Chapter 15: Is it fun to improve eavesdropping?
Before Zhou Tinglan could look up and see clearly, a figure flashed in the black smoke, and then his body became lighter and someone picked him up and rushed out of the forging room door.
She was held in a chair, and then a warm touch came from her cheek.
"Xie Zechuan..."
Before Zhou Tinglan finished speaking, she heard Xie Zechuan ask with concern: "Lan'er, are you hurt anywhere else?"
"No."
"Lan'er, I know you want to improve the knives used daily by the people in the city as soon as possible, but you also have to take care of yourself."
As he spoke, Xie Zechuan's eyes turned slightly red, and in Zhou Tinglan's eyes, he looked like a big dog abandoned by its owner.
Zhou Tinglan quickly coaxed: "Okay, I will pay attention next time."
After hearing Zhou Tinglan's assurance, Xie Zechuan asked suspiciously, "Are you serious?"
"Really, Xie Zechuan, if other soldiers in the barracks saw you like this, would they laugh at you?" Zhou Tinglan teased.
"No." Xie Zechuan said firmly.
"Why?"
“Because they don’t dare.”
Zhou Tinglan was speechless. She scolded, "Xie Zechuan, why do I feel like you've become so shameless since the imperial decree granting the marriage came down?"
"Lan'er, you're too kind."
shameless!
The manager came over and told the two that the black smoke in the forging room had dissipated. When Zhou Tinglan mentioned the forging room, he immediately thought of the knives he had forged before the explosion.
She said to Xie Zechuan beside her, "Come and take a look at the knife I forged."
Xie Zechuan was pulled up from his chair by Zhou Tinglan and walked towards the forging room.
The forging room was a mess, with broken pieces of materials everywhere. Zhou Tinglan walked to the remains of the forging furnace and was about to bend down to fiddle with it, but was stopped by Xie Zechuan.
"I'll do it." Xie Zechuan said, squatting down to search, and a small new-style kitchen knife appeared in the wreckage. He picked it up and wiped off the black ash on it.
"Is this it?"
Zhou Tinglan took it gently, and her face was reflected in the blade. She was ecstatic, as the new daily utensils were finally fully improved.
"Yes, that's it. I've found suitable ways to improve the rest of my tools, but this one's still not sharp enough."
She thought of something, her eyes swept across the forging table, picked up an ordinary kitchen knife and handed it to Xie Zechuan together with the kitchen knife in her hand.
"Look, the big one is the one I bought from the blacksmith shop in the city, and the small one is a sample of the kitchen knife I improved."
Zhou Tinglan gestured to Xie Zechuan to try it out. Xie Zechuan followed his orders and found a piece of hard iron from the ground. He used two knives to chop the hard iron block and carefully examined the two broken ends.
The new kitchen knife has a smooth cut edge, while the old kitchen knife bought from the blacksmith shop has a rough cut edge and is even difficult to cut.
Afterwards, Zhou Tinglan found two other improved instruments for Xie Zechuan, and the results showed that their performance was undoubtedly several times stronger than before.
Zhou Tinglan looked confidently at Xie Zechuan, who was stunned after trying the device. "How is it? Is it very useful after the improvement?"
"Not bad." Xie Zechuan praised: "After the modification, it is not only more convenient to use, but also its durability and toughness have been greatly improved."
"I intend to promote the forging methods of these tools. The forging skills should not be limited to the forging class, but should be promoted throughout the Northern Frontier City."
The next day, Xie Zechuan accompanied Zhou Tinglan to visit various blacksmith shops in the city to discuss learning how to forge and improve tools.
Zhou Tinglan asked Xie Zechuan to take the small new kitchen knife, and the owner of the blacksmith shop called Wang the butcher from the pork stall next door.
Butcher Wang brought a pig's hind leg. At first, he didn't take the kitchen knife that Zhou Tinglan had improved seriously. He had been slaughtering pigs for more than ten years and had never used such a small knife.
He thought to himself, "A knife this small can't even cut through the skin of pork. How come even General Xie is acting foolishly today?"
Shaking his head and taking the small modified kitchen knife from Zhou Tinglan's hand, Butcher Wang turned to look at the pork hind leg on the table, wondering how he could make General Xie look better.
