Chapter 8

On the Rainbow Bridge, the maidens depicted in the carvings seemed to enlighten Ye Qing, opening a new window for him.

The carvings on Rainbow Bridge originated from the works of a famous painter from the Ming Dynasty. This painter, Qiu Ying, was a complete painting enthusiast, especially skilled at painting women.

The ancient buildings below Rainbow Bridge were once a well-known pleasure street in ancient times. Naturally, the pleasure street needed fire prevention charms, and Qiu Ying was a master of this art. His fire prevention charms were naturally highly sought after by countless pleasure street tycoons.

In 2007, Rainbow Street was listed as a provincial-level key cultural relic protection unit. When the city of Zhongyun invested heavily in renovating Rainbow Street, several well-preserved fire prevention charms were discovered from some corner. This discovery caused a great stir. The Zhongyun municipal government, in their excitement, selected a few of the maidens depicted in the charms and had them carved into reliefs by stone carving masters, which were then placed on Rainbow Bridge for all citizens to admire.

There are now twenty-four maiden carvings on the bridge, four of which are original works from Zhongyun, while the rest are publicly known works by Qiu Ying.

The Rainbow Bridge, where Ye Qing now stood, was naturally one of the main thoroughfares in Zhongyun, otherwise, how could it be so congested during the evening rush hour?

Rainbow Street is a cultural card for Zhongyun, known throughout the country. The inspection team for civilized and hygienic cities would certainly come here to assess the environment.

If... if the entire road, including the curbstones, were carved with beautiful maiden carvings or other patterns, what would happen?

If he told others this idea, they would surely laugh at him. Stone carving naturally requires a carving machine, and for something as intricate as a maiden carving, the smallest chisel must be used, and it would take at least an hour to complete.

Even engraving words on a stone tablet costs several hundred yuan. How much would it cost to carve a maiden figure, which is ten times more complex, on marble?

Thirty minutes later, Ye Qing arrived at the industrial park. The park was vast, and one of the top 500 companies in the country, Huaxing Heavy Industry, which is also the leading manufacturer in Zhongyun, was located here.

Ye Qing remembered that Huaxing Heavy Industry was expanding its third phase of the factory, and there were many marble slabs piled up at the construction site. The main structure of the third phase was already up, with cranes densely scattered throughout.

Ye Qing drove his minivan to a comprehensive building under renovation, found a man who looked like a foreman, and asked him if there were any marble offcuts available. The foreman, after lighting a cigarette and taking a deep puff, pointed to a pile of marble nearby and told Ye Qing to take whatever he wanted.

Ye Qing selected seven offcuts roughly the size of curbstones, returned to his workshop, and summoned Niu Yi, Niu Er, and the rare-quality metal rapid carving machine.

There were many CAD drawings of character reliefs online, but finding one that met Ye Qing's requirements was not easy. The curbstones, once installed, would be rectangular and lying flat on the ground, while most beautiful maiden carvings were standing.

The proportions of the figures would not look good if carved onto the stone slabs. Fortunately, China has a long history and a wealth of classical scroll paintings, especially horizontal scrolls.

Ye Qing found a beautifully detailed horizontal scroll depicting a maiden half-lying and dancing, with flowing sleeves and clouds, like the flying apsaras of Dunhuang.

This CAD drawing had outstanding details and a large size. To transfer it to the stone slab, Ye Qing had to adjust the size parameters, but this was not a problem for him.

Half an hour later, a piece of marble weighing over fifty pounds was lifted onto the metal rapid carving machine by Niu Yi as if it were a chick. When Ye Qing pressed the start button on the control tablet, the carving head began to spin at an unimaginable speed, cutting through the air with a whirring sound.

After the stone powder flew, a lifelike classical maiden with flowing sleeves appeared on the stone slab.

Perfect!

Ye Qing was so excited that he slapped his thigh. The machine's automatic clamping and automatic tool calibration were unmatched by ordinary metal carving machines in terms of speed and craftsmanship.

Long-term stone carving requires cooling the tool head with water. Ye Qing connected a water pump to the machine and used his phone to time the process. He handed the control of the carving machine to Niu Yi and had Niu Er transport the marble to the worktable for processing.

When the remaining six pieces of marble were all carved, Ye Qing found that, with the attribute bonuses from Niu Yi and Niu Er, the total time used was just over two minutes.

Ye Qing quickly calculated that if the machine operated continuously for 24 hours, it could carve over 120,000 pieces of granite in a month.

...

The next morning at eight o'clock, Ye Qing brought soup buns and porridge to the hospital.

Ye Jiangning was lying in bed receiving an IV, and Xu Lan was sitting in a chair, yawning.

After placing the breakfast, Ye Qing took out twelve bundles of cash from his backpack.

"The CNC gantry milling machine sold for 180,000 yuan. I kept 60,000 yuan for the factory as working capital," Ye Qing opened the food box, gently blew on it, and handed it to his mother. "120,000 yuan should be enough for Lu Xiaozhen and Qian Dongdong's medical expenses. I'll think of ways to get more orders in the meantime."

