Riding the wind of rebirth

Unlike Jiachuan, the water levels of streams in Liangshan Prefecture are predictable as long as it is not the rainy season, and flash floods will basically not occur.

The stream is now about a month away from the upcoming rainy season, so it is not yet full of water, and a considerable portion of the stream bed is exposed on both sides, which can be used as a trail for horseback riding and walking.

The bottom of the stream is very clean, without much fine sand and mud, but with pebbles of different sizes. There are quite a few red corals among the pebbles, but they are not as crystal clear as water, and many of them are still angular.

Fortunately, it is larger in size.

Zhou Zhi said with some concern: "Maybe this hot spring pool won't exist for much longer."

"Why?" Mai Xiaomiao asked puzzledly, "Isn't that a pity?"

"Because there may be a red ore deposit upstream. If the price of red ore goes up, more people will come to mine it, which may destroy the environment of the creek and cause harm to the downstream as well."

"Is there any way?" Mai Xiaomiao asked worriedly.

"I'm afraid it's difficult." Li Laosan said, "If the mineral deposits here really become a fortune, then it will definitely be impossible to stop the covetous heart."

"One way is to seal the mine directly and prohibit mining." Zhou Zhi said: "It doesn't matter if you pick up minerals near the water, but if it is an underground mineral deposit, the law stipulates that it belongs to the state, and the state does not allow mining. According to the geographical conditions here, machinery and other things cannot be transported in, so it is impossible to destroy it on a large scale."

"Another way is to develop in an orderly manner. Use a reasonable and controllable way to slowly mine the mineral deposits without causing major damage to the environment."

"The Nanhong deposits are similar to gem deposits. The veins are not too large and the reserves are usually less than ten tons. I personally think the second method is more appropriate, but which one to use depends on what the country does."

"No matter which method is used, isn't exploration the most important?" Li Laosan said, "Shouldn't those who work on mineral deposits explore first?"

"It depends on whether the state or country thinks it's worth it," Zhou Zhi said. "Just like the bloodstone, although it has a high value, that's for individuals. From a national perspective, it's not worth a fight."

"Then let's just seal it off." Li Lao San waved his hand and said, "It's a shame to destroy this place."

"It's not that easy." Zhou Zhi smiled bitterly, "I just hope that the people in Lianhe Township can get rich sooner, and the price of Nanhong can rise slowly, so that the villagers will not look down on the 'small wealth' here, and pay more attention to the environment and agricultural ecology of their own township, so that they will have a desire to protect it."

Agate and flint are easy to find here, and some are very large, but not many are worthy of Su workers' processing. Most of them have white textures or dark black crystal jelly, which looks unsightly.

But even so, Li Laosan still picked up a few pieces. After Zhou Zhi checked them, he felt that the quality was still quite good and said that they could be sent to Suzhou to be processed into handicrafts.

The significance of this is far greater than buying it directly. Li Laosan is very happy and says that his trip was not in vain.

Zhou Zhi was secretly happy. Anything that was associated with a person like Li Laosan could easily be hyped up. How did jadeite become popular in later generations? Wasn't it because a few Taiwanese used the story of a few "mothers of the nation" liking jadeite to fool Hong Kong people, and it became popular like this?

The three men rode up for three or five miles, and were blocked by a small waterfall in front of them. If they wanted to go forward, they had to climb the mountains on both sides of the waterfall, and the horses were absolutely unable to carry them.

The waterfall is not big, but because the valley has the function of gathering sound, the sound is very strong, and the mist blows with the mountain wind, just like a light rain. Below the waterfall is a deep pool formed by the impact of the water flow for many years. The water is turquoise, and both sides of the waterfall are covered with aquatic plants such as cattails clinging to the rocks, growing lushly.

This was the first time Zhou Zhi saw Pu cheng in Liangshan Prefecture. The climate here was too dry and not suitable for the growth of this type of plant. It was just that the environment in this area formed a "microclimate" that allowed them to survive here.

Acorus calamus is also one of the aesthetic interests handed down by ancient literati. It is full of interest when placed on the desk. However, Zhou Zhi believes that growing this thing in the study of the grain station will only add to the trouble. It is almost impossible to keep this thing alive under the climatic conditions outside.

Li Laosan is from Hong Kong Island and has seen this thing many times, but Mai Xiaomiao thought that thing was an orchid and was happy for nothing.

At Zhou Zhi's home in Manzhou, Mai Xiaomiao saw all kinds of orchids and liked them very much, so she took a few pots with her when she left.

Zhou Zhi told her that these orchids were easy to grow in Shudu, but might not survive if brought to Lianhe Township. Mai Xiaomiao didn't believe it.

The result was that even agricultural science experts such as Li Lu, Liang Guangping and Liu Hongtao could not do anything about them, and finally they were put in the vegetable greenhouse where they could survive.

After knowing that the cattail is not an orchid, Mai Xiaomiao felt that this place was boring.

After admiring the small waterfall for a while and collecting some southern red spices, the group started their return journey.

"I'll leave this to you." Li Laosan handed the material to Zhou Zhi: "Grind a string of beads for your sister and say I made it."

"So shameless?" Zhou Zhi was greatly surprised.

"Do you think your sister doesn't know? Everyone just needs an excuse." Li Laosan was not ashamed but proud of it.

"Why not do it yourself? Pick a good quality piece, grind off the sharp edges, polish it in a sand bucket, punch holes and thread a string through it, and it will be a nice casual pendant." Zhou Zhi suggested: "Wait until it arrives in Hong Kong Island, and have me ask a designer to customize a gold setting for it. It will be very beautiful."

"is it hard?"

“It’s not difficult at all.” Mai Xiaomiao volunteered, “I can do it now, Third Brother, I’ll teach you when we get out!”

It is really not difficult to make something that follows the shape of the object. You just need to use an electric grinder equipped with a grinding wheel to grind off the skin and defects on the surface of the material, grind the edges according to the shape of the object, and the rest is to throw it into polishing sand buckets of various mesh sizes and polish it through vibration and friction.

After the material is polished to a certain degree, use a wool wheel and polishing paste to polish it into a mirror surface, and the product is ready.

This set of things is not expensive, and Zhou Zhi also purchased some. The flame red in Nanhong is particularly suitable for making pendants of various sizes in this way. The natural flame patterns inside can be highlighted to the greatest extent, just like a cluster of bright red flames wrapped in a blood-red transparent crystal. It is now one of Mai Xiaomiao's hobbies.

However, Zhou Zhi's hobby has progressed to grinding beads. He uses a diamond grinding wheel with a concave spherical surface to gradually process the stone into a spherical shape, and then puts it into a polishing barrel to process it into round beads.

Although they are all apprentices, they are at least close to the craftsmanship, and their skills are considered advanced. (End of this chapter)