Chapter Seven: Moving House

  "Constant child, tired to death, hurry up and drink some water to rest." The old lady took a handkerchief to wipe Yang Heng's face, actually there wasn't much sweat, just a little came out, it was evaporated by the heat in front of him, only now that he stopped and left the stove did his face show a bit of sweat.

  "Unfilial daughter, I think we should pack up now and leave the city for our hometown at dawn. Otherwise, that Li Sanlang will come and we won't be able to leave. He might use some trickery to get us. When I was ill and couldn't get out of bed, they wouldn't have come, but if I go out and show my face now, he'll probably arrive quickly tomorrow. This time, I reckon he won't directly say 'I've bought it', but will use some other means." Yang Heng's guess wasn't wrong, after they left the next day, Li Sanlang came with the yamen runners, naturally with a prepared excuse, saying that Yang Heng had stolen something and was reported by that scholar.

  "This kid is right, I've asked around and it's the same story. But now we're all set, with these tools, we can live a good life in the countryside." Old Dad nodded in agreement on the side.

  "Alright, I'll pack up immediately. But what about our house?" The old lady wasn't a careless person, but whenever it came to matters of life and death, she panicked. After all, as a woman, she didn't understand much about external affairs.

  "The house is still here, he's willing to take it, then take it. But when we become prosperous, we might take it back." Yang Heng gritted his teeth and said, I just crossed over, and the people here gave me a warning shot. You know, I'm a crosser, according to YY's words, this is an existence that defies heaven. That Li Sanlang, you just wait for my anger."

  There's not much to collect, just a few things. In the warehouse at the back, there is a wooden cart, a spinning wheel, several broken mats, half a trunk of tattered clothes, and several hemp sacks filled with straw bedding.

  Then there were the tools that had just been forged, "Grandfather, when we leave the city gate, no one checks if we are carrying knives or not, right?" Yang Heng asked worriedly, surely it's not a dangerous item at this time.

  "No, it's not very strict these years. As long as you don't have a military crossbow, it's fine. And those guards, I know them all. Besides, I have a pass here, and I often need to go out to deliver goods and buy raw materials." Old Dad said nonchalantly.

  "That's good, that's good. Ah, right, Grandfather Yang, can you build this kind of furnace?" Yang Heng suddenly remembered something and asked, pointing at the largest furnace in front of him.

  "This, I really don't know how." The old man was a bit embarrassed that there was still something he didn't know in front of his son. "But I do know how to make that kind of stove."

  "That's also at such a high temperature, that is to say the heat." "No, that's just enough to burn the iron red." The old man directly denied.

  "That won't do, I want to take this away too." "How can we take it, can we lift it onto the car?" "Of course not, but I found that this is built with bricks. We can dismantle the outer bricks and then take away the main part inside. As for the outer painting, we can rebuild it according to the original pattern later."

  They started the process of dismantling the furnace, removing the bricks around it layer by layer. Yang Heng used charcoal to draw various symbols on a piece of cloth on one side. In the end, only a small furnace and a ventilation duct were left, which had been burned very hard. The father and son both used great force, until the old mother had cleaned up all the things, but the father and son still hadn't dismantled the furnace.

  "What are you two doing?" After the old mother finished cleaning up the other rooms, she found that the father and son were dismantling the stove here. "We're going to take this stove away." "Yes, taking it away is good, this stove hasn't been passed down for repair." The old mother said affirmatively.

  "This furnace, in these hundreds of years, has been relocated countless times. I never thought that in my lifetime, it would have to be relocated again." The old lady was very sentimental, and it seemed that Yang Heng's idea was correct - this furnace was very important, and once lost, it would be troublesome to make anything in the future. There were materials with high temperatures, but using coal as fuel made Yang Heng worry about whether the quality of the steel could be guaranteed. To know that when forging knives, Yang Heng had seen from above that this steel was not much worse than those of later generations. According to his understanding, at that time, there was good steel, but it did not reach this level. Legend has it that those steels were far inferior to this one."

  "People all say that the hoes we make, as well as some other farm tools, are much better than those made by others. But the ones we make using those two furnaces on the side are far inferior." The old lady said again.

  "Alright, you two stop talking now. Let's go, we don't need to say goodbye to the neighbors. I reckon if we wait for a bit at the city gate, it will open soon." Old Dad urged, seemingly confirming that someone was indeed coming today, and worrying that they wouldn't make it in time, otherwise he wouldn't have been so anxious to pack up his tools and belongings.

  "Go ahead, you all go first and let me take one last look at our house. Maybe we won't be able to come back for the rest of our lives." The old lady said with tears in her eyes, looking at the house behind them. It's worth noting that in Yang Heng's memory, they had suffered several disasters here, but his family had never left before. Each time they suffered a disaster, they would hide in a hole in the back room for ten days or half a month and then come out again. But this time, they couldn't stay and hiding in the hole was no longer an option. Others were coming to seize this house, after all, it was located in a very good position in the city.

  "Alright, mother, it's no use looking for so long. Let's go back and come again when we're done," Yang Heng advised his mother, "Okay, I'll wait until our Heng'er makes a name for himself. Mother, let's go."

  As she spoke, the old woman turned around and locked the door. Although she had left, this lock still needed to be closed, and people couldn't just come in directly, could they? Forcing the lock open was different from pushing the door open.

  The sky was still early, and it wasn't time to open the city gate yet, but there were already some people waiting to leave the city. However, Lao Die was chatting with a familiar soldier at the city gate.

  "Yang Langjun is leaving the city, where is he going?" As they arrived at the city gate, an old man greeted Old Dad and said, "Ah, Old Zhang, you're on duty today. I'm heading back to my hometown. Here's my entry permit." "Hey, no need to show me that. Who doesn't know Yang Tiejiang Yang Langjun? Is your whole family going this time?" "Yes, the kids are all grown up now. They should meet their grandfather." The two chatted casually.

  "Creak," the door finally opened, and at this time, the east also began to brighten. Or it can be said that Yang Heng's journey through time was started from escaping.