Chapter 19 Diao Tianxia Fifteen

(1) A skilled carpenter uses hardwood, A brilliant general uses strong troops. ——Yunnan Folk Proverb The wood-carved lattice door still lacks the last process - gilding.They are like 6 naked men and women, standing in Gao Shimei's workshop with the most essential strength, and began to accept the most beautiful, kind, serious and sharp eyes of the people around them.Although people feel that the six grid doors are full of mysterious things - people and gods, fish and water, flowers and grass, poetry and wine, houses and wind and clouds, horses and swords... both familiar and strange, both secular and sacred , seems to be too far away from them, and seems to come from their hearts, and it is related to their life, but not their own life, but they all think that these 6 grid doors are extraordinary things, as if they are in When they were looking forward to it, the gods quietly sent the most precious and miraculous gift.

The gentry in Xinlin Village found Gao Shimei.They all said that Gao Shimei's wooden lattice gate has become the treasure of Xinlin Village, and its reputation has passed through several counties, and more and more people come here to "worship".The admiration from different accents from all directions brought supreme brilliance to the faces of the people of Xinlin Village.Therefore, the folks want to do a good deed, which is to paste gold on the wooden lattice door.Regardless of where Gao Shimei will eventually place the wooden lattice door—his own home or in the "Sansheng Palace", the villagers are willing to provide the gold they need for gold affixing.

In a short period of time, the villagers seemed to be completely conquered by some kind of power, and they came to Gao Shimei's workshop one after another, and voluntarily donated many kinds of silver.Gao Shimei put the silver into a cloth bag, and then sewed the mouth of the bag densely with needles and threads.He planned to let a few young men who were younger and stronger than him carry the silver to Kunming on horseback and exchange it for gold.The young people in Xinlin Village have never seen so much silver. They are timid in front of the silver bag, and no one dares to do this.Everyone understands that taking so much money to cross mountains and cross mountains and cross villages into cities, is it possible to take risks?The result was unimaginable, either money was lost or life was lost.Or, people and money are empty, who can predict?Gao Shimei took great pains for this.In the end, he decided to complete the task by himself.

On the road leading to Kunming, the bandits in the Xiongguan area are particularly vicious. They not only rob property, but also like to burn and kidnap.Gao Shimei knew that there were only a dozen or so bandits in this gang, and apart from a few big knives, they had no powerful weapons, not even a horse, let alone muskets.But why are they so famous in the Xiongguan area that people turn pale when they talk about it?Just because of these two legends, this group of bandits became a myth.One is that their bandit leader, although short in stature and stuttering, has become daring and willing to do anything since he killed a man and ate that man's heart.From then on, he maintained the habit of eating people's hearts, and his daring to kill became more and more serious.The second is that the "record" of this group of bandits is very eye-catching. They have killed 5 county heads and 7 township heads.Therefore, if they make a slight noise, people will be frightened.

Because of the leak, this group of bandits was going to rob Gao Shimei in Xiongguan.Of course, Gao Shimei will not ignore the area that is beating like a god of death, he has ways to deal with them.He thought that these hard-earned money could not fall into the hands of those robbers anyway.He found a "magic weapon" to deal with bandits - binoculars.This was a gift An Ye gave him a few days ago.With it, I have a pair of divine eyes, and I can see people far away. Their eyes, noses, hands and feet... nothing is vague.When he uses this "magic weapon" to think about others, others cannot think about him.

Gao Shimei drove a donkey on the road.Under the noon sun, the distant mountains, rivers, and villages are all clearly visible.He climbed to the top of Xiongguan Mountain, and took out the single-hole binoculars that looked like a stick from the donkey's back mountain, so he could clearly observe the movement of the bandit and the distance from him. The bandits gradually approached him, so he simply sat down and rested.The bandits told him to stand up and searched him carefully.The bandits didn't find the silver they expected. They found that Gao Shimei's donkey was full of straw and firewood, and the bandits were not interested in these things.A bandit said, then take the donkey away!Another bandit sneered at this, saying that the donkey is the thing the boss dislikes the most, so pull it back to make him angry?

