The pieces of iron were thrown into the furnace, and the blacksmith pulled the bellows, and the air was poured into the furnace with a whirl, and within two clicks there were flames rushing upwards.

Under the heat of the coal stove, the iron sheet was quickly burned red.

But the blacksmith did not stop until the iron was shining red, and then he got up and picked up the iron tongs, picked up a piece of iron, and put it on the forging table to beat it.

The bored coppersmith beckoned to Chen Fan, "Come and sit, he won't be good for a while." ”

Chen Fan smiled and thanked him, handed the coppersmith a cigarette first, and then sat down on the chair next to him.

The coppersmith took the cigarette, glanced at the cigarette case by the way, and immediately smiled, "Yo, Donghai." ”

Then he leaned over the charcoal fire and lit it, took a puff beautifully, looked at Chen Fan and said with a smile, "The copper buckle I played last time, is it still easy to use?" ”

Chen Fan turned his head to look at him, continued to look at the blacksmith who was forging, carefully observed the rhythm and strength of his iron, and said with a smile, "It's useless, I can't buy cowhide, and I still wear a belt to this day." ”

He found that the blacksmith did not strike the iron blindly, but lightly and heavily, slowly and urgently, and the red-hot piece of iron gradually turned into a U-shaped shape under the blacksmith's hammer.

By comparing the use of Xingyi Five Elements Fist and the big gun pile, combined with the knowledge of physics and chemistry in middle school textbooks, and the understanding of the nature of steel after reading "Soil Method Steelmaking", he suddenly found that this kind of horseshoe seems to be not difficult to build.

Then it was logical to hear a "ding", "Watch the process of striking iron, reward forging experience points +1, and the current forging skill level LV1 (5/20)." ”

Chen Fan's face did not change in any way, and he was accustomed to the increase in experience points that popped up from time to time, as well as the activation of skills.

At this moment, he just wanted to ask, what is the use of me having so many skills?!

There are nearly 20 dense stripes on the skill board, which makes people dizzy.

But the skill board is not under his control, and he can only bear all this silently with his weak shoulders.

The coppersmith didn't know Chen Fan's feelings, and looked at him in surprise, "Can't buy a belt?" There is it in the sales department of the supply and marketing cooperative. ”

Chen Fan turned his head and smiled, "I want to get a genuine leather, otherwise I wouldn't be worthy of the copper buckle you played." ”

When the coppersmith heard this, he immediately laughed, "You are worthy of being an intellectual, and you speak quite well." ”

After a pause, he smiled again, "If you want a leather belt, you have to go to the county to buy it, we have two kinds of supply and marketing cooperatives here, one is artificial leather, the other is a canvas belt, in fact, buy a person to make leather, it looks similar." ”

Chen Fan smiled on his face, but he was silently complaining in his heart, the quality of artificial leather in this year is too far away, almost no different from plastic sheets, it is not as good as canvas belts, at least canvas belts are not awkward.

But with the canvas belt, he felt no different from the cloth strap on his waist, so why change it.

The two of them chatted like this, and the blacksmith next to them occasionally interjected.

After the coppersmith finished his cigarette, he also picked up his tools and got to work.

Chen Fan watched from the sidelines, and then realized that the coppersmith had to fight no less than the blacksmith, and it was only because the blacksmith had to repair farm tools that he would be much busier than the coppersmith.

Now the coppersmith is making a copper pot, and the purple-red copper sheet is bent and shaped little by little in his hand, hammered, melted, flattened, carved, drilled ......, and displayed in front of Chen Fan.

The coppersmith turned his head to look at him, and continued to carve the copper sheet carefully, with a smile on his face with a little pride, "Playing copper is a delicate kung fu, being able to hit copper, hitting gold and silver are guaranteed to be no problem, this kind of copper pot has no technical content, the most cumbersome is the copper lock, the ordinary copper lock is fine, a few parts can be put together, the trouble is the kind of exquisite copper lock, there are ruyi shapes, auspicious clouds, and some unique shapes."

