Becoming a Martial Master: Starting as a Swordsmith

Li Chengwen took a deep breath, his chubby face jiggling.

"Father, I'm willing to make a solemn promise! I guarantee that this order will be completed on time and to the required quality and quantity! If any problems arise, I'm willing to take full responsibility! Otherwise, I'm not worthy of being your son!"

These words even moved Master Li slightly.

He was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Alright, with you saying that, I'm relieved. We'll do it your way, no outsourcing, we'll do it ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengwen was overjoyed and quickly cupped his hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you for your trust, Father!"

Standing to the side, Li Jiwu remained expressionless, even nodding in agreement.

But his hands, which were hanging in his sleeves, had already quietly clenched.

He originally intended to entice his father to accept the outsourcing proposal, thereby weakening his elder brother's dominance. However, his elder brother actually made a solemn pledge, which made his father trust him even more!

But he won't give up.

Since his elder brother wanted to show off in front of their father, then he would let his elder brother know.

Some things cannot be accomplished with just enthusiasm!

It's hard to accomplish something, but it's very easy to do something bad!

He wanted to see if his older brother's face, which had been filled with the promise of a military order, would still retain its current confidence when the order went wrong.

Thinking of this, Li Jiwu's face regained its gentle and proper smile.

He picked up his teacup, gently blew away the foam, and casually changed the subject: "Speaking of which, I almost didn't recognize you when you came in. Have you lost a lot of weight, brother?"

Upon hearing this, Master Li subconsciously glanced at his eldest son, only then belatedly realizing that his son's round face had indeed become noticeably thinner than before he left home.

He said with some surprise, "Now that you mention it, you seem to have lost a lot of weight. Boss, have you been working too hard lately? You need to take care of yourself."

Li Chengwen felt a surge of pride at his father's concern, puffed out his chest, and said smugly:

"Dad, I didn't lose weight from overwork, I intentionally did it! Shen Chu told me that my weight is putting too much strain on my knees, and suggested that I eat less oily food and move around more. I thought it made sense, so I tried doing what he said, and it actually worked! Although I've been busy lately, I feel much more energetic."

He got more and more excited as he spoke, and added, "Shen Chu is not only a skilled blacksmith, but he also knows a lot, even about health preservation! Father, you don't know, he also..."

Li Chengwen was still praising Shen Chu at length when Li Jiwu's hand holding the teacup paused slightly.

Shen Chu.

He was certainly familiar with this name.

The whole thing with Han Tieshan went wrong because of Shen Chu and Sun Ping.

If Sun Ping hadn't used a low-grade short sword, Master Li would have given up on this fat man long ago.

It seems this kid has become the boss's confidant, even needing his advice on things like losing weight?

Li Jiwu lowered his eyes, concealing the fleeting coldness in them, while maintaining his gentle smile: "Oh? So that's the talented swordsmith? Now that you mention it, he really is a rare talent."

He praised her outwardly, but inwardly he was already making plans.

Find an opportunity to get rid of Shen Chu!

......

After Li Jiwu proposed "outsourcing," the knife-forging compound entered a more tense state.

Before dawn, Li Chengwen was already standing in the courtyard, holding a list in his hand, calling out names one by one.

His eyes were a little red and swollen, obviously he hadn't slept well last night, but he was full of energy and his voice was much louder than usual.

"Cheer up, everyone! Starting today, we're going to fight a tough battle!"

Li Chengwen clapped his hands and distributed task sheets to everyone.

"Old Wu, you take five people to handle material cutting, making sure there's an uninterrupted daily supply of raw blanks. Shen Chu, you take four people to handle rough forging. Master Sun, you take three people to handle fine forging and sharpening. The rest of you will be responsible for grinding, assembly, and quality inspection. There can be no backlog between stages; once one process is finished, it must be delivered to the next immediately. Anyone who dares to dawdle here, don't blame me for turning my back on you!"

After receiving their tasks, everyone dispersed, and soon the courtyard was filled with the clanging of hammers.

Shen Chu, along with three fairly clever employees, occupied a workstation in the southeast corner of the courtyard.

He first broke down the task.

Rough forging is the most fundamental step in the entire knife-making process.

Whether a knife is good or not depends entirely on the skill in this one step of the process!

He assigned different tasks to the three men, while he himself was responsible for the most difficult part: the hammering and chaining.

For the first few days, everything went smoothly. Although it was tiring, everyone was determined and worked quickly and steadily.

Li Chengwen would walk around the yard several times a day, stopping from time to time to check on the progress, and occasionally he would personally help move a few pieces of material.

Five days later, the first batch of long knives rolled off the production line as scheduled, and all passed inspection!

Li Chengwen was so happy he couldn't stop smiling. He immediately paid out of his own pocket to buy a pig and had the kitchen stew it for everyone as a treat.

However, the good times did not last long.

By the eighth day, problems began to emerge.

First, Old Wu, who was in charge of cutting materials, came to report that a batch of refined iron in the warehouse was of incorrect quality.

It looked fine on the surface, but it cracked as soon as it was hammered. Several pieces of material were wasted before it was discovered that it was rusted material with interlayers.

Li Chengwen personally inspected the warehouse and, with a grim expression, discovered that this batch of materials was the last one Zhao Dezhu had purchased before his disappearance.

What was registered as high-quality refined iron at the time was actually mixed with a lot of inferior materials!

"Damn it, they ran away and now they're making things even worse for me!"

Li Chengwen cursed, but he could only grit his teeth and accept it. He ordered the inferior materials to be picked out and piled aside, and urgently sent people outside the city to buy better materials.

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

On the tenth day, an apprentice responsible for moving iron materials suddenly twisted his ankle while working. He cried out in pain and had to be carried away to rest.

This wasn't a big deal, but on the second and third days, two more people sprained their ankles and strained their backs, and several people ended up lying down one after another.

Although each person's injury seems like an accident, the fact that they happened one after another is too much of a coincidence.

Shen Chu was already on guard.

He secretly observed for a few more days and discovered that the apprentice who had sprained his ankle first did not return to work immediately after recovering. Instead, he appeared suspiciously near the second young master's courtyard several times.

He understood the situation but didn't make it public. He simply reminded Li Chengwen privately to pay more attention to personnel allocation and prevent key personnel from getting injured again.

Although Li Chengwen was carefree, he wasn't stupid and immediately understood the hidden meaning in Shen Chu's words.