natural craftsman

"Mr. Xie, do you really know how to make ancient capital cakes?" Yun's mother was a little puzzled. Xie Lang was so skilled at making pastries that he didn't seem like someone who made this kind of pastries for the first time.

"I didn't do it before, but after seeing how you do it, Auntie, I will," Xie Lang smiled, stirring the ingredients in the bowl with a strange rhythm. Under this strange rhythm, the spoon and The churning of materials and the occasional collision of spoons and bowls are very pleasant to the ears.

Generally speaking, food is judged by its color, aroma, and taste. However, the cakes made by Xie Lang have an extra sound and thought. The sound is the sound when making things. This sound is definitely not Noise, but a wonderful rhythm, if it is noise, the things made will definitely not make people very satisfied; in addition, there is a word "thinking", this thinking means that after eating pastry, it can make people feel A kind of reverie and perception, this is what makes the magic pastry different.

For example, Pao Ding Jie Niu, according to the description of bystanders, when Pao Ding Jie Niu, it feels like a kind of artistic enjoyment. His whole rhythm and movements are as elegant and rhythmic as dancing; The movements of the shoulders, the squatting of the knees, and the way of stepping are all amazing to the actors, and the voices they make are even softer, more pleasant, and full of wonderful rhythms...

"The dance that fits the "Mulberry Forest" is the meeting of the "Jingshou"."

The skill of Pao Ding Jie Niu can be described as "the skill is close to the Tao".

This way is the way of nature. To achieve this level, in addition to a thorough understanding of the material itself, you also need to cooperate with superb craftsmanship, knife skills, and the pace of action... More importantly, This process must be carried out naturally. If it is done deliberately, it is absolutely impossible to achieve this effect. This is the so-called realm.

Although Yun Yan's mother thought Xie Lang's behavior was very strange, it made people feel indescribably comfortable, as if watching Xie Lang's process of making cakes was a very good enjoyment, both visually and auditorily.

When Xie Lang made this ancient capital pastry, the pastry was still the original pastry, no matter the color, fragrance or style had changed, it felt like it was copied by a machine.

However, Yun He's mother had a feeling that there seemed to be some other flavor contained in this pastry, which was enough to make this pastry reach another "state".

"Mr. Xie, I really don't know how to praise you," Yun Yan's mother sighed, "Even if you are a genius, I'm afraid you can't make the same pastries as I did on the outside, but It makes people feel that the 'connotation' is completely different."

Yun Yan's mother didn't know that "copying other people's handicrafts" is Xie Lang's forte, especially now that his body has been transformed by Fengwen, and his body and hands are more finely controlled than before. Copying other people's handicrafts is almost There is no deviation.

※ ※ ※

The next morning, Xie Lang sent the pastry to the hospital.

Yun'an's condition has improved slightly, at least she doesn't need to wear an oxygen mask to talk, but her face is pale enough to be scary.

"What cake did you bring me?" Yun Yan smiled lightly, looking like a gluttonous child, "I've been guessing what cake you made for me all night."

Xie Lang opened the box and presented the pastry in front of Yun Yan, "Look, what kind of pastry is this?"

"Ah, it's the ancient capital pastry," Yun Yan's expression was not too surprised, probably she thought that Xie Lang might have another kind of pastry that she had never seen before, "Well, this is my favorite the pastries, thank you,"

Xie Lang could see a little disappointment in Yunan's heart from Yunan's expression, and said, "Take a closer look, isn't this pastry very 'familiar'?"

"Familiar," Yun Yan looked again, and said with a smile: "Hehe... this is made by my mommy, don't you want to borrow flowers to present Buddha, you said before that you just know how to make cotton cloud cake... I still don't believe it Well, although it looks like it was made by my mommy, but if you look closely, it seems to have a different feeling..."

Saying that, Yun Wei looked at her mother again, and her mother shook her head, saying that the pastry was indeed made by Xie Lang.

"Taste it," Xie Lang picked up a small piece with a spoon, and brought it to Yun Yan.

