CH 19

It was only in the afternoon that Qiao Yuan had the time to carefully observe the process of making iron tools.

In this world, there are three difficult professions: boatman, blacksmith, and tofu maker. It was indeed true as they said.

According to Yu Dameng’s introduction, there are seven processes involved in blacksmithing: selecting materials, heating materials, forging, shaping, polishing, quenching, and tempering.

Qiao Yuan didn’t understand what all these processes were for, but he watched for an afternoon and saw that Yu Dameng had to pull the bellows to heat the furnace and hammer the big hammer. It was really hard work.

Qiao Yuan also tried it himself. He could barely lift the big iron hammer, let alone swing it. How much strength did he have to use every day? It was hot and tiring, and it was completely exhausting for the body. He would surely have a lot of problems when he got old. Qiao Yuan felt so distressed that he thought he had to stew more bone soup for Yu Dameng to nourish him.

He wanted Yu Dameng to be able to eat ready-made food when he came home from work in the afternoon. Since he couldn’t contribute much in the iron workshop, he suggested going home first.

Yu Dameng disagreed and was not comfortable with him walking alone.

Old Man Yu was also worried and said, “Don’t go back today. From now on, let Little Fourth and Little Fifth come to pick you up at this time every day.”

Fine! This damn ger identity!

Before finishing work in the afternoon and going home, Qiao Yuan went to Butcher Zhang’s stall and bought two jin of lean meat and five jin of pork ribs. He gave half of it to Old Man Yu to take back to their old home, and kept the other half for him and Yu Dameng to eat in the evening.

When they got home, Yu Dameng went to fetch water while Qiao Yuan washed rice and prepared to cook.

The dinner was Hunan-style stir-fried pork, fried vegetables with oil residue, and winter melon rib soup. Qiao Yuan had a small appetite. Fortunately, Yu Dameng could eat well and didn’t leave any rice.

Now there were only two of them left. The housework was much easier. Yu Daming did everything first. As long as he could do it, he would do it all by himself. If he couldn’t do it, he would follow along and learn.

Now there are only the two of them left, and the household chores are much easier. Yu Dameng did everything first. As long as he could do it, he would do it all by himself. If he couldn’t do it, he would follow along and learn.

Qiao Yuan felt extremely relieved in his heart. His Dameng looked dull, but he was actually a good husband who was loyal and filial after being trained well. The two of them were affectionately talking to each other when suddenly there was a knock on the door.

“Dameng, Yuan Ge’er, are you home?”

Qiao Yuan answered and got up to open the door.

The visitor was Aunt Zhao, and next to her looked like Zhao Gensheng’s newly married husband. Aunt Zhao said, “I came here this morning, but you weren’t home. I asked your mother, and she said you went to town with Dameng. Yesterday, you know, Auntie was too busy and couldn’t spare any time.”

She continued, “Now that I have some free time, I hurriedly brought your Brother Gensheng’s husband over to meet you and get familiar with your faces. You are all about the same age. It will be good for you to get to know each other and hang out more in the future.”

Qiao Yuan was also happy to make more friends in this world. He quickly smiled and invited them in.

Zhao Gensheng’s husband Yu Ge’er smiled and said, “We won’t stay long today. You and Brother Dameng have been busy all day. We came here today mainly to deliver these things. Yuan Ge’er, you must accept them. One is a thank-you gift for the flower buns you gave at yesterday’s banquet. The other is a housewarming gift for you and Brother Dameng.”

Since they said so, Qiao Yuan couldn’t refuse. He accepted them openly. “Okay then. Another day when we have time, we will invite sister-in-law and Brother Gensheng over for dinner.”

Aunt Zhao added, “I specially picked two new baskets. You just moved out, and you don’t have much stuff at home. Keep them at home to store things. Don’t send them back. You’ve been tired all day. You should rest well. We’ll leave first.”

Qiao Yuan nodded and agreed, sending them off.

Just as they had put down the things they had brought, Yu Laoer and his wife also came to the door to deliver something.

This was the first time Qiao Yuan had seen his second sister-in-law since he came. She looked like a very simple and honest rural woman. She didn’t go to the wedding banquet yesterday either. She probably was afraid of the villagers’ gossip and deliberately avoided these scenes.

She was a bit nervous when she saw Qiao Yuan and tried to smile with a bit of flattery.

Qiao Yuan had mixed feelings. On one hand, he felt sorry for her unfortunate situation, but on the other hand, he was angry when he remembered what Yu Laoer had done. He wasn’t sure if his wife was involved in that incident, and he might never know.

Yu Dameng still cared about his older brother, and Qiao Yuan cared about Yu Dameng’s feelings. So as long as Yu Laoer and his family didn’t cause any trouble, Qiao Yuan wouldn’t deal with them. He would just maintain a normal relationship between villagers. Qiao Yuan politely accepted the gifts they gave and returned five eggs.

As the sky gradually darkened, Yu Dameng locked the front door and the two finally began their own private world.

Qiao Yuan suggested giving Yu Dameng a massage.

Yu Dameng was about to refuse, but was glared at by Qiao Yuan and swallowed his words.

But with Qiao Yuan’s little strength now, pressing on Yu Dameng’s body, was like tickling him, and it was just lighting fires everywhere.

“Tomorrow, we have to turn over the vegetable plot at home and buy some seeds to sow. Otherwise, it’s a bit troublesome to always go to the old house to pick vegetables.” Qiao Yuan said while exerting force.

Yu Dameng was pressed on a sore spot and groaned in response: “I’ll get up early and do it tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Qiao Yuan let out a sound, his face feeling a bit hot and flustered. The sensation in his hand was really too good, and he gradually went from pressing hard to touching everywhere.

