Chapter 11: Visiting the "Weapon Refiner"
Grandma said, "Take this piece of steel to your Uncle Jiang at the village head and ask him to add some to your axe. In the past, when we repaired hoes and axes, we would take old things to your Uncle Jiang's house to add some iron and rebuild them."
Normally, it would just need to be remade by adding a little iron, but when grandma saw that Li Xiang used the axe so roughly that the blade became bent easily, she remembered the "treasured" piece of good steel at home.
"This is a good thing. Your father picked it up when he was working in the tunnel. He said it was a blade from some machine, used for drilling holes, but it broke and no one wanted it anymore, so he brought it back." Grandma chattered.
When talking about her son who died young, the grandmother was naturally very sad.
Only those who have experienced it can understand the sorrow of seeing a young person die. Fortunately, grandma still has Li Xiang.
Li Xiang actually had an impression of this thing. He didn't know what it was before, but now that he has lived two lives and listened to his grandmother's "explanation", he suddenly understood that this was most likely the "rock-breaking roller" on the shield machine.
This kind of steel is naturally the Rolls-Royce of steels, an absolute special steel.
Li Xiang leaned over and tried to lift the steel, but his grandmother quickly told him, "Be careful, be careful, it's very heavy."
"Don't hurt your back...be careful not to hit your feet..."
"Grandma, it's okay, don't worry."
As his grandmother instructed, Li Xiang lifted the steel and was secretly surprised, because such a small piece was so heavy. Li Xiang estimated that it was at least 70 or 80 kilograms. It looked like only 30 or 40 kilograms.
"Good steel!" Li Xiang couldn't help but praise.
Although there is rust on the outside, it is actually a shallow layer. I wiped the dust on the inside with my hand, and suddenly the shiny metal surface was revealed.
Such a good piece of steel was probably broken during the tunnel excavation, and the project party might not want it anymore, so my father picked it up.
In fact, his father also stuffed a pack of cigarettes into the bag before picking it up. The other half was picked up by another colleague, who also stuffed cigarettes into it.
But his father passed away the following year after he moved back. This piece of steel has been left until now and can be regarded as one of his father's relics.
Since he was going to use the steel to repair farm tools, Li Xiang thought, since he was going to repair them anyway, he might as well repair more. So, he took his old hatchet, sickle, axe, pickaxe, and this "rock-breaking roller" and rode his tricycle to the village entrance to find Uncle Jiang.
Uncle Jiang’s name is Jiang Jianguo. He used to get along very well with Li Xiang’s father. You can say they were childhood friends.
The Jiang surname is also the only foreign surname in Lijia Village now.
It turns out that there are three surnames in Lijia Village. Li is the most common, with more than 30 households, followed by He, with seven or eight households, and Jiang is the least common, with only two households.
Now that most people have moved away, Jiang Jianguo is the only outsider in Lijia Village.
"Uncle Jiang, are you home?" Li Xiang parked the car in front of Jiang Jianguo's house. Not seeing anyone, he shouted.
Soon, a tall middle-aged man came out of the house. He walked briskly and was in his early forties, younger than his father. He was very handsome, but had white hair on his temples.
Uncle Jiang is getting old too. Li Xiang sighed inwardly.
"It's Li Xiang. When did you come back?" Jiang Jianguo was very happy to see Li Xiang.
"On the Mid-Autumn Festival." Li Xiang looked around and asked, "Aunt and Cai'er were not here?"
Aunt Jiang was very beautiful when she was young. She was from the Miao ethnic minority. Uncle Jiang was also handsome, so their daughter Jiang Caier was quite stunning.
Jiang Caier is 9 years younger than Li Xiang. Because the two families have a good relationship, when they were young, Li Xiang often held Jiang Caier's hand and ran around the village.
The Miao people have two surnames, one is Miao and the other is Han. Han surnames were introduced later, while Miao surnames are diverse, such as "Ge Lai", "Ge Kai", "Zhai Fang", "Zhai Liu", "Meng Ci", "He Mi", "He Gua", etc.
Jiang Caier's mother's surname is "Kuaye", which is also an authentic Miao surname.
So in terms of ethnicity, Jiang Caier could follow her father into the Han ethnicity, or she could follow her mother into the Miao ethnicity. But for some special treatments and policy benefits in the future, there is no doubt that Jiang Caier chose the Miao ethnicity on her ID card.
"Your aunt is weeding in the fields. Cai'er is studying in high school in the county town. She probably won't be back until the National Day."
"Oh oh." Li Xiang quickly took out a cigarette, handed it to Uncle Jiang, and took out a lighter and lit it for Uncle Jiang himself.
"This cigarette is good." Uncle Jiang took a deep breath, blew a smoke ring into the sky with satisfaction, and praised it.
Li Xiang told him his purpose and took down the special steel as he spoke.
Uncle Jiang's eyes lit up and he said, "I know this piece of steel. Your father once boasted to me about it. But, alas..."
Li Xiang remained silent, knowing that the other party was also sad for his father. After all, they were good brothers.
"Uncle Jiang, can you please help me see if it can be clamped between those old farm tools and built?" Li Xiang said.
Uncle Jiang rubbed his hands with a cigarette in his mouth and said vaguely: "I'll try, it may be a little difficult."
Then the only blacksmith in Lijia Village started working.
It took a lot of effort to cut off a small piece with a cutting machine. I weighed it on the scale and it was about four pounds, so I took it to the furnace to melt it.
But after burning for a long time, there was only a dark red layer on the surface. Uncle Jiang took it out carefully and hit it a few times with a big hammer, but the steel block was still very hard.
Li Xiang said let me try it!
He thought he was much stronger than Uncle Jiang, so he picked up Uncle Jiang's big hammer and smashed it down hard! "Dang~"
The hammer collided with the red-hot steel, making a deafening sound and sending sparks flying.
However, when the two looked closely, they saw only a slight dent in the steel block.
"Oh my god, this is too hard, isn't it?" Li Xiang was surprised, but also more delighted. The hardness of this steel exceeded his expectations. If a new Gaomi knife was made of this steel, how sharp would it be? Uncle Jiang said with some regret, "My furnace temperature is not high enough, and I don't have an air hammer. Let me recommend someone to you. Go to the county town and find Lei Xiazi's blacksmith shop and ask him to help you forge. He has more equipment, a higher furnace temperature, and an air hammer, which is more convenient than what I have here."
Uncle Jiang told him the address and asked Li Xiang to give his name so that he could get a discount on the processing fee.
"Thank you, Uncle Jiang."
Li Xiang drove his tricycle and rushed to the county town again.
We found Lei the Blind's blacksmith shop and found that he was indeed a blind man, but not completely blind, but with one eye.
He used to work in a large steel plant, but an accident caused him to go blind in his right eye, so he retired early.
After retiring, he returned to his hometown and opened this blacksmith shop.
This is his hobby, he likes blacksmithing.
When Blind Lei saw it, he was shocked. Wow, the "rock-breaking cutter" of the tunnel boring machine is an imported model. He was so excited that he felt excited.
(End of this chapter)
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