It was midsummer when Ding Hanbai returned from studying abroad, and it was already a year in the blink of an eye.
The streets in midsummer are unstoppable, and the heat and noise are mixed, making people disturbed. The Cultural Relics Bureau is cool, the old smoke-gray building is hidden under the lush maple vines, the walls are barely visible, only rows of checkered glass windows can be seen.
The air conditioner in the office changed from morning to night, and neither the female colleagues nor the older colleagues could stand the cold wind. Only the young man in his twenties sat in the seat facing the air outlet.
"Xiao Ding, I heard that you want to go on a business trip to Fujian?" Team Leader Shi suddenly asked, "Did you submit an application to Director Zhang?"
Team Leader Shi is about to retire, he is the oldest, and he is the most able to mess around, otherwise he will not be only a team leader at this age. He wasn't curious when he asked this, he just wanted to kill the ten minutes before he got off work.
"I handed it over the day before yesterday. Director Zhang hasn't looked at it yet. I guess he is short-sighted."
The person who answered was Ding Hanbai, a young man who had just turned 20 and had been working at the Cultural Relics Bureau for more than half a year. He liked to be late, but did not leave early. The money I earn is not much, the chair cushions should be satin flat embroidery, the pen holder should be square with caviar pattern, and the usual posture is to bend long legs, close the eyebrows, and think about where to go after get off work.
Team Leader Shi knew that Ding Hanbai and Director Zhang were not very good at dealing with them, and said, "Fujian is so far away, don't go if you don't go."
Ding Hanbai nodded and took the comfort, but did not express any further comments. He wants to go, not because he loves his job, but because there are a number of cultural relics from the ocean in Fujian, he is very interested and just wants to satisfy his selfishness.
When it was time to get off work, Ding Hanbai walked away with a bag, riding a bicycle with a big beam, not in a hurry or panic, and walked back slowly and leisurely. The summer is long, and every day when I get home without dinner, I have to listen to my mother's nagging around. It's better to waste time on the busy street.
Halfway through the ride, I turned the handlebars and turned to Yingchun Avenue to speed up. The wind was blowing my shirt, and I stopped when I passed the entrance of an old-fashioned restaurant in the city. Ding Hanbai got out of the car and bought a chicken wing with butter, and hung it on the handlebar. When he left, he slowly turned his head to look at the "Jade Pin Ji" opposite.
The most exquisite jade carving in the city is a time-honored brand, and the door to the sky can be seen, but there is more than one store, there are three in total.
Ding Hanbai returned home smelling the smell of chicken wings, and saw a shadow when he rode into Sha'er Street. The back is clear and graceful, with long hair covered with butterfly bones, straight shoulders and flat legs, and a white pleated skirt that adds a little coolness to this hot summer day.
Ding Hanbai rang the bell of the car, and rushed behind the house as if urging his life, shouting, "Who is this big girl so eye-catching?"
The other party turned around and hit him with a gesture: "I'm no big or small all day, I'll sue your mother."
"Oh, it turns out to be my aunt." One of Ding Hanbai's great joys in life is to shame his mother's family. His aunt, who was three years older than him, was taken care of by their family, just like his sister.
Jiang Caiwei raised her legs and stepped into the big threshold, helped him carry the bag, and asked, "I took a detour to buy food again. How is the business in the store?"
Ding Hanbai brought his bicycle into the hospital: "It's still like that, I just took a look."
Their Ding family has ancestral craftsmanship, jade carving and stone carving, the only technology in the city. Yupinji has been in operation for several generations. It has been closed during special periods. After several evolutions, there are still three rooms left. In those days, the ancestors set the rules, relying on craftsmanship to gain shares. retreat.
Ding Hanbai's father, Ding Yanshou, is the most powerful right now, and his uncle Ding Houkang is a little weaker.
