Green Ram Market, the Wu Household

"Was this Green Ram Market?!"

Standing on the main street of Green Ram Market, Goudanzi watched the endless streams of people passing by and felt an unexpected stirring of emotion. It had been a long time since he had seen anything like this. Though Green Ram Market fell short of even a small town in his previous life, it at least gave him a taste of the civilized world. It was far better than the little mountain village where he had been holed up.

Three days earlier, his second uncle had come to his home again and brought up the idea of sending Sangouzi and Goudanzi out to make their way in the world. Old Zhou had agreed.

He had little choice. Their lives had improved considerably, but he still had four sons. Ergouzi was already old enough to take a wife, while Sangouzi and Goudanzi were nearing their growing years, and their appetites kept increasing. Sangouzi was manageable, but Goudanzi was much more troublesome: he simply could not be happy without meat. Without help from Wang Tianlei's family, he really would have eaten the Zhou family into poverty.

They might as well take this opportunity to send him out. They did not expect him to contribute to the household expenses, but at least he could support himself. Besides, Green Ram Market was not far away-only forty or fifty li along the mountain paths from the village. So, after careful discussion and consideration, Old Zhou agreed to let Second Uncle take Goudanzi out to try his luck.

"Heh, Green Ram Market must still be under the Black Dragon Society's control. But with its chief grand elder dead, its strength has been badly weakened. I doubt it has the heart to manage this place anymore!" Looking toward the cluster of dark buildings to the southwest, an intrigued smile flickered across Goudanzi's face. Although he had inherited only fragments of Li Haoran's memories, he clearly understood Li Haoran's feelings toward the Black Dragon Society. Those feelings had influenced him as well, leaving him deeply interested in the society.

Still, given his current age and standing, the Black Dragon Society remained an existence far beyond his reach. Nor did he need to involve himself with such a martial-world gang at this stage.

"Goudanzi, the Wu Ironworks is just ahead. Once you're there, you must behave yourself and learn a trade properly. I pulled all sorts of strings before I found a way to get you in. Whatever you do, don't let me down!"

All along the way, Second Uncle had repeated his instructions and warnings so many times that Goudanzi's head nearly burst. Yet he continued listening patiently, wearing a respectful smile and nodding as he listened. His obedient manner pleased Second Uncle immensely.

"Heh, I nearly forgot. Goudanzi has a proper name now-Zhou Bao!" Seeming to remember something, Second Uncle laughed and patted Goudanzi's head. "Your father picked a fine name. I mustn't call you Goudanzi anymore. I'll call you Little Leopard!"

Goudanzi-no, Little Leopard-wore a helpless smile. He did not care whether they called him Goudanzi or Little Leopard, but having people pat his head at every opportunity made him decidedly uncomfortable.

The Wu Ironworks was well known in Green Ram Market. Or rather, the entire Wu Household was well known throughout Cloud Province in Great Jin.

The Wu Household of Cloud Province was an ironworking Aristocratic Clan.

A blacksmith, taken individually, was merely a craftsman, an ordinary manual worker. At most, he had a little more strength than others. There was nothing remarkable about him.

But even manual workers had their ranks and grades. Once a blacksmith could forge sharp weapons, he rose beyond the ranks of ordinary workers and could be called an expert craftsman, earning himself a comfortable living. And once an expert craftsman could forge divine weapons and peerless blades, he could be called a master. Such men no longer sweated like rain in crude smithies, bare-armed and swinging hammers as they worked alone. Like Gan Jiang and Mo Ye of ancient legend, they became honored guests of powerful officials and nobles, forging particular weapons for particular people from materials ordinary blacksmiths could scarcely imagine. They might forge only one or two more pieces in their entire lives, yet those exceptional pieces alone could carry their names down to posterity.

These were the so-called masters.

A Lineage like the Wu Household, possessing its own secret arts, producing one or two masters every few generations, and able to turn out expert craftsmen in quantity, held a standing no lower than that of an ordinary Aristocratic Clan.

The Wu Ironworks in Green Ram Market was merely a tiny branch of the Wu Household. Every small town in Cloud Province had a Wu Ironworks. The Wu Household monopolized seventy percent of the province's ironware trade, dealing in everything from sabers, arrows, and bows to kitchen knives and spatulas. It supplied ninety percent of Cloud Province's iron military equipment. Its ironware was also popular in markets beyond Cloud Province, where it held a respectable share. That was why it was counted among Great Jin's four great smelting Aristocratic Clans.

Of course, although it was called an Aristocratic Clan, not all the Wu Household's blacksmiths were members of its family. Just think of all that ironware and all those shops, military equipment included. However numerous its family members might be, they could never handle it all. Even if they outfitted their eighty-year-old matriarch and sent her into the fray, they would probably work her to death.

Ironworking Aristocratic Clans like theirs generally took in large numbers of apprentices. Naturally, those apprentices were taught only ordinary smelting methods. The truly advanced secret techniques were kept by the Wu Household's core figures and taught to only a select few apprentices. Those people were the true elite of the Wu Household.

