300 Iron Plate?
After she finished, she looked at Xue Yan.
Xue Yan saw her looking at him from the corner of her eye, so he looked back at her, and then she signaled Xue Yan to look at the ground.
There was a square frame drawn on the ground with four round holes in it. The holes were arranged in two rows, two at the top and two at the bottom.
“This is?” It was rare that Xue Yan didn’t understand her work.
Jiang Yue then pointed at the four boxes with her thin branch and said, “This is an iron plate with four holes in the middle for a clay pot. Each round hole can hold the bottom of a clay pot.
Xue Yan finally understood what she meant. “So if I put this on the stove, we can cook four bowls of rice noodles in one go?”
“Yes.” Jiang Yue nodded.
“This way, he won’t need to cook one bowl at a time. He can cook four different bowls at the same time.
“When people come to eat rice noodles, if they all order the same thing, Sifu can cook it in one pot. But if they order different things, he will have to cook it four times. This saves time and energy.
Xue Yan could tell how busy and tiring it was for Sifu today.
“Then tomorrow, we can go to town and ask the blacksmith to forge a piece of iron plate for us.”
“I’d like to buy another one for the stove at home too,” Jiang Yue said.
“Okay,” Xue Yan said.
“You can make it into a blueprint.” Jiang Yue then threw away the twig. “Make sure to measure it carefully. The iron plate doesn’t need to be too thick, but it can’t be too thin either. Otherwise, it won’t be able to withstand four bowls of rice noodles. Also, the size of the iron plate has to be just right on top of the stove. When the time comes, I’ll ask the blacksmith to make two iron plates like this according to your drawing.”
She had planned to draw it herself, but even though she knew how to write, she had never held a brush before. It would not look good to write or draw with a brush.
“Okay.” Xue Yan didn’t ask any more questions and just nodded.
Thinking that the iron-making technology here was not advanced at all, Jiang Yue added, “If you think it’ll be expensive, you can change the iron plate to an iron frame. Just leave four holes in the middle. I think that the furnace can only hold four clay pots the size of ordinary bowls at most.
“We can go with an iron plate.” Xue Yan said, “An iron plate is more secure, it can be used for a longer time.”
“Yeap.”
“Don’t tell Sifu yet. Let’s make it a surprise when the time comes.”
“As you wish.” She didn’t care.
When Xue Sifu wasn’t paying attention, Xue Yan secretly drew the blueprint. The next day, before they left, he and Jiang Yue asked Liu Guixia for some money. They were afraid that they didn’t have enough money to make the iron plate.
Liu Guixia knew that they wouldn’t spend money recklessly, so she didn’t ask them what they wanted the money for. Liu Guixia gave them as much as they wanted.
When they came to the town to set up their stall, while Xue Sifu was busy setting up the shades, Jiang Yue and Xue Yan found an excuse to go to the nearest blacksmith shop.
The blacksmith took a look at Xue Yan’s drawing and said that it was simple enough to make, but it would take three days to finish it. He also said that it would cost more than two silver.
Since it was custom-made, the price would be higher, unlike the iron pots, hoes, and shovels, which already had models and could be directly poured with molten iron. There was no need to make the mold for it. Jiang Yue and Xue Yan felt that the price was about right, so they paid the deposit and told the blacksmith they would come back to collect it three days later.
He had brought two more tables to set up his stall, so that was four tables in total now. Xue’s Rice Noodle stall could barely take care of cour tables, so he did not bring more.
After all, the stall was only that big.
Just like yesterday, Jiang Yue and Xue Yan were standing at the fork in the road, shouting for people to come and eat rice noodles. It was fine if they didn’t want to eat. They could come and take a look. It still attracted many people.