I'm afraid I'm not interested in love

Chapter 621 The Meaning of Travel (16)

"Me?"

Su Chengyi thought about it, shook his head and said:
"I haven't thought about it yet. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Who would ask others about such things?"

Gyatso glared at him, raised his hand and pointed ahead, saying:

"Look, that's Grandpa Gongbu's home."

Su Chengyi looked in the direction of his finger and saw a bare adobe house surrounded by a circle of plants that looked like desert thorns. It was not very beautiful and looked more like a defensive fortification on a battlefield.

"Be careful not to step on the trees he planted."

Jiacuo simply stepped over the defense line, and did not forget to turn back and give a few words of advice to Su Chengyi who was here for the first time.

The few children who were running in front just now have now climbed into the house and are shouting the owner's name in unison.

"Grandpa Gongbu! We're here to see you!"

The scene was a bit like the gourd brothers in the cartoon calling for grandpa in unison.

Su Chengyi thought so with his arms folded in his arms, and stepped over a row of what Jiacuo called "trees".

The door creaked open and an old man in a turban walked out. He had a very elegant goatee.

He saw that the group of children were obviously happy, and their cloudy eyes were full of smiles, but he still pretended to glare at them and cursed:
"What are you guys doing? You can't even have a good nap!"

The kids obviously saw that he was just a paper tiger, and they all started to explain, chattering away.

"Grandpa Gongbu, the kite you made for Jiacuo was broken. Can you please see if you can fix it?"

"Yes, yes, Gyatso really likes that kite!"

"My kite string is also broken, now only a short piece is left."

"By the way, Grandpa Gongbu, we brought someone to see you. He said he also wants a kite."

After hearing the child's words, Grandpa Gongbu raised his head and looked towards the gate of the courtyard, and looked at Su Chengyi who was standing far away and behaved very well.

"Hello."

The two men made eye contact, and Su Chengyi nodded and greeted him.

"Jiligulujirigulu."

Grandpa Gongbu did not respond to his greeting, but lowered his head and said something to Jiacuo. It was probably their national language, and Su Chengyi could not understand a word of it.

"Jiligulu!"

Gyatso raised his head and spoke a lot of words with gestures.

Su Chengyi guessed that Jiacuo was probably helping to explain how he knew him.

It is obvious that this Gongbu grandfather is a marginal figure in this village, as can be seen from his house.

Geographically, it is in a corner away from the gathering place. If it moves further to the edge, it will be into the desert. The house is also very simply built, so it is likely that he lives alone.

Therefore, it is natural that he is very wary of outsiders.

Su Chengyi did not feel offended, but just waited patiently for the two of them to finish their communication.

Fortunately, in the end, Jiacuo seemed to have successfully convinced the other party. He turned around and waved with a smile.

"All right!"

Su Chengyi nodded and walked in.

The old man didn't say anything to him. He just turned back into the house and dragged out a big box. Inside was all the materials needed to make a kite.

"Grandpa Gongbu asked me who you are, and I explained to him. Don't take it to heart. He saw that you didn't look like a local, so he asked that. He might be afraid that we know bad guys from outside."

Jiacuo poked Su Chengyi and spoke in a low voice.

"Well, it's okay."

Su Chengyi really wouldn't take such a small matter to heart. His attention was mainly on the large pile of tools that the old man took out.

It must be said that for a "handicraft enthusiast", these materials and tools are a bit too abundant.

"Gyatso, bring it here for me to see."

Old man Gongbu coughed and motioned for Jiacuo to give him the eagle kite he had been holding in his arms all the way.

After a careful inspection, he shook his head and said:
"The most critical bone in the middle is also broken and cannot be repaired."

"what--"

The children immediately let out a sigh of disappointment.

On the contrary, Jiacuo, who seemed very concerned all the way, was much calmer. He just pursed his lips and nodded, and still carefully collected the wreckage of the kite.

Su Chengyi took a glance and found that although the eagle had a broken wing, its eyes were still lifelike and looked quite sharp.

"Grandpa, don't worry about me for now. Please help him make a kite. He will definitely leave in two days."

Having said that, Jiacuo raised his head as if to confirm with Su Chengyi.

Su Chengyi nodded and continued:

"Yes, I'm leaving tomorrow. If it's convenient for you, could you make me a kite?"

When old man Gongbu heard what he said, he didn't respond at first. He just stood up and dipped the bamboo strips cut with a knife into the basin of water.

