Chapter 35

Jiang Ping's words calmed Zhang Chenlin slightly. She forced a smile and said, "I'm fine. I just heard some noise coming from your room and thought someone had really broken in, so I came to check."

Jiang Ping said sincerely, "Then I really have to thank you. With a neighbor like you, I feel much more at ease!"

Zhang Chenlin had not fully recovered from the awkwardness of the moment and just wanted to go back to calm herself down. So she hurriedly nodded at Jiang Ping and said, "It's nothing. Since it's you, everything's fine. I... I'm going back!"

After saying this, Zhang Chenlin quickly returned to her room. She kept her head down all the way, as if she were trying to avoid something.

Watching Zhang Chenlin's slender figure disappear up the stairs, Jiang Ping couldn't help but smile and mutter to himself, "Not only is she beautiful, but she's also quite warm-hearted. Having a neighbor like this... is really great!"

However, for Jiang Ping, having a pretty neighbor was nice, but the two large pieces of Hainan rosewood in his room were even more important. Over the next two days, he didn't go to school but came to the small courtyard in Huahua Alley every day to carefully process those two pieces of rosewood.

Perhaps because of the awkward experience the other day, Zhang Chenlin didn't peek out of the window at Jiang Ping's room for the next two days. When they occasionally met in the courtyard, they just nodded and smiled, which was considered a greeting.

Jiang Ping's appreciation for his pretty neighbor was just general admiration. The somewhat distant relationship between them didn't bother him at all. In fact, his attention was entirely focused on the two pieces of rosewood, and he had no time to think about anything else.

As the saying goes, "Hard work pays off." After three days of effort, the heartwood of the two pieces of Hainan rosewood was finally fully revealed to Jiang Ping.

Both pieces of heartwood were about twenty centimeters thick, which would have been rare even a hundred years ago. After a simple polish, it was clear that the wood was dense and the grain was beautiful, making it a high-quality piece of rosewood.

The only flaw was that due to its age, the base of one piece of heartwood had been half-eaten by insects, making it unusable for furniture. Of course, the part that wasn't eaten wouldn't be wasted. Jiang Ping planned to make it into a string of beads for sale.

Even by the market price of 2002, a high-quality string of rosewood beads could sell for several hundred yuan. This piece of wood could make at least four or five strings, worth several thousand yuan. Although it didn't seem like much, as the saying goes, "A little here, a little there, and it adds up." Jiang Ping certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to make money.

As for the large pieces of rosewood, Jiang Ping already had plans. He intended to use the wood to make two Ming-style armchairs. If there was enough material left, he would also make a matching tea table.

After all, making furniture from Hainan rosewood had been popular since the Ming Dynasty. Using such rare old rosewood to make Ming-style furniture was a perfect match. Moreover, Ming-style rosewood furniture was becoming increasingly popular in the market, and it could fetch a high price. For Jiang Ping, who was currently short of money, this was undoubtedly very important.

Of course, making a set of Ming-style armchairs was no easy task and would take several months. So Jiang Ping decided to make the beads first and focus on the armchairs after the college entrance exam.

However, the setting sun outside reminded Jiang Ping that even if he wanted to make beads today, it was too late. It was already time to go home from school, and to avoid arousing suspicion, he had to go home on time. So Jiang Ping carefully locked the door and rode his bike home.

After returning home, Jiang Ping was no different from usual. He washed his hands and ate dinner under his mother's urging. After resting for a while, he went back to his room. The family thought Jiang Ping was reviewing his lessons and naturally didn't disturb him. In fact, after returning to his room, Jiang Ping wasn't reading but carving a piece of wood the size of a matchbox.

The wood Jiang Ping was carving wasn't ordinary; it was a small piece cut from the agarwood he had recovered. Although this piece of agarwood wasn't large, its resin content was very high, and the entire piece was dark gray and relatively heavy, making it a high-quality piece of agarwood.

Jiang Ping planned to carve a pendant from this piece of agarwood to give to Zhao Guoquan's granddaughter, Jiajia. To make the little girl like the pendant, Jiang Ping decided to carve a pattern that no one had ever carved before—a cute robot cat!

Over the past few nights, Jiang Ping had been carving this pendant. With his efforts, the pendant was already basically shaped. All that was left was to polish it and thread a red string through it before giving it to the little girl.

Even Jiang Ping himself was very satisfied with this, his first carving work after being reborn. Although the pattern on the pendant was carved with simple strokes, the robot cat was vivid and lifelike, demonstrating the carver's excellent artistic taste and exquisite carving skills. This confirmed that although he had been reborn, he hadn't lost any of his previous skills.

Jiang Ping put away the pendant, planning to get a red string the next day and wait until the weekend to give it to Jiajia. Then he carefully collected the wood shavings from his carving and put them into a small steel grinder, grinding them into fine powder and placing them in a small glass bottle he had prepared.

The glass bottle already contained more than half a bottle of agarwood powder, all of which Jiang Ping had ground from the wood shavings of the past few days. Don't underestimate this agarwood powder; when burned, it not only had a faint, pleasant fragrance but also had pain-relieving and calming effects. Even in 2002, the best agarwood powder was worth more than ten times the price of gold. Although the agarwood powder Jiang Ping ground wasn't top-notch, this small bottle could still sell for over a thousand yuan to experts.

However, Jiang Ping didn't plan to sell this bottle of agarwood powder but to give it to Jiajia. The little girl had poor sleep, and the calming effects of agarwood would be beneficial to her.

Just as Jiang Ping finished grinding the agarwood powder, he heard the phone ring outside. Soon, his sister Jiang Wei called out loudly, "Brother, it's your phone!"

"Who could it be at this hour?" Jiang Ping muttered to himself as he went out to answer the phone.

Seeing her brother come out, Jiang Wei deliberately held the receiver in her hand and winked at him, saying, "It's a girl! Calling you so late, brother, I'm more and more impressed with you!"

Even though Jiang Ping had lived two lives, he still didn't know what to do with this mischievous sister. He just whispered to Jiang Wei, "Go away, don't talk nonsense, and give me the phone!"

Although Jiang Wei liked to tease her brother, she wasn't without limits. She just wrinkled her cute nose at Jiang Ping and then handed him the phone.

Jiang Ping smiled at his sister, took the phone, and asked in a low voice, "This is Jiang Ping. Who is this...?"

Before Jiang Ping could finish speaking, Li Qian's anxious voice came from the other end of the line, "Jiang Ping, why haven't you been to school for several days? My father is furious. He said at dinner that if you don't come tomorrow, he'll go to your house to find your parents!"

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