Butcher Wang held the knife handle high, exerted force with his hind legs, and used all his strength to chop the pig's hind leg on the table.
The pig's hind leg was broken into two pieces, and through the gap between the layers of meat, cracks on the table underneath could be vaguely seen.
Shock continued to rise in his heart, and Butcher Wang looked back and forth between the knife in his hand and the table in disbelief.
The blacksmith shop owner, who had originally not had high hopes for the improved kitchen knife, also gathered around the table, exclaiming, "Great! With this knife, business in the blacksmith shop will surely boom in the future."
After visiting various blacksmith shops in the city, Zhou Tinglan not only received a lot of praise, but also met the blacksmith with the best forging skills in each blacksmith shop.
Zhou Tinglan asked them to report to the forging class tomorrow and then left with Xie Zechuan. She frowned and looked towards a corner of the street. A figure quickly hid behind the corner of the wall.
Xie Zechuan saw Zhou Tinglan stop and followed her gaze: "What's wrong?"
"Do you feel like someone is following us on this road?"
Zhou Tinglan wondered who was following them and whether the person was targeting her or Xie Zechuan.
"I'll have someone look into this."
"Well, let's go back."
After the two men turned and left, a man in a blue cloth shirt and servant's clothes walked out from the corner of the street. He gently stroked his wildly beating chest.
Was he discovered by Miss Zhou and the others?
On the way back, Zhou Tinglan discussed with Xie Zechuan the possible candidates for the person to follow, but found that with their current status in Beijiang City, they had not made any enemies and no trace could be found.
**
The blacksmiths from various blacksmith shops reported to the forging class as scheduled the next day. Zhou Tinglan separated them from the original forging class students and adopted a divided-class teaching method to teach them the forging skills of new and improved tools.
The first thing she taught was forging kitchen knives. The reason was simple: kitchen knives were a daily necessity in the kitchens of every household in the city.
Zhou Tinglan first demonstrated to the new blacksmith how to control the fire to achieve the best forging effect, and then explained some forging details and techniques.
Most of the forging methods originated from Zhou Tinglan's modern learning, and blacksmiths were not familiar with them. However, since the students in the previous forging classes had already mastered these forging skills, Zhou Tinglan directly taught them the forging skills of the new and improved kitchen knives.
The learning progress in the forging class is divided into two parts. One part learns basic forging skills, while the other part is arranged to learn to forge new kitchen knives. Most students are learning seriously.
However, some students often deliberately made noises while Zhou Tinglan was lecturing to attract the attention of other students.
Zhou Tinglan once talked to this student and asked him not to disrupt her teaching order. However, the other party seemed to be a thorn in the side and said frankly that he did so because he disliked Zhou Tinglan.
Zhou Tinglan was so angry that she sent the man back to his original blacksmith shop because she disliked him and still let him come to her to learn forging skills.
The shopkeeper saw Zhou Tinglan running angrily to the blacksmith shop, and saw her followed by the blacksmith from his shop. He asked in surprise, "Miss Zhou, what are you doing?"
Zhou Tinglan slammed the table in front of the shopkeeper and pointed at the student: "Shopkeeper, you have to give me an explanation, otherwise the blacksmiths in your shop will not come to my forging class to study."
"Okay, I will definitely teach them a lesson."
The shopkeeper agreed very sincerely at first, and the new student behaved well. However, the good times did not last long, and troublemakers appeared in the forging class again.
Zhou Tinglan was confused and mentioned this matter to Xie Zechuan many times. They couldn't help but think of the incident when they were followed on the street before.
Xie Zechuan later sent people to investigate, and those who saw it around said that the blue servant's uniform the man was wearing was the common attire of servants in wealthy families in the city, and there was nothing special about it.
Seeing that he still couldn't track them down, Zhou Tinglan looked at the troublemakers in the forging class and ignored their clownish behavior. He moved to the corner of the forging room and jumped around as he pleased.
The other students in the class also knew Zhou Tinglan's temper, and they gradually distanced themselves from those troublesome students.
After out of sight, out of mind, Zhou Tinglan's teaching progress was not affected at all. After all, most students were studious, so why would she get angry over those students who were like intelligence spies?
She would not argue with those troublemakers. You know, if a woman gets angry too much, she will age badly.
