Chapter 84: Since it is useless, give it to me
Since his wife had already agreed to it, it would be a bit unreasonable to go back on her word. The blacksmith shop owner was a little conflicted and said, "I said before that this stone lock is not very useful. Let's change it."
The more he said this, the more curious Ah Si became. He said dissatisfiedly, "No, I think this one is good enough. Give it to me."
The blacksmith shop owner looked at the stone lock and said dissatisfiedly, "How can you be reluctant to part with a broken stone thing?"
"It's not that I can't bear to do so. Alas, I can't explain it to you clearly." The blacksmith shop owner returned to his previous timid and submissive self, not daring to act unruly in front of his wife.
Liu Hu didn't want to get hung up on such a small matter, so he said to the blacksmith shop owner, "Name a price for this stone lock, and we'll buy it."
"Hey, why do you want to pay for a piece of broken stone? Just take it." The proprietress of the blacksmith shop felt embarrassed to continue collecting money. After all, she had already made a lot of money from Liu Hu, and it would be a bit unreasonable to ask for more money.
"This thing is worth one hundred taels." The blacksmith shop owner thought about it and did not dare to speak loudly, so he could only whisper aside.
One hundred taels was nothing in Liu Hu's opinion. After all, such a big stone needed to be polished. However, before Liu Hu could say anything, the proprietress of the blacksmith shop spoke first.
"What the hell? One hundred taels, what can you do if you give it to him?"
The blacksmith's boss was once again grabbed by the ear, and immediately changed his expression and said, "Okay, okay, I'll give it to you for free."
When Ah Si heard that it was free, he immediately picked up the big stone lock, and it didn't seem like it was any effort at all.
All the things in front of him had been dealt with, and there was no need for Liu Hu to stay here any longer. After a simple farewell, Liu Hu got up and left.
At this time, the owner of the blacksmith shop hurried forward, stopped in front of Liu Hu and said, "Wait."
"What?" Liu Hu didn't understand. They had already finished talking, so what else was there to say? Did the blacksmith shop owner regret it?
The blacksmith shop owner took another deep look at the big stone lock and said, "Where do you live? There are many things on this design that I don't understand. I'll go and ask after I finish my meal."
"How can I not understand? I see it all clearly." The proprietress of the blacksmith shop had no idea what was wrong with her husband today and he said some incomprehensible things.
The blacksmith shop owner ignored his wife's words and continued, "You may understand it now, but when you actually do it, you will definitely encounter some things you don't understand, so just tell me where your home is."
Liu Hu had no idea what the blacksmith shop owner was up to, so he had to tell him the exact location.
The place where he lived was not too far away and was easy to identify. After he only said it once, the owner of the blacksmith shop remembered Liu Hu's location.
He was not afraid that the owner of the blacksmith shop would come to his house to cause trouble. After all, there were a large number of Green Guards and archers near his house, as well as the brothers under Asi. Even a small army would find it difficult to attack.
No matter how powerful the master is, even if the blacksmith shop owner is a ninth-level master, in Liu Hu's view, he is still a human being, and as long as he is a human being, there is nothing to be afraid of.
After getting Liu Hu's specific location, the blacksmith shop owner finally breathed a sigh of relief, nodded, and stopped talking.
After Liu Hu left, the blacksmith shop owner closed the door and asked, "What do you mean today? Why do you keep making trouble?"
"No, my lady, you misunderstood me." The blacksmith shop owner didn't dare to tell the truth. He just wanted to live a peaceful and stable life and didn't want to experience the intrigues in the world again.
After the blacksmith shop owner put away the banknotes, she continued to say to her husband, "If you let your apprentices make this weapon, it would be done quickly. Why did you set it to three months?"
To the proprietress of the blacksmith shop, blacksmithing is just strenuous work. As long as she makes the first one, the furnace will not stop for twelve hours, so it does not take that long to finish.
The blacksmith sighed and said, "It's not that simple. You don't know how difficult this thing is."
He had been a blacksmith for many years, so he naturally realized that the design given by Liu Hu was different from that of an ordinary sword. There were many details in it, and no one in the blacksmith shop could make it except himself.
The proprietress of the blacksmith shop was not aware of the twists and turns involved. As long as her husband agreed, it proved that it could be done, and these things were not something she had to consider.
"Just focus on forging iron. I'll take care of the things in the blacksmith shop. Let's try to finish this as soon as possible to prevent him from regretting it." The owner of the blacksmith shop comforted him.
Hearing his wife say this, the blacksmith didn't know what to say, so he had to go back to the furnace and continue working.
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On the way back, Luo Fanchen saw Ah Si playing with the stone lock and questioned, "I don't know why, but I always feel that the owner of the blacksmith shop is a little strange."
