Chapter 888: Great Carpenter

“Didn’t you go back home for a meal? Why did you come here?” Yuan Zhou asked directly.

“Aha. You’ll know why in due course,” Ling Hong revealed a cunning smile and said.

“I see.” The instant Yuan Zhou saw Ling Hong’s smile, he didn’t want to ask him anymore and hence answered simply.

The Herbal Tea Eggs were usually served up quickly. As soon as he finished asking Ling Hong, Yuan Zhou scooped up a tea egg and put it in a small dish directly. And immediately, he added a spoonful of tea broth on the tea egg.

The tea broth was dark brown. It infiltrated into the tea egg through the cracks of the eggshell and then flowed out into the dish along with the smooth egg white.

The light bluish-green bottom of the dish was instantly covered with a layer of dark brown tea broth, which appeared clear and bright, emitting the tea fragrance.

“It really deserves the name of Keemun Black Tea. Both the taste and the appearance are different.” Ling Hong took a deep breath of the tea fragrance and couldn’t help praising.

Concerning the Herbal Tea Eggs prepared by Yuan Zhou, not only the taste was good, but also the appearance was quite pleasing to the eye. As the eggshell had to be broken, the dark brown tea broth would infiltrate through the crack into the tea eggs while they were boiled. As a result, the tea broth left beautiful brown paintings on the egg white.

“I’m here to check what the painting looks like today,” while saying that, Ling Hong began to peel off the eggshell.

“Ca Ca Ca”. Ling Hong poked an opening on the eggshell gently with chopsticks and then straightforwardly removed the entire eggshell with the egg membrane.

“Let me see what it is.” Ling Hong rolled the egg in the dish.

Along with the rolling of the egg, the dark brown streaks going up and down looked like a huge rolling wave. Yes, it was a painting of the ocean today.

“Huh, it looks like the ocean today.” Ling Hong rolled the egg repeatedly contentedly and appreciate it carefully.

It could be both appreciated and eaten, which was also the reason why Ling Hong liked it. Of course, that wasn’t the purpose of Ling Hong eating the Herbal Tea Eggs today. Actually, he ate it for the lingering tea fragrance and the unforgettable taste of Keemun Black Tea.

As for why, Ling Hong didn’t have the hobby of telling his reasons. He just ate up the Herbal Tea Egg slowly and then left the restaurant in quick steps.

Viewed from behind, he ran with ease, but nobody knew what was going on.

Except for Ling Hong who had behaved oddly, the business during the dinner was as smooth as before. So was the business during the pub time, naturally.

Thinking of the cabinet he was going to buy the following day, Yuan Zhou went to sleep peacefully and slept soundly all night long.

On the next morning, Yuan Zhou didn’t go to the market immediately after breakfast ended. Instead, he prepared to go and buy the cabinet after lunch. After all, he had more time in the afternoon and hence could get this thing done.

Therefore, he went upstairs to get things ready and left from the back alley as soon as lunchtime ended.

“Broth, I’m going out.” Yuan Zhou greeted Broth at the back door and then left.

He walked to the street corner and stopped a cab before reporting his destination to the driver.

“Mahogany Furniture City,” said Yuan Zhou.

“Okay. So you are going to buy furniture?” The driver tried to chat with him.

“Um.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

“Young man, the furniture in that place is expensive and the quality isn’t good enough. Why are you going there to buy mahogany furniture?” The driver immediately started a conversation when he saw Yuan Zhou nod his head.

“Really?” Yuan Zhou looked at the driver and asked sincerely.

“I feel you look a little familiar,” the driver turned to look at Yuan Zhou and suddenly said with puzzlement even before he answered him.

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“It’s not strange. Everybody says I look familiar. Sir, where can I buy quality furniture?” Yuan Zhou nodded his head and then said lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, you look familiar. I’m not lying to you. Not to mention the long distance, there are also many scams there.” The driver’s attention was diverted back to the subject by Yuan Zhou.

