Section 41: The Ingenious Artisan (Middle)

  "What's that book called again?" That was something Shen Mo saw in a magazine in his past life, fortunately the magazine had noted its origin, so he didn't end up embarrassing himself. He clasped his hands together and said: "It seems to be 'Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio'."

  "But isn't it written by Hong Jinglu of Southern Song?" asked Da Zong with a frown.

  He nodded silently: "Not bad." The crowd was in an uproar again, and it's worth noting that "Yi Jian Zhi" wasn't some obscure or unpopular book, but rather a popular gossip book loved by the common people, and a favorite among readers.

  At least half of the scholars present had read the book, but no one knew what the method of plating was. Some scholars were unhappy and shouted: "Shen Xue is not being kind!" "Why are you keeping it to yourself?" "Yes, which book did you see it in?" Of course, most of the noise came from the Shanyin scholars, while the Kuaiji scholars thought Shen Mo was intentionally not telling the Shanyin people, so they were relatively quiet.

  Seeing Shen being questioned by everyone, the various officials felt very apologetic. Raising his voice and lifting his hand, he said: "Everyone listen to me." He was indeed the leader of the Shanyin scholars, with some prestige, and immediately calmed down the crowd. All they heard him say loudly was: "Shen is not a person who would lie."

  "Why didn't we see this method in 'Yi Jian Zhi'?" The scholars wondered: "Isn't it just a different version?"

  "There is no second version." Zhusi slowly thought: "It is said that the whole book of 'Yijianzhi' was originally divided into initial, branch, three, and four, each with a sequence of A, B, C, D. The first one was compiled from A to 200 volumes; Branch A to Branch J, Three A to Three J, each with 100 volumes; Four A, Four B, each with 10 volumes. A total of 410 volumes."

  "Really so many?" The scholars asked in disbelief: "We have read at most only over a hundred volumes."

  "This is not surprising." Zhu Dajun sighed and said: "The Mongols have been a scourge on China for nearly a hundred years, and many of our Chinese classics have been lost. When Xie Jin first edited the Yongle Encyclopedia, he said 'the disaster was far worse than Qin's burning of books and burying of scholars.' So it's not strange that seven-tenths of the Yi Jian Zhi is scattered." He bowed to Shen Mo and said: "I suppose you have a lot of good fortune, Shen brother, and must have obtained many more volumes than us."

  "Ah, I see!" Shen Mo suddenly realized. In his previous life, he wasn't a fan of classical literature and didn't understand any ancient books, but as soon as he heard the topic, he immediately thought of that Song Dynasty craftsman. However, in this city of Shaoxing, which was renowned for its rich cultural heritage, no one seemed to know about it, which left him perplexed. After hearing Zhu Da's explanation, he finally cleared up a doubt in his mind - it turned out that part had been lost at some point and might have reappeared from who-knows-where later on.

  This is the correct solution, this book was over 400 years later. Many scholars worked together to search for some lost works from the Yongle Encyclopedia and many other books, and then re-supplemented them one after another, Shen Mo's method was also collected later.

  The various officials did not ask for specific prescriptions and told Shen Mo that they would visit him another day to apologize, then retreated.

  But the onlookers did not disperse, they didn't care about the origin of the method, just wanting to know what was going on, everyone was so curious they were almost dying.

  Those craftsmen wanted to invite Shen Mo to demonstrate privately, but the three layers of spectators inside and outside would not agree. Suddenly, there was a surge of opposition, with the attitude that if they didn't let them watch, they wouldn't let them leave either.

  The scene was getting out of hand, so the two county magistrates hurried out to maintain order. County Magistrate Zhang raised his voice and said: "Everyone listen to me. As the saying goes, 'those who are skilled look at the door, while those who are unskilled watch the excitement.' Why don't Master Shen demonstrate it once, and you craftsmen can learn as much as you can based on your individual understanding? We outsiders just want to see how this miracle is born, but it's impossible for us to learn this skill and then compete with you for food." It turned out that County Magistrate Zhang, who was in a great mood, could talk like this. Shen Mo thought he was a dullard.

  The audience all agreed that it was right, and the craftsmen also felt reasonable. Although a few big masters had some unwillingness, they could only agree when they saw the trend.

  Shen Mo smiled and said: "Please prepare a bottle, a small piece of gold, and some mercury for each master."

  Before long, the things he wanted were delivered and neatly placed on the table. Shen Mo smiled silently: "Students can move their mouths, but as soon as they move their hands, they will reveal their flaws. Please ask a master to take over." He said, nodding towards the crowd: "Seventh brother, please come up."

