Chapter 28: Maybe Not Just Winning Back What Was Lost, But Also Winning a Few Kan of Money!
A Man had been saving money. Although she couldn’t save much, she had indeed been saving. She busked and begged, stole and pilfered, and occasionally scammed. She spared no copper coin, being incredibly greedy, but with little success. To this day, she remained a broke person. If she could win a large sum of money from Yuan Ye, she would be utterly ruthless.
She really wanted to get three guan coins from Yuan Ye for free. She was also impulsive and acted on whims. While holding A Qing’s head down, insisting on borrowing it regardless of her willingness, she chased Yuan Ye, incessantly nagging him with all sorts of taunts, determined to make him accept this bet. Otherwise, Yuan Ye would have to admit he was bragging about his foolishness and was a big fool.
Such a wild child with no rules…
Yuan Ye was so annoyed by her that he casually agreed. A Man became even more excited. She stopped dozing off every day or running around as a street loiterer. Instead, she busied herself helping Yuan Ye, wanting to speed up the bow’s completion. She even went so far as to use her connections, braving the cold wind to personally take the blueprint to Nagoya Castle Town to find a master blacksmith to create clay molds for casting parts and handcraft iron shards.
After the parts were cast, she willingly spent all day polishing them with whetstones for him. Even when Yuan Ye went to treat patients, she continued to diligently polish the parts, fearing that Yuan Ye would be slow in making the bow, which would affect her speed in earning money.
Honestly, she was going mad from wanting to save money. Her previous savings were lost in another gamble of “betting a bicycle for a motorcycle,” and not a single coin was recovered. She had already lost her mind and was like a little monk holding an umbrella, acting lawlessly. If you gave her ten guan coins now, she might even dare to assassinate the Emperor.
This time, she was determined to win big!
Yuan Ye paid her no mind; if she wanted to help, let her. He, on the other hand, slowly selected wood, oil, lacquer, horn, and fish glue from the village. He also took out the fishing line he had brought from his transmigration, disassembled it, and used a wooden string winder to slowly twist it into five or six bowstrings. Using carbon fishing line as bowstrings wasn’t ideal, but that was in the modern era. In ancient times, it would certainly be several times better than the hemp and lacquer bowstrings used for the Five-Vine Bow.
Indeed, without this spool of high-strength fishing line, he wouldn’t dare to make a compound bow with pulley assistance. The bowstrings of this era were substandard; he might have been killed by the snapping string after shooting just one arrow.
After the bowstrings were twisted, he carefully cut the meticulously selected bow material. He then asked a few villagers who knew simple woodworking to help him make a wooden bow training device. He strung the bow material and began training the bow, hanging it one notch at a time, unstringing it every few hours until the maximum draw length. This allowed the bow material to gradually adapt to the deformed state and, incidentally, correct any deformation issues.
By this stage, the bow was essentially almost finished, with only the assembly process remaining. After all, a bow is a very simple mechanical tool, used since the Paleolithic era. It’s nothing more than that—it might be sacred to bow and arrow enthusiasts, but to an engineering geek like him, it was just that.
He took the parts A Man had polished, tapped and adjusted them for alignment, then bonded and reinforced the bow material with iron shards and horn pieces using fish glue. He used lacquer mixed with oil for waterproofing and moisture resistance, then installed the eccentric wheels, balance rod, main string, secondary string, split string, arrow rest, peep sight, string stopper, and release aid. He also used soft cowhide for padding in various places to absorb shock. Incidentally, he asked the villagers for some duck feathers and made ten fletched arrows. In his experience, peacock feathers were the best, followed by duck and goose. Goose feathers were more wear-resistant and lasted longer, while rooster feathers were last. He hadn’t used any other feathers, as they weren’t available on Taobao.
Finally, he obtained an ironwood carbon pulley compound bow.
Or rather, he obtained a poor man’s version of a modern compound bow.
After finishing, Yuan Ye carefully examined the finished product and nodded slightly. He felt that apart from being rather heavy, it was acceptable in other aspects and should basically meet his needs. The heaviness was unavoidable, as he didn’t have modern alloy materials. Being able to make it this far was already quite good; a bit of heaviness was fine.
