It was just dawn when Yang Liufang woke up, and he didn't know how he got into bed. Who sent the guests? At that moment, my head was buzzing, my mouth was dry, and my body was full of the stench of tobacco and alcohol. I choked after smelling it and made myself cough twice. The village chief Shitou, who was sleeping on a wooden board nearby, got up quickly after hearing this and went to get him some water. Yang Liufang also got up, but his head hurt and he rubbed his temples with his hands.
I wanted to ask Brother Shitou what time it was, but I remembered that the radio my brother had given me hadn’t been opened yet, so I struggled to open the box and took out the radio. Sure enough, the clock started ticking again. Without the packaging box and foam seal, the clock made a slight sound. There was a clicking sound, and the clock hands pointed to 5:30, which was the time he got up when he was an apprentice. At this time, the head of Shitou Village also poured water in and handed it to Yang Liufang.
"Brother Shitou, are you awake?"
"Wake up, it's almost time to drink water at this time."
"Then let's get to work."
"Okay! Well (I) follow your command, let's do it!"
Yang Liufang asked the village chief Shitou to help him light the stove without using too much heat. He sat on the steamer, added water and put in four potatoes. Village Chief Shitou heated up yesterday's leftovers. After Yang Liufang finished making arrangements, he bowed to the east. That was the direction of the founder Lu Ban and the direction of his master.
After praying, set the alarm clock to 7:00, when the two of you will have dinner. Only then did he start lifting the willow tree sections, measuring them, and marking them. After finishing the dots, I took out the ink fountain and poured in ink. After repeatedly pulling the thread to soak it, I started to ask the head of Shitou Village to help pull the thread.
After pulling the thread, they took out the big saw and started pulling the big saw. I thought the village chief Shitou didn't know how to do it, but he just started to get unfamiliar with it. He slowly became more and more relaxed. Before the alarm clock rang, a willow tree segment with a diameter of 40 cm and a length of 2 m was cut into a pile of 3 cm thick boards. . The head of Shitou village is young and powerful, and he carries the finished boards alone and puts them in a ventilated place for pressing to prevent the boards from cracking and warping. Yang Liufang collected the scraps. Except for the ones that couldn't be used, the rest were sawn into small boards and strips with his carpenter's hands for later use. As for the waste wood that couldn't be used, the village chief Shi Shi also took a broom and gathered it. , in preparation for the two of them to make a fire to cook later.
After driving a willow section, the two were ready to eat. While eating, Yang Liufang said to the village chief Shitou. "Brother Shitou, you work here for me. I'll pay you 10 yuan a day. Don't think it's too little. I know you may sell more water than that, but let's just start and take our time."
"Brother, where did you (said) come from? San'er told me (me) that he (me) refused when he was offered money. How much money do I need to work for my family!"
"It's more or less my brother's wish. I'll do joinery the day after tomorrow. You can go back for one day and bring water to the village for two days to store."
"Okay, that's what (I) mean too. Just don't delay your business."
"No delay, no delay!"
The two of them immersed themselves in eating. After eating, Village Chief Shitou immediately took the bowl and washed it. Yang Liufang tried to snatch it away but had no choice but to let him wash the dishes. Yang Liufang started to dot the second piece of wood. After finishing the dots, the two continued to open the third piece of wood, the fourth piece of wood... It was already noon after finishing the fourth piece of wood. The two prepared lunch. Yang Liufang fried celery segments with pork belly and steamed rice. Because it was the first time to use a large steamer, he was inexperienced and steamed too much. In addition, Village Chief Shitou was not used to eating rice for the first time, so there was a lot left over.
The sun was just right at noon, so Yang Liufang divided the large piece of pork into small pieces, sprinkled it with salt, and dried it in the sun. After finishing the work, I took a rest and continued to open wood in the afternoon. Different from cutting boards in the morning, in the afternoon, the whole wood is cut into 6 cm thick boards, then cut into 4 cm or 6 cm squares, and the scraps are cut into 3 cm or 2 cm strips. The opened wooden cubes will also be bundled and pressed by the head of Shitou Village. Opening wood squares is more cumbersome and labor-intensive than opening wooden planks, so the two of them only opened three logs before they could do it.
The two had to stop to drink water and prepare dinner. Yang Liufang turned on the radio and listened to the literary program of the Central People's Broadcasting Station. The familiar voice of teacher Li Yemo came out. It was Lu Yao's "The Ordinary World". This story happened on the Loess Plateau, about ordinary farmers Sun Shaoan and Sun Shaoping. It was fascinating, and the two of them listened with gusto. They fried the egg fried rice until it was mushy. Because they were tired, they both ate a lot.
