"Old Master, your grandson is back, carrying a strange thing and saying he wants to see you." Butler Zhang Youfu bowed and said.
"Humph, this evil obstacle is not angry with me enough, so he comes back to trouble me again." Zhang Weixian said angrily.
However, in the cold weather, he was reluctant to let his eldest grandson catch the cold outside.
Although I was still angry, I put down the hookah in my hand. He took out a golden pocket watch and looked at the time. Said: "Let him come in."
At this time, tobacco was introduced to the Ming Dynasty less than a hundred years ago, and it was far from popular.
However, although Zhang Weixian is over sixty, he can still keep up with the trend. The hookah in his hand was a tribute from the Rumi Kingdom. It was awarded to him by the temple more than ten years ago.
Ever since he was young, he has been a trendy person in the Ming Dynasty. If there is anything new and novel, get one to play with. I can never put down new things.
There were very few people in the Ming Dynasty who had pocket watches. The British public Zhang Weixian had an exquisite pocket watch with a pure gold shell.
This is a rare thing. At this time, the European pocket watch had not been invented for a long time, and the technology was still very rough.
In 1462, an Italian watchmaker proposed the concept of "huai clock". In 1510, Peter Henlein, a watchmaker in Nuremberg, Germany, produced the first pocket watch. Call it the "Nuremberg egg."
It was not until this time that "watches" were officially separated from "clocks" as a separate category.
The year is 1628. It has only been less than 120 years since pocket watches appeared, but British princes are already wearing them.
Of course, his pocket watch was far from the modern pocket watch that Yang Fan paid tribute to the emperor.
What Yang Fan paid tribute to the empress was a pair of specially customized Seagull Tourbillon couple pocket watches. The pure gold shell and gold chain are hollowed out and engraved with dragon and phoenix patterns, which are very exquisite, luxurious and grand.
Sapphire crystal, three-dimensional rotating tourbillon, excellent viewing pleasure. The dial is densely inlaid with diamonds. And it's self-winding. Very luxurious and luxurious.
Zhang Shize walked in with a mean smile on his face, bent down and said, "Grandpa, my grandson has given you a good thing in exchange for your old Tao. You are a good master."
As he spoke, he picked up a kerosene lantern and placed it on the table.
This horse lantern was originally a carbide lamp that burned calcium carbide. The shape of the horse lantern was imitated and is a modern product.
Modern antique lamps with this shape are called outdoor lamps. It is used by travel friends for camping. Some burn gasoline, some burn kerosene, and some burn calcium carbide and water.
This kind of lamp has an antique and nostalgic appearance.
In order to demonstrate the good lighting properties of kerosene, Yang Fan simply modified it.
In fact, the modification is simple, that is, the bottom tank containing water and calcium carbide is filled with kerosene, and then a piece of cotton is pulled from the air outlet pipe and twisted into a wick.
Zhang Weixian glared at his grandson, this evil man was looking for trouble for himself.
When I was young, I was quite capable. But compared to this bastard boy, he is simply a good boy. He is still far from being a bad boy, and he is far better than him in terms of not doing anything serious.
"What is this?" Zhang Weixian was successfully aroused and looked at it with interest.
This thing is made of stainless steel plate and looks shiny. The shape is also very beautiful, like two gourds buckled together upside down. There is also a glass cover in the middle.
Zhang Weixian held it in his hand and looked at it carefully over and over.
Although this thing was beautifully made, Zhang Weixian didn't take it too seriously.
After all, he is the head of the Ming Dynasty, and he has never seen any good things. But this glass cover is a rarity.
Glaze in this era was very expensive.
All kinds of turbid glass beads that are not round can be used to make jewelry.
This glass cover has such high purity and good light transmittance, but it is not cheap. It costs more than fifty taels of silver no matter what.
This lamp must be worth a hundred and eighty taels anyway. Otherwise, if you sell it cheaply, you won't be able to get the original copy. This steel, this workmanship, and this glass cover are all good things.
Zhang Weixian immediately gave the price in his mind.
