if you are still there

Chapter 20 Pig Iron

Xiao Liangwen woke up early in the morning, he was used to getting up early, bought breakfast and put it on the table for Ding Xu, after thinking about it, he pushed open the door of Ding Xu's room secretly, and took a look inside.

Ding Xu has always slept soundly, lying on his side, with his hands neatly placed by the pillow, the quilt covered up, covering half of his face, as if the whole person is huddled in the quilt to keep warm, and wants to be hugged .

Xiao Liangwen stood at the door and looked at it for a while, the corners of his mouth could not help but lift up, he looked down at his watch, saw that there was not much time, and went out quickly.

Ding Xu vaguely heard the sound of motorcycles outside, and yawned but didn't get up.

Xiao Liangwen's place of work this time is a bit different from the past. It is rare to have a fixed residence, and he only needs to collect jade every few months.The boss is a jade raw material supplier surnamed Hu. He also has several antique shops in his hand. It is said that his family is also engaged in this business. Not less.

After Xiao Liangwen stopped the car, he waited in the yard.

This is a typical northern courtyard house. In the small courtyard in the middle, there are many large pieces of jade raw materials. Some gray-white stones are thrown there, and it is impossible to see that there is jade in it.These were shipped from Tengchong. It is said that the pile of stones alone cost nearly eight figures.

After a while, the people living in the small courtyard also came out one after another. Seven or eight young and middle-aged people looked at the five big and three thick ones, and the leader of them had a scar on his face. They stood there and yelled, "Come on, come on!" Ready to work, Boss Hu called and said that new products have arrived, everyone should be quick and move these to the warehouse in the backyard."

One was lazy and didn’t want to do heavy work early in the morning, so while carrying the rough stone together with others, he muttered: “Say it early, yesterday I had to put it in the yard to see the beauty, and today I have to vacate it in the back warehouse, tsk, how many tons Heavy broken stones are not afraid of flashing my waist..."

Scarface raised his foot and kicked him in the back, the man jumped forward and let go with an "ah!" If the person on the opposite side didn't dodge so quickly, his feet would have been smashed to pieces.

That person turned around and was about to scold: "Who doesn't have eyes..."

Scarface was tall and strong, and the coat he was holding in his hand turned around and slapped him across the face, and said with a sneer, "If you do a job, you talk a lot of shit, if you don't do it, get out."

That man was bullying and afraid of being tough, seeing his scarred face like this, he didn't dare to do anything wrong, covered his throbbing eyes, and tremblingly went to move the stone, but this time no one dared to partner with him, they all hid far away.He gritted his teeth, scolded everyone in his heart, glanced around and set his eyes on the newcomer Xiao Liangwen, he can't bully the old man, but he can deal with a kid.

Thinking of this, his eyes lit up, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Xiao Liangwen bent down over there, lifting a hundred-jin rough stone by himself, and went to the backyard without saying a word.

The man's Adam's apple rolled twice, and he didn't dare to put his mind on Xiao Liangwen anymore. This new boy is a tough guy with all his strength.If he didn't observe in advance, he was afraid that he would kick on the iron board, so he couldn't help feeling a little resentful in his heart, rubbed his palms together, and went to work obediently.

In the morning, the raw stones were dumped, the old ones were removed, and a batch of new ones were brought in. After they were neatly stacked, it was noon.The sun is at its best at this moment, and Boss Hu and Mr. Xu are also here.

Xu Gong went back and forth around those raw stones to talk to Boss Hu, and the two discussed in low voices.

Xiao Liangwen stood among them, his eyes fell on Xu Gong, looking at him was no different from looking at the raw stones in the yard.

Boss Hu is a young man with an elegant appearance, and he speaks in a soft and slow voice. He is somewhat polite to Mr. Xu, "What kind of work do you think is better for this? I tried to cut a few of these batches of jade yesterday, and the ones that came out were all waxy. Planted, the water head is acceptable, and the material is also sufficient, I don’t know if it is worthy of the palace lantern of Xu’s family?”

Xu Gong is in his twenties, looks about the same age as Boss Hu, and looks honest, but when he smiles there is a bit of slyness in his eyes, and he has some skills in dealing with people and things. Now he is playing Tai Chi with Boss Hu Not to mention, he just smiled and said: "Well, I will talk to you about the details when my master comes. To tell you the truth, I am here on behalf of my master this time, and I also want to make a deal with you..."

Boss Hu heard some inconvenience in his speech, took him into the reception room, and heard a few vague words, which were related to "Jade".

Scarface caused everyone around to disperse. After a busy afternoon, everyone also went to eat and rest. The boss didn't have much work. They were usually so busy for half a day and rest for half a day, but they were free.

In the evening, a group of workers played cards, because they gambled a small amount of money, some of them got red-eyed, the scar-faced man lost two hands, threw down the cards, and shouted not to play, the people behind immediately sat down, Taking his place, the whole room was noisy.

Xiao Liangwen sat behind them and flipped through an exercise book - Ding Xu asked him to recite the vocabulary, but he hadn't finished it yet.

The scar-faced man went over and knocked on the small table beside him, turned around and went out. Xiao Liangwen waited for a while, then put down his book and followed.

The scar-faced man went all the way to Xu Gong's single room, knocked on the door and went in. Xiao Liangwen stood at the door, leaning on the door frame with his hands in his pockets to guard him.

One or two sentences came intermittently in the conversation in the room, and it seemed that the conversation was not very pleasant. The scar-faced man lowered his voice as if he was passing on a message for others, only Xu Gong's anxious resignation could be heard.

