Chapter 48: A Thoughtful Gift

  Collect and recommend!

  Many women in Zhaizi village know how to do batik, but no one has ever seen Yun Zheng use a pre-carved template to brush melted wax into the fabric like that. Shouldn't they be using a wax knife to draw patterns on the fabric first?

  Why would they roughly throw the already-hung waxed cloth into a dye vat to soak? Aren't they afraid of ruining the whole piece of cloth? I couldn't understand, but seeing Yun Zheng and the children working hard, the women also went forward to help the children stuff the cloth into the dye vat.

  These burlap cloths were all washed with grass ash by the women themselves, and the back was also coated with taro mud. Yun Zheng's carelessness about the most important waxing process made the women constantly complain in their hearts, which was a pity for these good burlap cloths.

  Yun Zheng added salt to the dye vat and ignored it, taking the children to read books, as if he had completely forgotten that he had ruined all the cloth worth five guan.

  The old patriarch looked carefully, and he not only watched himself but also ordered the whole family to watch together, without missing a single move. He was eager to know what kind of miracle would appear there after five or six days.

  During this time, Yun Zheng was supervising the manufacture of furniture with all his might. He not only applied tung oil to the wood, but also wiped it on the rattan strips. The strange rattan strips cut by the mountain people were chopped a few times with an axe and turned into ancient and fragrant staffs, some with phoenix heads, deer horns, and tiger heads. The curved rattan strips seemed to come alive in his hands.

  "Master Yun, this kind of walking stick should be worth at least twenty wen, right?" The cripple had nothing better to do and liked to hover around Yun Zheng.

  "This thing is not for poor families like ours, twenty cents to buy a cane for the elderly at home will only make brothers and sisters laugh. In order not to be laughed at, I decided that this cane would not sell for less than five yuan. Uncle Lamei, if you put this cane in a beautiful sandalwood box, I think it should be worth ten yuan."

  Yun Zheng didn't realize the cripple had run away until he turned his head, and to his surprise, he was running extremely fast. He thought Yun Zheng had gone mad - first, he destroyed a piece of cloth worth five guan, and then he said he wanted to sell these worthless bamboo sticks for an astronomical price. To avoid making himself suffer too much, he had to tell someone else about these secrets and let them share his pain.

  Yun Zheng shook his head, the first person to buy the Li stick was already decided, it was Old Master Zhang. He had heard that in a few days it would be Old Master Zhang's 70th birthday, and an old man like him couldn't possibly not have a uniquely shaped Li stick. If he were to give this thing to Old Master Zhang, Yun Zheng thought he would lose out, unless someone could buy it from him and give it to the old man as a gift. This way, not only would there be advertising effect, but also profit, a win-win deal.

  "Blue blue?" Forget it, I heard that he got hurt and bruised his leg. Lin County Magistrate is already pitiful enough, no need to go harm another unlucky egg.

  "Liang Qi?" Forget it, this girl is a bit narrow-minded, but she's got a good heart. Last time she was involved in a car accident, she knew to send the injured to the hospital and even cried in front of several broken-legged animals, so I'll let her off this time.

  After some thought, Yun Zheng still thinks that Xiao Wu Gen is a good person. Not only is he young and wealthy, but he also has a very filial heart towards the elderly. Although his appearance is not pleasing to the eye, he's just a 14-year-old kid, after all, it's normal for kids at this age to be a bit annoying and have some bad habits. It's better to sell it to him anyway, let this child make an appearance at grandfather's birthday banquet.

  No need to make it complicated, just give Liu a slight hint that he has found a rare wood and asked a skilled craftsman to make a cane out of it, which is definitely a treasure worthy of being presented to Old Shou Xing. The labor cost alone was five guan.

  If there's anyone in this world who can't keep a secret, it must be Liu Doutou. He always half-believes and half-doubts Yun Zheng's big talk. As soon as he has doubts, he goes to ask the wise men for advice. Once he asks for advice, he will definitely look for Old Zhu Bo. Old Zhu Bo knows, and Xiao Wugen also knows. Then, he will come to the village to buy a walking stick.

  Liu Doutou's efficiency was high, and by the next afternoon, Xiao Wugen had arrived at Dou Sha Village. His face still had a large bruise that hadn't faded yet. Without saying anything, he looked at Yun Zheng with disdain, waved his hand, and the servant behind him threw down a cloth bag.

  "There are six strings of cash in here, take out your staff and let me see it. If I like it, the six strings of cash will be yours, and it won't have been a waste for you to run around looking for Liu Daotou to pass on the message."

  Exposed by others, Yun Zheng's face suddenly turned bright red. He made a fist and bowed, instructing the cured meat to bring out the deer-headed staff, saying: "This staff is one of a kind in the world, Brother Xiao, take a look and see if it meets your expectations? To be honest, I only wanted to sell it for five taels of silver, but now I'll add another tael..."

  "It's yours!" Xiao Wu Gen's eyes lit up when he saw the crutch, and he blurted out a sentence before hastily leaving with it. In his opinion, this crutch was excellent in both meaning and appearance. What was most surprising was that it had the meaning of golden silk vine, which was unheard of to grow so thick. Although its color was more like ancient bronze than golden silk vine, it looked ancient and rustic, and must be a good thing too.

  Yun opened her eyes to watch Xiao Wu's mule cart leave the village, then stood up straight and said to Larou: "Put away the money, go back and count it again. Why did the nearest 1 yuan become 980 coins?"

  Not only Yun Zheng was watching the transaction succeed, but also Lamei, who was among them. Watching La Rou carry the load with difficulty, he swallowed his saliva and asked Yun Zheng: "You really sold it for five guan?"

  "It would have sold for ten yuan, but you didn't make the box well." Yun Zheng sighed and went back under his own house eaves to poke at the clay with a stick, telling the students to stir it carefully several times before carrying it on his back into the bamboo building.

  "I'll stay up all night if I have to, but I'm going to finish this box!" The cripple cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted loudly towards the bamboo building of the Yun family.

  The cured meat was indeed counting money, one by one, very seriously. This was the happiest moment of her life. Normally, she liked to take out the household expenses and count them again when there was nothing to do. Yun Zheng had seen it several times and found that every time the cured meat reached this point, her two eyes became very spirited. Although she knew that the amount of money would not increase, she still enjoyed it tirelessly. She could only count tens of times, so she would divide the copper coins into ten piles, one by one. At this time, no one dared to disturb her. If disturbed, she would forget where she had counted to and would definitely overturn all her previous work and recount again, even if she didn't sleep.

  Yun Er was bored, moving her two small feet back and forth in the bamboo building. Seeing Yun Da coming in, she said irritably: "Even if you want to cheat people, can't you find someone else to cheat? Why do you always have to grab onto one person?"

  Thank you very much.