“Then where shall I go?” Yuan Zhou asked straightforwardly.

“Of course the Jinfa Wholesale Market. Though it’s a market of various goods, you can also find many furniture stores over there and the quality is fabulous,” the driver said earnestly.

“Jinfa Wholesale Market?” Yuan Zhou felt that the name was a little familiar and thus, he muttered.

“Yeah, that’s it. Do you want to go there? If so, I’m going to make a turn.” The driver nodded his head and then asked.

“All right. Let’s go to Jinfa Wholesale Market now,” said Yuan Zhou.

“Got it. We are going to Jinfa now.” There appeared a smile on the driver’s face. He made a turn steadily and went into another road.

The driver liked this young man who was open to his advice very much and thus spoke with him a lot. He kept talking with Yuan Zhou about current news all way long.

And Yuan Zhou also kept replying, but in his heart, he thought of another thing.

“The craftsman mentioned by Chairman Zhou seems to be in the Jinfa Market,” said Yuan Zhou inwardly.

Zhou Shijie once told Yuan Zhou that he had prepared a set of furniture for his girl’s dowry and they were made by an old craftsman in this Jinfa market.

Without using a nail or wedding rod, he was able to make the furniture with the traditional technique of mortise and tenon joint. Yuan Zhou looked up on the Internet and knew there were 72 types of mortise and tenon joints invented by Luban¹ popular on the Internet. It looked as if everybody could master the craftsmanship by imitating the structures, but only those who really knew this industry knew how difficult it was.

Yuan Zhou didn’t really know about this industry of carpentry, but he never looked down upon the mortise and tenon joints which were regarded as the Wisdom of the Chinese.

Zhou Shijie said that all the furniture made were extremely good in quality, especially the dressing table where three mortises and seven tenons were used.

Actually, Yuan Zhou really had no idea that the joint of three mortises and seven tenons were far better than the one used by the Japanese master architect Hegu Jishou, who used the mortise and tenon joints abroad and was admired by foreigners.

And Yuan Zhou also didn’t know there were fewer and fewer craftsmen who were able to make furniture with the mortise and tenon joints only.

Zhou Shijie thought of telling Yuan Zhou about this old craftsman when he suddenly found that the flower rack in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant looked very good.

Yuan Zhou was still thinking of all these things when they arrived at the place.

“Zi…” The car stopped at the entrance of the Jinfa Market straightforwardly.

After paying the money, Yuan Zhou got off the car and walked around. And before the cab driver left, he opened the car window and stopped Yuan Zhou, “Young man, go inside of the entrance and walk forward two alleys. Then you can reach the place. That street is full of furniture dealers and the price is cheap and economical.”

“Thank you, sir.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

“You are welcome, but you really look familiar,” after saying that, the driver closed the car window and then left.

Jinfa was a comprehensive wholesale market. There were not only furniture, but also wooden doors, ceramic tiles, wallpaper, etc. The goods inside were in a great variety, but all was in connection with the decorations.

As instructed, Yuan Zhou walked forward by two streets and prepared to look for the craftsman mentioned by Zhou Shijie.

Zhou Shijie only told Yuan Zhou this craftsman was surnamed Lian and didn’t tell him the address of his store, but he said Yuan Zhou could definitely know it was the carpenter at the first sight of the craftsman.

How different was the old man’s appearance that one could recognize him at first sight? After all, Yuan Zhou was a layman and he wasn’t clear about things like calluses.

“Does he look like wood?” Yuan Zhou observed carefully while walking forward.

With his sharp eyes, Yuan Zhou could see the people in the stores even if he didn’t go inside. And sometimes, Yuan Zhou stood at the door for a while and observed the people inside very carefully.

Yuan Zhou was alone, so nobody really came up to greet him. After all, he didn’t look like one that was going to buy the materials in bulk.

Therefore, Yuan Zhou could observe the street quietly. There weren’t many people in the furniture street, but it was still filled with a lot of noise. This was because the sound of machines could be heard from time to time.