The women all returned inside to continue their discussion about childbirth, while the men gathered in the outer room to talk, moving from the topic of horse carriages to horses, and from horses to raising livestock. Lin Yuan worried that Xia Zheng might not be accustomed to these rural men’s topics of conversation, so she deliberately listened by their side for a while. Seeing that he wasn’t the least bit tired of their company and actually got along quite well with everyone, she finally felt at ease.
Just as she decided to head to the kitchen to see how things were going, she saw Lin Changqing alone, thoroughly inspecting the new furniture in her home.
Lin Yuan smiled and knew that since Lin Changqing had learned carpentry, he’d become almost obsessed, showing a burning curiosity for all sorts of exotic things.
She approached him, patted Lin Changqing on the shoulder, and laughed, "Brother Changqing, what are you looking at?"
Lin Changqing jumped a little, quickly stood up, and turned around to see Lin Yuan. His face flushed with embarrassment, "Nothing, nothing, don’t mind me, alright?"
Lin Yuan knew he’d misunderstood her intentions, and reassured him with a smile, "What’s there to mind? It’s just a cabinet, right? Brother Changqing, do you have a special interest in making furniture?"
Seeing Lin Yuan bore no grudge, Lin Changqing plucked up the courage to nod, "Yeah, the new furniture in your house looks really nice and the styles are novel, not like what others make. I, I was just thinking if I could make them myself. But..."
Lin Changqing shook his head and sighed somewhat helplessly.
Lin Yuan understood what he meant. She had said it before: Lin Ershuan excelled at making various large furniture pieces, such as tables, chairs, cabinets, beds, and so forth. However, Lin Changqing’s expertise was in the more intricate work. His mind was more delicate, capable of engraving and carving, and crafting smaller artisan pieces was his forte.
Yet such skills were somewhat limited within the circle of carpenters; after all, Zhuma Town was a small place and not every wealthy household had spare change to purchase these small wooden crafts.
Even if you gave them a grand name like "artisanal crafts."
Thinking this, Lin Yuan couldn’t help feeling anxious for Lin Changqing, "Brother Changqing, actually your skills are really good, even my dad says your carving work is better than Brother Ershuan’s. It’s just that, just that when it comes to making bigger items..."
"It’s just that when it comes to bigger items, I can’t let go, I’m afraid to do them," Lin Changqing bit his lip and gave a wry smile. His master had gone over his problem many times and told him to relax and go for it, saying that no matter what the outcome, as long as you dare to do it, you’ll achieve something.
But Lin Changqing had tried many times and it never worked out.
Lin Yuan sighed inwardly. Lin Changqing was just like Lin Wei had been initially, constrained by the poor family circumstances that prevented them from affording wood; given the rare chance to work with quality timber, he held back for fear of turning it into a defective piece.
Yet, isn’t going through such a process part of doing handicrafts? If it turns out well, that’s great; if not, you just compensate for the wood, no big deal.
However, Lin Changqing’s thoughts were too delicate; when working on bigger pieces, he couldn’t help but worry about these things, thus he could never bring himself to do it.
"Honestly, I’m quite envious of Brother Ershuan. He’s smart, can design, and most importantly, he’s got guts," Lin Changqing glanced at Lin Ershuan, who was being surrounded by his fellow carpenters, with a gleam in his eye.
Lin Yuan truly admired Lin Ershuan; she had merely given him a starting point, and he knew how to take it further.
At that moment, Lin Yuan suddenly had an idea and said to Lin Changqing, "Brother Changqing, how about this: you open your own shop and buy wood to make furniture. Once the furniture is made, you sell these ready-made pieces."
Seeing Lin Changqing still looked puzzled, Lin Yuan elaborated, "Look, nowadays, people usually commission someone to make furniture at their homes, right? Since you’re good at carving and engraving, why not make some furniture pieces you think are beautiful with carvings and then display them in your shop for customers to choose? If a customer likes a particular piece, you could sell it to them, or custom-make furniture to fit the size of their rooms. That way, you wouldn’t have to worry about ruining someone else’s wood, right? After all, you’d be buying the wood yourself. If you mess up, just use it to make something else. Isn’t that better?"
Upon hearing Lin Yuan’s words, Lin Changqing finally had an epiphany. Indeed, he had always been caught up with the fear of damaging a customer’s wood and therefore hesitating in his work. But if it was his own wood, what was there to fear? If he ruined it, no one would see, and he could just recycle it into something else.
"Yuanyuan, how can you be so clever!" Lin Changqing, overwhelmed with excitement, was barely able to contain himself. If not for all the people around, he would probably have shouted for joy.
Now, with a clear direction in mind, he didn’t need Lin Yuan to worry about the details like finding a shop and buying wood; Lin Hua was still at home, and if worse came to worst, Lin Ershuan could lend a hand.
After chatting with Lin Changqing about other matters, Lin Yuan glanced at the time, realized it was almost noon, and hurried to the kitchen.
However, just as she entered the courtyard, she heard a voice that almost made her retch, bringing up the food from the day before last.