"Sister Song, you and your two disciples carved these top-quality jades, but there’s still so much rough material. Can just three people handle it all?" Lin Tian looked around the basement filled with hundreds of rough stones and expressed his doubt.
Sister Song chuckled and said, "Young man, do you think jade carving today is still stuck in the small workshops of decades ago where two or three people toiled for months without producing a single piece? Don’t worry, I have my own jade carving team, each with their own unique skills. If we still need more hands, there are students with good potential in my jade carving class. I’m not worried about not having enough people—I’m worried you won’t have enough jade."
"You even started a training class, Sister Song? Were your two indoor disciples also selected from the training class?" Lin Tian was even more surprised and exclaimed.
In his impression, Lin Tian thought these traditional crafts were only passed down through direct lineage and not to outsiders. It was already strange that she had chosen two non-Song Family disciples, and now she was saying she had set up a training class!
"Young man, my grandfather passed the jade carving skills to me not because I am the Song Family descendant but because I truly have the passion and talent for jade carving. My grandfather despised conservative ideas like ’only teach men, not women.’ He said if we still follow old rules in this new era, Huaxia’s magnificent handicrafts would eventually disappear into the rivers of history," Sister Song said seriously, her tone somewhat heavy, reflecting her heartache for the lost crafts and concern for the future fate of her family’s artistic heritage.
Lin Tian couldn’t help but respect Sister Song and her grandfather; such people truly deserve the title of master.
"Xiaoxiao’s talent for jade carving was discovered by me, and she also has a great love for the art of jade carving," Sister Song continued, speaking of her young disciple. "Technically speaking, with Xiaoxiao being the granddaughter of the Li Family’s direct lineage, her parents would not agree to her studying with me, but her grandfather dotes on her and lets her do things her own way. No one in the family opposes when the old master Li doesn’t object, so no one else dares to say anything."
The old master of the Li Family was Li Minghui. It was surprising that Xiaoxiao was the most beloved little princess of the Li Family, but Xiaoxiao herself did not have the princess syndrome typical of rich children, which made Lin Tian see her in a new light.
At that moment, Xiao Manxue interjected, "Lin Tian, Sister Song’s people are already arranged. They are now stationed at the Xiao Family’s jade carving workshop. Besides these top-quality jades, the other jades will be sent to the workshop for processing."
Running a jewelry company is indeed not an easy task, Lin Tian sighed slightly, no wonder Xiao Manxue had such a big reaction when they initially discussed the equity structure with a 40-60 split.
It seems I’ve had it too easy being the largest shareholder, but who can blame me since I created the most value, Lin Tian thought rather smugly.
"Our next task is to cut open these rough stones," Lin Tian concluded, seeing that everything was well arranged.
No sooner had he finished speaking than all the women looked at him in unison. Feeling uneasy with so many beautiful women eyeing him with ulterior motives, Lin Tian intentionally stepped back, saying, "Why are you looking at me like that? I’m still young; don’t get any funny ideas about me."
"Pfft, you still dare to call yourself young? You aren’t small in any way. How come you don’t say you’re young when you’re looking at beautiful women?" Xiao Manxue rebuked him harshly, her contempt evident.
Uh, I really can’t argue with that. How can I say I’m young? A man can’t admit he’s weak, especially not in front of so many beauties. Lin Tian took Miss’s words as a compliment to men.
Lin Tian, his skin as thick as a city wall, accepted the remarks without discomfort, but Xiao Manxuan blushed, as if remembering something she had seen in the room. Her cheeks flushed, she quickly lowered her head to avoid people noticing her embarrassment.
"Hehe, junior brother, you’re the only man here, so of course, you should do the heavy work like stone cutting. Surely you wouldn’t expect us frail ladies to do it?" Zi Yan looked at Lin Tian with a teasing smile.
However Lin Tian saw it, that smile just looked like a fox smiling, and dared to call herself a fragile woman. Among the women present, not a single one looked weak to him.
"Brother Lin, I can help," a timid voice rang out.
All the women looked toward the speaker to see which of their fellow women was elbowing out to help the big flirt cut the stone. When Lin Tian turned his head, it was Li Xiaoxiao, the little girl, looking innocent under the gaze of the women.
"Lin Tian, I can help too," another voice chimed in, and it was Xiao Manxuan.
Heh heh, these two girls indeed had a sense of loyalty, sticking around with the old man during a critical moment. Otherwise, he’d have been bored to death alone in the basement. Lin Tian quietly gave two thumbs up to the girls.
"Sister, I also picked some material in there, let’s just stay. I want to see what kind of jade comes out; it might be top-quality jade," Xiao Manxuan said, batting her big eyes at Miss, coquettishly reminding her of the stone she had chosen.
"Alright, if Xuanxuan likes watching, then let’s stay," Xiao Manxue surrendered under her sister’s coquettish power-move, agreeing to cut the stone together.
Since Miss was staying, Zi Yan had no reason to leave. Lin Tian gave Zi Yan a smug look, provocatively squinting his eyes. As the minority, Zi Yan had no choice but to roll her eyes at Lin Tian.
Song Yanan just watched Lin Tian amusedly, then looked at the women, her eyes showing a meaningful smile.
In the end, everyone stayed to cut stone, and Xiao Manxuan, the excited girl, was the first to run to a corner and bring back a stone.
"Lin Tian, cut this one, this is the one I chose," Xiao Manxuan trotted up to Lin Tian, excitedly saying, not caring even though the stone dirtied her clothes.
Lin Tian was quite impressed; out of hundreds of stones, she recognized her choice. He took the stone and saw there was a mark, two letters: TX.
Isn’t that the initials of "Tian" and "Xuan"? Lin Tian froze for a moment, giving her a strange look. Xiao Manxuan obviously knew he had noticed, her pretty face slightly blushing.
"Second Miss, wait a bit until I draw the cutting line, then you come cut it yourself. Cutting your own chosen stone is more meaningful, and who knows, it might surprise you," Lin Tian said casually, picking up the stone and smiling at Xiao Manxuan.
"Really, that’s great, hurry up and draw, I’ll do the cutting," Xiao Manxuan said, her face showing even more excitement.
The basement had all the necessary tools, even a forklift was placed in a corner. Gripping the stone, Lin Tian walked over to the cutting machine, picked up a chalk, and while activating ’perspective’, started drawing several lines along the jade boundaries.
Zi Yan had never seen Lin Tian cut stone before. Watching the casually drawn lines on the stone, she was quite doubtful, "Lin Tian, are you sure you can do this?"
Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l