The carriage outside suddenly stopped, and the servant driving the carriage said respectfully, "Sir, Miss, we have arrived."
Yu Fuling stopped talking, glanced at Liu Ziqi, and got off the carriage first with Yu Jiao.
Gu Yun patted Liu Ziqi's shoulder and said seriously, "If it was really Meng Qingshan who took Su Jian away, he would definitely not let her starve. Ziqi, don't think too much."
Liu Ziqi nodded slightly, sighed softly, and said to Gu Yun, "I'm fine. As long as Su Jian is alive... that's good enough."
Gu Yun actually didn’t think he could find Meng Qingshan, but Liu Ziqi had been looking for him for so many years, so he had to go to Changkui in person to see whether he had any results.
The two men got off the carriage. Outside was a blacksmith shop where a shirtless strong man was hammering iron. When he saw a few people coming in, he put down his work and wiped the sweat from his face with the long scarf hanging around his neck.
The servant went forward and greeted the strong man. The strong man invited Liu Ziqi and others to sit at a low table nearby. He picked up the teapot on the table and poured a few cups of tea. He said, "What do you want to fight for?"
Gu Yun took out the blueprint. The strong man took it and looked at it. He pointed at the small pliers and the scalpel and said, "This thing can be made. The other two curved needles will take some effort. They are too delicate and may not be made. I will try my best."
Gu Yun asked, "How long will it take to make these objects?"
The strong man said, "You have to try it to know. Wrought iron is not easy to fry. I need to carve molds for these things first."
He pointed to the surgical forceps on the drawing and asked for details, "Is the head of this object bent?"
Several people looked at Yu Jiao. Yu Jiao stood up and picked up a piece of charcoal from the furnace. Yu Fuling had taken out a few sheets of rice paper from her sleeve and placed them on the table.
She wrote on the paper, "The head of the pliers is slightly curved and has teeth inside." She also drew detailed tooth marks on the side.
The strong blacksmith was illiterate, so he asked, "What did the girl write?"
Gu Yun read Yu Jiao's words again. After listening to them, the strong man understood in his heart and nodded.
Yu Jiao pointed to the lock of the surgical forceps and wrote, "There are bite marks here too."
After hearing this, the sturdy man looked embarrassed. He originally thought that this small pair of pliers would be the easiest to make, but he didn't expect that the details would be so troublesome.
He asked someone to bring out the beeswax and said, "I will make a mold according to the pattern. Can you please stand by and see if it is correct?"
The strong man used a knife to cut the beeswax and said, "These pliers should be made in two separate halves like scissors. However, I saw that there were no detailed drawings on the joints in the girl's pattern, so I couldn't tell how they were connected together."
Yu Jiao realized that she had been overthinking it. She thought for a moment and wrote on the paper, "Just use pot nails to fix it like you would with scissors."
It took more than half an hour for the strong man, under Yu Jiao's guidance, to constantly adjust and carve the beeswax in his hands, and finally made a mold for half of the pliers.
With the experience from the first half, he became more skilled when doing the other half. After the two pieces of beeswax pliers were made, he took high-temperature resistant red oil clay, filled the clay core and the outer mold, and left small holes.
After the strong man finished these, he personally placed the two items in a cool place in the house and said to Yu Jiao, "The mold must be dried in the shade, and then heated in the kiln to burn the wax mold into a hollow shell before pouring wrought iron."
Yu Jiao nodded slightly, and the sturdy man used the 'lost wax method' to make the scalpel in the same way.
Next are two curved needles. Curved needles are easier to make molds than tweezers. The reason why curved needles may not be made is that they are difficult to cast into shape.
The sturdy man simply found a branch and carved out the shape on the drawing. After Yu Jiao's guidance, he distinguished the subtle differences at the needle tip, left the needle hole, and pressed a mold on the red oil clay.
"The mold has been carved. Whether it can be made into the object in the drawing depends on God's will." The strong man swept the beeswax scraps off his body and said, "The gentlemen and ladies can go back and wait for news. If it is completed, I will send someone to tell Prefect Yang immediately."
It took nearly two hours to make these molds, and it was already Chou time.
After getting on the carriage, Liu Ziqi looked at Yu Jiao and Yu Fuling and asked, "Miss Yu, how about we have dinner at the restaurant?"
Yu Jiao and Yu Fuling didn't care. It was already past dinner time and Yu Jiao didn't really want to eat at Yang's house, so she nodded.
Liu Ziqi gave instructions to the servant driving the carriage outside, and the servant drove the carriage to Liuxiangju, the best restaurant in Qingzhou Prefecture.
When they arrived at Liuxiangju, Gu Yun asked the waiter for a private room. Seeing that Liu Ziqi and Gu Yun were both dressed like wealthy young men, the waiter smiled and said, "Two gentlemen and young lady, please go upstairs."
After entering the private room, the waiter brought in tea and asked enthusiastically, "What would you like to eat? Our lotus leaf chicken..."
Before the waiter could introduce the signature dishes, Gu Yun interrupted him and said, "Bring up any of your specialties."
He picked up the teapot on the table, glanced at it, and said critically, "How dare you serve this kind of tea to guests? Replace it with the best tea in your store."
Seeing that he was so particular, the waiter knew that he would be difficult to serve, so he spoke more carefully, took the tea on the table, and apologized with a smile, "I will change the tea for you gentlemen right away."
When Yu Fuling saw how grand he was, she felt that Liu Ziqi next to him was better in comparison.
Not long after, the waiter brought in new tea. Gu Yun took a look at the tea leaves, but was still not very satisfied.
Liu Ziqi said, "This is not Kyoto. If you want to drink good tea, you can drink as much as you want in your house when you return to Beijing."
Seeing him speak, Gu Yun restrained himself from making things difficult for the guy.
But it didn't last long before he started to find fault with Yu Jiao again, "Little mute, if you can't make those things, will you be unable to cure General Xiao's hand?"
Yu Jiao ignored him.
Gu Yun insisted, "I told you to be dumb, and you really became dumb? Can't you write? Write it for me."
Yu Jiao frowned, she felt that this young Marquis Gu was like a lunatic, a complete playboy.
Liu Ziqi glanced at Gu Yun and said, "You should restrain yourself and stop picking on the little girl."
Gu Yun immediately calmed down a lot, and asked with some dissatisfaction, "Zi Qi, why do you always protect her?"
At this moment, the waiter knocked on the door and said, "Gentlemen, the food is here."
The waiter pushed open the door, placed the dishes on the table, and said flatteringly, "Enjoy your meal."
Seeing that the table was filled with fish and meat, Yu Fuling boldly asked the waiter, "Do you have any lighter dishes?"
The waiter replied quickly, "Yes, cold bamboo shoots and cabbage and tofu are OK?"
Yu Fuling looked at Yu Jiao, and Yu Jiao nodded. Seeing that she still cared about her, she curled her lips and smiled.
The waiter said, "I'll ask the kitchen to make it for the girl right away."
Yu Fuling raised her eyes to look at Liu Ziqi and explained in a low voice, "My sister has a sore throat and can only eat light food."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