The bandits returned empty-handed.They didn't know that when Gao Shimei was still walking on another hill, she used his "magic weapon" to see their movements clearly, so she quietly hid the silver on that hill, and then slowly went up the slope, drinking saliva , sitting not far from the hill, waiting for the bandits to "rob".Now, the robbers withdrew, and he returned to take the silver away. Diao Tianxia Fifteen (2) A day later, a lake appeared in front of Gao Shimei, a very large lake, as wide as the ocean, where one could see the clearest, purest, and deepest blue.In the distance, there is a perfect combination of mountains, rivers, sky and the sun. The mountains and the sun grow up in the embrace of water; nearby, there are white sandy beaches surrounded by low bushes.Gao Shimei knew that this was Dianchi Lake.He can enter Kunming from the port of Kunyang by boarding the veteran "Dianji" passenger ship.Originally, it was not too far from Kunming, so it should be getting safer.But the actual situation is just the opposite. There are more bandits in large and small stocks here.Officers and soldiers often came to encircle and suppress, but they often missed.These bandits have a very keen sense of smell, and they ran away before the officers and soldiers arrived.As soon as the officers and soldiers left, they rushed over again.For bandits, this is a "fertile" land, and they cannot give up easily.

Now, although Gao Shimei has mixed the silver bag with other guests' goods.On the surface, Gao Shimei's silver pockets have been submerged in those earthen pots, clay pots, tin pots, antimony pots, yellow smoke, homespun cloth, tea leaves, and dried vegetables.He breathed a sigh of relief, and then led the donkey into the boat.However, the boatman probably saw the sky was high and the clouds were clear, and he estimated that there would be no storm today, so he delayed for a while and did not set off on schedule.At this moment, a group of bandits rushed onto the big wooden boat with shiny kitchen knives. They opened the cargo boxes and bags at will, flipped through the goods, and searched for the guests at will.Oddly enough, this group of bandits seems to have a higher appetite, not to loot, but to carefully select what they like.They searched for a long time, but did not find a single item.Gao Shimei led the donkey with one hand, and tightly held the binoculars with the other.A bandit caught a donkey and pulled it off the wooden boat.Gao Shimei was not in a hurry, as long as she could keep the money, a little donkey would be considered as an appetizer for this group of "senior" bandits!He pays close attention to the silver bag, but he also wants to pretend to be calm, try to relax his gaze, and keep away from the silver bag.The robbers' search went further, and they were getting closer and closer to their own money bags.How to do it?How to do it?Gao Shimei kept asking herself.Fighting recklessly with them will only lead to death.Besides, I only have a binoculars that are neither long nor short in my hand, how can I deal with their kitchen knives?Thinking of this, Takashi Mei suddenly felt enlightened, let's use this magic binoculars to defeat them!

Gao Shimei stood at the bow of the boat, raised her binoculars with her right hand calmly, and aimed at the bandits one by one.A gangster who was letting the wind think that what Gao Shimei raised was a Mauser, he yelled "gun" in fright, turned his head and ran away.This scream drew the attention of all the robbers to Gao Shimei.A gangster came forward and snatched the binoculars, but couldn't see what it was, so he had to imitate Gao Shimei's movement and lift up the binoculars, put them in front of his eyes, aim them back and forth, and shake them from side to side.Immediately afterwards, the gangster seemed to have seen something terrible, and flew out of the tube, burrowed into his eyes and mouth, and bit his heart. His face immediately deformed, as if he had lost soul.Another gangster came over, snatched the monster, and bravely and calmly put it in his eyes.The more he watched, the more excited he was, holding up the monster, aiming at the sky for a while, the lake for a while, his accomplices for a while, and Gao Shimei for a while.As if excited by the beauty that he could only see alone, he waved the thing frantically, ran here to look, jumped over there to aim, and shot up, down, left, and right.Another gangster couldn't hold back anymore, took advantage of his unpreparedness, snatched the thing, aimed it into his own eyes, eagerly wanting to see some earth-shattering secrets from it.But maybe he didn't see anything good from that monster, but it made him dizzy, his feet seemed to be standing on the edge of an abyss, his body staggered back, and the monster in his hand fell to the ground.The other bandits gradually came to their senses from their stupor, guessing that the monster must be the most interesting thing, they put down their work one after another, and rushed over to fight for it.One of the gangsters was the first to grab the monster from the ground. He held it tightly, as if wanting to use his strength to show that no one could take it away from him again.But in an instant, he was surrounded by crowds, forcing him to break out from left to right and run here and there. He wanted to wait for an opportunity to appreciate the wonder of that monster as soon as possible, but other bandits were chasing him so hard that he couldn't stand still heel.After a while, the monster was taken away by other bandits.After that, you fight over, I grab over, and the whole scene is completely messed up.Immediately afterwards, a new "order" appeared, and the two gangsters fought more and more fiercely, like fighting cocks, one jumped over and the other pounced; Kicked and fell to the ground, but quickly jumped up and rushed towards the opponent desperately.The two hugged each other, tilted their necks angrily, their eyes were red, as if they were going to eat people.Their thighs, calves, fingers, and arms tried their best to resist or grab each other's bodies, and they twisted convulsively to the point of being inseparable.The other bandits became spectators, unable to contain their mad passion, they waved their fists and arms, cheering for the two bandits.