"...Why are you still looking for me?! The money has already been returned to Lord Wu, and I am also grateful to Lord Wu for his help at the beginning, but I don't play those games anymore, I really don't want to be in the stone gambling business."

"Take the job? I'm taking over Boss Hu's work. You've been busy here for a long time. You also know that the Hu family is behind Boss Xiao Hu, right? The jade raw material dealer Hu's family is the first one. This store Look at Xiao, but this is just a branch, for Mr. Hu to practice his skills... I don’t dare to offend the Hu family, it’s really inconvenient to go with Master Wu, really.”

"Are you kidding, Han Badao is my uncle Xia's unique skill, how can I know this!"

"Imitation?! No, no... My master has already washed his hands in a golden basin. Do you think this is a bit inconvenient..."

"Me, I can't do it anymore, hehe, I haven't left my teacher yet."

……

Finally, after talking for a long time, Xu Gong's tone gradually softened, and he agreed, but when Xu Gong sent the man with the scarred face out, the faces of both parties were not very good-looking.Especially that Xu Gong—Xu Junjie, was a little angry, his brows were tightly wrinkled, and he pursed his lips without saying a word.

When he was going out, he saw Xiao Liangwen standing next to him, still losing his temper, raised his eyebrows and said, "This is the person you found for me? You are going to southern Xinjiang with me, who will protect who? Still a half-grown kid?"

Xiao Liangwen's height can be deceiving, but his appearance is still a bit jerky.

The scar-faced man grinned and said, "Master Xu, don't be angry. This kid is born with strong hands. He also found a few acquaintances to recommend him. Look at it." He said and shouted Xiao Liangwen's name, and ordered, "Xiao Xiao, show your hand to Master Xu."

Xiao Liangwen didn't say anything, he lowered his head and took a look, and saw an iron pipe in the yard next to him, he walked over and took it in his hand to test the weight, and broke it with his bare hands with a "crack".

Xu Gong was a little disdainful at first, it’s just an iron pipe, it’s not too thick when looking at it under the moonlight, but the sound is too crisp, after that crisp sound, his complexion immediately changed, in the past After taking a look, he said, "Pig iron?"

Xiao Liangwen smiled at him, threw the two-section iron pipe on the ground without saying a word.

Xu Gong looked up at him, as if looking at a little monster. When he turned around and asked the scar-faced man, his voice changed, "Where did you find all this?"

The scar-faced man smiled, and said, "Nephew from my hometown, I can't get along, so I came out to beg for food."

Xu Gong felt aggrieved when he heard this, because he could see that Scarface is not related to the black boy in front of him, just leave his appearance there!He has a scarred face, a flat nose, and a big face. The guy surnamed Xiao in front of him looks good except for being a little dark, and his nose bridge is quite straight... What's more, when Xiao Liangwen asked him to borrow a motorcycle a few days ago, he said I have no relatives in the north.

Xu Gong swallowed the words that came to his lips, and didn't bother to expose his scarred face. Anyway, he owed the fifth master a favor by betting on stones before, and he would have to pay it back sooner or later.

Xu Gong left Xiao Liangwen behind, and the scar-faced man immediately asked Xiao Liangwen to follow him every step of the way, as if he would regret it and run away.

Xiao Liangwen followed Mr. Xu and heard a lot of news. It turned out that Mr. Xu agreed to come to Hu's house to help carve jade this time because the division was short of a piece of rough jadeite, so he came here to borrow the "east wind".

There are tens of thousands of rough jadeites in the yard, but what Xu Gong likes is a big one that weighs tons.The Hu family hesitated again and again, and still borrowed it. They just asked to send someone to go to Tengchong with Xu Gong, in name to watch the game, but in fact they still guarded the stone.

Boss Hu seems to have a lot of trust in the scar-faced man. There are some gray areas in their business, and the power behind the scar-faced man should not be underestimated.The scar-faced man went with the boss, and naturally brought Xiao Liangwen and the others along, and specially told Xiao Liangwen to follow Mr. Xu closely.

Xiao Liangwen didn't tell Ding Xu. He didn't send a text message to Ding Xu until he got on the train and chatted with him about Xiaohu.

Ding Xu was too familiar with him, after reading a couple of things, he replied: What's the matter?where to go

Xiao Liangwen breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the news, and replied: go out for a few days, and come back later.

After waiting for a while, seeing that Ding Xu didn't reply, he couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive, so he hesitated and sent another message: I'll bring you a gift when I come back.

The phone screen was still silent, and no new message came back.

Xiao Liangwen sighed, put the phone under the pillow, and lay on the sleeper staring at the narrow ceiling for several hours.

In the next few days, Xiao Liangwen also sent a text message from time to time. He took advantage of Ding Xu's time after school and work and rest, carefully greeted him, and always mentioned a word or two about Xiaohu at the end.He was busy with work later on, so he ran back and forth with Mr. Xu, and it took a long time to send text messages again, but he always sent a message out of habit to say hello to Ding Xu.

After about seven or eight days, Ding Xu replied: Xiaohu ate a shrimp today.

Xiao Liangwen stared at the ten words and read them over and over several times. A smile unconsciously opened the corner of his mouth. He could even imagine Ding Xu feeding the little tiger. It's ready to eat.

He suddenly had an urge to kiss the phone.

The author has something to say:

General Tiger:

Xiaohu: Meow is very good these days, but I don’t know why everyone is talking about Meow...

Ding Xu: Where are you lying on your stomach?

Xiaohu: Meow's Nest (≧▽≦)/!

Ding Xu: Those are my shoes! !