For large households, a copper lock should not only be safe and reliable, but also delicate and good-looking, to be engraved on the lock body of a variety of patterns, different patterns to use different skills, such as the ...... I use now"

Chen Fan listened to him boasting about himself, the experience value of the forging skill he had just activated rose and swipeed, the words of the coppersmith, the craftsmanship demonstrated, and the forging skills of the blacksmith master in the corner were all engraved in his mind, and after a while, he arrived at LV2.

He himself was in a daze.

So the craftsmanship of the coppersmith is also considered a forging skill?

The skill of the master blacksmith really has nothing to say, let him wait for more than half an hour, and it really only took half an hour to build four horseshoes.

Quenching the horseshoe in a bucket to cool it, then smoothing the corners with a steel hammer, and then walking out with four horseshoes, "Look at the horse, I'll nail it in the horseshoe." ”

Chen Fan hurriedly got up, walked outside and grabbed the reins of the horse, looked at the blacksmith master and asked, "How do you get it?" ”

Blacksmith, "I'm going to trim it first, and you can just keep it moving." ”

He placed the horseshoe on the wooden cabinet at the door, took a scimitar about the shape of a sickle from the wall, brought a stool, then picked up a horse's hoof, took the scimitar and began to scrape on the horse's hoof.

Chen Fan was frightened from the side, hurriedly hugged the horse's head, and muttered, "It's okay, it's okay, it'll be fine soon." ”

The little mare snorted, "Mmmm, it's okay, it's pretty comfortable." ”

Comfortable?

Chen Fan looked at it a little strangely.

Seeing Chen Fan's movements, the blacksmith raised his head and smiled, "The soles of this horse's feet are the same as human fingernails, they have to be cut when they grow, and repairing horses' hooves is similar to cutting people's fingernails, not only does it not hurt, but it is also very comfortable. ”

Chen Fan grinned, carefully observing the blacksmith's technique of nailing the horseshoe.

Maybe one day I'll have to change the horseshoe for the horse outside.

Scraping off the excess nail dirt, trimming the horse's hooves into a proper shape, and then attaching the horseshoe, the blacksmith took a few long nails and drove them into it, and fixed the horseshoe.

It only took more than ten minutes for the four horses' hooves to be nailed, and after the nails were completed, Chen Fan touched the horse's head, "How do you feel?" ”

The little mare tried to walk a few steps in a circle, but it was a little awkward at first, but after a few steps, it became smoother and smoother, and her neck was raised high, "Hey, it doesn't hurt anymore, it's still very comfortable." ”

Chen Fan smiled and turned his head to look at the blacksmith, "Master, how much?" ”

The blacksmith laughed, "Cheap, two dollars and eight cents." ”

Chen Fan didn't bargain either, and paid directly.

The blacksmith collected the money and issued a receipt to Chen Fan, and at the same time said, "In this place of Nanhu, you can't make much money by nailing horseshoes, although there are many mules and horses in Nanhu, they are basically dirt roads, which are easier to walk, and generally do not waste horseshoe."

If it is in the mountainous area where the ore is mined, or in the wharf and cargo station where the goods are often pulled, there are hard roads everywhere, and in that kind of place, if you don't do anything else, you can make a fortune with a horse shoe. ”

Chen Fan saw that he began to talk about the ancients, so he temporarily dispelled the idea of leaving, and took out a cigarette for him and the coppersmith.

The blacksmith master smoked a cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke, and seemed to be very satisfied with Chen Fan's attitude, and said with a smile, "I have a senior brother who specialized in the business of nailing horseshoes in a mining town earlier, because he only made horseshoe nails, and his hands and feet are sharper than mine, it only takes half an hour to nail a set of horseshoes, and a set of horseshoes, the cost is about 1 yuan, plus coal and rent, at most, it is only 1 yuan 3, and a set of horseshoes can earn 5 yuan a piece."

There are many horses nailed in that place, and mules, horses, and donkeys don't nail their palms, so they basically can't walk, and even if they nail their palms, they can only manage it for more than 3 months, so the business is very good.

