After my grandmother called me home in my dream, my spiritual energy revived

Chapter 18 Zhao's Woodcarving
"I just came back a few days ago. There aren't many paper-made items in the store now. I just folded a basket of gold ingots. My hands are a little rusty, but if you want them, I'll give them all to you," said Song Miaozhu.

It's rare to meet someone who knows what they're doing. Even if she knew that the old man was specifically trying to take care of her business, it was still a rare opportunity.

If the things in the paper shop are really that popular, the money she has spent over the years cannot be the money her grandmother sent from the underworld.

But the old man was right. Although the gold ingots sold in her paper shop were of low quality, they were better than other paper money.

"I want them all! You can't give me paper money, as I still have some money!" The old man said, "Girl Mu, go buy some for me tomorrow on your tricycle. We're going to worship our ancestors in two days. Old Song said that Huai Sui'er could fold gold ingots when she couldn't even hold chopsticks, so she can't make any mistakes."

Song Miaozhu didn't expect that the old man really valued her basket of gold ingots!

"Not tomorrow!" Zhao Mumu said, "Miaozhu bought a lot of storage racks. I'll have someone send them to her later, and then we'll bring them back for you."

"Okay, okay!" The old man was very happy. He took a pencil and cardboard and discussed with Song Miaozhu the style of her store sign. He was determined to make the sign beautiful for her.

When Song Miaozhu left, the old man was reluctant to let her go: "Huai Sui'er, come and play often in the future! Mu girl, remember Yuanbao!"

"I understand, Grandpa Zhao!" Song Miaozhu waved and climbed onto the bed of Zhao Mumu's small tricycle.

"Master, please go in! I will definitely bring the gold ingots back for you!" Zhao Mumu said as he started the car.

They led the way, followed by the delivery truck.

"The old man is really thinking about that basket of gold ingots. He has mentioned it many times, fearing that I would forget it." Zhao Mumu muttered helplessly.

"By the way, Miaozhu, how old are you? What made you want to come back and open a paper-making shop?"

"Twenty-one." Song Miaozhu said, "The town is developing well, so I came back when I wanted to."

"Twenty-one? Have you graduated?" Zhao Mumu asked in surprise.

"I'll graduate in half a year." Song Miaozhu said, "I'll start school a little earlier."

"You're really courageous! And you're still so young." Zhao Mumu said, "When I just graduated, I didn't even know what I wanted to do!"

……

The tricycle soon arrived at the entrance of Huaihua Lane.

The small truck cannot drive into the road behind.

They gave their tricycle to the porters on the pickup truck to carry the racks, and they got off and walked.

"We're here." Song Miaozhu said.

"The environment here is nice! I've been in the town for several years, but I didn't know there was such a quiet place in the town!" Zhao Mumu said, looking up at the big locust tree.

Noticing that other shops were also being renovated, she curiously asked, "What kind of shops are these? Why are they all being renovated together?"

"All horror escape room stores are from the same family," said Song Miaozhu.

Zhao Mumu silently took a step towards Song Miaozhu, rubbed his arms, and whispered, "The atmosphere of this shop matches your paper shop quite well!"

"Yeah! Maybe it can even boost the store's business!" Song Miaozhu was amused and deliberately scared her: "I heard that haunted houses and escape rooms are the most likely to attract ghosts! There's also a century-old locust tree here, and locust trees are yin-like, uh-"

Zhao Mumu shrank to her side and covered her mouth with his hand: "Stop talking, stop talking, I'm scared!"

"Hahaha!" Song Miaozhu said, "Actually, there's nothing to be afraid of ghosts."

"How do you know? You've never seen a ghost!" Zhao Mumu said. Song Miaozhu, who sees ghosts every day, said: "Ghosts are also transformed from humans!"

"I'm afraid of that!" Zhao Mumu didn't dare stay in the open space under the locust tree any longer. "Go, go, go! The workers are coming. Where are you going to put the shelves?"

Entering the front hall of the paper shop, Song Miaozhu roughly marked out the area. Zhao Mumu felt something was wrong: "Did you buy too much?"

"Put a few more in the attic first." Song Miaozhu didn't say much. Those few were going to be taken to the ghost shop.

"Oh, good!" Zhao Mumu saw the bamboo basket filled with gold ingots next to the counter and said, "Is this the gold ingot you made? They're so cute and chubby. At first glance, they look like the real thing!"

"Of course, you can't buy what we make anywhere else! It's a craft passed down from the Han Dynasty!" Song Miaozhu said proudly.

"Han Dynasty? Can you find any evidence? Historicity is an important condition for applying for intangible cultural heritage!" said Zhao Mumu.

"Yes! They're all here." Song Miaozhu pointed to his head.

"Tsk~ History in your head? How old are you?" Zhao Mumu said, "I'm not kidding. If your family has told you this is a craft passed down from ancient times, you can look it up in the county annals or something like that. You might find some records, which would be very helpful in applying for the intangible cultural heritage project."

"Okay, I'll go take a look when I have time."

In fact, Song Miaozhu was not joking. The basis for her words was the book "The Secret Art of Paper-folding" in her mind, but she couldn't take it out and couldn't show it to others.

Even if she told it to others, since her spiritual energy had not yet revived, others would probably just think she was telling a story.

How could something made of paper move?
The storage rack was installed quickly, and Zhao Mumu left with the gold ingots in a plastic bag.

She sold the three first-grade gold ingots she had folded for three hundred ghost money, or six hundred yuan.

This large basket of inferior gold ingots was sold for only thirty-eight yuan.

It’s not that Song Miaozhu is offering a discount, it’s just that the market situation is like this.

In the eyes of living people, paper gold ingots are just things made of paper.

Even this is much more expensive than other paper money.

You can buy a stack of large, colorful ghost banknotes for only two or three dollars!

Compared with ghost money, handmade paper gold ingots are expensive and inconvenient to carry. Most people just follow the old customs and worship their relatives during the New Year to comfort themselves. Why burn paper money anyway? Whichever is more convenient?

Technology has made life more convenient and reduced the production costs of many items.

This is the truth behind the gradual demise of many traditional handicrafts.

Most ordinary people who are just struggling to make a living pay more attention to the use value of items. When there are cheaper alternatives, they will choose the cheaper ones even if the quality is lower.

Therefore, traditional handicrafts can only seek transformation and move towards cultural value, ornamental value and collection value.

The road to transformation is very difficult. Fortunately, Song Miaozhu does not really rely on this to make a living, otherwise she might really starve to death.

Song Miaozhu went up to the attic and took all the shelves that had just been moved up into the ghost shop. She tidied up the ghost shop from a distance and placed all the goods to be sold tonight on the shelves.

In this way, even if ghost customers who enter the store cannot touch the goods on the shelves, they can still see them clearly, which also makes it convenient for Song Miaozhu to take them.

It was still early, and after finishing all these, Song Miaozhu took the bamboo basket filled with gold paper, sat in the old place, and started folding gold ingots.

(End of this chapter)