Yu Dameng indulged him for a while, but finally couldn’t bear it. He grabbed his hand, his voice hoarse, “Yuan… Yuan Ge’er, don’t press anymore.”

“Ah? Why… why not?” Qiao Yuan felt the atmosphere was suddenly hot, his mind a bit muddled, and his voice unconsciously trembled.

Yu Dameng’s throat moved, stuttering: “Just… just don’t press anymore.”

After saying that, he turned over and got out of bed and left the room.

Qiao Yuan’s face gradually turned red. He quickly lay down and pulled the blanket over his head.

He was too embarrassed to see anyone. What did he just do?

……

In the following days, he could sell about a hundred vegetable pancakes every day. This was the amount that Qiao Yuan deliberately controlled. He also slightly changed the way of selling pancakes on the spot at the roadside stall. He made the pancakes in advance the day before. Pancakes were always durable and didn’t affect the taste. This way, he only had to work for an hour and a half every day and he could almost sell them all.

And there were people who liked these pancakes so much that they only bought some pancakes back and made their own dishes to wrap them.

Qiao Yuan also promoted this way of eating while selling vegetable pancakes. These days, more and more people came to buy only pancakes. If they bought them by weight, Qiao Yuan sold them for seven wen per jin. A jin had about eight or nine pancakes, which was cheaper than eating rice and saved them the effort of cooking. Moreover, this thing can be stored for a long time. It could last for three or five days without any problem. He could sell twenty or thirty catties of pancakes every day.

This added another source of income. Qiao Yuan had already made more than one or two taels in the past few days. The only regret was that no one came to inquire about the flower buns. But this could not be rushed either. He didn’t know any rich or noble people right now, so it was hard to open up a path.

He had already thought of it. If it didn’t work out, he would wait until he opened his own shop and do a flower bun show to show off his skills. Right now, he was very satisfied with his current life status. He had to enjoy it as he went along and not be too worried or anxious.

In the afternoon of that day, Qiao Yuan finished another business deal and got up to rest. In the morning, he sold vegetable pancakes at the entrance of the iron shop. After selling out the vegetable pancakes, he made the pancakes for retail sale in the back yard of the iron shop.

Usually, when Yu Dameng was not busy with his work in the front shop, he always liked to stick to him and help him out. But these past two days, he didn’t know what kind of madness he had gotten into. Even when Qiao Yuan called him several times, he didn’t hear him.

Men ah, they needed to be trained well.

“What are you making?” Qiao Yuan came over and saw that Yu Dameng was carefully making some kind of iron tool, which were very delicate. Qiao Yuan didn’t dare to disturb him and waited for him to stop before speaking.

Yu Dameng saw that it was him who came and his eyes were full of joy.

He had been by the furnace all morning and his face was covered with sweat. Qiao Yuan pretended to glare at him and took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat. “You’re sweating all over, don’t you know how to wipe it?”

Yu Dameng grinned and pointed to the unfinished iron tool in his hand and explained to him: “These days, I saw that you have to cut a lot of potatoes and radishes every morning.” He said, looking at Qiao Yuan, his ears red and continued, “You cut too fast, I’m afraid you’ll cut your hand. So, I thought of making a tool that could directly slice the potatoes on top of it.”

Qiao Yuan listened to Yu Dameng’s explanation and looked at the unfinished iron tool. Wasn’t it a shredder?

A genius! Qiao Yuan happily hugged Yu Dameng’s head and kissed him.

Yu Dameng’s face instantly turned red, and his first reaction was to look at his father.

Fortunately, his father was not in the room.

Yuan Ge’er, Yuan Ge’er, how could you do this!

So funny! Qiao Yuan snorted lightly and looked at the unfinished shredder again. The more he looked at it, the happier he felt. What a business opportunity!

“When you finish it, we’ll try it. We can sell this in the shop later.”

Yu Dameng hesitated. “Will anyone buy it?”

“How can there be no one? You don’t cook, you have no experience. I guarantee you, as long as it’s easy to use, there will definitely be people who would want to buy it!” Qiao Yuan patted Yu Dameng’s shoulder. “You just focus on making it, I’ll worry about selling it. There will be a lot of demand from restaurants and eateries. And there’s one more thing. You’re making a shredder, but sometimes you also need to slice. And there are different thicknesses of shreds and slices. For now, let’s make it according to the thickness we usually eat and sell it to ordinary families. The standards of big restaurants may be different. We’ll talk about that later.”

Yu Dameng thought for a while and said: “To slice, just put a blade here.”

“You’re quite smart, aren’t you?” Qiao Yuan teased.

Yu Dameng thought of what Qiao Yuan called him when he kissed him and his face was a bit hot.

Qiao Yuan continued to talk about business. “You can also make a peeling knife.”

The two discussed for a while until Old Man Yu came back from his walk and saw his son talking with his son-in-law about iron tools. When did his son-in-law become so interested in blacksmithing?

Yu Dameng and Qiao Yuan explained to their father again. Old Man Yu regretted that he had not spent enough time in the kitchen before! Otherwise, how could he not think of such a practical thing? But since his son could think of it, he also had half of his credit. Old Man Yu felt very proud that the family’s blacksmithing skills would be passed down to the next generation.

Qiao Yuan just provided an idea. As for how to make it, the two blacksmiths still had to figure it out carefully.

Three days later, Yu Dameng ran excitedly to the backyard and told him that the shredder was done.

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. If you want to show your support, you can buy me a coffee. It would make my day! For every five coffees I get, I will release a bonus chapter.