The next day, Tang Baona went to her maternal grandfather's house before going to work, because she knew that her grandfather always got up very early to take a walk.
Mr. Feng showed great interest in the small boxwood carving that his granddaughter had brought him, and took it, putting on his reading glasses to examine it closely.
"Grandpa, how is it? Is the carving alright?" Tang Baona asked expectantly.
After looking at it for a while, Mr. Feng gently stroked the wooden carving's head and nodded, saying, "It's a very interesting wooden carving. It must have been made not long ago, right? Some details aren't as good as the one in your photo; it looks like a step backward. But the design of this carving is quite interesting, with a touch of Buddhist meaning, and also a bit of that... cartoonish feel you young people have. The young man who made this carving for you has a lot of ideas."
Tang Baona paused for a moment, then asked curiously, "Grandpa, I don't think I ever said my friend was a man. And even if he is, he might not be a young man; he might be about the same age as you, Grandpa?"
Mr. Feng chuckled and said, "We often say 'the handwriting reflects the person,' meaning you can judge a person by their handwriting. Looking at someone's handwriting can reveal their personality and their general state of mind when they write. The same applies to paintings and wood carvings; you can glean a lot from them. This wood carving focuses more on overall harmony than on the exquisite details; the lines are bold, conveying a sense of power. The connection between the eight arms and the shoulders and back prioritizes structural rationality over aesthetics, making it clearly a masculine piece. As for his age, since you mentioned him as a peer, he should be around your age."
Tang Baona exclaimed in amazement, "Grandpa, you're amazing! What else could you possibly see?"
Mr. Feng placed the wooden carving flat in his palm and smiled, "Buddhism often uses arms and eyes to represent various abilities, signifying the ability to see more, understand more, and do more. Your friend must be a very capable, versatile, confident, and somewhat flamboyant person, right?"
"Very capable? Multitalented?" Tang Baona deeply agreed, reflecting on the various talents Xiang Kun had displayed in the short two months she had known him.
Each arm of this eight-armed wooden sculpture resembles a craft that Xiang Kun has mastered.
But a confident and outgoing personality? That doesn't quite fit.
Mr. Feng added, "Look at the eight hands in this wood carving; they're all clenched fists. This shows that your friend is proactive and energetic..."
Tang Baona couldn't help but whisper, "Isn't it because fists are easier to sculpt...?"
Mr. Feng was taken aback, then pretended not to hear and continued naturally, "Look at the expression on this wooden carving, the deliberately exposed sharp teeth, you can tell..."
After listening to her grandfather talk for a while, Tang Baona found a moment to interject, "Grandpa, my friend didn't mention a price for this wood carving. What do you think would be a reasonable price?"
"Well, although it's not a work by a famous artist and the wood quality is just average, the shape has a unique charm, and it's quite difficult to make. The carving is also quite good. Three to five thousand yuan is considered the market price." Mr. Feng said thoughtfully, looking at the wood carving in his hand.
Upon hearing this, Tang Baona immediately took out her phone and transferred five thousand yuan to Xiang Kun in front of her grandfather. Xiang Kun had previously given her the power to set the price, and she knew that her grandfather would definitely quote a higher price, so she felt that this price would not be unfair to Xiang Kun.
"Grandpa, don't forget to give me a big red envelope during Chinese New Year!" Tang Baona said with a smile, waving her phone.
"You silly girl..." Mr. Feng shook his head with a smile and said, "When are you going to invite that young man over for a chat? Grandpa is quite interested in him and would like to have a talk with him."
"We'll talk about it later. He went back to his hometown for a while. Goodbye, Grandpa. I'm going to work now." Tang Baona said cheerfully as she left the yard.
After watching his granddaughter's figure disappear through the courtyard gate, Mr. Feng gently placed the wooden carving on the stone table beside him, took out his phone, opened WeChat, found Tang Baoting's profile picture, and sent a voice message: "Tingting, it's basically confirmed. The one who made that... that 'Sabar' wooden carving for Nana is a young man. I guess it's the blind date your classmate introduced her to. I asked Nana to bring him to meet me sometime. I feel Nana is quite protective of him; their relationship seems good. Hmm, your grandpa has a keen eye; he's very good at judging people. I'll help Nana vet him..."
A few hours later, seeing that everyone else in the office was busy and no one was paying attention to her, Yang Zhen'er picked up her phone and sent several WeChat to Xia Libing.
"Lao Xia!"
"Xiaxia!!"
My dearest cousin!!!
Finally, Xia Libing replied with a blank expression.
Yang Zhen'er: "Did you see the photos I sent you last night? That wood carving, it was carved by Xiang Kun. What do you think? Can you tell anything?"
Xia Libing: "Xiang Kun's carving skills are quite good?"
Yang Zhen'er: "That's not what I'm asking you! You're not a carpenter! I'm asking you, what can you glean from this wood carving, psychological aspects, from your professional perspective? This eight-armed, eight-eyed little figure was Xiang Kun's original creation, you know. Why do you think he chose to carve such a little figure?"
Xia Libing sent another blank expression. "How should I know?"
Yang Zhen'er sent a red-faced, angry emoji. "Aren't you a psychologist?"
Xia Libing: "A psychologist isn't a fortune teller, and besides, I'm not a psychologist, I'm a psychiatrist."
Yang Zhen'er sent a panda hugging its head in frustration emoji. "Then tell me what you figured out!"
Xia Libing stared blankly for three seconds. "There are too few criteria for judgment. We need to communicate directly with Xiang Kun and find out what he was thinking when he sculpted this. Has he seen similar images before, such as Buddha statues or cartoon characters? What were his thoughts when sculpting the eyes? Why are there eight eyes instead of six? Was it a deliberate design choice to make the arms symmetrical, or is there another reason...?"
Yang Zhen'er sent a dark-faced, smoke-blowing emoji. "I think if I keep talking to you like this, I'll have to see a psychiatrist."
Xia Libing: "The psychiatry department at the hospital where I did my internship before was pretty good. If you go there, look for Dr. Liu."
Yang Zhen'er: "You've already lost your cousin!!"
A hospital in Citong City, Haixi Province.
In the hallway outside the office, after ending her chat with her cousin, Xia Libing didn't exit the chat window. Instead, she scrolled up the chat history and saw the pictures. She hadn't known last night that these were Xiang Kun's wood carvings, so she hadn't looked at the pictures at all.
Xia Libing opened the image, clicked "Save Original Image," then zoomed in to examine the details of the wood carving for a while. She then zoomed back to the original size to look at the overall shape, seemingly lost in thought.
She already knew from the four-person group chat last night that Xiang Kun was going back to Citong City today.
As soon as he boarded the high-speed train, Xiang Kun received WeChat from Tang Baona. He was quite surprised to see the 5,000 yuan transfer amount. He hadn't expected the wood carving to sell for so much; frankly, the price was far beyond his expectations.
Keep in mind that he had only been learning carving for a short time, and the carving material this time was just scraps that hadn't yet established Super-Sensory Link. When he first started roughing out the piece, he never thought it would turn out well.
But for Xiang Kun, this "path to wealth" did not bring him any joy, because making this wood carving took too long, while spending the same amount of time on a software outsourcing job would easily earn him more than 20,000 yuan.
"It's better to do this as a favor," Xiang Kun himself, his mind filled with the image of the eight-armed, eight-eyed wooden carving. Suddenly, he had some strange premonitions.
Thanks to the new helmsmen "Book Friend 20180521004002700" and "I Found the Antidote"; thanks to book friends Shadow Flame 001, A Bunch of Bubbles, God's Power, and book friend 20180411055130209 for their donations.