Xiong Tianba was delighted. He set down the great hammers, dropped to his knees, and knocked his forehead against the ground three times before Zong Tang. Thump, thump, thump!
Zong Tang hurried forward to help him up. "Boy, they're only a pair of iron hammers. Why make such a grand gesture? How could I possibly accept it?"
"Repay a drop of kindness with a gushing spring," Xiong Tianba said. "Uncle Zong, you've given me these two great lumps of iron today. When I make my fortune, I'll give you a mountain of gold."
Zong Tang laughed heartily. "You really do have a conscience, boy! I don't want a mountain of gold. I'm a blacksmith. If you prosper someday, how about giving me a mountain of iron?" He had only said it casually, teasing Brat, but Brat nodded in all seriousness. "A gentleman's word is as final as a whip stroke urging on a swift horse. Just you wait, Uncle Zong. Someday I'll use these hammers to seize a mountain of iron for you."
They went outside. The more Xiong Tianba looked at his great iron hammers, the more he loved them. Curious about the strange symbols on them, he asked, "Uncle Zong, what are these symbols carved into them?"
"They should be inscriptions of the Black Hu People," Zong Tang said. "At any rate, I can't read them."
"Neither can I," Brat said. "They look like little people. Why is one hammer heavier than the other?"
"Because the strength of your two arms differs," Zong Tang said. "That's why they were cast this way."
Xiong Tianba swung the two great hammers back and forth, utterly beside himself with joy.
Hu Xiaotian thanked Zong Tang on his behalf as well. Zong Tang smiled. "It's merely a weapon, Lord Hu. Why bother