"Mr. Bunok, could you introduce us to the remaining four masters?" Wang Dafu asked, as he needed to do some basic preparation before the interview.
"Of course, who shall I introduce first?" the driver mused for a moment, then said, "Let's start with Mr. Kaka, he's 12 years old this year!"
"12 years old!" Li Sisi exclaimed in surprise, "At 12, one can become a master in your place?"
"Not for ordinary people, perhaps, but for geniuses, it's perfectly natural!" the guide commented with a sigh. "Kaka is the most talented person I've ever met. His grandfather was the most skilled shoemaker in the village, and the shoes he made were worn by six different royal families in Europe. It's just that no one knew he was the one who made them..."
"Wait, I'd like to ask, do those six royal families include the Liechtenstein royal family?" Vivian suddenly interjected.
"What? Which country did you say?" the guide seemed somewhat flustered, as if he had never heard of this name.
"Alright, I understand. Please continue!" Vivian sighed.
"Well, anyway, Kaka's grandfather was incredibly skilled. He grew up listening to his grandfather hammer and watching him make shoes, so he developed a deep interest in shoemaking. He made his first pair of leather shoes at the age of three and then immersed himself in his own world. It wasn't until he was seven that his shoes were noticed by the Lv Group, and he became one of their contracted handmade shoemakers!"
"Goodness, what a genius!" Li Sisi gasped, covering her mouth.
"Indeed. Now, let me introduce the second person, that fellow named Snowdon. Unlike Kaka, he's the oldest among everyone here, currently 63 years old."
"However, if you ask me to find any notable achievements from him, I really can't think of anything worthy of praise. He's been making shoes since he was 15 and hasn't changed at all. The shoes he makes are always the fastest to sell, with people coming to buy his creations almost every week. It's just that he's never become a contracted artist for any luxury brand, which is quite baffling."
"Is this the extreme of mediocrity?" Wang Dafu mused. The guide continued his explanation, "Next is the third, Ms. Corgi. I know the name might sound a bit amusing, but that's her name. However, her legs are not short; among all the women in the village, she has the longest and most alluring thighs. If I could be stepped on by her with her bare ankles, I would..." He coughed, "Just pretend I didn't say anything, I was just joking!"
Upon hearing the guide's words, most of the men present showed knowing smiles. Li Sisi glanced at her own legs, while Vivian looked at Li Sisi's legs and asked, "Sister Sisi, why don't you step on this guide, Mr. Bunok, with your legs?"
"What are you saying, child!" Li Sisi's face instantly turned crimson. The men present all focused their gazes on Li Sisi's legs again, and even the guide driving the car couldn't help but glance back, a look of ecstasy appearing on his face.
"Ahem, let's continue talking about Ms. Corgi!" Wang Dafu said.
"Alright, Ms. Corgi is perhaps the most particular among everyone. She only makes white and red leather shoes, and exclusively high heels. She makes no other styles, because she believes that only high heels are the most beautiful shoes in the world, and everything else exists to accentuate high heels."
"And the high heels she makes sparkle as if they were made of crystal... I'm not saying the material is crystal, but it's as if you can truly see the brilliance of crystal in the shoes. She is also the second contracted artist, with contracts from all women's footwear luxury brands worldwide. It is said that the British princess who had the car accident in the tunnel was wearing high heels made by her when she died."
"Of course, I'm not implying that such high heels carry a curse, but rather because, ever since that princess wore her high heels, she never switched to any other maker!"
"No wonder in the Jiangnan Mall, the most expensive items are high heels with the 'kj' logo, with an average price of over 10,000 yuan!" Li Sisi exclaimed.
Before coming, she had naturally conducted detailed research on the Italian masters' high heels from Jiangnan Group. In fact, the main reason that prompted them to investigate Jiangnan Group was that someone discovered a pair of white high heels priced at a staggering 120,000 yuan on the Jiangnan Group's Jiangnan Mall. This pair of shoes bore the 'kj' logo, indicating they were crafted by the master known as KJ.
However, this particular pair of high heels was not sold by Jiangnan Group; it was listed by a member of the group. It was reportedly obtained from an early blind box from Jiangnan Group, found in Shenyang, and was also the first pair of shoes discovered by Miss KJ from blind boxes in China.
