Chapter 271 Chapter 37 The Weird Apprentice

"Which carpenter made the bed for you?" Grandpa asked. You know, carpenters in rural areas were still common more than ten years ago.Suppose you want to buy a bed, chair, table, etc. Instead of going directly to a special store to pay for it, you can move it back.You have to invite a master carpenter, and you prepare the wood yourself, as well as tea and rice.A master carpenter comes to your house with an assistant or apprentice, and works from morning till night, and is paid for the number of days worked.If the master carpenter's home is far away, you have to arrange accommodation for him.

You can't neglect a carpenter while he's at home.If he thinks that your tea is weak and rice is rough, he may lower the quality of handwork, so that your newly made tables and chairs will not last long.Therefore, when a carpenter is invited to work at home, meat is indispensable for three meals a day, and the number of times the host serves tea is also indispensable. "It's the bed that Master Yi made for my family!" Uncle Jin replied. "Master Yi's level is very good. It's impossible for him to make something of substandard quality. You won't neglect him. He deliberately set up a trick to retaliate against you, right?" the grandma beside him interjected.

"That's impossible!" Grandpa waved his hand, "I still know Master Yi's character. As long as he doesn't go too far, he won't have revenge. Besides, there is no problem with the quality of the bed. Weird sound." Uncle Jin nodded and said: "Master Yi can't be like this. Although I am stingy, I can use the bed for a few more years, and I treat him with good cigarettes and wine. Before he left, he said that I spent money. He can't to do something like this." "Oh..." Grandpa replied thoughtfully. Grandma said again: "Uncle Jin, are you only being kind to the master and forgetting about the apprentice? I don't know your character yet. The master's food must have been dug from the apprentice. You must have let Master Yi has enough to eat and drink, making Master Yi's apprentices hungry."

Uncle Jin's face was slightly red, he rubbed his hands together and said in embarrassment: "Where...how can such...such a thing happen! Am I not treating people equally? See what you said!" Grandpa immediately asked: "Master Yi has never been a carpenter alone? When did he accept apprentices? Why didn't I know?" After finishing his speech, grandpa turned his questioning eyes to grandma. Grandma blinked, thought for a while, and said, "Oh, that's right, Master Yi doesn't accept apprentices. Although his carpentry is good, he is reluctant to pass it on to others. As the old saying goes, skills are passed on from men to women. He has his own skills. I have a son, but I don’t let my son learn carpentry, saying that it’s a job for servants to do, and it’s useless to learn it. Other people’s sons want to learn from him, but he still doesn’t want to part with that housekeeping skill.”

Because there is almost a carpenter in every village, and our Changshan Village has its own carpenter, so I am not very clear about Master Yi they are talking about. The cigarette in Uncle Jin's hand was about to burn to the filter. He flicked it lightly, and the cigarette butt was flicked several meters away. "Isn't it? He brought an apprentice to make a bed for my family." According to Uncle Jin, when he went to Master Yi's house to ask for carpentry work, he didn't find out that Master Yi's house had any apprentices.Because he also knew before that Master Yi would not let his son learn carpentry, and he was not willing to pass on his skills to others, so Master Yi usually acted alone as a carpenter.

When Uncle Jin prepared the wood the next day and hoped that Master Yi would come, he did not wait for Master Yi's shadow.They agreed on the first day that work would start at six in the morning and end at three in the afternoon.Start work early and finish work early, it still counts as a whole day's wages.Most people hire carpenters to start work at 8:00 in the morning and finish at 5:00 in the afternoon.The reason why Uncle Jin did this was to save money for a dinner. At six o'clock, there was still mist outside. Uncle Jin waited until the mist gradually dissipated, but he still didn't see Master Yi coming with the toolbox.

Just as he was about to go out to find Master Yi, a young man suddenly appeared at the door.The young man was born in the face, claiming to be Master Yi's apprentice, and came to Uncle Jin's house to help make a wooden bed.He also said that Master Yi had something to do in the morning, but he would definitely come before noon. Uncle Jin was skeptical at first, but when he saw that the young man was carrying the toolbox that Master Yi usually used, he stopped asking and took him directly to work with wood at home.If you delay your time, you will lose your own time.At that time, Uncle Jin thought so.

The young man took the wood and started to plan. After a long time, he started to plan, very agile.Uncle Jin was happy to see him working hard and fast, so he stopped blaming Master Yi for being late. In order to save some tea for the family, Uncle Jin made an excuse to leave when the young man started working, and did not come back until noon. When he came back at noon, he saw Master Yi sitting on a chair and snoring.And his apprentice is working hard to plan wood.He saw that there were several pieces of formed wood on the ground, so he didn't speak. When it was time to eat, Uncle Jin made an excuse that he had agreed that Master Yi would come alone, and he did not prepare enough meals, so he put all the good food, food and wine in front of Master Yi.And the raw boy could hardly eat anything.

Master Yi didn't care about his apprentice at all, he just ate and drank himself, and then snored drunkenly.The young man was obviously dissatisfied, but because of Master Yi's presence, he didn't dare to say anything.Uncle Jin was secretly happy in his heart. The first meal was like this, and the second meal was like this. Until the wooden bed was ready, Uncle Jin only gave Master Yi good food and drink, and ignored the apprentice at all.The apprentice didn't speak much, except for the occasional expression of anger at the dinner table, he just buried himself in his work, sweating in piles of sawdust.

Uncle Jin saw that his speed was not slower than Master Yi, and thought that Master Yi had been generous once—taught others his unique skills.If the apprentice was not his relative, then he had handed over a lot of bacon and rice.At that time, there was no need to pay to learn crafts such as carpentry and bricklaying. It was only necessary to bring bacon and rice to the master's house during the Chinese New Year.Grandpa said that when he was in private school, he would give half a piece of bacon or a big fish to his teacher during holidays, and a whole piece of bacon or a big fish plus ten liters of rice during Chinese New Year.

On the fourth day, the wooden bed was finally ready.The workmanship is very delicate. Uncle Jin touched and touched the new wooden bed and was very satisfied.Master Yi took four days' wages and left without even picking up the axe, hacksaw, and planer.The young man was busy packing up the tools in the back, put them into the toolbox, and then hurried away with the toolbox on his back.