Chapter 30: Ingenious Idea Suddenly Strikes

  "Of course, with eighteen kinds of weapons, including swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks and forks, the sword is ranked first. You say it's fierce or not."

  It's strange, Peng Qi seems to have a past grudge with Xia Liu, but he gets along extremely well with Xiao Ding, Xia Liu's personal maid. In just two days, the two of them have become very close. Early in the morning, Peng Qi was squatting in the courtyard, chatting and laughing with Xiao Ding by his side.

  "Hmm, I saw Brother Peng chop off that master's spear with one knife the other day. Such a fast knife! I couldn't even see it clearly. Those few masters looked quite formidable, how come they were so ineffective?"

  "Haha, the way of martial arts, if it's just about being tall and strong to be a master, then why bother learning from a teacher? A master doesn't teach everything to their disciples. Who can be taught, who cannot be taught, what skills can be taught, and what skills cannot be taught - all these have their own principles. When taking in disciples, the first-class disciple is taken in as a successor, and such a disciple will only learn the life-saving ultimate move when they are about to die; other than that, they must be trained seriously. The second-class disciple is taken in to earn tuition fees, and such a disciple will also learn some real skills, but at a greatly discounted price."

  Most people who practice martial arts are poor, but those who can master the skills are mostly from wealthy families. Because practicing martial arts consumes money, time and requires intelligence, how can someone who hasn't read a book in a day and can't even afford three meals a day possibly master advanced kung fu? If you teach such a person advanced kung fu, it would be harmful to them; it's better to teach them some basic skills, let them practice diligently and just make a living.

  Such disciples, mostly only pass on the moves, not the inner skills. Just like those people you saw that day, when they encounter a real master, they are naturally no match. You should know that kung fu is not just about the moves, every move and style has its own inner skills and incantations. Those who only practice the moves and routines without understanding the inner skills and incantations, and do not conduct breaking and dispersing hand training, actually do not understand how to apply them. Their bodies are trained very well, but their kung fu looks fierce yet can only intimidate outsiders.

  Xiao Ding suddenly said: "So that's how it is, I've heard that Brother Peng's family has many people practicing martial arts. You've practiced martial arts, are you like what others say, traveling the world and upholding justice?"

  Peng Ziqi smiled and said, "Don't take rumors to heart. My brothers at home have all learned good martial arts, but it's already not bad that they don't go out and cause trouble on the streets. Do you still expect them to be heroes? Hmph! Take my eldest brother, for example. He has mastered the flying needle technique, guess how he uses it?"

  "What's it used for?" Xiaoxian asked curiously.

  "Hehe! Hehe!" Peng Ziqi said with a sly smile, "There was once when he got into trouble outside, and my uncle was furious, wanting to bring him back home to punish him. At the time, he wasn't around, and all of his brothers were in the hall kneeling down, no one dared to send him a message. My eldest brother is Peng Hanbo, actually not a bad person, and he's always been good to me. At the time, I just happened to be outside, so I thought I'd go give him a heads up. I found out that my eldest brother was having drinks at 'Yi Xiang Yuan', so I rushed over there in a hurry. As soon as I entered the room, I saw... Hehe! Hehe!"

  Xiao Qi's heart itched with curiosity and she asked: "What did you see, Brother Peng? Tell me quickly."

  Peng Ziqi's face turned red as he said: "I saw him, throwing a hundred-wen note into the air and using his flying needle technique to pin it to the wall or even the beam. Then he'd let the girls in the courtyard pick it up, whoever got it would get to keep the money after pulling out the needle. But they weren't allowed to use stools or move tables, so the girls helped each other, some climbing walls and others stacking up like a pagoda..."

  "Wow, a hundred cash for one sheet of precious notes, how generous! This method is fun and can even make money to spend. I'm tempted to go play too."

  Peng Ziqi chuckled and said: "You go, listen clearly, you are not allowed to wear clothes on your body, you must go naked to pick it up."

  "Ah!" Xiaodi's small face suddenly turned red, and she said shyly: "How can your older cousin be so outrageous?"

  "Absurd? There's something even more absurd. However..."

  Peng Ziqi gave Xiao Ding a glance, and suddenly lowered his voice: "I heard that your family's young master is not very reliable either. With no elders at home to keep an eye on him, he does whatever he wants."

  "What's gotten into you?" Xiao Qi said in surprise: "What's going on, how can he be so unbridled? My young master has never done anything so absurd and out of line."

  "Really?" Peng Ziqi looked at Xiao Qi suspiciously: "Did he... touch you inappropriately, or try to take advantage of you?"

  Xiao Qi's face turned red as she said: "How is that possible? Brother Peng, don't talk nonsense. Young Master has always treated me like his own sister."