Diao Tianxia Fifteen (3) Gao Shimei needed this kind of effect, and his goal was fully achieved.So he urged the boatman to sail quickly.The other passengers also yelled in a low voice and hastily: "Let's go! Let's go!" But the boatman was a timid person, and he didn't respond much to the urging of the guests. He was afraid that the bandits would retaliate against him, so he hesitated. .Just when everyone was worried and worried about losing the chance to escape from the claws of the devil, the boatman shouted loudly: "We're going to sail! Let's sail! Let's sail!"

Everyone understands that the intention of the boat owner is to send a notice to the bandits, are you not searching my boat?I'm leaving now, so don't bother me in the future! Gao Shimei's beating heart seemed to drop from her throat to the ground, it's over, it's over, it's over now.He was completely desperate almost instantly.There was a brief commotion among other passengers as well. The god of luck once again fell in front of Gao Shimei.Only a few of those bandits turned their heads and looked at the boatman indifferently, as if they were saying, who won't let you sail?Get lost, who is interested in searching your broken pots and tiles?They continued to indulge in the joy of admiring the "cockfight", and none of them wanted to go back to the boat. The boat moved.The complexions of the dozen or so passengers slowly changed.But everyone dared not speak loudly, because their wooden boat was still very close to the shore of the lake, and the shouts of the bandits were still clearly heard in their ears. The boatman was the first to speak, "Today we were lucky. We met a group of scattered thieves. Their boss didn't come, so no one was in charge of them. They specialize in robbing silver and gold. They don't even care about the mountain goods you brought. superior." Many passengers secretly thought that why the boatman said these words to please everyone was clearly to excuse him from the responsibility of not rushing to sail just now.Some people even whispered that the boat owner is not a good person, and may be in collusion with those bandits. The wind and waves on the lake were not strong, but everyone still felt that the big wooden boat was rising and falling suddenly, and accompanied by the sound of wooden oars, it was moving slowly.It seemed that there was only their lonely big wooden boat on the lake, and the waterfowl had flown to nowhere, only a few seaweed flowers or a piece of cattail grass that just came out of the water could be seen occasionally.Gao Shimei felt that after he and the passengers had an adventure together, everyone actually had a strong desire to speak, but everyone kept suppressing it.Some people looked at Gao Shimei with gratitude and kindness from time to time, as if hoping that this brave man would speak.Gao Shimei also looked at everyone with the same gaze. In his heart, he had expressed his gratitude countless times to those passengers who carried the most mountain goods. Without the cover of those mountain goods, his silver bag might have been robbed by the robbers, let alone today. What arrived was a group of golden tigers and silver leopards who are particularly sensitive to gold and silver.It's dangerous!These lovely silvers!Now that Gao Shimei is holding them, recalling the scene just now, he is indeed a little scared.The minds of the passengers were different from Gao Shimei's. They had never seen a telescope, and they admired the "magic" Gao Shimei used to calm down those bandits. What they wanted to know most was what was that monster?Why is it so amazing?A young passenger posed the question.Everyone immediately agreed, and life began to live on board. Gao Shimei said: "It's a cute thing, it comes from France, and it can capture things from far away, such as mountains, houses, and people, in front of us, so that we can see them clearly and clearly. In vain. It's a pity, it is indeed a good thing. It's a pity! It doesn't belong to me now." People listened to Gao Shimei's story in a stunned silence, but they still didn't understand how such a small tube could hold Capture all the mountains and houses in the distance? "Ah! That little stick is so powerful!" Someone was amazed. