Beast

There was a furnace to be fired in the afternoon, and Wang Erli was in charge of the hammer. When Yang Qing had cleaned up the coke and ashes burned in the iron furnace and was about to carry it out the front door to dump it, Wang Erli had already started to prepare.

"Go to the utility room and get a box of coke. It's the wooden box on the kang. Hurry up," Wang Erli directed to Yang Qing, who had just returned with a gray face.

For the three apprentices, the last thing they wanted to do was to pull the bellows and clean the furnace. Pulling the bellows was tiring, and they were covered in sweat after pulling the bellows dozens of times. Cleaning the furnace was dirty, and they were covered in black ash.

Very choking.

Yang Qing struggled to hold the two-foot-square wooden box, staggering a little. The coke weighed little, but the solid wood box was very heavy. When he carried the box into the blacksmith shop, he found that Lin Bo was not there, and Zhang Bin was standing there.

.

In the afternoon, Lin Bo went to the front store to look after it. When there were customers, he just sold it at the clearly marked price. If there were other matters, he went directly to the backyard to discuss with Wang Erli. Normally, Wang Erli's wife would also go to the front store to look after it.

Zhang Bin's craftsmanship is better than the other two, so he will serve as Wang Erli's deputy this time.

"Brother Zhang," Yang Qing, with a gray face and a grin, said to Zhang Bin. During lunch, he learned from Lin Bo that this person's name was Zhang Bin.

"Here, go get some more wood and put the coke in the furnace to ignite it." Zhang Bin looked impatient and gave the order before Yang Qing put the coke down.

Zhang Bin's eyes are small, shaped like a tadpole, and his face is white and beardless. A trace of disdain flashed in his eyes when he saw Yang Qing. His family is from Shuangxing Town, they are wealthy, and they learned blacksmithing skills quickly, so they look down on Yang Qing, who comes from the countryside.

Country bumpkin.

Yang Qing could feel Zhang Bin's condescending look, but he didn't say anything. At this moment, he didn't dare to say anything because he had no identity or status. He could only be angry about this in his heart. He was young and couldn't care less about what others thought of him.

He lowered his head, turned around and trotted to the yard to get dry wood.

"Put in the fine wood first, ignite it with flint, and then add coke."

"Pull the bellows, pull hard, you haven't eaten."

The bellows is very heavy, and it would be difficult for an adult to pull such a large bellows, let alone Yang Qing, who is only fourteen years old and thin.

Wang Erli holds the iron pliers in his left hand and the hammer in his right hand. He and Zhang Bin stand on both sides of the iron pier. Wang Erli holds the main hammer, Zhang Bin holds the auxiliary hammer, and Sun Tao looks on.

This time the task was to forge a one-handed sword, which was not completed until the time to light the lamp. During this period, Yang Qing was busy pulling the bellows to make the charcoal fire more intense, adding less charcoal and less water.

When Wang Erli and three other people were heating the iron material to red, they held their arms and looked at Yang Qing's hands and feet and pulled the bellows with all his strength. Zhang Bin burst out laughing. This scene was very interesting to him. Wang Erli felt that this day the tube

Three meals are really worth it, even four meals are worth it.

"Finally the forging is finished." Yang Qing let out a long sigh of relief. There was deep fatigue on his face, and his whole body felt like it was filled with lead. Wang Erli and three others walked out, and he still wanted to stay and clean up the blacksmith shop.

Wang Erli's three apprentices rarely have dinner here at night. Their families are all in this town. When they go home at night, they can improve their food and have a meaty meal to replenish their health.

"Dad, this kid is new." A chubby boy of eleven or twelve years old wearing a satin robe, sniffing with a long nose and speaking in a muffled voice to Wang Erli, said to Wang Erli's son Wang Youcai.

"You're here today. My dear son, you must be tired after going to school all day. Let's go in and have dinner. Let's see what your mother cooks." Wang Erli patted Wang Youcai's head lovingly, and then said indifferently to Yang Qing, "Here,

Go to bed after eating, and remember to get up early to work tomorrow morning."

"I remember, Master Wang," Yang Qing said feebly. At this time, he also cleaned up and took two cold steamed buns from Wang Erli.

"You don't even know how to say thank you, and you're such a white-eyed wolf." Wang Youcai muttered in a low voice, glared at Yang Qing, and then walked into the house with his father.

The other apprentices were not here to eat in the evening and would not make soup alone for Yang Qing, so they gave him two cold steamed buns left over from lunch.

Sitting by the kang, I stuffed two steamed buns into my stomach. I was so exhausted that I had lost my appetite. I had to force myself to eat in order to survive.

"Whether you treat me like a human or a dog, is my life so worthless?"

There was still something to gain today. After watching Wang Erli's blacksmithing process, he understood a few simple steps. The first step was to put the iron material into an iron furnace and heat it red with charcoal fire, beat it into long strips, put it in water to cool down, and then cut the long strips into pieces.

Divide it into many parts, select a suitable part, heat it red, forge it repeatedly, and finally put it in water to let the iron material cool down. Sometimes, white powder called "borax" by Wang Erli is sprinkled during forging.

Lying on the cold bed, my whole body ached and I had no strength to turn over. My eyelids were heavy, and I fell into a deep sleep soon.

As the days go by, it’s time to get up at dawn, chop the wood consumed in the day, pick up water for cooking, prepare coke for blacksmithing, well water, raw iron... When blacksmithing, turn on the bellows, and after adding coke

I also have to clean the blacksmith shop and pour out charcoal ash. I can only take a break during the day when I eat.

