Later he found employment painting pieces of glass--used at the time as trophies or plaques to commemorate special occasions and achievements. "At that time," Li commented, "I never considered that doing this kind of work was 'art' but rather 'craft'. I had only one idea; I just wanted to be able to paint.
他在一家賣玻璃的店裡，找到一份畫玻璃的工作（在早期還不流行銀盾、銀盤的時候，本地人若逢結婚、遷居、開店等喜慶，或其他值得紀念的事，就請人將賀詞寫在玻璃上，再畫上適當的圖案，配上框後當禮物贈送）。