"What kind of kite do you want?"

His words meant that he was relieved, so the children who were waiting with bated breath nearby immediately cheered, and they were all very happy.

"I'm planning to give it to my girlfriend. Do you have any suggestions?"

Su Chengyi thought about it and answered like this.

The reason why he threw the question back was that Su Chengyi felt that before he made a request, he should let the craftsman take the initiative to clearly state what he was good at, so as to avoid embarrassment and offense.

“Grandpa Gongbu can do everything!”

Before the old man opened his mouth, the children next to him started talking at once.

"So. Swallow?"

Su Chengyi pondered for a while and gave an answer.

Part of the reason is that swallow-shaped kites are truly classic and are loved by people all over the world.

Another part of the reason was that he remembered the incident that Chen Jinzhi had told him, where Shu Wang picked up the unwanted kite and was later slandered as having stolen it.

That kite is in the shape of a swallow.

"Tsk, you hesitated for so long. I thought you were going to say something amazing."

Jiacuo curled his lips, obviously not satisfied with his conventional answer.

Zhuoma glared at him and happily tugged at the corner of Su Chengyi's clothes.

"Brother, the swallow kite is the most beautiful! It is the most conspicuous when it flies in the sky."

After saying this, she squatted down beside the basin again and poked the bamboo strips that had been softened by the water.

"Grandpa Gongbu, can you make me a little swallow kite in the future?"

"Are you tired of playing with that butterfly kite you played with last time so quickly?"

Gyatso quickly interrupted, but Zhuoma pinched his knee hard, causing him to cry out in pain, and finally he became temporarily obedient.

After officially starting to make the kite, Mr. Gongbu became serious and obviously much quieter. He also stopped answering the childish questions from the kids around him.

He first picked up the bamboo strips that had just been softened, cut them into thin long strips with a knife, and then folded and cut them into appropriate lengths.

Then he took a candle from the toolbox, held it in one hand, and with the other hand he took out a box of matches from his pocket.

"Let me do it."

Su Chengyi was watching very seriously, with liveliness in his eyes, and took the candle from him.

The old man looked at him, but didn't refute. He just lit a match.

With a "puff" sound, flames rose. Su Chengyi handed the candle forward and lit the wick.

The candle lit up, and the old man slowly took out an old-fashioned pipe from his pocket, borrowed a light, put it in his mouth, and waved his hand to drive people away.

"If you don't want to help, go play somewhere else!" "Ah——"

Naturally, these kids who liked to watch the fun protested reluctantly.

Gyatso stood where he was, observed the direction in which the smoke was drifting, waved his hand and led his friends to a sheltered area so they would not be affected by the smoke.

Su Chengyi curled up the corner of his mouth and smiled. This kid was able to become the leader of the kids. He was really smart.

Although I have never really looked into the kite-making process, I can roughly guess part of it.

The bamboo strips are soft and have strong resilience. If you want to fix them into the required curvature, you need to use flames to roast them.

Sure enough, the old man picked up the bamboo strip, held both ends with his hands and bent them hard, fixing the middle corner into the shape he needed.

Then follow the same method to make many bamboo strips like this.

Su Chengyi held the candle and silently memorized the approximate length and curvature of the bamboo stick.

This is obviously the process of making the kite's skeleton, which is the most critical step in whether the kite can fly normally.

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According to common sense, in order to avoid size errors when splicing later, you should use a ruler to measure and mark the predetermined splicing points to facilitate splicing.

But the old man was smoking a pipe with a very graceful movement, and it was obvious that he had mastered the technique so well that he didn't need to measure. He could tell the approximate length just by comparing it with his hands.

After splicing them together, use cotton thread to tighten them, and the basic skeleton of the swallow kite will be formed.

The old man held up the kite, squinted his eyes to examine it, and thought that it was about the right size.

Su Chengyi also looked up and felt that handmade products really had their own unique charm.

When the skeleton is assembled, it looks like the outline of a swallow drawn with a pencil on a piece of draft paper.

“Any size that works?”

The old man asked vaguely, holding his pipe.

"Just right."

Su Chengyi nodded hurriedly when he heard that, and inadvertently the candle wax filled up and fell on his fingers, burning them so much that they numbed.

"Row."

The old man turned around and placed the zither bones on the wooden box, then he took out a large piece of white paper and spread it out.

