Chapter Seventeen: The Gathering of the Black Sheep at Wu's Residence

  "Is this Qingyangji?!"

  Standing on the main street of Qingyangji, Dog Egg looked at the constantly shuttling crowd and suddenly felt a sense of nostalgia in his heart. It had been a long time since he had seen such a scene. Although Qingyangji was not as good as a small town in his previous life, it at least gave him a feeling of being in a civilized world, which was much better than the small mountain village where he used to live.

  Three days ago, his second uncle came to his home again and brought up the matter of letting San Gouzi Dog Danzi go out to make a name for himself, and Lao Zhou agreed.

  It's not easy to disagree, this life is already quite good, but he has four sons after all. The second son Er Gouzi is already at the age of finding a daughter-in-law, and the third son San Gouzi and Dog Egg are about to enter puberty, their appetite is constantly increasing. San Gouzi is fine, but Dog Egg is more troublesome, it can be said that he won't be happy without meat. If it weren't for Wang Tianlei's family taking care of them, Old Zhou's family would really be eaten into poverty by Dog Egg.

  Why not take this opportunity to send him out, don't ask him to be attached to any family, at least he can support himself, besides, Qingyang Village is not far away, it's just a mountain road about 40 or 50 miles away from the village. So, after careful consideration and discussion, Old Zhou agreed to let Second Uncle take Dog Egg out for a try.

  "Heh heh, this Qingyang Village is probably still under the control of the Black Dragon Association, but with the death of their leader, their power has been greatly weakened. I'm afraid they've lost interest in managing this place." Looking at the dark buildings to the southwest, a hint of an interesting smile flashed across Dog Egg's face. Although he had only inherited some fragmented memories from Li Haoran, he clearly understood Li Haoran's feelings towards the Black Dragon Association, and these feelings had also influenced him. Therefore, he was now very interested in the Black Dragon Association.

  At his current age and status, the Black Dragon Society is still an unattainable existence for him, and he doesn't need to have any relationship with such a Jianghu organization at this time.

  "Dog egg, just ahead is Wu's ironwork shop. After you go there, be sure to behave and learn a trade properly. I've gone through many connections to find an opportunity for you to get in, so don't disappoint me!"

  All the way, Second Brother repeatedly exhorted and warned, almost making Dog Egg's head explode, but he still listened patiently, with a humble smile on his face, nodding along as he listened, very well-behaved, which made Second Brother extremely satisfied.

  "Haha, I almost forgot, Dog Egg is now a big name, called Zhou Bao!" It seemed to have remembered something, and Second Uncle burst out laughing, stroking Dog Egg's head. "Your dad's choice of name is really good, from now on, I can't call you Dog Egg anymore, let me call you Little Leopard instead!"

  The puppy, no, the leopard cub had a bitter smile on his face. The puppy and the leopard cub were both fine, but he didn't care about that. What made him uncomfortable was being touched on the head by others for no reason at all.

  The Wu family's ironware shop is very famous in Qingyang Village, or rather, the entire Wu family is very famous throughout Yunzhou of Great Jin.

  Yunzhou Wu's family, this is a smelting iron family.

  Blacksmith, a single blacksmith, is just a craftsman, an ordinary handicraftsman, at most only stronger, nothing special.

  However, craftsmen are also divided into three six nine grades. When a blacksmith can forge sharp weapons, he can leave the scope of craftsmen and be called a master craftsman, and live a good life. When a master craftsman can forge divine weapons, he can be called a great master. They will no longer work in a simple iron workshop, sweating and hammering away, but will become guests of honor among high officials and nobles, forging special weapons for specific people using materials that ordinary blacksmiths cannot imagine. In their lifetime, they may only be able to forge one or two such items, but just these one or two special items can make their name spread throughout history, this is what is called a great master.

  And like the Wu family, with their unique secret skills, every few generations would produce one or two masters who could mass-produce master craftsmen. The status of such families was not lower than that of ordinary aristocratic families.

  The Wujia Ironware Shop in Qingyang Village was just a small branch of the Wujia family. In Yunzhou, every small town had a Wujia ironware shop. The Wujia family monopolized 70% of the ironware business in Yunzhou, from large items like knives, arrows, and bows to small ones like kitchen knives and pot lids. They were responsible for 90% of the military equipment and ironware in Yunzhou. Similarly, outside of Yunzhou, Wujia's ironware was also very popular, occupying a certain proportion of the market. That's why they were known as one of the four major smelting families in Great Jin.

  Of course, nominally called a noble family, in fact, the blacksmiths of the Wu family were not all members of the Wu family. Think about it, so many iron tools, so many shops, including military equipment, even if the Wu family had more people, they couldn't handle it. Even if they equipped the old lady who was over 80 years old and sent her to the battlefield, she would probably be exhausted to death.

  Like them, the iron-smelting families generally accept many disciples, and of course, the teachings these disciples receive are ordinary smelting methods. The true, profound smelting secrets are kept by the core members of the Wu family, and only a small number of disciples can receive them. These people are the elite of the entire Wu family.

  Zhou Bao has now entered an ordinary Wu family ironware shop as an apprentice, the kind of ironware shop that can be found in countless numbers in Yunzhou, cultivating ordinary blacksmiths. Occasionally, apprentices with good qualifications and a natural talent for smelting are discovered and may be recommended to larger ironware shops to learn more advanced smelting techniques and become true disciples of the Wu family.

