Qin Ziwen nodded: "From now on, don't call me 'My Lord.' Just call me Brother Qin or Brother Qin."
Li Tieshan replied in a booming voice: "Yes, My Lord!"
Qin Ziwen glanced at him, and Li Tieshan's voice softened, "Yes, Brother Qin!"
As for calling his lord "brother," Li Tieshan absolutely dared not do that—how could he possibly address his lord as brother?
Qin Ziwen asked: "Can you forge weapons and armor?"
Compared to other tools, weapons and protective gear had higher priority at this stage.
Li Tieshan looked ashamed: "Brother Qin, I can forge common types like knives, spears, swords, and hammers, but I don't know how to make more complex or obscure weapons. I've never forged armor before, but if there are blueprints, I could try."
Qin Ziwen nodded in understanding and praised: "That's fine, you're quite skilled."
Hearing this, Li Tieshan grinned, scratched his head, and showed a simple smile—though with his face, the smile looked somewhat fierce no matter how you viewed it.
"Come with me," Qin Ziwen called, leading Li Tieshan to the Level 1 Blacksmith. "Take a look—are the tools inside complete?"
Li Tieshan walked in, scanned the room, then looked down at the furnace and bellows, testing them with a pull.
A pleased expression appeared on his face as he turned around and clasped his hands: "Reporting to Brother Qin! Although the tools here are slightly crude, they're fully equipped with all essentials. I can forge the remaining tools I need myself, but currently we're still lacking firewood and iron ore."
Hearing this "Reporting to Brother Qin," Qin Ziwu almost couldn't hold back his laughter.
He turned around, stuck his fingers in his mouth to stretch the sides, desperately trying not to laugh out loud.
Qin Ziwen coughed: "No need to add 'reporting.' From now on, just normally call me Brother Qin. Also, when we're outside, you can communicate with me normally. Actually, never mind—when outside, try to speak as little as possible and follow my cues."
Li Tieshan responded: "Aye!"
Qin Ziwen pointed at Li Tieshan's long hair tied simply with a band: "The needed items aren't urgent for now. The top priority is giving you a complete makeover—this long hair needs to be shaved off."
"Aye!"
They didn't have razors at home, but they had scissors. After working for quite some time, they finally shaved off Li Tieshan's long hair, leaving him with an uneven buzz cut.
Combined with his muscular build and the scars from sparks on his arms and face, he looked thoroughly menacing—exactly like someone you wouldn't want to cross.
After cleaning up the fallen hair from the floor, Qin Ziwen brought Li Tieshan to the guest room. "For now, you'll sleep in this room at night."
Li Tieshan had never seen modern quilts or bedsheets before.
With trembling hands, he carefully touched the quilt cover. The soft texture felt almost like silk.
His throat moved as he swallowed, then he turned around, clasped his hands, and bowed deeply: "Thank you, My Lord!"
"Alright, let's eat first."
Qin Ziwen went to cook, using the rice they'd received last time to make a large pot of porridge, then added smoked crocodile meat and a pot of wild rice stem and loach soup.
Li Tieshan ate with great relish, complimenting his lord's cooking skills thirty-two times during the meal.
Qin Ziwu's eye twitched—this wasn't recruiting a blacksmith, this was clearly recruiting a bootlicker.
After lunch, in the afternoon, Qin Ziwen took both of them out.
"Brother Qin!" a voice called from the side.
Following the sound, they saw Li Yue approaching on crutches.
Qin Ziwen looked at his leg. "Feeling better?"
Li Yue said: "Thank you for your concern, Brother Qin. The wound is much better and has already scabbed over. Yesterday I went to Renxin Hall to have the wound treated."
He glanced at Li Tieshan behind Qin Ziwen, his gaze pausing.
Because Qin Ziwen had instructed him not to speak casually outside, Li Tieshan now kept his lips tightly closed, the muscles in his cheeks tense. Combined with his uneven buzz cut and the T-shirt stretched taut over his muscles, anyone would believe he'd just been released from prison.
Shifting his gaze away, Li Yue said: "Brother Qin, has your team recruited new members?"
"Yes, we've recruited a new member."
A flicker of hope appeared in Li Yue's eyes: "Then could I join you too?"
"Our team only recruits suitable people. I remember you just graduated—what was your major in college?"
Li Yue answered: "I studied Materials Engineering at Shenyang Nanhu Vocational Technical School."
Qin Ziwen pondered.
Li Yue quickly added: "That's actually Northeastern University. I studied metal materials, mainly metal material processing."
Qin Ziwen looked surprised. "You studied that?"
Li Yue nodded: "Because I'm quite interested in ancient weapons, I thought I could process and make weapons and armor myself in the future. So I chose this major, but after enrolling I realized it was somewhat different from what I imagined."
Qin Ziwen glanced at Li Yue's hand holding the crutch. "How long until your leg heals? What did the traditional doctor say?"
Li Yue said: "I took antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine. I should be able to move freely in at most two weeks."
Seeing Qin Ziwen remain silent, Li Yue gritted his teeth. "One week—I could join the team in one week too."
Qin Ziwen: "No need."
Hearing this, Li Yue's eyes dimmed.
Qin Ziwen looked at him. "Just rest and recover first. You can come out with me in two weeks. The materials you studied..." "Materials Engineering!"
Qin Ziwen nodded: "Right, write down the knowledge in your head first so you don't forget it over time. Especially about steel—how to make iron into steel using ancient methods. Put more thought into that area. Don't worry about food—you don't need to worry about rations these days. Just focus on writing at home, but I need to see results. Can you do that?"
Li Yue's face flushed bright red as he quickly nodded: "I can!"
"Good, I believe in you. Don't let me down."
Watching Li Yue's determined, hobbling back as he moved away on crutches, Qin Ziwen withdrew his gaze.
He knew that steel was a general category—steel varied in quality.
If they truly obtained technology that could stably forge iron into good steel, then the value of tools forged by Li Tieshan would increase dramatically. So Li Yue had value.
Nowadays, more and more groups were forming in the residential complex. Going solo would definitely put them at a disadvantage, but having him join others didn't suit his habits.
So he planned to build a team with his brother and recruited members as the core, supplemented by some valuable neighbors as the periphery.
He would use this team to cover for himself and provide development time.
After strolling around the residential complex for a while, they returned home in the afternoon.
Qin Ziwen closed his bedroom door.
With a flick of his palm, two silver cards with black borders appeared between his fingers.
One was the Level 1 Coal Mine Card obtained from the early morning settlement, while the other was the Level 1 Iron Mine Card obtained from the Altar.
With the blacksmith and blacksmith shop added,
the puzzle pieces were complete.
Everything was ready—all they needed was the east wind.
......