Glass Butterfly

Ruan Youqing always woke up very early.

When I went out, I looked up at the sky, and there was no cloud, and I felt hot when I looked at it.

Lu Zhen's workshop is located in an old industrial park on the outskirts of the city, and the subway line has not been dug that far. After getting off the subway, it takes another 10 minutes to ride a shared bicycle to get there.

From a distance, you can see a few dusty stainless steel three-dimensional words "Venice Glass Workshop" on the black marble courtyard wall.

"Brother Youqing!" The little girl stood at the gate of the courtyard with her schoolbag on her back and waved her small arms at him.

Ruan Youqing parked her bicycle and walked over quickly: "No class today?"

"It's Saturday today. Dad said you're coming. He agreed to bring me here after I finished my homework last night!"

Since the end of the university, Ruan Youqing has no concept of the day of the week at all, it seems that every day is the same.Lu Zhen's daughter, Lu Keke, is only in the first grade this year, and she likes the gadgets he makes. The green eight-treasure candy hanging on her schoolbag was a gift from Ruan Youqing before she entered school.Although it was just an experiment, the little girl couldn't put it down, so she asked her father to process it for her. A small link was added, and a rope could be hung on the zipper of the schoolbag. Fruit candies made of glass were shattered.

"What do you want me to do today?" Coco looked up at him.

"Not today, I came to discuss things with your father." Ruan Youqing squatted in front of her when she saw that she was struggling to raise her head.

"Okay..." The little head drooped, and the people watching couldn't bear it.

"I'll make you a lollipop next time." Ruan Youqing patted the top of her head.

The little girl nodded desperately, like a bobblehead doll placed above the center console of a car.

After watching the little girl enter the office not far away, he went straight into the factory building that was already under construction. Lu Zhen stood in the corner and opened his mouth to bite the fried dough stick that his wife raised to his mouth.Husband and wife have lived together. Although it is not bitter now, it really cannot compare with the past. I heard that at that time, this place was still a well-known crystal chandelier factory.

Around the turn of the millennium, the gorgeous and retro European court style prevailed in the decoration industry.Whether it is a new high-end apartment, or an old house that can be refurbished at home, luxurious marble floor tiles and plaster ceilings with carved patterns are unavoidable.Of course, the most important thing is that there must be a gorgeous and dazzling crystal lamp in the center of the ceiling, which is simply the standard European three-piece set back then.

And Lu Zhen's glass factory took advantage of this momentum.At that time, after graduating from high school, he made a special trip to the south to study art, invited a few masters back, and transformed the original glassware factory at home into crystal lamps to start a large scale.In his words, isn't crystal just glass with a good refractive index? How easy is it to saturate a market worth tens of thousands? Hotels, hotels, big bosses, how many people are there?Let's just make ordinary glass models, and make exquisite ones, which anyone can afford.The factory became well-known within two years, cooperated with real estate developers, and shipped several hundred or thousands of well-decorated houses. At one time, the number of employees reached six to seventy. Lu Zhen felt that calling the glass factory was not grand enough or modern enough. I simply changed the name of the factory. I don’t know where I heard that Venice, Italy is the manufacturing center of the glass industry today. After checking, it seems that no one is using it for the time being. That’s how the name of the Venetian Glass Workshop came about.

But fashion is the wind, and it never stops.With the change of mainstream aesthetics, the gorgeous retro style of European style has gradually become synonymous with vulgarity. People empathize with other people, and one after another, they fall in love with American country style, Japanese style warmth, and European style simplicity.Until now, the frigid and minimalist style has become a new trend, and crystal lamps, which are extravagant items that can only be chosen in hotel lobby, are no longer favored.

In the past few years, the factory has shrunk from nearly a hundred people to 30 to [-] people, and then to seven or eight people now.The skilled craftsmen are almost gone, and Lu Zhen has also sold some factories and land one after another, leaving a small workshop to support his family and accept some OEMs for assembly line glass products.And the open space in front of the factory was used by Mrs. Lu to raise chickens, saying that it was to keep her daughter away from the meat and eggs produced by hormones.

However, Boss Lu is naturally optimistic. He firmly believes that fashion is a cycle, just like a fashion show. After going around and around, one day the crystal lamp will return to the stage.

When Ruan Youqing met him in his sophomore year, the place was already like this, and the conditions in the school were limited. At that time, Xiang Yu asked him if he wanted to find a place where he could practice glassblowing to try his hand, so he brought him here.Lu Zhen hit it off with him at first sight, and saw that he was really interested in glass, so he taught him everything he could. Unfortunately, his skills were limited, and it didn't take long for the cheap apprentice to succeed.

In the past two years, Ruan Youqing has often come here, with endless ideas in his mind, always wanting to try one by one, and Lu Zhen will help him when he is free.

"Youqing came so early." Aunt Lu saw that he hurriedly took back the soy milk cup in her hand. Lu Zhen stretched her neck and complained before drinking it. The woman stuffed the cup to him: "Take it and drink it... "

"Brother Lu, sister-in-law." Seeing that he was disturbing the happy morning of the couple, he was a little embarrassed, hurriedly changed into his work clothes, and found the latest batch of blueprints.Although the glass cup OEM has a complete assembly line, some special-shaped containers with a small quantity are less than [-] to [-] in a batch, so it is not worth opening a mold separately, so they are still handmade.Ruan Youqing would occasionally try to make some handmade cup sets, and sell them in Lu Zhen’s online store, which is much cheaper than imported handmade products, and the sales are good. Of course, he will not ask Lu Zhen for profit, which is considered repay.