Ding Hanbai is the eldest son and eldest grandson. He learned to hold a knife on his father's knee before he even learned to walk. His talent and his height jumped at the same time, but his height stopped, but he always stood tall and did not bow. When his talent was at its peak, he completely forgot about it." How to spell humility. Moreover, Ding Hanbai chose to study abroad at the most inconspicuous and frivolous age. As a result, he did not learn much knowledge and lost a lot of money.
He unbuttoned his shirt and entered the house. The house was full of evidence of his bad money, a white-glazed porcelain plate with eight-treasure candy, a double-dragon ear gossip incense burner with perfume, and a pair of gilt-bronze framed silk on the bedside table. Colored figures hanging mirrors.
After changing his clothes and washing his face, Ding Hanbai went to eat in the large living room in the front yard. Their ancestors were very rich, and every house in the big mansion was like a pile of jade ornaments. The jars are all the seeds for carving dragons and phoenixes.
Now they all live in units or villas, but Dante's family still lives in groups, living in three courtyards. Ding Hanbai's parents and aunt lived in the front yard, his uncle's family lived in the east courtyard, and Ding Hanbai lived alone in the other small courtyard. And the surname Ding is too tossing, pushing the wall when his mind is hot, building arches when it is cool, planting grass and flowers, and wishing to carve beams and paintings.
But Ding Hanbai despised it in his heart. No matter how big or beautiful the yard was, it would not be as good as a few generations ago. .
He wants to change and understands that working at the heritage bureau is of no use.
The living room is brightly lit, the big round table has been placed four cool and three hot, and the kitchen is still busy. Ding Houkang sat on his seat and poured liquor, a small cup a day, and only half a cup in the hot weather recently.
Ding Hanbai paced to the kitchen door, sniffed and asked, "Mom, where are my butter chicken wings?"
Jiang Shuliu stirred the vegetarian soup in the pot and turned to ask, "Caiwei, where are his chicken wings?"
"It's hot, I didn't pay attention." Jiang Caiwei lifted the lid of the pot gloatingly, and took out the six messy chicken wings, "Earning that little salary is not enough for a tooth sacrifice, the International Hotel, Zhuifenglou, some Peter's Western food, Choose expensive food."
Ding Hanbai took it and was annoyed by the two sisters talking about it. After he turned eighteen, his birthday wish was the same every year, and he hoped Jiang Caiwei would marry as soon as possible.
Ding Houkang's family of three, two sons Ding Er and Ding Keyu are both cousins of Ding Hanbai, Ding Hanbai is the only child, and Ding Yanshou is often so angry that he can't sleep.
"By the way, the uncle has been away for six days, right?"
When the front seat was empty, Ding Yanshou went to Yangzhou to express his condolences to his late friend Ji Fangxu, but he should have come back even if he stayed for three days. Ding Hanbai gnawed on the chicken wings and said, "Master Ji must be buried, and my dad may start traveling in Yangzhou."
Jiang Shuliu frightened him with his eyes: "What are you traveling? After the funeral, I have to comfort the family members and see if there is anything in Fang Xu's family that needs help to settle down."
Ding Hanbai followed up: "What can it be? Don't people have relatives or friends in Yangzhou? Besides, if there are no children at Master Ji's age, then there must be apprentices. What do apprentices do? Live to learn and serve, die. To take care of relatives, unless the apprentice has no conscience."
Jiang Shuliu couldn't say anything to him, so he filled him with rice to stop his mouth.
It was a little cooler at night, and Ding Hanbai was bored cleaning the machine room. He never cared about housework. He walked around with his chair upside down, never raising his hand to help him. But the machine room is an exception. He never lets others touch it, he cleans it himself, usually locks the doors and windows, and carries the key.
Jiang Caiwei joked from time to time, saying that there were hundreds of thousands of good materials hidden in it. Ding Keyu broke into it once, just wanted to feast his eyes, but was kicked into the pool in front of the shadow wall by Ding Hanbai and counted nine. It has been a cold for nearly a month.