At night, when the lanterns were lit, Yang Liufang began to study the craftsmanship and details of the Eight Immortals Table. This time he adopted a comparative method, comparing the opinions of An Siyuan and Wang Shixiang to find the optimal solution. The more Yang Liufang compared, the more interested he became. It was not until the head of the village, Shitou, urged him to go to bed, saying that he would have to work the next day, that he put down the book, turned off the light, and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, they still got up at 5:30 in the morning, and the two of them still worked together to cut the wood. After breakfast, Yang Liufang used the remaining fire to ignite the collected sawdust and broken wood sticks, sprinkled aquatic smoke, hung the pork that had been dried the day before, and smoked it. The aroma of direct smoking overflowed, and the grease flowed out, and the grease helped burn the sawdust. , as soon as they found an open fire, they immediately sprinkled water on it, and it was not until the two of them stopped working that they put out the fire.
Yang Liufang took out two pieces and gave them to the head of Shitou Village, asking him to give one piece to his father-in-law's family on the way back and keep one piece for his own family. Then she gave him a part of the celery and asked him to take it back so that his sister-in-law could cook it for Gawa. Head Shitou put on new shoes and caught the donkey cart back to Shiyi Village.
In the evening, Yang Liufang listened to the radio and cooked for himself. After dinner, he felt that the weather was getting colder, so he got into bed early, read a book, continued to study furniture making techniques, and fell asleep unknowingly.
When I woke up the next day, I found that the book had fallen to the floor. Pick it up, tidy it up a little, and start making the Eight Immortals Table. Yang Liufang combined the two furniture masters An Siyuan and Wang Shixiang's summary of the Eight Immortals table and decided to make a cinched-waisted horse-hoof-legged Luoguo-style paneled square table.
He first selected two 6*6 wooden squares, sawed out 74*74 table legs, then made tenons at both ends of the table legs, then sawed out 12*12 wooden square sections, and carved out the horseshoe-shaped table legs. Make a bow above the table legs. Then he made the side rails, tooth plates, and carved waistbands in sequence. When he finished these parts, Yang Liufang realized that it was already evening, and he had not eaten all day while working.
Yang Liufang steamed a bowl of rice, cut a few pieces of bacon and some celery segments, steamed a potato, ate it at random, lit the lantern, and continued working. After finishing the mortise and tenon of the side rails and dental panels, I started to feel soreness in my back. I didn't even take off my clothes, so I climbed into bed, covered myself with a quilt and fell asleep.
He was woken up by the knock on the door of Village Chief Shitou. It seemed that he had rushed here in the middle of the night. Yang Liufang got up and saw the tools and components scattered on the ground. It seemed that he was too sleepy yesterday. Village Chief Shitou tied his hands and didn't know how to clean them up, fearing that they would be messed up by Yang Liufang. After Yang Liufang washed up, he asked Brother Shitou to boil cowhide glue in the morning and cut table boards in the afternoon.
He first asked Chief Shitou to go to the village to help buy a rotten iron pot. After buying the rotten iron pot, he mixed the raw cowhide and cowhide glue particles bought at the supply and marketing cooperative, added a small amount of water, and used waste wood chips and sawdust. Make a fire, simmer, stir while simmering, and simmer until the cowhide is completely melted. This glue is completely natural and contains no formaldehyde.
After boiling the glue, the two of them had breakfast. The village chief, Shitou, had been traveling all night and lost his appetite due to the smell of the glue. Yang Liufang worked overtime too late the day before and was sleepy, so he ate very little. Both of them had no energy to work at noon, so they just worked together to put the horseshoe base and the table legs together, and used mortise and tenon joints to connect the side rails and the tooth plates for the first time, and then connected them to the table legs with mortise and tenon joints. The general outline of an Eight Immortals table is Out.
The two of them were ecstatic when they looked at the semi-finished product of the trial assembly. Village Chief Shitou did it because it was his first time to see such exquisite furniture without nails, and Yang Liufang did it because it was his first time to make such complicated antique furniture, and he relied entirely on book knowledge and a little bit of thinking and groping. from.
Because the semi-finished product came out, the two of them had a lot of food at noon. After eating, they felt sleepy. They fell into a deep sleep before starting work in the afternoon. In the afternoon, the work of opening the table board became much easier. After the board was opened, the boards were spliced and polished. Then they were joined with tenons and glue, and then squeezed. After the glue dried, they fit together tightly like a whole board.
Yang Liufang used a plane to dig out a size around the tabletop that could fit perfectly into the grooves of the dental plate. He then asked Chief Shitou to roughen it with sandpaper, then disassembled the originally assembled table frame, inserted the tabletop into the dental plate, and then inserted the table into the dental plate. The table frame is put together. The difference between this combination and the first combination is that glue is added to the tenons and tenons, so that it is difficult to disassemble. The combination work is completed, and an Eight Immortals table imitating the early Ming Dynasty is born. .
