Riding the wind of rebirth

"That's not the reason." Godmother said, "Your brother was hesitant on the phone, saying that their mission was a bit special and it was inconvenient for them to call home all the time, and that they should contact their relatives in China as little as possible. Elbow, aren't they studying and working overseas? Why are they on a mission?"

In fact, Zhou Zhi has always been suspicious about this matter. It was very strange from Wei Yi's study and work trajectory. After graduating from the Foreign Languages ​​College, he disappeared for a while, saying that he was undergoing unit training. Then he went to the overseas branch of Xinhua News Agency, and then contacted overseas universities and became an international student again. While in school, he got in touch with Blair Law Firm and became Blair's assistant.

Blair was a potential political figure in Britain. According to Zhou Zhi's memory in his previous life, he even became prime minister.

Therefore, judging from Miss Wei Yi’s work experience, Zhou Zhi always felt that there was something here.

But he couldn't tell his godfather and godmother about this, or they would be even more worried. So Zhou Zhi said, "Brother has aphasia and has confused the English and Chinese words. Mission in English also means 'hard journey'. He is studying for a master's degree in anthropology. What kind of mission could he have? I guess it must be like my field research in Liangshan Prefecture. Going somewhere to conduct academic research is almost consistent with the meaning of mission."

"Is that so...are we going to Africa?" The godmother's thoughts were indeed diverted.

"That's entirely possible," Zhou Zhi said. "It could also be America. There are many tribes and the earliest embryonic forms of human society in these two places, which are worth studying."

“I must remind you, brother, to get all the vaccines you need when you go to those places,” Mai Xiaomiao reminded, “Many infectious diseases that have disappeared in Europe and here are still prevalent in those places.”

Strangely, my godfather and godmother were not worried about this kind of thing. My godfather even sounded a little envious: "Your conditions are so good now. Back then, we didn't dare to go too far to do field research. We either went to nearby towns with our supervisors, or went back to our hometowns during holidays to do the research. In a word, it's all about saving money."

"Without funding, it would be difficult to move forward." The godmother also sighed: "I was able to complete my graduation thesis only after your godfather took me back to Longhui Township."

"What kind of subject matter were you working on at that time?"

"Dialectal allegorical sayings." The godmother said while holding the milk tea: "Influenced by Yuzhou, we also call it 'Yanzi'r' here."

"You guys are cheating, right?" Zhou Zhi was immediately dissatisfied: "Long Huishan's Yan Zier had already collected all the information when his godfather was still an educated youth, right? Wasn't there already a ready-made notebook?"

"Don't ask questions when you already know the answer!" Godfather said with a smile, "How could your godmother fall into my hands?"

"What a nonsense!" The godmother said angrily, "Why are you telling this to the child?"

"Godfather and godmother, this is Elbow's gift to you." Mai Xiaomiao opened her schoolbag and took out a brocade box. Inside was still two dragon and phoenix plaques. The subject matter and size were similar to the pair given to her fourth cousin and aunt, but the material was different. The lower two-thirds were transparent crystal with a slightly gelatinous feel, and it was covered with tiny cinnabar crystals like red snowflakes.

The upper part is red and was carved into a dragon and a phoenix by the craftsmen of Suzhou Jade Carving Factory.

The dragon and phoenix theme of my fourth cousin and fourth aunt came from Ming Dynasty porcelain, while this pair came from the ancient style of the Warring States and Han Dynasty, more like the style of bronze ware and brick paintings, called "antique dragon and phoenix". "Is this also the southern Sichuan red material you discovered?" Godfather immediately became interested.

"Well, this is a kind of red material from southern Sichuan. I call it 'Ice Piao'."

"This name is quite appropriate, just like little red flowers floating in the ice."

"There are a lot of such materials, but most of them have dark and reddish frozen bottoms; the flowers are dark, flaky and blocky, lacking beauty; the red meat is scattered and the color is not clean."

"There are very few brands like this one, where the white jelly is clean, translucent and has a gelatinous texture; the floating flowers are like snowflakes and water plants; and the red meat is bright and vivid."

"Good things speak for themselves." Godfather is an expert in playing with stones, so he naturally has his own set of criteria for judging such frozen materials. No matter whether it is the exhausted Tianhuang jelly, the nearly exhausted Changhua chicken blood jelly, or the very cheap and worthless Dushan jelly, Qingtian jelly, or Huangla jelly, he has a set of standards.

This set of standards is actually quite simple, based on the common aesthetic of human beings who love light and hate darkness. Putting aside the rarity of the stone, the corresponding stones are brightly colored, brightly toned, naturally transitioned, and clean and tidy stones are top-quality stones, while dull colors, gloomy tones, abrupt transitions, and messy stones are inferior.

This pair of dragon and phoenix plaques is naturally the best of the best. The godfather held one in each hand and couldn't let it go. He exclaimed: "The craftsmanship of Su has reached such a level. Even the craftsmanship of Hendustan jade in the Qianlong period could not reach this level..."

"The thin-bodied jade craftsmanship of Hindustan is the pinnacle of Chinese jade carving. Ji Xiaolan's Notes from Yuewei Thatched Cottage also records that 'the current skill of jade carving in Hindustan is the best', and that 'the jade craftsmanship of Xikun is incomparably skillful, and the water-grinded jade is as thin as paper'. It only says that the carving is complicated and the grinding is meticulous. Emperor Qianlong once wrote a poem praising it as 'as fine as hair, without any axe marks'. He also personally verified it and named the Mughal Kingdom that produced this kind of jade 'Hindustan', and asked the jade masters in the palace to imitate it."

"In terms of craftsmanship, Hindustan jade carvings use a combination of relief, round, hollow and other techniques. The flower and leaf patterns are carved using the technique of carved ground relief, that is, the base is first carved flat, and then the patterns are shallowly embossed to form the main pattern on the surface of the vessel, creating a visual contrast, and all the carving marks are polished away and the carving is extremely fine to enhance its artistic expression effect."

"This kind of processing precision once troubled Chinese jade workers for a long time. It was not until the introduction of the more precise and stable Mughal jade carving machine that the mystery was solved, allowing the court jade workers of Emperor Qianlong to imitate the Hindustan jade wares."

"But the jade carving machines in ancient times all had a grinding wheel or a rotating needle, and the craftsmen held the jade material to touch the needle to achieve the purpose of carving the jade. This is completely different from the modern technology that uses a handheld hanging grinder to carve jade like holding a pen to paint. The degree of processing precision that can be achieved is even more different."

"The Hindustan jadeware is just 'carving', that is, the blank space on the picture is hollowed out a little to make the pattern stand out, but it is not fine enough; while the contemporary Suzhou craftsmen take advantage of the convenience of hand-held hanging grinding, use the spherical needle to draw an inner arc on both sides of the line, and use the intersection of the two inner arcs to 'squeeze' out the line. Its cross-section is like the point in the middle of the handwritten W. In theory, the line can be made thinner than a hair. The development of jade carving technology to this level has basically reached the extreme."

"So that's how it is. I was wondering why the lines on this pair of antique pendants are so delicate."

"Of course, this is also due to the high level of skill and courage." Zhou Zhi explained: "The thinner the line, the easier it is to break if the processing is wrong. So although the theory is good, there are very few people who can do this. Only a few female masters in Suzhou Jade Carving Factory have such delicate techniques. Although Master Xu Zhiman is the most skilled master in the jade carving factory, he is now old and his eyesight and hand stability have weakened. Even he can't do such delicate work." (End of this chapter)