On a summer moonlit night, the light in the yard is soft and translucent. Ding Hanbai came out of the machine room with sweat dripping from the machine room, holding a tray of red rosechees in his left palm, with a frozen lychee stone in it. After taking a shower, he sat down on a rattan chair, and began to carve under the moonlight and a small lamp. The smallest knife swam along the fine lines of the radish, and there was no turning back after the knife.
Ding Han carved a statue of Ruyi Avalokitesvara with a big palm. Before he could refine it, he was sleepy first. He yawned and looked at the moon, thinking a bit self-deprecating: what a hurry, anyway, it may not be sold if the carving is good.
Just go home and sleep.
The Cultural Relics Bureau usually has nothing to do. Ding Hanbai went early, just in time to catch up with the deputy curator of the reception city museum, to talk about the reporting situation of the latest batch of cultural relics displayed, and to determine the time for the Cultural Relics Bureau to go down for inspection.
As soon as the leader of the museum left, Zhang Yin arrived, and Ding Hanbai immediately stood up vigorously: "Director Zhang, your shirt is made of good material."
Zhang Yin smiled but said, "I've been wearing this this week."
Ding Hanbai's good words could not insist on one sentence: "You are also an office worker, why are you so indifferent."
He followed the other party into the director's office, Zhang Yin took his seat, and he sat opposite the desk at the same time, making it clear that he had something to say and something to ask for. Zhang Yin pushed the teacup forward, and his posture was quite magnanimous. He calculated that Ding Hanbai, the youngest person in this office, had never made tea for him.
Ding Hanbai is rich and temperamental, but he doesn't have the eyesight to flatter people. His eyes turn from the bottom of the cup to the edge of the cup, tsk tsk sigh: "The counter goods in the department store, time. You go to our store and pick one, and I will deliver it to you. of."
Zhang Yin was so angry that it would be fine if he didn't pour the tea, and he didn't care about his own things. He leaned back in the chair and pulled his face, and asked, "What's the matter with you?"
Ding Hanbai lifted the stack of documents at the corner of the desk and took out the bottom sheet: "I submitted the application for a business trip on Monday, and it's Friday today."
"What happened on Friday?" Zhang Yin didn't answer. He put his elbows on the armrest and clasped his fingers together, "No approval, I'll take Lao Shi."
Ding Hanbai held the application form: "Team Leader Shi is in his fifties, so you let him go all the way? Besides, this time I'm going to see the batch of cultural relics, I understand that and can help the most. busy."
Zhang Yin raised the corner of his mouth: "I don't understand what you said, don't pretend to be in front of me, and go over the sky, your family is also a stone carving, and you really consider yourself in the circle. "
At this time, other colleagues have arrived one after another, and they can't help but take a look at the office, anxiously worrying about Ding Hanbai causing trouble, and simply watching the fun with a cold heart. Ding Hanbai lived up to the expectations and satisfied the onlookers with two mentalities, and replied calmly: "I'll just say it, I don't understand, anyway, I understand better than your director. We don't need to go through it. Going to the big day, even if there is only one remaining jade pin, it will be a leader in the industry."
"Stone carving? You can't afford the stone that I've carved so badly." Ding Hanbai leaned against the back of the chair, just like enjoying the shade on the rattan chair in the courtyard, "But you're a little funny, you don't know how to do it. The director of the cultural relics bureau treats himself as an expert, who will fuck you out of this office."
Ding Hanbai blocked Zhang Yin with a few words, and his humble and low-pitched appearance disappeared early in the morning. The scholar is sour and arrogant. He is not only arrogant, but also very mad.
Zhang Yin was muffled and angry, because his identity was not easy to attack. He had seen Ding Hanbai not pleasing to the eye, and he had picked a lot of thorns in the past half a year, but it was the first time that Ming Dao Ming Gun had quarreled.
Ding Hanbai is very clear in his heart. He has a pen holder that tops Zhang Yin's salary for three years. When the director sees him, he inquires about what new items Yupinji has. .
