146 5.35 The Construction Commences! (1/2)
”Fuyoo...! This gyoza is pretty nice and soft and fluffy! It's nice to eat them fresh and the fillings are very generous indeed.” one of the girls commented. ”Yes, I agree. I have heard about it and yet this is the first time I had tasted this fine delicacy.” remarked another.
It seems those girls had been long separated from these little comfort foods that they had neither tasted it nor had forgotten how it tastes like.
To the commoners like us, we usually take things for granted since it was readily available for us. To us, money means everything in this era and if one does not have a single copper means that he or she would not even be able to enjoy a single nicety in life.
A little while later, someone came over and said he was looking for the young master. The person eyed the girls merrily eating and talking among themselves and was almost thinking aloud that we run some kind of a harem club.
”Yes, I am the young master who you are looking for. Are you from the fruits shop, the one the delivery boy had asked for earlier?”
”Yes, I am, young master. Is there anything you need?” asked the young apprentice.
”Yes, could you deliver me a sack of sweet potatoes, a sack of sweet corn and a semi rope saba bananas in a whole bunch, not a comb, but the whole bunch.” I pointed out the bunch by outstretching my hands. It is for tomorrow morning, please send it early in the morning and bring the receipt with you.”
”We have yam also that is good to eat when steamed.” the apprentice recommended.
”Ah, yes... That one too in a sack.” Let us know the total price tomorrow in the receipt and deliver it after the rooster crow, about 6 am.” I casually said before realising that timepieces were not common everyday items.
” Yes, young master. Buying in bulk is cheaper than by weight, and I would give you a discount for sure.” said the young apprentice.
”By the way, are these girls your friends?” he asked when he eyed someone he would like to be acquainted with.
”No, these girls were not our friends but our family members. Why do you ask?”
”Ah... Nothing, Senior Master. I thought I saw someone familiar in that group that happens to work in the marketplace as me.”
”Oh...drop by here anytime if you want to talk to my family members in case you want to make friends or something.”
”Sure, Senior Master... I'd be off now and prepare the items you require. Thank you very much.”
”Make sure you choose the freshest ones and semi-ripe bananas that can be eaten 2 days after. We going to make morning and afternoon snacks for the construction workers here tomorrow onwards.”
”Sure, young master. I'd see to your request. Thank you again and see you tomorrow morning.”
With that, the apprentice turned and waved at the group of girls who were looking in his direction too. Instead of waving back, those girls giggled in a very silly manner.
Ahh... Girls will remain as girls even from another era.
The girls had their supper and had been quite a long time since they feel so stuffed. They drank green tea and when they had cleared the steamer baskets if its contents, they cleaned up the tables and brought the empty kettle and cups back in their tray.
”Thank you for your kind hospitality inviting us for dinner and then back here for supper. Thank you again for recommending us and paving a path towards a better life and working environment.”
”We also wish to thank you for the kind acceptance for us being as one big family. Your offer for us to work and live here is extremely generous and we trust every single word you say.”
”Your upbringing was outstanding and virtue since you rejected us openly when we did offer ourselves to serve you in bed. Thank you for respecting us to that degree and we would definitely be working hard and adhering to your instructions and directions in the near future.”
”We would like to take our leave now and would be heading back to our own homes. We cannot be late as we might be denied entry. We hope you understand our current situation and hope that you would not be like them and be cold-hearted, which I don't think both of you were like that.”
”We thank you again and be awaiting the day when all of us can be together as one big family. Thank you very much again for your hospitality.”
All 6 of the girls bowed down low in a sign of utter respect and we bowed back to them.
”Always remember to be humble. Remember where we all come from and never bring up the past anymore. Once you set your foot in this new home, it's going to be a new chapter in your lives. Always bear that in mind. Be helpful and generous and never forget that you were once like the ones you helped.”
”Here, we have a little something for you in case you wanted to buy your own meals for tomorrow. And don't forget to be here directly for dinner and supper.”
The girls bowed low and I went up to them and held their hands and pressed a silver coin for them each. They looked at their hands and expressed joy as they had never held such a coin in their lives since the closest they get were copper coins.
”I was once down and out, it is a little something to remind me of how small things can be great and meaningful and never should be taken for granted.”
”Thank you, Senpai!” the girls' choruses together not in sync like in the movies but at least they showed their appreciation and gratitude. What I wanted was to share our joys and hard work.
They turned slowly and walked back to the path leading towards the marketplace.
