Rise From the Humble

Yangzhou, also known as Guangling, is one of the nine ancient states. It has a long history, convenient water and land transportation, thousands of willows hanging on the streets, and a double city with glowing clouds. It is the most prosperous city in the world. It is known as "the most prosperous city in the world, Yangzhou is the leader".

Although it is already the twelfth lunar month of winter, the streets are busy with traffic and the vendors and shops are doing brisk business.

Li Shu was sitting in the sedan chair, wrapped in a white fox fur coat, and holding a hand warmer embroidered with a fat duck playing in the water. She looked out through the curtains of the sedan chair opened by Qin'er and saw a shop called "Longquan Scissors" in front of her. When he was in the blacksmith's shop, he stretched out his slender hand and pointed, and told Qin'er in a sweet voice, "Stop for a moment."

"Stop in front of the blacksmith shop." Qin'er opened the sedan curtain and called outside.

After passing the message, Qin'er asked doubtfully, "Miss, am I wrong? There are three shops in Yangzhou where the master married the young lady. The nearest one, the 'Long Sheng Xiang' clothing store, is a hundred meters in front."

"What's worth seeing in those three shops? Just ask the accountant to check the accounts on time every year." Li Shu said nonchalantly.

"This blacksmith shop is noisy and chaotic, and there's not much to see." Qin'er said weakly, "The blacksmith shop is full of stinky and sweaty men, so don't rush into the lady."

"I'm too lazy to look at them, but Brother Zhu needs them. In Brother Zhu's eyes, these stinky and sweaty men are very charming. Forget it, I tell you, you don't understand either. Go and call Wang Xiaoer. "

Li Shu glanced at the blacksmith shop outside the sedan, and said to Qin'er lazily. Halfway through, she waved her hand and told Qin'er to call Wang Xiaoer over.

"Wang Xiaoer, Wang Xiaoer, come here quickly. Miss wants to see you for something." Qin'er opened the sedan curtain and called outside.

Soon, the sedan stopped in front of the blacksmith shop, and Wang Xiaoer, who was following behind, trotted over.

"Miss, please look for me." Wang Xiaoer hunched over outside the sedan chair.

"Can you confirm that this 'Longquan Scissors Shop' is owned by the blacksmith you mentioned?"

Li Shu asked calmly across the sedan chair.

"Miss Hui, yes. The little trustee has carefully investigated and found out that this 'Longquan Scissors Shop' was opened by a man named Ou Zhige. It is said that Ou Zhige's ancestor was the one who forged the 'Longquan' scissors with Gan Jiang." Ou Zhizi is the master of swordsmanship, but the craftsmanship of his ancestors has long been lost by Ou Zhige's generation. Ou Zhige wanted to carry forward the glory of his ancestors. He learned the blacksmith's craft from his uncle when he was a boy. He was good at studying, and He endured hardship and stood hard work, and soon became better than his master. The iron tools he made are top-notch in Yangzhou City, and he is known as the 'No. 1 Blacksmith' in Yangzhou City." Wang Xiaoer bowed and replied in detail.

"Since you are the 'No. 1 Blacksmith', why are you so down and out and opening such a small and cramped scissors shop?"

Qin'er couldn't help but wonder.

Seeing that Li Shu didn't stop him, Wang Xiaoer understood that the young lady also wanted to know the answer, so he replied in detail, "It's like this. Once Ou Zhige learned the craftsmanship from his uncle, he abandoned his cousin with whom he had been engaged since childhood. Instead, he married the daughter of a farmer. In a fit of anger, his uncle announced that he would sever the master-disciple relationship with him. He told Ou Zhige that he had taught Ou Zhige how to forge kitchen knives, axes, hoes, swords and other common iron tools. If Ou Zhige still had If you are honest, don't make a living by these crafts. Ou Zhige has never cast these ordinary iron tools, let alone sold one. Because his uncle has learned to cast too many iron tools, only a few types of iron tools such as scissors. So he opened this scissors shop to make a living. The scissors he forged ranked second in Yangzhou, and no one dared to claim the first place. Secondly, Ou Zhige wanted to regain the glory of his ancestors and kept studying some strange iron tools. He wants to contribute to the imperial court and make a name for himself, and become a master who will leave a name in history like his ancestors, but..."