The most important thing is that Zhang Yin and he are both interested in antiques, and there is not a single person in the antiques circle who is ignorant.
After scolding to relieve his anger, Ding Hanbai got up leisurely, and when he walked to the door, he paused: "If the application for a business trip is not approved, then whether it is approved for leave?"
Zhang Yin didn't want to see him: "Get the hell out of here!"
Ding Hanbai left, and Jiang Shuliu would definitely be talking about it when he went home, so he simply rode his car to the city. The material market has been lively since Thursday, and all the buyers are the ones who choose the goods in a big way, and those who choose them carefully.
In front of each jade booth, buyers negotiate prices. Ding Hanbai didn't bring so much money, and after wandering around, he entered a wood shop. He wanted to choose a piece of sandalwood with carved characters, but the shop owner ignored him when he saw that he was young and well-dressed, not like a shopkeeper.
"Boss, are you red sandalwood?" an elder sister asked while standing in front of the cabinet.
The boss said: "The small-leaf red sandalwood is serious, look at the pattern, I will show the star water on the material board, and let you see the Venus."
The eldest sister understands a little: "A lot of lobular red sandalwood are fake now, and I don't know what to do."
"Our store is more authentic than what Yupin remembered." The boss turned over the template. "Miss, why do you choose the material to make the beads? Now it is popular to make beads and strings from lobular red sandalwood."
The eldest sister immediately forgot whether it was true or false: "I just want to take it to Yupinji to make beads. The finished product is too expensive. I will buy the materials myself."
Ding Hanbai wanted to see for himself, but the other party kept poking at his nerves, so he leaned on the counter and listened openly with his pocket in his pocket. The boss said: "Of course, the materials I have here are better than Yupin's. To be honest, Yupin's items are expensive. Who knows if it's true or not."
Ding Hanbai put in a sentence, "It's better than you use blood sandalwood to pack lobular red sandalwood to mess up the market."
He said to his eldest sister: "The agate of Yupinji is agate, and the red sandalwood is red sandalwood. You can't go wrong if you go around the Pacific Ocean for identification, and although it is expensive, but looking at the market, the red sandalwood string will definitely increase in price, but it will make a profit."
Ding Hanbai left after speaking, rushing to dodge before the boss lost his temper.
In fact, Yupinji is really powerful, otherwise those people would not lose a hand to raise their worth, but why did it change from being sought after by everyone to devaluing it? In the final analysis, the business is still bad, the store has been reduced again and again, and the reputation has been accumulated for nearly a hundred years, and the reduction will only take a year and a half.
But what confuses Ding Hanbai the most is that the decline of Yupinji is not because of poor things, but because of the rapid development of this industry in recent years, more people entering the circle, and more materials that cannot be on the table. But Yupinji refused to downgrade, and could only be high and low.
He lost interest, picked a piece of wood and headed home.
Weekends are always lively, a few brothers are there, and Jiang Tingen, the younger brother of Ding Hanbai's uncle, is also here. They are all seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys who like to be fashionable and playful, but I heard that Ding Yanshou got off the plane today, so I had to hold back. Work hard at home.
Ding Hanbai carved out characters in front of the desk. Layers of rice paper were placed under the cut wood. He used a brush to write, and then prepared to use the knife. The three brothers surrounded the sides, blocking the light, and he raised his head in annoyance: "Where's the zoo watching monkeys?"
Ding Erhe, who is the same age as him, urged: "Don't linger, can the monkey see you?"
Ding Hanbai put down the knife, the angle of his wrist did not change, he just applied force and turning force with his bare fingers, and he folded and swiped in one go. The three people were full of faces.
Jiang Tingen said unhappily: "Brother, we can't learn from you so neatly."
Ding Hanbai glanced at the watermelon on the small table: "Go to the kitchen and bring a plate of ice cubes, I'm going to freeze the watermelon."