"The remaining workers have all resigned," Xu Lan's eyes were heavy with fatigue. "If we can't complete the remaining orders, we can subcontract them. It's not a problem if we don't make money, but we can't lose our credibility."

"The orders have been canceled. The boss of Jiangshan Stone Factory learned about the accident at our factory and the resignation of the workers, so he canceled the orders."

"Then... sell the remaining machines and materials," Ye Jiangning's voice was weak, and even speaking caused him pain. "Lu Xiaozhen and Qian Dongdong were seriously injured. When they are discharged and can undergo a work injury assessment, we must compensate them."

"We'll take it step by step. The more urgent it is, the less we'll get for the sale. There are many factories in the park. I'll look for some subcontracting work."

After talking for a while, Ye Qing asked his parents what they wanted for lunch.

"Buy some pork ribs from the market and stew them. Don't just order from a restaurant; the food cooked at home is more nutritious," Xu Lan instructed.

Ye Qing nodded and said he would go to a few mechanical manufacturing factories in the park to look for subcontracting work and hire some temporary workers if he found any.

Leaving the hospital, Ye Qing bought two fruit baskets from a fruit shop and delivered them to Lu Xiaozhen and Qian Dongdong's wards.

Lu Xiaozhen was in a regular ward and was already awake. Seeing Ye Qing, he had no resentment, as the accident was caused by someone else, not Ye Qing.

Lu Xiaozhen's wife, however, did not give Ye Qing a good face. She believed the boss should be responsible for the accident that happened to her husband at work.

"Rest well. The factory has no money, but we have many machines. Don't worry about saving money; use the best medicine," Ye Qing took out a roll of money from his pocket and stuffed it under Lu Xiaozhen's pillow without hesitation. "Here are 5,000 yuan. Use it to buy some supplements."

Lu Xiaozhen tried to refuse, but his wife's sharp gaze stopped him.

Qian Dongdong was in the ICU, and Ye Qing couldn't enter, so he gave the fruit basket and money to his family.

With 50,000 yuan left, Ye Qing had something to do.

At nine o'clock, Ye Qing parked his minivan in front of the Zhongyun City Construction Bureau. He took the documents Han Youpeng had left in the car and walked into the spacious office building. He found a man with a work badge and asked if he knew which floor Han Youpeng worked on.

"Third floor, Municipal Engineering Office."

Ye Qing thanked him and walked to the third floor. The door to the Municipal Engineering Office was open, and a middle-aged man with thick glasses, who looked very dignified, was lecturing Han Youpeng.

Ye Qing's father's old classmate also worked here and was a director, but Ye Qing did not plan to seek him out first.

"Xiao Han, I'm doing this for your future. If you can negotiate a lower contract price, the director will naturally look at you differently."

"Go to Jiangshan Stone Factory this afternoon and hint to Sang Qing that the Construction Bureau is still undecided and is also negotiating with other stone factories. Make him nervous!"

Han Youpeng nodded obediently, more compliant than a model student.

Ye Qing almost laughed. This guy was doing a great job of putting on a show; the attitude he had yesterday when he hitched a ride was completely gone.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Han Youpeng walked out, muttering to himself. Seeing Ye Qing standing in the corridor, he was surprised. "Dizzy... You didn't come to deliver the documents, did you?"

"There's something else," Ye Qing returned the documents Han Youpeng had left behind and handed him a few color-printed pictures. "Look at these."

Han Youpeng took the pictures with some confusion and then exclaimed in surprise.

Five photos, five marble pieces of different shapes.

There was no doubt about it. He had been dealing with marble for days and could easily recognize the type of stone in these color photos.

But...

All five differently shaped marbles were carved with the same relief.

Han Youpeng's eyes widened. The relief was exceptionally exquisite, depicting a maiden in a long dress, half-lying and dancing, with flowing sleeves and clouds. Although it was static, it gave Han Youpeng the illusion that the maiden was dancing gracefully to the rhythm, her long dress and sleeves swaying with the music.

"Beautiful, too beautiful." He was so excited that he slapped his thigh and shouted, "It's a work of art. I think it's even more beautiful than the twenty-four maiden carvings on Rainbow Bridge."

"Look, look, this girl's eyes are so expressive, it feels like she's giving me the eye."

Han Youpeng held the pictures lovingly, wishing he could examine them under a microscope.

After shouting for a while, Han Youpeng suddenly came to his senses.

"That's not right. Why are you showing me these pictures?"

Han Youpeng looked confused, like a baboon lost in a maze. "I would love to own these stone carvings, but I'm just a nobody and can't afford them."

Ye Qing took the pictures back and pointed to the shape of the marble. "Look closely, what do these marbles resemble?"

"Resemble what?" Han Youpeng finally focused on the marble and, after a long look, realized they resembled curbstones.

"Curbstones?"

"Exactly." Ye Qing said confidently, "What do you think would happen if we replaced the curbstones on a few main roads in the city with these?"

"Would... would..." Han Youpeng's mouth seemed to be stuffed with a telegraph machine, stammering for a long time before finally saying, "I get it, the Zhongyun municipal government would go bankrupt!"