Moreover, there was no need to worry about leaking modern technology. Without the carbon fishing line, this bow would be useless. If the Japanese could synthesize carbon fiber in the 16th century, then they were truly amazing, and he would admit defeat.
A Man also looked at the bow with satisfaction.
Initially, she saw Yuan Ye spending money to hire people to cast and forge so many strange little ironware pieces, and build a large wooden frame to train the bow. He was so serious, creating new tricks she had never seen before. She thought he was a legendary bow maker with some secret family technique. But after it was finished, she saw it and thought, “That’s it?”
This didn’t look like a bow at all. It had four wheels of various sizes hanging at both ends, and a round-headed rod sticking out in front. What kind of bow was this? It was so small; it probably couldn’t even shoot an arrow.
She became even more convinced that the second-hand donkey they kept at home must have kicked Yuan Ye’s head every night, otherwise, he wouldn’t have done such unreliable things!
Seeing that she was about to get three guan coins for free, she became even more excited. “Let’s go and try it out! It’s impossible to aim and shoot sixtybetween anyway!”
If it could shoot sixtybetween, she would eat this bow raw today, without even needing bean paste!
Yuan Ye had a steady personality and wasn’t as impulsive as her, always needing to assert dominance. Hearing this, he kindly advised, “How about we forget it? I’ll just go and calibrate the shot myself later.”
He intended to let her off the hook, not wanting to embarrass her or ruin their friendship, as she was quite useful. But A Man refused. She had worked hard, busy with everything, her hands blistered from polishing parts, all for the sake of earning these three guan coins.
Was it easy for her?
It had to be tested!
She insisted on going out to test it, determined to prove she had won. Yuan Ye looked at her speechlessly for a moment, thinking that since she was willing to die, he should be willing to bury her. He then indulged her wish, picked up the bow, and went out of the village with her.
A Qing lowered her eyes and hesitated for a moment before silently following behind.
The group found a spacious area on the riverbank. Yuan Ye took a look and pointed to the distant woods, asking A Man, “Is that far enough for sixtybetween?”
A Man was already waiting to collect her money and was impatient. She didn’t bother arguing with him about the three feet five inches; close enough was fine. She immediately rubbed her hands together and said gleefully, “Yes, it’s definitely enough. Hurry up and shoot!”
Once she got Yuan Ye’s three guan coins, she would find a place to bury them. This time, she definitely wouldn’t use them to bet on “a bicycle for a motorcycle.” She would save them to buy a matchlock gun in the future, further improving her self-created life-saving ultimate move.
Besides, Yuan Ye was a good person, and she was also a person of principle. After Yuan Ye lost, she wouldn’t mock him excessively or let him lose too much face, lest he be afraid to gamble with her next time.
Seeing her agreement, Yuan Ye took a deep breath, drew the bow, nocked an arrow, aimed quickly, and shot immediately. As soon as the bow was drawn, he released the string. After all, the target was a forest; if he missed this tree, he would hit another.
Meanwhile, A Man was still fantasizing about achieving mastery in martial arts, perfecting the “All Beings Equal Cannon” to awe the masses, and how she would comfort Yuan Ye’s wounded, fragile heart later. Suddenly, she heard a sharp whistling sound, her vision blurred, and the arrow on the bow rest disappeared. She was stunned—what? This strange thing actually shot the arrow out?
This wasn’t right. How could such a strange bow exist in the world?
It looked more like a double-headed hammer!
She immediately went to find the arrow, praying it wouldn’t hit anything, preferably falling limply to the ground in the middle of the road. Unfortunately, the laws of physics did not bend to her will. The long arrow moved like a fish, darting rapidly through the air, invisible to the naked eye. Before the whistling sound faded, it instantly embedded itself in the tree. The arrow fletching exploded into a white bloom, making it super conspicuous.
Wood was definitely harder than people. Yuan Ye nodded slightly, feeling it was acceptable. Apart from the peep sight needing adjustment and the shot being a bit off, there were no major problems. It should be sufficient for use in the Middle Ages.
