Chapter 55: Wearing Old Clothes (End)

  Although this stone has been processed with strong acid, some places will still leave some defects.

  Qin Feng would only choose places with the most vibrant greenery and purest water when he went down to cut grass, and if the color was slightly off, he would eliminate it.

  More than two hours later, the "jade" as big as two fists had been divided into three pieces. Two of them were only as large as a thumb, and the other one was about the size of an infant's palm, which was also the most valuable part of the whole material.

  At this time, it was also noon. Qin Feng wrote some materials on paper and asked Li Tianyuan to buy food when he went out, bringing them back with him. Only then did he concentrate his attention again on the three pieces of material.

  After officially starting to carve, Qin Feng's movements slowed down a lot. Every knife cut was even and just right, not too much or too little. The process of making earrings is relatively simple, and it took more than half an hour to take shape.

  But Buddha statues require careful craftsmanship, from the face to the clothing, even some folds need to be highlighted, which is a great test for the craftsman's skills.

  Qin Feng spent more than two hours carving, and a smiling Maitreya Buddha image with a kind face appeared in the palm of his hand.

  "What Master said is right, I was indeed born to be a chef!"

  Holding the "Jade" Buddha in his hand, Qin Feng felt a sense of pride in his heart. He had also practiced with other things before, but the three objects in front of him were undoubtedly his most successful works.

  The craftsmanship of this Buddha statue is extremely exquisite, the knife work is very simple, but it looks like "sparse can run horses, fine not leak wind".

  Moreover, Qin Feng made full use of this material, using the technique of Northern School carving, which is now increasingly declining. The workmanship is neat and grandiose, and in the eyes of connoisseurs, it is absolutely a masterpiece.

  "Xiao Pang, where's Yuanzi? Hasn't he come back yet?"

  Just now, Qin Feng's heart was completely absorbed in the carving, and at this moment, as soon as he relaxed, he suddenly felt his stomach growling loudly. Although it was a small handicraft, it had almost exhausted all of Qin Feng's energy.

  "Feng Ge, who knows where Yuan Zi Ge went? It's been several hours since he left."

  When Qin Feng was carving, Xie Xuan didn't even dare to take a deep breath, and only when he saw that it was finished did his voice rise by a few degrees.

  "Brother Feng, I'm back..."

  Just as Xie Xuan's words fell, the sound of Li Tianyuan's voice came from the gate of the courtyard. Li Tianyuan walked in from outside, his forehead covered with sweat and his clothes soaked through, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

  "Far son, what's wrong with you? Didn't I just ask you to buy something?" Seeing Li Tianyuan's appearance, Qin Feng and Xie Xuan were both shocked. Did this guy fall into the river or something?

  The materials Qin Feng needs are relatively rare, but he has already indicated where they can be found. Logically speaking, Li Tianyuan shouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state, should he?

  "Brother Wind, Big Brother Wind, what you said sounds easy, but those things, I had to run all over the city just to buy them all..." After hearing Qin Feng's words, Li Tianyuan suddenly shouted out in frustration.

  Originally went to several places but nothing was found, unfortunately, when Li Tianyuan bought the last thing in the east of the city, he found that there was not enough money on him.

  He haggled and bargained to get the boss to sell things cheaply, but what's even more tragic is that after buying things, Li Tianyuan couldn't even scrape together a single penny.

  The east of the city is about ten kilometers away from this yard, one in the east and one in the west.

  Li Tianyuan, although he was quite a rascal before, is a man who values his dignity. He didn't dare to take the bus and had to run back on foot for 20 miles, ending up in the state you see him now.

  "You... you can only go and extort elementary school students now!"

  Taking a bus costs only one yuan, but this guy actually ran back with all his might. It's fortunate that he had been to the juvenile detention center before. After listening to Li Tianyuan's words, Qin Feng couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

  "Alright, let's eat...". Seeing Li Tianyuan so exhausted, Qin Feng couldn't bear to scold him anymore.

  "Feng Ge, I...I don't have a single penny on me, what are we going to do for dinner?" After running twenty miles, Li Tianyuan finally had a concept of money in his head. Before this, it was all taken care of by Xie Xuan, so he didn't need to worry about it.

  "I still have 10 yuan left, let's buy a 10-yuan worth of shaobing for dinner tonight!"

  Qin Feng was taken aback by the words and searched his entire body but only found 10 yuan, everything else had been given to Li Tianyuan to buy those materials.

  "What... what about tomorrow then?" Xie Xuan looked at Qin Feng with pleading eyes and said, "Brother Feng, how about I set up a stall tomorrow? If luck is good, I can still swindle enough money for a few days' worth of food."

  "Setting up a stall? Forget it."

  Qin Feng burst out laughing, pointing at the three finished "jade" pieces and said: "These things aren't made for decoration, after we sell them tomorrow, we'll leave Shishi City tonight. If you have anything to pack, get ready early!"

  "Tomorrow... are we leaving tomorrow? Where... where are we going?"

  Qin Feng's words left both Xie Xuan and Li Tianyuan stunned, especially Li Tianyuan, who had never left Shishi in his life. Suddenly hearing that he was going to leave, he couldn't help but feel a little flustered.

