Fragrance Returned

Ding Sifu got along well with Mr. Gong in the shop and worked very hard. The man has grown fatter and taller again, and he wears very decent clothes, all of which were made for him by Mr. Gong.

Ling'er is also very considerate of her junior brother. When she comes to visit her mother, she often buys him some delicious food.

Ding Sifu often lamented that he could be so happy. He missed Ding Pandi, who had no news from him, even more. He wondered how she was doing now and whether she was still alive.

The only uncomfortable thing is that occasionally Wang will cause trouble. She asked Ding Sifu for money, but Ding Sifu still gave her fifty cents a month. She saw that her son was well-dressed and had some snacks and candies in the house, and she didn't believe that he only took such a small amount of money.

Ding Sifu told her, "My master made the clothes for me, and the snacks and candies were bought for me by my senior sister yesterday."

Mrs. Wang wrapped up the food and took it home, and asked him to tell the master that life at home was difficult and it would be a pity to use these fabrics for children. It would be better to give them to adults, which would also satisfy his filial piety.

Ding Sifu shook his head unwillingly, but Wang grabbed his ear.

Mrs. Wang shamelessly complained to Mrs. Gong again.

Mr. Gong said coldly, "Those are the leftover rulers from the sale. If I couldn't sell them, I put them together and made some clothes for the four rich people."

After that, he stopped talking to her.

After Wang left, Ding Sifu went to bow to Gong and apologize, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Gong smiled and said, "I know you are a good boy."

In early April, the new courtyard of the Ding family, also known as the east courtyard, was completely built. Ding Zhuang hired eight more carpenters to build furniture in the east yard. Once the furniture was finished and the yard was dry, they could move in.

For the furniture in Ding Xiang's boudoir, Ding Zhuang not only bought a few pieces of high-quality beech wood, but also asked carpenters to carve flowers and birds.

Dingshan also rented a shop in the county town and named it Ding's Cloth Shop. It cost more than 220 taels to rent a shop, decorate it and purchase goods. Ding Zhao lent them 150 taels.

Ding Qin took his wife Zhao and his son Ding Daniu to live in the shop. Ding Daniu also went to a private school in the county town.

Dingshan spent half of his time going out to buy goods and half of his time living in the countryside, looking at the fields and houses in the countryside with Mr. Xie. Now that the family is rich, the fields are rented to tenant farmers for farming, and a mother-in-law is bought to do housework.

Ding Zhen was completely relaxed. Apart from learning how to read and write with Ding Xiang, she also did needlework.

The Xia family also put down Dingshan's grocery store in the town, and Xia Dahe went to guard the store during the day.

At Ding Xiang's suggestion, Ding Zhao bought a mule.

Mules are beautiful and as majestic as horses. The mule is used as the family's driver, and the old scalper takes turns renting it to tenant farmers or villagers for plowing the land.

Ding Zhuang made several honey-fat fragrant pendants for his family, and gave those of Ding Zhao and brothers Zhang and Ding Lichun to Ding Zhao for safekeeping and wearing them later. He kept his and Ding Li's, and gave Ding Xiang's small gourd.

The small gourd is only as big as a lilac thumb, dark red and shiny, with curved golden lines, exuding a slight sweet fragrance, and is threaded on a red silk thread.

Lilac loves it very much.

I really want to wear it.

Ding Zhuang smiled and said, "What a coincidence, a piece of fragrant wood has gold threads in this area, and black lines in other places. I know you are precocious, so I will leave this thing to you for safekeeping. You can't wear it now, and don't let it be worn by you." People see it. When you grow up and your father says when you can wear it, you can wear it again."

Lilac took it back and hid it.

One day at the end of April, Ding Zhao brought back good news that Li's Foundry could no longer operate.

"No surprise, I can buy it in two days. After buying it, I will buy five acres of land next to it and build an iron shop, and Ding's iron shop will move there."

My daughter is right, the two places are next to each other. The iron billet is cast there and the iron is forged here, which is convenient.

Ding Xiang said, "Five acres is too small, buy ten acres."

Five acres is only enough to build an iron shop. In the future, when there are more people, there will be office areas and rest areas for employees.

Ding Zhao absolutely listened to his daughter and agreed happily.

On the third day, Ding Zhao bought Li's foundry for three hundred and twenty taels of silver. Although the place is relatively large, it is outside the town and the land is cheap.

Ding Zhao bought another ten acres of wasteland nearby.

Ding Zhuang and Ding Zhao don't know anything about casting, but they like it as long as it has something to do with iron. They are happier buying a foundry than opening the Jiulu Zhixiu Pavilion at home.

Casting and blacksmithing are both related to iron. They discussed for a long time and came up with the name "Ding's Iron Workshop".

Ding Xiang disagreed. She felt that using a surname restricted development.

Ding Xiang had already thought of the name, "Baoqing Iron Manufacturing Co.", or "Bao Iron" for short.

When the steel is smelted, it is called "Baoqing Iron and Steel Manufacturing Co., Ltd." or "Baosteel" for short.

Only Lilac understands the meaning of these two words. Building the largest steel factory in the Li Dynasty was her lifelong goal.

Baoqing Iron Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has two branches. Of course, it cannot be called a workshop or a branch factory, but a casting workshop and a forging workshop.

As soon as she said her name, not only Ding Zhuang and Ding Zhao liked it, but Ding Liren and Ding Lilai also liked it.

Everyone thinks this name is high-end and classy.

Ding Xiang then asked Ding Zhao's father, "We must retain the skilled forging craftsmen and increase the monthly payment to their satisfaction."

Ding Xiang knew in her previous life that the ratio of molten iron to rare earths was three percent, but the rare earths used in molten iron in her previous life were refined. The proportion of unrefined rare earths depends on craftsmen to master it through repeated trials.

In addition, Dingxiang also knows a way to improve the quality of ductile iron, which is to use low-temperature graphitization annealing process. Put the cast iron parts into the kiln, heat the temperature to about 700 degrees, and then turn off the flame and slowly cool to 500 degrees. Then pull it out into the air to cool to room temperature.

Cast iron treated in this way can produce a ferrite matrix and more rounded spherical graphite, similar to steel, which improves the strength and toughness of the iron and makes the casting less prone to brittleness and cracking.

When the cast iron is heated until the surface turns dark brown, the temperature reaches about 500 degrees. When the surface color of the cast iron is cherry red, the temperature reaches about 700 degrees. The higher the heating temperature, the brighter the surface of the iron piece.

In the previous life, there were infrared thermometers and other temperature measurement instruments, but in this era there are not. These rely on the visual inspection and experience of the craftsmen...

Good craftsmen are particularly important.

The next morning, Ding Zhuang and Ding Zhao took Ding Xiang to the "Baoqing Iron Manufacturing Factory" by mule cart.

"Baotie" is two miles away from the town and not far from the Heilong River. It takes half an hour to walk from Beiquan Village, and more than two-quarters of an hour by mule cart.

This is a rural road with rugged roads, and it would save more time if it was easy to walk.

The old foundry covers an area of ​​more than 20 acres. Including the ten acres purchased later, the total is more than 30 acres. Lilac feels that it is still too small.

Jiulu Zhixiu Pavilion is just a side dish, and "Baosteel" is the future support of the Ding family, and it even has a profound influence on the Li Dynasty.

Dingxiang looked at the dilapidated place standing in a wasteland and proposed to buy another twenty acres of land.