  Peng Ziqi narrowed his eyes, saying disbelievingly: "Really? That good-for-nothing guy had such a lovely little girl by his side and didn't take advantage of her? I don't believe it."

  Xiao Qi's face turned red as she said, "Really, I didn't deceive you. My family's young master is not as despicable as you say, someone must have lied to you. Didn't Peng Ge just say that rumors shouldn't be believed? When have you ever seen my family's young master being dissolute and promiscuous?"

  Peng Ziqi was stunned for a moment and was indeed speechless when asked by Xiao Qi.

  At this time, Xiao Qi had changed the subject and said with a smile: "Brother Peng, you will be taking care of my young master for three months. During this period, can you teach me some martial arts?"

  "Zhang Sanfeng asked: 'What's the point of learning kung fu?'"

  "Protect the young master!"

  "Moreover, it can also protect myself. Father often told me that our family has a low social status and cannot marry into a good family, men will bully me, mother-in-law will bully me, younger sister-in-law will bully me, if I learn some good skills, in the future when I marry a rough man, if he dares to bully me, I'll beat him up."

  Peng Ziqi burst out laughing and said, "You haven't even gotten married yet, and you're already thinking about beating your husband? If that's the case, I don't dare teach you. Let alone you, my Peng family is a well-known household in Qingzhou, but what does that have to do with anything? Once a girl gets married, she becomes someone else's person and has to listen obediently. Otherwise, she'll really get into trouble. If my second aunt hadn't learned good martial arts, she would've been divorced and sent back home, and almost hanged herself."

  "Ah? What's wrong with your second aunt?"

  Peng Ziqi put away his horse whip and began to press down on his legs, sighing as he did so: "My second aunt married into a local rural gentry family. Her mother-in-law was very fierce and often picked fights, finding ways to bully her. At first, my second aunt endured it, but later she couldn't take it anymore and talked back a few times. Her husband wanted to hit her, but my second aunt had practiced martial arts - how could he possibly beat her? Instead, she flipped him over onto his head."

  This stirred up a hornet's nest, her husband's seven aunts and eight uncles, younger uncle, younger aunt, the whole family joined in, they started beating her with brooms and whatnot, my second aunt got angry, the result is predictable, they all got beaten down by my second aunt. This was the final blow, her husband sent her back home with a divorce letter.

  In the city or in the countryside, whoever heard about this matter, not a single person spoke up for her. No matter how shrewish her mother-in-law was, no matter how restrained she was when she hit him, in short, as a daughter-in-law, you dare to argue with your mother-in-law and hit your husband, you are absolutely wrong. My grandfather regretted it so much, he hated that he had taught her martial arts in the first place, if not for that, even if her husband beat her up, it wouldn't have ended up like this.

  Grandfather brought a thick gift to her mother-in-law's house to apologize, but no matter how many good words were said, they were of no use. Such a daughter-in-law was rejected by the family, and my second aunt was so ashamed that she hanged herself at home. Fortunately, she was discovered early and rescued, but no matter how much she regretted it, it was too late. Later, she became a nun. This spring, I went to the temple to see her, and my second aunt, who is only 14 years older than me, used to be a famous beauty, but now looks like a nearly 50-year-old woman with a face full of wrinkles...

  The two fell silent, and Xiao Ding's heart was racing as she thought: "With the Peng family's great power, even if a girl gets married, she still has to put up with being bullied by others. Father really wasn't wrong... I... will I be like that in the future too..."

  Just then, Xia Nianyi and others came out in twos and threes, dressed in bright clothes: "Cough! Young Master Peng, shall we go out for a walk again today?"

  Xiao Qi saw Xia Liu, and suddenly her eyes lit up: "Hey! I'll be a servant to Master for the rest of my life. Why not? I don't have to get married!"

  Xia Liu was looked at by her in a bewildered manner and couldn't help but ask: "Xiao Ding, what's wrong?"

  Xiao Ding licked her lips and gazed deeply at her self-proclaimed "long-term meal ticket", smiling nervously: "Nothing, good morning, young master."

  He looked at her suspiciously, thinking that the way she stuck out her pink little tongue and lightly licked her tender cherry lips was just like a cat picking up a small fish about to eat...

  Peng Dagu Niang's face turned cold and she asked icily, "Where are you planning to go to attract bees and butterflies today?"

  Xia Liu didn't lure bees or butterflies today, but instead went to visit his own store.

  He went to "Lin Yang Pawnshop" and met Lin Beixia, the shopkeeper he had admired for a long time. After Lin's warm but condescending reception, Xia Mo briefly flipped through the accounts, listened to the recent business situation, and left dejectedly.

  When leaving "Lin Yang Pawnshop", Lin Beixia's suspiciousness in Xia Xun's mind was greatly reduced. Because of Lin Beixia's performance, he didn't look like someone who had murderous intentions and had already taken action.

