Zou Xiaotong did not originally plan to participate in the first Tiangong Competition. At that time, there were only two weeks and a few days before the start of the competition. Master Zou's hair was bald and his skin was bald. He slept for three hours every day and spent the rest of the time eating. I lost ten pounds in ten days without taking care of food, and I felt very haggard.
He said that there was a moment of inspiration that he couldn't stop. Even when he fell asleep in the middle of the night, he had to get up to replenish his skills before going back to sleep.
Today's master sculptors can make a work in as little as several months or as long as several years, but Zou Xiaotong only took thirteen days.
I don’t know what I was busy with in the first few days, and I never contacted us. Xiaoxuan Douyazai and I stayed at the Shuanglong Hotel in Warwick Bridge to wait for news. We would go to Sanlitun to play in the evening.
We were tomb robbers, but we were also young people. Sanlitun was really fun at that time.
Nowadays, going to disco clubs in Sanlitun is all about physical release. Accompanied by the beating music, as soon as I drink a small drink and hug my waist, I start to release.
At that time, Sanlitun was home to countless talented people and outstanding people.
Jazz House, Assanti Western Restaurant at the North Gate of Workers' Stadium, Havan, Zangku, Old Chinese Characters, Red Rose, South Street Store Rainbow Wine House, Mingda, Mustard Square. We have been to all these small shops. The local bumpkin Dou Sprout came to the city, Grandma Liu entered the Grand View Garden, and the jazz room was so dumbfounded to see beautiful people playing guitar. I have always felt that Dou Sprout has artistic talent, and tomb robbers can also be artistic occasionally. .
The owner of Rainbow Wine House on South Street was Bai. He was in his thirties and wore glasses. After going there for a few days, Boss Bai became friends with us young people. The prices of drinks and snacks at Rainbow Wine House were the cheapest at that time. Even though the prices have increased, Boss Bai’s Rainbow Wine House did not increase the prices. As a result, Rainbow Wine House closed down four years later.
Boss Bai played the guitar very well. At that time, Douyazi was wearing sunglasses and holding a microphone, and sang a single love song in front of so many people. Don’t get me wrong, when I say he has talent, it’s not that he has talent for singing, but that he has talent. With a talent for comedy, Lin Zhixuan might want to hit him if he hears Dou Sprout's single love song.
Xiaoxuan can also sing. She can sing some Cantonese songs, which are not very good, but they are better than the tone-deaf Douyazai.
As for me, if there are outsiders present, I will never dare to go up and sing with a microphone.
After playing for many days, I received a notice from Master Zou that day that our blood agate carving was ready and he asked us to go over and take a look.
Zou Xiaotong has a private studio in Tianzhu, Shunyi, Beijing, which is a small villa. He also has a warehouse in Cuigezhuang to store some tools and unused jade waste.
"Master Zou, have you not slept for how many days?" After we met in Shunyi, I saw that he had serious dark circles under his eyes.
"Stop talking about that," he couldn't hide the excitement on his face, "Come in and take a look, I guarantee you'll be satisfied!"
"Wait, I'll get it right away."
A few minutes later, he came down from the second floor carrying a wooden box.
"Everyone, please take a look. The title of the work is "Flaming Mountain"." He opened the wooden box as he spoke.
Initially, the original stone was oval. He boldly cut the material and polished the oval into a triangular shape. Five spots of the original black skin of Alxa agate were deliberately retained on the back of the jade carving. He made a mountain with his technique, but he did not use a knife on the demonic red patch in the middle of the agate. He only polished this area carefully, and the polished effect resembled a plain area.
From a distance, the whole body is red like flames passing over the mountain.
One word, "Absolute!"
It is truly a master craftsmanship.
Zou Xiaotong took out his flashlight and said with a smile: "You don't think this is the end, do you?"
With a smile on his face, he turned on the flashlight and slowly looked up the agate mountain.
"This... this, this, this," Dou Sprout said incoherently, and he was dumbfounded.
At this moment, in the area left in the middle of the agate, four people and one horse appeared under the light of the flashlight!
It turns out that he carved the black skin left on his back and made the four masters and apprentices who were seeking scriptures from the West to the back. Without the lights on, they look like red flame mountains, but when the lights are on, they turn into the masters and apprentices in Journey to the West. Four people cross the Flame Mountain. This technique requires an extremely superb sense of dislocated space and artistic sense.
Anyone who has seen this work can't help but say one word, "cow."
"Master Zou is amazing." We watched for more than half an hour, and we sincerely admired him. The three thousand yuan was well spent.
He rubbed his hands and said, "How have you considered the matter I mentioned?"
I said we still need to discuss it, but I can lend you three days to compete.
"That's good. Please consider it carefully. I bought a batch of rough stones before and spent a lot of money. This price is my greatest sincerity."
I nodded and said of course, I will give you an accurate confirmation whether it is sold or not.
Douyazai came out of the studio and whispered: "Fengzi, is this person trustworthy? Don't borrow our treasure and not return it."
I said it should be fine. With his own identity, he couldn't do such a thing, unless he stopped working in this industry for the rest of his life, so he just borrowed it for three days.
"By the way, I asked you to contact the chief yesterday, but you didn't get in touch?"
Douyazai said: "I don't know. I made several phone calls yesterday and my head was turned off."
Zou Xiaotong liked this work very much. He said the day before yesterday that he wanted to buy 85 of them. I didn't agree at the time and wanted to ask what the head meant.
Of course, I also have selfish motives. I was able to go from a price of 38,000 to 85, and now it has completely changed. I think it can be higher, not to mention 400, but I will sell it if it reaches the range of 200 to 300.
We get a share of the money from the sale, be it Aza or the Kim brothers, and by then we will have already escaped with the money.
"Fengzi? Fengzi?"
"What are you thinking about?" Dou Sprout called me.
I came to my senses and said it was okay. You should continue to call me tonight. Maybe his cell phone ran out of battery and was turned off yesterday.
Dou Sprout said okay, I will try again when I get back in the evening.
The blood agate was completely transformed, and it was about to be sold, which meant that the rest of us had another amount of money coming in. Anyway, it was a no-cost business, so we could make whatever we sold. We were happy and went to the Rainbow Wine House in the evening.
After ordering drinks, he sat on a high stool and listened to the beautiful woman on the stage playing and singing. Dou Sprout whistled quietly and followed the rhythm of the beautiful woman playing guitar.
"Look, look," Douyazai suddenly pulled me and said, "Is that beautiful woman ogling me?"
I smiled and said, what are you waiting for? Go quickly.
Douyazai chuckled, and with a smile on his face, he went over to pick up a drink and strike up a conversation.
"Hello." I was watching happily when I suddenly heard someone talking to me from behind.
I turned around and asked who was talking to me?
There were four people on the other side. The man I was talking to was in his mid-twenties and had long hair. He had a scar on his right eye and looked friendly with a smile on his face.
"Hello." He smiled and held out his hand.
I didn't reach out and said confusedly that we didn't know each other, right?
He smiled and took back his right hand, casually grabbing an unopened bottle of beer.
"Snapped!"
The distance was too close, and before I could react, I just felt that my head was wet, water was flowing down, and blood splashed on Xiaoxuan's face.
No warning.
Dou Sprout saw this scene. After he reacted, he grabbed a chair and rushed over with red eyes.
"Grandma Cao!"