Jiang Tingen ran out, and Ding Keyu picked up the wood and looked at it: "'Wuyun', eldest brother, your original name is like a joke, I didn't expect you to be reluctant to part."
Ding Hanbai held the knife between his fingers, and without waiting for the ice cubes, got up and took the watermelon and left. After leaving the house, he sat under the porch to eat. After eating, he carved a few auspicious clouds on the watermelon skin. His real name is Ding Wuyun, and his birthday is on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The cloud means good luck and good luck, but since his sculptural talent showed, his father gave him the name "Han Bai", and he just called it. Completely changed.
Regardless of antiques or carvings, jade is the most sought-after and high-end. Ding Yanshou was humble in his life, and he made a high profile in his son.
Ding Keyu and Ding Erhe came out of the room, and Ding Erhe said deliberately, "Han Bai, I'm waiting for you to teach us to cut out characters, hurry up."
Ding Hanbai was in a good mood after eating the melon, and threw the knife in coordination: "What a fucking name!"
Ding Yanshou had given names to these senior brothers, but they were just talking about it, and then they forgot about it. Only Ding Hanbai was the most formal. Ding Hanbai actually accepted it, the only dissatisfaction was that the jade was too fragile.
After laughing for a while, Jiang Tingen, who was looking for ice cubes, finally ran back, but said empty-handed, "Master is back! I brought another one!"
It's not festive enough to participate in a funeral, and bring one back? What to bring? Ding Hanbai scolded, and Jiang Tingen stood aggrievedly beside a pot of lucky bamboo: "Really, it's in the front hall!"
Ding Hanbai stepped down the steps with long legs and ran out of the courtyard to the front yard to see. The door of the large living room was open, and the thick carpet looked sultry in summer, but the newly replaced white jade ornaments were cool.
Ding Yanshou was talking to Jiang Shuliu and didn't notice his son running in. Ding Hanbai didn't call anyone, and at a glance, he saw a boy standing in the center of the living room.
The boy also looked at him, his eyes timid.
Ding Hanbai has a headache, why did he really bring one back? The family members are very prosperous, and his father also abducted a group of people from Yangzhou. Nanmanzi entered the northern courtyard and was out of tune.
He walked up to the house and asked, "Who are you?"
Ding Yanshou finally raised his head: "This is Master Ji's apprentice, and he will come to our house in the future. Be quiet and stubborn, don't let me see bullying."
Ding Han didn't change his face: "What's your name?"
The boy told him to stare so hard that he didn't dare to blink: "Ji Shenyu, Shenyu who speaks carefully."
It's good to bring an outsider, to be an apprentice or a son? The brothers made their own guesses, but they did not dare to show their dissatisfaction in front of Ding Yanshou. Ding Hanbai was the best at making troubles.
Ding Yanshou nodded: "Yes, Shenyu will be ranked fifth in the future, and he is your junior brother."
Ji Shenyu hesitated whether to call out "Senior Brother".
Unexpectedly, Ding Hanbai looked at him and said, "Xiao Ji, the apprentices are given a different name. The first time I saw you with such a clear and transparent face, I simply called it... Ji Zhuzhu?"
Ji Shenyu just lost his teacher and just recognized his new master. He was standing in a strange house facing a bunch of strangers, and he couldn't tell whether others were happy or disgusted.
The sun was shining, Ding Hanbai's smile was burning, he nodded and had no choice but to agree.
The author has something to say: I have a lot of family members, so I can help everyone think about it—Yan Shou Shu Liu Sheng Han Bai, taking care of Cai Wei Yang Shen Yu; the second uncle Hou Kang has no wife, Er He Ke Yu has lived with his father; Ting En often comes after school Playing, others cousin his cousin; director Zhang Yin is so stingy, Fang Xu lives in his lines. (In addition, the story should be 30 years ago, not as advanced as it is now, and other things will be explained later. I wish you a happy night.)