By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 273 The Young Man's Knife [Two-in-One!]

There was a little incident when we were going down the mountain.

Monkeys are very intelligent animals, but they are also quite animalistic. This combination of animalistic instincts and a bit of intelligence makes them very unruly and have a strong desire for revenge.

As Li Younan prepared to descend the mountain, the Monkey King gathered seven or eight monkeys and chased after him.

Of course, while they were supposed to be chasing him, they didn't actually dare to rush over. They just kept jumping around about ten meters away from Li Younan, baring their teeth at him.

Originally, Li Younan was somewhat indifferent. Although they were noisy, he was too lazy to argue with a bunch of monkeys.

But things took a turn when the Monkey King picked up a stone and threw it at him.

After Li Younan dodged, this immediately angered him.

He quickly climbed to a thick pine tree, attached a safety rope so that both hands would be free, and then took out a slingshot from his pocket.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

After several clods of mud were thrown out, the macaque king immediately felt the love from its human father.

As soon as it felt pain, it ran backward, and Li Younan then unleashed another barrage of blows on its red rear end.

After the monkey king was driven away, the remaining monkeys were all a bit confused.

Li Younan smiled, but his gaze turned cold as he stared at the monkeys.

"Aren't you leaving yet? Then I'm going to eat monkey brains."

Suddenly, the monkeys felt an instinctive fear, and after a few cries, they finally dispersed.

As he descended the mountain, Li Younan would occasionally stroke the little crow in his chest pocket.

This crow is a raven, which is considered the most intelligent species among crows.

At the same time, ravens are also the largest of all crows when they reach adulthood.

Although it is much smaller than an owl, it is about the same size as a common bird of prey.

Of course, crows are not birds of prey; their diet consists mainly of carrion. Therefore, some people regard crows as an ominous sign, which is a huge misunderstanding of crows.

Crows don't like to eat carrion. If they have the option to eat fresh food, who would eat that stuff?

Crows have an extremely keen sense of foresight regarding disasters. In fact, in ancient China, crows were regarded as auspicious birds. Especially in the pre-Qin era, black was the noble color of emperors, and the color of crow feathers with a bluish-purple metallic luster was called "xuanse" (玄色).

Therefore, crows are also known as black birds, which sounds particularly noble and sophisticated.

The association of crows with bad luck is largely rooted in Western traditional culture.

In the 1980s and 90s, the impression of crows in China was distorted due to the influence of some Western literary and artistic works.

Crows are said to foretell disasters, yet some people see them as bringing disasters. Who can understand how devastated the crows must feel?

Similar to…

Crow: "Humans, humans, disaster is coming!"

Human: "Look, the crows have brought disaster."

Crow: "You son of a bitch...! @#￥%*&*"

Nowadays, more and more people are beginning to understand crows as beneficial birds.

Although crows are not protected animals, they are still listed in the "Three-Protected" list and are prohibited from being bought and sold. However, there is no legal risk in rescuing a crow and keeping it by your side.

Compared to owls, keeping crows as pets also has its own charm.

Crows are intelligent enough to be taught to do many more interesting things, and like parrots and mynas, they can also learn to speak and say some simple words.

The little crow in my arms remained silent, but I could feel its gaze fixed on my face.

As they walked down, Li Younan caught two plump longhorn beetle larvae from some dead wood and fed them to the little crow.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "The color of your feathers, to put it more elegantly, is called black, so let's just call you Mystic."

As he spoke, he playfully tugged at the little crow's head.

On a platform near the ground, Li Younan buried the giant crow, thus bringing the matter to a close.

When he returned to the ground, everyone was already eagerly awaiting his arrival.

The first to greet him were naturally the police. When Sonam Dondrup saw Li Younan come down, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, from his perspective, Li Younan was not only a teacher participating in the search mission, but also an ordinary citizen. If something happened to Li Younan, this matter would become a problem, or even two problems.

When rescuers are the ones being rescued, the pressure on them as police officers increases even more.

At this moment, Li Younan landed safely, and the weight that had been hanging over his heart finally lifted. After the relief, all that remained was admiration.

It's hard to put into words the admiration I felt for Li Younan at that moment.