  Lin Beixia indeed had a lot of resentment towards him, but if Lin Beixia was the mastermind behind the scenes, he would not have shown his dissatisfaction and resentment so clearly when he saw Xia Bian. From the perspective of criminal psychology, whether Lin Zhanggui is a person with a deep city, good at disguise, or a rough man with no city, as long as he planned to assassinate Yang Wenxuan, he would not have revealed such strong hostility towards Yang Wenxuan again.

  If he is good at disguising himself, he will hide his hatred and it will be easier for him to achieve his goal without exposing himself. If he is not good at disguising himself, his hatred has already found an outlet - hiring someone to kill, thus producing a displacement effect. His attention will focus on the assassination plot he is planning, thereby having a soothing effect on his emotions, and hostility will not be so apparent. Only when one hates someone but does not have any substantial action against that person will they vent their grievances through verbal attacks. Therefore, Geng Yan also rose to become Xia Zhen's number one suspect.

  After leaving Lin Yang's pawnshop, Xia Yu walked to several other shops, an oil mill, a grain mill, and finally arrived at the Yang family workshop. This workshop was located in the suburbs and mainly produced daily ironware, such as iron pots, saws, hammers, kitchen knives, embroidery needles, horseshoes, etc. Don't underestimate these businesses. Ordinary blacksmith shops can only produce simple tools like kitchen knives, and they can't make more than two a day, which can only meet the living needs of a small number of people. They can't even produce delicate little things like rust flower needles.

  The Yang family workshop was mass-producing, not only supplying sundry shops in various parts of Shandong, but also selling to Korea and Ryukyu. Taking a single needle as an example, the cost is extremely low, but the technical content is not small, without corresponding hammering technology, you can just use an iron pestle to grind it. Therefore, selling one needle to places like Korea and Ryukyu can earn at least five cents of silver, needles are originally very light and fine, easy to carry, even if a small merchant carries a bundle on his back, the return will be ten times the weight in silver, this is a long-term and stable source of wealth, so it can be considered one of the Yang family's important industries, he is in Qingzhou City, not going once is not enough.

  Upon arriving at the Yang family workshop, Xia Xun attentively listened to Wang's report, examining various account entries for income and expenses while casually asking questions. He wasn't just going through the motions; he was genuinely trying to understand the business under his name, because if he could truly realize his plans, these industries would truly belong to him.

  After having a comprehensive understanding of the entire workshop, he accompanied Wang Zhanggui to personally inspect the production situation in each work shed. Here, Xia Xian saw the process of making needles for the first time.

  At this time, the needle used was made by drawing and quenching heat treatment. The craftsman forged the good wrought iron into thin strips, heated it, and then pulled it out of the hole with an iron mold to make a thread. Then cut off the fine iron wire, rub it smooth, and wear it through the eye to form a needle shape. Put it in an iron pot and slowly stir-fry to make it fire, finally use pine wood, charcoal, and bean paste as carbonizing agent mixed with fine mud, cover the needle and heat it for carbonization, and finally quench the needle in water.

  This needle was something that Xia Xun had seen all the time in his life, but he didn't know how to make it. He couldn't have imagined that at this point, the needle would be made by first pulling out soft and flexible steel wire, then hardening it through heat treatment. Witnessing the entire process, Xia Xun couldn't help but exclaim in wonder, watching as the glowing hot iron was drawn into a fine, long, flexible, and shiny iron thread. A thought flashed across his mind, and he quickly grasped onto it, pondering for a long time before a smile gradually spread across his face.

  Xia Xun thought for a moment and then asked Master Jiang, who was drawing out the iron wire: "Master Jiang, can this iron wire only be drawn to two feet in length?"

  Master Jiang saw the master move and asked, hastily putting down his household chores, stood up and replied: "Master, this iron wire can't just be pulled to two feet, it's just that when making needles, each root of tempered iron is drawn out to two feet in length and then cut off and threaded with an eye, no need to pull too long."

  Xia Jiao pinched her chin and murmured: "Hm, can the iron wire that's nearly a zhang long also be pulled out?"

  Ginger nodded and said, "A one-zhang-long whole silk thread can be pulled out, but that would require high-quality steel. For making needles, such good steel is not needed, nor is it necessary to pull out threads of such length."

  "Alright, as long as it can be done, Master Jiang, please use the best steel and add your family's secret method to forge five steel wires for me. The higher the flexibility, the better. Finish them by tomorrow at the latest. Manager Wang, after Master Jiang finishes forging them, you personally deliver them to my mansion immediately, I have a use for them. This month...add two more taels of wages for Master Jiang."

  "What's this guy up to again?" Peng Ziqi looked at Xia Jie with curiosity, his eyes gleaming with a sly light that made one's heart skip a beat.

  Good morning all heroes, seeking today's recommended votes~~~