Baicheng has a long history. It was established as a city in the 1990s, and a new district was established in the past ten years. With a grass river as the boundary, the west of the river is the old city, old railway station, small hotel, pedicure shop, and fly restaurant. Hedong is a new city, with newly opened real estate, neat commercial streets, beautiful green spaces and government buildings row upon row.
Land Rover crossed the bridge unhurriedly, and after a while, the street suddenly widened, and the buildings in front of them seemed to have bright colors. Not long after, the car turned into an alley and stopped slowly.
Gu Yu got out of the car, looked up, and saw that this was not a villa, but a small house. The green bricks and black tiles, the cornices appear, and the big trees are planted in the courtyard, which is somewhat ancient.
Although the land price in Baicheng is not high, the ability to live in this house is evident.
"Go in quickly, grandma is probably in a hurry."
Zeng Shufei pressed the electronic lock and shouted as soon as he entered the courtyard: "Grandma, I have invited someone here for you!"
Not long after the words were finished, the old lady came out of the house, wearing a blue gown with plain flowers on a blue background, black cloth shoes, gray hair and a hairpin, looking leisurely and calm.
After a brief introduction, the old lady was quite enthusiastic and said with a smile: "Mr. Gu, if you don't mind, I'll call you Xiao Gu. Come, come, please!"
"Thank you Grandma Zeng, you can call me anything." Gu Yu bowed slightly, half a step behind.
Several people entered the main hall and took their seats. The nanny served tea, and the old lady said first, "Little Gu, don't blame me for being troublesome. When I smelled the incense yesterday, ouch! I wish I could meet an expert at that time." , so let them run."
"You have won the prize, what kind of expert am I?"
"It's not a compliment, it's worthy of the title. Your incense is different from the ones I've seen before. May I ask, who did you learn the craft from?"
"Family tradition, learned from grandpa."
"grandfather?"
The old lady was very curious, and then asked: "Are you a local?"
"Uh, don't count, the Phoenix Collection that came more than 30 years ago..."
Gu Yu picked and picked and said, the old lady was quite regretful, and said: "When your grandfather settled down, I happened to go to the provincial capital. Now that I have fallen leaves and returned to my roots, he... well, I have no chance to see him!"
Grandma Zeng is very friendly, like chatting with a junior. Both of them have a good sense of propriety, briefly explaining some of their own situations without being too abrupt.
The siblings accompanied them, chatting with each other from time to time, and of course the more important thing was to see grandma's attitude.
After chatting for a while, the old lady asked Gu Yu to see her collection again.
Several people went out of the main hall and went to a side room next to him. He was shocked when he entered the door. The elderly really love incense, and there are a lot of beautiful things in it, including various bracelets, Buddha statues, logs, incense burners, incense plates, incense spoons, etc., piled up the whole room.
Gu Yu's practice of making incense is very deep, but limited by economic conditions, he doesn't have much knowledge, so he secretly marvels at this moment.
"This is a lotus copper plate. I liked it very much at the time, but when I got it, I didn't like it."
"This is Xiangfeizhu's incense spoon. It's very cleverly designed. It's also very beautiful as a decoration."
"This is a gourd jade incense stick. I went somewhere, and I saw it was very unique, so I bought it."
He looked along, but it was a small gourd with a single gourd, the top and bottom were inlaid with a circle of white jade, and there was a small hole at the top for inserting incense sticks.
"This is an incense burner from the Longquan kiln in the Song Dynasty. It took a lot of effort to find it..."
The old lady picked up a celadon incense burner, the glaze color was clear, round and clear, obviously it was genuine. She liked this incense burner very much, and she talked a lot, and said with a smile: "In a few days, when the weather gets hot, I will use Hui'an Shen to match it. Hui'an Shen is originally cool, and it is most suitable to use this Longquan kiln... yo , you are an expert, I still put this to show off."
"No, it's the first time I've seen you too." Gu Yu said hastily.
The so-called Hui'an Shen refers to the agarwood produced in Hui'an, which has a bitter and cool taste and is very tasteful. This kind of cool fragrance, paired with the cool Longquan kiln, really complements each other.
Ya has never been in contact with her at all, her eyes are full of brilliance, and she can't take her eyes off her. You can tell what level the old lady is from just looking at his expression, I think this young man's skill in making incense is superb, but not so good in other aspects.
She was sophisticated in life, she did not harbor contempt, but explained in more detail, especially those few treasures. After a long time, she brought everyone back to the main hall.
"Little Gu, what do you think of my collection?" the old lady asked.
"I admire you for being old, it's eye-opening." Gu Yu said sincerely.
"Oh, I have worked so hard for these things."
Grandma Zeng has a bad waist, she used to lean back when she sat down, and sighed with a half smile: "I, I worked so hard for the first half of my life, but now it's hard to get back. Ever since I came into contact with incense, don't tell me, really I feel my heart is becoming more and more quiet. I have a few old friends who love this now, and get together when they have nothing to do. How do you say that? Oh, stealing half a day of leisure. Now I have to Smoke it up, or you won't even be able to sleep well... Sigh, I didn't read a book when I was young, but it's arty when I'm old, which makes people laugh."
