Chapter 22 Hundred Refinements of Copper Essence

There is a street in Anchang County, which is full of cloth and tailor shops. They are colorful and look very pleasant.

Er Gouzi put most of the silver into the gourd last night, and took some copper coins from it and put them in his bag.

Now he feels more at ease walking on the street, without worrying about being robbed all the time.

He looked at this street for a long time early in the morning, and finally chose a relatively simple tailor shop and walked in.

At this time, there was only an old woman in the shop, who was sewing a sole. When she saw Er Gouzi coming in, she quickly threw the sole in her hand.

"Young man, do you want to buy cloth or sew clothes?"

"I want to buy a pair of shoes."

Er Gouzi looked at several black cloth shoes on the shelf, of different sizes and shapes, and some of the smaller ones had plum blossoms or lotus flowers embroidered on the uppers.

"Do you want to measure your feet and make them? Or buy ready-made ones?"

"Just buy ready-made ones!"

Measuring your feet and making them will naturally fit better, but you have to wait a long time.

Besides, he was already barefoot, so why should he care about such details?

The old woman looked at Er Gouzi's bare feet and knew that it might be his first time to buy shoes, so she introduced them to him in detail.

Er Gouzi then realized that city people had so many requirements for wearing shoes.

There were single cloth shoes, cotton shoes, and waterproof boots.

Er Gouzi was most interested in this pair of waterproof boots.

The fabrics of the sole and upper were brushed with many layers of tung oil and dried, and then nailed together with iron nails, and then brushed with several layers of tung oil.

The finished shoes were hard and heavy, like stones, but they would not get wet when stepped into the water.

And one good thing is that the shoes made in this way are extremely durable and can be worn for more than ten years.

The old woman looked at Er Gouzi's feet and took a pair from the shelf for him to try on.

When Er Gouzi put his feet in, he found that the size was just right, very warm and comfortable.

"No, this pair is too small!"

But he still took off his shoes and changed to a larger pair.

He is only 14 years old this year and is growing fast. If he can't wear the shoes next year, he must buy a few sizes larger to be cost-effective.

A pair of tung oil boots weighs four or five pounds, and it takes a month to make tung oil, cloth, and countless nails.

The price is not cheap, it costs one or two silver taels, which is several times that of ordinary cotton shoes.

If you can't wear them after a year, it's a waste.

Er Gouzi asked the old woman for some rags and stuffed them all into his shoes, so that they wouldn't look too big and they could keep warm.

Before leaving, the old woman also gave him a pair of socks.

This pair of feet, which had suffered more than a dozen hardships with Er Gouzi, wore socks for the first time today.

The nobles in the city really know how to enjoy themselves. It's not enough to have shoes to wear, but they also wear a pair of socks inside.

When Er Gouzi walked out of the tailor shop, he walked more carefully, for fear of getting stained with mud.

There are several blacksmith shops in Anchang County, but they mainly make iron pots, kitchen knives and other daily necessities.

Only one shop is different from the others, with many shining swords hanging inside.

This is it!

"Sir, our shop specializes in making all kinds of weapons. What style do you need?"

A short and fat boy asked in a muffled voice.

"I want a heavier sword, at least one weighing more than 10 jin."

With his current strength, he can only practice with a sword weighing six or seven jin.

But just like buying shoes, he considered that his strength would increase in the future, and it would cost money to change a sword.

"More than eight jin is considered a heavy sword, come over here and take a look."

Following the fat man to one side, there are only a few swords on the shelves here, all of which are more than eight jin.

And there are only two that meet Ergouzi's standards.

One is made of fine steel, looks chilling, and the hilt is inlaid with gems.

Such a sword costs 50 taels of silver.

Obviously, this sword is not Ergouzi's dish.

There was another sword, made of ordinary steel, weighing 11.2 jin, black, and the blade didn't look very sharp.

But it was cheap, only four liang of silver.

"This one!"

"Do you want a scabbard? A wooden scabbard only costs 200 coins."

The fat man was very sensible and only recommended the cheapest scabbard to him, and didn't even mention those gorgeous scabbards inlaid with gold and jade.

"No need!"

Er Gouzi shook his head decisively, there was no need.

He took out four strings of copper coins from his bag to pay, and then took the sword out of the sword shop.

Then he went to the old woman who sold shoes and bought three feet of linen cloth. After wrapping the sword, it was also very convenient to hold in his hand.

Three feet of cloth only cost one hundred coins, and he could take it apart to sew a pair of pants when he went back.

Now that the shoes and sword were bought, he bought a piece of black salt and 10 meat buns in the county town.

It was time to go home, but he always felt that he seemed to have forgotten something.

It was not until he walked to a stall and saw many little girls' hair ornaments and hair bands that he suddenly realized what was going on.

He used to be taken care of by Xiao Ezi, but now that he had made a lot of money, he had to buy her some small things.

So he bought a pair of hair ornaments, a piece of maltose, a candied haws, and a pound of sweet-scented osmanthus cake.

This sweet-scented osmanthus cake was very expensive, costing 300 coins per pound. Er Gouzi had never eaten it before. He tried a small piece and it was fragrant and sweet. It was really delicious.

After buying all these things, he strode out of the county.

………………

Sword shop in the county.

When a middle-aged man counted the day's income, he suddenly exclaimed, and then rummaged through a large box of copper coins with his hands.

After a while, he picked out four strings of copper coins from the box, put them on the table and carefully identified them for a long time, but he was still not sure.

"Dad! Dad! Dad..."

The middle-aged man ran into the inner room with the four strings of coins.

"What are you making a fuss about!"

An old man in the inner room, with gray hair, scolded his son loudly for making a fuss.

"Dad, look at these strings of copper coins."

The old man took the copper coins and examined them carefully for a long time.

"Yes, this is the Hundred Refined Copper Essence!"

The old man who just scolded his son was so excited that his beard trembled slightly.

Hundred Refined Copper Essence is made from ordinary copper by special methods.

But after 100 kilograms of copper is refined time and effort, only one kilogram is left.

Hundred Refined Copper Essence is expensive, and its quality in all aspects has been improved many times.

When making swords, add a little refined copper essence to them, the swords will not rust easily, they will be hard and sharp, and not easy to chip.

I don't know who used refined copper essence to make copper coins?

"Who brought it?"

"I don't know, I received too much money today, and I only found it when I was counting."

"Don't make this matter public, and don't act rashly,"

The father and son were a little too excited at the moment, after all, the old man was the first to calm down.

This is a windfall, but it may also bring about a fatal disaster.