Songhua Stone Vein

Another large tree chimed in, "Indeed! This Songhua stone is the Jiang Family's most secret weapon; how could they possibly let others know about it?"

Zhou Wanwan took her brothers and uncles back home, and didn't come out again until after dinner.

The trees, seeing them, chirped, "Hey! What brings these people here again? Are they really that clever? Planning to follow them to the Songhua mine?"

"Even if you go with them, it won't do any good. These people are extremely vigilant. Just wait and see! They'll discover you in no time."

Zhou Wanwan remained silent, and sure enough, she saw more than fifty people walking towards her. She only heard the leader say:

"Let's dig up more stones this time. Our family has received a big order, a big order from a noble person in the capital."

If this really works out, our family will be rich! A single Songhua inkstone can sell for 300 taels of silver. We've ordered over 200 this time, which is more than 60,000 taels of silver.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Our Songhua inkstones are selling really well!"

"Heh... Now, our Songhua inkstones are considered the best among the four inkstones in the Upper Capital. Several high-ranking officials highly praise our Songhua inkstones."

Moreover, this benefactor promised that as long as the Songhua inkstone is successfully made, our patriarch will be appointed as the county magistrate, thus directly suppressing the Lin family."

"The people from Liu Family Village next door are quite capable. I wonder if those two pigs were shot dead last time?"

"Hey! Next time let's go hunting in Liu Family Village next door again. It was too dark yesterday, so we didn't perform well. Our village's hunting team is no pushover."

"Alright, this time I'm going to shoot 10 dead. From now on, Liu Family Village will be our village's hunting ground."

It just so happens that many children need to learn hunting, so let the people from their village learn from them.

Liu Dalang was trembling with rage. What was the difference between this and an animal? Treating people like prey.

These people were indeed very cautious. Zhou Wanwan was about 100 meters away from them, but she didn't dare to move at all. She only slowly followed after they had walked quite a distance away.

Liu Dalang couldn't help but say, "How can the two of us keep up with them like this?"

Zhou Wanwan chuckled, "Don't worry, I have my own way. It definitely won't be easy to keep up with them."

These people were so vigilant that they would even step back and observe the surroundings after taking only a few steps.

There was no way to track her like that. Zhou Wanwan kept listening to the sounds of the surrounding trees, and those big trees kept pointing the way.

Many big trees are quite bored; they can chat for a long time whenever they see a group like this.

Sometimes, wild vegetables would also be included in the discussion, so the simplest way to tell is that if there are big trees discussing something, then the group must have passed through that area.

Zhou Wanwan followed for over two hours before stopping and saying, "This is it. This location is really well hidden; how could an ordinary person find it?"

The Songhua inkstone vein is hidden in a very remote place, in a mountain valley full of peach trees, and it is impossible to find without careful searching.

You could hear clanging sounds from afar. This vein of ore was different from others; it didn't need to be mined every day. The Jiang Family could mine it whenever they needed it.

This is a treasured site passed down from the Jiang Family ancestors. It is thanks to the inkstones dug out from here that they were able to make the famous Songhua inkstones.

These people dug from dusk till dawn before finally loading baskets full of heavy Songhua inkstones and carrying them back home.

Once they were out of sight, Zhou Wanwan emerged from behind a nearby tree and said, "Found it! This is it!"

They entered the mine and saw that a tunnel had been carved out, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The Jiang Family had previously carved out the outermost area; further in, there were many more high-quality Songhua stones that could be moved directly without much effort.

The group quickly got to work, stuffing the neatly arranged pine stones one by one into their baskets.

Zhou Wanwan sidled up to the group and whispered, "Let's go back and call for help. Tonight, let's take this opportunity to dig up as many Songhua stones as possible!"

More than 400 people came from Liu Family Village, bringing three horse-drawn carts and several oxcarts. They were quite fast, making seven or eight trips in total.

Seeing that everyone was exhausted, Zhou Wanwan said, "Alright, let's all go back! This should last us for a while. We can come back to mine more if we need it later."

Liu Xiuyuan shook his head and said, "The Jiang Family won't allow us to continue mining. If they find out we've touched their Songhua Stone, they'll fight us to the death."

Zhou Wanwan scoffed coldly:

"They're all using us as targets, and I still care about their feelings? If they don't fight us to the death, we'll fight them to the death!"

Who cares? It's Songhua inkstone, right? If they can make it, so can we."

Liu Xiuyuan was completely dumbfounded. "Little Ancestor, how could we possibly produce Songhua inkstones?"

Lingbao kept moving inside the bag:

"Oh! What's so difficult about this? First, pick a stone from the mine that has no cracks and has a uniform color."

Use a chisel to carve out the approximate shape of the inkstone along the grain of the stone. Grind the inkstone surface smooth and dig the inkwell deep. Just make sure you don't carve it crooked.

"Then it's all about grinding. First, use coarse sandpaper to grind away the chisel marks, then switch to fine sandpaper and slowly rub until you can't feel any roughness with your hand and you can see your reflection."

Finally, wipe it with a silk cloth, and the shine will come out.

He casually picked up a half-finished piece of inkstone from the side and pointed to its surface:

"If you want to keep it simple, you don't need to carve patterns; you can just grind it and use it."

Even if you want to carve something, you can simply trace a few strokes of pine branches or Little Flower along the natural grain of the stone, and then slowly carve it with a fine knife; it doesn't take much effort.

"To put it simply, it's just a few steps: selecting materials, cutting the blank, and polishing. As long as you're careful..."

Don't waste such good materials! Making a Songhua inkstone that can grind and store ink is really not a difficult task!

Zhou Wanwan rolled her eyes and said:

"It's not as simple as you make it out to be. Selecting the ingredients is quite easy; I just need to choose those with abundant spiritual energy."

But nobody in our village knows how to do the roughing and polishing!"

Liu Xiuyuan, who was standing nearby, coughed and said, "There is a family in our village that specializes in this. Why don't we let them give it a try?"

Zhou Wanwan's eyes lit up and she said, "Since we have Songhua stones, let's give it a try! I just wonder what the master craftsman will make it into."

Zhou Wanwan selected more than 20 pieces of top-quality stone and delivered them directly to the master craftsman. The craftsman's hands trembled as he exclaimed, "Oh my! Songhua stone? Oh my! This is really good!"

Liu Xiuyuan shouted, "Liu Shiyan, can you carve these stones...?"

Liu Shiyan looked at it and said, "Yes, it can definitely work..."

But he didn't even have the strength to lift a stone, so Zhou Wanwan quickly shook her head and said, "I think the old man is very weak, so let's forget about it?"

Liu Shiyan said loudly:

"This business is ours now, so it's ours."

"I can't, but I have grandsons and sons! All of you, come out here!"