The three burly men in the courtyard nodded repeatedly, showing even more respect to Chang Lili, who was looking around, than they had to to Meng Yuxiu.
One of the burly men stepped forward to greet her, saying, "Miss Chang, my name is Lu Qing. Please feel free to ask me anything."
The other two burly men also stepped forward to introduce themselves, saying the same thing.
Chang Lili looked very serious right now. Meng Yuxiu noticed that she always took things very seriously whenever they involved weapons.
“Master Lu, have you noticed that these daggers you made don’t even resemble the basic sketches?” Chang Lili said bluntly.
"This... I... I just can't figure out how to connect these two daggers together and make them work like you've shown in the diagram," Lu Qing said, looking troubled.
Chang Lili was at a loss; she couldn't think of a solution for the two daggers.
She first looked at the utensils in the room, many tools, all of which looked very exquisite. A satisfied smile appeared on her face, which she herself did not realize.
At first, she picked up an item and asked about its purpose, but she was worried about too many things, and asking like that wasn't a solution.
Chang Lili then asked Master Lu for a book introducing the names and uses of various tools. After reading it for a while, she suddenly had an idea and asked Master Lu if there was a book that collected all kinds of parts. Master Lu said yes, so she asked for it to read.
She looked and thought, and finally found the part she had been looking for at noon: an irregularly shaped double torsion spring.
"An unusual double torsion spring?" Master Lu and his group looked at the intricate spring in astonishment. "This...this must be too difficult to make."
The irregular double torsion spring consists of two spring bodies and has two connecting arms to connect two objects. The two connecting arms connect to two limiting grooves, allowing the two objects to maintain stable movement at the same time and finally return to their original positions at the same time.
But putting it into practice is very difficult, especially for these rough men who forge swords and knives; it's as difficult as climbing to the sky.
"It's okay, I'll do it. You just need to lend me a hand. Not only do you have to make it, but it also has to be the size of a fingernail." Chang Lili was not discouraged at all, and her words were light and easy.
The blacksmiths looked troubled until they saw that Chang Lili had actually made an exquisite object the size of a fingernail, and then they saw hope.
Making a rough prototype the size of a fingernail is easy, but polishing it is extremely difficult.
The first Chang Lili broke while being ground, then the second and the third, and every single one after that broke. By noon, at dusk, and into the dead of night, the tiny parts were scattered all over the ground, and they were never successfully ground.
The blacksmiths were dejected, and Chang Lili also felt frustrated; she couldn't figure out where she had gone wrong.
She was unwilling to give up and decided to do the next one herself.
Her face and body were covered in black ash, but she didn't look disheveled at all; instead, she looked like a professional blacksmith.
Meng Yuxiu, having finished his official business, pushed open the door and entered. Chang Lili didn't even notice him. He watched as she tried to polish the spring, but unfortunately, it still broke.
She angrily threw the broken pieces in her hand to the ground and stepped on the spring-like corpse lying on the ground.
Meng Yuxiu couldn't help but laugh, and Chang Lili then turned to look at him.
He suppressed his smile, crossed his arms, and said, "Such an exquisite weapon is probably rare in the world. It must have been forged by a top blacksmith. You've only been working with these things for the first time, and you've already done a great job. If you could make this weapon in just one day, what chance would other blacksmiths have?"
Chang Lili then realized that the sky was already full of stars. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's right. Even the best blacksmith would have to put in a lot of effort to make something this good."
Her emotions came and went quickly. As if she had just remembered something, she slapped her forehead and asked urgently, "My mother-in-law must be looking for me everywhere. I have to go back right away."
“I’ve already sent someone to let her know you’re safe and sound, that you’ll be back safely today,” Meng Yuxiu said with a smile.
Chang Lili let out a breath and said, "Why didn't you say so earlier? I thought that one was about to succeed. I'll try again."
Master Lu looked at Chang Lili with heartache, admiring her patience, and got up to help her.
When it came to the polishing stage, everyone held their breath and watched intently, even though they felt that failure was still on their minds.
This time, the spring didn't break; the irregularly shaped double torsion spring was successfully made.
"I made it! I made it! You saw it, Meng Yuxiu, I made it!" Chang Lili jumped up excitedly.
Instead of beaming with joy, Meng Yuxiu rushed to Chang Lili's side and separated her from Master Lu and the others.
He subconsciously felt that, in such a happy state, she would probably hug anyone she could get her hands on.
Sure enough, Chang Lili pounced on him.
Master Lu and the others stiffened for a moment, and then tactfully stepped back.
Chang Lili carefully placed the finished product away, said goodbye to the blacksmiths in a carefree manner, and walked out of the courtyard.
Meng Yuxiu led her into the carriage and said with a puzzled look, "Although you are a woman, you have such talent that many men cannot match. I can see that you like these things. Why don't you go to the blacksmith shop to learn this skill properly? Why do you have to end up in a brothel?"
Despite being exhausted after a long day, Chang Lili was in a good mood. She stopped humming a tune and said, "Do you think I don't want to? But as soon as I touch these things, my mother-in-law gets angry. And she gets really angry. It's probably because I'm a woman. I often hate that I'm not a man."
When she said her last sentence, Meng Yuxiu felt a little strange. For some reason, he didn't like her saying it that way, and subconsciously replied, "I think it's good that you're a woman."
"Huh?" Chang Lili was surprised. She pondered the words for a moment, then recalled some embarrassing scenes and quickly said, "What... what are you thinking about!"
Meng Yuxiu looked completely innocent: "That's really what I think..."
"Shut up! You have to keep what happened today a secret for me. You can't let my mother-in-law know." Chang Lili blushed and changed the subject.
"Oh?" Meng Yuxiu became unfriendly. "If you want to shut me up, you'll have to come up with something to shut me up with."
Chang Lili frowned: "Huh? I was trying to help you, and you're turning around and blaming me? How can you repay kindness with enmity?"
Meng Yuxiu said slowly and deliberately, "No problem, no problem. Think about whether you want to offer something."
Chang Lili was lost in thought, the warm yellow light illuminating her face. She pouted and hugged herself, saying, "Let me tell you, I have no money, and I won't sell my body!"
Meng Yuxiu narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on her, slowly moving from head to toe.
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