder and said, "Brother Ran, we old guys, we have relied on such ideas and skills to make ends meet in this life." When I heard people say that my skills are not good, my temper has come up, so I naturally have to fight. I'm not doing the right thing, not the right person, don't take it to heart! ”

When Zhang Ran heard this, he couldn't help but smile heartily: "Fourth uncle, don't worry!" Actually, I didn't take it to heart at all! I deliberately made the radical method..."

"You little slippery head~" The old stonemason suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.

After seeing that Zhang Ran was indeed not affected by his words, the old stonemason accepted the two hundred yuan given by Zhang Ran with peace of mind.

Then, under Zhang Ran's warm hospitality, the father and son rested a little and drank a bowl of water, and then took their son to say goodbye and leave together.