Chapter Twenty-Six: The Pliers Worker

  "What do you mean?"

  Seeing the old man throw in the soap, Qin Feng's eyes narrowed and he shook his head, saying: "Old Xia, I'm helping with the cooking, not picking up your soap for you. If you think I'm doing a bad job, you can just send me back!"

  The old man's action would be inexplicable to ordinary people, but Qin Feng, who had been wandering in society for years, understood the old man's intention at a glance.

  That piece of soap has been used for a long time, and now it's only the size of a coin. It's so slippery that you can't even grasp it with two fingers, let alone pick it up with one hand.

  As Qin Feng understood it, this behavior was the basic skill for thieves to practice their craft. Although Qin Feng had never seen it before, he had heard fellow practitioners in the city mention it when he used to pick up scraps in Cangzhou.

  Everyone has their own principles to follow.

  There's a saying that goes "at three years old, one can see the old age", Qin Feng was clever since he was young, his father worked in education and had very strict family rules, so from a young age, he never took anything that didn't belong to him.

  So all these years, he would rather bring his sister to endure hunger and hardship than steal a single penny from others. This is Qin Feng's principle of being a human being and the bottom line he adheres to.

  It's known that thieves have a terrible reputation in society. Although Qin Feng has now entered the juvenile detention center, he never thought of himself as having committed a crime. Now, the old man is actually asking him to practice thieving skills, which suddenly makes Qin Feng furious.

  "Huh? Kid, you know quite a bit, don't you?"

  Looking at Qin Feng's face, the old man didn't get angry, but instead said with a playful tone: "Come on, tell me, what's this 'picking up soap' all about?"

  "Why ask when you already know?"

  Qin Feng curled his lip and said, "Isn't the flexibility of fingers when holding soap just like that? You must have been an eighth-level craftsman before you came in."

  For a long time after liberation, the technical workers in the factory were one of the most popular professions in the city. The eight-level fitter at that time was an unbeatable technical talent, and its status is not inferior to that of senior engineers today.

  However, in society, "thief" has another layer of meaning, that is, the so-called "little thief". The "thief" Qin Feng mentioned here naturally refers to the latter.

  "Lao Xia, you didn't used to be like this when you first came in, did you?" Qin Feng's gaze towards the old man was somewhat off.

  Although the old man had never told Qin Feng about his affairs, Qin Feng had learned some things through other channels.

  Lao Xia was imprisoned in the early 1960s, and as for his crime, Qin Feng wasn't clear about it. He was locked up for a full twenty years until he was released in the early 1980s.

  Moreover, after investigation, Lao Xia's case was found to be somewhat unjust, but as there were many miscarriages of justice at that time, the government simply compensated him with some money and prepared to let Lao Xia return to his hometown.

  But unexpectedly, the old man left for more than a month and returned to prison, saying that all his family members had died, he had nowhere to go, and since the government had wrongly convicted him, they should be responsible for supporting him in his old age.

  What happened to Lao Xia was actually very common in those years.

  Those prisoners who were sent to remote border prisons, many of whom spent 30 or 40 years there, grew old and stayed in the prison without wanting to return home, instead doing some work around the prison.

  In some remote areas of the northwest, some towns even emerged as a result of the gathering of these released prisoners.

  Who knows how the old man convinced the prison leaders, he was actually allowed to stay, although it was just to help with farming and cooking, but in fact, it's almost like being retired.

  But now in Qin Feng's view, the government may not have wronged Lao Xia back then. He might be a habitual thief and bandit king, otherwise how could he think of letting him practice this technique?

  "Hey, you usually look like a quiet and reserved person, but your words are sharp!"

  After hearing Qin Feng's words, the old man didn't get angry, but nodded and said: "You guessed it right, this is the hand method for practicing thievery. Although you're a bit older, since you've practiced martial arts before, your finger flexibility is still good."

  "Thievery? That's just a nice way of saying it, isn't it?" Qin Feng shook his head and said resolutely: "I won't learn this!"

  When Qin Feng and his sister were wandering around, picking up scraps, they were mistaken for thieves more than once. The kind of disdainful and defensive gaze, Qin Feng still remembers vividly to this day.

  "You're talented, but your thinking is as outdated as an old man's, so muddled!"

  Seeing Qin Feng's appearance, the old man couldn't help but furrow his brow. What he had learned was not just thievery, but a vast array of skills that encompassed everything. Back in the day, so many people on the jianghu wanted to learn from him but were unable to; who would have thought that he would be shut out by this young whippersnapper?

  "Dad taught me that as a person, one must be upright and honest, and cannot do things in a sneaky or dishonest way!"

  At that time, for his sister, Qin Feng could pick up scraps, help people harvest and plant crops, but even in the most difficult times, he never thought of going to steal, let alone learn this set of skills taught by the old man.

