Ger, So Proud

Chapter 46

“No luck?” He Ze furrowed his brows. “Shopkeeper, could you please help me look again?”

He had already visited several shops in a row but hadn’t found anything suitable.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but we really don’t have it. You’re asking for a six-stone strong bow, which weighs over three hundred catties. The requirements for the bow body and string are very high. I do have a four-stone one, but it was bought earlier. Now, all that’s left is a two-stone bow. Even for brave warriors, using a two-stone bow is rare!”

The shopkeeper looked troubled, somewhat skeptical about He Ze’s insistence on a six-stone strong bow. This customer didn’t seem to have that kind of arm strength!

“…Sir, how about… I show you the two-stone bow?” Seeing He Ze remained silent, the shopkeeper didn’t want to give up this deal easily and tentatively suggested.

“No need,” He Ze waved his hand.

The last bow he bought was a two-stone one, and it was probably too lightweight for Lin Yu.

“Since it’s like this, I won’t disturb you, shopkeeper.”

“Oh! No problem, no problem.”

The shopkeeper replied as he watched He Ze’s figure disappear at the door of the shop, shaking his head. A six-stone bow? How many people in the world could even pull a six-stone bow, especially in such a small place?

He Ze naturally didn’t know what the shopkeeper was thinking. He had searched all the blacksmith shops in town but returned empty-handed. In the end, he just bought some food at random and met up with Liu San and He Dalang at the intersection, heading back to the village together.

By then, it was already late in the day, and when he got home, He Ze’s father breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t worried about He Ze himself but feared his son would be influenced by Liu San and He Dalang and go out again.

“You’re back? Your Dad left you some food. It’s still warm, hurry and eat!”

“Okay.”

He Ze replied and placed the food he bought on the table before heading to the kitchen. He An was kneading dough inside.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Dad went out and said he’ll be back later.” A lot of flour ended up on He An’s face, making him look red on one side and white on the other, but he hadn’t noticed.

Seeing his appearance, He Ze smirked and didn’t say much. He just sat down at the small table in the kitchen and started eating. When he finished, He An suddenly sat across from him, resting his chin on his hands and staring straight at him.

“What’s wrong?” He Ze put away his utensils.

“Brother, why don’t you ask me why I’m kneading dough?” He An’s mouth drooped.

“…Why?”

“Brother,” He An’s mouth drooped even more, “Have you really forgotten?”

He Ze was puzzled.

“The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon.” He An looked at him expectantly.

“And then?”

“…Brother, how could you!” He An’s expression was on the verge of tears as he suddenly stood up and ran out.

He Ze chuckled, but before he could stop laughing, He An came running back. “Okay, brother, you got me!”

“…In a few days, it’ll be your sixteenth birthday. So, tell me, what birthday gift do you want?”

“Anything I want?” He An’s eyes lit up.

“Of course,” He Ze poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip. “Anything.”

He An chuckled and suddenly leaned closer to He Ze, wrapping his arms around his arm. But before he could start shaking, He Ze had already pulled his arm away. “If you don’t tell me, I won’t listen.”

“…I’ll tell you! Brother, could you… give me some money?”

“Money? What do you need money for?” He Ze put down his teacup.

“Um… a few days after my birthday is Brother Lin’s birthday. He gave me lotus leaf chicken two years ago and a fox fur hat last year. This year… I want to give him a gift too.” He An said somewhat hesitantly, but his eyes were full of anticipation as he looked at He Ze.

“His birthday? Lin Yu’s?”

“Yeah! Brother, could you agree?” He An elongated his voice, pulling He Ze’s sleeve with both hands. “Twelve… no, five qian, no… three qian will do, brother…”

“Lin Yu’s birthday…” He Ze muttered to himself for a moment, suddenly stood up. “Alright, I’ll help you prepare this gift!”

With that, he swiftly walked out of the room, disappearing in an instant.

“Hey! Why is he like this!” Why doesn’t he just give himself a gift? Why should he help me prepare it? I wanted to choose it myself! What can a guy like him choose anyway!

For a moment, He An couldn’t help but curse his brother for taking advantage of him in his mind. In the end, he could only angrily pound the table, his mouth puckered as if he could hang a soy sauce bottle on it.

Today was July twenty-seventh, He An’s birthday was on August third, and as for Lin Yu… it was on August eleventh.

This was what He An had told him.

There was still half a month, so there should be enough time.

After a brief thought, the next afternoon, He Ze brought back a tree from the mountain.

