pjbooks Chapter 28: Furniture
Chapter 28: Furniture
Silent all night.
The next morning, Tang Zhenghong had just woken up when he saw the little girl rubbing her eyes and sobbing beside him.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
The little girl probably missed her mother as soon as she woke up. She didn't even cry when her mother beat her back home, but she must have cried all her tears in just one day in the city.
"Waaah... Second brother, I didn't mean to."
The little girl was extremely aggrieved. When she saw her second brother wake up and stretch out his arms, wanting a hug, she said intermittently.
Tang Zhenghong still didn't understand: "What do you mean, 'not intentional'?"
"I dreamt last night that you took me to eat lots of delicious food and drink lots of water, and then I had to go to the toilet. Don't blame me."
This time, Tang Zhenghong finally understood. He reached to the side and realized that the little girl had wet the bed.
"It's alright. My second brother wet the bed when he was little too. We'll just take it out to dry in the yard in a bit."
Tang Hongxin stopped crying, but still looked sad: "But...but Da Mao and the others will see this. I'm...I'm an aunt now, they'll laugh at me."
Haha, the little girl is afraid of losing face in front of her friends.
"It's alright, we'll just say that Second Brother accidentally spilled water on it."
Tang Hongxin was relieved to see that her second brother wasn't as angry as their mother had been when he wet the bed. She even argued, "It's not my fault. I haven't wet the bed in a long time."
If Tang Zhenghong hadn't seen the map on the bedding drying in the yard when he went back last time, he would have actually believed it.
"Second brother, I miss mother."
"Okay, your second brother will take you home this afternoon, alright?"
The little girl was afraid that her second brother would be sad if she went back, so she comforted him like a little adult: "Second brother, Hongxin will come to visit you again next time. I'm afraid Mother will miss me and be sad. Let's go back in a while."
Tang Hongxin was right; her mother had been nagging about it while washing the little girl's clothes after breakfast.
After sending his younger sister back to Hongxingzhuang, Tang Zhenghong was finally able to attend to his own affairs.
I rode my bicycle around for a long time before finally finding a furniture shop. They had a wide variety of furniture, including square tables, benches, all kinds of boxes, and armchairs.
"Hey buddy, you've been looking around for ages and nothing looks good? What kind of thing are you looking for? Look at this, an eight-immortal table. If you like it, I'll repaint it for you, I guarantee it'll look brand new."
"Sir, do you still sell secondhand goods here?"
The old man took a puff of his pipe and subtly sized up Tang Zhenghong: "Look at what you're saying, if there are buyers, there are sellers, it's a simple matter. Now that we're in a joint venture, the price will definitely be fair."
"Can you make furniture according to my specifications? I brought the blueprints with me."
"Are you in the same line of work? You look unfamiliar. Which shop are you from? Have you taken on a big job?"
The master craftsman asked this question for a reason; generally, those who aren't in the industry wouldn't design the patterns themselves.
Tang Zhenghong handed over a few drawings and offered him a cigarette: "I figured this out on my own. I heard that you have the best craftsmanship, so I took the liberty of showing them to you to see if you can make it."
"Hey, how novel! I'm not bragging, but anything that can be made of wood, whether it flies in the sky or runs on the ground, I can make it."
He glanced at the design, then looked up at Tang Zhenghong again, his expression turning grim: "Are you making fun of me? We're in the same industry, what kind of fun are you looking for here?"
"You misunderstand. I'm not really a craftsman. I've just loved tinkering since I was a child, and I was very impressed by the mortise and tenon structure of the ancients. Unfortunately, I had neither a teacher nor tools to practice, so I neglected it."
"Really? I don't think your drawing is something an amateur could pull off."
"Thank you so much. May I ask your surname, sir? My name is Tang Zhenghong, and I work at the Railway Public Security Bureau. This is my work ID."
The experienced worker glanced at the work badge and handed it back to Tang Zhenghong, his face regaining its politeness: "Oh, it's a misunderstanding. I was just wondering if you were here to tease me. My surname is Cui, just call me Old Cui. Hmm... wait for me, I'll go put on my glasses. This picture of yours is quite interesting."
Tang Zhenghong painted a combination cabinet, a writing desk with a bookshelf, a dressing table, a children's bunk bed, a chair, and a rocking chair.
Master Cui was mainly interested in the combination cabinet and the children's bunk bed with a small cabinet; other types of furniture weren't unheard of in those days.
"Yes, that's possible. Your cabinet design is quite interesting. But if I may ask, what's the purpose of that empty space in the middle?"
Tang Zhenghong couldn't very well say, "We can put it in a TV later if we have the means: we can put it in a radio or something."
"Hey, you young people really know your stuff. I'll take the job, but you have a lot of stuff, so time..."
"I won't rush you; just take your time and do it whenever you have a spare moment."
Tang Zhenghong was thinking that since he didn't need tickets now, he could slowly buy some things to take home.
Master Cui held the blueprints and pondered them carefully. He stroked his beard and suggested, "Your cabinet is really nice. It would be even better if you carved some flowers on the sides."
"No carvings needed, practicality is the priority."
"Tsk, what a pity. Comrade Tang, after your furniture is made, could you display it in our shop for a few days?"
"It's not impossible, but the price... You're an expert, you know what kind of effect these items will have. But these are all made by me. If someone tries to make them, I can't just give you the designs to use in your shop for free, can I?"
Master Cui was taken aback. The concept of patent fees existed internationally, but ordinary people in China had never heard of it.
"What do you mean?"
"Now that you're in a joint venture, I'm contributing to the country, but you can't let me suffer losses, right? What about the material and labor costs...?"
Master Cui thought for a moment and agreed: "We'll use whatever materials are needed, we won't take advantage of the company, but I can waive your labor fee. This is the first time I've been interested in this modular cabinet you mentioned, and I'd like to make it myself."
In the end, Tang Zhenghong didn't let the master craftsman work for nothing. He set a price based on the lowest possible labor cost, paid a deposit, and signed a contract, thus completing the furniture project.
Railway police team.
"Hey, I was just thinking of coming to see you later. Did you hear the news?"
Even during his vacation, Lu Zhang would take time to come over. When he saw Tang Zhenghong come to the team, he waved the file folder in his hand.
Tang Zhenghong, with his sharp eyes, recognized the item as his own and felt uneasy. Could it be that the original owner had left him with some kind of mess?
"Master, what's the matter? I figured you must be busy at the team these days, so I came to ask you about something personal."
"That's really convenient, it saves me the trouble of coming all the way to find you. Our mission has changed, we'll be departing next Wednesday on the 39th intermodal train, and tomorrow's trip to Andong will be handled by Team Nine."
The 39th intermodal transport refers to the international express hard sleeper/passenger train from Beijing to Hanoi. Today is Wednesday, and there will be about five or six days of rest until next Wednesday. However, Tang Zhenghong had a question in his mind: "Master, isn't Team Nine always in charge of the Beijing-Baotou line?"
"The higher-ups felt our intermodal transport workload was a bit heavy, so they've transferred Team Nine over as well. That should ease things up a bit. By the way, what did you want to see me about?"