  As people followed his gaze, they saw a timid middle-aged man who was waving his hands nervously and saying "I won't do it, I won't do it." Before he had even finished speaking, he was pushed forward by a young man standing next to him who looked somewhat familiar.

  That man was Qiuniang's husband, who stumbled onto the stage and knelt down to kowtow: "Your Honor, Your Honor, humble subject, humble subject..." The crowd burst into thunderous laughter.

  Those workmen also smiled sarcastically and thought: 'Look at this clumsy fellow, he's not a good worker.'

  Shen walked up to him and said softly, "Don't be nervous, get up quickly."

  The seventh brother seemed to be shaking his head, lowering his head and whispering: "Young master, it's better to change someone else, I'm too nervous."

  "Want to spend your whole life kneeling and never lift your head up? Want Seventh Sister to look up to you? Then stand up!"

  Seventh Brother's whole body shook, and after a while, he finally got up with both hands on the ground. His whole body was shaking violently, and his lips trembled: "I, I don't want her to look down on me."

  She smiled silently, pulled his arm and pressed him to sit down at the table, saying: "Just consider this your desk, go through that day's procedures while you do them." Then she was about to withdraw.

  However, he was pulled back by Seventh Brother, who begged with a pleading face: "I'm nervous, I don't know what to say, I've forgotten what happened that day."

  "Alright, I'll explain," said Shenmo with a wry smile. Qi Ge finally let go, wiping the sweat from his brow as he picked up the small hammer, looking like he was holding a 128-kilogram golden melon mallet.

  Everyone held their breath, listening to him slowly narrate: "First, pound the small gold block into an extremely thin gold foil." Seventh Brother fixed the gold piece on a smooth iron anvil and started pounding it with a small hammer 'dang dang dang', initially a bit flustered, but as the gold piece became thinner, the requirement for controlling the force also became higher, he concentrated all his energy between those few inches, without any distracting thoughts.

  Only the timid and shrinking old man of everyday life exuded great confidence all over his body, although he was fully focused, but the movements in his hands became faster and faster, so fast that only a gray light could be seen, and it was impossible to distinguish which was the hand and which was the hammer.

  The gold foil is getting thinner and wider.

  Everyone held their breath and watched in awe at this incredible skill, even those craftsmen who were initially disdainful stared wide-eyed... Hitting gold foil was something everyone could do, but no one could make it look as effortless and lightning-fast.

  In less than a moment, the gold piece the size of a coin was hammered by Seventh Brother into a square foot, thin as a cicada's wing.

  He gently put down the hammer, Seventh Brother let out a long sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his forehead and said: "Young Master, I'm done." The applause was like thunder, people were lavish with their praise for Gao's craftsmanship, and Seventh Sister, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, was so excited that she almost fainted, grabbing onto the person next to her and exclaiming: "That's my husband, that's my husband!" Normally, she didn't think much of this 'husband' of hers.

  "The rest doesn't need me to remind you, does it?"

  "I understand." Seventh Brother nodded and smiled foolishly, tightly wrapping the gold foil around the outside of the bottle. The craftsmen thought to themselves: "It seems that the technique of gilding will be used."

  Then he carefully peeled off the gold paper wrapped around the bottle, clamped it between a pair of silver chopsticks, and put some mercury into the bottle again. He sealed the mouth of the bottle with soft wood and swung the bottle up and down, left and right, with a graceful motion.

  "What's with the gilding again?" The craftsmen wondered in their hearts, and Da Yan couldn't help but ask: "Is that it?"

  Mo Shen smiled and said, "It's basically done, right, Seventh Brother?" Seventh Brother hastily replied, "Still half an hour to go." With nothing to do, he became restless again.

  "It's just as well to be idle." Shen Mo chuckled and said, "I have two gold ingots here, Seventh Brother can help me make a pair of ornaments." As he spoke, he handed over the two small ingots he had just won, saying in a low voice, "Whatever ornament is valuable, you make whatever."

  "Ah, don't worry." Seventh Brother was originally a very skilled craftsman from Kaifeng, but he fled to Shaoxing after being affected by the Yellow River disaster. However, local people generally believed that northerners were clumsy with their hands and feet, so they wouldn't give him these delicate tasks. Unable to open his own shop, he couldn't make a living, so he had no choice but to marry into the Shen family and become Seventh Sister's husband. Still, nobody was willing to give him an opportunity, and he has been struggling until now, with a heart full of grievances.

  Why else would people say that the world is not short of talented individuals, but rather lacks those who can appreciate them? The world is not short of brilliant minds, but rather lacks a stage for them to shine.

  Now that Master Xiao has given him this opportunity to make a name for himself, he must certainly put on a good show!