“Iron Pot Mountain?”
Jin Feng studied the female worker carefully. “How old is your brother this year?”
There were now so many female workers in Xihe Bay that, at shift change, the village was full of young women.
Although the smelting workshop did not have as many people as the textile mill, ever since it switched to assembly-line work, management had become much more relaxed.
Man Cang had taken on more apprentices, and Jin Feng no longer knew all of them by sight.
When the woman mentioned Iron Pot Mountain, a memory stirred.
Back when the smelting workshop only had him and Man Cang, they were overwhelmed, so they selected a batch of slaves from Iron Pot Mountain to help.
This woman had probably been one of them.
Iron Pot Mountain was Xihe Bay’s soap production base. The female workers there were either former hostages of the bandits or slaves Jin Feng had bought from the commandery city.
At the time, unable to bear seeing children sold off, Jin Feng had bought the children as well.
That was why the children on Iron Pot Mountain were all quite young.
“My brother is eight this year,” the woman replied.
“Eight…”
Jin Feng felt a touch of disappointment.
He had been thinking of taking an apprentice, but the boy was only eight. How could he take him on?
He could hardly keep a small child in the smelting workshop all day.
An eight-year-old might not even reach the workbench and certainly could not swing a hammer.
“That doesn’t add up. Your brother is only eight and still at Iron Pot Mountain. How did he help you make the gears?” Jin Feng asked.
“A while ago I went to Iron Pot Mountain to see him. When he saw my hand had been crushed by a piece of iron, he drew a diagram for me.”
The woman explained, “After I came back, Master, you were busy at Long Snake Ditch the whole time, so I gave the drawing to Master Man Cang. We had a few free days then, so Master Man Cang led us to build it according to the diagram. We never expected it to work straight away.”
“Where’s the drawing? Let me see it.”
“I’ll fetch it!” The woman hurried to the small office in the workshop and brought back a sheet of paper.
The diagram was drawn in brush and ink. The handwriting was a little childish, but the illustration was fairly standard and the dimensions were marked in great detail.
This delighted Jin Feng enormously.
At only eight years old, the boy could design a gear train and draw proper diagrams. With good training, his future would be limitless!
“Master, do you still want to meet my brother?”
The woman asked tentatively. “If so, I’ll ask Master Man Cang for leave.”
“There’s no need for you to drag him back and forth. I’ll go to Iron Pot Mountain myself.”
Although there were no longer bandits around Jinchuan, the journey from Iron Pot Mountain to Xihe Bay was long and the paths were all mountain tracks. It was still unsafe for a young woman to travel them with an eight-year-old child.
“Master, you will go to Iron Pot Mountain in person?”
The woman’s face lit up with joy.
She could tell that Jin Feng thought highly of her brother.
As a traditional woman with strong family values, she was even happier at her brother’s prospects than at her own.
“Yes, I haven’t been to Iron Pot Mountain in ages anyway. It’s time I paid a visit.”
Jin Feng said, “Go tell Man Cang. Come with me in a little while.”
“Right away!”
The woman set down her tools and was about to ask for leave when Man Cang walked in.
“Master, you’re here too!”
Man Cang quickly gave Jin Feng a disciple’s salute.
This was something his mother insisted on. Every time he saw Jin Feng, he had to bow.
At first Jin Feng found it awkward, but after Man Cang was told several times and still did it, Jin Feng let him be.
“You’re just in time. I’m taking… oh yes, what’s your name again?” Jin Feng turned to the woman.
“Replying to Master, I am Wan Yuhong.”
“Good name,” Jin Feng praised, then continued, “I’m taking Wan Yuhong to Iron Pot Mountain.”
“Yes, sir!” Man Cang bowed in acknowledgement.
“By the way, are there any other cases in the workshop where the sister works in Xihe Bay but the younger brother is still at Iron Pot Mountain?” Jin Feng asked.
“To my knowledge, there shouldn’t be any more.”
Wan Yuhong answered.
“That must have been hard on the two of you.”
“Not hard at all. Compared to our old life in the commandery city, these days are better than we could ever have hoped.”
“Even so, keeping siblings apart is wrong.”
Jin Feng looked at Man Cang. “In future, if you come across situations like this, bring the children to Xihe Bay as well.”
“Yes, sir!” Man Cang agreed.
“Let’s go.” Jin Feng led Wan Yuhong out of the workshop. “Oh, can you ride?”
“My family used to keep two horses. I’m not brilliant, but I can manage ordinary travel.”
Wan Yuhong replied.
“Then I won’t bother with a carriage. Riding will be quicker.”
Jin Feng sent Da Liu to prepare horses, then asked, “You come from a well-off family, don’t you?”
Education was rare in Da Kang, and ordinary people named their children casually.
Guan Xiaorou and Guan Xiao’e already counted as nice names in the village. Many girls were called A-Zhen, A-Xiang, A-Lian, and boys were Tiechui, Goudan, Daniu, Zhuzi. Duplicates were extremely common.
Wan Yuhong was not especially elegant, but it was clearly a name given by someone literate.
Her family had kept horses, and her brother could draw diagrams. Ordinary families could not afford such things.
“We weren’t really a great house. My father used to be a supervisor in the Qing’an Army’s engineering camp. Later the Qing’an Army was defeated, His Majesty flew into a rage, my father and many uncles were arrested, and the family was sold off as slaves. My mother was injured during the confiscation and died a few days before Master visited the slave market.”
“My condolences,” Jin Feng said quietly.
The court was rotten, and it was always the common people who suffered.
At the same time, a puzzle in Jin Feng’s mind was solved.
No wonder her little brother could draw diagrams at such a young age. He had inherited family learning.
“It’s all in the past. Thanks to Master’s kindness, my brother and I are now doing very well. If Mother knows in the underworld, she will be grateful to Master too.”
Wan Yuhong said with sincere gratitude.
Back at the slave market, she had truly been in despair.
If she had not been worried about her brother, she might have taken her own life.
Later, Jin Feng bought them but did not treat them as slaves; instead he gave her a proper job.
Although work in the smelting workshop was dirty and tiring, nobody looked down on her here. After the assembly line started, she even had three days off each month. She could use her wages to buy tasty things and visit her brother at Iron Pot Mountain. It was a hundred times better than being a slave.
So Wan Yuhong’s gratitude towards Jin Feng came from the bottom of her heart.
“Miss Wan, you speak too highly.”
Not wanting to dwell on the heavy topic, Jin Feng changed the subject. “Miss Wan, you must be literate. Why didn’t you become a shop manager for the chamber of commerce?”
Although she had joined the smelting workshop early, Tang Xiaobei had later held an open recruitment for female shop managers in the village. Anyone could apply.
“I do know some characters, but… but I’m terrible at the abacus.”
Wan Yuhong blushed and scratched her head. “When Madam Xiaobei was selecting managers, I was eliminated in the first round.”
“So you’re hopeless at maths.”
Jin Feng suddenly understood.
Da Liu brought the horses. The party mounted and rode straight for Iron Pot Mountain.
On the way, Jin Feng discovered that Wan Yuhong’s claim of being a poor rider was pure modesty. Her horsemanship was far better than many of the female soldiers.
Since Wan Yuhong could keep up, Jin Feng urged the group on faster and reached Iron Pot Mountain before lunch.