  Becoming a master craftsman of the Wu family is the highest pursuit for every apprentice who enters the Wu family's ironwork shop, but this was not Zhou Bao's goal. This young man had no interest in blacksmithing; he only cared about the treatment he received from the Wu family's ironwork shop. He was a martial artist, and as the saying goes, "the poor cultivate literature, while the rich cultivate martial arts." A martial artist needs to consume large amounts of meat to replenish the energy expended during training, so Zhou Bao would not be happy without meat. This had become a huge problem for the old Zhou family, who could no longer afford it. The Wu family's ironwork shop was also physically demanding, requiring a strong physique, just like martial arts training. Therefore, even as a small apprentice, one would have meat to eat every day, and thus his troubles would be solved.

  The workshops of Qingyang Village are all located in the south of the town, but Wu's Ironware Shop is different. They are located in the central area of the town, which is the most prosperous place in the whole town.

  This iron shop integrates iron making and business, with a store in front and a workshop behind, and is the largest storefront in Qingyangji.

  But, after all, Qingyangji is just a small place, and the area of Wujia Ironware Shop is relatively large, but it's still not enough. Standing outside the ironware shop, you can faintly hear the sound of hammering coming from behind the store. Xiao Baozi could even imagine the scene of those guys sweating profusely as they hammered away in the backyard.

  "Ha ha, Housekeeper Lin, this is my nephew. I've brought him to you. See, although he's young, he's quite sturdy!"

  Xiao Bao's second uncle smiled and stood in front of a thin old man about sixty years old, pulling Xiao Bao to his side.

  "Hmm, not bad!" Lin Lao Guan looked at Dog Egg for a moment, his expression slightly moved. "Not bad, at this age, with such a temperament, it's rare! Let's go, now Old Xing won't complain to me again!" Lin Lao Guan muttered to himself, pulling Zhou Bao behind him, then raised his head and said, "You go to Xiaoyunzi's place to get a copy of the study contract, this matter is settled. I'll take him to see Old Xing, that old guy has a bad temper, especially towards outsiders, you'd better not go!"

  "Yes, yes!" Zhou Bao's second uncle nodded repeatedly and instructed him a few more words, all of which were about listening to others in this ironwork shop, learning well, and striving for a good future. These words, Zhou Bao had already heard many times before.

  As for Lin Daguai, he just smiled and didn't say anything. He had seen such things many times before. Since there was still plenty of time, he didn't need to rush. He waited until the second uncle finished giving all his instructions before taking Dog Egg with him into the shop.

  Although the Wu family is wealthy and influential, Qingyang Village is after all a small place, and they mainly deal with townspeople who do not have high demands for ironware. At most, they just use knives to chop vegetables, and they don't have much money or purchasing power. Moreover, the Wu family's ironware is one or two percent more expensive than ordinary blacksmith shops, so business is limited.

  And their biggest business comes from those warriors who enter the mountain, these warriors take small towns like Qingyangji as a place to rest and replenish their equipment, Wu's family usually does business with them.

  Of course, ordinary people's business Wu Jia Bing Qi Pu also accepted, and the number of shops that were received was not many. However, most of these were just for apprentices in the shop to practice their craftsmanship.

  Followed Lin Guan's family into the store, walked towards the back of the store, and as they went further back, the sound of iron hitting grew louder. By the time they reached the end, all that could be heard was the "ding-dong" sound of iron hitting, with no other sounds at all.

  "My god, this is just noise!" Zhou Bao secretly felt a bit ashamed. He was originally a person who liked quietness and the Tai Chi he practiced was also a skill that required quietness. Living in this noisy place day and night, he didn't know if he could hold on.

  Lin Daguang didn't care about his current thoughts, seeing his eyebrows slightly furrowed, couldn't help but laugh and say, "What's wrong, scared, kiddo? Let me tell you, this iron rice bowl is not easy to eat, if you want to stand firm here, you have to put in a lot of effort!"

  "Oh!" Zhou Bao nodded seriously, looking like he was taking it to heart, but his mind had already wandered off to who-knows-where.

  "Is this the apprentice you've been taking on this year?!"

  As soon as he entered the backyard, Zhou Bao hadn't had time to observe when a pungent smell of alcohol rushed into Dog Egg's nose. He looked up and saw an old man with a wine-stained nose holding a wine gourd, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

  This old man was about the same age as Lin's steward, but his build was tall and robust. However, perhaps due to his advanced age, or perhaps because he hadn't practiced ironwork for a long time, the muscles on his body were somewhat slack, and his vital energy wasn't particularly vigorous. Especially his right hand, which had a very obvious scar running from his right wrist all the way up to his elbow.

  "His hand is crippled?!" Seeing this scar, Zhou Bao's heart skipped a beat.

  Although the wound seems to have healed, such a scar suggests that this old man's tendons were severed long ago and his hand strength was also crippled. Although he doesn't know how to forge iron, it's clear that an ironworker who loses his right hand will be in a terrible state.

  "This is Master Xing, he's a master craftsman, you'll be under his care from now on, make sure to learn well and don't disappoint Second Uncle's good intentions!" Manager Lin patted Dog Egg's head and said softly.

  ……………………

  Third update, hehe, click, recommend, collect!