After taking a sip lightly, Yun'an's eyes suddenly lit up, and even his whole body suddenly became energetic.

The taste seems to be the same as before, but after tasting the pastry, a picture suddenly appeared in Yunan's mind:

Blue sky and white clouds, calm blue sea, a small white fish broke through the waves, jumped out of the water, and then plunged into the water, swimming happily to the distant place. Where the sea and sky meet, there are continuous undulating mountain peaks ... On the far mountain, there is a narrow, long and winding mountain road. The two sides of the mountain road are covered with white snow.

The longing and yearning look on Yun Yan's face made him feel extremely peaceful.

It seems that the sick body has not captured her ideals and aspirations.

After a long while, Yun Yan sighed softly: "To be able to taste the cakes made by Mr. Xie himself is considered a death without regret..."

"Hey, what are you talking about politely? How could Dad and your mommy let you leave us?" Yun's mother gave Yun'an a sideways look. Although she knew that her daughter's situation was not optimistic, she didn't want to hear her say What a dead word.

"Okay Mommy... I'm just talking," Yun Yan smiled, "I still want to travel around the world with Mommy, but Mr. Xie's cakes are so amazing that people can't tell them apart Clear dreams and reality, by the way, Mr. Xie, do you know why this ancient capital pastry has this name?"

Xie Lang shook his head, and said, "I just think this name is a bit strange, and I haven't asked about my past history yet."

"This pastry was brought over by my grandmother from my hometown," Yun said, "It looks like a fish, right? When a fish spits bubbles in the sea, it will make a sound of 'gudu~gudu', so At first it was called "Gudu" pastry, which was specially made for children to eat. Later, grandma gave this pastry the name Gudu, because the hometown of her and grandpa was in an ancient city far away in China. A few years ago, Until the death of grandpa and grandma, they were not together, but they still missed each other, but from your pastry, I also seemed to see that ancient city again, saw grandpa and grandma..."

"Yun He, take a rest first," Xie Lang said, worried that Yun He's body would not be able to hold on after talking so much.

Yun Yan shook his head and said with a smile: "After eating the pastries you made, I feel much better. By the way, you have already seen the wedding bed for Will and Miqi, and now there is the last process left. , it seems that only you did it yourself, Will is our client, but I think he is more like our friend, so we all hope that his marriage bed can be perfect, "

"That's right, but I can't fix those knots at the end," Xie Lang said. "It can be seen that your knot-tying skills are very good, but I don't know how to tie them. Otherwise, wait until you recover from illness. Let's talk later,"

"Xie Lang, why have you become so hypocritical? It's not like you don't know about my current illness," Yun said, "Besides, you don't know how to tie knots. , let you complete the final process for me, I know you can learn everything super fast, but although knotting is not a complicated skill, it is something I experience the most, so I hope you can still use my Pass down this small craft, maybe find a suitable person in the future and give this craft to her."

"Mom, please pass me the ball of yarn," Yun said to her mother.

Wool is relatively soft, and given Yun's current situation, probably he can only use wool to show Xie Lang how to tie a knot.

"My knot-tying method was first learned from my grandfather, and then I have studied it for more than ten years, and I have achieved some success," Yun said. "My knot-tying method has a name. , called 'Thousand Thousand Knots', you may think my statement is a bit ridiculous, but I always think that knots have magical mysteries in them."

"No... I don't think it's ridiculous," Xie Lang said solemnly, "I know that the earliest knots may have appeared when Jie Sheng remembered things. At that time, knots were very sacred, because everything recorded on the knots It was a big event that those people thought, and the knot itself carried some kind of sacred meaning. Moreover, in the following thousands of years, the knot was closely connected with human life, and many wonderful knots appeared, such as Some are said to be knots that can never be untied, for example, I used the 'concentric knot' to tease one of my classmates, making him unable to untie his trouser belt..."