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it." Someone actively echoed. When Gao Shimei arrived in Kunming, she found a famous "gold mouse" (a person who did gold business in the old society) and exchanged the silver for gold. "Golden Mouse" gave Gao Shimei a gold brick, weighing 10 taels.Taking such a piece of gold back home, the road will be even more dangerous.He decided to change the route back to Nilang Town, that is, take the French train from Kunming to Panxi, and then from Panxi to Nilang Town. Gao Shimei walked into the train station for the first time, and what attracted him were the dense, curved, silver-white rails.While he was silently counting how many rails there were, he was squeezed into a carriage by an inexplicable flow of people.The train is too small, and in the blink of an eye, it is full of people everywhere.Gao Shimei held the gold brick in his arms, and it was impossible to stand firmly for a while, and he had to use his body to deal with the various impulses brought to him by other people's walking, so as to stabilize his heels.In such an environment, he neither dared to look around, nor dared to speak to others, nor dared to move around.He often saw people arguing for the place to stand under their feet.He couldn't imagine finding a place where he could be alone in safety. Diao Tianxia Fifteen (4) The little train moves very slowly, and stops and starts. At first, Gao Shimei could hear various voices talking, followed by a buzzing sound.After an unknown amount of time, the carriage miraculously quieted down, and there were a lot fewer people.On the contrary, Gao Shimei was not quite used to this deserted atmosphere. He found an empty corner and sat down, and secretly adjusted the position of the gold brick in his arms to make it more appropriate.He looked out of the car window, and a gray and transparent moon appeared on the top of a dark mountain not far away.Oh, it turned out to be night. Some people began to sleep casually lying on the car floor, while more people sat with their heads bowed like Gao Shimei, with their arms tightly hugging their thighs, their chins on their knees, and their eyes closed from time to time, seemingly asleep. asleep.Who knows if they are dreaming or calculating something?The more Gao Shimei watched, the more frightened she became.He stood up again, thinking about how to escape if he met a bandit? The more nervous Gao Shimei became, the more he was going to hell. Just when he had to adjust the position of the gold brick in his arms again, he didn't know whether it was in another car or outside the window, and suddenly several crisp gunshots rang out.After a while, the train stopped.Gao Shimei didn't know what happened. Before the other passengers could fully react, he immediately subconsciously ran to the front of the train.He gripped the gold brick tightly and ran fast.When he got to the front of the train, he saw the driver and the fireman jumped out of the train one after another, and disappeared in an instant, as if they had escaped into the ground.Immediately afterwards, several men with guns ran towards the locomotive.How to do it?How to do it?It's too late for Gao Shimei to jump off the car, not to mention he still has gold bricks on him.Maybe those people with guns were bandits, and they came for his gold bricks.In a panic, he jumped into the water tank of the locomotive and hid.The water tank was horseshoe-shaped, and the water was so deep that he could completely submerge him.Therefore, he could only try his best to stretch his arms and legs, like a big character, desperately supporting his body on the upper part of the water tank, so that he could breathe with his head above the water.He couldn't swim, and besides, he couldn't make water sound.If this continues for a long time, when Gao Shimei can't hold on anymore, he will sink to the bottom of the water and be drowned alive in the water tank.Fortunately, the gunman probably suspected that there was someone in the tank, so he fired several shots at the bottom of the tank.The bullet shot through the water tank, and the water was rushing.Although Gao Shimei was not shot, his body slipped like water due to the shock and fright of the shooting.He struggled a few times in the water tank, and the water receded to his neck, and it ran out in a while.Gao Shimei can thus sit safely inside and listen to the commotion outside.Although he was shivering from the cold, he managed to escape another catastrophe, and the gold brick was still securely held in his arms.As long as the gold brick is still there, he can feel a heat flow from his heart to his limbs.The people outside seem to be still fleeing here and there, what are they hiding from?Or nothing terrible happened at all, and everything just now was just his hallucination. It wasn't until the inexplicable gunmen left that the driver and firemen returned and drove