"It's obviously just an ordinary stone lock, why does he care so much about it?"
"If it was really important, why he agreed to give it to us is beyond me."
As Si was playing with the stone lock, he said, "That's easy. You must have used it for a long time, so you have developed feelings for it."
Liu Hu also noticed that the owner of the blacksmith shop was a little too concerned about this stone lock. The more he cared about it, the more abnormal this thing was.
"After we go back, we'll examine this stone lock carefully to see what secrets it holds."
Liu Hu thought for a while and continued, "Xuemei, you have lived with Tang Ya for such a long time, you must be very familiar with mechanical devices. Check to see if this stone lock has any mechanical devices."
After all, in Liu Hu's opinion, in appearance, this stone lock is not much different from an ordinary stone lock. The only difference is that this stone lock is much larger than the ones used in daily life.
But no matter how big it is, it's just a piece of stone, and you can't really tell any difference.
Xuemei agreed, glanced at A Si, and didn't say anything else. She couldn't lift such a heavy thing.
Ah Si chuckled and continued, "I'm afraid I'm the only one who can lift this stone lock. Fan Chen obviously used some means I don't know about just now."
“No matter what means I used, I got it. Unlike you, you just rely on brute force.” Luo Fanchen said sarcastically.
Watching Ah Si playing with the stone lock, Luo Fanchen said, "What that guy just said is right. With your current strength, it is easy to get injured if you use this stone lock for a long time. I advise you to practice first and then use it."
Being poured a basin of cold water by Luo Fanchen, Ah Si was a little unconvinced and said: "Why can he practice, but I can't? I tell you, it's not difficult for me to lift this stone lock."
Seeing Ah Si showing off, Luo Fanchen felt a little worried. If it was someone else, he would be too lazy to say anything, but Ah Si was different. He sighed and continued, "There is definitely no problem in picking it up once, but how many times do you have to lift it up a day when you exercise with it?"
"Your body won't be able to bear it by then, and you won't be able to practice to a higher level of martial arts in the future."
There was no such thing as muscles in that era, so Luo Fanchen didn't know about muscle strain. He could only rely on his years of experience to tell Asi how undesirable it was to do so.
Ah Si ignored Luo Fanchen and pouted, "That's nothing. I've lifted things heavier than this before."
When Liu Hu was leading his troops to fight in the past, there was once a time when he was attacked from both sides. Asi carried the bolt of the city gate by himself. Now when Asi said this, everyone suddenly remembered his bravery back then.
"Okay, okay, you are awesome, okay?" Knowing that he couldn't persuade Ah Si, Luo Fanchen chose not to speak.
Liu Hu looked at the stone lock and smiled, "A Si, I think Fan Chen is absolutely right. You shouldn't practice this. If you want a good practice tool, why don't you ask the blacksmith to make one for you? We gave him so much money anyway."
"Yes, why didn't I let that person just now help me make one? How stupid." After hearing what Liu Hu said, Asi slapped his forehead and said.
It was not only A Si who regretted at this moment, Luo Fanchen also regretted very much. His severed finger had to be forged with black iron. It would be difficult for an ordinary blacksmith to achieve such precision. Although Zhang Chunqiu was a great doctor, he was not so good at blacksmithing. If he asked the man just now to help, it would definitely be twice the result with half the effort.
Luo Fanchen made up his mind that the next time he saw the blacksmith, he would ask him for help to forge his severed finger.
The group returned to the house, each with their own thoughts. When they came back, they saw Huaying standing in the middle of the yard counting things, but no one knew what she was busy with.
Seeing Liu Hu and the others coming back, Hua Ying seemed to have found her backbone. She hurried to Liu Hu and stretched out her hand, saying, "Give me money."
"What money?" Liu Hu didn't understand why Hua Ying asked him for money. He asked him to manage those industries to make money, not to ask for money.
Hua Ying didn't care about that and continued, "Hurry up and give me the money. I have already chosen the headquarters of the bank. All I need is your money."
After hearing this, Liu Hu felt a headache. It turned out that he had promised Hua Ying something before, but he didn't expect that he had done it so quickly. Now that Hua Ying mentioned it, Liu Hu immediately remembered it.
Setting up a bank is not a small amount of money. I have never had the habit of carrying money with me, so I had to cover my forehead and said, "Come back to the house and talk with me."
When Hua Ying heard Liu Hu's words, she immediately ran into the house. Now she had a new goal, which was to become the number one businessman in Daqian.
Although the industry Liu Hu gave her was big enough, Hua Ying was still not satisfied. Most of Liu Hu's industries were related to monopoly, and relied on novel products to occupy the market. This was not what a qualified businessman should do. Now, Hua Ying wanted to transform Liu Hu's industry.