Sonam Dondrup looked up at the almost vertical cliff face again. Just looking at it was enough to give one a chill. Who could imagine that Li Younan had climbed up so easily without any ropes?

Even in a video taken by a drone, he was seen chasing and playing with a monkey.

After the initial praise, Professor Zhang naturally joined in.

Li Younan took out the portable hard drive that the crow had given him and handed it to Professor Zhang, saying, "Professor Zhang, please check if this is the portable hard drive."

In fact, finding a portable hard drive in such a remote mountain forest is basically enough to confirm its existence.

Professor Zhang took the portable hard drive and saw that it had many bite marks, obviously left by monkeys, as well as signs of being dropped, but in any case, it was basically intact.

Professor Zhang carefully examined the external hard drive, and tears welled up in his eyes: "Thank you so much! No words can do justice to this. All I can say is, thank you so much, Professor Li."

Although Li Younan was almost two generations younger than him, Professor Zhang still addressed Li Younan as Teacher Li with great respect.

The young secretary standing nearby thanked him repeatedly, but this time, Professor Zhang refused to let the secretary keep the hard drive for him.

The matter has now come to a successful conclusion.

Next, Li Younan and Professor Zhang exchanged contact information. Professor Zhang originally wanted to treat Li Younan and his group to a meal, but Li Younan politely declined.

He still has to continue his journey; he's already wasted two days here, so there's no need for dinner this evening.

Professor Zhang earnestly said to Li Younan, "If you ever need my help, just let me know!"

Li Younan laughed heartily: "Then I won't stand on ceremony. If I need your help in the future, I'll definitely ask."

For Li Younan, being able to befriend a heavyweight expert in such a place, even if he doesn't need him in the future, would definitely be beneficial.

……

The journey continues.

Despite its vast size, Tibet actually comprises only five prefecture-level cities and one prefecture-level region.

Li Younan has now passed through two prefecture-level cities: Changdu, the first prefecture-level city after entering Tibet from Sichuan, and Linzhi, the "Jiangnan of Tibet" where he is now. The two places are characterized by glaciers and primeval forests, respectively.

Continuing south leads to Shannan, which is not as well-known, but it is the birthplace of the entire Tibetan region. If you want to understand the most original and authentic Tibetan culture, this is the first place to go.

Now in Gongbo'gyamda, people face a choice between two directions.

You can either head directly west to reach LS, or head south to leave 318 and explore Shannan.

Before arriving in LS, Li Younan's idea was to take a trip around Shannan. After all, he was already there, and he didn't know when he would be able to travel on the 318 again.

After a brief discussion with Liu Li, she naturally had no objections.

Therefore, Li Younan's plan was to take the Gongsang Line and National Highway 560 from 318 towards Shannan, and then take the Laze Expressway back to 318 from Shannan.

……

The car drove along the Niyang River after leaving Gongbujiangda.

The terrain changes gradually, without any sudden ups and downs.

Gongbo'gyamda is the westernmost county in Nyingchi, so we need to head south from there.

Moreover, Nyingchi is the prefecture-level city with the lowest altitude in the snowy area. No matter which direction you go after leaving here, the altitude gradually increases.

Mila Pass is a geographical watershed, with distinctly different ecological landscapes on both sides of the pass, and it is also the highest point on this route.

Of course, the scenery along the way was pretty much the same as what we had seen before, and there was nothing special about it.

Li Younan and Liu Li had long since passed the initial excitement of arriving in the snow area, and now, looking at the mountain scenery, they were naturally experiencing some aesthetic fatigue.

As the car drove to the town at the foot of Mila Pass, it's worth mentioning that there were many Sichuan restaurants and hot spring inns along the way, especially the Sichuan restaurants, which felt very familiar to the two Sichuan people.

It was unusual for them not to cook in the RV; they went out for a meal instead.

Sichuan restaurants make up a very high percentage of the area, which can even give people the illusion that they are still on the Sichuan-Tibet Plateau.

After lunch, we weren't in a hurry to set off immediately.

The crow that was brought back was still somewhat nervous, especially after seeing Tuantuan, it instinctively panicked.

After all, Tuan Tuan is a true bird of prey.

