Grandma said, "Take this piece of steel to your Uncle Jiang at the village head and ask him to add some to your hatchet. In the past, when we repaired hoes and axes, we would take old things and go to your Uncle Jiang's house to add some iron and reforge them."
Normally, adding a little iron and reforging would be enough, but Grandma saw that Li Xiang used it "roughly" and the hatchet would bend at any time, so she remembered the "treasured" piece of good steel 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 from a machine, used for drilling holes, but it broke, and people didn't want it anymore, so he took it back." Grandma said naggingly. Speaking of her
son who died young, Grandma was naturally very sad.
Only those who have experienced it can understand the grief of seeing a young person sent away by an old person. Fortunately, Grandma still has Li Xiang.
Li Xiang actually had an impression of this thing. He didn't know what it was before, but now that he has lived two lives and listened to his grandmother's "explanation", he immediately understood that this was probably the "rock-breaking roller" on the shield machine.
This kind of steel is naturally the Rolls-Royce of steel, absolutely special steel.
Li Xiang leaned over to lift the steel, and his grandmother hurriedly told him, "Be careful, be careful, it's heavy."
"Don't slip your waist... Be careful not to hit your feet..."
"Grandma, it's okay, don't worry."
With his grandmother's instructions, Li Xiang lifted the steel and was secretly surprised in his heart, because such a small section was so heavy?
Li Xiang estimated that it was at least 70 or 80 kilograms. It looked like only 30 or 40 kilograms.
"Good steel!" Li Xiang couldn't help but praise.
Although there was rust on the outside, it was actually a shallow layer. I wiped the dust on the inside with my hand, and my god, the shiny metal surface was immediately exposed.
Such a good piece of steel was probably broken when digging the tunnel, and the project party might not want it, so my father picked it up.
In fact, his father also stuffed a pack of cigarettes into the hole before picking up the leak. The other half was picked up by another colleague, who also stuffed cigarettes into it.
But after moving back, his father died the next year. This piece of steel has been left until now, and it can be regarded as one of his father's relics.
Since he was going to use this steel to repair farm tools, Li Xiang thought, since he was going to repair them anyway, he might as well repair more. So, he took the old hatchet, sickle, axe, pickaxe, and this "rock-breaking roller" and rode his tricycle to the village to find Uncle Jiang.
Uncle Jiang's name is Jiang Jianguo. He used to play well with Li Xiang's father. They can be said to be childhood friends.
The surname Jiang is also the only outsider surname in Lijia Village now.
Originally, there were three surnames in Lijia Village. The surname Li was the most, with more than 30 households, followed by the surname He, with seven or eight households, and the surname Jiang was the least, with only two households.
Now most people have moved away, and Jiang Jianguo is the only outsider surname in Lijia Village.
"Uncle Jiang, are you home?" Li Xiang parked the car in front of Jiang Jianguo's house. He shouted when he saw no one.
Soon, a tall middle-aged man came out of the house. He walked briskly. 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 in his heart.
"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 and asked, "Aunt and Cai'er were not there?"
Aunt Jiang was very beautiful when she was young. She was also from the Miao ethnic minority. Uncle Jiang was also handsome, so their daughter Jiang Cai'er was quite beautiful.
Jiang Cai'er is 9 years younger than Li Xiang. Because the two families have a good relationship, when they were young, Li Xiang often ran around the village holding Jiang Cai'er's hand.
The Miao people have two surnames, one is Miao and the other is Han. Han surnames were introduced later, while Miao surnames are varied, for example, "Gelai", "Gekai", "Zhaifang", "Zhailiu", "Mengci", "Hemi", "Hegua", etc. Jiang Caier's mother's surname is "Kuaya", which is also an authentic Miao surname.
So in terms of ethnicity, Jiang Caier can follow his father into the Han ethnic group, or follow his mother into the Miao ethnic group, but for some special treatment and policy benefits in the future, there is no doubt that Jiang Caier chose the Miao ethnic group on her ID card.
"Your aunt went to the fields to weed, and Caier is studying in high school in the county town. It is estimated that she will not be able to come back until the National Day."
"Oh oh." Li Xiang quickly took out a cigarette, handed it to Uncle Jiang, and took out a lighter to light it for Uncle Jiang himself.
"This cigarette is good." Uncle Jiang took a deep breath, and then blew a smoke ring into the sky with satisfaction, praising it.
Li Xiang told him the purpose of the coming, and while talking, he moved the special steel down.
Uncle Jiang's eyes lit up, and he was in high spirits, saying: "I know this piece of steel, your father used to brag to me. But, alas..."
Li Xiang was silent, knowing that the other party was also sad for his father. After all, they were good brothers.
"Uncle Jiang, can you help me see if you can clamp it in those old farm tools and make it." Li Xiang said.
Uncle Jiang held a cigarette in his mouth, rubbed his hands, and said vaguely: "I'll try, it's probably a bit difficult."
Then the only blacksmith in Lijia Village started to work.
It took a lot of effort to cut off a small piece with a cutting machine, threw it on the scale and weighed it. It was about four pounds, so he took it to the furnace to melt.
But after burning 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!
He thought he was much stronger than Uncle Jiang, so he picked up Uncle Jiang's big hammer and smashed it hard!
"Dang~"
The hammer intersected with the red-hot steel block, making a deafening sound and sparks flying.
However, when the two looked closely, the steel block was just a slight dent.
"Oh my god, this is too hard, right?" Li Xiang was surprised, and at the same time even more delighted. The hardness of this steel exceeded his expectations. If a brand new Gaomi knife was made with this kind of steel, how sharp would it be?
Uncle Jiang felt a little regretful and said, "The temperature of my furnace is not high enough, and I don't have an air hammer. Let me recommend someone to you. Go to the county town and find Lei Xiazi's blacksmith shop and ask him to help you forge. He has more equipment, a higher furnace temperature, and an air hammer, which is more convenient than here."
Uncle Jiang informed the address and asked Li Xiang to give his name so that he could get a discount on the processing fee.
"Thank you, Uncle Jiang."
Li Xiang drove the tricycle and rushed to the county town again. When he
found Lei Xiazi's blacksmith shop, he was indeed a blind man, but not completely blind, but a one-eyed dragon.
He used to work in a large steel plant, but an accident caused him to blind his right eye, so he retired early.
After retirement, he returned to his hometown and opened this blacksmith shop.
This is his hobby, he likes blacksmithing.
Lei Xiazi took a look and thought, my god, the "rock-breaking roller" of the shield machine, judging from this model, it is imported. He couldn't help but feel excited and excited.