Although Li Sisi couldn't discern how beautiful that pair of white high heels truly was, feeling they looked much like ordinary white high heels, according to the seller, the low resolution of the pictures posted online prevented them from being fully appreciated. If viewed up close, one would understand how perfect an work of art these high heels were.
At that moment, Li Sisi was even somewhat tempted, but the price of 120,000 yuan made her give up directly.
So, these high heels were crafted by a master who specialized in high heels, which explained their exceptional nature.
"Then, the fourth one?" Wang Dafu asked finally.
"This fourth one is the most special, because he's a madman!" the guide said with emotion. "York was a perfectly normal guy. We grew up together, peeked at girls bathing together, and then went to Florence's red-light district together..."
"Unfortunately, he encountered a despicable woman. This woman cheated him out of all his assets and even got him imprisoned for five years. After his release, York went mad. But astonishingly, before his madness, he had never learned any shoemaking techniques."
"Yet, after going mad, he became self-taught and made a pair of leather shoes with borrowed tools. By chance, an appraisal expert from Lv saw them that day and bought them for 2,000 Euros, making him an Lv contracted artist!"
"At the same time, he declared that he would buy every pair of shoes York made from then on. This was the same treatment as the officially signed masters of Lv. However, this guy hardly makes shoes in his daily life; he only makes them with complete focus when he's destitute or when inspiration strikes him by chance."
"As a result, his annual output is less than 10 pairs on average. I really don't know how to describe him!" Bunok sighed. At the same time, the taxi stopped, and everyone found themselves having arrived at a small village.
However, unlike the other villages they had passed, this village was brimming with the aura of craftsmen. This was because almost every household had various signs displayed at their entrance. There were signs for shoemakers, leather bag makers, belt makers – essentially, any sign related to leather goods could be seen, indicating a family that dealt in leather products.
Occasionally, they could see into the backyards of these houses and discovered that almost every household had one or two machines emitting black smoke.
Some were new, modern machines, while others were old, rusted, traditional equipment covered in black oil. Simultaneously, the air was filled with a pungent odor.
"This is the smell of leather production!" Bunok explained. "Do you know why everyone calls tanners 'stinky tanners'? It's because the smell during the processing of various leathers is extremely overpowering. That's why we only work during the day and strictly forbid it at night; otherwise, no one would get any sleep!"
"Wow, this place is practically a leather capital! Is it possible that so many talented individuals emerge from here!" Li Sisi exclaimed, her eyes filled with excitement. Was this the legendary European craftsmanship? As expected, it was the same as the rumors she had heard. In this extremely modernized and industrialized world, these Europeans still preserved such unadorned handicraft production. No wonder their products sold for such high prices; it was not without reason.
Compared to Li Sisi's excitement, Wang Dafu's attitude was more critical. Because of the instructions from some people, his primary mission this time was to find fault.
However, after a brief inspection, he had to admit that he truly couldn't find any flaws. This place was just too artisanal.
"Which one would you like to meet for an interview first?" Bunok asked.
"Let's see Mr. Kaka first!" Wang Dafu said. Before he could be overwhelmed by the smell, Wang Dafu felt it necessary to dedicate all his energy to the 12-year-old child, as he was likely the easiest one to find fault with.
"Alright!" Led by Bunok, they passed through rows of busy working houses and entered what appeared to be the most ordinary house in the village.
The first thing that greeted them was the living room of the house, which was in utter disarray, with everything tossed on the floor. The dining table was also covered with various instant food items, making it look like a child's room.
However, considering that the owner of this house was a 12-year-old child, everything seemed perfectly natural.
The only normal thing in the room was on one wall, where over a dozen photographs were displayed. Among them were several photos of a very young child with an elderly person, and a few more with other relatives.
But the largest photo was a picture with a Chinese person.
"It's Huang He, this person is Huang He!" Li Sisi, having done her homework, recognized the Chinese person's identity at a glance. She also discovered elegantly written Chinese characters beneath this photo in a gold marker: "A gift for my little friend, a keepsake from Mr. Kaka."
Besides this photo with Huang He, there were also pictures with the main entrance of the Jiangnan Group headquarters and other iconic buildings of the Jiangnan Group. One photo even showed him in a room with the Jiangnan Group logo, instructing several Chinese workers on shoemaking.
Although it seemed somewhat incongruous for a 12-year-old child to guide adult workers, seeing the child's face filled with enthusiasm and his devotion to shoes made everything appear perfectly normal.