The main source of income in Jinzhu Village comes from the production of broken gold wires.

There is a large forest of golden bamboo in the mountain behind the village, but the production of broken gold silk is limited every month, mainly because the production process is very cumbersome.

The broken golden bamboo is blue-green, with a little gold spot on the skin, and the older the bamboo, the larger the gold spot on it. It is best to make broken gold wire, preferably more than three years old bamboo, there are too many impurities in new bamboo, not only easy to break, but also the effect in all aspects is not as good as old bamboo.

However, even old bamboo needs to find a way to remove impurities from the bamboo silk.

There is a piece of nitrate ore at the back of the village, which is slightly darker in color and finer in texture than ordinary clods. The villagers use nitrate to polish the bamboo silk until the blue-green color in the bamboo silk is so faint that it is almost invisible, and the bamboo silk turns pale yellow.

This is not over, the pale yellow bamboo silk needs to be soaked in nitrate yellow water for three days and three nights. At that time, the pale yellow of the bamboo wire will turn into a deeper golden yellow, and it is only then that a broken gold wire is truly completed.

Nitrate yellow particles are insoluble in water and will be deposited to the bottom of the water after a while, so nitrate yellow water needs to be stirred constantly to let the water and nitrate particles mix well. The processed broken gold filaments are extremely flexible and will not break no matter how they are bent. The woven silk surface is difficult to enter, and it is not invaded by water and fire, and is often used as the shell of the mechanism.

After fully understanding the production process of broken gold wire, Chang Ming sighed, sure enough, no matter what kind of rice is not so delicious. With such a complicated process, the last broken gold wire could only be sold for eighteen coppers...... Thinking about it like this, he felt that his fifty silver coins were too simple. You must know that one silver coin is equal to one thousand copper, and fifty silver coins are equivalent to more than two thousand seven hundred broken gold wires!

Although the production of broken gold wire is complicated, most of it is water milling. The real difficulty is the first step - to cut the bamboo silk from the bamboo pole.

The length of each broken gold wire collected by the family should be more than one meter. Bamboo silk within one meter is waste, and they don't collect it. Moreover, this meter-long bamboo wire also requires uniform thickness and thinness like a piece of paper, which requires very high craftsmanship. Every household in the village makes broken gold wire, but there are only ten people who can successfully make qualified good bamboo silk.

Chang Ming walked to the door of Lao Ping's house, and the village chief said that Lao Ping was one of the ten people in the village who could piece bamboo silk, and he was also the one with the best craftsmanship.

Lao Ping was working, and he sat steadily in the patio, with a large pile of bamboo poles next to him.

He was very focused, and Chang Ming came in without even raising his head. Chang Ming didn't bother him, and stood quietly to the side to watch.

Lao Ping grabbed a bamboo pole with one hand, and pinched a narrow blade with the other, aiming it at the head of the bamboo pole. His right hand did not move, and his left hand shook twice, and a long bamboo wire was pieced out.

Sure enough, the thickness is uniform, and it is as thin as paper, which is a perfect good bamboo wire.

Lao Ping kept his hands until he had completely slice the bamboo pole - by that time, the surface of the bamboo pole had completely disappeared, and only the green and white bamboo flesh inside was left - and he raised his head and greeted him silently with his gaze.

Chang Ming didn't pay attention to his movements, he was holding a bamboo silk, his eyes were focused, and his face was thoughtful. In his mind, he repeatedly replayed Lao Ping's movements just now, how the blade was pinched, what the angle of cutting into the bamboo pole was, how the gesture was when the piece went out, and the frequency and timing of the shaking of the left hand......

It was all in his mind, and every detail was missed.

When he was a child, his grandfather taught him that the so-called practice is not to repeat mistakes, but to perform them purposefully after careful observation.

Repeating a mistake a hundred times is also a mistake, and only by taking the right path can we reach the other side of success.

He carefully watched Lao Ping's entire treatment process of a bamboo pole, this bamboo pole, he made a total of forty-three bamboo wires, sometimes there will be some small flaws, resulting in some errors in the thickness of the bamboo wire. However, none of the eighty-three bamboo threads failed, and it took about half an hour in total, showing extremely superb skills.

After a bamboo pole was sliced, fine beads of sweat appeared on Lao Ping's forehead, obviously he also had certain requirements for physical strength.

After the whole process was replayed ten times in Chang Ming's mind, he raised his head and just wanted to speak to Lao Ping, when an uncle walked in and shouted: "Lao Ping, is there a finished product?"

Lao Ping stood up in silence and turned around and handed him a long and narrow bamboo basket. The bamboo basket is filled with freshly sliced bamboo threads.

The uncle counted the points and said, "A total of three hundred, ten coppers each, or settle with silver coins?"

Lao Ping nodded and took the silver coin in his hand.

After Chang Ming asked, he learned that only ten people in the village could make bamboo silk, and the average was less than one per household. In the process of making broken gold wire, only a piece of bamboo silk requires skill, and the rest is all water grinding work. Therefore, the village arranged for these ten people to specialize in silk, and each silk was ten coppers.

Chang Ming was stunned and asked, "In this way, such a cumbersome processing process can only earn eight coppers?"

