Chapter 11 Visiting the "Item Refiner"
Grandma said: "Take this piece of steel to your Uncle Jiang at the end of the village and ask him to add a little bit to the hatchet for you. In the past, when we repaired hoes and axes, we always took old things to your Uncle Jiang's house. Add a little iron and hit it again.”
Normally, it would be just a matter of adding a little iron and remaking it, but my grandma saw that Li Xiang was using it "roughly and fiercely" and would cut the hatchet and curl the blade at every turn, so she remembered the good piece of steel she had "treasured" at home. .
"This is a good thing. Your father picked it up when he was working in the tunnel. He said it was a blade on some machine, used for drilling holes, but it broke. They didn't want it anymore, so he took it back. "Grandma said nonchalantly.
Speaking of her son who died young, grandma was naturally very sad.
Only those who have experienced it personally can understand the grief of a person with white hair sending a gift to a person with black hair. Fortunately, grandma still has Li Xiang here.
Li Xiang actually had an impression of this thing. He didn't know what it was before, but now that he has lived for two generations and listened to his grandma's "explanation", he immediately understood that this was probably the "rock-breaking hob" on the TBM.
This kind of steel is naturally the Rolls-Royce of steels, an absolute special steel.
Li Xiang leaned over to lift the steel, but his grandma quickly told him, "Be careful, be careful, it's too serious."
"Don't duck your waist...be careful of your feet..."
"Grandma, it's okay, don't worry."
Amid grandma's instructions, Li Xiang moved the steel, and was secretly surprised, because a small piece of steel was so heavy?
Li Xiang estimated that it was at least seventy or eighty kilograms. It looks like it only weighs thirty or forty kilograms.
"Good steel!" Li Xiang couldn't help but praise.
Although there is rust on the outside, it is actually a shallow layer. I wiped the dust on the inside with my hands and immediately revealed a shiny metal surface.
Such a good piece of steel probably broke while digging the tunnel. Maybe the project team didn't want it anymore and it was picked up by my father.
In fact, his father picked up the leak after stuffing a pack of cigarettes into it. The other half was picked up by another colleague, also stuffed with cigarettes.
But after moving back, his father passed away the next year. This piece of steel has been left behind to this day, and it can be regarded as one of my father's relics.
Since he wanted to use this steel to repair farm tools, Li Xiang thought, since it was repairing anyway, he should repair more, so he took the old hatchets, sickles, axes, iron picks, and this "rock-breaking hob" and rode I took the tricycle and went to the village to find Uncle Jiang.
Uncle Jiang's name is Jiang Jianguo. He used to play well with Li Xiang's father. It can be said that he grew up.
The Jiang surname is also the only foreign surname in Lijia Village now.
It turns out that there are three surnames in Lijia Village. The largest number of households is Li, with more than 30 households, followed by He, with seven or eight households, and the Jiang surname is the smallest, with only two households.
Now that most people have moved away, Jiang Jianguo is the only foreign surname in Lijia Village.
"Uncle Jiang, are you at home?" Li Xiang parked the car in front of Jiang Jianguo's house and shouted without seeing anyone.
Soon, a taller middle-aged man came out of the house. He walked with a windy look. He was in his early forties, younger than his father. He was very handsome, but he also had white hair on his temples.
Uncle Jiang is also old. Li Xiang sighed secretly.
"It's Li Xiang, when did you come back?" Jiang Jianguo was very happy to see Li Xiang.
"On the Mid-Autumn Festival." Li Xiang looked over and asked, "Both Aunt and Cai'er are not here?"
Aunt Jiang was very beautiful when she was young. She was from the Miao ethnic minority. Uncle Jiang was also handsome, so their daughter Jiang Caier was quite stunning.
Jiang Caier is 9 years younger than Li Xiang, because the relationship between the two families is relatively good. When he was young, Li Xiang often held Jiang Caier's hand and ran around the village.
The Miao people have two castes, one with the Miao surname and the other with the Han surname. Han surnames were imported later, while Miao surnames are diverse, such as "仡Lai", "仡kai", "Zhaifang", "Zhailiu", "Mengfei", "Hemi", "Hegua" "wait. Jiang Cai'er's mother's surname is "Kuaye", which is also an authentic Miao surname.
Therefore, in terms of ethnicity, Jiang Cai'er can follow her father into the Han ethnic group, or she can follow her mother into the Miao ethnic group. However, for some special treatment and preferential policies in the future, there is no doubt that Jiang Cai'er chose the Miao ethnic group on her ID card.
"Your aunt went to the fields to pull weeds. Cai'er is in high school in the county. She probably won't be back until the National Day."
"Oh." Li Xiang quickly took out the cigarette and handed it to Uncle Jiang. He also took out the lighter and lit it for Uncle Jiang himself.
"This smoke is good." Uncle Jiang took a deep breath, then blew a smoke ring into the sky with satisfaction and praised.
Li Xiang explained his intention and moved the piece of special steel down while speaking.
Uncle Jiang's eyes lit up and he became energetic and said, "I know about this piece of steel. Your father has boasted about it to me before. But, alas..."
Li Xiang was silent, knowing that the other party also felt sorry for his father. After all, they were good brothers.
"Uncle Jiang, please help me see if I can put it in those old farm tools and build it." Li Xiang said.
Uncle Jiang held a cigarette in his mouth, rubbed his hands, and said vaguely: "I'll give it a try, it's probably a bit difficult."
Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!
Then the only blacksmith in Lijiacun started working.
After a lot of effort, the boss used a cutting machine to cut off a small piece, threw it on the scale and weighed it. It was about four pounds, and then took it to the furnace to melt it.
However, after being burned for a long time, there was only a dark red layer on the surface. Uncle Jiang carefully took it out and hit it a few times with a big hammer. The steel block was still very hard.
Li Xiang said let me try it!
He thought he was much stronger than Uncle Jiang, so he picked up Uncle Jiang's big hammer and smashed it down hard!
“Dang~”
The hammer collided with the red-hot steel, making a deafening sound and sparks flying.
However, when the two of them looked closely, they saw that there was only a slight dent in the steel block.
"Here I go, isn't this too hard?" Li Xiang was surprised and at the same time even more delighted. The hardness of this steel exceeded his expectations. If this steel was used to make a new high-density knife, how sharp would it be?
Uncle Jiang felt a little regretful and said, "My furnace is not hot enough and I don't have an air hammer. Let me recommend someone to you. You go to the county town and find Lei Xiazi's blacksmith shop and ask him to help you forge. He has a lot of equipment there. , the furnace temperature is also high, and there is an air hammer, which is more convenient than mine.”
Uncle Jiang informed the address and asked Li Xiang to report his name to get a discount on the processing fee.
"Thank you, Uncle Jiang."
Li Xiang drove his tricycle and rushed to the county seat again.
I found Lei Xiazizi's blacksmith shop, and sure enough, he was blind, but not completely blind, but a one-eyed man.
He used to work in a large steel factory, but an accident left him blind in his right eye and he retired early.
After retirement, he returned to his hometown and opened this blacksmith shop.
This is his hobby, he likes blacksmithing.
Blind man Lei took a look at it and said, "I'll go." The model of the "rock-breaking hob" of the shield machine was imported. He couldn't help but feel happy and excited.
(End of chapter)