Qiao Xianyong sat on the haystack, watching his father Qiao, shirtless, working hard to pull the bellows.
He asked curiously, "Dad, when you were blacksmithing in the past, you didn't seem to blow the bellows for so long like you do now."
Boss Qiao was very pleased that his young son could see the difference in his work. Mrs. Qiao walked in, looked at her husband and son lovingly, took out a piece of linen cloth and wiped the sweat on Boss Qiao's chin, and said
, "The Zhang family next door is going to my mother's house in Qicun. My mother asked someone to make Baijia clothes and tiger-head shoes for the baby who was about to be born. I want to go with the Zhang family to pick them up.
, I also want to stay at my parents’ house for a few days. After the baby is born, I won’t have time to go back to my parents’ house.”
Boss Qiao knew that his wife wanted to go back to her parents' house to show off the big business he had just received. He kept working and said loudly, "Bring back a dozen fresh eggs. You don't know why you always go back to your parents' house."
The folks thought I divorced you."
Boss Qiao seemed to be amused by his words. He laughed loudly and said, "Don't be in a hurry to come back. It's rare for you and Yong'er to come back."
Qiao Xianyong listened blankly at first. When he heard this, his chest tightened and he said loudly, "I don't want to go to my mother-in-law's house. I want to stay at home and watch my father work!"
At nightfall, it was the most important time for weapon forging. Boss Qiao predicted that the fire temperature had reached a high enough level. The man in gray gave him two kinds of ore raw materials, one was an easily identifiable iron ore, which in his opinion was
The top-grade iron ore, according to the man in gray, was brought by Hu Shang from a very far away country that is hot all year round. It is extremely rare, but the man in gray doesn't seem to take this ore seriously. Another thing is that the iron ore is extremely rare.
Mr. Qiao, the raw material for growing ore, had never seen this kind of ore before. The man in lime only gave him a piece. It was bigger than an adult's fist, but it was very heavy, heavier than any ore he had ever seen. The color of this piece of ore
It's also very strange. It's completely black and completely opaque. Some nights it glows with a light blue light, and some nights it looks like black and red. The man in gray gave this piece of ore to him very preciously.
. It may also be Boss Qiao's illusion. After the man in gray handed him the ore, he seemed to be shorter. But maybe there was something wrong with his eyes because he had been working for too long.
Qiao Xianyong managed not to fall asleep. He sat next to him and blinked at his father. He also knew that the most important moment had come.
Boss Qiao first carefully put the precious ore into the crucible in the fire. The bellows and leather bag below were whirring. The flames suddenly jumped up and engulfed the crucible. Boss Qiao waited patiently for the ore.
soften.
A few hours passed, and Boss Qiao was covered in sweat. Yong'er had fallen asleep next to him.
The ore has no reaction.
Boss Qiao had never encountered such a situation. He added a little bit of limestone to help the flames spread higher, but the ore still lay quietly in the crucible without any sign of being heated.
Boss Qiao was a little anxious. There were only less than two days left before the date agreed by the man in gray.
He pulled the bellows hard, trying to heat it up a little more.
Nothing has changed.
The sun rose and the rooster crowed. Yong'er woke up. He opened his eyes and looked blankly at his restless father. He sensibly fetched a bowl of water and brought it to Boss Qiao. He endured the scalding heat and tried his best to raise his hand.
Gao said, "Dad, drink water."
Boss Qiao hadn't slept or closed his eyes for two days. His body was gradually losing control. He didn't hear his son's voice. He waved his right arm downwards, and the coarse porcelain bowl held by Yong'er fell from his little hand.
He was knocked to the edge of the furnace. The bowl shattered instantly, and a large piece of porcelain bounced back and hit the right side of Yong'er's face, cutting a deep bloody gash. Dark red blood popped out of Yong'er's face.
, some fell to the ground, some stayed on his sweatshirt along his neck, and some blood droplets flew impartially into the crucible containing the ore.
Boss Qiao didn't look at Yong'er. All his attention was focused on the crucible. Suddenly he saw a few drops of dark red unknown liquid flying in. He was very angry and frightened, for fear that the liquid would affect the purity of the ore.
He was thinking about taking it out and reprocessing the ore before smelting it, but the delivery time was definitely too late, so he could only explain it to the man in gray. Just as he was thinking about it, the crucible made a strange sound, and he saw the flames rising.
High, instantly jumped to a height of four or five meters, and colorful bright colors burst out from inside, and there seemed to be a vague shadow of something. It was not a human figure, nor a recognizable animal. The shadow was in the restless flames.
Restless.
Boss Qiao was stunned. Even Yong'er was stunned and forgot about the pain on his face.
Boss Qiao heard a loud noise, as if something was blown up into the sky. He saw a small cloud-like black object exploded from the fire and quickly rose into the sky. In the blink of an eye,
The effort disappeared. The flames also dropped and returned to normal height. Boss Qiao looked at the crucible. The ore had softened and turned into a metallic liquid. The pure black liquid seemed to be slightly dark red.
Boss Qiao was overjoyed and threw the iron ore given by the man in gray into the crucible. Under high temperature, or with the help of black ore, the iron ore turned into molten iron more quickly than usual. The man in gray transformed into molten iron.
The iron ore brought was very pure. I don't know if it has been processed twice, but there were basically no impurities. Soon the two metallic liquids merged into one.
Boss Qiao quickly poured the mixed ore liquid into the mold brought by the man in gray. It was a mold for two daggers. The amount of mixed liquid was very accurate. Basically, no more or less liquid was poured into the mold. Boss Qiao was waiting.
The metal liquid is cooled and solidified in the air, and then placed in well water to cool down. After cooling down, the mold is removed.
While waiting for it to cool down, he thought of his son Yong'er. Yong'er fell asleep again during the long wait. Boss Qiao looked at Yong'er's right face that was scratched by the porcelain bowl. The wound was about ten centimeters long and looked like
The injury was not serious. The child recovered quickly and the wound was already healing. He felt guilty, but he was also excitedly thinking about what kind of new clothes he would buy Yong'er with the twenty taels of silver that the man in gray was about to bring.
What kind of toys, what kind of flower show to watch in the town.
The two daggers were beaten. Boss Qiao attached them to the small hilts brought by the men in gray. He looked at the two swords. Boss Qiao was not a weapons expert, but he had fought with many weapons.
It can also be seen that these two swords seem to be extraordinary objects. They look a bit like ordinary iron weapons, but they are completely different. He stared at the sword body, and the sword was more like the color of the black ore brought by the man in gray.
The strange thing is that the sword seems to be staring at him.