"Oh, you..." Yun Yan couldn't help laughing, and said with a smile: "You, I didn't expect it to be so interesting, but your understanding is correct. Knotting is indeed not just a knot in the general sense, 'thousands of knots' , It’s not that I know how to tie a thousand kinds of knots, but there are 32 kinds of knots in front and back, and there are more than 1000 combinations when the squares are matched with each other. Some are feminine, some are very masculine, some knots can advance and retreat, stretch freely, and some knots can only go forward. Before you tie a knot, you must understand another thing, which is the knot. The knot is very wonderful. You If you observe some spiders making webs, you will find that their webs are interlaced, and that point is very tricky; and no matter how tall a tree is, there will be nodes where they branch, which is a It is a very "rigid" knot, but the position where these points appear is also very interesting. You can understand it later. My "Thousand Thousand Knots" includes two large categories, one is the knotting technique, and the other is One is to find the most suitable node, my tone, is it like a primary school teacher giving a lecture?"

"No, if we had such a beautiful female teacher when we were in primary school, then many of my classmates must be more promising than they are now." Xie Lang smiled, "Go ahead, you 'Qianqianjie' It's interesting, and I'm fascinated by it."

"Then I'll show you the demonstration, and then I'll talk," Yun said, "I don't have the strength in my hands, so I can only use these woolen yarns to show you."

As she said that, Yunan's little finger gently picked up a piece of wool. Her movement of picking up the thread was very natural. The end of the wool bounced and wrapped around Yunan's little finger, giving Xie Lang the feeling that it changed in an instant. Becoming infused with life, possessing spirituality.

But of course this is just a pure feeling, but Xie Lang has seen this kind of situation a lot before, many things that were originally ordinary, after passing through the hands of legendary craftsmen, become vivid and full of spirituality, but Xie Lang did not Thinking that Yun Yan also has such abilities, it seems that her gesture is close to the realm where a legendary craftsman turns decay into magic.

The end of the thread was buzzing at Yun He's fingertips, like ivy climbing a tree, or like a big tree twisting its roots. After going around for about 5 minutes, Yun He stopped suddenly, and then said to Xie Lang: "Do you think this will be what,"

"You used eight knots in total, and you tied a total of 69 knots," Xie Lang said, "However, although I guess these knots should look like something when combined, I really can't see it now. "

"That's because the knot wasn't tight enough," Yun said to Xie Lang, "You pull the end of the thread, and you'll know what it is after a moment of tightness."

Xie Lang did as he did, and those knots were connected together, as if a spirit suddenly penetrated all the knots, forming a fist-sized bird's nest.

"This is a kind of seabird's nest. They can weave their nests out of seaweed that is softer than wool. As you can see, the wool itself is very soft, but because the knots used inside are 'rigid' knots, these The shape of the bird's nest can only be maintained when the knots are joined together," Yun said, "In addition to rigid knots, there are of course flexible knots, rigid and soft, positive and negative, a total of 64 knots."

"I seem to understand that some seemingly soft plants, especially vines, can strangle and kill very strong woody trees, probably because they naturally produce this kind of 'hard knot', while some large Trees, their wood is as hard as iron, but the knots formed at the joints between the fingers and the trunk are very soft, which is to make their trunks soft and not easy to be broken by wind and rain, so it should be 'soft knots'."

"That's right, many animals and plants are natural knot-tying experts, and I found that the knots they make are very wonderful," Yun said, "However, the knots of some plants cannot be seen from the outside. They are all hidden under the outer skin, that is a dark knot. Of course, the function of knotting is not only to change the property of a material from soft to rigid, or from rigid to soft. Knotting also has an important role, that is, to "join ', this point is a bit like the "concentric knot" that you used to tease others. Concentric knot, as the name suggests, is to hope that two people can connect with each other and unite with the same mind, but this is just a blessing and a wish. However, my 'Thousands of Knots' have found a way to 'combine', linking two different materials together through knots, so that they can share each other's properties."

"There is such a saying, this is a bit magical," Xie Lang said happily, as if he had discovered a new field, "Oh, by the way, you used the century-old green briar and the emperor thorn vine to fuse with each other, probably as well. It’s just this kind of conjecture, if it weren’t for some strange means, it would be a little difficult to combine these two kinds of vines together and blend with each other.”

