87: Chapter 87 You brought the latrine?

Upon returning to the Forging room and feeling the intense heat from the roaring furnace, Hu Gualing was already impatient. He hurriedly gathered the Materials he had just purchased, preparing to start crafting his weapon.

He first carefully lifted the wooden bucket filled with clear oil and placed it in the corner. This single bucket had cost him three taels of silver, and it would be devastating if he accidentally knocked it over.

Although it would be safer in his backpack, it was simply too harsh on himself to carry nearly ten catties of oil while Forging.

As for that vat of soybean paste, of course, it had to be taken out too.

The main raw ingredient for soybean paste is soybeans. You wash the soybeans, boil them until cooked, then mash them into blocks. Once they ferment and grow green mold, you scrub them clean with a brush, break them into small pieces, throw them into a vat, and add brine to continue the pickling process.

Once pickled, the salty and pungent smell is quite potent, but whether mixed with rice or used in cooking, it really stimulates one's appetite.

This soybean paste vat was usually kept in a cool, ventilated place, and with the lid on, there was no noticeable smell.

Now that the lid was lifted, a thick, pungent smell of soybean paste rushed towards him.

Hu Gualing thought about how this stuff, combined with saltpeter, could replace nitrogen to achieve carbonitriding. He couldn't help but feel a sense of affection for this vat of soybean paste. Due to psychological suggestion, he felt that the smell wasn't just not stinky, but actually had a unique appeal.

But Wang Dachui could finally take no more.

He was in the final stages of Forging the dadao in his hands, so he couldn't be bothered to greet Hu Gualing when he returned. He just watched coldly from the corner of his eye as Hu Gualing bustled about, picking up a wooden bucket and then taking out a vat.

That was until Hu Gualing opened the vat.

The fermentation gases that had accumulated for who knows how long rushed out of the vat. The already unpleasant smell of the soybean paste became exceptionally intense under the heat of the Forging room's furnace, and a strange, sour, stinky, and fishy odor filled the room.

Wang Dachui finally couldn't take it anymore. He stopped his Forging, swung his hammer, pointed at Hu Gualing, and cursed, "Did you bring a shit vat in here, you bastard?! Get that thing out of here right now!"

"Is such a big reaction necessary..." Hu Gualing muttered while putting the lid back on. "It's impossible to move it out; I need to use this vat of soybean paste to Forge my gauntlets later."

"What did you say, soybean paste? Has your brain been addled by the smell of soybean paste? Using this stuff to Forge gauntlets? Do you want my Forging room to smell like shit?" Wang Dachui's red face was full of disbelief, and his chest heaved up and down. It was unclear whether it was from the stench or from being angered by Hu Gualing. The hammer in his hand was wobbling, ready to be thrown at the slightest provocation.

Hu Gualing was not frightened by his furious appearance. Through their time together, he had discovered that Wang Dachui was only serious when they first met and when he was tricking him into becoming free labor. As they became more familiar, Wang Dachui increasingly revealed his crude nature.

Therefore, Hu Gualing didn't take it to heart and just chuckled, "This soybean paste is good stuff. The iron ingots forged with it are far better than your scrap metal."

He was so confident because he had seen the alloy blade that Zhang Zhongqing had forged.

But Wang Dachui was different. In his mind, soybean paste was just for pickling vegetables or mixing with rice; how could it possibly have anything to do with Forging? He was absolutely unwilling to let Hu Gualing mess around.

In the end, Hu Gualing fumbled around in his backpack for a long time before taking out the remaining piece of cured meat and giving it to Wang Dachui as a peace offering. He also patted his chest to guarantee that if the quality of the iron ingots forged later wasn't ideal, he would pay a fee for using the Forging room.

Seeing that he was so serious and didn't seem to be joking, Wang Dachui finally nodded reluctantly and agreed to let him try.

After hastily finishing the dadao on the anvil and clearing space for Hu Gualing, Wang Dachui stood to the side, waiting to watch the show.

Hu Gualing wasn't stage-frightened. Besides, if he couldn't show off what he had learned from Teacher Zhang to an audience, it wouldn't be as fun.

Wang Dachui being willing to stay as an audience member was exactly what he wanted.

The furnace fire was still quite strong. Hu Gualing picked up some charcoal, threw it in, stoked the fire slightly, and then selected over a dozen fist-sized pieces of Ore and threw them into the furnace.

Watching this, Wang Dachui couldn't help but shout, "Do you think Ore is free?!"

For general farm tools, at most two or three pieces of Ore were needed. For a pure iron longsword or dadao, eight or nine pieces were enough. Yet Hu Gualing threw more than a dozen in all at once; wasn't this just nonsense!

Hu Gualing was confident, "Why are you so agitated? It's not like I'm not paying. Besides, these gauntlets I'm Forging for myself must be made of genuine Materials!"

If he hadn't said that, it would be fine, but hearing this, Wang Dachui remembered that Hu Gualing was Forging gauntlets. He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Have you ever seen gauntlets that require a dozen pieces of Ore? With that weight on your hands, would you even be able to throw a punch?"

Hu Gualing was stunned upon hearing this. After Wang Dachui's reminder, he realized that it really seemed to be the case.

But the Ore was already in the furnace, and he couldn't be bothered to take it out, so he let it burn. Anyway, he wasn't just Forging one pair of gauntlets. This time, he had to Forge the longsword for Tang Yao no matter what; otherwise, he wouldn't have the face to see her again.

So, if these Ore were not used up, they could be saved for sword casting; it wouldn't affect anything at all.

Hu Gualing thought to himself while pumping the bellows to supply oxygen to the furnace.

Suddenly, the movement of his hands paused, and the confident expression on his face stiffened.

After being stunned for a moment, he turned to look at Wang Dachui, his tone awkward and polite, "Um... Master Wang Dachui, how do you Forge gauntlets again?"

"What?" Wang Dachui rubbed his ears. "Are you messing with me, kid?"

He had watched Hu Gualing bustling about preparing various Materials, all while looking so confident, and thought that even if this kid was unreliable, he could at least Forge a rough blank for the gauntlets. Yet, only after the Ore was in the furnace did he think to ask how to Forge gauntlets?

"Get out, get out, get out! Get as far away as possible!" Wang Dachui didn't want to see good Ore wasted by Hu Gualing. He waved his massive hand, urging Hu Gualing to scram, but then he saw Hu Gualing suddenly take out an ingot of silver.

"Master Wang Dachui, please take this for the Material costs first. We can settle the difference later, alright?" Taking out five taels of silver, Hu Gualing felt a bit of pain in his heart, but since this Material cost had to be paid sooner or later, it was better to take it out now to shut Wang Dachui up.

Wang Dachui accepted the silver calmly, and his attitude improved immediately. "Gualing, you haven't even learned how to Forge gauntlets, yet you've prepared so many Materials. Even if you have money, you shouldn't waste it like this. How about you stop for now? When I have time, I'll teach you how to Forge gauntlets."

Hearing this, Hu Gualing felt relieved. As long as Wang Dachui was willing to teach him, he had nothing to worry about. After all, his learning ability had been specifically praised by Teacher Zhang.

However, he would learn later. For now, he had to focus and get Tang Yao's longsword forged first.