Once, he did a business of more than 70 yuan in one day and earned more than 30 yuan.

He himself is not from that town, he is also from the rural production team, and he is working outside to find a side job, and he has to hand over the 'side business money' to the production team,......"

Hearing this, Chen Fan chuckled in his heart, side hustle? What's that?

Do you have to pay a side business to sell your own pottery?

The blacksmith continued to speak, "At the beginning, the production team asked him to pay 200 yuan a year, and later it was seen that he made a lot of money, and there were so many people in the entire production team who did side jobs, but only mentioned his side business, which first rose to 300, and then suddenly rose to 500 yuan. ”

Chen Fan couldn't help but be a little speechless, "Then he can still make money?" ”

The blacksmith snorted and said with a smile, "Earn, why don't you earn." However, at the beginning, he was still not convinced, so he closed the blacksmith shop in anger and went back to the countryside to farm, but he never did heavy farm work, and he couldn't stand it after a year of planting, so he still paid the money and went back to the town to open a shop. ”

Speaking of this, the blacksmith master took a puff of his cigarette, looked at Chen Fan and said with a smile, "Do you know how much money he made back then?" ”

Chen Fan's eyes rolled slightly, and he shook his head slightly, "I don't know." ”

How did he guess? But he also knew that the blacksmith just wanted to make a comeback.

The blacksmith gestured, with a proud expression on his face, "He earned more than 7,000 that year, and even if he paid the side money, he still made a net profit of more than 6,000." ”

Chen Fan's eyes widened suddenly, isn't this more profitable than me?

By the way, did I activate the forging skill just now?

Where are the mountains? Where is the mine?

At this time, the coppersmith master next to him suddenly smiled and said, "What if you make more, it's not that you have to hand it over." ”

The blacksmith didn't look at him, and sighed faintly, "Yes, one person earns so much money, and people who farm in the production team can earn one or two hundred yuan at most all year round, how can others not blush when they see it?"

So the production team raised his sideline money from 500 to 2000 at once, and 3000 the next year, which is not counted, they also forced two people to 'help' him to light the fire, to put it bluntly, it was the person who monitored him, at the end of 73, he paid 2800 yuan to the production team alone. At that time, one work point of their production team was two cents, and the money he paid could be worth more than 14,000 points, which was equivalent to four strong laborers working hard for a whole year. ”

Hearing this, Chen Fan became more and more congested, how much will the production team charge me for my side business?

The blacksmith took another puff of his cigarette butt, tossed the remaining butt into the stove, then pulled out his own cigarette stick, pouted, and said, "You think that's the end of it?" ”

Chen Fan blinked, "Huh? ”

"Hmph."

The blacksmith sneered twice and said, "In 74, no side jobs were allowed, and all rural people were recalled to the production team, not to mention paying 3,000 for the side business, even if he was willing to pay 5,000, the production team would not dare to accept it." ”

He said and suddenly looked up at the sky, and spit out a thick puff of smoke, "My senior brother, the money he earned before was used to build a few brick houses, and he also bought a lot of messy things, and as soon as the side business stopped, the income was cut off, and there was not much money left, in order to support his family, he could only work during the day and catch loach eels at night, but he didn't have this ability, he did it for a year or two, and both legs were rotten, and now he is a semi-cripple." ”

After saying that, he shook his head and went into the repair shop, lay down in his chair, closed his eyes and did not speak.

Chen Fan was a little inexplicable, and he didn't know for a while whether to leave or stay.

The coppersmith next to him glanced back, and then smiled at Chen Fan, "He didn't dare to say these things before, but this year he told many people, everything that can be talked about, you have to tell someone once, you don't have to take it to heart, just listen to it." ”

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows, pursed his lips and smiled, "Master, you're busy, I'll go first." ”

The coppersmith waved his hand, "Walk slowly." ”

Chen Fan looked back at the blacksmith lying on the chair again, turned over and left.

(End of chapter)