”Don't forget tomorrow evening!” Hiko-sama called out to them and they turned back at waved at him. ”Thank you Hiko-dono” they waved back as they made their way back to their own destination.
”I'm going to the Realm of Mind soon. You want to join me?” I offered Hiko-sama as I wanted to do something there.
”Sure, why not. I wanted to see how the soap in the moulding set is. So you won't want to make another batch?”
”The flower Essense is enough for another 4 uses. The only thing is that we may need to get some more barrels of coconut and olive oil plus the lye powder. Each batch can be made from a 75 kilograms capacity each. No hurries, we still have a long way to go.”
With that, I cleared the table and brought the rubbish in the kitchenette to be burned tomorrow and washed the kettle and cups. Hiko-sama also cleared his 2 jars but left the pottery outside. He kept the blueprint for the House and also the proposal from the carpenter.
We packed the whole place up and before entering I washed my hands with the green tea soap and inhaled the fragrance. Immediately a sense of vigour rushed in and made my body and mind as clear as crystal.
We went into my room and sat cross-legged and start to enter our meditative state. The moment we opened up the eyes, the sight before us remained unchanged.
We inspected the soap that been set in the mould and was still semi-hard. I explained that to make the soap rock hard was to let it stand for 3 weeks here in the Realm of Mind. Once it is ready, we could transport everything back in one go and make sure we are in a big space or else it would not fit and be kicked back into this Realm of Mind.
I pulled Hiko-sama's sleeve and get him to step back some steps as I wanted to experiment something. I visualise the whole setup in front of me and swiped the soap production sideway and it changed to the Blacksmithing area.
”Wow! I didn't you could do that, kid. It's like turning a page to go to another room while standing still.”
”Hehe...this is my first try, Sensei. I never thought I could do it but I visualise it. Furthermore, we were in the soap production so-called room and the scent of the soap really was refreshing and it made my body and mind to be filled with renowned energy.”
”So you will not lose consciousness and feel weak anymore?”
”That's right, Sensei. You are perfectly correct. Now let me visualise the iron prodder with the words (FJKRI97%) first which stands for [Refined Iron] 97% purity and (FJKPI99%) for [Purified Iron] 99% purity. Let me make these two first.”
I visualise the iron prodder with the part to be prodded in those words that I wanted and when I opened up my eyes, the iron prodder had already been placed on the anvil.
”Here, once I had poured the Molten metal inside each mould, this prodder would be pressed lightly on the centre and leave a mark. We can take a few pieces and go to the Patents and Trademarks and register it under our corporation so we can market it our from Kitakata.” I passed the two prodders to Hiko-sama and he looked at it and was amazed I could think of hard labelling these plates according to the business trade name.
”So in that case, we need to patent this to our corporation, right? So that we can have the ability to export it out. Seems a feasible idea for me, kid.”
”Alright, Sensei. I'm going to smelt these scrap weapon parts. It would take some time. Would you like to stick around and maybe you can think of some ideas for more upcoming projects?” I offered as I placed the smelting pot in the middle of the bed of coals and placed those scrap weapon parts that had been cleaned earlier in the day by Hiko-sama.
”I'd stick around here, kid. You wanted to smelt everything down?” asked Hiko-sama as I piled a lot more scrap weapon parts.
”Yup, I want to make 2 batches today of 120 plates of [Refined Iron] today. Should take about 2 hours or so.” I explained as he readily informed me that he would help to pour the contents into the moulding set. I nodded as I continued with my task.
Hiko-sama helped me by pouring the Molten metal using a dipping scoop and he had to wear heavy gloves because he isn't used to these work before. I had visualised another 12 more moulding set that can hold 5 plates as the original ones before.
I kept pumping the bellows and adding the scraps to melt it down. After Hiko-sama had poured the Molten metal, he helped to lightly stamp the centre of the semi-hardened plates.
Soon, 120 plates had been ready and stamped and we returned back to our real world.
”We could patent this once it is cold and hard. We can do it once every new version of plates has been made. Do you know how to keep a ledger, Sensei? I could guide you if you are too sure.”
”No problem, kid. You can guide me. This ledger is to keep track of outgoing goods and incoming cash flow, right? It is part of Economics that I learnt a long time ago in high school but had forgotten most of it.”
”Yes, Sensei. That's right. We don't have to include in the cost because the iron plates cost nothing. We keep it simple but we just need to track on the Seijuro Tumblers that's all. It's a high cost and long term investment.”