CHAPTER 742: CHAPTER 740: NOT BUYING [2ND UPDATE]

Upon hearing Xiao Wang’s words, everyone in the car felt an inexplicable twinge in their heart.

Lost, it’s lost!

What’s "losing face"?!

It’s the traditional crafts that are lost!

Lost in the long river of time, in the changing of the years!

They could empathize with the old man’s heartache and loss.

Are these things really useless?

Have they truly lost their value?!

Then if that’s the case, why can they sell a bamboo basket for 700,000 in Japan?!

Just because the buyer is Japanese!?

Bullshit!!!

Xiao Wang’s words plunged everyone in the car into silence.

And this silence lasted all the way to the destination!

"Young Master, we’ve arrived."

Xiao Wang pointed ahead as he spoke.

He hadn’t been home for a long time either, and the joy of homecoming chased away his previous sorrow, making him cheerful again.

"Young Master, right next to the bamboo grove ahead is Grandfather Wang’s house."

Xiao Wang pointed to the front and spoke, although he really wanted to go home now, this trip was after all a business task, and the task had to come first.

"Alright, Xiao Wang, go home and see your family, we can go on our own."

Lu Xiaobu, seeing Xiao Wang’s condition, immediately said with a smile.

"Er... this..."

Xiao Wang scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

But he also knew that sentimentality didn’t fly in the Lu Group!

So.

"Alright then! Young Master, I’ll go have a look first, and come find you later."

Xiao Wang agreed, opened the car door, and ran off in a dust cloud.

From afar, one could still hear Xiao Wang’s excited voice tinged with his hometown accent: "Dad! Mom! I’m back!"

Everyone in the car smiled.

It seemed that the kid really missed his home!

"Zhang Meng, let’s move on."

Lu Xiaobu said to Liang Lan.

"Yes, Young Master."

Zhang Meng drove the car forward.

Soon, the car stopped in front of the bamboo grove.

A house that couldn’t be considered wrecked but was certainly dilapidated appeared before them.

Even before entering, one could see the bamboo debris and waste piled up in the courtyard.

Of course, there were also quite a few finished products.

But these items were all covered with a layer of dust.

Occasionally, however, one could see some spots with less dust, which seemed to indicate that the finished products had been sold or given away.

Further in, there was an old man with a gaunt frame, deep-set eyes, cloudy pupils, and a face full of wrinkles, smoking a dry pipe while sitting on the threshold.

His gaze was fixed on that pile of bamboo, he drew deeply from the dry pipe in his hand, then slowly exhaled.

The next second, the long ash from the pipe fell to the ground.

This scene seemed to be filled with an inexplicable sadness.

"Grandfather Wang. Grandfather Wang."

Lu Xiaobu softly called out, breaking the stillness of the scene.

"Hmm?"

The old man seemed to awaken from a deep dream, turned his head to look at Lu Xiaobu and his companions, his eyes full of confusion.

"Are you Grandfather Wang who practices the bamboo arts?"

Lu Xiaobu kept his voice low, not wanting to startle the elderly man.

"Bamboo? Poles?" Upon hearing this, the old man’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he stood up, "Are you here to buy bamboo? You like this?"

As he spoke, the old man stood up and walked toward the pile of finished goods, holding a rag in his hand.

It seems to be for a wipe down.

From a single subtle movement, one could tell that the old man hadn’t given up on his craft.

"Grandpa Wang, we’re not here to buy," Lu Xiaobu said softly.

"Ah? Not buying?" Grandpa Wang’s hand paused mid-air, his face revealing a tinge of palpable disappointment.

"We’re here to learn."

Lu Xiaobu finished his sentence.

Instantly!

The once feeble Grandpa Wang’s eyes suddenly burst with intense light: "Learn? You want to learn?!"

As he spoke, he started walking towards Lu Xiaobu.

Lu Xiaobu hurriedly caught Grandpa Wang’s hand: "Yes, we’ve come to learn."

"Good, good, good! That’s wonderful!"

Grandpa Wang couldn’t help feeling a surge of emotion, as if on the verge of tears.

He had already fallen into despair, ready to take these skills to his grave!

But who could have imagined, out of the blue, a turn for the better!

"Come, come, let me first show you," Grandpa Wang, shakily pulling Lu Xiaobu to the side, said.

He wanted to demonstrate first to avoid scaring away these hard-to-come-by students.

Lu Xiaobu didn’t resist, but nodded instead, eager to witness the craft.

Grandpa Wang led Lu Xiaobu into the spacious living room.

This was his workplace.

As Grandpa Wang sat down, his hands, which had been trembling, suddenly steadied upon touching bamboo.

The bamboo began to dance in his hands, weaving, intertwining, taking shape!

As Grandpa Wang wove, he started to explain to Lu Xiaobu.

Within his explanations, he also wove in his past stories.

"This craft, back then I begged my master for a whole year, then ran errands for nine more, only then did I learn it, it’s truly a fine craft!"

"In our era, there was a saying: a single skill is worth three acres of good land."

"To be honest, I can’t say I was incredibly passionate about this craft, I initially learned it just to earn a living."

"Later on, my master saw that I had patience, the willingness to learn, and he slowly began to teach me."

"But now, after a lifetime of work, this thing has seeped into my bones, I just can’t let go!"

"In the past, I was rather self-righteous, thinking to choose disciples like my master did, with good character, patience, willingness to learn, before I would teach."

"But now it’s different, as long as you’re willing to learn, I’m willing to teach!"

"I really don’t want to take all this to my grave!"

The old man rambled on.

But his words carried a tinge of sorrow.

What does it mean to be willing to teach if someone is willing to learn?

It means even if you’re a bad person, as long as you’re willing to learn, that’s enough!

One can only imagine what has caused the standards for the transmission of craftsmanship to continuously fall.

To even drop to the point where if one is willing to learn, they are willing to teach!

Yet, despite that, no one wants to learn!

Such poignant words were enough to make Liang Lan and the other three women nearly unable to hold back their tears!

The sorrow of the craftsmen resonates thoroughly in these words!

One can just imagine, if this continues.

These crafts will surely be lost one by one!

Even saying that they will be lost isn’t the scariest part, the scary thing is, while you’re losing it, someone else is achieving great success, even applying for it to be an intangible cultural heritage!

Thousands of years later, who will still remember that these things are from the Heavenly Dynasty?!

Is it true that, by that time, we can only protest claiming—what you’re doing is wrong—as a form of so-called resistance?!

If a craft truly has no value, then fine, survival of the fittest, one cannot always live in the past!

But clearly, it has value!

Why not continue the tradition?!

Of course, the reasons are known. It’s survival first, then development. If survival is impossible, all else is nonsense!

That’s why Lu Xiaobu wants to establish a school to ensure the survival of the inheritors of the craft!

Hmm, let the so-called masters from Japan trace their roots and recognize their ancestors! Hmph!