fifteen

There are often many coincidences in a person's body. The young man Hong Yunchao is like this. By chance, he was fortunate to get acquainted with Master Ding, who lived in Zhenwei, and thus unveiled a different kind of journey for him to pursue his dreams.

That day, he wandered to the corner of the county seat, originally planning to buy some calligraphy and paintings for a brother, who had just started a few new houses. I didn't want him to run around, so I didn't buy calligraphy and paintings, but I was fortunate to meet Mr. Ding.

This Mr. Ding was an old carpenter who retired at home. said that he had worked hard all his life, and he didn't earn anything special, but he accumulated a kind of carving craftsmanship in his hands. It is also a long time to accumulate most of the life's effort, for a while to carve a dragon and a phoenix, or birds and beasts, the present material is now carved, turn around and stand, but also take care of the eagle nose cat's claw, dragon ball and phoenix tail, all lifelike.

It's a pity that he has no children and no daughters under his knees, so he lives with his wife. When he retired, he carved some strange beasts and birds, or immortals, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas at any time, and placed them on the side of the road in front of his house, and bought them when he saw money, and did not count the price;

But it is said that it is not a coincidence. This Hong Yunchao baby, a native of Xilongzhou, because he was twelve years old, saw that when he came to his cousin to make a wedding bed from the head of the village, it was carved dragons and phoenixes, mandarin ducks and magpies, everything, which really feasted his eyes and opened his eyes for a while. Interestingly, I don't know which tendon is right for him, and he is instantly obsessed with these carving skills. Since then, he has carried a small blade in his hand every day, and he has to carve a few when he is free, but it is a pity that he has not had the opportunity to worship a true master for many years.

But he said that he inadvertently bumped into those few carved boutiques that day, and said that he would buy one or two pieces without any intention for a while, but he was willing to let go easily. It just so happened that the owner of the goods was also drinking tea and watching the scenery at this time, so he casually picked up a carved piece and leaned in to talk to him.

Soon, he realized that in fact, these exquisite carvings were originally made by the owner of the goods, and he was really overjoyed for a while.

After further conversation, he learned something else about Mr. Ding, and especially when he learned of his specific family situation, he said to himself: "Boy, you must take advantage of the opportunity."

That night, he didn't go home, he just relied on his full sincerity and excellent acceptance and comprehension on the carved side, so that Mr. Ding, who had never accepted apprentices for decades, accepted him.

It was six months later in the morning. As usual, this Hong Yunchao got up early in the morning, and while washing, he cooked some boiling water for Master Ding and the others, fried some fresh rice and swallowed a few bites, thinking about going out to work for a moment - here it is said that this Master Ding couldn't stand Xiaoyunchao's good grinding that day, but he said politely: "Look at you are also a child of this simple family, you have to come to learn this carving or something, and it is not impossible to think about it." But for a moment, you have to answer some of my questions first. ”

Hong Yunchao was about to do nothing at that time, and when he saw that Master Ding's mouth was loose, but what could he not answer, he immediately said: "Master, if you have anything to ask, just do it, I will keep it and really come back to you." ”

"Don't, don't!" Master Ding immediately said, "I haven't said that I will accept you as an apprentice, let's be one and two and two, but we have to remember it." I'm not the kind of person who does learning, and the questions I want to ask are actually very simple, I just want to ask you, I see that you want to learn this with all your heart, but have you thought about it, why is this?"

"I'm sure I've got to tell the truth, right?" he squirmed, "No, I didn't think about it, I didn't think about it at all;

"Then I'm going to sue you," Master Ding said, "People live but they have to eat, and if you do this now, you may not be able to mix a bite of food to eat, do you know?"

"I'm so young, as people say, if the newborn sun is thinking about this?" he said.

"If you are poor, you will be short-sighted. A person who is not good at thinking about long-term livelihood, no matter how ambitious he is, he may not be able to languish and decadent at some point. Do you know that?"

"Then it depends on what kind of people they are. Besides, I still have my own one-third of an acre of land, so it shouldn't matter if I take it as a hobby. ”

"But how much does it have to do with me—— you know, do you know why I've never confiscated anything?"

