Such a tragic person, awakened from a dream in which he forgot to set up an update for posting. Upon checking, it was actually set. Tears of frustration, my beauty sleep~
"Is this Master Li? What a coincidence, I was looking for you. I have some silver coins here. I want to melt them to make some silverware jewelry for my little granddaughter, to bless her with long life," Yezi hadn’t even taken a few steps before he paused upon hearing Zhu Shijun’s timely question.
Everyone in the family knew, Li Quqi was usually calm, but once he got angry, not even the emperor himself could stop him. However, there were two ways to calm down Li Quqi’s volcanic temper: asking the Great Wizard was one method, and the silver making invitation Zhu Shijun mentioned was another.
Over the past few years, with favorable policies, Li Quqi was very prestigious in the Miao villages around, and even nationally. But, unknown to many, thirty years ago, his household was the poorest in Dongnan Miao Village.
During the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Li, hidden in the deep mountains, was still dragged into the county town for public criticism. He never returned. Li’s mother, an illiterate woman from the Miao family, supported her mother-in-law and son with her skill in Miao embroidery. Struggling with poverty and concern for her husband’s whereabouts, she jumped into White Dragon Pond. When her body was retrieved, Li Quqi could not even afford a mat to cover her body.
At that time, people from the village feared getting involved with the Li family’s misfortune. No one dared to help or give money. It was the Great Wizard who, with great difficulty, found some fine fir trees in the mountains and made them into a coffin. He also hired a bullock cart to retrieve Mr. Li’s body from the town, and buried the couple of the Li family together.
Later, when the government exonerated the Li family, the Great Wizard accompanied Li Quqi into the town. They didn’t ask for any financial reparations except for the return of the silver workshop and a few silver blocks and silver coins, which were ancestral heritage of the Li family. So, as long as the Great Wizard spoke a word, even the biggest rage in Li Quqi would dissipate like hot water with added cold.
Zhu Shijun really came prepared today; visiting Miao Village, not just to oversee the affairs of the Qian family, but also brought with him several real silver coins that could not be found in the market.
"Who is this?" Li Quqi had never met Zhu Shijun before; seeing the elder’s eyes were bright as stars and his demeanor was composed and appropriate, certainly not someone from Ge Village. Recollecting memories, he remembered his wife mentioning months ago about an agricultural expert who arrived in a neighboring village; it seems it was this elder.
The two men, differing in age by more than a twenty years, looked at each other. Li Quqi dismissed the idea of scolding his wife and took the silver coins from Zhu Shijun. Li Quqi had several rules in silver making: he did not imitate others’ designs, did not use low-quality silver, and did not use untraceable Black Silver.
"I heard from my spouse that our hundred-odd white tea trees owe much to Mr. Zhu. If the elder wants to make silverware, then please come with me to the workshop to look at the silver chart. Let the little girl come along too," Li Quqi intended to repay the kindness; his workshop was not situated next to the Li family’s suspension house but was built elsewhere. Asking Xiao Xian to come along was to let the little girl choose a design she liked, whether it turned into a bracelet or a longevity lock, would depend on personal preference.
"Father, I’ll go with you. Mama, you should go home and cook some dishes that father likes," Yezi was smart, he knew how to calm his father down. He was aware that his father enjoyed making silverware on the spot, and judging by his father’s expression, the silver coins Mr. Zhu brought were of quite good quality.
The silver workshop of Li Quqi was different from the Miao family’s diaojiao building; it was built from mud, resembling a mound in a valley from afar. Silver smelting is different from metallurgy; it doesn’t require large water or electric facilities, thus the workshop wasn’t very large, with only two or three water jars placed at the entrance.
There are two charcoal stoves of different sizes, one is a dark stove, and the other is a bright stove. The bright stove, built with clay bricks, has a high temperature and is open at the top. As long as Li Quqi is home, the fire in the bright stove is never extinguished. Next to the stove, there is a soot-blackened blowpipe. When the fire isn’t strong enough, the blowpipe is used to intensify the heat.
The most eye-catching items in the workshop are the various sized silver pieces displayed on the workbench. When Miao people marry off a daughter, they would gift several dozen kilograms of silver jewelry as dowry. Although in recent years, due to tourism and other reasons, Miao silver has shifted from pure silver to lower grade mixed silver like white copper and zinc copper, the pieces made by Li Quqi are always top-notch, used by prominent figures from the Miao community or for provincial, city, or national competitions.
Upon entering the workshop, Li Quqi brewed a few cups of his own white tea, had Zhu Shijun and Xiao Xian take a seat, and then took out a booklet illustrating designs he had made over the years. The booklet Xiao Xian was holding was just recently bound after Li Quqi’s trip to the Southeast Coast. Previous silver jewelry booklets were all hand-drawn, which was quite troublesome as they had to be redrawn frequently with usage. Now, with photographs and printed albums, it became much more convenient.
"These silver coins are quite old," Li Quqi noted while examining the silver coins Zhu Shijun had provided. Guizhou isn’t a silver-producing province, the circulated silverware in the province all belonged to ancestors, some even dating back several generations. For the young generation of women awaiting marriage in Dongnan Miao Village, many use the silver jewelry handed down from their Mama’s and grandmother’s generations, inviting local craftsmen to recast and remake them in the furnace. Young Li Quqi often performed such tasks.
Li Quqi tapped on the silver coins with his finger, listening to the melodious ringing sound with satisfaction, then observed the engraving and nodded approvingly. Among Zhu Shijun’s silver coins, there was the most circulated Yuan Datou in China, along with earlier 19th-century Spanish Eagle Coins that found their way into China. Judging from their appearance, they were all good silver with over 90% silver content. Nowadays, it was rare for Li Quqi to see such pure silver in use.
"Are you sure about melting them? I have some slightly lower grade silver blocks here. You could also choose from those," Li Quqi, a true craftsman, cherished these coins, which had more value as collectibles than the metal itself.
"Melt them. Big brother, if your hands turn them into silverware, that would also be a fortune for these silver coins," although Zhu Shijun had only met Li Quqi once, he had great respect for his demeanor and felt a kindred connection.
Seeing that Zhu Shijun had made up his mind, Li Quqi stopped persuading and asked Xiao Xian: "Young lady, have you decided on a design? Once you’re ready, I’ll have Yezi stoke the furnace."
The two kids were muttering to each other nearby when Yezi pointed to a bracelet in the booklet and said, "No need to look further, trust me, this is the right choice."