Li Younan bought a glass cabinet in the small town for Xuanhuan to use as a home. Of course, he also made some special treatments. He used a glass cutter to cut a slit in the lower half of the glass cabinet and polished it smooth to prevent accidental cuts when reaching in.

Inside, a small box for collecting feces was made using a drawer-like structure, while the upper and lower halves of the cabinet were separated by wire mesh. This way, if Xuanhuan defecated directly in the nest, the feces would be caught in the small drawer below, making it easy to clean.

And since it's placed inside a temperature-controlled RV, there's no need to put any straw or similar things in its little house.

Crows love shiny things, and glass is just what makes the little guy happy.

Li Younan placed the fantastical glass cabinet under Tuan Tuan's perch.

Tuantuan skipped and hopped to the front of the fantasy building, tilting her head to look at the little guy through the glass.

The little fantasy character retreated in a panic.

Li Younan tapped Tuan Tuan on the head: "Don't scare your little brother."

Liu Li brought over small pieces of fresh meat, mixed with cooked egg yolk and a little bit of chopped walnuts.

Li Younan took the information and explained, "Xuanhuan is currently in the semi-adult stage. Its feathers have grown out, and it can jump short distances. The current feeding principle is to incorporate some tearing training to adapt to the development of its beak."

"You can feed it later. Put the food in a shallow bowl and let it peck at it, or tie a piece of meat with a rope and hang it in the glass cabinet to encourage it to jump up and tear it."

Liu Li carefully wrote it down, then squatted down to look at the little crow in the glass cabinet, and patted Tuantuan's head next to her: "Tuantuan, look, Daddy brought you a little brother back. Are you happy? You can't bully it."

Tuantuan made two cooing sounds, then hopped away.

At this point, the crow's wings would need about two more weeks to fully develop, at which point it could be trained to fly. Since they weren't planning to leave yet, Li Younan took Tuan Tuan outside to practice some basic commands, such as telling it to fly back or to fly to a designated location.

To better control Tuantuan, Li Younan made a simple signal receiver using electronic components prepared in the car and hung it around Tuantuan's neck.

This signal receiver has GPS positioning capabilities and a small voice-generating mechanism, allowing Li Younan to remotely issue voice commands to Tuantuan.

When Tuan Tuan flies to a very high and far place, Li Younan can use this function to call Tuan Tuan back.

After a few tries, Tuantuan quickly mastered these commands.

Li Younan then let Tuantuan go play by herself without worry.

In such a sparsely populated area, as long as you don't encounter natural enemies, such as larger birds of prey like golden eagles or bearded vultures, there are basically no problems.

During the day, however, the owl doesn't like to fly too far. Its eyesight is poor at this time, so it just flies around the RV. On its way back, it accidentally bumped into a tree branch and stumbled...

Li Younan sighed, rubbing his forehead.

After that, Tuantuan stopped going out and causing trouble, and stayed in the RV.

Li Younan then took Liu Li to stroll around town.

A silversmith shop caught Li Younan's eye.

……

There are two silversmiths in the shop, an old silversmith and a young silversmith.

The old silversmith had a gentle appearance and did not do anything; he simply watched the young silversmith work on silver and make handicrafts.

The young silversmith was only a little younger than the old silversmith, but he was a big, burly man with a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

In addition to Tibetan belts and accessories inlaid with silver and gold, their shop also sells Tibetan knives of various shapes, including curved knives and large knives over 1.2 meters long, all of which are sheathed.

Upon seeing Li Younan enter, the old silversmith stepped forward to greet him: "Boss, what would you like to buy?"

Li Younan casually said, "I'd like to take a look first."

"Look around, look around."

Liu Li followed Li Younan, curiously looking around the store.

To be fair, with Li Younan's current sharp eye, he can naturally see many details that laymen or even ordinary insiders cannot see at a glance.

He only glanced at it a few times, but he already had a general idea of ​​what was in the silversmith's shop.

How to put it? Handmade items and industrial crafts are about half and half, and industrial crafts may even make up a larger proportion, especially those Tibetan knives. Li Younan could tell at a glance that they were all handmade items, probably produced in a small workshop in Yiwu or Zhejiang.

Li Younan casually picked up a delicate little knife and drew it from its sheath.

