Chapter Twenty-Nine: Craft Heirloom

With the opportunity to learn a craft, the children of poor families will 100% "abandon literature and art", and He Qing is naturally no exception, he willingly dropped out of school, carried simple luggage, and went to the city alone to learn the craft!

The children of poor families are in charge early! Two years later, He Qing has become a teacher in advance because of his lively heart, and now he has made a lot of reputation in Shili and Eight Townships, and is the only pot mending master in the neighborhood.

……

After all, He Yu is still a child, and he followed his father back, he couldn't suppress the excitement, and jumped forward all the way.

Although his father still walks fast, He Yu follows the trend and does not feel tired at all, compared with three years ago, he has grown a head taller!

He Yu didn't feel that he had walked for long, and he walked into the big water cave, and he saw the familiar courtyard at the foot of the mountain by the river.

Rhubarb saw the little master across the river, like a yellow lightning, crossing the wooden bridge, and quickly greeted him, he first stood alone, put his front legs on He Yu's shoulders, and buried his head in He Yu's chest.

Followed by four feet on the ground, the front legs lowered, the whole body was attached to the ground, one nose after another, the mouth made a "woo" sound, shaking his huge tail, circling around He Yu, and the tail hit He Yu's calves with a faint pain.

The younger sister, He Yuanying, wore a pair of cute pigtails, blinked her big eyes, and stood quietly on the pedestal, waiting for He Yu and them to pass.

When He Yuanying saw the second brother, although his eyes were full of surprise, he seemed to be hiding some things, and he didn't rush over and jump into He Yu's arms like before, and he looked like everyone's ladies.

He Yu led his sister into the hall together, where his mother was preparing dinner in the kitchen and his brother was helping in the kitchen.

A familiar aroma of bacon wafted out, causing He Yu's index finger to move, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

About a cup of tea, He Yu's mother put a table of sumptuous meals on the table, and the family ate dinner together, talking and laughing, happy, He Yu ate extraordinarily sweet!

Speaking of her daughter-in-law Luo Hong, her mother looked proud and said: "It's still my family's Qing Ling's cub who has the ability, and it didn't cost much money to marry the best woman in Shili Eight Villages." ”

The implication is that I am very satisfied with this daughter-in-law who has not yet passed the door!

Hearing his mother's words, the eldest brother He Qinghan's face had a hint of shyness, but he couldn't hide the smug look in his eyes.

……

It turns out that in this mountain, it is quite difficult to learn a craft! Because most of the crafts are passed down from family to family, they are inherited in the same lineage, and few disciples with foreign surnames are accepted.

Those family heirloom craftsmen are not doing crafts all year round, and they have to do farm work in their own fields during the busy farming season every year, first ensuring that the whole family has food, which is the so-called "family food, don't panic!" ”

In the slack season, those ancestral craftsmen will pick tools and pick up children, go to the countryside to find work, and make money to subsidize their families.

For every craftsman, there is a limit to the area where he is looking for work, and he cannot cross the boundary at will.

The craftsmanship of the family is inherited from the son to the father's business - while inheriting the craft, it also inherits a relatively stable service area.

This craftsman is like signing a contract with a villager, once the villagers approve of this person, no one will go elsewhere to ask for a master.

For those who learn art from the master, after leaving the school, the service area assigned by the master is basically separated from the master's own area.

Therefore, those masters who accept apprentices have these two particularities:

First, the apprentice's home is located in ten miles and eight townships, and there is indeed a lack of masters in this industry.

The second is the apprentice's home, which should be far away from the master's house, so as not to affect the master's business and avoid the phenomenon of "teaching the apprentice to starve the master".

Of course, there are also casual apprentices, such as blacksmith masters accepting apprentices, except for having a lot of strength, there are no other requirements! But there are only a few who can really learn it!

Because the blacksmith master accepts apprentices, he is to find a person who has the strength to use a sledgehammer, and whether he can learn the art of striking iron depends on the apprentice's understanding!

Anyway, the blacksmith Zhang in Zhangjia Village, the apprentices have never been broken, and there are dozens of them in total, but none of them can open a blacksmith shop!

Those apprentices of Blacksmith Zhang didn't learn the craft of those years in vain, and they still have a few brushes! I heard that the hammer method taught by Blacksmith Zhang is very good!

His apprentices all have a lot of strength, plus a set of hammer methods, sailing boats and horses on the rivers and lakes, and carrying foot guards, which are also very popular, much stronger than the field men who are shaving in the field!

It was also a coincidence that He Qing was able to apprentice to learn art, the master was a friend of his third uncle, and he just met the conditions for apprenticeship.

After apprenticeship, He Qing was diligent and ingenious, and he was deeply loved by the master, and he taught him the skills of making up the pot.

Not only did he leave the school a year in advance, but the territory assigned by the master was very large, and it took more than ten days to run a trip, and he could earn more than 100 yuan netting.

And in the future, the old He family will also have a family heirloom craft, no wonder He Yu's parents are full of joy and pride when they talk about He Qing!

Craftsmen have a lot of status in the mountains, and legend has it that when you ask craftsmen to do their work, you must be sincere and not offended.

Anger the craftsman, they will do tricks in the craft.

It is rumored that when a certain family made a bed, the owner did not have good wine and good food to entertain, which offended the master carpenter, and later the master carpenter carved a urinal on the back of the bed board, and the child wetted the bed as soon as he slept on the bed.

There are also those who offend the pot repair master, the pot that his family has mended, usually nothing to do, but as soon as the fire is burned, it will leak inexplicably.

Since last autumn, He Qing has been going to the countryside to visit households, and in Luojiazhuang, which is less than ten miles away from here, he has been doing crafts there for two days, and has made up a lot of iron pots and copper pots.

He Qing has excellent craftsmanship and skillful movements, the pot that is mended is very small, the inside is smooth, and the mended pot is the same as a new pot.

He is an honest man, and the money he collects is not expensive, and he has been praised by the people of Luojiazhuang.

Although Luojiazhuang is only more than ten miles away from Dashuidong, it takes more than an hour to make a round trip, and He Qing didn't want to waste his efforts, so he borrowed to live in the house of a person surnamed Luo.

At that time, transportation was inconvenient, and the craftsmen who went from village to house lived in the owner's house or a familiar person's house.

In Shili and Eight Townships, although the status of craftsmen is not as high as that of scholars, the number is not more than that of scholars, and they are also favored by girls.

The Luo family where He Qing lived was also a well-known family in the local area, and there was a daughter named Luo Hong, who was two years younger than He Qing, beautiful, smart and capable.