The uncle laughed: "Who let us not have this craft?

Chang Ming asked thoughtfully: "If I can also make a piece of bamboo silk, can I also make a living?"

Lao Ping glanced at him, and the uncle laughed even louder: "Of course, Brother Ming, if you can make a qualified piece of bamboo silk, we can also collect it at the price of ten copper pieces! But this job is not so easy to do, look at your hands with fine skin and tender meat, be careful not to be scratched by bamboo silk! Don't look at Lao Ping's simple work, he is the leader of the silk in the village, and the success rate of other pieces is not so high!"

Although he said it cheerfully, he obviously didn't believe that Chang Ming could do it.

Lao Ping didn't say anything, the uncle left after settling the account, he glanced at Chang Ming, and said concisely: "Do you want to try?"

Chang Ming nodded immediately: "Yes!"

Lao Ping handed him both the knife and the bamboo pole, and Chang Ming took a deep breath and sat down.

He didn't do it right away, but gently stroked the bamboo pole, feeling the fine texture. Then, he picked up the blade and swiped twice on the bamboo flesh that had been sliced.

Seeing his preparations, Lao Ping's eyes lit up.

Chang Ming recalled the process twice more in his mind, raised his head and smiled: "Uncle Ping, I may have to scrap a bamboo pole of yours." ”

Lao Ping said succinctly: "It's okay!"

Chang Ming took a few deep breaths, pinched the blade, the blade pressed against the end of the bamboo pole, and slashed it without hesitation!

His gestures were exactly the same as Lao Ping's, and the angle and depth of the cut were exactly the same. Immediately afterwards, his right hand did not move, and his left hand trembled, but the frequency of coordination was not in place, and when the bamboo silk appeared about thirty centimeters, it broke all of a sudden.

Chang Ming's face did not change at all, and he re-posed his posture, and it was another knife. This time it still didn't work, or the frequency of coordination was not done well.

Third, fourth, fifth......

Chang Ming's eyes remained the same, his breathing remained the same, except for the slight adjustment of his movements, every failure did not affect him in any way.

Lao Ping's calm eyes gradually showed surprise, he really deserved to be the first person in Jinzhu Village, and his eyes were extremely sharp. He quickly saw the key.

Every time Chang Ming adjusts, the movements are smoother than the previous one. Gradually, he did not completely copy Lao Ping's model, but added some of his own habits.

He failed fourteen in a row, and when he reached the fifteenth, he finished shaking two times in a row, and a complete bamboo wire appeared in his hand!

Chang Ming's movements did not stop, the sixteenth failed again, but the seventeenth succeeded.

Eighteen failed, nineteen failed, and twenty succeeded.

Chang Ming's success rate is getting higher and higher, this bamboo pole, he slice a total of thirty-four knives, and the last five knives are all successful, none of them are broken!

After a bamboo pole was all pieced, Chang Ming exhaled and put down the tools in his hand.

Lao Ping's eyes shone brightly, and he said briefly: "You should go and become a mechanic!"

Chang Ming picked up his piece of bamboo silk and looked at it, shook his head and said, "No, the quality is not up to par." Look at this ...... that is fine at the top and thick at the bottom."

Lao Ping didn't speak, just patted Chang Ming's shoulder and pointed somewhere.

Chang Ming looked in the direction of his finger and saw that there were four bamboo pillars tied into a bunch. The bamboo pillar is densely carved with scratches, and the flesh can be seen deep in one by one, and there is already some history.

Lao Ping said: "This is a record of failure!"

Chang Ming was stunned for a moment, and instantly understood. Every time Lao Ping made an unsuccessful attempt, he carved a knife on the bamboo pillar. The whole bamboo pillar is full of carvings, which shows how many times he has failed!

Lao Ping pointed to the pile of new bamboo silk in front of him, each of which was uniform in thickness and as thin as paper...... Behind such a work, there are countless failures and countless efforts!

Chang Ming smiled at him gratefully and said, "Well, Uncle Ping, I know. I'm going to keep working hard until I'm just like you!"

His mind was back to his grandfather and the tape recorder.

It seems to be an understatement, but behind it is the experience of hundreds of thousands of times. No matter what you do, find the right way, work hard, and succeed!

Lao Ping thought for a while, handed him his little blade, and said, "Send it to you." ”

Chang Ming had looked at it carefully before, it seemed to be just a metal blade, but it had obviously been polished countless times. The curvature and the tactile feel of the handle are all particularly comfortable. Chang Ming did not refuse, took the blade, bowed deeply to Lao Ping, and said, "Thank you!"

What he thanked was not only this blade, but Lao Ping's silent admonition.

Never be frivolous, always calm down and hold on to God.

There is still a long way to go to truly become a mechanic, but no matter what kind of road, people must go down step by step!

Chang Ming raised his eyes to look at the bamboo pillar, and he saw resentment, unyieldingness, and persistence in the knife marks. For him, staying in Jinzhu Village has another meaning in addition to finding out the news.

Hone your skills and make perfect golden bamboo wires——

Mechanic is a purely manual profession, and basic skills are absolutely the most important, which is a good opportunity for Chang Ming to practice basic skills!