Blueprints

In other words, of the four product blueprints, only one was actually suitable for him at the moment: the Aerodynamic Bicycle Design Blueprint.

As for the other design blueprints, Zhang Yi could only give them up. He immediately purchased the Aerodynamic Bicycle Design Blueprint.

Once he bought the blueprint, a thick stack of drawings immediately appeared on the table in front of Zhang Yi. These were the blueprints he had spent forty Scholar Coins on.

After receiving the blueprints, Zhang Yi first examined the manufacturing processes described on them, confirming whether this bicycle could be produced with humanity's current level of civilization.

After taking a look, Zhang Yi found that this blueprint truly deserved to be called a pure mechanical bicycle design. Most of the bicycle was made of Titanium Alloy, and every component was made entirely of metal. Even the bicycle's tires had mechanical structures and contained no other materials.

Seeing this, Zhang Yi finally relaxed. After all, the bicycle's basic materials were merely Titanium Alloy and some steel. With current technology, obtaining these materials was quite convenient. Titanium Alloy was available on the market, and steel went without saying.

However, one point was extremely troublesome: some of the bicycle's components required very high precision. In particular, the Aerodynamic Bicycle's Air Motor had precision requirements that, according to the blueprint's description, were downright insane. Zhang Yi even suspected that parts machined with a CNC Machine would still fail to meet the blueprint's standards.

There was also the Mechanical Tire technology used on this bicycle. The tire contained a kind of Soft Alloy with properties similar to rubber, and its smelting cost was very low—not more expensive than rubber. However, humanity did not possess it at all.

The mechanical structure of this Mechanical Tire was also quite unique. Fortunately, although the tire was complicated, Zhang Yi could still understand it and was confident that he could manufacture it. As for that unique Soft Alloy, he currently lacked the conditions to smelt it.

But that did not mean he had no way to make the Mechanical Tires. He could temporarily replace the Soft Alloy used in certain parts of the tires with rubber, then smelt the alloy once he had the conditions to do so.

After carefully confirming everything again, Zhang Yi realized that he truly could produce this bicycle within a short period of time. He carefully marked all the parts of the blueprints that could be patented before putting them away with equal care.

Because even such a simple Aerodynamic Bicycle could not yet be produced by his family's workshop. They would need to add some equipment to the factory before they could manufacture it.

After putting away the blueprints, Zhang Yi turned on the computer on the desk and searched online for manufacturing equipment and their prices.

After looking into it, Zhang Yi gloomily discovered that the little money he had was nowhere near enough. Forget producing the bicycle—even buying the CNC Machine and other equipment needed for production was far beyond his means.

Online, even an ordinary CNC Machine cost more than a hundred thousand yuan, and that was the worst kind. If he wanted a good precision machine, the price would start at a million yuan.

By the time Zhang Yi shut down the computer, it had already grown dark outside. Yet Xiao Hua was still working. Throughout the entire afternoon, she had not taken a single break.

Zhang Yi left the office and walked over to the machine tool. Several hundred finished parts had already been placed beside it. He truly did not know how Xiao Hua had completed so many parts in such a short time, and they appeared to be of excellent quality as well.

Only after Xiao Hua finished machining the part in her hands did Zhang Yi switch off the machine tool's power. He knew that if he did not turn off the machine, he would not be able to get Xiao Hua to stop.

"Xiao Hua! You must be hungry, right? Let's go out and eat! These parts can't all be finished today anyway!" Zhang Yi said after shutting down the machine tool.

"You're the one who's hungry, aren't you? I really don't understand why you humans need to eat so many meals a day. Isn't that troublesome? We Dwarves only need one meal a day." Although Xiao Hua said that, she still climbed down from the iron stool and headed upstairs.

After Xiao Hua went upstairs, Zhang Yi began cleaning the metal shavings off the machine tool and tidying the area around it.

By the time Zhang Yi was nearly done cleaning, Xiao Hua had changed into another outfit upstairs and come back down. Although Zhang Yi had seen her in clothes other than workwear many times before, he still could not help staring blankly when he saw her wearing a beautiful princess dress.

Perhaps noticing Zhang Yi staring, an adorable smile immediately appeared on Xiao Hua's face. She walked over to him and said brightly, "Boss, let's go!" Then, as if nothing had happened, she took Zhang Yi's arm and pulled him outside.

Zhang Yi's face flushed slightly. He tried to pull his arm free from Xiao Hua's grasp, but just like the previous times, he failed again. With his strength, he simply could not pull free from her.

Thus, wearing the expression of a man being led to the execution grounds, Zhang Yi was dragged by Xiao Hua toward a restaurant about a kilometer away. With his other hand, he pressed the switch for the electric door, and the factory's rolling shutter slowly closed on its own.

As Zhang Yi and Xiao Hua walked toward the restaurant, the short distance of less than a kilometer felt like torture to Zhang Yi. There were not many people on this road, and it was not a bustling area. But neither was it deserted. Especially at this time of day, the evening rush hour, there were still quite a few people around.

So, as Xiao Hua dragged Zhang Yi along by the hand, passersby kept glancing at them. The young people in particular gave him knowing looks, leaving Zhang Yi extremely embarrassed. What was even worse was running into acquaintances.

Under Zhang Yi's hopeful gaze, he and Xiao Hua finally arrived at the restaurant. Only then did Xiao Hua release his arm.

Only then did Zhang Yi finally feel relieved. Though he had grown somewhat used to it over the past few days, he still could not quite endure people's strange looks.

"Boss! What are we eating today? Pickled cabbage fish again?" It had to be said that Chinese food was absolutely unbeatable. Even Xiao Hua, who came from another universe, could not stop praising the various Chinese delicacies.

In Xiao Hua's words, the humans of this world were not much good at anything else, but when it came to food, they truly had something the Dwarves could not compare to.

The Dwarves of Xiao Hua's universe had developed to a level roughly comparable to Earth's current civilization, perhaps even a little more advanced.

Yet even though their civilization had developed to such a degree, their food was still terrible. According to Xiao Hua, their food had barely changed from ancient times to the present. In ancient times, her people ate black bread, and even now, her people still ate black bread.

Of course, alcohol was absolutely indispensable to the Dwarves. Even as a female Dwarf, Xiao Hua could not enjoy a meal without alcohol.

Just yesterday, she had even wanted to bring a bottle of white wine over to the machine tool so she could quench her thirst while working. Zhang Yi had broken out in a cold sweat. If he had not noticed in time, who knew what might have happened.