July is already hot. The sun rises to the top of the mountain and a little bit appears. The mist in the mountains has already felt damp. On the crooked old poplar trees, the summer cicadas are roaring desperately, causing the fields and the forest to sing.

Su Qiaoniang was still weak in physical strength. She took the dustpan and bought a few pancakes from an aunt's stall on the mountain road outside. After walking for two miles, she was panting, sore feet, and her body felt sticky sweat and she felt very uncomfortable.

The villagers who left the village to work came over. Everyone knew that a yellow and thin girl came to Geng Qing's family a month ago. At first, she joked that Geng Qing was not aware of people. After buying such a maid, only one month later, the yellow and thin girl's face had blood on her face, her skin became white, her flat breasts were slightly raised, and her thin cheeks also had flesh. She was not like the wives in the village, with thick feet, thick hands and big skeletons, she looked like the unmarried ladies of wealthy families.

Many villagers with kids at home were careful. The woman refused to ask whether the girl could make a marriage with her children.

When they came here, men and women carried hoes and kids, greeted the woman, and those who were familiar with each other would go over and chat.

"Qiao Niang, why did you buy it outside this morning? If I had known it, I would have come to my house and just take it at will."

"Aunt Liu has opened a new cake stall and has to take care of it."

Qiao Niang hugged the dustpan with one hand, raised her sleeve and wiped her cheeks, smiled and said a few words to the woman before walking to the entrance of the village and returning to the courtyard. Wang Jinqiu was covering her forehead to burn the fire. She felt uncomfortable early in the morning and got up a little later, so she didn't have time to cook the meal.

The girl who came back saw the woman sitting at the stove, endured the soreness of her feet, quickly passed by, put the dustpan off the stove, and helped Wang Jinqiu up.

"Aunt, if you feel uncomfortable, just rest. Qiao Mom bought breakfast and came back."

He helped the woman sit at the table, turned around and took out the pancakes in the dustpan, put them on one by one, and pursed his lips and chuckled: "I made it myself, but yesterday I heard that Aunt Liu also opened a pancake stall outside, and it was not good if I didn't go, so Qiaoniang went to buy some back."

"You're doing it right, and you're becoming more and more savvy."

The human essence naturally refers to Geng Qing.

Wang Jinqiu touched those skillful hands, and the more he looked at them, the more he liked them. His nails were transparent and warm, and they were not like the hands that were usually used to work. After this month, the girl was really fourteen. At this age, she had already married Old Man Geng.

Besides, Qiao Niang is diligent and has grown her face day by day, and she can see the beautiful outlines in the future. She still doesn’t like anyone else. She has no father or mother, and can save the betrothal gifts. She doesn’t have to be angry and run to her parents’ house. When she enters, she is really from the Geng family.

But the woman couldn't help but sigh and said that she had made it several times, but Geng Qing refused because she was too young. During this month, she went out early and came back late. She didn't know what she was busy with. Sometimes she took Dachun to the back mountain secretly, making a bang sound, which was very scary.

Once the little fox followed him, he was so scared that he ran back to the yard and crawled into the pile of firewood to death.

"Aunt, Qiao Mom will bring it to Mr.

Listening to the woman praising her, Qiao Niang was a little embarrassed, so she picked up a cake, poured a bowl of porridge, and rushed to the door diagonally opposite.

As soon as he stepped into the eaves, the door creaked and opened inward. Geng Qing yawned, putting black boots loosely on his body, walked to the water tank to wash, turned his face, and said to the little girl who entered the room through the window frame: "I have only been recuperating for more than a month, and my body is better. Don't be tired again. Just pick up things that can't go far away on weekdays."

Outside the house, he heard the two of them talking. On the other side, Qiao Niang put the cake and pottery bowl on the desk and replied with a smile: "It's okay, just walk around more."

After wiping the water stains on his hands, he went out of the house, straightened Geng Qing's robe, took a rag, and wiped some mud on his black boots cleanly.

In the soft Chenyang, Geng Qing hung up a towel, helped her up, and pinched her face.

"I have said that many times, you are not allowed to squat down and shine your shoes. There are new ones in the yamen, old ones are broken, and throw them away."

Qiao Niang's face was red and her heart was pounding. But she still stubbornly squatted down and wiped away the dirt on the side of her shoes before she stood up.

"My mother said before that the old shoes fit the feet, and they can be worn again after being sewn and repaired."

“This is not the same thing.”

Geng Qing wanted to tell her, but after thinking about it, he felt it was unnecessary. He smiled and patted her little head, went back to the house to break the cakes, and finished eating it quickly with the porridge. He wiped his mouth and took some useful things, went to his father who had just woken up and said hello, and hurried out of the yard.

I jumped onto the waiting carriage, left the village entrance, lifted the curtain and greeted the neighbors along the way, and greeted the neighbors on the roadside. When I arrived at Niujiaji, I accelerated my speed. When I returned to the city, I had nothing to do. The position of the chief clerk, and when I remembered that I had to take the exam before I could get on, I felt a headache.

The current chief clerk who was still tired didn't even look good when he saw him. Now that he thought about it carefully, it might be that the fat county magistrate deliberately did this bad thing.

‘It’s also possible that this guy didn’t think so far.’

I went to the yamen to order Mao, and returned to the blacksmith shop. I hurriedly asked the blacksmith for the things I had made a few days ago. A thumb-sized hammer was bulging forward at the front end, replacing the striker. There was a small hole at the beating position, where the string was needed. Geng Qing had thought about this problem before, and he discovered the alternative to bowstring when he was making that thing for the eunuch.

A bunch of things came out of the drawer, and found a quiet room, and asked Dachun to stay outside, so he assembled it. As for the gun body and bullets, Geng Qing didn't think about it at all. The wheel was half a gun body, but he searched for several blacksmiths in the city to work hard to get it. He only had a salary of fifty taels.

What was made was not a fine thing. Some people had a thick ankle and one foot long, just like an extended honeycomb coal. So they simply added a small warehouse behind them, made a fixed position of small pieces of flint, installed a hammer, and then put the string rope on and connected it to the fixing lock.

Geng Qing took a lot of effort before pulling it open and fixing the slot connected to the trigger below.

“There is still a change here…”

Put the red thumb in your mouth and hold it in your mouth. Take a small bag with your other hand, pour the powder into Xiaokuan and close the lid. I originally wanted to hold it with one hand, but what was placed in front of me now requires both hands to hold it.

He pushed open the door and walked outside, asked Dachun to bring the iron filings he had prepared, poured them into six iron holes, and reminded him: "Do not." He walked to the opposite side of the locust tree in the yard, and pointed it in his hand.

The next moment, he pulled the trigger with difficulty, and heard a sound of the slam, and the hammer bounced back, and the flint suddenly exploded in the yard with a bang. The flames rushed out from the six holes and the cover of the gun body, and the branches and leaves of the locust tree opposite suddenly trembled.

A lot of gunpowder filled the smoke, Geng Qing's entire face was so black that he left only a pair of eyes exposed outside and blinked.

When the smoke dissipates and the swaying branches and leaves stop, only a little iron filings on the stalks sink into the rough bark or nearby walls, and most of the rest falls to the ground.
Chapter completed!