“Xiao Ze, what are you…” Was his son trying to learn woodworking from him? That would be a good thing!

“Father, do you need to go out during this time?” He Ze finally managed to roll the tree into the courtyard, then grabbed an axe and started chopping at the branches and leaves. However, the tree seemed extremely tough, and after chopping for a dozen times, only a few branches broke off.

“No need, no need. Didn’t I just go out a few days ago? I won’t be going out until after Mid-Autumn Festival. If you want to learn, I’ll teach you in this half month!” He Youcai took a puff of his pipe, smiling.

“Teach me?” He Ze paused, then continued chopping a few more times before saying, “No, father, I mean, if you don’t need to go out, can you lend me those things in your chest?”

“…Huh? Lend you those things?” He Youcai’s smile faded. “Then why did you bring back such a big tree?”

“To make a bow.”

“To make a bow? Didn’t you buy one last time? What’s wrong, is it not good?”

“No, father, please don’t ask.”

It took He Ze quite a while to chop off two branches, each no thicker than two fingers. Seeing him sweating profusely, He Youcai finally realized something was wrong.

He stepped down the stone steps and circled around the tree on the ground, then touched the red heartwood at the broken end of the trunk, looking puzzled and uncertain. “This tree…?”

“It’s ironwood.”

He found the densest tree on Xiangyang Mountain, and in such a vast mountain, he only found this one. This ironwood had dropped all its seeds on the ground, and after he urged it, several of them sprouted, which was why he brought it back with him.

“Is it really ironwood? How did you bring it back?” Ironwood, just from its name, one could tell that its wood was as hard as iron, extremely heavy, but it was a rare and precious tree, with distinct color and clear texture, strong load-bearing capacity, resistance to insects, and corrosion. Even if it was soaked in water for hundreds of years, it would hardly be damaged. It was the top-quality wood for making household furniture or beams.

A priceless treasure that was not for sale!

He Youcai also served as an apprentice to a town carpenter when he was young. He remembered seeing wealthy families bring in such small and thin trees to make dowry chests for their gers. At the time, he was puzzled because such a small tree couldn’t withstand the handling. He asked his master about it and learned something about it.

He never expected that he would live to see it in his lifetime! And it was this big! It was probably several decades old.

He Youcai squatted down, touching the bark, his face filled with excitement.

“I went to the mountain with Liu San and He Dalang. The three of us chopped for a whole morning before bringing it back. They were afraid you wouldn’t let us in, so they went back when we reached the gate.”

He Ze didn’t hesitate for a moment.

“Oh… ” He Youcai looked a little embarrassed and glanced at the ironwood, suddenly feeling strange. “Some families need me to make wooden furniture and materials. I often go to the mountain to chop trees, but how come, after chopping for over ten years, I’ve never seen this tree?”

“Father, if this tree grew well on the mountain, would you recognize it?” He Ze bluntly pierced through him.

“…”

He Youcai was speechless. If his son hadn’t worked so hard to chop it, and if he hadn’t seen the heartwood, he wouldn’t have thought that this tree was ironwood.

Ah, precious!

“Chop… chop…”

There were two more sounds of chopping wood, and a branch broke. He Youcai’s face changed, and he hurried over to stop He Ze. “Son, you can’t chop this! This is precious! Even if it’s just branches, I can make a corner for it tomorrow.”

“Father, don’t worry, I only need a section, and the rest will be yours after I’m done.” He Ze pushed He Youcai away.

“No, absolutely not!” He Youcai snatched the axe from He Ze’s hand. “You can’t touch this tree! I’ll go back to the mountain and chop another one for you. This is your first attempt, and you might waste a lot of materials! Absolutely not!”

“Father!”

Now He Ze was rubbing his temples. He regretted telling the truth.

“No matter what you say, you can’t touch this tree,” He Youcai looked at He Ze with a disdainful expression, “I have to keep it for An-ge’s dowry chest. Even if it’s just this box, it will make the in-laws look up to him!”

“Father!”

“If you like it, I’ll squeeze a little more to make a dowry chest for your future wife,” He Youcai added with a face that seemed impenetrable, then retreated into the house.

Seeing He Ze leave, He Youcai squatted down again, gently stroking the tree, his face so gentle it could drip water.

That night, when there was no light in the other rooms, He Ze secretly left the room. The next day, He Youcai brought out the long-unused rattan cane and chased after He Ze for half a day, until Dad Li came back to intervene.

