Accident

Li Chengwen took a deep breath, the fat on his plump face trembling again and again:

"Father, I am willing to stake a military pledge on this! For this batch of orders, I guarantee they will be completed within the required time, with both quality and quantity met! If anything goes wrong, I am willing to bear full responsibility! Otherwise, I don't deserve to be your son!"

As soon as these words came out, even Master Li was slightly moved.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Good. With those words from you, Father can rest easy. We'll do as you say. No outsourcing. We'll handle it ourselves."

Li Chengwen was delighted to hear this, and hurriedly cupped his hands. "Thank you for your trust, Father!"

Standing to the side, Li Jiwu's expression did not change in the slightest. He even nodded along, showing his agreement,

But the hand hanging inside his sleeve had already quietly clenched tight.

He had originally wanted to make Father interested in the outsourcing plan, thereby weakening Big Brother's authority. He had not expected Big Brother to directly stake a military pledge, instead making Father trust him even more!

But he would not stop here.

Since Big Brother wanted to show off in front of Father, then he would let Big Brother know,

Some things could not be accomplished on nothing but a chest full of hot blood!

Accomplishing something was very difficult, but if one wanted to ruin something, that was an extremely simple matter!

He wanted to see, when the day came that something went wrong with the order, whether Big Brother's face, the very face that had staked a military pledge, could still hold on to its current confidence.

Thinking of this, Li Jiwu's face once again recovered that warm and proper smile.

He picked up his teacup, gently blew at the floating froth, and changed the topic in a relaxed tone. "Speaking of which, when I came in just now, I almost didn't recognize you. Big Brother, have you lost quite a bit of weight?"

As soon as these words came out, Master Li also subconsciously looked his eldest son over. Only then did he belatedly discover that his eldest son's round face was indeed a circle slimmer than before he left,

He said in some surprise, "Now that you mention it, it does seem like you've lost quite a bit. Eldest, have you been too tired recently? You need to take care of your health."

With Father showing him such concern, Li Chengwen immediately felt sweet all through his heart. He puffed out his chest and said smugly:

"Father, I didn't get thin from exhaustion. I'm intentionally losing weight myself! That kid Shen Chu told me that my weight puts too much burden on my knees, and advised me to eat less greasy food and walk around more. I thought about it and figured he was right, so I tried doing what he said. I didn't expect it to actually work! This period has been busy, but I've actually felt much more energetic."

The more he spoke, the more enthusiastic he became, and he added another line: "That kid Shen Chu isn't just good at smithing. He knows a lot, too. He even has a whole set of methods for health preservation! Father, you don't know, he also..."

Li Chengwen was still praising Shen Chu in an endless torrent, but Li Jiwu's hand holding the teacup paused slightly.

Shen Chu.

Of course, this name was not unfamiliar to him.

Back then, with the matter of Han Tieshan, the failure had been caused by this Shen Chu and Sun Ping,

If Sun Ping had not forged the Low-Grade Short Blade, the fatty before his eyes would have long since been abandoned by Master Li.

It seemed this kid had already become Big Brother's trusted aide. Big Brother even listened to his advice on something like losing weight?

Li Jiwu lowered his eyes, hiding the coldness that flashed through them, while that gentle smile still hung on his face. "Oh? Is he that talented Bladesmith? Hearing Big Brother speak of him this way, he really does seem like a rare talent."

His mouth was praising him, but his heart was already calculating,

He had to find an opportunity to drive this Shen Chu away!

After Li Jiwu proposed "outsourcing," the Sword-Forging Courtyard entered an even tenser state.

Before dawn had broken, Li Chengwen was already standing in the courtyard, holding a list in his hand and calling out names one by one.

His eyes were a little red and swollen. Clearly, he had not slept well last night either, but his spirits were very high, and his voice was much louder than usual.

"Everyone, get your spirits up! Starting today, we're fighting a hard battle!"

Li Chengwen clapped his hands and distributed task sheets into everyone's hands,

"Old Wu, you take five people and handle the cutting of materials. You must ensure the daily supply of blanks never breaks off. Shen Chu, you take four people and handle rough forging. Master Sun, you take three people and handle fine forging and edge opening. The rest will be responsible for polishing, assembly, and quality inspection. No backlog is allowed between any of the stages. As soon as the previous process is done, send it straight to the next. Whoever dares drag their feet here, don't blame me for turning my face and recognizing no one!"

Everyone received their tasks and scattered to their own stations. Soon, the courtyard rang with the ding-ding-dang-dang of hammers.

Shen Chu brought three fairly quick-witted workers and occupied a section of workstations in the southeast corner of the courtyard.

First, he broke down the task once,

Rough forging was the most fundamental part of the entire blade-making process,

Whether a blade was good to use or not depended entirely on the skill in this step!

He assigned the three workers different divisions of labor, while he himself was responsible for the hammer-tempering stage, the hardest part to control.

For the first few days, everything went fairly smoothly. Though it was tiring, everyone held a force bottled up in their hearts, and they worked both quickly and steadily.

Li Chengwen would circle through the courtyard several times every day, stopping now and then to check the progress. Occasionally, he would even personally lend a hand and carry a few pieces of material.

After the fifth day, the first batch of long blades came off the line on schedule, and all passed inspection!

Li Chengwen was so happy he could not close his mouth. On the spot, he paid out of his own pocket to buy a pig and had the kitchen stew it to give everyone an extra meal.

However, good times did not last long.

By the eighth day, problems began to poke their heads out.

First, Old Wu, who was responsible for cutting materials, came running to report that a batch of refined iron in the storeroom had the wrong quality,

On the surface, it looked fine, but the moment it went under the hammer, it cracked. They wasted several pieces before discovering it was rusty layered material.

Li Chengwen personally went to the storeroom and inspected it. His face turned ashen as he discovered that this batch of material had been the last batch purchased before Zhao Dezhu disappeared,

At the time, the storage registration listed it as top-grade refined iron, but in reality, quite a lot of inferior material had been mixed in!

"Damn it, he ran off and still has to make trouble for me!"

Li Chengwen cursed, but he could only pinch his nose and accept it. He had people pick out the inferior material and pile it to one side, then urgently sent people outside the city to purchase good material.

One wave had yet to settle when another rose.

On the tenth day, an apprentice responsible for transporting iron materials suddenly twisted his ankle while working. He howled in pain and was carried down to rest.

This was not anything serious in itself, but immediately afterward, on the second day and the third day, two more people successively "twisted their ankles" and "strained their backs." One after another, several people ended up lying down.

Although each person's injury looked like an accident, for them to happen one after another was inevitably too much of a coincidence.

Shen Chu had already kept an extra eye out.

After secretly observing for a few more days, he discovered that the apprentice who had twisted his ankle first did not immediately return to work after recovering. Instead, several times, he appeared sneakily near the Second Young Master's courtyard.

Shen Chu understood the situation in his heart, but he did not make it public. He only privately reminded Li Chengwen to pay more attention to personnel assignments, and not let people in key positions suffer accidental injuries again.

Although Li Chengwen was careless and rough, he was not a fool either, and immediately heard the implied meaning in Shen Chu's words.