Meng Yan's Transformation

Chapter 178 Blacksmith Shop

Zhan Mengyan looked at Zhang Xincheng's back as he ran away and thought to herself, "This short leg can run quite fast..."

After lunch, Zhan Yu asked Zhan Mengyan to go to Zhang's blacksmith shop to deliver medicine for treating scabies. He was invited by the Wang family in the neighboring village to deliver a baby.

Zhan Mengyan had never been to Zhang's blacksmith shop, so she met an uncle on the road and asked him about it. She followed the route the uncle told her and walked for a while, then she heard the sonorous "ding-dong-dong" sound of blacksmithing coming from the streets...

Zhan Mengyan walked over to the source of the sound and saw people of all kinds leading their livestock stopped in front of Zhang's blacksmith shop. Some were choosing suitable farm tools - axes, kitchen knives, sickles, scissors, branding irons and other daily necessities, or waiting to have their livestock shod.

In the courtyard of Zhang's blacksmith shop, there were scattered cow and horse dung, and two sets of stakes were erected. The stakes were as thick as a bowl and could lift two horses or two cows at a time. These were called palm stakes.

The so-called palm stakes are four vertical wooden stakes, with the upper ends of every two stakes connected by a horizontal beam, and the middle parts also connected by two horizontal beams. The horizontal beam on one side is fixed, while the middle horizontal beam on the other side can rotate, which is called a "rolling rod" in the jargon. When cattle, horses, donkeys and mules are led to the middle of the palm stakes, canvas slings are passed under the belly of the livestock, and then the "rolling rod" is rotated to suspend the livestock off the ground so that they cannot move around when the palms are nailed. At about 20 centimeters above the ground, the lower part of the four palm stakes is nailed with a stake leg of about 40 centimeters on the upper side. Rubber is nailed to the end of the stake leg so that the calf of the livestock can be tied with a rope to prevent it from being worn and immobilized.

When hanging the hoof, use ropes to tie the cows and horses to the wooden stakes, pass the two canvas belts hung on the upper horizontal stakes under the cows and horses' bellies, turn to the other side of the body, and hang the canvas belts on the horizontal stakes. Then use curved iron pliers to turn the roller under the horizontal stakes, and the cows and horses will be hoisted up, with their four legs just off the ground. Use thick ropes to fix the cows and horses' left and right feet facing up on a stake leg with the knees as the base point, and then start repairing the cows and horses' hooves.

Zhan Mengyan was about to go inside again when she saw a dark-skinned blacksmith wearing a large black apron covered with holes of all sizes. He walked out of the shop slowly with a pipe in his mouth, and took out a hammer, horseshoe, and horseshoe nails. He took a deep puff of the cigarette, threw away the cigarette butt, spat into his palm, grabbed a handful of horseshoe nails and stuffed them into his mouth. He first used his palm to hammer off the old horseshoe on the horse's foot and threw it away, then clamped the horseshoe hammer under his armpit, used the sickle head to flatten the horse's ulcerated sole, measured the horse's sole, and cut the prepared rubber tire into the size of the horseshoe. The blacksmith held the rubber horseshoe in his left hand and the hammer in his right hand, measured it on the horse's sole, then took out the homemade horseshoe nail with saliva in his mouth and nailed the rubber horseshoe to the horse's foot. The blacksmith swung his arms and hit the horse with clanking sounds. The horse struggled in fear and resisted. The blacksmith simply held the horse's feet in his arms, with the horse's hooves almost touching his dark face.

After the horseshoe is fixed, use the sickle head to cut the shape of the rubber horseshoe. Then, trim the other three hooves of the horse one by one. After the horseshoe is nailed, take the horse out for a few laps, and the horse will get used to its "new shoes" in a short time.

Zhan Mengyan was watching intently when she suddenly heard: "Mengyan, when did you come?"

Zhan Mengyan turned around and saw Zhang Xincheng standing in front of her with a smile on his face.