Rebirth Mission

The next day, Leng Yujing drove to an office building. The twelfth floor was a studio called Fengyun, which specialized in creating antique jewelry.

The accessories made by 'Fengyun' are all handmade. Many costume drama crews come here to rent accessories and pay a huge deposit. Any damage during the rental process, even if a tassel falls off, will be compensated.

As soon as I pushed open the door of the studio, I was attracted by the dazzling array of accessories on the display wall, phoenix crowns, tiaras, a complete set of head ornaments... illuminated by LED lights, each one is dazzlingly beautiful. Even when displayed together, no one overshadows the other. It's like a hundred flowers, vying for beauty, each with its own beauty, and none of them is inferior when viewed alone. Each one is unique.

There is an area of ​​nearly 300 square meters here, with nearly fifty handmade jewelry craftsmen, each of whom is busy at his or her own workstation. There is a glass wall separating the work area and the reception area.

The receptionist stood up and smiled politely: "Hello, what can I do for you?"

Leng Yujing nodded slightly: "I want to customize a hairpin."

"this way please."

The receptionist led Leng Yujing to the reception area nearby: "Miss, do you have a designated craftsman?"

"No."

The receptionist said "wait a moment" and left. After a while, the receptionist came over with a man. The man was about 30 years old, wearing a headband on his forehead, a black apron with the "Charm" icon printed on it, and a monocular magnifying glass hanging around his neck.

He sat on the sofa opposite Leng Yujing and began to introduce himself: "Hello, my name is Chen Tao, currently a third-level apprentice. I heard that you want to customize a hairpin. Do you have any requirements?"

A national jewelry designer competition is held every year, and one day is dedicated to new designers. The head of Fengyun will select new designers and train them as apprentices. There are five levels in total, and after reaching level five, they can become masters and train new apprentices.

The conditions for upgrading are, first, to produce a certain number of handmade accessories, which must be original, and second, the level of craftsmanship.

Some apprentices need several years of experience to advance to the next level. Chen Tao, who is considered to be a young generation in the studio, is already a third-level apprentice, which shows that his skills are very good.

"I want a wooden hairpin. What kinds of rosewood do you have?"

Chen Tao took out a custom-made table from the drawer under the table and wrote on it: "There are currently three types, ox-hair red sandalwood, chicken-blood red sandalwood, and gold star red sandalwood."

"Venus Rosewood."

"What about length and appearance?"

"It should be about 20 centimeters long and not need to be fancy. The simpler the better. It should look like a chopstick."

Zhang Tao: ???

"Are you... sure?"

Venus rosewood is the most precious variety of rosewood. It can not only be used to make utensils, but also musical instruments. Even the sawdust can be ground into powder and used as medicine to treat phlegm diseases. It is extremely precious.

Although he cannot interfere with the customer's decision, Chen Tao is a third-level apprentice after all. He has precious Venus rosewood in his hand, just to make a pair of chopsticks?

There was once a small 17th century "Golden Star Rosewood" pen holder, which was completely polished without any carvings, and was auctioned for more than 7,000 US dollars.

The raw materials used in the Fengyun studio are all top-quality. Even a 20-centimeter wooden hairpin will cost tens of thousands of yuan. Although the more complicated the pattern, the higher the labor cost, you can't save trouble like this. Every order completed by an apprentice will be recorded in the upgrade assessment results. It's not easy to get a chance to touch the top-quality materials, but this is the result? ?

Zhang Tao struggled: "There will be long and short yellowish gold threads on the cross section of the Golden Star Rosewood. As it oxidizes, the color of the surface of the rosewood will become darker and darker, and the gold threads can be seen more clearly. Why not carve some shapes so that it will have a different aesthetic charm as time goes by."

Leng Yujing shook her head: "I just need an ordinary wooden hairpin."

Zhang Tao's mouth twitched. Ordinary? Want to choose ordinary Venus sandalwood as the raw material? Why not just use bamboo to grind a pair of chopsticks, no, grind a hairpin.

But he had no choice. The customer's requirements and aesthetics were not something he could interfere with. He gritted his teeth and agreed: "Okay, I understand. Any other requests?"

"Of course."

Zhang Tao's eyes lit up: "You go ahead."

"I'm going to put a steel sword in it."

"You want to make a sword hairpin?"

Seeing Leng Yujing nod, Zhang Tao stopped writing. There was nothing special about sword hairpins, but the swords in sword hairpins were generally made of non-magnetic brass or aluminum alloy. It was the first time that steel was used to make the inner sword, especially a 20-centimeter-long sword, which could be used as a weapon and would not pass any security check.

Seeing his concerns, Leng Yujing smiled and said, "Steel is used only to increase the sense of weight. You don't need to think too much about it."

He had made sword hairpins before. All the people adjusted and modified the appearance of the hairpin, but did not change the material of the sword. It would be fine if the blade was not sharpened, and even if it was sharpened, no one would do anything with it.

Zhang Tao thought about it and agreed with her that the customer's requirements are paramount: "Every custom-made jewelry from Fengyun needs to be printed with the Fengyun logo, and real-name registration is required."

"can."

Completed the relevant registration and paid the deposit.

After adding WeChat, Zhang Tao saw Leng Yujing off and went to the warehouse to get the materials with the custom order.

The supervisor of the material warehouse is an energetic old man. He was the youngest among the founders of "Fengyun". He has a deep obsession with the raw materials for making jewelry and has a sharp eye. He can easily tell the difference between the real and the fake, and the good and the bad. Now the industry respectfully calls him Mr. Qi.

With Mr. Qi's qualifications, he could have enjoyed his retirement at home and received more than enough dividends every year, but he just liked these things. The fragrance of various wood raw materials made him intoxicated, so he stubbornly stayed here as a supervisor.

The current head of 'Fengyun' doesn't dare to offend him, and doesn't ask for any salary. The main thing is that he is happy.

Zhang Tao put the order form on the table and said respectfully, "Mr. Qi, I'll come get the materials."

She was fiddling with two agarwood beads when she heard the voice and looked up, smiling kindly: "Xiao Zhang, is there an order?"

"Yes, I need a piece of Venus sandalwood."

"Oh~ that's a good thing, how big should it be."

"25 cm long, 3 cm in diameter, log"

Old Qi got up and went into the warehouse. After a while, he came back with a pallet on which were several long, irregularly shaped logs placed on the table.

Mr. Qi: “Pick one.”

As a qualified handmade jewelry craftsman, the first step from selecting raw materials is a test. No matter how exquisite the craftsmanship of some jewelry is, if the raw materials are not selected well and the position of the pattern lines are incorrect, it will also affect the overall beauty of the finished product. If the raw materials are well selected and the design is good, it can even serve as the finishing touch.

Especially when it comes to logs, some designers can even use the lines on the logs themselves and add them into the carvings to make tree branches and rivers. Not only are they lifelike, but they are also unique and cannot be copied.

Zhang Tao chose a log with relatively straight and smooth golden threads.

"Are you going to make a hairpin? Do it well. I look forward to your finished product."

Just by hearing the size, Mr. Qi knew what kind of jewelry Zhang Tao wanted to make. After he selected the wood, he nodded. The hairpin made from the pattern Zhang Tao chose would have a low tolerance for error. If it was paired with exquisite carvings, the finished product would look very good.

"Thank you, Mr. Qi, but what I want to make is chopsticks."

Mr. Qi: ???