Riding the wind of rebirth

After getting off the bus early at the main intersection, Zhou Zhi saw off the beautiful woman who sent them back, and walked side by side with Mai Xiaomiao into the alley leading to Demian Hall.

"This is for you." Zhou Zhi handed the round fan box in his hand to Mai Xiaomiao.

“Thank you.” Mai Xiaomiao politely took the fan and said, “These people are really good at reading people’s expressions.”

"The Beijing Office is full of shrewd people. Their main job is to build relationships. This is what they mean by running forward."

"But it's no use being polite to me." Zhou Zhi said with a smile, "Am I taking less of your things?"

"Will the Portrait of Lady Shexiang be like your Hundred Dragons, unable to go back for the time being?" Mai Xiaomiao thought of a question.

"That won't do." Zhou Zhi shook his head: "When I brought the painting out, I gave a promise to the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture that we must bring the painting back tomorrow."

"As for the situation where the National Museum of China sends a loan letter to the provincial government to have the painting exhibited for ten or eight years after it is brought back, whether the Sichuan Museum can afford it and refuses to hand it over will be a lawsuit within their system."

“Huh?” Mai Xiaomiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Some things in China make people feel weird and a little funny.”

"Sometimes it is true." Zhou Zhi said, "But this is actually a process processing mechanism brought about by systematization. It cannot be said that it is wrong. On the contrary, people usually do not pay attention to it. Only when a big mistake happens do they remember that the various rules that they thought were weird and funny are actually the most error-correcting."

"You start bragging again. You're always thinking about your engineering management, right?" Mai Xiaomiao said jokingly.

"Hahaha..." Zhou Zhi laughed, "Everything has two sides. We can't judge it as good or bad at first glance. Alas, it's a pity that we came and left in a hurry. I should have taken you to visit our capital, such as the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. You should have gone to see them."

"Come back later." Mai Xiaomiao didn't think it was a pity. "Besides, I didn't waste these few days. Didn't you say that many things can't be seen even in the official exhibitions of the National Museum and the Forbidden City? Is this a backdoor for us?"

"Don't say that!" Zhou Zhi said seriously, "We went in with a mission, so why did we use the back door?"

"Then I don't have any mission." Mai Xiaomiao didn't quite understand what Zhou Zhi meant.

"Why not? Your job is to output emotional value."

"What do you mean?"

Zhou Zhi was so happy: "The way you look at those staff members is genuine. You can make them feel the importance of their work without saying a word just by standing next to them. They feel happy and that their work is worthwhile, and they receive pleasant feedback emotionally. This is called outputting emotional value."

"Okay! You're laughing at me for being worldly-wise!"

"No, no, I'm serious." Zhou Zhi said seriously, "With you here, I'm more motivated to teach and repair things. I've seen the same thing happen in the several work groups you've been to."

"Eh..." At this point Zhou Zhi suddenly thought of a question: "It seems like you are like this in the laboratory too..."

"You deserve praise for a job well done! Especially seeing you restore that dirty "Portrait of Lady Shexiang" to a brand new look, wow..."

"Look, look! Here it comes again!" Zhou Zhi said with a smile.

"No, I really think you are amazing! I'm not like Director Liu." It seemed that this was the first time that Mai Xiaomiao noticed this problem of hers. She felt a little embarrassed. Then she thought of Zhou Zhi's mention of custom-made long swords at the banquet: "You also customized a Tai Chi sword for me?" "Well, it's almost time to start." Zhou Zhi nodded: "But jade swords are very precious and cannot be touched. So in ancient times they were generally used as ceremonial objects, and they can also be used for practice."

"What's the name of the sword you're using now?"

"The one I used in Lianhe Township? That one is plain, the sword is made of jujube wood and cast iron, and the one with jade lacquer sheath is on display in Suihuaxuan."

"Then put the one you made for me in Suihuaxuan for display. I just started learning, so I can't use a good one like that. I'll just use the same iron one as you."

"Okay." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Then let's order another one. Do you want to go shopping in Wangfujing or something tomorrow? You should be able to find brands you are familiar with there."

“No thanks.” Mai Xiaomiao refused bluntly: “Chinese clothes are cheap and of good quality, and I’m not picky. Besides, I’ve received enough gifts this time.”

"I guess there are more." Zhou Zhi unconsciously revealed a smug look on his face: "The snuff bottle I bought for the old man will definitely make them happy. They want to show their appreciation to you again."

“How can I feel comfortable with that?” Mai Xiaomiao shook his head and said, “I took Mr. Wang’s stove, Mr. Qi’s calligraphy, Mr. Yuan’s peach blossom painting, and even took someone’s rubbings from the National Museum…”

After saying that, he raised the box in his hand and said, "Now there is one more."

Soon they entered the yard, only to see that the two elders had not rested yet. Grandpa Qi was cleaning the lacquer snuff bottle, while Grandpa Wang and Grandpa Ma were still studying the rouge purple enamel small dish.

"Are you back? Xiaomiao, was the Gome Hundred Flowers Awards exhibition good?" Grandpa Wang asked Mai Xiaomiao kindly.

"It's beautiful! The level of Chinese craftsmen is so high!" Although Mai Xiaomiao stayed up half the night and played all day, he just took a nap in the car and is now energetic again: "Elbow and I also had a meal with the aunts who won the awards. Elbow said it's called Su cuisine, one of the eight major cuisines in China, and it's delicious."

"Su Province Office?" Old Man Wang smiled. "You came at the wrong time. If you had come earlier, you could have eaten crab roe soup dumplings; after the Spring Festival, you could have eaten their knife fish. Now, they only have the most common chicken and duck, as well as eels, turtles, boiled dried shredded vegetables, and pickled pork with preserved vegetables."

Zhou Zhi immediately gave a thumbs up: "Grandpa is amazing! All these dishes are served!"

"The big willow tree still has something." Old Master Qi used a cotton swab to dip into the organic solvent feeder snuff bottle to clean it: "Did you find this gold star material at the beginning?"

The level of glassware in the Qing Dynasty was very high, and it was possible to make various colors and textures imitating gems, agate, jade, coral, green pine, and even rattan and lacquer.

Although it is glass, the finished product looks even more beautiful than the real thing.

This is also the Chinese aesthetic. People don't like transparent things very much, but like emulsified glass. A gold-inlaid jade burial suit was once found in an ancient tomb of the Han Dynasty. Because the texture and color of the jade were very similar, it deceived archaeological experts for several years.

"It's dark, I only see these three snuff bottles, this black bottle is mainly simple in shape, I didn't expect it to be made of gold star material?" Zhou Zhi took the snuff bottle from Mr. Qi: "Hey, it's real!"

"What is Venus material?" Mai Xiaomiao leaned forward curiously, "It's really sparkling with Venus."

"Venus material is made by adding low-melting-point metals into glass. When the glass cools, these metals will precipitate from the glass, creating the effect of Venus flashing."

"To highlight the effect of Venus, dark brown or reddish brown is generally used as the base color. The effect produced in this way is similar to a kind of stone commonly used for carving in ancient times. Therefore, Venus material is often called Venus stone or Wendulina stone in ancient books." (End of this chapter)