  "Go to Jin Tian City, didn't I tell you guys before?"

  Qin Feng took out the steamed buns bought by Li Tianyuan, took a bite and said vaguely: "These things can be exchanged for some capital, we will do some small business in the future, after all, it is possible to make a living."

  He chose to go to Jin Tian City, first because Jin Tian City is adjacent to the capital city, with a complex mix of people from all walks of life, and there are countless antique enthusiasts, Qin Feng plans to make it his base for development.

  There's an even more important reason, which is that the train that took Qin Jie away back then stayed at the Tianjin Tianyi Freight Yard for the longest time, and Qin Feng has reason to suspect that his sister got lost there.

  Xie Xuan's parents were in Jin Tian City, and he wasn't too resistant to Qin Feng's arrangement. However, Li Tianyuan was a bit conflicted - usually not returning home often, but now that he had to leave, he actually felt a little reluctant to part with it.

  Qin Feng didn't have the heart to do ideological work on him, after eating his fill, he took the package that Li Tianyuan had bought for him and entered the room, of course, with a small tail following behind him, Xie Xuan.

  He took out the three finished "jade" ornaments and placed them on the silk cloth in front of him. Qin Feng glanced at Xie Xuan and said, "Xiao Pang, this craftsmanship is not something that can be learned overnight. If you're really interested, you can find a master to apprentice with later. Jin Tian City has many old artisans."

  Qin Feng's exceptional craftsmanship was actually forced out of him, his hands had extremely strong micro-control abilities, and he could even play the most difficult piano pieces in the world with ease, making the craftsmanship seem relatively simple by comparison.

  But Xie Xuan, who has no foundation, wants to eat this meal, but he must work hard, with his fat fingers like carrots, and his unpracticed skin and bones, don't even think about achieving results.

  After exchanging a few words with the two of them, telling them not to bring too many things, Qin Feng locked himself in his room after dinner, and this time he didn't even let Xie Xuan in.

  As the saying goes, teaching apprentices to starve their masters to death, Qin Feng cannot help but leave a hand, because what he needs to do now is to polish and age these three "jade" ornaments, which is also the most important link.

  Qin Feng took out a small bag of green, viscous substance from the bag brought back by Li Tianyuan. This thing is called chromium oxide. Using it to polish will make the patina thick and heavy, showing a sense of age.

  Chromium oxide dries very quickly, and after spreading it evenly on the three objects and waiting for about ten minutes, Qin Feng took out a sheet of sandpaper with grains as fine as 2000 mesh and gently polished the surface of "Jade".

  This process was repeated three times by Qin Feng. After polishing, the surface of the ornament became somewhat dull, as if it had been coated with a thin layer of paste.

  After completing this process, Qin Feng took out a small packet of powder from his bag.

  This stuff is called diamond powder, of course, although it's called diamond powder, it's actually just ground up tungsten carbide. Real diamond powder might be hard to find even in the entire market.

  Diamond powder was applied to the jade, and Qin Feng began polishing it with a hard-bristled brush. The earrings were easy to handle, but the Maitreya Buddha pendant required delicate work. Those patterns, Qin Feng used a toothpick to carefully scrape out one by one.

  Finally, Qin Feng found that piece of pure cowhide leather from the shoe store Li Tianyuan had gotten, and placed several objects in the middle to toss and rub it for a whole two hours.

  When all three accessories were polished, the jade face of that pair of earrings became green and beautiful.

  That deep color has covered up all the flaws of this "jade", even Qin Feng can't help but be fascinated by it, he believes that with the level of jade identification in this market, no one will be able to find any weaknesses.

  The Maitreya Buddha pendant presents another kind of beauty.

  The entire Buddha pendant is transparent, with fingers pressed against the back, almost clearly visible fingerprints, exquisite craftsmanship combined with thick green color, giving people a solemn feeling.

  "Grandma's, almost forgot to drill holes, need to re-polish inside the hole too!"

  The infatuated Qin Feng suddenly slapped his forehead, if he took it out like this tomorrow, it would probably be the biggest joke in the antique industry this century.

  After spending several more hours, Qin Feng finished all the procedures and took out a three-strand red rope from his body. This thing was something he had "borrowed" from Old Man Ge's shop.

  This red rope is also particular, after manual weaving is completed, it needs to be soaked in special medicinal water, and even if worn on the body for ten years, it will not wear out. If you buy it with money, this small section is worth over a hundred yuan.

  With a very strange technique, Qin Feng threaded the red rope onto Maitreya Buddha and held it in front of his eyes. The stunning beauty made Qin Feng unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

  As for the pair of earrings, they were inlaid with slightly discolored old silver by Qin Feng and after some processing, the earrings suddenly had a hint of vicissitudes.

  PS: Second update, since Fahrenheit temperature is a bit of an exaggeration, the water temperature has been changed to steam. Also, the iron basin has been changed to a ceramic basin. Thanks for pointing out these mistakes, friends! You guys are quite meticulous when it comes to reading books, but why don't you have the habit of voting?