I haven't touched a hammer a few times, and Wang Erli has never taught me any blacksmithing skills. After a month, I don't even know the introductory knowledge of blacksmithing skills, except for the simple steps that I can remember after just a few glances.

The hammer weighs more than ten kilograms, and it is not surprising that Wang Erli can turn it without any effort. However, when forging weapons, Wang Erli sometimes has to swing the hammer for an entire afternoon, which shocks Wang Erli's strength.

Over the past month, Yang Qing had been pulling the bellows when striking. From his position, he could see Wang Erli's movements while striking. He discovered that Wang Erli did not just rely on swinging his arms to drive the hammer like his apprentice.

I was shocked and felt strange at the same time. There was a difference in the craftsmanship between the apprentice and the master, but why were the methods of blacksmithing so different?

Yang Qing often imitated Wang Erli's movements for a long time, but still had no clue.

Wang Erli would only say a few words to Yang Qing when he asked him to do work, and usually glanced at him lazily. Wang Youcai would bully him a few times every time he saw him, and Yang Qing would hold back his temper and ignore him when he saw that he was a child.

.

Yang Qing, who was sore all over, would miss home every night and didn't want to stay in this place where he couldn't feel any warmth. He gritted his teeth and got through it every time. He planned to go somewhere else to find a suitable job if he had the opportunity.

.

All he could feel here was humiliation.

…

"In the afternoon, you guys will use the iron materials on the ground to practice hard in the blacksmith shop and experience it yourself." Wang Erli smiled and said to Zhang Bin and other three apprentices, "I will go out later to have something to do."

Wang Erli went out in the morning and was very happy when he came back. There was always a smile on his rough face, and he was not as harsh to Zhang Bin and the others as before.

"Don't worry, master," Zhang Bin said respectfully and flatteringly. He regarded himself as the senior brother among the three, although there was no seniority here.

After Wang Erli walked out of the blacksmith shop, Zhang Bin's three apprentices instantly relaxed a lot and gathered around, talking and laughing.

Yang Qing squatted next to the bellows, his upper body bare, his face and body covered with sweat. The long exertion had made him stronger, and his muscles all over his body were much more obvious. It was not lunch time yet, so I wonder if Zhang Bin and the others would still use it.

Instead of using the iron stove, I just stayed at the bellows without moving it.

"Why do you think Master is so happy today?" Lin Bo started talking more when he saw Wang Erli walking out.

"I saw the master going out to pick up a letter in the morning. After reading it, I hurriedly went to find our beautiful wife." Zhang Bin narrowed his tadpole eyes and said with a smile.

"Yang Qing, you're lazy, hurry up and clean up." Zhang Bin was very dissatisfied when he saw Yang Qing squatting on the ground, and his eyes stood up.

After saying this, he took Lin Bo and Sun Tao to sit together, with no intention of practicing any more. Yang Qing put his head down and packed up. After this period of contact, he would not put his hot face on others' cold buttocks again.

"It's not a good thing to be happy after reading a letter."

"Yes, if he lets us practice blacksmithing by ourselves, he won't be afraid that we will destroy the iron material. Is that so generous?"

"You two know nothing. I came earlier than you two, and there are some things that you don't know. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let you know a lot. Hehe, let me tell you..."

According to Zhang Bin, there is a person who has been in correspondence with Wang Erli. This person is none other than Wang Erli's brother Wang Dali. This Wang Dali is not an ordinary person, he is an outer disciple of Yufeng Sect.

Yufeng Sect is located in the mountains southeast of Fengju City. Wild beasts are rampant in the mountains, and there are so many poisonous snakes and insects that ordinary people cannot survive there.

"There are all immortal figures in the Yufeng Sect, and even the tens of thousands of outer disciples are also great people, and Wang Dali is one of the outer disciples." Zhang Bin said with joy, as if he was also a member of the Yufeng Sect.

What about the outer disciples?

"With one swipe of his finger, the sword flew up." Zhang Bin swiped his finger from bottom to top, almost hitting Lin Bo's nose. "It can also fly with the sword, much faster than a horse."

"The men of the Yufeng Sect's disciples are as majestic as gods, and the women are like fairies descending to earth, just like the portraits."

Sun Tao and Lin Bo were stunned for a moment. They didn't know what Zhang Bin said. They thought that gods existed in those fairy tales.

Zhang Bin described the details he had heard and imagined. Seeing the expressions of the two people, a sense of pride arose spontaneously, glowing red, and he spoke even harder.

Yang Qing listened with his ears pricked up, and his hands were not idle. He had to do the cleaning work every day, and now he was doing it very quickly.

Wang Erli's achievements today are all due to his elder brother Wang Dali. All the skills were taught by Wang Dali. Otherwise, Wang Erli's qualifications and hard work alone would not have reached the Eighth Forgement in his thirties. Even this shop and this courtyard are all different.

It was Wang Dali who paid for the purchase, including the matter of Wang Erli marrying his wife.

Wang Dali rarely came to the Eight Forging Iron Shop. He always communicated through letters about everything. Zhang Bin only found out about it by coincidence. How could Wang Erli tell his apprentice about such things?

The topics they talked about became further and further, and finally they all talked about the beautiful wife. When they looked out and saw that no one was in the courtyard, the three of them stood closer and spoke in a lower voice, obviously not wanting Yang Qing to hear it.

arrive.

Yang Qing vaguely heard the words "butt" and "slim waist". He knew that he might get into trouble if he heard it again, so he picked up the packed charcoal and trotted out of the blacksmith shop.;