He withdrew his gaze, shook his hand, looked at A Man, and asked with a smile, “So, who is the big fool between us now?”
You wild child, arguing with me, are you convinced yet?
A Man’s Dou Dou eyebrows drooped. The three guan coins that were within her grasp had flown away, making it unbelievable. However, she had good sportsmanship; a loss was a loss, and she admitted it. After holding back for a long time, she said with extreme frustration, “Yes, I am the big fool. You are the most amazing, alright!”
She was truly incredibly frustrated. She had worked for Yuan Ye for several days for nothing, getting blisters on her hands, and in the end, she got nothing. She had truly become a big fool.
Yuan Ye smiled slightly, stopping at the right point and not embarrassing her excessively, as there was no need. He turned to retrieve the arrow, measured the deviation distance, waved from afar, and returned to the village.
He left in a good mood. A Qing looked at him from a distance, walked up to A Man, looked down at her, and asked indifferently, “Sister, what do we do now?”
A Man was still annoyed. She couldn’t possibly have lost; how could she have lost? Not only was the money gone, but she had also become a big fool. This made no sense. If there was a bow in the world that could aim and shoot sixtybetween, the old man shouldn’t have been unaware of it!
Her mind was a mess. Hearing the question, she looked up in surprise and asked, “What do we do?”
“You lost my… you lost it, Sister. What do we do now?” A Qing’s expression was blank, but her tone grew colder. If A Man hadn’t saved her life, she would have thrown A Man into the river by now.
No, only A Man could do such a wicked thing. If anyone else dared to bet her head in a gamble, she would have killed that person and thrown them into the river the moment they proposed it.
“Yes, and you lost your head too.” A Man finally remembered that they had to pay the stakes and immediately started shifting the blame. “This isn’t my fault. The old man said he traveled all over the world, visiting the sixty-six provinces of the realm, and saw all sorts of strange things. He said the Five-Vine Bow was the best bow in the world. Blame him!”
A Qing lowered her head and stared at her for a while, then slowly turned her head away, lowered her eyelids, and remained silent, seemingly resigned, not refuting.
A Man knew her temperament well and knew that when she turned her head, she was truly angry. She dared not talk nonsense anymore and quickly said, “Don’t worry, it’s no use being anxious! Alright, it was my fault this time, but it’s really not my fault. We should have won. The old man really said the Five-Vine Bow was the best bow in the world, and it could aim and shoot about thirtybetween. It was absolutely safe beyond that distance. You can ask him later if you don’t believe me!”
She just thought she would definitely win, which was why she wanted to take advantage of Yuan Ye. Her own head had already been used, so she had to risk A Qing’s head. But now she had lost…
She still couldn’t understand why she lost. Her grandfather had no reason to lie to her!
She admitted her mistake, and A Qing seemed to have calmed down a bit, her expression softening. She turned back and asked softly, “Then what do we do now?”
“Uh, now…” A Man’s Dou Dou eyebrows furrowed as she thought, then scratched her face and mumbled, “How about we pack our bags and run away tonight? But… sigh, running away after losing is too shameful. He’s always been good to us; we can’t be too inhumane, right?”
As she spoke, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she had a new idea. “No, don’t panic, we don’t need to run away! We still have our capital. When A Qian and A Yu come looking for us, we’ll have two more heads. The old man should be worth something too. I’ll bet everything and gamble with him again to win you back!”
The more A Man thought about it, the more brilliant the idea seemed. Yuan Ye was a soft-hearted person and wouldn’t really chop off A Qing’s head. So, leaving her with him temporarily was fine, as long as she could win her back later.
At that time, she might not only break even but also win a few more guan coins from him!
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. She exclaimed joyfully, “Believe me, I always win when I gamble, I’ll definitely win!”
A Qing watched her silently for a moment, then turned and walked back towards the village, looking even angrier. Believing she could win the gamble was less likely than a sow flying.
“Don’t go! Let’s discuss it further!” A Man was stunned. She hadn’t expected to lose before. Now, if she couldn’t pay the stakes, how would she resolve this?
It’s over, it’s all over!
