Chapter 55 Sword Forging (1)
Shi Yi had already seen Meng Guanqi and Li Xiaoxiao. His broadsword had a chip in it, so he came to get it repaired. It happened to be at the blacksmith shop across the street, and he saw Meng Guanqi and Li Xiaoxiao walk into the shop as soon as he looked up.
The owner of this restaurant is good at judging people by their appearance. Li Xiaoxiao and Meng Guanqi are obviously easy targets for businessmen. They didn't ask any questions and just handed over their money. How stupid!
Li Xiaoxiao had taken good care of Shi Yi, and Shi Yi knew that this girl with superhuman strength was a bit carefree. Despite being extremely poor, she treated money like dirt. When she came to buy things, instead of bringing someone who knew how to calculate and bargain, she brought a county magistrate's son who was even more otherworldly than her.
Officer Shi couldn't help but shake his head. With such a combination, who else would the boss be fooling if not them?
Luckily I met him. How dare he lie to me? Does this boss not want to keep his business?
Officer Shi grabbed the shopkeeper's hand, his eyes sharp as arrows: "Can you make a short sword for eight taels of silver? Do you have any fine iron?"
The boss sheepishly withdrew his hand.
The iron ore imported from Lin'an Prefecture was just ordinary iron. Even with the blacksmiths' best efforts, they could only remove one or two tenths of the impurities, which could only be used to make ordinary knives and farm tools. These tools wore out easily and were prone to breakage, so the price remained low.
High-quality iron was available, but the people of Biyang County were poor and simply couldn't afford to buy things made from it, so he didn't purchase any.
If sold as ordinary ironware, eight taels of silver could buy half a house's worth of farm tools.
He had originally planned to use the mold-making as an excuse to make a hefty profit, and then hand over an ordinary short sword to Li Xiaoxiao, thus pocketing all eight taels of silver. Who knew he would be so unlucky as to run into Chief Constable Shi of the county government.
He could only give an awkward smile: "I don't need that much. I only have ordinary iron ore here. The cost of remaking the mold is two taels of silver, and the casting is one tael of silver. So it will only cost three taels of silver."
Officer Shi, his face stern, said, "That can't be right. Wasn't your mold made of stone? You want to charge two taels of silver to have a stonemason carve out a groove? Don't you even know who these two are?!"
The boss asked cautiously, "And who are these two?"
Officer Shi sneered: "This is our magistrate's son, Young Master Meng, and his guards."
The shopkeeper's face stiffened. He hadn't expected to run into such a tough customer when he tried to rip them off. He quickly smiled and tried to smooth things over: "It was my fault for being blind and offending you, young master. How about this: I'll remake the short sword this young man wanted, and I'll only charge him eight hundred coins."
Eight hundred coins is almost the cost of the investment; there's not much profit to be made.
The price dropped from eight taels to eight hundred coins, a full tenfold.
Li Xiaoxiao and Meng Guanqi exchanged a glance, both feeling that their self-esteem had been hurt.
Meng Guanqi said with a stern face, "Since he doesn't have any refined iron, let's not fight here."
Officer Shi immediately led them to the shop across the street: "This shop across the street has them. All the knives in our yamen are forged here. If you had told me earlier, Xiaoxiao, that you wanted a sword, I would have brought you here sooner..."
Looking at the large sign that read "Zheng's Blacksmith Shop," Li Xiaoxiao asked Constable Shi, "Is this the shop of Master Zheng?"
Officer Shi nodded: "Yes, it's his family's." He pointed to a row of shops down the street: "From here to the end, there are sixteen shops in total, all belonging to the Zheng family..."
Li Xiaoxiao's mouth dropped open. No wonder Master Zheng was the richest man in Biyang County; half the shops on this street belonged to his family. He was truly wealthy!
In Zheng's blacksmith shop, she could not only forge short swords for eight taels of silver, but also for eighty taels. Since she was a guest brought by Constable Shi, the shopkeeper did not dare to be presumptuous and brought out fine iron of different prices for Li Xiaoxiao to choose from.
Li Xiaoxiao weighed all the refined iron pieces in her hands, picked out a piece worth seven taels of silver, and asked, "Approximately how long will it take to make?"
The shopkeeper said, "It will take about five days to make the mold, plus the iron melting and forging. Come and pick it up in ten days."
Li Xiaoxiao asked, "After the iron is melted, can I forge it myself?"
The shopkeeper's eyes widened in surprise: "You know how to fight?"
Li smiled and said, "I will, and I hope I will be the one to forge this sword."
Although he knew these two were distinguished guests, the master blacksmith standing to the side still sneered contemptuously. How dare this little brat claim to know how to forge iron? She had chosen fine iron, so hard that even a master blacksmith like him, who had been forging iron for over a decade, would struggle with it. Did she think forging fine iron was child's play?
Ignoring his mockery, Li Xiaoxiao asked the shopkeeper, "Can I do it myself?"
The master blacksmith slammed the hammer down and sneered, "Is blacksmithing something that just anyone can do? You want to do it yourself? Fine, but from the moment you strike the first blow, no matter how good or bad it is, none of the blacksmiths in our shop will take it on. That's the rule in our trade. If you agree, then do whatever you want."
Officer Shi glanced at Li Xiaoxiao with a troubled expression and nodded.
