Rebirth of the Legend of the Red Age

Chapter 53, Gold Brick

After get off work that evening, the five people in the courtyard had finished dinner at home and were chatting in the yard when they heard a knock on the front door.

When Lai Xiaomei opened the door, she saw that it was their former neighbor Wang Xiaohu, who was also Lai San's friend, the one who helped contact the timber merchant a few years ago.

He said he came to see Lai San for something.

Lai Xiaomei went back and called Lai San to the gate, then ran back to continue chatting with Wang Li and the other two.

Lai San and Wang Xiaohu exchanged greetings at the door for a while. Wang Xiaohu whispered to Lai San: Brother San, does your boss need more construction materials?

Lai San was stunned when he heard his words and said: My employer has already built the house, so he should not be short of building materials now. Why are you selling this thing recently?

Wang Xiaohu smiled and replied: No, I still work in the match factory, but I heard a piece of news recently. Because I helped your boss contact the timber merchants before, I thought your boss might need these things, so I came to you and asked you about it.

Lai San thought about it and understood. Wang Li must have given him some money as hush money and errand fees. He tasted the sweetness and now there must be some big business, so he came again.

Over the years, he had not heard Wang Xiaohu spread the news of Wang Li's family buying wood, and he felt that Wang Xiaohu was a tight-lipped person.

So he asked Wang Xiaohu: Brother Xiaohu, what is it?

Wang Xiaohu looked around and answered in a low voice: Gold bricks.

Lai San was stunned after hearing this and asked him: "Isn't gold brick a precious metal? When did it become a building material? I have little education, you can't lie to me."

Wang Xiaohu said: Hey, you have the same idea as I did at the beginning. I also thought it was gold at the beginning, but it is different from what you think. This gold brick was the floor brick in the palace in the past. Because it is very precious and rare, it is called a gold brick. I heard from the seller that the gold brick is a large brick two feet square; since the construction of the Forbidden City, this kind of gold brick made by special craftsmanship has always been a special product of the Forbidden City. Such bricks are laid in the important palaces of the Forbidden City. The gold bricks of the Hall of Supreme Harmony we see now were laid during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. To this day, they are still as bright as new. There are 4718 gold bricks laid in the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City.

When ancient craftsmen made gold bricks, they first had to select soil. The soil used must be sticky but not loose, powdery but not sandy. The selected soil must be placed in the open air for a whole year to remove its "earthiness". Then soak the clay in water to make it open, and let several cows trample on it repeatedly to remove the bubbles in the mud ball, and finally make it into a dense mud ball. After repeated beating, the mud ball is put into the mold, covered with a flat plate, and two people step on the plate until it is solid. Then the bricks are dried in the shade for more than 7 months before they can be put into the kiln for firing. When firing, they are first smoked with straw for a month to remove moisture, then burned with chopped wood for a month, then burned with whole wood for a month, and finally burned with pine branches for 40 days before they can be fired. After leaving the kiln, they must undergo strict inspection. If there are 6 pieces in a batch of gold bricks that do not reach the level of "sounding when knocked and no holes when broken", this batch of gold bricks will be considered waste and must be fired again. In this way, it takes up to two years from soil to gold bricks.

In a word, gold bricks are rare and valuable.

If his family wasn't in a hurry to get rid of it, I wouldn't have found out the news. I'm afraid they would have kept it hidden at home and not let anyone know.

After hearing what this thing was, Lai San didn't dare to make a decision on his own. After thinking about it, he said to him: Okay, come in with me.

After closing the door, he took Wang Xiaohu and walked towards Wang Li.

At this time, Wang Li and his friends were chatting when they saw Lai San walk in with a man in his twenties.

He found this person familiar, and after thinking carefully, he remembered that he was the person who helped him contact the buyer of wood before, so he thought: This person is probably here to see me. So he stood up and went to greet the two people.

Lai San told Wang Li: He came to me with news and said you should like it. Since I can't make the decision, I brought him in and you can talk to him yourself.

After saying that, he walked towards Wang Li’s father and others.

(End of this chapter)