This is the part that the children like most. They don’t care about the smoke and can’t wait to gather around.

The old man covered the zither bone with a piece of white paper, roughly marked the size, then put it back and roughly outlined the shape of a swallow with a pencil.

“Shall we color it now?”

Su Chengyi blew out the candle and asked subconsciously.

"Early morning."

The old man took out the paste from the box, brushed it with a brush, and began to apply the paste along the space he had just reserved.

This step seems simple, but it actually requires a lot of proficiency.

Su Chengyi was just watching from the side, but he could roughly guess that if he were to do it, there would definitely be some leakage here and some excess there, which would look very ugly.

After pasting the paper dough on, tie the string at the most reasonable stress point, and the kite will have a shape.

"Wow~"

Although they had seen it many times, the children still burst into applause.

“It’s just now being colored.”

The old man turned around, took out the paint box and spread it out. The colors were very beautiful, probably the colors he mixed himself.

Seeing this, Su Chengyi finally couldn't help but ask:
"Grandpa, were you a kite maker in the past?"

"What, you want to learn?"

The old man coughed and seemed to be laughing.

"Yes, you are amazing."

Su Chengyi nodded and answered honestly.

"No."

Thinking that the young man was quite modest, the old man bit his pipe and began to paint on the kite with a brush.

Compared to the eagle that Jiacuo had been clamoring for before, the swallow is much simpler, but the simpler the shape, the more difficult it is to make it look particularly lifelike.

"When I was young, I was a peddler. Unlike other peddlers who bought goods from others during market hours, the things I sold were all made by myself. It was a family craft passed down from generation to generation."

"I see. Are you a local of the village?"

Black ink marks drew the swallow's feathers. Su Chengyi held his breath and looked straight ahead.

"Yes, when I was young, I liked to go out and explore. When I got old and couldn't explore anymore, I came back."

The old man dipped the paint in red and painted the swallow's lower jaw.

"No wonder."

Having said that, Su Chengyi finally resolved the doubts in his heart.

Yes, just as he said, only family-inherited skills can perform such a wonderful production process and create exquisite and precious traditional handicrafts.

"Look."

The final coloring process was completed, and the old man handed the kite to Su Chengyi and smacked his pipe with satisfaction.

Su Chengyi held up the kite, with the sky as the background. Every feather of the swallow looked lifelike, as if it was ready to spread its wings and fly into the clouds at any time.

"That's great. Thank you so much."

Su Chengyi couldn't help but let out a sigh from the bottom of his heart.

It is difficult to see such purely handmade kites in modern cities. Although industrial products are convenient, quick and use more advanced materials, it is difficult for people to express such amazement.

"Don't thank me yet. It's windy right now. Let's go out and give it a try. If there's any problem, I can fix it."

The old man coughed and hung his pipe around his waist.

His words seemed to be an order. The children immediately cheered "Wuhu" and surrounded Su Chengyi and walked out of the yard regardless of anything.

“We’re flying a kite again!!”

When Su Chengyi wrapped the cowhide string and picked up the kite, he instantly understood why Jiacuo had been so precious to his eagle kite along the way.

Anyone who has seen the production process just now cannot help but think this thing is a treasure. It is so rare and so artistic.

The old man obviously has experience not only in making kites, but also in flying kites.

The sky was clear before, but after the group walked out of the yard, the wind suddenly became stronger, which was a good opportunity to fly a kite.

Su Chengyi recalled the method of flying kites when he was a child. He kept a part of the string in his hand, ran a few steps along the wind direction, and the swallow kite soon floated up with the wind.

"Let out the line! Let out the line!"

Jiacuo behind him put his hands together, smiled and shouted at him.

Su Chengyi slowed down his pace as he was told and let out the wrapped cowhide line in circles.

As he moved, the swallow kite slowly rose in height and soon floated above everyone's heads.

"Wow!!!"

The children were so happy that they jumped up and down on the spot, rejoicing.

Su Chengyi looked up at the black and white swallows spreading their wings and soaring in the endless blue sky.

He thought that although the kite was small, it made the sky look so vast.

At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind me.

"You are here."

Su Chengyi turned around after hearing that and happened to meet Chen Jinzhi's gentle eyes.

She was wearing a light grey coat, standing in the desert wind, raising her head slightly, her eyes following the kite flying freely in the distance.

(End of this chapter)