This is the blacksmith's code of conduct. Blacksmiths are considered the most arrogant among craftsmen, especially some master blacksmiths. Their income is higher than that of the shop manager, and they never have to worry about customers. Relying on their skills, they dare to argue with their employers when they get angry, let alone their customers.
They simply cannot accept customers criticizing their skills, let alone accept Li Xiaoxiao's suggestion to take over the job herself.
This is contempt and insult towards them.
The master chef was already being very polite by not kicking them out, considering they were from the county government.
However, she also made it clear that she could do it herself, but none of the craftsmen in the shop would finish it for her. If she failed, she would only get a piece of scrap metal for eight taels of silver.
The shopkeeper advised, "Young man, you should think this through. Once the first strike is made, our master won't take over. Seven taels of silver is no small sum..."
Li Xiaoxiao insisted, "I really know how to fight, shopkeeper. You just need to take out the mold, and leave the rest to me. Even if I fail, I will take responsibility for the consequences."
The master chefs exchanged glances and gave a cold smile: "Alright, come over at noon five days from now."
Li Xiaoxiao paid the money and left the store with Meng Guanqi.
Officer Shi was waiting for his broadsword and didn't go with them.
After walking a distance, Meng Guanqi and the others finally couldn't contain their curiosity and asked, "You really know how to forge iron? When did you learn it?"
Li Xiaoxiao walked ahead of Meng Guanqi, oblivious to everything around her: "I used to work in mining. How could someone who works in mining not know how to forge iron?" She wasn't just skilled in forging iron; if there were chemicals available here, she could also smelt steel, cast copper, and refine gold. It's just a pity she couldn't access these raw materials here.
Meng Guanqi murmured, "Another skill I've never heard of before..." So why did she sell herself to the county government as a servant? And I heard she only got five taels of silver.
But she immediately threw down eight ounces of silver, all for the sake of forging a handy short sword, and her reason was utterly ridiculous.
The more Meng Guanqi looked at Li Xiaoxiao, the more suspicious he felt. Was she really from the countryside and uneducated?
Just like now, she walks ahead of him, her master, without any sense of self-awareness whatsoever.
Granny Qi and Mama Mao must have carefully taught her manners, but she didn't take it to heart at all.
The fact that she didn't take it to heart shows that she doesn't care about hierarchy at heart. But if she grew up in the countryside and was forced to work in the mines, she would have come into contact with various managers and officials, and wouldn't be completely ignorant of these rules.
She must have some secrets that no one knows.
Meng Guanqi's eyes flickered, and he took a few steps forward to walk alongside her: "Why did you choose to forge a sword? Wouldn't the broadswords used by Constable Shi and the others be more useful? Or did you practice swordsmanship before?"
Swordsmanship? Li Xiaoxiao shook her head: "I don't know that. I just think it would be good to have a weapon on me. I can use it to peel fruit or dig holes when I'm bored, and I can also use it to defend myself if something happens."
Meng Guanqi's brow twitched: "Peel fruit? Dig a hole?"
Li Xiaoxiao argued confidently, "That's right! Like last time in Xiaoye Village, if I had a sword, I wouldn't have to dig up mud all over my hands when digging sweet potatoes. When the wild boars came, I could just swat them down with one strike—" She made an attacking gesture and winked at Meng Guanqi, "One hit kill!"
That's it?! Meng Guanqi's fantasy of Li Xiaoxiao bravely fighting against all the heroes shattered as easily as a bubble. He looked at Li Xiaoxiao expressionlessly: "Go back and study. You have to memorize the remaining five pages today!"
Li Xiaoxiao was shocked: "What? That's three days' worth of homework!"
Meng Guanqi ignored her and strode away.
Li Xiaoxiao quickly followed after her: "Can you memorize three pages? Three pages?"
"no!"
"I can't memorize even three pages."
"No dinner if you can't memorize it!"
"Ah~! Why? Why on earth?"
"There's no reason..."
...
As a result, Li Xiaoxiao didn't eat dinner until it was completely dark. Meng Guanqi casually remarked, "Didn't you memorize it? You still have potential."
Li Xiaoxiao shed two streams of tears, wolfing down her food without saying a word.
Ah Sheng ate his meal cautiously with his head down, not daring to utter a single word, for fear that if the city gate caught fire, the innocent bystanders would be affected.
So when Li Xiaoxiao suggested going out to work as a blacksmith five days later, Meng Guanqi wasn't interested and just waved her away.
Li Xiaoxiao arrived at Zheng's Iron Shop alone, and the shopkeeper recognized her at a glance: "Oh, young man, you really came?"
Li Xiaoxiao rolled up her sleeves: "Shopkeeper, has my refined iron been demolded?"
The shopkeeper said, "Are you really going to do it yourself? I told you a few days ago that the masters won't be responsible if you break anything."
Li smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll take care of it if it gets damaged."
The shopkeeper looked up and said, "Yang Shang, is the clay ready? Bring it out and let this young man make it himself."
Yang Shang, the blacksmith with a full beard, sneered, pulled out the iron billet that was burning brightly in the furnace, threw the hammer aside with a clang, crossed his arms, raised his chin, and said coldly, "Go ahead and work. I want to see what tricks you can come up with."
This kid was all skin and bones, his arms were so thin you could tell he had no strength. He'd seen a bit of blacksmithing somewhere and was now trying to do it himself. Yang Shang was determined not to help at all. The shop had already taken the money, and he wouldn't, and wouldn't allow anyone else to, clean up the mess for this arrogant brat.
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