"Um, little blacksmith, I didn't come to you this time because of the Qianji Umbrella," Hu Ke'er said softly.
"Ah, then is there anything else?" Hearing Hu Ke'er's words, the little blacksmith also asked softly.
"Yeah, please come here." As Hu Ke'er said, she waved to the little blacksmith.
"Okay." The little blacksmith nodded gently and then said softly to the surrounding workers, "You practice the skills I just taught you by yourselves first. Little Senior Sister is looking for me for something."
"Okay!" The workers replied in unison and then got back to forging. The little blacksmith walked out of the crowd and came in front of Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi.
"Little Senior Sister, I was just teaching them forging skills. Some of the materials for your Qianji Umbrella are not enough, so I've sent someone to purchase them," the little blacksmith said softly.
"Yeah." Hearing the little blacksmith's words, Hu Ke'er nodded in satisfaction.
"Little blacksmith, how do you feel after coming to Longhu Mountain for so long?"
"Everything is great." The little blacksmith grinned and said, "Before, when I was with my master, it was always my master who taught me. Now, when I teach others myself, I can actually find many problems. As a result, my forging skills have improved."
"What about the living environment and the food?"
"The environment here is naturally much better than that in our town. Moreover, we don't need to cut firewood or dig stones by ourselves. It's much easier!" the little blacksmith said happily.
"However, Little Senior Sister, you didn't come here just to ask about these things, did you?"
"Of course not." Before, Hu Ke'er was just making some polite small talk. After all, it would seem too utilitarian if she directly put forward her request to the little blacksmith.
"Actually, I came to you this time because I want to put forward a requirement for the things you forge."
"Requirement? Are the things I forged before not good enough?" Hearing Hu Ke'er's words, the little blacksmith said with a worried look on his face.
"Is there something wrong with the previous Spirit Stone Refining Furnace?"
"No, little blacksmith, please don't misunderstand." Seeing the little blacksmith's nervous look, Hu Ke'er quickly comforted him and said, "We haven't even gone to check the Spirit Stone Refining Furnace yet. But there should be no problem. Otherwise, the workers who refine the spirit stones would have already come to report it."
"Then what's the requirement you mentioned, Little Senior Sister?" the little blacksmith frowned and asked in confusion.
"Um, actually, I just want to engrave my own symbol on the forged things," Hu Ke'er said softly.
"Engraving is a bit too troublesome. Is it okay if I use branding instead?" the little blacksmith asked after hearing Hu Ke'er's words.
"That's okay too. Is branding easier?" Hu Ke'er was not particularly familiar with the specific production steps, so she asked.
"Um, if we engrave, we need to use a carving knife to engrave bit by bit on the utensils every time. This will result in the engraved things being different, and it's extremely troublesome. If we accidentally grind or bump it, the symbol may be easily damaged or worn off. While for branding, we first use a carving knife to carve a branding seal. Then, we just need to heat it red and gently press it on the required utensil to leave an inscription. In this way, the marks left will be exactly the same, and others won't be able to counterfeit them!"
"Um, then let's use branding. Branding is good!" Hearing the little blacksmith's words, Hu Ke'er made a prompt decision and chose to brand the symbol.
"Then have you thought about what the symbol you want to engrave looks like, Little Senior Sister?"
"Um, about this, how about engraving an 'H'? After all, my surname is Hu, and its pronunciation starts with 'H'. Also, the tiger in Longhu Mountain's name is pronounced 'H'..."
"Little Senior Sister, what's this 'H' you're talking about?" the little blacksmith looked at Hu Ke'er in confusion and asked.
"Oops, I almost forgot that you don't understand pronunciations. This pronunciation is a basis for people to speak in our place—" Hu Ke'er thought for a while and found it difficult to explain clearly. So she simply picked up a branch and wrote an 'H' on the ground.
"This is the 'H' I'm talking about." Hu Ke'er pointed to the letter on the ground.
"This is easy." Seeing the symbol on the ground, the little blacksmith said confidently.
However, Chen Tianyi's reaction was completely different from the little blacksmith's.
"What's wrong, Senior Brother Chen? Do you think there's something wrong with this symbol?" Hearing Chen Tianyi's words, Hu Ke'er also asked softly.
"Didn't you say before, Little Junior Sister, that the symbol should be able to prevent counterfeiting? This is too simple. It's likely to be easily counterfeited."
"Um, about this..." Hearing Chen Tianyi's words, Hu Ke'er frowned and thought for a while.
"I've got it." Hu Ke'er immediately came up with a new idea. Then she used the branch to gently wipe off a part of the horizontal line in the middle of the 'H' letter on the ground diagonally.
"Okay, little blacksmith, please make a branding seal according to the pattern I've drawn now. The diagonal break in the middle should also be made. It can prevent others from counterfeiting." After all, the diagonal point has an angle, and it's not that easy to counterfeit.
"Yeah, no problem." Hearing Hu Ke'er's words, the little blacksmith took out a square red stone from his bosom.
"This is the branding stone. I'll help you carve an identical pattern right away, Little Senior Sister."
"No need. Let me do it!" When Chen Tianyi saw the little blacksmith take out the carving knife and was about to carve out the pattern Hu Ke'er had drawn on the ground stroke by stroke, he also said softly.
"Hey, Senior Brother, can you do this too?" Hu Ke'er exclaimed in surprise after hearing Chen Tianyi's words.
"I can handle this simple letter - carving." As Chen Tianyi said, he took the red branding stone from the little blacksmith's hand and then pointed his fingers like a sword and started carving on it.
"Okay, it's done." After finishing the carving, Chen Tianyi handed the branding seal to Hu Ke'er to have a look.
"Little Junior Sister, what do you think of this?"
"Yeah, it's about right. The size is also suitable. But I don't know what it will look like after branding."
"We'll know if we just try it." As Chen Tianyi said, he handed the branding seal back to the little blacksmith.
"Little blacksmith, please try branding it on a forged utensil!"
"Yeah, okay!" The little blacksmith quickly took the branding seal and walked back to the smithy. Hu Ke'er and Chen Tianyi also quickly followed. They watched as the little blacksmith used fire - tongs to clamp the seal and heat it red, then stamped it on a jar. White smoke billowed. After the white smoke dissipated, a pattern identical to that on the branding seal appeared on the jar.
"What do you think of this, Little Senior Sister?"
"Great! This is exactly what I want! Then please brand this on every manufactured item from now on!"
"Yeah, okay~"