"That's not the reason." Godmother said: "Your sworn brother hesitated on the phone, saying that their mission is a bit special, it is inconvenient to call home all the time, and domestic relations should be kept as little contact as possible. What do you think about them? Aren’t you studying and working overseas? How come you still have a job?”
In fact, Zhou Zhi has always suspected this matter. Judging from Wei Yi's study and work trajectory, it is very strange. After graduating from the Foreign Languages College, he disappeared for a period of time. He said it was for work training, and then went to the overseas branch of Xinhua News Agency, and then contacted overseas In college, he became an international student again. While in school, he got in touch with Blair's law firm and became Blair's assistant.
This Blair is a potential figure in British politics. In Zhou Zhi's memory of his last life, this guy even became the Prime Minister.
Therefore, judging from Miss Wei Yi's experience in performing her duties, Zhou Zhi always felt that there was something here.
But you can't say this to your godfather and stepmother, otherwise they will be even more worried, so Zhou Zhi said: "Brother-in-law has aphasia and has changed his Chinese and English. The mission is called mission in English, and One meaning is "hard travel". He is currently studying for a master's degree in anthropology. What kind of mission can he have? I guess it must be like my going to Liangshan Prefecture for fieldwork. He is going to conduct academic research somewhere. It is almost the same as mission. ”
"Is that so...are we going to Africa?" Godmother's thoughts were indeed diverted.
"This is entirely possible." Zhou Zhi said: "It may also be the Americas. There are many tribes and the earliest embryonic forms of human society in these two places, which are worthy of study."
"Be sure to remind your sworn brother to get all the vaccines you need when going to those places," Mai Xiaomiao reminded: "Many infectious diseases that have disappeared in Europe and here are still high in those places."
The strange thing is that the godfather and godmother are not worried about this kind of thing anymore. The godfather even said with a bit of envy in his tone: "Your current conditions are really good. At that time, we didn't dare to go too far to do some field research. , either the instructor will take it to the surrounding towns, or it will be carried out in the hometown during the holidays. In a word, it is to save money.”
"Without funds, it's really difficult to do anything." The godmother also sighed: "My graduation thesis was completed only after your godfather took him back to Longhui Township."
"Godmother, what theme were you working on at that time?"
"Dialect is a idiom." The godmother said while holding milk tea: "Influenced by Yuzhou, we here also call it 'Yanzi'er'."
"Are you cheating?" Zhou Zhi immediately became dissatisfied: "Did Yan Zi'er from Long Huishan collect it when his godfather was still an educated youth? Didn't he already have it in his notebook? ”
"Don't ask questions knowingly!" The godfather smiled and said: "Otherwise, will your godmother fall into my hands?"
"There's nothing serious about it!" the godmother said angrily, "Why are you telling your children this!"
"Godfather and Godmother, this is my tribute to you." Mai Xiaomiao opened her schoolbag and took out a brocade box. When she opened it, there were still two dragon and phoenix brands inside. The theme was similar to the pair given to her fourth cousin and fourth aunt. , but the material is different. The lower two-thirds are made of transparent and slightly gelatinous crystal, which is filled with small red snowflake-like cinnabar dot crystals.
The upper part is red, carved into a dragon and a phoenix by the craftsmen of the Suzhou Jade Carving Factory.
The pair of dragons and phoenixes worn by the fourth cousin and the fourth aunt come from Ming Dynasty porcelain, while this pair comes from the ancient style of the Warring Han Dynasty, more like the style of bronzes and brick paintings, called "antique dragon and phoenix". "Is this also the southern Sichuan red material you discovered?" Godfather immediately became interested.
"Well, this is one of the red materials from southern Sichuan. I call it 'Bingpiao'."
"The name is quite appropriate, just like the little red flowers floating in the ice."
"There are a lot of this kind of materials, but most of them are black and red on the frozen bottom; the flowers are dull and flaky and lumpy, lacking in beauty; the red meat is scattered and the color is not clean."
"Like this pair of brands, the white jelly is clean and translucent with a gelatinous texture; the floating flowers are like snowflakes and water plants; the red meat is bright and bright, and there are very few."
"Good things speak for themselves." My godfather is an expert in playing with stones. He naturally has his own set of judgment standards for similar frozen materials, whether it is the exhausted Tianhuang jelly, the nearly exhausted Changhua chicken blood jelly, or the nearly exhausted Changhua chicken blood jelly. Dushan jelly, Qingtian jelly, and yellow wax jelly, which are very cheap and worthless, all have a system.
This set of standards is actually quite simple. It is the common aesthetics of human beings who love light and hate darkness. Regardless of the rarity of the stone, the corresponding stone should be bright in color, bright in tone, and natural in transition. Clean and tidy stone is high-grade, while dull color , gloomy tones, abrupt transitions, and disorganized stones are inferior.
This pair of dragon and phoenix brands are naturally the best among the best. My godfather holds one in each hand and can't put it down. He praised: "Su's workmanship has already reached this level of exquisiteness. Even the jade workmanship of Hendustan during the Qianlong Dynasty could not reach this level..."
"The thin-bodied jade workmanship of Traceustan is the pinnacle of Chinese jade carving craftsmanship. Ji Xiaolan's "Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes" also records that "the craftsmanship of today's jade carving is most exquisite in Traceustan", and "the jade workmanship of Xikun is extremely skillful. "Water-milled jade is as thin as paper." Just say, the carver It is complex and meticulously ground. Emperor Qianlong once praised it in a poem as "as fine as a hair, without any ax chisel marks". He also personally verified it and named the Mughal Kingdom that produced this kind of jade "Hendustan", which impressed the jade generals in the palace. Imitation.”
"In terms of craftsmanship, Tracestan jade carvings use a combination of techniques such as relief, round carving, and hollow carving. The mosaic and leaf patterns use the Yang pattern technique, that is, when carving, the base is first flattened, and then the pattern is bas-relief to form a raised surface. The main pattern creates a visual contrast, and the scratches are removed and polished extremely finely to enhance its artistic expression. ”
Please...you...collect 6...9...books...!
"This kind of processing precision has troubled Chinese jade craftsmen for a long time. It was not until the introduction of more precise and stable Mughal jade cutting machines that this mystery was solved, allowing Qianlong's court jade craftsmen to imitate Hendu. Stan Jade Comes”
"But the ancient jade-cutting machines all had a grinding wheel turntable or a rotating needle that rotated there. The craftsmen used the jade material to touch the needle to achieve the purpose of cutting the jade. Modern crafts use hand-held grinders, such as holding pens for painting. Generally, carving jade is a completely different processing method, and the level of processing precision it can achieve is even more different. ”
"Hundustan jade is just 'picking the ground', that is, digging down the blank space of the picture to make the pattern stand out, but it is not thin enough; while contemporary Su Gong takes advantage of the convenience of hand-held grinding and uses spherical weight needles to mark the lines. Draw an inner arc on both sides , using the intersection of two inner arcs to 'extrude' lines, the cross-section is like the sharp point in the middle of a handwritten w. In theory, the lines can be made thinner than a hair. The jade carving process has basically reached its ultimate level. "
"So that's it, I just said how delicate the lines of these antique pendants are."
"Of course, this is because skilled people are bold." Zhou Zhi explained: "The thinner the line, the easier it is to break if the processing is slightly wrong. So although the theory is good, there are only a handful of people who can do this. Suzhou Jade Carving Factory Only a few female masters are like this Although Master Xu Zhimian is the most skilled master in the jade carving factory, his eyesight and hand stability have weakened due to his old age, and even he cannot do such delicate work." (End of this chapter)