For now, Zhou Bao was merely entering an utterly ordinary Wu Ironworks as an apprentice. There were countless such shops throughout Cloud Province, and all they trained were ordinary blacksmiths. Only when an apprentice with good aptitude and a talent for ironworking happened to be discovered might he be recommended to a larger ironworks, where he could study more advanced smelting methods and become a true disciple of the Wu Household.

Becoming a disciple of the Wu Household offered the hope of becoming an expert craftsman. That was the highest ambition of every apprentice who entered a Wu Ironworks, but it was not Zhou Bao's ambition. The boy had little interest in smithing. All he cared about was what the Wu Ironworks provided its workers. He practiced martial arts, and as the saying went, the poor could study letters, but only the rich could train in arms. Martial artists needed large quantities of meat to replenish the energy consumed in training. That was why he could not do without meat, to the point that the Zhou family could no longer afford to feed him. This was his greatest problem. The Wu Ironworks, however, was a smithy. Smithing also consumed enormous amounts of energy and required a strong body, so even a lowly apprentice received meat with every meal. That solved his problem.

The workshops of Green Ram Market were all on the southern edge of town, but the Wu Ironworks was different. It stood in the center, the busiest part of the entire town.

This ironworks combined manufacturing and sales, with a shop in front and a workshop behind. It was the largest establishment in all of Green Ram Market.

Still, Green Ram Market was only a small place. The Wu Ironworks might be the largest by comparison, but it was still short of space. Standing outside, Little Leopard could faintly hear the sounds of smithing from behind the shop. He could even picture the men in the rear workshop hammering iron as sweat poured off them like rain.

"Hehe, Steward Lin, here's my nephew. I've brought him to you. Look, he may be young, but he's sturdy!"

Little Leopard's second uncle smiled ingratiatingly at a thin, shriveled old man of about sixty and pulled Little Leopard in front of him.

"Mm, not bad!" Steward Lin glanced at Goudanzi, his expression shifting slightly. "Quite good, actually. A frame like that at his age is rare. Come along. Old Xing won't be complaining to me this time!" Steward Lin muttered to himself, pulled Zhou Bao behind him, then raised his head. "Go get an apprenticeship contract from Little Yun, and that'll settle it. I'll take him to see Old Xing. That old fellow has a bad temper, especially with outsiders, so you'd better not come."

"Yes, yes!" Zhou Bao's second uncle nodded repeatedly, then gave Zhou Bao a few more instructions. It was the same old advice: behave himself at the ironworks, study hard, and earn himself a good future. Zhou Bao was thoroughly tired of hearing it.

Steward Lin simply stood there smiling. He had seen this sort of thing plenty of times. There was time to spare, and he was in no hurry. He waited until Second Uncle had finished delivering all his instructions before leading Goudanzi into the shop.

The Wu Household might have vast holdings, but Green Ram Market was only a small place. Most of its customers were townsfolk, whose demands for ironware were modest-at most, they needed kitchen knives to chop vegetables. Besides, they had little money and limited purchasing power. Since the Wu Household's ironware cost ten or twenty percent more than that of ordinary smithies, business was limited.

Their biggest source of business was the martial artists heading into the mountains. These martial artists used small towns like Green Ram Market as places to rest and replenish their equipment, and the Wu Household generally did business with them.

Of course, the Wu weapons shop also accepted orders from ordinary people and did not charge much. Most of those orders, however, were simply used to give the shop's apprentices practice.

Following Steward Lin into the shop, he headed toward the back. The farther they went, the louder the hammering grew, until at last he could hear nothing but the clang, clang, clang of iron being worked.

Steward Lin paid no attention to what he might be thinking. Seeing his brows crease slightly, he chuckled. "What, scared? Let me tell you, boy, smithing is no easy way to earn your rice. If you want to gain a foothold here, you'll have to put in a great deal of effort!"

"Oh!" Zhou Bao nodded earnestly, looking as though he had taken the lesson to heart. In truth, his thoughts had long since flown beyond the nine heavens.

"Is this the apprentice you took in this year?!"

Before Zhou Bao had a chance to look around after entering the rear courtyard, a pungent reek of alcohol rushed into his nose. Looking up, he saw an old man with a drink-reddened nose holding a wine gourd and staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

The old man was about Steward Lin's age, but tall and powerfully built. Yet, perhaps because he was too old, or perhaps because he had not worked at the forge for a long time, his muscles had grown somewhat slack, and his vitality was far from vigorous. Most striking was his right arm, where a conspicuous blade scar extended all the way from his wrist to his elbow.

His hand was crippled?! The sight of that scar stirred something in Zhou Bao.

Although the wound appeared to have healed, a scar like that suggested that the tendons in the old man's hand had long since been severed, destroying its strength. Zhou Bao knew nothing about smithing, but even thinking with his backside, he could understand what losing the use of his right hand would mean to a blacksmith.

"This is Master Xing. He's an expert craftsman, you know. From now on, you'll be under his charge. Make sure you study hard, and don't let my second uncle's good intentions go to waste!" Steward Lin patted Goudanzi's head and spoke gently.

Third update, hehe. Click, recommend, and bookmark!