"Hey, isn't this Brother Tang? Why are you so depressed? ”

Tang Ting, who had been dodging the nobleman's convoy, heard a familiar voice, and couldn't help but look up, and saw a guy in the carriage with a proud face looking at him condescendingly.

"You...... Be...... The emperor is short of ......," Tang Ting looked at the guy who was about the same age as himself sitting in the carriage with a dull face.

"Bold, dare to call the master's name!" A domineering Hou Mansion guard choked and drew the big sword at his waist.

Tang Ting took a few steps back, and arched his hand with an ugly face: "I haven't seen you for more than a month, I can't imagine that Brother Huangfu has soared, I don't know where Brother Huangfu is working?" What is the lesson of stopping Tang on the street? ”

"Haha~" Huangfu patted the seat next to him and said: "Deliberately scaring you, come up and ride with me, I will recommend a job to you, and ensure that you will not be so depressed and desolate in the future!" ”

Tang Ting didn't look like he was lying, and the two had known each other for a few years, and they also knew that Huangfu had a good temperament, so he didn't refuse, climbed into the carriage and set off, and then bumped all the way to the southern area of the city where the princes and princes were gathered, and finally stopped at the door of a mansion.

When Tang Ting looked at the few ancient seals of the Qinghe Marquis Mansion on the lintel, his mind was blank, and then when the emperor Fu said that he was the doorman of the Qinghe Marquis Mansion and was about to recommend him to the Qinghe Marquis, Tang Ting, who got off the carriage, stepped directly into the air and planted it from the carriage.

In the back house, after Chen Xu carefully asked Tang Ting some questions, he arranged for him to be the manager of the Institute of Optics of the Academy of Sciences, but with Chen Xu, there were only two researchers and three helpers.

But after listening to Chen Xu tell some theories about various optics, mechanics and air, Tang Ting was ecstatic as if he had found a soulmate, and then Chen Xu made a few lenses with ice again to demonstrate the strange properties of the lens, and in the Institute of Optics specially demonstrated the smelting of a furnace of sand to cast a translucent glass-like object.

But making glass was not as easy as Chen Xu began to think, before Tang Ting came, he also made glass several times one after another, but the effect was very poor, the poured glass was all messy and too many bubbles, and he didn't have much time to study these all day.

Three helpers who didn't know anything went to the outside of the city to collect several different kinds of crystalline sand and gravel, some of which could be melted, some of which could not, and what they got was a lump of turbid color mixed with a strange luster of solids, which cooled down like the glass of later generations, except for some ornamental value, the eggs were useless.

However, even this kind of garbage-like thing in Chen Xu's opinion, in the eyes of everyone in the Academy of Sciences, it is also comparable to a gem, smooth and flat and magnificent in color, with a translucent texture and extremely hard, so some people come to take some waste products out to play, and then attract people to rush to buy them, because people in Xianyang City have heard that the things studied by the Academy of Sciences have a fairy spirit.

Therefore, Chen Xu did not let the three helpers study and make lenses, and made some molds to pour into various shapes of glass, cups, spoons, plates, and some hairpin bracelets and other decorations, anyway, this thing is not valuable, a handful of sand and some gravel of various colors can be burned together, except for the coal, the cost is almost zero, so the things made are not expensive, according to the size of the vessel, it ranges from one hundred to five hundred dollars, it is precisely because the price is relatively cheap to porcelain, so the demand in the Academy of Sciences alone cannot be met, Many people come to the Institute of Optics to see if they can snap up a piece of glass and take it back to show off, but although this thing is easy to make, it can't make a few pieces in a day, and Chen Xu doesn't plan to let the helpers do too much, the main thing is to exercise the proficiency of the three helpers in smelting and pouring skills, and also hope that they can slowly find a way to really make transparent and bubble-free glass.

However, until Tang Ting appeared, the level of the three helpers was still in the state of manufacturing various strange colored glazed objects, but the skill proficiency has increased by several levels, and they have been able to skillfully manufacture some simple molds and pour them, and the glass products produced every day can also be sold for thousands of dollars, so the Institute of Optics has also become the only unit that can make money in the entire Academy of Sciences, and the three helpers can each get dozens or even hundreds of dollars every day, which makes other helpers and even craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences drool with envy.

And the glass products bought by those fast people of the Academy of Sciences were taken out, and soon they were also sought after by the people of Xianyang, and there were two or even three times the profits of changing hands, resulting in a shortage of glazed utensils, and Qin Shi Huang also specially arranged for the palace people to come to inquire, Chen Xu had to let three helpers cast a batch of glass products with exquisite shapes and send them to the palace, but he also told the emperor that these things are not worth much and do not have much value, they can only be used for ornamentation, and it is best not to drink water or hold food. After all, there are too many magazines in the glass, and it is estimated that there are a lot of toxic metal substances.

After Tang Ting's arrival, Chen Xu started the manufacture of lenses again, but in the past ten days, Tang Ting's research and development has not been successful, although because of the selection of sand and crystal scraps, but in the absence of strict selection of equipment, impurities still exist, and the bubble problem still cannot be solved.

Therefore, although the poured lens looks much better than the previous glazed body, it is still an unqualified defective product.