  "You stinky brat, the art of thievery has been passed down for a thousand years, but when it comes out of your mouth, it becomes 'stealing'. Do you even know what the art of thievery is?"

  When he saw Qin Feng's stubborn face, the old man was both amused and exasperated. In his lifetime, he had only accepted one disciple, but that ended in heartbreak. Now, he wanted to accept a closed-door disciple to pass on the secret techniques of the sect, but unexpectedly, Qin Feng flatly refused him.

  However, according to the rules of Jianghu, a teacher must carefully select his apprentices, and similarly, an apprentice also has the right to choose his teacher. Qin Feng didn't even want to learn, let alone talk about becoming an apprentice.

  "Stealing is stealing, anyway I won't learn from it. If you're capable, go to the prison and report me, at most I'll just stay in there for a few more years." Qin Feng was not very old, but once he made up his mind about something, no one could force him to change it.

  "You're such a stubborn kid..."

  The old man shook his head helplessly and said, "Follow me to another place, I'll tell you a story. Whether or not you want to learn from it is up to you to decide later!"

  "You're talking nonsense, I won't learn from you!" Qin Feng curled his lips, but still followed him. He was very curious about this old man, at least that set of kung fu skills was enough to make Qin Feng look up in admiration.

  The old man wasn't afraid of Qin Feng, and he took him to the living quarters for prison staff. He pushed open a courtyard door, revealing a bungalow with two bedrooms.

  "Sit down, this is where I live." After arriving at the main room, the old man greeted Qin Feng and sat down in the taishi chair in the house.

  "Lao Xia, you're even more senior than Hu Suo's superior, a solitary and exclusive institution?"

  Qin Feng looked at Old Xia with some curiosity, generally speaking, such a bungalow was allocated to one family for residence, but the old man occupied the whole suite by himself, which seemed somewhat unreasonable.

  "Huh? Made from top-quality Huang Hua Li wood?"

  When Qin Feng's eyes saw the chair under the old man, he suddenly stared straight, and when he looked at the table next to the chair, his saliva almost flowed down.

  "I said Old Xia, you're being too extravagant, aren't you?"

  He wiped the dusty table with his sleeve, and Qin Feng raised his head, looking suspicious: "These things of yours, aren't they all stolen from other people's homes?"

  Liu Lao Ye Zi from Cangzhou came from a wealthy family, and the household items were very exquisite. He had a deep understanding of antique furniture and other miscellaneous items. In the more than half a year before his death, Qin Feng also learned a lot of relevant knowledge along with him.

  The chair under the old man and the table next to it were all made of high-quality Huanghuali wood. Judging from the style, workmanship and carvings on the wood, they should be objects from the Ming Dynasty.

  Yellow Flower Pear wood was introduced to China during the Ming Dynasty when Zheng He sailed to the Western Ocean, at that time it was used as ballast due to its heavy wood material, later because of its fine and fragrant wood, similar to musk, it was used for making furniture.

  Soon, Huanghuali furniture became popular in the Ming dynasty, which also led to the large-scale felling of Huanghuali trees in surrounding countries. By the Qing dynasty, it was already very difficult to see large pieces of Huanghuali wood, making Ming dynasty Huanghuali furniture all the more precious.

  Although in '93 people's lives were not very rich, Qin Feng heard from Old Man Liu that in the antique shops of Beijing which had just taken shape, a set of well-preserved Ming Dynasty huanghuali furniture could sell for at least 180,000.

  The old man's desk set should come with two chairs, but even though it's missing one chair, at the very least it could sell for three to five thousand yuan, which is a small fortune in today's economy.

  If it were in the Liu family's old house, Qin Feng would not be surprised to see this furniture. But seeing it here at Lao Xia's place, combined with what happened earlier, it was no wonder that Qin Feng thought that Lao Xia had stolen it.

  "Bullshit! Why would I need to steal? This thing was bought with real money!"

  The old man's years of prison life had long since ground his personality away, but today he was enraged by Qin Feng. Not only was his offer to take on an apprentice rejected, but he was even suspected of being a thief?

  "Not right, how did you little brat know this thing? Weren't you just a scavenger before?" The old man suddenly stopped talking, looking at Qin Feng with some doubt and surprise in his eyes, it seemed that this kid was hiding more than he understood!

  "I've learned these from someone else, so don't bother who it was." Thinking of the late Old Man Liu, Qin Feng's heart felt a pang of sadness.

  Since the accident at home, he only felt the care of his elders on that old man. Although Liu Lao didn't take him in, he and Liu Zimo wore mourning clothes for seven days to guard the old man's spirit.

  "You've got some taste, kid..."

  The old man didn't ask Qin Feng where he had learned it from, but instead waved his hand and said: "Then take a look at the other objects in my house."

  To be honest, Qin Feng understood some antique appraisal. For the old man, it was more joy than surprise, because in what he wanted to pass on to Qin Feng, this was also a very important skill.