Zhang Weixian held the lantern in his hand and looked at it repeatedly. He clucked his tongue and said in admiration: "This thing looks like it is made of steel. It is not easy to make it so light. It can be regarded as the work of a skilled craftsman. Especially for such a big piece. The glass cover is so transparent, but it’s not cheap.”
Seeing that the old man liked it, Zhang Shize said nonchalantly: "How about it? Are you satisfied with it? This treasure is something that my grandson finally got for you, Lao Tao."
Zhang Weixian glanced at him and cursed: "How can you have such filial piety? Tell me, what happened again? You need me to wipe your ass."
Zhang Shize said aggrievedly: "Grandpa, look at who you think your grandson is. I can't go out of my way to buy it for you."
"Hmph, you evil deed. As soon as you stick your butt out, I know what you're going to do. Tell me, what's going on?" Zhang Weixian puffed his beard and glared, with an expression that said I'd be surprised if I believed you.
"Grandpa, do you know what this is and what it is used for?" Zhang Shize said showily.
"If you have something to say, say it quickly, and if you have something to say, let it go." Zhang Weixian said angrily.
This evil obstacle, knowing that he does not know what it is, is still showing off in front of him.
"Okay. Grandpa, this is a lantern, called a horse lantern. It is also called a wind lantern, a lantern, and a boat lantern. It can be carried in your hand when walking at night, just like a lantern. Or hung on a saddle for lighting. It can also be used for boating. It was hanging on the bow of the ship." Zhang Shize said.
"Well, this thing looks like it's for lighting. How do you light a fire? Let grandpa see if it's lit." Zhang Weixian, an old man who still dotes on his grandson, lost his anger at this time and said pleasantly.
All his life, the old man has liked to play with rare things that no one else has. Because only in this way can you stand out. In fact, this is a common problem among government officials. Zhang Shize naturally knew it very well.
Zhang Shize took out a zippo he got from Yang Fan and lit it with a ding sound. Zhang Weixian was stunned for a moment, wondering what kind of novelty this was.
Zhang Shize pushed back the shade of the kerosene lamp.
The glass cover is supported by the connecting mechanism and tilted backward 90°. Expose the wick.
Zhang Shize lit the wick. Suddenly a bright flame burned. A warm glow radiated.
Zhang Weixian pushed the glass lampshade back to cover the wick to prevent it from being blown out by the wind.
At this time, it was already getting late, and it started to get dark in Zhang Weixian's study. The light seems particularly bright at this time.
Diesel oil has many benefits. First of all, the light is very bright, although not as good as the carbide lamp. However, it is many times brighter than a candle. Clean kerosene is about the same color as water. When burned, kerosene has no smell and does not emit black smoke.
The entire study suddenly lit up.
Zhang Weixian found that this kerosene lamp had much better lighting effect than the candle lantern, and it did not have the smell of carbide lamps.
The slightly orange light cast a golden phantom on the items in the room, making the room feel warm all of a sudden.
"What a good thing, a good grandson. You still care about grandpa, unlike those two bastards like your father and your second uncle. Grandpa's eyes are dazzled, the candlelight is dancing, and he can't see clearly when he reads at night. It's better this time , I won’t be afraid of hurting my eyes when I read in the future.”
"Grandpa, my grandson just thinks you have bad eyesight, so I came here to mess with you."
Zhang Weixian was so relieved that he stretched out his dry hand to touch the top of Zhang Shize's head.
Zhang Shize quickly bent down so that the old man could reach the top of his head. Zhang Shize is about 1.8 meters tall. The old man couldn't reach it while sitting.
"Grandson, what was that thing you used to light a fire just now? Grandpa's hookah fire sickle happens to be old and hard to use. You can show that to Grandpa again."
"Ah!" Zhang Shize was dumbfounded.
Just now, I just wanted to get the old man to take the bait, so I directly used the zippo that I had finally obtained from Yang Fan through hard work in front of the old man.
It's over now. The old man's temper will definitely come back.