He could tell at a glance that although the knife was a forged knife, it was clearly machine-forged, rather than the handmade Tibetan knife advertised.

Of course, this knife has been given an aged finish, but what's outrageous is that it's not cheap.

The old silversmith smiled and said, "Boss, you have a good eye. This knife looks very good on you."

Li Younan smiled and put the knife down.

In his view, the knife was a complete failure.

In terms of the knife's performance, the steel used in this knife is just ordinary 1045 carbon steel, which is inexpensive. The only advantage of this forged knife is its low cost, while all other aspects are disadvantages, such as poor rust resistance, low hardness, poor sharpness retention, and easy deformation after long-term use.

As for the knife's collectible value, it has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. After all, what collectible value can an industrially forged knife possibly have?

If it sold for a dozen yuan, Li Younan would have thought it was worth the price, but this thing was selling for over 300 yuan. Li Younan's feelings were complicated for a moment, wondering how many people had been ripped off.

Afterwards, Li Younan looked around again, and to his regret, even the genuine handmade silverware in the silversmith's shop was made with rather rough craftsmanship, and it was completely unacceptable to him.

He sighed slightly, thinking that it made sense, since his standards could no longer be satisfied by ordinary things.

Just as they were about to leave, three young men suddenly walked into the silver shop.

The young man in the lead had a thick beard, but strangely enough, he didn't look old at all. Instead, it seemed as if he had deliberately grown his beard to make himself look less immature.

The young man, with a hearty smile on his face, went straight to the silversmith as soon as he entered the shop, pulling out a knife from his pocket: "Boss, can you take a look and see if you can repair this knife for me?"

The young silversmith frowned and muttered, "I'm a silversmith, not a knife maker."

However, he still picked up the knife and looked at it for a few moments before waving his hand, saying, "This knife can't be repaired."

Hearing the silversmith's words, the young man sighed softly, his expression revealing his disappointment.

His companion advised him, "Forget it, if it can't be repaired, you can just use my knife."

The young man, still somewhat unconvinced, asked, "What's the difficulty in repairing this knife?"

At this point, the old silversmith chuckled and said, "Your knife is made of stainless steel, not like our Tibetan knives. Even if it's repaired, it certainly won't be as hard as it was before."

The young man, unfamiliar with the intricacies of knife forging, frowned and asked with some confusion, "Why is that?"

"I can't explain this to you in just a few words. Anyway, it can't be fixed."

"Can I take a look?" Just then, Li Younan, who had been observing from the side for a while, suddenly spoke up.

All eyes turned to Li Younan.

The young man looked at Li Younan with some suspicion, then readily handed his knife to him.

Li Younan picked up the knife, examined it, and then gently scraped the blade with his fingers.

This knife is an outdoor obstacle clearing knife, slightly larger than his long hunting knife, with a deep chip on the blade.

This knife is clearly not a hand-forged knife, but it is still considered a pretty good knife among industrial forged knives. It is not easy to determine the specific model of the material with the naked eye, but it is definitely not powder steel. It should be high-hardness stainless steel, which is only slightly inferior to powder steel.

Li Younan returned the knife to the young man, saying, "It's a good knife."

This isn't exactly a compliment.

Although this knife is certainly not as good as my two powder steel hunting knives in terms of cost and manufacturing process, it is only second to professional outdoor knives made of powder steel in the category of industrial forged knives.

The young man smiled at Li Younan, then looked at his knife and thought seriously for a moment before saying to the silversmith, "Is there really no way at all?"

The old silversmith had a strange expression on his face. He frowned, then patiently said, "Young man, don't disbelieve me. I used to be a knife maker, but since this place doesn't produce iron ore, I switched to silversmithing. This knife will be unusable once it's repaired."

The young man asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why is that?"

The old silversmith smiled and said, "Young man, do you know what steps are involved in making this kind of knife?"

A young man nearby immediately said, "I often watch knife forging competitions. Forging this kind of knife mainly involves two steps: shaping and quenching."

The old silversmith glanced indifferently at the young man who had interrupted, and said in somewhat broken Mandarin, "That's actually true. Since you've brought it up, I'll tell you about it."

"For this shaping, you need to heat the knife with charcoal until it's very hot, red-hot, and then the knife will become very soft."