Soon, blacksmith shops throughout Northern Frontier City began selling the improved tools, and sales were very good. Residents in the city praised the blacksmith shops for even knowing how to improve the tools.
The shopkeeper did not dare to take credit for it, saying that it was Zhou Tinglan who improved it and taught it to the blacksmiths in the shop.
"It is said that Miss Zhou spent several sleepless days and nights to develop this useful tool."
"Miss Zhou is a great contributor to our Beijiang City."
“…”
With the guarantee of many blacksmith shop owners in the city, Zhou Tinglan's good reputation for improving daily utensils to benefit the people of northern Xinjiang spread throughout the streets and alleys.
**
One day, Zhou Tinglan was teaching the forging class when a student asked curiously, "Miss Zhou, today is Beijiang City's annual Flower Goddess Festival. Are you and General Xie going to enjoy the lanterns tonight?"
"Nothing happened. Just finish the knife in your hand quickly, and I'll feel relieved." Zhou Tinglan blushed and said in a fierce tone.
The student didn't dare to say anything more. He lowered his head and continued to forge the sword in his hand, but he was chuckling in his heart: "General Xie and Miss Zhou have a really good relationship. General Xie will definitely come to see Miss Zhou later."
As the students thought, the relationship between Zhou Tinglan and Xie Zechuan grew rapidly. From time to time, the two appeared on the streets of Beijiang City, and their relationship was envied by the young ladies in Beijiang City.
The students in the forging class all knew that General Xie would come to have lunch with Miss Zhou every day at noon and in the evening, and he would even come to the forging class to accompany Miss Zhou in teaching when there was less military work.
Xie Zechuan's behavior caused the weapons factory manager and Qin Sinian, along with the forging class students and even the entire Northern Frontier City, to secretly support the two of them as a couple.
When Xie Zechuan appeared at the entrance of the forging class, the student who had been bullied by Zhou Tinglan was the first to start a commotion, "Miss Zhou, your boss is here to see you."
The entire forging class erupted in a commotion. Zhou Tinglan cursed at them in a low voice, "Go back and continue forging swords."
Where did they learn this? They are all old blacksmiths and a bunch of little bastards.
She ran straight to Xie Zechuan and pushed him out of the forging room door. Xie Zechuan was confused and asked, "Lan'er, what does Bosi mean?"
Zhou Tinglan's mind froze for a moment, he uttered an "ah" and mumbled, "Nothing, you thought you were here to see me?"
Xie Zechuan stared at Zhou Tinglan suspiciously: "Is that really the case?"
"Of course, of course, haha." Zhou Tinglan quickly changed the subject: "Are you looking for me because of the Flower Goddess Festival tonight?"
Xie Zechuan didn't ask what Persia was, and said, "Well, it's just right that I'm here to accompany you after I finish my military duties. We'll go enjoy the lanterns later."
Zhou Tinglan glanced at the door of the forging room and saw many figures crowded at the door looking at them.
She smiled and said to Xie Zechuan, "Okay, I'll go enjoy the lanterns with you after I finish teaching."
But his fists were already clenched. What bastards are they? Do they love gossip so much? I’ll kill them.
The amount for forging a sword will be doubled tomorrow, and you even eavesdropped on me complaining about Boss Xie Zechuan, so just bear the oppression of the capitalist Boss Zhou.
"Go to my office for a while. I'll come find you after I finish teaching."
After coaxing Xie Zechuan away, Zhou Tinglan could no longer bear it. She rushed back to the forging room, and the students immediately scattered and returned to their own forging tables.
"Is it fun to eavesdrop?"
The student shook his head like a rattle: "Miss Zhou, we didn't hear anything."
"I see you've heard quite a bit."
Zhou Tinglan's lips curved up as he said, "I think you've been a bit slack lately. How about this: tomorrow we increase the number of swords we forge by two each day?"
A sigh rang out from the forging room: "No, Miss Zhou, when General Xie comes back to see you next time, we will cover our ears tightly."
"No room for negotiation. This is the end of today. get out of class dismissed."
Zhou Tinglan turned around and went to find Xie Zechuan. She was in a good mood at the moment. Did the head teachers in the past find it so comfortable to punish people?
She walked back to her office to find Xie Zechuan and opened the door.
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