"Grandma, you are not arty, you are elegant! Who stipulates that people can't play tricks when they are old?" Zeng Yuewei's mouth was slippery, and she opened her mouth.
"That's right, don't talk about you, I just smoked one, and I feel much quieter." Zeng Shufei continued.
The atmosphere was peaceful for a while, but Gu Yu, with a touch of politeness in his politeness, seemed to disagree. Zeng Yuewei was about to test his skills, so she immediately said, "Mr. Gu, your incense making skills are so good, what's your opinion on incense?"
"I don't have any good opinions. I'm just a skilled worker." He laughed.
"Hearing what you say is humility, how can you make such a good incense..."
"Okay, Weiwei, there's nothing to discuss."
The old lady stopped her with a wave of her hand, first ordered the nanny to prepare the meal, and then said: "Xiao Gu, it is fate to meet you today, you have to eat before leaving."
"Okay, thank you then."
It's all done, what else can he say, so he has to agree.
The nanny was extremely efficient, and soon a table of dinner was prepared. I didn't deliberately add more dishes, so I made a few more servings of the original porridge and side dishes. There's nothing to be reserved about that guy, it's delicious to snort.
After the meal, the old lady unexpectedly drove the three of them away, leaving Gu Yu alone. The feelings of the siblings were very complicated, but they did not dare to violate it, so they had to leave their contact information and leave with their thoughts.
Evening, quiet room.
This room is next to the master bedroom, very classical and elegant, with tables and chairs in the middle, tea utensils and fruits on the table, calligraphy and paintings hanging on one side, and a burner of incense on the table on the other side.
Gu Yu sat at the table, knowing that the other party had some private things to say, so he drank tea and waited.
Sure enough, after the old lady had digested her food, she smiled and said, "Little Gu, I just stayed here to chat casually. After all, it's not easy to find someone who understands fragrance. Just now when Weiwei asked you, I think you seem to be hesitant to speak. , can you tell me, I really want to hear your thoughts."
"Uh... Then I'll tell you, don't laugh if it doesn't tell you."
People asked again, but there was no way, he straightened his body, and said carefully: "There are thousands of kinds of incense, which can be roughly divided into two categories, one is for entertainment, and the other is for medicinal purposes. What you just mentioned should be medicinal incense. The medicinal fragrance can indeed soothe the spirit and promote sleep, but I think it can only be used as an aid and cannot be relied on."
"Oh? How do you say that?" The other party wondered.
"Modern people use incense to calm their minds, but meditation is a long process, and it cannot be accomplished overnight. There are too many worries in our lives, so there are many distracting thoughts. If you want to meditate, you must first clear it up for yourself.
From a certain point of view, we usually have two aspects: one is communication, the other is doing things.
When interacting with people, you should be neither humble nor overbearing, open your eyes, learn knowledge, and accumulate wisdom. Do things by yourself, be serious and responsible, keep your energy, and feel the value and fun from it.
With such an attitude towards life, you will gradually calm yourself down. This is called being refreshed and enlightened.
As for the aroma of incense, we can keep in good health and enjoy it, but we must not become superstitious, as if it is not comfortable if we do not smoke. To put it bluntly, those who are intriguing all day long, those who are desperate for survival, those who are sentimental and cynical...they have so many troubles, can they just rely on a piece of incense to calm their minds? This is a bit, uh..."
He said this, shook his head with a smile.
"..."
Grandma Zeng was surprised at first, then pondered, and now she looked at this young man with eyes full of admiration. In an instant, she overturned her previous impression: Not only is she capable of making incense, but her character is even more remarkable!
Even if her family knows her family affairs, she will retire, but how can she not worry about the company's business, policy changes, and the maintenance of her circle of friends, including sons, grandsons, and granddaughters
In fact, she understands very well that her own incense is not to be quiet, but to hide from the quiet, and what she seeks is a sustenance.
The old lady had a lot of experience, and she was more touched by these words, and immediately said: "Xiao Gu, I didn't expect you to be so young, but you think very clearly. How did the ancients say, oh, you can die when you hear Daoxi in the morning !"
Gu Yu sweated wildly, and hurriedly said: "Grandma Zeng, don't make fun of me. You understand all these principles, but you can't help yourself."
"..."
As soon as this remark came out, the old man stopped with a thump.
The four words "I can't help myself" pierced my heart like a knife. For so many years, my son didn't say it, my grandchildren didn't say it, but an outsider said it.
She felt emotional in her heart and was speechless for a while. Gu Yu also knew that it was a little presumptuous, he picked up the teacup in a little embarrassment, and sipped it in small sips.
After a while, the old lady regained her composure, and Fang said, "By the way, Xiao Gu, you just said that there are two types of incense, so what about the other type of taste?"