Having said this, Wang Xiaoer paused and looked a little embarrassed.

"But what?" Qin'er asked.

"However, the iron tools he studied were too strange and dangerous. Once when he was experimenting with iron tools, he accidentally broke a leg. Moreover, he donated iron tools to the government several times. The first time the government paid attention to it, but the on-site verification At that time, something went terribly wrong and a government warehouse was burned down, and then nothing happened."

Wang Xiaoer said slightly embarrassed.

"Is this still the number one blacksmith?" Qin'er rolled her eyes speechlessly.

"The strange iron tools he studied were firearms?" Li Shu's voice sounded in the sedan.

"Yes, Miss, he studies things like 'Fire Crow Arrow' and 'Thunder Thunder', mostly firearms."

Wang Xiaoer replied.

"That's him. Go tell him, give him one thousand taels of silver every year, and ask him to serve in the Zhejiang Army."

Li Shu ordered and directly used his money ability.

"Ah, that's a thousand taels." Qin'er said in surprise and distress.

"If he is useful to Brother Zhu, a thousand taels would be extremely cheap." Li Shu said disapprovingly.

"It's Miss." Wang Xiaoer took the order and went to the shop. After about tea time, Wang Xiaoer came back in disgrace.

"Ahem, miss, I'm incompetent and couldn't do my errands. I went in and said anything, but Ou Zhige was as smelly and hard as a stone in a pit. He threatened that he had no interest in going into the barracks to forge ordinary weapons. I kicked it out."

Wang Xiaoer was disgraced and came back angrily to report.

"Didn't you tell him to give him a thousand taels of silver every year?" Qin'er opened her mouth wide and couldn't believe it. How could his little scissors shop earn twenty taels of silver a year? He didn't even need a thousand taels of silver.

"I said it." Wang Xiaoer said with a bitter smile.

"Then the increase will be another thousand taels of silver, two thousand taels of silver per year." Li Shu said disapprovingly.

"You heard it right, little two thousand liang." Wang Xiaoer smacked his tongue, thinking he heard it wrong.

"It's only two thousand taels, and you can also pay one year's salary in advance. Go quickly." Li Shu urged impatiently.

Just smelling the charcoal fire here makes me feel sick to my stomach.

"Yes, yes, little one, let's go right away." Wang Xiaoer nodded repeatedly and trotted all the way into the scissors shop again.

This time he came out very quickly. He was obviously pushed out by someone, and he staggered out of the shop.

"Ahem, miss, I told him that I would give him two thousand taels of silver every year, and I could also pay him a year's salary in advance. He thought I was disturbing his research on iron tools, so he kicked me out." Wang Xiaoer said with an aggrieved look.

"It's really useless, aren't you pretty good at fighting?" Qin'er rolled her eyes angrily.

"He is too strong, I was unprepared," Wang Xiaoer said to himself.

"Give him these two pages and tell him I have the entire copy here. If you want to read it, just follow me."

Li Shu took out two pieces of paper, handed them to Qin'er, and motioned Qin'er to give them to Wang Xiaoer.

"Miss, even two thousand taels of silver won't do. Can these two pages of paper do?" Qin'er handed the paper to Wang Xiaoer. After returning to the sedan, she finally couldn't bear it anymore and whispered to Li Shu.

"If it doesn't work, I'll just ask someone to knock her out and kidnap her away later." Li Shu smiled slightly, covering Cherry's little mouth with her slender hand, and said softly, "I have an ancestral book called "The Fire Dragon Sutra" that someone secretly tore off two pages. Everyone gets the stolen goods."