“I’m so angry, that little rascal! It’s all because of you, why did you stop me… that’s ironwood!” He Youcai looked pained, looking at the ironwood standing in the corner of the wall, almost shedding tears.

“What’s wrong with ironwood? Didn’t Xiao Ze bring it back himself? Why do you get to claim it?” Dad Li stood with his hands on his hips, holding the cane he snatched from He Youcai.

“That… that’s not how he’s supposed to use it!”

It’s ironwood! Ironwood!

“Alright, alright, if Xiao Ze likes it, just let him be! There’s still some left, isn’t there? You can relax a bit. Is a piece of ironwood more important than your son?”

Hmph! No way! After all that chopping, what else could he say?

He Youcai’s gaze was fixed on the ironwood, his heart aching. For several days, he hadn’t given He Ze a good look.

On He An’s birthday, He Ze specially took him to town for a stroll and bought a lot of snacks. When they came back, the family of four happily enjoyed a good meal, officially bidding farewell to the gloomy atmosphere of the previous period.

In the blink of an eye, it was the ninth day of the month. He Ze had been running back and forth between home and town during this time.

Originally, he thought he could speed up the process with his ability, but ironwood was difficult to carve. If he completed it all at once, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to give a reason to his father. So he decided to do it himself.

He almost had to go to the blacksmith shop in town every other day to ask the shopkeeper’s apprentice about the details of making a bow before he dared to go home and start working.

As it turned out, He Youcai’s worries were not unfounded. In his first attempt at making a bow, He Ze wasted so much wood that he felt a bit regretful.

However, for some reason, as he watched the bow take shape in his hands, He Ze felt a sense of satisfaction welling up inside him.

“…Brother!”

Suddenly, a loud shout came from beside him. He Ze’s expression remained unchanged as he continued to slowly work on the wooden bow with a file.

“Brother, why are you ignoring me…”

He An pouted. Seeing that He Ze still didn’t respond, his eyes rolled around and he suddenly said, “Brother, let me tell you something. Do you remember what happened at the Lin family’s place last time? These days, their family has been suffering from karma, and it’s been widely spread in the village. A few days ago, Uncle He Cheng, who lives near the big jujube tree in the south of the village, lost his cow. He cursed and went to the Lin family to make a scene, asking them to leave the He family village!”

“They’re leaving the He family village?” He Ze finally looked up.

“Yeah! It’s said that the Lin family has offended the gods and ghosts, and if this continues, it will eventually affect everyone! Uncle He Cheng just came out of the Lin family. The next day, Uncle Zhou went to the Lin family crying, saying that if it wasn’t for them, his three son-in-laws wouldn’t have been unable to give birth for several years. These days, whenever someone has trouble at home, they all go to the Lin family. Someone even passed by the Lin family and threw rotten eggs inside! Haha!”

“Is that so?” He Ze’s face also showed a smile.

That’s the power of rumors. He was just returning the favor. Now it seemed that the effect was quite good.

He Ze’s smile grew stronger.

“Brother!” He An suddenly squatted in front of him. “I found… you seem to be a little happy.”

“…”

“Brother, with the Lin family in this state, I’m happy for Brother Lin, but why… are you happy?” He An stared at He Ze intently, his eyes burning.

“…”

He Ze was stunned for a moment, but he didn’t say anything, just lowered his head and continued with his work.

But He An wasn’t planning to let him off. Pretending to be puzzled, he said, “I haven’t slept well these days. I’ve been hearing someone chopping wood in the middle of the night. Brother, isn’t it you?”

“…I did it myself, but I didn’t have enough time… so…”

“Brother,” He An suddenly poked at the cotton cloth wrapped around He Ze’s hand, “This is the first time you’ve used a file, and you’ve hurt yourself so many times. Even Dad feels sorry for you!”

In fact, almost half of the injuries had already been healed using his ability. As for the minor injuries that He An and Li Shi had discovered, he just let them heal on their own.

However…

“What exactly do you want to say?” He Ze turned his head.

“Is this for Brother Lin?” He An’s face was full of playful smiles as he suddenly leaned closer to He Ze’s ear. “Brother! Do you… like Brother Lin?”

“Gah—”

Before He An could finish his sentence, He Ze’s mind wandered for a moment, and the file went straight into his palm again.

Author’s note: He An: The position of divine assistant is mine, no one can take it away! *Puts hands on hips*

The author… should quietly slip away. The next chapter might be late, apologies.