Tang Ting and the three helpers were busy around the coal stove, and Chen Xu sat bored and waited next to him, while playing with various glass and glass products on the workbench, although his face looked calm, but he was also extremely worried.

A piece of natural pure crystal worth tens of thousands of gold, if the lens poured after melting is not successful......

This thought suddenly popped into Chen Xu's mind, and then his hand shook, and a piece of glass fell to the ground and shattered.

Tang Ting and the three helpers were frightened, and they all turned to look at Chen Xu.

"Look at what I'm doing, if you can't make a qualified lens this time, you will definitely be handed over to the Weiwei Mansion for the crime of destroying heavy objects!" Chen Xu frightened with a dark face.

"Hou Ye rest assured...... Feel relieved...... I'm going to make a good lens...... Come on, ......" Tang Ting's frightened face was distorted, and at the same time, cold sweat on his back also trickled out.

Only then did he remember that he had pestled Hou Ye with a fist-sized piece of pure water essence, which was a priceless treasure.

Soon half an hour passed, the three helpers continued to add coal to the furnace, and the temperature of the room became higher and higher, and Tang Ting watched through a small hole the size of a fist in the furnace door as the crystal crumbs in the crucible slowly melted into a reddish liquid.

"Check the mold and get ready for pouring!" Tang Ting's voice was serious, and the three helpers hurriedly carefully inspected several lens molds made of graphite powder and carefully put them together, and after confirming that they were correct, Tang Ting opened the furnace door, put on thick linen gloves and used a long-handled iron tong to clip out the red crucible inside, and then carefully poured the melted crystal liquid into several small molds, and there was still some left in the crucible after pouring.

"Master Hou, what should I do if there is a little bit left?" Tang Ting said with a bitter face, this is formed by the melting of a priceless piece of pure crystal, and it is a pity to waste it.

"Put it in the furnace first, if the effect is good, I can still use it!" Chen Xu also walked nervously to the stove at this time, looked at the poured mold and waved his hand.

Tang Ting put the crucible back into the furnace, closed the furnace door, and then the five of them looked at the mold together, and after waiting for five or six minutes, Tang Ting gently pried the mold open with a tool, and then saw a few round transparent glass pieces with dark red, and some burrs formed by pouring on the edge, Tang Ting carefully trimmed the burrs with a small pair of scissors, and after contacting the cold air, the red on the glass sheet was also fading rapidly.

"Quick, put it next to the stove to keep warm!" Chen Xu commanded, Tang Ting hurriedly and carefully put a few pieces of trimmed glass into a pit next to the stove, with the help of the temperature of the coal furnace to prevent the glass pieces from cooling too quickly, which has been confirmed in previous tests, if it is too cold, it may be broken, although it does not appear every time, but this is Chen Xu's only pure and transparent colorless crystal, although it can be re-melted and poured if it fails, but there will definitely be impurities and air mixed in, and it will no longer be pure after repeated several times, This is what Chen Xu does not want to see, optical glass equipment, it is best to succeed at one time.

The lens placed in the pit gradually cooled, but the temperature was still very high, Chen Xu took a closer look, and found that there was hardly a bubble in it, which was not much different from the crystal, it was still pure and clear.

Half an hour later, four lenses with diameters of four inches, three inches, and two inches were placed in front of Chen Xu, all of them were convex lenses, and each of them was pure and clear, almost exactly the same as the crystal glass of later generations.

Chen Xu picked up all four lenses, stood in front of the window to observe carefully, and finally carefully placed them on a piece of soft suede and let out a long sigh of relief, and finally a smile appeared on his serious face.

It's not easy, it's not easy, these four lenses can be said to be worth a lot of money, not to mention anything else, just that fist-sized crystal is worth a lot of money, and it is very difficult to find the same one again.

Although the four lenses were successfully poured at one time, in fact, because the mold made of graphite powder did not fully meet the strict optical standards, and there were subtle concave and convex surfaces, the poured lenses had a subtle ground glass texture, so they had to be further polished and polished.

However, this is a 99 percent reduction in the amount of work compared to the process of grinding crystals into lenses.

"Tang Ting, you did a good job this time, wait a while to go to the finance office to receive a reward of three thousand yuan, the three of you have meritorious assistance, and each of you will also be rewarded with five hundred yuan!"

Chen Xu waved his hand happily, and the three helpers suddenly jumped up excitedly and cheered Hou Ye Renyi.

Tang Ting's eyes were red with excitement, three thousand dollars is scum for a rich man, but for a person like him who has been down, he has been so poor that he has no money on his body several times, but since following Qinghe Hou, there has never been such a situation, he has eaten and drunk every day, but he has not refined qualified glass, which makes him feel guilty and ashamed, and his current success has made him also feel a heart.

"Master Hou, what should I do if there is still a little glass melt?" Tang Ting asked after calming down.

"For the rest, you can help me cast a round plate glass that is one point thick, and after casting, carefully polish and polish both sides, I have other uses!"

"Yes, don't worry!" Tang Ting saluted with the three helpers, and then watched Chen Xu wrap four lenses in suede and walk away in a hurry.