He was born as a blacksmith, but he dominated the world

Chapter 364: The Spirit of the Red Dust
The child's eyes widened when he heard this, and then he ran back into the house and shouted happily.

"Dad, Mom! He's here to learn blacksmithing! He wants to learn blacksmithing from my dad!"

Not long after, the blacksmith couple came out of the house.

The man walked up to Jiang Lin, looked him up and down, and asked in surprise, "You want to learn blacksmithing?"

Jiang Lin nodded: "I want to learn."

"What's your name?" the man asked.

Jiang Lin looked up blankly, and countless names flashed through his mind in an instant.

Liao Mingxu, Zheng Qiran, Xie Yunfan, Wang Hua, Jiang Xiu, Miao Yonghuai…

Every name seemed familiar to him, but he didn't know which one belonged to him.

He could only shake his head: "I don't remember."

The man looked at him, then lowered his head to look at the string of candied haws in Jiang Lin's hand. After a moment, he said, "It's okay to learn blacksmithing from me, but you have to have a name after all."

"I..." A word emerged in Jiang Lin's mind.

He murmured, "Red Dust..."

"Hong Chen? This name is not bad." The man did not bother whether it was Jiang Lin's real name or not, and said, "Then starting tomorrow, you will be an apprentice."

After a pause, the man asked again, "You haven't eaten for a day. Are you hungry? Can I get you something to eat?"

Jiang Lin didn't feel hungry, but he still nodded slightly.

The child next to him jumped around happily, laughing and saying, "My name is Malu, because my father's last name is Ma and my mother's last name is Lu."

The man waved his hand and pulled the child away: "Go, go, go to bed."

Then, he took Jiang Lin to the woodshed.

The food was cold, but there was always enough charcoal in the blacksmith shop. While heating up the food, the man asked about Jiang Lin's background.

But since he knew nothing about anything, he simply gave up asking.

"There is only one room in the house. You can stay in the woodshed for now." The man brought in some old bedding.

That thing made Jiang Lin feel more familiar, but he still couldn't remember where he had seen it.

After returning to the house and closing the door, the woman immediately stepped forward and asked, "Why did you hire such an shady person?"

"You may be right. He is really stupid. He keeps holding that string of candied haws. He looks a bit pitiful." said the man.

"You are really kind-hearted. From now on, there will be one more mouth to feed in our family."

"I'll just work on forging more iron. You and your mother won't starve."

"Isn't it because they are afraid that you will get tired? They know he is stupid but still recruit him as an apprentice."

"Keep your voice down..."

"There are two doors between us, and he can't hear us." Although the woman said this, her voice couldn't help but be lowered.

In the woodshed, Jiang Lin was lying on the old bedding, holding a candied haws in his hand, and the clear conversation between the couple came to his ears.

His hearing was very good. He could not only hear the conversation between the blacksmith and his wife, but also the voices of other neighbors, the sound of children's fingers sliding on the quilt, and even unknown insects crawling underground. He could hear everything clearly.

There was no light in the woodshed, but he felt it was as bright as day.

From the next day, the blacksmith shop had a tall blacksmith apprentice.

Ma the blacksmith is a good man, and he really wants to teach Jiang Lin something.

"When it comes to charcoal fire, the most important thing is the temperature."

"If the fire is too big, the iron will be burned too thoroughly. If the fire is too small, the impurities may not be burned out. Try burning a piece yourself first. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Just feel it."

Jiang Lin followed his instructions, picked up a piece of pig iron, and put it into the furnace with tongs.

A neighbor came over and said, "Master Ma, please make me a kitchen knife, the kind that can chop bones."

"Boning knife, eh? Ok, come get it tomorrow."

In front of the stove, Jiang Lin stuffed pieces of charcoal into the stove in a boring manner, while the little boy Malu next to him was still happily helping to pull the bellows.

A large amount of air was poured into the furnace, the flames rose, and the furnace temperature continued to rise.

The high temperature burst out from the furnace mouth, and even the blacksmith Ma could feel it.

When I turned around, I saw Jiang Lin sitting in front of the stove, the flames had already burned his face.

"Stop pulling!" Blacksmith Ma exclaimed, and hurried over to pull Malu away, and then went to pull Jiang Lin.

He just felt like he was pulling a mountain, and no matter how hard he tried, it didn't move at all.

Jiang Lin turned around and asked, "Master, what's wrong?"

His face was clean, without any signs of burns.

Blacksmith Ma was stunned. How could he not be injured in such a high temperature?

But he was not too surprised, as he could tell from Jiang Lin's physique.

"The fire is too big. It's easy to burn the iron too thoroughly." said blacksmith Ma.

Jiang Lin said "oh" and reached out to take the pig iron out of the furnace under the astonished gaze of Ma the blacksmith and Ma Lu.

The pig iron had been burned red, and ordinary people would feel very hot even if they got close to it. However, he held it in his hand, but it seemed that there was no reaction at all.

"Is this considered burning too deeply?" Jiang Lin asked.

Blacksmith Ma swallowed his saliva and said, "A little bit... a little bit."

Jiang Lin said "oh" again, reached in and took out several large pieces of red-hot charcoal.

The millipede watching nearby exclaimed "Wow!", and even the woman who came out after hearing the noise was so shocked that she was speechless when she saw this scene.

Night falls.

In the room, a conversation between a couple could be heard.

"He looks weird. Who would use their hands to clean a stove?"

