Chapter 523 - 44: Masterful Craftsmanship (Part 2)
"This mat can be called perfect," Xuerou exclaimed as she saw Xiao Xian finish weaving and hurried out, touching the mat with her hand. When she touched it, it was cool, yet warm; against the skin, it felt like satin but also like ice, and even the expressive Xuerou didn’t know what words to use to describe it.
"Where is it perfect? It’s a mat that’s just begun to be completed, and it’s my first work," Xiao Xian was delighted, not so much for the mat she had woven, but because she discovered a new method of cultivation.
The ceaseless stream of Spiritual Power wasn’t due to a fundamental improvement in her Space Power, but because, during the weaving process, she discovered a new way of absorbing and exercising Spiritual Power.
By infusing Silver-grade Space Water into the Black Wisteria, its inherent spiritual power merged with the Silver-grade spiritual power to form an even purer Spiritual Power. This kind of power was very suitable for both her and the sugarcane seedling’s cultivation.
Little White Jiao and Mei Nian had mentioned that one of the methods of cultivation was to devour another’s Spiritual Power, but that’s easier said than done.
Through the weaving of these omnipresent vines and grasses, which have negligible Spiritual Power day-to-day, yet are countless in number and inexhaustible, she found a more stable and effective new channel for Spiritual Power. And she could also weave such a Black Wisteria Mat; killing two birds with one stone.
Xuerou took the mat downstairs to Mrs. Zeng and Grandma Zeng for inspection. Both loved it as soon as they saw it, and when they heard it was woven by Xiao Xian, they were all tongue-tied.
The first thing that came to Xiao Xian’s mind when she finished weaving the new Purple Vine Mat was to send it back to her grandfather. The Black Wisteria has the effects of treating rheumatism and relieving summer heat. But last night, Xiao Xian had boasted that she would use the remaining Black Wisteria to weave a pillow scarf for Mao Da, and she surely couldn’t tear apart the mat to reweave it now.
After much thought, Xiao Xian made a call to Zhu Shijun in Ge Village. The old man’s voice was loud and joyful over the phone, and upon hearing that Xiao Xian had learned to weave mats, he praised her at first, and then, in the tone of an old intellectual, instructed her not to lose her ambition to mere baubles and to focus on her studies.
Xiao Xian felt more at ease, thinking that the effects of the initial few drops of Immortal Liquid she gave the sugarcane seedling seemed quite good, and her grandfather didn’t need the mat for the time being.
"Grandpa, do you remember the Party Constitution you left to me?" Xiao Xian’s voice became a bit tense as Zhu Shijun stood beside the reception at the entrance of the village, holding the phone.
"That is a keepsake from when Grandpa attended the Central Party School. What about it?" Over the phone, Zhu Shijun stretched the spring-shaped cord straight.
That Party Constitution was his last bargaining chip. The Constitution was from decades ago, but the name on it was written a few years past.
"Just curious, is the person above your friend?" Zhu Shijun was very astute; he had already picked up on the probing tone of Xiao Xian’s inquiry.
Xiao Xian was doing well in Beijing, she had her own friends and a promising future, and she was cherished by her aunt and uncle. He, an old man, would rest in Ge Village willingly even if that came to pass.
"They are just friends from the Party School. Grandpa gave you the Constitution as a keepsake only," Zhu Shijun’s words floated from one end of the phone and leisurely reached Xiao Xian’s ears.
"The thing is, my master, um, the Mao Da you’ve heard about who can’t be happy without bamboo, used to live in an elderly home. There was an old man there coincidentally sharing the same name, ’Yu Shan Yang’, with the signature on your Party Constitution," Xiao Xian continued her probing, trying to sniff out anything unusual.
"It must be a coincidence. The person on the Constitution has achieved much more than your grandpa. If he were to retire, he ought to be living somewhere like Chengde or Sanya to enjoy his old age," Zhu Shijun then spoke his true feelings. Yu Shan Yang, while in office, was said to be the deputy director of the Tobacco Bureau, and just like Zhu Shijun, who was a director, they were both at the deputy ministerial level, and the difference was only in administrative rank.
Yu Shan Yang was even a few years younger than him, should be exactly sixty-five years old this year. Cadres of his level could delay their retirement by two to three years.
Normally, upon retirement, Yu Shan Yang would receive special housing subsidies, a car with a driver, and generous medical benefits. It was impossible for him to live in an obscure elderly home initiated by a community fund, as Xiao Xian said.
Moreover, Yu Shan Yang’s son, Yu Gang, was a dutiful son; even if Yu’s wife had passed away early, he would not let the elderly man live alone in a nursing home.
"Is Uncle Yu really not the person Grandpa knows?" Xiao Xian was familiar with her grandfather’s temper, and from his unequivocally certain tone, it was likely he was truthful.
Listening to her grandfather’s tone, he seemed not to want Xiao Xian to contact the people on the Party Constitution.
The classmates from the Central Party School back in the fifties would be doing well in officialdom now. Was Grandpa afraid she’d embarrass him by contacting those people?
That was just her grandfather’s way. When he first arrived in Ge Village, it was because of his cold demeanor that stirred up quite a bit of gossip in the village.
"Ha ha, although your grandpa is old, his memory is not bad. Don’t you go ask your Uncle Jin; just yesterday, I helped him sort out the rice harvest from early this season. Even with a calculator, your Uncle Jin couldn’t keep up with my mental math," Zhu Shijun laughed heartily, and Xiao Xian, influenced by his proud mood, laughed silly by the phone as well.
After hanging up the phone, Xiao Xian held the Party Constitution in her hands, thought for a while, then tucked it into her pocket. Her intuition told her that she needed to visit the elderly home once more.
**
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