"There's no doubt about it, is the master willing to talk about it? ”

"Oh, that's a long story. Master Ding changed to a somber tone and said, "Earlier, it was not permitted, it was not permitted-" said that my little craftsmanship is still inherited from my master's hands. At the beginning, I mainly carved some such as Goddess of Mercy and so on, and then they were all like that, all like that. I just didn't think that after five or six years, I would have almost finished learning the craft, but I caught up with the Cultural Revolution to oppose feudalism and eliminate superstition. I didn't say anything, but it overturned the table of our activities, and I also wanted to go to the street with hats (cow ghosts, snakes, and gods), saying that at that time, fortunately I still learned some carpentry skills in my hands (but I can play some cover, say non-professional), and the 'roots' are good enough, so I didn't suffer too much because of this. That's how it goes.

"And after this reality, I have another pain (to put it bluntly, I am too stubborn). In fact, if you look at my real situation, you can know that I am now in the twilight of the day, and the Yellow Spring is not far away. Why don't I want to take in one or two little apprentices, not for the sake of others, I learned this craft from my grandfather, and it is not easy to pass it on, how can I let him lose it in my hands. This has to be explained in detail, and it is not that I have not met one or two people who want to come to learn before, but you know, this is a delicate job, and it requires 100% sincerity and endurance to dare to lead them into the Tao gradually. So, therefore, there are occasionally these two artists who come to the scene, but most of them let me directly block them back. Don't you look at me as a pedantic and stupid person, if I get stubborn, I really won't be able to pull back nine cows. To be ruthless, I haven't been thinking about where I'm going to be a corpse in the future (I'm a lonely old man), and if I want to pass on my craft to someone who obviously can't pass it on, I'd rather not pass it on (what do you want that kind of false name, maybe it will also damage my reputation). Okay, that's all I can say, uncle, that's all I can say—"

Hong Yunchao had been listening quietly for a moment, for fear that he would not be able to do so, that is, when he saw that Master Ding had stopped here, he couldn't help but think for a moment and said, "I understand what you mean, if you want to learn, you have to make up your mind to learn well." You can rest assured that this is true, as I just said, I am not doing this out of enthusiasm for three minutes. I ask you to test me, because no matter how good I say it, I can't count, do you? ”

"It's your name," Master Ding looked at it seriously at this time, "Under your name, this test may not need to be repeated." ”

"I don't understand, isn't—" he asked.

"It's good to look at people intuitively, maybe, we must have a fate. And he said bluntly.

"In that case," Hong Yunchao said when he heard this, he immediately said excitedly: "Your old man is ready to accept me, isn't it, heh, this really makes me so happy, so happy." ”

"Acceptance is acceptance," Master Ding paused and said, "But you still need to undergo a period of basic training, you know." ”

"Master, I'm ready, I can start now. "He couldn't wait.

I smiled when I saw this: "Look at you for a while." But I can tell you, it's not here to practice, you know. Well, stay here tonight, go back tomorrow, talk to your family, and then come here, and I'll take you to the field." ”

"Which field are you going to go to?" he couldn't help asking, "I don't want to ambush you either." I'll sue you, I'm going to send you to my past field to slip by, one is to learn more than one craft in hand, the art is far away, but the other is also more important, to learn carving, first know wood. This material is not to be mixed and used indiscriminately. And if you want to know some wood, the fastest way is to learn carpentry. What kind of wood species has what kind of characteristics, and what kind of characteristics of different parts of the material have, to be careful, you can learn a lot of carpentry for a few months. ”

"Is it because carpenters come into contact with wood of various types of materials more often?"

"If so, I don't know if you would be willing to go and learn. ”

"As long as I can learn your craft at the end, I can do whatever you ask me to do, and I will be happy. ”

"Okay, then we'll settle it like this—— we'll close the stall early today, and we'll talk again when we get home-"

In this way, following Master Ding's agreement, Hong Yunchao stayed overnight that night, got up early and hurried back to his home, and when he came to his parents, he went to pack up some daily necessities. On the morning of the second day, Master Ding took him to a public-private furniture factory not far from Ding's house, where he had been working for more than six months. He is diligent, usually attentive and hardworking, and even this routine holiday rarely rests. He wanted to prove to the master with his practical actions: he can do anything.

said that the master and the lady have already gotten up early to go to the park in front of them to do exercise. He could have helped them boil some boiling water or anything earlier, and he wouldn't have let anyone else do it. Also, the elderly have their own choices and habits in life, and they are all quite healthy, so it is understandable that they do not want to be distracted. And perhaps because he was finally accepted by Master Ding, he had a good impression of this pair of old men at the beginning, and after this period, he gradually developed a strong affection for them that was not a relative, but a relative. Seeing that the two old men were very sincere and kind, and amiable, living with them, he always felt an extraordinary harmony, and so that he even thought secretly, secretly thinking, thinking about how he could make himself happy and happy one day, and their son came