Heavenly Dipper Bracelet

Gu Zhao did not know whether to laugh or cry.

He had never imagined that the trees in the forest behind the village were actually Small-leaf Sandalwood. He remembered that whenever the villagers gathered firewood, they would go into that forest, chop off branches and twigs, and bring them home to burn for cooking.

"No wonder the steamed buns always carried a faint fragrance. They were burning Small-leaf Sandalwood as firewood." Gu Zhao rubbed his chin. "Were ancient emperors even this extravagant?"

At that thought, Gu Zhao's eyes lit up.

"I remember the furniture our family makes doesn't use Small-leaf Sandalwood, does it?" Gu Zhao asked.

Gu Qi replied irritably, "Small-leaf Sandalwood? Why not just use Huanghuali while you're at it?"

Seeing that Gu Zhao was taking an interest in the family business for once, Gu Qi still explained, "Small-leaf Sandalwood and Huanghuali are too expensive and too scarce. You have to fight tooth and nail just to get stock. Our family makes things from them too, but they're generally crafted into ornaments to accompany other furniture. The occasional piece of furniture made from them is a treasure that anchors the store.

"Nowadays, the materials we use for furniture are mostly imported timber. We mainly use Black Dalbergia, Big-fruit Dalbergia, along with Red Rosewood, Black Rosewood, and the like."

"I remember there's also Chicken-wing Wood and Huali Wood." Gu Zhao asked, "Is there a big difference between Huali Wood and Huanghuali?"

"Goldfish and sharks are both fish. Do you think there's a big difference?" Gu Qi shook his head. "Chicken-wing Wood and Huali Wood are cheap woods, used for budget furniture. Our family doesn't use that sort of thing."

"Oh." Gu Zhao nodded as though he understood, then asked something that nearly made Gu Qi jump. "What if I had a way to get hold of a large amount of Small-leaf Sandalwood?"

Gu Qi looked at Gu Zhao, his gaze blazing. Then he asked, "You haven't transferred money to them yet, have you?"

Gu Zhao, "..."

"And they haven't lured you into going abroad to Siam, Shan State, or India, have they?" Worry filled Gu Qi's eyes. The Gu family had passed down through a single son for two generations. He only had this one son.

Gu Zhao was speechless. "Are you that certain I've been scammed?"

"Whether it's Huanghuali or Small-leaf Sandalwood, demand has always outstripped supply. Suppliers are fixed, and even buyers rarely have new faces." Gu Qi said, "Unless you're willing to pay a higher price, newcomers can't get any stock at all."

"If someone comes to you claiming they can supply a huge quantity of Small-leaf Sandalwood, don't hesitate. They're one hundred percent scammers." Gu Qi said with certainty.

Gu Zhao gave a dry laugh. As his thoughts shifted, he suddenly asked, "Our factory has machines for turning beads, right?"

"Of course. Our family sells bracelets too, so naturally we have the machines." Gu Qi asked, "What, do you want to try it yourself? I remember you didn't like this stuff before."

Gu Zhao nodded. "I like it now. Take me around tomorrow?"

"Sure." Gu Qi had no objection. It was the family business to begin with, and he was quite pleased that Gu Zhao was showing interest now. "We'll go to the office tomorrow. There's stock at the factory. I'll pick out a piece of Small-leaf Sandalwood for you, and your dad will personally turn you a bracelet."

Gu Zhao asked, "Can you carve the beads?"

"Of course, but it's best not to. The natural grain of Small-leaf Sandalwood is already extremely beautiful." Gu Qi said, "Carving anything onto it would be like drawing legs on a snake."

"Carve a Heavenly Dipper Talisman onto the beads." Gu Zhao sat up straight, saying excitedly, "Just a shallow layer, then I'll fill it with cinnabar!"

The look Gu Qi gave Gu Zhao was full of speechless disbelief. "If you want to carve a Magic Artifact, wouldn't peachwood or jujube wood be better? Why insist on using Small-leaf Sandalwood?"

"Does the factory have peachwood or jujube wood?" Gu Zhao asked.

To be honest, he was curious too. Why were Daoist wooden Magic Artifacts generally made from peachwood and jujube wood? Could it be that those two types of wood really differed from other woods somehow?

If possible, he wanted to test the difference between making Magic Artifacts with peachwood and jujube wood and making them with Small-leaf Sandalwood.

"Of course not." Gu Qi shook his head. "Our family doesn't make religious Magic Artifacts. If you want peachwood, Old Li next door makes solid wood furniture. His factory does have Walnut Wood. Can that make do?"

