HLnovel Chapter 235 Take the lead
Chapter 235 Take the lead
“Is wenge expensive?”
As soon as Shen Youyou asked, before Shen Zhiqiu could say anything, her uncle Wang Fuxi gave her the answer:
"Wenge is quite expensive. Although it is not as expensive as other red sandalwood, golden nanmu, ebony, rosewood, and rosewood, it is not cheap either."
Shen Youyou was stunned. Chicken wing wood in the previous life was not expensive. She didn't know the prices of other things, but Shen Youyou liked the guzheng and pipa.
Musical instruments made of wenge are really relatively cheap, you can buy one for just a few hundred dollars, and apart from some beginners, few people would choose them.
Shen Zhiqiu saw his daughter's doubts and gave her some advice.
"The texture of wenge wood is unique and is particularly obvious in the sun, like snowflakes flying all over the sky.
The beauty of these woods is that they are neither as showy as pearwood nor as rigid as walnut.
The texture of wenge wood is natural, smooth and elegant. Therefore, it is loved by scholars and writers. "
Okay, Shen Youyou understood. In ancient times, as long as the words "literati and poets" were added, it would not be too cheap.
Moreover, she compared the modern economy with that of ancient times. After all, the reason why modern wenge is cheap is because it is easy to transport, its growth distribution is relatively wide, and there is a large amount of stock in the market, among many other reasons.
But now, first of all, the trade exchanges between different places are very different, and it is definitely impossible to get it from abroad, and artificial cultivation is not yet popular.
Her father and uncle's suggestion was to take it away and not waste it. Although the table was missing a leg, the other three legs were movable and it did not affect their use of it to make wooden hairpins, necklace holders, etc.
The key is that I don't intend to sell it too expensively, just a few cents or a dozen cents, and I sell it to ordinary people. Chicken-wing wood is enough, and it is more valuable than peach wood and jujube wood, right?
The three of them rummaged around for a long time and almost finished rummaging through all the wooden tables and broken chairs in the woodshed.
Shen Youyou couldn't help but sigh, there really is no such thing as a free lunch:
"Except for a broken table and two long benches made of wenge, there are two long benches made of rosewood, which are still missing some parts. The rest should be mostly made of elm."
The eldest aunt Wang Fuxi was very satisfied: "Not bad, at least we can make wooden hairpins."
Shen Youyou nodded, just be content with what you have. It won’t cost much anyway.
Shen Zhiqiu pointed to a dark wooden board and said, "Why do I feel like it's ebony?"
Shen Youyou leaned over and looked at the dark and slightly yellowed wooden board: "It doesn't look like ebony. Ebony is darker than this."
Shen Zhiqiu waved his hand: "The light in this room is not good, and we can't see clearly even with a torch. Take them all with you. Is that all?"
Well, they are just broken wooden boards that cost only a few dollars, so take them all with you. When the time comes, you can cut them open and look inside to know what kind of wood it is.
After a long haggling with the shopkeeper, I finally spent 150 coins on these broken wooden boards. This shopkeeper was really greedy.
When we arrived at the backyard, there was a bonfire. There were many people from Shenjia Village and they were working efficiently. Even the little kids were helping to pick leaves.
Shen Youyou whispered, "Uncle, first saw the piece that can't be seen. The hairpin doesn't need to be complicated. I'll draw a few styles, and you ask the uncles to saw the wood to the right length. It should be about the same size as the one my grandma wears."
Wang Fuxi nodded: "No problem, I have made many wooden hairpins before, I am familiar with this."
Shen Youyou chuckled and subconsciously asked, "Who is this for?"
My uncle Wang Fuxi blushed and coughed twice: "Why are you asking such nonsense, kid?"
Shen Youyou was amused: "Why haven't I seen my aunt change to wear it?"
When the eldest aunt Shen Zhixia heard this, she told Mrs. Hua: "Mother, look at you, Yoyo is so young and already talking nonsense."
Old Lady Hua and a group of old ladies were steaming dry food for tomorrow's journey. The distance between the two sides was not far, and the firewood used for cooking could also provide light for them while they were collecting wood.
So Old Lady Hua heard clearly the conversation between Shen Youyou and the others.
Aunt Shen Zhixia felt embarrassed by Shen Youyou's questioning. Most people of their generation are reserved, of course, except for those old ladies.
As a result, Mrs. Hua squatted on the ground and burned the fire. Not only did she not speak up for her daughter, she also asked, "I haven't seen you change your hairpins!"
This attracted a group of old ladies who laughed and asked Shen Zhixia one by one: What styles are there? Let us see them.
In ancient times, a ceremony would be held when a girl reached the age of fifteen, indicating that she had reached adulthood.
In this ceremony, girls would tie their hair and thread it through with a hairpin, hence the name "jiji".
It also means that you can be betrothed to someone.
So almost every woman has her own hairpin, and at least the poorest one will have a wooden hairpin, because it is not expensive, just a few copper coins.
If you can't bear to spend this little money, you can do it yourself or have your family do it for you.
Of course, silver hairpins are actually affordable for most families. For example, in Shenjia Village, when a daughter got married, she would be given a silver hairpin or silver earrings.
The thinnest ones cost only a few hundred coins. Of course, there are also copper hairpins and silver-clad copper ones, which are cheaper.
As long as they were not penniless due to fleeing famine, most women would be willing to buy themselves some cheap hairpins to wear.
It’s as common as hairpins in previous lives.
Therefore, ancient women were not short of wooden hairpins, but what they lacked were those with particularly exquisite carvings and beautiful patterns.
In the past, when I was in the village, if a daughter-in-law got a beautiful wooden hairpin, she would bring it to her brother’s and sister-in-law’s house to sit and have them praise her.
But Shen Youyou never thought of making the wooden hairpins made by everyone go for the exquisite style. Let's just go with the popular style, and the novelty lies in the inlaid ceramics.
After all, only a few people can afford gold, silver and jade hairpins, and those inlaid with gemstones are even more expensive. Especially since Shen Youyou traveled here, she has never seen women wearing all kinds of hairpins and jewelry.
After all, they haven't had the chance to encounter it yet, and they don't know what materials are available for making jewelry.
Of course, those velvet flowers and jade flowers in her previous life should not be cheap, so she planned to make them simple and sell them to ordinary people.
She drew several hairpin styles on the paper, almost all the ones she had seen in her previous life.
There are many styles such as Chuya, Yuxi, Wanyue, Fuxiao, Tianzhi, Daqian, as well as some hairpins with large heads in various shapes that are easy to inlay, such as hairpins with leaf heads, diamond-shaped, round, and oval shapes.
Several special ones have also been designed, such as the hairpin heads in the shape of a pipa, a guzheng, an erhu, a ginkgo leaf, a ruyi, and so on.
Her main focus now is to take the lead and give some inspiration to her uncle and other women in the village.
As the saying goes, a cobbler is better than a Zhuge Liang.
We can't just rely on her, we need to think of other styles together.
Brother Dabao has already led the other brothers to start cutting the porcelain tiles according to her requirements, and after cutting they have to use stones to polish them into shape.
Shen Youyou not only makes wooden hairpins, but also necklaces, rings, and earrings.
You can't just use silver to make jewelry, at least not at the beginning of the experiment.
However, Shen Youyou asked the village blacksmith Shen Tietou to try to make a ring setting.
After all, the old men in Shenjia Village knew how to live. Although they could not take away the furniture, cabinets and boxes from their homes before fleeing the famine, they still had a few copper pieces and copper locks removed from them.
If it sells well, it won't be too late to consider making silver products. In fact, Shen Youyou has some confidence, but others lack confidence.