the train away.They didn't understand what happened just now. They said that as long as there were no passengers injured and the train could still start, everyone should thank God. Gao Shimei finally brought the gold back to Xinlin Village safely.In the next two days, the arduous process of foiling began again.Now, looking at the gold brick, Gao Shimei felt fascinated.There's something inspiring in the sheen of something that's been found and distilled from deep rock or river sand.But now, relying on the secrets in my heart and hands, I have to understand its personality, temperature, color, and thickness as a whole, and turn it into something more brilliant, full of nature, and more touching.For Gao Shimei to finally complete the wood-carved lattice door, the task is simple and serious, and it is even a duty-bound historical mission.I saw that he first melted the gold nugget and condensed it into a sheet shape.Then cut the sheet-shaped gold ingots into 1 to 2 double gold nuggets, and beat them into gold leaves with a hammer.Then use scissors to cut the gold leaves into gold sheets the size of rice grains, and place small pieces one by one between the black hard paper, and put one piece on another layer, with 20 or 30 pieces in each stack.In order to prevent sticking, a layer of talcum powder should be sprinkled between the black papers, and then wrapped tightly with stretch paper from the outside, and placed flat on the bluestone anvil.After doing all this, he raised the big hammer and kept beating on the paper package. There seemed to be a huge secret under the hammer that made him keep beating so long, passionately and continuously.Nothing affected him, resisted him, and the contents of the black paper bag obeyed him completely under his subtle pressure.After a day or two, the black paper was torn open, and the gold flakes the size of rice grains inside had magically turned into layers of gold leaf.Each layer is as thin as a flap and as soft as satin.If you don't pay attention, they will be blown into the air by the breath. Diao Tianxia Fifteen (5) Gao Shimei just wraps, beats, beats, and wraps day and night... Every moment needs him to go all out, and treat every cut, every hammer, every time with great respect and piety. An action, no detail can be ignored and sloppy.Sweat seems to seep from his heart, and fatigue never destroys the peace of his mind and the coordination and smoothness of his movements.One day, Gao Shimei made a calculation, and found that the foil-making process had taken him a year.He said: "I can't count how many pieces of gold leaf I have made. If I spread them one by one, it can cover one mu of land." The subsidy has started.This is a purer labor.Gao Shimei carefully used a brush made of goose feathers to evenly apply the raw lacquer collected from the lacquer tree on the wooden lattice door, and then used a thin raw-edged paper to absorb the lacquer on the surface, and then wiped a small piece, a small piece The gold leaf is lightly pasted on the surface of the wooden lattice door, so as not to let the wind blow, but also to avoid breathing on the gold leaf.As if on an isolated island, he calls for all things to come to him silently, communicates with them with a unique language, and changes the appearance of the lattice door with mature, pure, strong, and full colors.Due to the superior and charming ductility of gold, the surfaces of the gods, figures, monsters, landscapes, flowing clouds, houses, trees, and rocks on the door are seamless and seamless without any wrinkle after being covered with gold foil. Folds and paint gaps, as if they had never been touched.Who can't believe that their internal structure has also been completely changed by Gao Shimei?Finally, Gao Shimei blew off the gold powder, and the wooden lattice door like a gold cast appeared in front of people's eyes. Gao Shimei said to the wooden carved lattice door: "17 years..." There was a burst of fragrance in his nose that seemed to be some kind of flower he had never seen before, when night fell.As you can imagine, the taste of this flower is full of bitter sap and subtle sweetness.He wasn't surprised by the smell at all. Over the past 17 years, everything he has cared about and experienced has been included in this enigmatic wooden lattice door. Gao Shimei sent this wooden lattice door into the "Sansheng Palace" with her own hands, and installed them on the main hall one by one.At this time, the air was still, and so was his heart. He had never enjoyed such a dynamic stillness, and tears filled his eyes.