"So he may be stupid, but he's also pretty powerful." "You think he won't do anything bad to our family?"

"What are you thinking? This guy doesn't look like a bad guy."

"What can you tell from a person's face... Never mind, if you think it's okay, it's fine. You're not my apprentice anyway, so I don't care about you."

In the woodshed, Jiang Lin listened to these words, his heart as calm as an old well.

The next day, he sat in front of the stove and lit a fire just like he did yesterday.

Just as Malu was about to pull the bellows, the woman grabbed his ear and chased him away.

Then, the woman looked at Jiang Lin, then bent down, picked up the tongs beside her and put them in his hand.

"If you use this to pick up things next time, or you get burned, I won't take care of you."

After saying that, she turned and left.

Ma the blacksmith turned around and said with a laugh, "Your master's wife has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Don't take it to heart."

Jiang Lin looked down at the fire tongs in his hand, and a breath that no one else could see rose from it and flowed into his heart.

After burning the fire for a while, Ma the blacksmith discovered that this apprentice he picked up for no apparent reason was extremely talented.

Although the charcoal fire is often very strong, the iron blocks are always cooked to just the right temperature.

The farm tools and kitchen knives made from this kind of iron are of higher quality than those he made himself.

"Master Ma, your skills are getting better and better. Look at how shiny this kitchen knife is!"

Blacksmith Ma took the money with a laugh, then went over and patted Jiang Lin on the shoulder: "Well done, ask your mistress to buy some meat later so we can have a good meal tonight."

Jiang Lin looked up at him, and a breath that no one else could see rose from Ma the blacksmith and flowed into Jiang Lin's heart.

Perhaps because Jiang Lin really helped in the blacksmith shop, at dinner time, Master's Wife Lu Yinghong took the initiative to pick up a piece of meat for Jiang Lin for the first time.

Ma the blacksmith couldn't help but take another look at him, and Lu Yinghong immediately glared at him: "What are you looking at? Isn't this to give him more energy so he can help you with the work?"

"Yes, yes, yes." Ma the blacksmith laughed and didn't take it seriously. Then he shouted to the inner room: "Malu, why don't you come over to eat? What are you doing?"

"Here I come!" Malu ran out of the house in a panic, sat at the table, and secretly glanced at Jiang Lin.

"Stop looking and eat." Lu Yinghong picked up the chopsticks and tapped him on the head.

Two days later, Jiang Lin began to learn hammering from the blacksmith Ma.

Jiang Lin picked up the hammer with awkward movements. He looked like a layman, and it didn't seem like he was pretending at all.

It’s just that his talent is very high, so high that even Ma the blacksmith feels inferior to him.

No matter what the skill is, you can learn it once you are taught.

"Have you learned this before?" Blacksmith Ma couldn't help asking.

Jiang Lin was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head: "I don't remember."

He really didn't remember anything. Everything seemed familiar to him, but he didn't know how it related to him.

Blacksmith Ma didn't ask any more questions. In his opinion, none of this mattered.

At night, Jiang Lin returned to the woodshed as usual.

As soon as I lay down, millipedes sneaked in like a thief.

"Brother Chen, Brother Chen." Malu ran over, with his hands behind his back, and asked, "Where are your candied haws?"

Jiang Lin took out the string of candied haws from his pocket. After so many days, they had become shrunken.

Millipede took it, turned around, and seemed to be fiddling with something.

After a while, he handed the things back with a chuckle: "Look, if you pack it like this, it won't get your clothes dirty."

In his hand was a bag made of many rags.

The stitches are crooked, the gaps are big and small, and it's obvious that the hand is a novice.

But Jiang Lin didn't look at the bag, but grabbed his hand.

The millipede subconsciously wanted to shrink back, but it was not as strong as Jiang Lin.

"Does it hurt?" Jiang Lin asked.

There were needle holes of various sizes on the millipede's fingers, and the blood scabs had not hardened yet.

Malu said with a smile: "You don't feel any pain when you clean the stove with your hands, so what's wrong with me? Here, I'll give you the bag, but you must keep it well and don't let my mother see it. Otherwise, she will blame me for playing around again."

"Mala, where have you been again!" Lu Yinghong's voice came.

"Coming, coming!" Malu responded quickly, and reminded Jiang Lin to put the bag away and not lose it, and then ran out happily.

"Why are you not sleeping so late at night?"

"Nothing, just went to pee."

"How dare you lie, you little bastard! You clearly went to the woodshed! I'll beat you up!"

"Ah! Dad, save me!"

Listening to the noise coming from the house, Jiang Lin stared at the cloth bag in his hand, which was not beautiful at all, and could even be said to be ugly.

A breath rose from the bag. He stared at it for a long time, then stuffed the bag into his arms and lay down.

The next morning, an old carpenter came.

Lu Yinghong took the carpenter to the woodshed. Malu ran to Jiang Lin and said with a grin, "Do you know why my mother is looking for a carpenter?"

Jiang Lin shook his head: "I don't know."

"Stupid! Of course I'm going to make a bed for you! Brother Chen, you don't have to sleep on the floor anymore!"

Blacksmith Ma also turned around and said with a laugh, "Let's work hard to earn more money, and then we'll build you a small house in the spring, so you don't have to sleep in the woodshed all the time."

"Dad, can I sleep in the woodshed?"

"Go ask your mother if she wants to beat you."

(End of this chapter)