Gu Zhao lay back on the sofa again. "A Siberian Tiger and the Land Rover you drive are both tigers. Why don't you make do with a Siberian Tiger instead?"

"Hey!?" Gu Qi raised his brows.

Just then, Li Man and the housekeeper emerged from the kitchen carrying dishes. "Time to eat!"

The next day, Thursday.

Li Man went to inspect several stores, while Gu Qi took Gu Zhao to the furniture factory in the suburbs.

Aside from the offices and workshops, the factory's largest area was occupied by warehouses, divided into a raw materials warehouse and a finished goods warehouse.

Gu Qi first took Gu Zhao to greet the workers, then led him on a tour of the warehouses. Finally, from a small card-access storage room at the very back of the raw materials warehouse, he took out a piece of Small-leaf Sandalwood.

"So heavily secured?" Gu Zhao asked.

"The wood in this one little room is worth more than all the wood outside combined. Do you think it needs this much security?" Gu Qi carried the wood as he led Gu Zhao toward the workshop.

Gu Zhao thought about what he had just seen in that small storage room. There had not been much inside, and it all looked like perfectly ordinary wood. He could not tell at all that these were the kings of timber: Huanghuali and Small-leaf Sandalwood.

"If you want to get hands-on, there's rosewood and Black Rosewood over there. Take whatever you want and play around with it."

After they reached the workshop, Gu Qi pointed at some leftover scraps beside them. Those pieces would have been made into little pendants and similar trinkets anyway, either given away or sold. He did not forbid the factory workers from occasionally taking some for themselves.

But Gu Zhao had no interest in that. "I'd rather watch you turn the beads. How many bracelets can this make?"

"Didn't you say you wanted two? One each for me and your mother." Gu Qi snorted. "Making me craft something to give to me—only you could pull that off."

"But I'll draw talismans and consecrate them for you!" Gu Zhao declared righteously. "I cultivated with grandpa and made great progress. Consecrated Magic Artifacts can let you live to a hundred without ever falling ill!"

Gu Qi gave a dry laugh but said nothing.

People around Guangzhou, being so close to Hong Kong City, more or less firmly believed in feng shui and fate. That was one reason why Gu Qi and his wife had never objected to Gu Zhao following his grandfather in Daoist cultivation since childhood, even when he occasionally acted all mystical and strange.

Now that Gu Zhao was seriously talking about drawing talismans and consecration, Gu Qi thought it was still a good thing, an expression of his son's filial devotion. So he stopped arguing.

It was only a piece of Small-leaf Sandalwood!

After that, Gu Qi did not call any workers over to help. Aside from occasionally having Gu Zhao lend a hand, he handled everything himself.

Cutting, drilling, polishing...

Once all the beads had been finely polished, Gu Qi picked up three of them. "One carved bead per bracelet is enough, right?"

"Yes." Gu Zhao nodded repeatedly, then took out and spread open a Heavenly Dipper Talisman. "Two beads will do."

Gu Qi said nothing. He merely glanced at the talisman paper, put on his glasses, and sat off to the side with a bead to begin carving.

Gu Zhao went over to watch. Using the small hole as a horizontal axis, Gu Qi shifted his carving knife across the bead's surface, and lines quickly appeared one after another.

A moment later, a Heavenly Dipper Talisman took shape, forming a circle around the bead's surface. Once it was filled in, the bead seemed at first glance to be covered in Daoist runes, brimming with the mysterious beauty of art.

"It looks amazing!" Gu Zhao praised.

"I studied under a master specifically to learn this craft." Gu Qi said proudly. "Yin-Yang Line Carving, relief carving, Flat Carving, Round Carving—your little sandalwood intaglio line carving is child's play, all right?"

"Dad, you're awesome! Now it's my turn!"

As Gu Zhao spoke, he took out the cinnabar and brush he had prepared long ago from his backpack. With a light dip, he began drawing the talisman. At the same time, Mana circulated through his body, flowing along the brush into the cinnabar, then merging into the sandalwood bead.

The father and son worked together in perfect harmony. Before long, they had finished three beads inscribed with Heavenly Dipper Talismans, then strung them together with the other beads to make three bracelets.

"Three bracelets?" Gu Zhao asked.

"One is for you!" Gu Qi snapped.

Gu Zhao chuckled. "And that's it?"

Gu Qi nodded. "One final polish, and they're done."

Feeling the faint spiritual power emanating from the three bracelets, Gu Zhao was thrilled. These bracelets used much more cinnabar, and their effect was even better than Heavenly Dipper Talismans drawn on yellow paper.

The Heavenly Dipper Bracelets were complete!