Ruan Youqing took off his work clothes and took a shower in the small bathroom of the staff dormitory. He wiped the ear canal with a cotton swab so that there was no trace of moisture. Then he put the hearing aid back in and was about to have lunch with the young workers. , Lu Keke dragged his butt away before his butt touched the stool, and dragged him by the hand to Lu Zhen's office: "Brother Youqing will eat with us." Lu Zhen and his wife were already sitting at the table waiting for him.

The dishes on the small dining table in the corner of the boss’s office are different from the staff meals outside. The large plate in the middle is full of chicken nuggets in thick oily red sauce, with skin and bones mixed with bite-sized potatoes and green and red peppers. It looks like this one It was the little stupid chicken that Lu Zhen mentioned on the phone.

"Don't be so troublesome next time, Mrs. Lu." Although he was a little embarrassed, he didn't make any excuses, and sat down to eat with them.I don't know if it is a psychological effect, but the chicken is indeed more tender than the meat chicken in restaurants outside.

"You said you came to me for something, what is it?" Lu Zhen was a real person, chatting with him while eating.Ruan Youqing swallowed what was in his mouth and took a sip of water: "Brother Lu, I have graduated, but I haven't found a job yet. The school will clear the dormitory next month." He speaks slowly, so he always speaks directly ,save time.

"Then..." Lu Zhen and his wife looked at each other: "You come to our house to make do with it?"

Lu Keke's round eyes rolled around, and before Ruan Youqing could reply, he stood up and celebrated: "Good!"

Ruan Youqing smiled and shook her head: "That would be too troublesome. Can I just borrow here, and it will be convenient for me to do things."

Lu Zhen was taken aback for a moment, with a look of embarrassment on his face.In the heyday of the Venetian glass workshop, there was a three-story staff dormitory, but now it has long been rented and sold.Most of the remaining employees are locals living nearby. Two young masters from other places are squeezed into a dormitory built out of an old factory building, and there is no room for anyone else.

Ruan Youqing saw that Lu Zhen was in a dilemma, and offered to ask: "Isn't there still a container?"

That container was originally a cheap storage room, but now there is nothing to store, and it has been idle for a long time.

"How can you live in it! It's just an iron box! Don't make trouble, your child is really..." Mrs. Lu frowned. Brother commutes together, Keke also..."

"No." Home is home, and friction between family members is unavoidable, let alone outsiders who are not relatives or relatives. Ruan Youqing can understand this point. He interrupted Mrs. Lu: "Thank you, sister-in-law, I'll be fine if I live here. If it doesn't work, I'll think of another way."

"Okay, he can stay here if he wants to." Lu Zhen seemed to be used to his stubbornness: "Then we have to find a way to tidy up before we can live there.

This is not a problem for Ruan Youqing. He is a student of the sculpture department and has worked with various materials. Hands-on ability is the foundation of the foundation.

After dinner, he returned to the dormitory, drew a simple design with a few strokes, divided the container into two, one side for himself, and three windows on the other side... oh no, a big skylight is needed to ensure sufficient space illumination.

He lightly touched the half-person tall lemon tree in the flower pot beside him, the ends of the branches trembled slightly, and the two small black things on the leaves did not move, they were always sleeping after dark.He leaned over to inspect the bright and dark green leaves one by one at a close distance, and sure enough, he found a few butterfly eggs that were not as big as rice grains.

"Tomorrow I will open the window." He whispered to the sleeping butterfly.

In their spare time, a few young workers in the glass factory seldom avoided the boring repetitive work. They helped Ruan Youqing unframe an abandoned tin box, made a narrow door and installed a large glass window. finished.The interior of the container with windows is narrow but bright. Ruan Youqing cleaned the walls and floors thoroughly, and put a simple iron frame bed and an old table in, and it was a residence that satisfied him.He hung a layer of gauze curtains in the middle of the elongated container, half of the window was for the lemon tree, and the other half was for himself, but there were no more butterflies on the lemon tree. That day he left the window and left. When he returned, two black The swallowtail has disappeared.

Ruan Youqing has lived with them for more than half a month since they broke out of their cocoons and became butterflies, but beautiful things are always short and fragile, and the moment they find butterfly eggs means that their lives are coming to an end.

The first butterfly landed on his shoulder when he was a child. Since then, Ruan Youqing has raised many butterflies. Some of them choose to die in the familiar smell where they are, and some choose to die in the last long journey of life, and they stay behind. The eggs will hatch after a while, repeating this wonderful but monotonous cycle.

The night before he moved out, Xiang Yu couldn't sleep, they were used to each other: "Handsome guy, can you hear me?"

It was quiet in the middle of the night, and Ruan Youqing noticed someone talking, so she touched the dry box next to the bed, and put on her hearing aid: "Huh?"

"Take care of yourself. If you need help, you must come to me. You are so talented and work so hard, you will definitely achieve something." Xiang Yu said firmly.

"Maybe." In fact, everyone said that the path of pure art is difficult, and there are very few people who can get ahead without changing careers.Ruan Youqing didn't have such a strong determination to get ahead, become an artist or something, and he didn't figure out what the so-called talent was. He just hoped for an ordinary life and could do what he likes with peace of mind.

Sensing the other party's worry, Ruan Youqing comforted him: "It's okay, there are senior sister and brother Lu...and my mother is here, and grandpa." University, at least they were reunited as mother and son.

"Well, don't forget me when you become famous." Xiang Yu said as if they were going to say goodbye forever.

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Whoever will be online tomorrow hhhhh

In addition, this article will be updated on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and daily from next week~