"Butler, boss, Boss Wang is here." A thug from the iron farm came in to report.
Steward Xu looked at Steward Xu and said, "Master Steward, what do you think?"
"Let's welcome Boss Wang." Butler Xu stood up and said to the thug, "Go and invite the young master."
Butler Xu followed behind Butler Xu and walked outside the house together.
As soon as they walked out of the house, the two of them saw Boss Wang being led towards them.
"Master Wang." Butler Xu saw Wang Shuochen approaching and took the lead in cupping his fists and holding his hands.
"It turns out to be the chief steward." Wang Shuochen returned the gesture with a smile and clasped his fists.
Several people came to the room and sat down respectively. Manager Xu arranged for hot tea to be served.
Butler Xu then said: "Why is it that only proprietor Wang is here, who is the furnace manager of your iron farm?"
"It would be too conspicuous for me, the proprietor, to leave the iron yard with the stove master, so I came here alone. When the materials for transforming the iron furnace are ready, I will ask the iron yard master to come over." As he spoke, Wang Shuochen followed. He took out a folded white paper from his pocket and handed it over.
Butler Xu took it and asked curiously: "What is this?"
"It contains some things needed to modify the iron furnace. Butler Xu can arrange them in advance." Wang Shuochen pointed at the white paper.
Butler Xu opened it and took a look. There were some materials needed for making an iron furnace. He handed it to Butler Xu who was standing aside. He said, "How long will it take to gather the materials above?"
As the manager of the iron yard, Manager Xu knew what was written on the white paper.
He lowered his head and did a rough calculation, then raised his head and said: "The amount written on the paper should be the amount of one iron furnace. We have nine iron furnaces in the Xujia iron yard. This amount is large, and it will take five days at the fastest." .”
"It takes too long. I'll give you three days at most. You have to prepare everything in three days." Butler Xu gestured with three fingers.
Manager Xu frowned, lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his head and said, "If we get some materials from other iron yards in Dongshanhui, the time should be about the same."
"Arrange people to do it now, don't waste time." Butler Xu added, "The master is pressing hard."
"Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away." Manager Xu stood up, took the piece of paper sent by Wang Shuochen in his hand and left the room.
After Steward Xu left, Wang Shuochen said: "Butler, why didn't Mr. Xu come? He hasn't recovered yet?"
"The doctor asked our master to rest for a while, so it is our eldest son who came to the iron farm to take charge. This time, our eldest son will take charge of the renovation of the iron furnace." Butler Xu said.
At this moment, I heard someone outside the house say: "Who are you meeting? I want this young master to come here in person."
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone.
As the words fell, Xu Shunqing walked in from outside the house.
Also coming in was the iron field thug who brought Xu Shunqing over.
"Young Master." Steward Xu stood up from his seat and introduced, "This is proprietor Wang. It is all thanks to proprietor Wang that our Xu family iron yard can obtain the coke ironmaking technology this time."
"Master Xu." Wang Shuochen stood up from his seat and cupped his hands towards Xu Shunqing.
"Are you the Wang Shuochen that the old man said?" Xu Shunqing raised his eyelids and glanced at Wang Shuochen in front of him and said, "You said you have nothing to do with coke to make iron. If you don't work in a good iron field, you have to do these messy things. Our family The same goes for the old man. If he really listens to your words, he still insists on using this coke to make iron."
Butler Xu next to him looked embarrassed and said sarcastically: "Don't get me wrong, Mr. Wang, our young master doesn't understand the affairs of the iron farm, so the master asked me to come with him and help him learn more about the iron farm."
"That's it." Wang Shuochen nodded.
Although he was dissatisfied, he didn't say anything. With the Xu family's status in Lingqiu, he was just the proprietor of a small iron factory, so there was no need to offend the Xu family with a few words.
"Butler, Young Master Renben has also met. If there is nothing to do, Young Master Ben will go back to the room." Xu Shunqing glanced at Wang Shuochen and showed no interest in staying to discuss the matter, so he proposed to go back to the room.
"Master, wait a minute." Butler Xu stopped for a moment and said, "Renovating the iron furnace is a big deal. Our Xu family iron yard has a total of nine furnaces. I don't know if the young master wants to renovate them at the same time, or one furnace at a time."
Xu Shunqing asked: "Which one can finish it earlier?"
"It will be faster to renovate nine furnaces at the same time." Butler Xu said.
"Then let's work on nine stoves together." Xu Shunqing said, "I don't want to stay in this poor place for an extra day. If we finish it as soon as possible, I can go back to the county seat."
Butler Xu said: "If we renovate at the same time, if something goes wrong, the problem will be in nine furnaces. It is better to renovate each furnace one by one. This is safer."
"The coke-based iron-making thing that Boss Wang and the old man said was fake?" Xu Shunqing turned to look at Wang Shuochen.
Wang Shuochen waved his hands repeatedly and said: "Of course it is true. The iron yard below has been renovated. Now a furnace of more than 4,000 kilograms of molten iron is transparent and bright, with less impurities."
Xu Shunqing didn't understand this and looked at Butler Xu.
Although Butler Xu didn’t understand much, he had heard someone mention the production of molten iron at the Hutouzhai Iron Farm, which was similar to what Wang Shuochen said, so he nodded and said, “Boss Wang’s furnace was indeed transformed into a coke-based iron-making furnace. Iron furnace.”
Xu Shunqing said again: "So proprietor Wang used fake coke to make iron to deceive us?"
"Of course not." Butler Xu said, "Proprietor Wang was arranged to join the Dongshan Chamber of Commerce by my master, just to get the coke ironmaking technology."
"Since Boss Wang will not lie to us, then there is nothing to worry about." Xu Shunqing said, "The old man asked me to come to the iron yard, so we will listen to my advice and rebuild the nine iron furnaces together."
He didn't understand coke-based ironmaking. He just wanted to renovate the iron furnace one day early and complete the tasks assigned by the old man so that he could return to the county town one day early.
In his eyes, a place like the iron yard is boring. There is neither a brothel nor a gambling house. If you want to have a banquet at the hotel, you have to travel more than ten miles back to the county seat. Staying in the iron yard is not the same as in the county seat. Stay comfortable.
Butler Xu hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then we will rebuild the nine iron furnaces together as the young master said."
"Okay, I have nothing to do. Young Master Ben is going back." Xu Shunqing yawned and left the room.
When he walked away, Butler Xu looked at Wang Shuochen with an apologetic look and said with a wry smile: "Don't mind, Mr. Wang, our young master is just like this."
"It doesn't matter, the young master of your house has a true temperament." Wang Shuochen praised against his will.
Apart from the words "true temperament", he really couldn't find any suitable words to describe this young master of the Xu family.
Wang Shuochen spoke with Butler Xu for a few more words, then took his leave and promised the master that when the materials for the iron yard were ready, he would ask the furnace master of the iron yard to come over and help him renovate the iron furnace.
Butler Xu also saw that Wang Shuochen was a little dissatisfied with his young master. Of course, he would also be dissatisfied with the young master, so he did not persuade him to stay and arranged for someone to send Wang Shuochen away from the iron yard.