"Then the forging process begins. Once it's forged, it's placed in water and 'hiss,' and the knife hardens—that's what you call quenching."

"The key to this knife's irreparable damage lies in the quenching process."

The old silversmith said, "I used to make knives in Kazhuo. In that place, we used iron ore from the mountains to make knives."

"I've been making knives for many years, using the same kind of iron ore. Over time, I've gained experience in how red the knife gets and how to quench it."

"Later, I changed locations and used local iron ore. The knives I made were either too soft or they would chip and shatter after just a couple of slashes. Do you know why that is?"

The young man thought for a moment: "Is it because the iron ore is different?"

The old silversmith laughed heartily: "That's right, it's because the iron from the two places is different!"

"Different types of iron require different quenching temperatures, and there are specific considerations involved."

He then pointed to the knife in the young man's hand and said, "Your knife is a steel knife. Reshaping it is troublesome, and if you don't do it right during the quenching process, it will either become brittle or soft and be ruined. That's why I said... it can't be repaired."

Li Younan listened from the side and nodded slightly. Although the silversmith's experience came from his own life and lacked scientific explanation, what he said was largely accurate.

Modern industrial cutting tool manufacturing processes can be broadly categorized into four types: forged tools, stamped tools, CNC cutting tools, and laser cutting tools.

Among them, stamping knives are the cheapest and lowest cost, and can only be used to make blades for some fruit knives and utility knives.

CNC cutting tools are used to manufacture precision functional knives, such as precision surgical scalpels. Their advantages are extremely high precision and complex shapes.

Laser cutting technology is used to manufacture thin-bladed knives for specialized industries.

Therefore, the vast majority of high-quality functional knives commonly found on the market are still forged knives.

Industrial forged knives are further divided into three forging processes: hot forging, cold forging, and isothermal forging.

The young man's modern forged knife was made using a cold forging process, where steel is forged under high pressure at room temperature without the need for heating.

This forging process can greatly preserve the original precision and hardness of the steel, which cannot be achieved by hand.

This raises a problem: once manual repair is performed, the temperature rise will damage the original molecular structure of the knife. And during quenching, most blacksmiths certainly cannot control the temperature well, which will inevitably damage the knife's hardness or toughness.

Of course, the biggest advantage of modern forged knives compared to hand-forged knives is their consistent quality, but that doesn't mean that hand-forged knives are necessarily inferior to those made with modern forging techniques.

If forging skill is graded on a scale of 100, then knives forged using the most advanced modern techniques can consistently achieve a score of 90 points... just like Li Younan's two powder steel hunting knives.

Even the world's most renowned knife-forging masters can only produce knives within a certain range, each one being hand-forged. For example, a knife that scores 80 points today might score 70 points next time, and 85 points the time after that... However, hand-forged knives have a certain probability of reaching 90, 92, 95, or even 99 points, making them better than industrially forged knives!
Although the probability is small, it gives people endless room for imagination.

This is why hand-forged knives have remained popular for so long, and master knife forgers have maintained their high value.

However, this silversmith certainly did not possess such skill in forging knives.

After leaving the silver shop, Li Younan led Liu Li to stroll around the town for a while longer.

Liu Li bought a handmade Tibetan garment in a clothing store. It didn't have the feel of a real Tibetan robe, but it was lightweight and brightly colored, which Liu Li liked very much.

After two or three hours of this ordeal, we finally got back into the car and continued our journey.

The car had just left the town when the road ahead became desolate.

In front of a riverbank, several tents stood there, a pickup truck was parked next to them, and charcoal was burning.

Li Younan slowed down, initially thinking someone was having a barbecue there. But as his car drove past, he glanced at the charcoal fire and was stunned.

Beside the charcoal fire were the three young men they had seen at the silver shop earlier, and if they weren't mistaken, they were now placing a long outdoor knife into the glowing red charcoal.

Li Younan couldn't help but roll his eyes and slammed on the brakes.

Liu Li was drinking yogurt when she accidentally sprayed it all over her face. She then looked at Li Younan with a very resentful expression.

Li Younan had no time to worry about anything else. He shifted into reverse and backed the car a little before pulling it to the side of the road and stopping.

(End of this chapter)