Riding the wind of rebirth

Due to the dryness of the desert surface and the extremely poor growth conditions, it takes hundreds of years for desert gold to grow, and its lifespan is as long as 2,000 years. Therefore, the texture is very delicate, the wood is also very hard, and the chance of tumors and scars is relatively high. In addition, the fine gold threads often meander on the wood, like golden dragons hovering in the air, which is extremely gorgeous and beautiful!
Today, Zhou Zhi is an expert in wood. In fact, the method to judge the quality of wood is very simple. You can estimate the specific gravity by just shaking it. The larger the specific gravity of the wood, the denser and denser it will be, the slower it will grow, and the more valuable it will be.

Desert gold will soon be listed as a near-threatened species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The reason for this is simple: the difficult-to-extinguish fires in the desert and the strong demand for desert gold in the carving market.

Desert gold carvings are a major sales product to tourists in Mexico, but the species' numbers have plummeted in recent years, driven by a growing consumer market, and related fires in the desert have inexplicably become more frequent.

Twenty years later, the rise of Chinese cultural relics players will pose a huge challenge to the survival of desert gold.

However, the situation is not as serious as in later generations. This pair of bed materials includes four bedposts more than two meters high, four bed sides, and six bed rafters, all made of desert gold.

Zhou Zhi spent one hundred and eighty dollars to buy it. These were the best materials for scroll paintings.

The wood seller heaved a sigh of relief, finally selling it. This thing is too heavy, and it takes too much effort to carry it back.

This wood is different from cherry and beech. It's a great bargain to be able to buy it at this price now. In another ten years, all the large pieces will be harvested, and the ones that have not been harvested will be strictly protected. A pair of desert iron scrolls alone cannot be bought for five hundred dollars.

A set of bed board materials here can be turned into at least hundreds of pairs of scrolls.

We left the address to the family, and they were also responsible for transporting the things to Mai Xiaomiao's house, and everyone continued to stroll around.

We came to the main venue again, where there was a winner selection meeting.

It was called a selection meeting, but in fact it was also a time for the organizing committee to show off its achievements. One summer day, a balding middle-aged man wearing a small top hat and a badge on his chest was enthusiastically introducing the situation there.

The audience, in groups of family and friends, were waiting below for the results to be announced.

Zhou Zhi found Old Crawford, McGeoff and Louise in the crowd and came over to them.

"In this charity sale, we raised a total of... $13,863! Thank you, thank you everyone! On behalf of the Long Island Residents Charity Foundation, thank you for your support!"

Everyone cheered and applauded.

"We will donate all the proceeds from this charity sale to New York City Hospital to help autistic children get rid of the pain of the disease. We also know that this amount of money is not much, but every bit of love from everyone may be able to bring a little warmth to a family. I think this is the meaning of our persistence in this activity!"

Everyone applauded again.

"Next we will select the three small groups that have made the greatest contributions to this charity sale, but I want to emphasize that although each of us has different contributions, our charitable hearts are the same,"

"The reason we chose them is just to ask them to represent us and accept the gratitude expressed by the children hospitalized in New York City Hospital and the loving residents of Long Island." There was another round of warm applause.

"The families or groups whose names I'll read out next, please come up to the stage." The bald middle-aged man shouted into the microphone, "George Rutherford and his family! They raised a total of $763 with the shell crafts they made themselves!"

A young man in the crowd jumped up excitedly and pulled a middle-aged man and woman who looked to be his parents onto the stage. The three of them were quite outgoing and happily blew kisses to the audience to express their gratitude for everyone's cheers and applause.

The bald middle-aged man continued to shout, "Geoffrey Mac and his family and old Crawford! They conquered our taste buds and ears with music and food, brought us great joy, and raised 1,130 US dollars! We invite them to the stage!"

After a day of singing and selling goods, plus the little episode of Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao kissing, the few of them are now considered minor celebrities at the charity sale. The food they prepared was indeed cheap and delicious. In total, they sold over 500 portions in the morning, and many people applauded and cheered for them.

"Big brothers and big sisters, you have been chosen!" Rose shouted happily.

"We are chosen! Let's all go up." Mai Xiaomiao pulled Rose and ran.

Everybody walked onto the stage. Except for old Crawford who took off his hat and kept drawing circles in the air to express his happiness, the rest were relatively calm. They just hugged each other and laughed.

The bald middle-aged man continued to shout, "Bal Rust and his maintenance team, they raised the largest donation for us today, $1,625, by helping everyone repair home appliances and computers! Let us all express our sincere gratitude to them!"

"Hey!" A group of three middle-aged men raised their hands and cheered. All three of them were wearing coarse cloth aprons with tools hanging all over them. There were holes from the soldering iron and burnt rosin on the hem of their skirts. They also jumped onto the stage happily.

The leader, Bar Rust, seemed to be a close friend of old Crawford, and complained to Crawford, "You broke your promise! We agreed that you would be on the same team with us!"

"You have to forgive me, Barr." Old Crawford spread his hands and expressed his helplessness: "My sweetheart has returned home with her boyfriend. His exquisite cooking skills made my brain tell myself that I shouldn't break my promise to you, but my stomach successfully convinced it."

"Thank you, thank you for your contribution." The bald man came over and shook hands with everyone. After the introduction, Zhou Zhi knew that this man was the representative of the parliament. This event was also initiated by him. This is also one of the ways for the parliamentarians to expand their influence.

The gift I received was actually very simple. It was a medal with an olive branch and a small blue ribbon made by children from the inpatient department of New York City Hospital. It was a simple handmade item, but still quite beautiful.

In Zhouzhi, they introduced old Crawford as the representative to award the medal. The bald man put the medal on him, and asked him, George Rutherford and Barr Rust to step forward and accept everyone's applause and salute.

The charity sale actually ended here, but there was still some social time afterwards, which meant that everyone didn’t have to rush home and could just gather together and chat.

But these are the ways the old residents play. Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao greeted the adults and took Rose, Martin and two bottles to visit Elizabeth.

"Big brother and big sister, our home is right here." The two children led the way, and soon they arrived at a small apartment building next to the school. (End of this chapter)