"Okay, let's talk first, I'll go out and have a look, I'm so overwhelmed by what you're saying," at this time, Yun's mother stood up and said, "Let me take this pastry out to taste ,"

After Yun He's mother left, Yun He sighed: "My mommy loves me the most, who makes me resemble her the most, alas, it's just that she loves me all my life, but I'm afraid I won't have a chance when she needs me It's time to take care of her."

"Don't be so sad, as long as you recover from your illness, there is nothing wrong with it," Xie Lang comforted Yun Wei.

"My own illness, I don't know yet," Yun Yan said, "But it's nothing, I think my time is short, but life is still very exciting, and I am really happy to have a friend like you." I am also very happy, although I had friends before, but they would not know what I was talking about just now, they would not understand what 'Qianqianjie' is, but you understand, "

"I'm also very happy," Xie Lang said, "However, I don't know how to combine the two attributes with the knot, it seems a bit difficult."

"I heard you say it's difficult, so I'm really proud of it," Yun said with a smile, "After all, there aren't many things that make you feel difficult. In fact, it's not a very profound thing. Do you still remember fruit trees, vines and other plants? Is there such a thing as 'grafting'? Isn't the process of grafting just combining two materials together and combining the properties of the two materials? If the grafting is successful, it will form at the intersection of the two materials A 'knot', a pimple-like thing, you know,"

"Well, yes, I have grafted oranges and grapefruits myself before," Xie Lang said, "Sometimes, I have to wrap the grafting place with soil and wrap it with cloth strips to make the knots grow firm. But I didn't expect that there would be something mysterious in this pimple, "

"What's so strange about this is that we usually look at a lot of ordinary things, maybe they contain very profound knowledge inside, but they are ignored by us," Yun said, "That pimple, inside is actually It is a naturally formed 'knot'. When the knot is cut open, a strange pattern will appear. I call it 'jieyin'. 'Jieyin' is the most essential part of my 'thousands of knots' , because when I understood the true meaning of knot seal, I suddenly discovered that all kinds of knots in my hands can show the meaning of life, "

As he said that, Yun Wan quickly tied another knot with his fingers.

Immediately, the thread was like a thin thread, entangled and "climbed" up her arm by itself.

At this time, something even more bizarre happened, the thread was as flexible as a finger, it moved as Yunan's finger moved, it felt like it was a part of Yunan's body.

It's just that Yun'an's body was really weak, and the thread drooped in a moment, returning to a normal appearance.

"This is the function of knot seal." Yun Yan spread out his palm, and a strange pattern made of wool appeared on it, "knot seal is what I cut from the knots of various grafts, and then compared and analyzed them. , I guess this may be some mysterious symbols or signs hidden in nature, but what I understand is far from enough, I hope you can learn more in the future, "

Seeing the knot seal, Xie Lang suddenly had a feeling that "the roads have the same origin", because the so-called knot seal in Yun'an actually seems to be the Feng Wen that the legendary craftsman said.

From this point of view, Yun Yan is not a legendary craftsman at all, and she probably hasn't had much contact with legendary craftsmen, otherwise she would definitely understand that this seal is actually a kind of Fengwen.

However, this thing was learned by Yun Yan through her own research. She called this thing "Jieyin", so it should be called Jieyin.

In the hospital ward, Yunan showed Xie Lang the pros and cons of her "Thousand Thousand Knots" 32 knotting methods with wool, and then told Xie Lang how to find and control the knots, and how to tie the knots together. Integrate into the "knot".

Speaking of which, this knotting seems like a small craft, maybe not even a craft.

As a matter of fact, it took her more than ten years to be considered a "master" of Yunan's complex knot, so it is definitely not as simple as a few pimples, so Xie Lang spent a whole day before she could barely comprehend it. The essence of it.

As for the technique, Xie Lang doesn't have to worry, as long as he reads it once, his hands will be "copied" automatically.

But there is no way, who told Xie Lang that when he was young, his grandfather took him everywhere to "steal teachers". It was indeed at that time that it was cultivated.