Chapter 388: Ancestral Craft
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Because they had both continued speaking in Mandarin, Hans and the others did not understand what they were talking about.
When Chen Haonan walked away to get some beverages, Hans asked impatiently, “What were you chatting about?”
Li Du sighed, “You don’t want to know—you’d want to beat this chap up.”
Annoyed, Hans asked, “He despises whites like me?’
Li Du said, “It was just that he couldn’t stop cracking jokes—many jokes which I don’t understand!”
He felt that Chen Haonan was like a giant baby: someone who looked like an adult but still had a child’s soul. This had caused him to develop a weird charm, and that helped him to gain people’s trust easily. In any case, Li Du had strangely enjoyed chatting with him.
It was a strange feeling—there were many unexplainable things exist in this world.
They rested while drinking the beverages.
As Li Du drank his cola, he looked at the messy display of statues in the living room. The statues were mainly made of wood: birds, humans, buildings, plants, et cetera.
Most of the statues were incomplete; many of them had been put aside half done. Hence, he was not able to differentiate the identity of the statues—he could only make guesses.
Staring at the wooden statues, he asked, “Brother Haonan, why are these only half complete? You gave up?”
Chen Haonan said indolently, “No longer interested.”
“Don’t tell me you’re doing wood carving out of interest?” Li Du asked.
Chen Haonan said, “Yes, don’t we humans work for pleasure? I do wood carvings for pleasure. Since it doesn’t give me pleasure anymore, I’ve stopped.”
Li Du couldn’t help giving him a thumbs-up—the life of a rich kid was really cool.
Big Quinn and Godzilla moved the wood over.
Chen Haonan went forward to take a brief look, and said, “The quality of this red sandalwood is very good. Your asking price of 40,000 dollars is a little low—even 80,000 dollars would be fine.”
Li Du translated and Hans asked in surprise, “Then should we raise it to 80,000 dollars?”
Chen Haonan said, “People always say I’m naive, but you guys are even more naive than me. You want to change the asking price that you’ve already quoted?”
He dragged out a piece of the wood to take a look, then nodded in agreement, signaling that he would buy it.
There were some smaller wooden planks and blocks that had been in the unit; Li Du got Godzilla to bring them all down, with the intention of gifting them to Chen Haonan. For a wood carver, the wooden blocks were his main material.
As Godzilla got to work, Li Du asked, “What do you plan to carve out of the mahogany logs?”
Mahogany was best for furniture-making; it would be a waste to use it for other things, such as accessories.
Chen Haonan said, “I plan to make beads.”
“What?” Shock was written on Li Du’s face.
Chen Haonan glanced at him with a weird look in his eyes, and said, “Make beads, bracelets, Buddha beads, lucky beads, and so on.”
Li Du pointed at the timber and said, “You are using such big pieces of mahogany to make beads? Isn’t that squandering it all away?”
Chen Haonan said, “What squandering? I’m gonna spend 80,000 dollars to buy your wood, and in return, I can earn 100,000 dollars.”
Collectible bracelets were popular in the current market, but using such huge pieces of mahogany to make beads was really a waste, and such a pity.
This was because it would be sufficient to use a small piece of mahogany to make beads. For the same weight, a whole piece of mahogany would definitely be pricier than smaller, loose pieces.
Li Du had wanted to persuade him; although this kid was rich and had never been in need of money, it was still not right to be so wasteful.
He was about to open his mouth, when Chen Haonan looked away from him and shifted his attention to Godzilla and Big Quinn. He said in surprise, “Woah, you also have this good stuff? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
The boxes that Godzilla and Big Quinn were carrying were filled with the wooden planks and blocks. Li Du had thought they were worthless scraps, but looking at Chen Haonan’s reaction, it didn’t seem that way.
Hans’s response was even faster. Although he did not understand Mandarin, he could tell what Chen Haonan’s expression implied. “Come here, buddy—come over and take a look, see if you like this.”
Among the pieces of wood in the box sat a stump-like piece. It had a beautiful grain with a soft luster, and a mesmerizing, light-reddish hue.
Chen Haonan picked up this heavy piece of wood and examined it over. He then laid it on the coffee table and circled around it for another look. Then he laughed, and said to Li Du, “Interesting. Buddies, you guys sell mahogany from China?”
Li Du said, “No, I got this from a storage auction. The timber was from a storage unit. What about it?”
Chen Haonan exclaimed, “Great wood. This is South China scented rosewood, which is rare on the market now. To see this stuff in America!?”
Li Du was astounded to hear this; he dad not expected these scraps to actually be valuable material.
The South China scented rosewood was the best wood in the mahogany family. Antonio had told them that the price of this type of wood was insane: a ton of it could cost as much 1.5 million dollars!
Of course, this small stump was not as heavy as a ton; possibly 40 pounds, since it took Chen Haonan some effort to pick it up.
Patting the stump, he said, “Okay, throw in this scented rosewood, and sell it all to me for 100,000 dollars. How about it?
As the appraisal of mahogany was quite a complicated science, Li Du reminded him gently, “Would you like to get someone to appraise the authenticity?”
Chen Haonan said, “That won’t be necessary. No need to go to so much trouble just for 100,000 dollars.”
Li Du blinked, thinking, I have met a couple very rich men these past two days.
Noticing that he did not say anything, Chen Haonan laughed loudly. “I’m joking with you. My father always tells me that I shouldn’t splurge, even if I have enough money. However, there really is no need to verify this, I trust you—it is what you say it is.”
This put Li Du under a lot of pressure. “Nope, we’ve just met. This is not good, bro, it’s better to get an expert third party to verify.”
Chen Haonan howled in laughter again, and said, “Fine, Fine, I shall not tease you anymore. Did you actually believe what I just said?”
He patted the stump and said confidently, “When it comes to this wood, I’m more of an expert than any third party. This is my livelihood—do you know what my family’s business is?”
“Not sure,” Li Du shook his head, thinking: I would be God if I f*cking knew that.
This guy was driving him nuts. He was always joking and tossing Li Du into a mental ditch.
Chen Haonan explained, “My family is in the furniture and wood business. I am now into wood carvings because my grandfather had done wood carvings, as did my great-grandfather and my father. I grew up playing with wood, so it’s a piece of cake to distinguish real mahogany from fake stuff.”
Li Du hurriedly clasped his hands in awe. “Pardon me, so you have inherited this ancestral craft?”
Chen Haonan replied, “Indeed, I’ve inherited this ancestral craft. My father was meant to do so, but all he wanted to do was business, so he’s forced me to take over.”
At this point, he sighed.
