Chapter 76 Kun Wu cutting Jade Dagger

“Eh?” Chen Fan stood like a jade statue. He was stunned at first and had the same astonished expression on his face that Wu Ruoyu did. “I just moved in last week. What a coincidence!” he said as he resumed putting the dagger on the car bonnet.

“Hehe.” Wu Ruoyu who was wearing white, Louis Vuitton casual wear, stared at Chen Fan and smiled while playing with her hair. “You were in such a hurry the last time. My uncle and I haven’t even thanked you yet!”

“There is no need to thank me as I was rewarded with two million RMB!” Chen Fan smiled and said, “It’s not a big deal because I found it one day while fishing in the sea. It’s useless to keep it anyway, so I decided to give it to your uncle since I heard that he had been searching high and low for it.”

“You don’t know how important it was to us! If you hadn’t shown up that day, my uncle was considering hiring mercenaries to rob the National Maritime Museum of Tanzania,” said Wu Ruoyu with a bitter smile.

“Seriously?” Chen Fan’s mouth gaped open wide. Although he knew that Tanzania was a politically unstable country, it was still unlikely for someone to rob the National Maritime Museum in such a flagrant way.

“Isn’t it all due to being in a desperate situation?” said Wu Ruoyu while tossing her hair. “Fortunately, my uncle gave up on the idea when you showed up.”

“By the way, it seems like you’re going out, so I’ll not disturb you anymore. Anyway, we’re neighbors now, so we will have a lot of chances to meet up!” Wu Ruoyu flung away her super soft hair that looked like dragon beard noodles, turned her body and smiled politely. “I’ll treat you to dinner some other time to thank you!”

“Ha-ha” Chen Fan scratched his head and said nothing.

“This doesn’t seem right,” said Chen Fan after Wu Ruoyu left gracefully. Chen Fan quietly muttered a few words, “According to the plot in most novels, the girl should be walking into the room while smiling happily and then she says in a seductive manner, I decided to give myself to you to express my gratitude!”

While patting his head with a puzzled look, Chen Fan fished out his car keys and got into the car. Chen Fan was about to drop by Yuanxiang Craft Products which was the processing factory that he went the last time. Since they managed to make the complicated wrist protector the last time, Chen Fan was sure that making such a small scabbard and handle would be an easy task for them.

After driving slowly to the factory, Chen Fan got out of the car. Without even being able to stand still, he was greeted warmly by the fat boss.

“The arrival of Mr. Chen really brings fortune to my factory!” The fat boss smiled like the Maitreya Buddha and said, “What is it that you would like to make this time, Mr. Chen?”

“Well, I have hands on an ancient dagger, but the scabbard and handle are rotten, so I wanted your help in making a new one. Chen Fan unwrapped the newspaper and towel and handed the Kun Wu dagger to the boss. “Take a look and see what kind of scabbard is suitable for it.”

“Wow… So sharp!” The fat boss sucked in a cold breath. There were already two deep cuts on the towel that it was wrapped in. If human’s body was cut by this, it would be just like slicing up a melon,

“Kun Wu?” With the aid of some sunlight, the fat boss was able to identify the words on the blade while examining it and spat a lot of saliva when he said, “Could this be the ’Kun Wu dagger’ that is ranked third among the ten most powerful weapons in the world? No, it’s too short. It doesn’t look like it. Could this be the ’Kun Wu dagger’ that could cut jade that was recorded in the book of The Ten Continents Of The Sea, Feng Lin Zhou?”

“Kun Wu dagger that cuts jade?” Chen Fan was dumbfounded for a long time before asking in an idiotic manner, “What is that?”

“Once upon a time during the era of Emperor Mu of Zhou Dynasty, Xi Hu offered him a Kun Wu jade knife that was a foot long. It was a dagger that cut jade as easy as cutting into the mud… The dagger was originated from Liuzhou.” The fat boss muttered out a bunch of ancient information.

“But at that time, Oracle writing was used!” The fat boss touched his chin, “Although the shape and length of the knife match with the description in ancient books, the characters ’Kun Wu’ were not written based on the oracle bone script… Besides, the book didn’t mention that those two words were carved on it, so it seems that this is a second generation that was made after imitating the original one!”

Chen Fan was shocked and his eyes widened, “Are you serious? If it cuts jade like cutting mud, isn’t this even greater than the Yuchang sword?”

Bear in mind that cutting a piece of iron plate is completely different from cutting jade. If you are not afraid of the knife cracking, try cutting a thin iron plate with a military sword of the hardest metal that is sold in the market. Even so, it’s not logical to refer to it as the sword that cuts jade. It would be more logical to describe it as the sword that smashes ’jade-like mud’.

“I think the phrase ’cutting jade-like mud’ is only a figure of speech of the ancients. Just like the phrase where ’a single smile could overthrow a country’, is just a hyperbole.” The fat boss obviously didn’t believe it either.

“By the way, I happen to have some remaining pieces of jades used in decoration, shall we test it out?” The fat boss lured Chen Fan to test it out as his eyes gleamed deviously.

“Let’s try it out then!” Chen Fan replied with a ’whatever’ attitude. Since this dagger could cut through iron, it should not face any problems in cutting jade as well.

Kachang!

The two of them squatted on the ground, both dumbfounded, as the jade that was the size of an eraser was sliced into two. The incision was neat and smooth and even the cement ground under it was sliced opened a little.

“Damn, whoever made this dagger has some serious skills. It works exactly like the genuine one.” The fat boss squatted on the ground with an expression as though he had seen a ghost. “Nope, it’s even better than the original. Original ones are mostly just exaggerated by the ancients. You shouldn’t believe what they say because it’s not true.”

“Who cares who imitated it?” Chen Fan stared at the Kun Wu dagger and said, “Just make the handle and a scabbard for it as fast as possible.”

“Sure.” The fat boss thumped his chest and said in confidence, “Dealing with knives is my strength. I will make a soft scabbard from well-processed sharkskin, and carve nice patterns on it by using the laser engraving machine.”

“Sharkskin? Wouldn’t it be sliced open by the dagger?”

“Just add in a layer of thin steel!” The fat boss shook his head. “By the way, do you want the handle to be soft or hard? If you want it to be soft, we will use python skin as the texture is great to grip and it’s a nice match with the sheath that is made from sharkskin. If you want it to be hard, I’ll use red sandalwood as it looks exactly like a rhinoceros’ horn after polishing.”

“I want both,” Chen Fan thought for a moment and continued, “Sandwich the dagger between two pieces of red sandalwood and wrap it up with a layer of python skin. Make sure that the hilt fits perfectly into the scabbard and the appearance of it must be very nice. Don’t give me something like the ones that are sold at the night market, or else I won’t pay for it!”

“Of course I won’t give you anything crappy like that!” The fat boss seemed to be greatly insulted and clenched his teeth, “If there are any flaws, don’t even bother about the payment as I… I…. I will eat the two pieces of jade that are on the ground!”

……

In actuality, what the fat boss said was very true. The more Chen Fan looked at his craftsmanship, the more awed Chen Fan was as it was hard to believe that an ordinary looking fat man was so skillful.

After seeing the fat boss measure the length of the dagger in a split second by using a pair of vernier calipers, a delicately grey-colored sharkskin scabbard and a purplish handle made of sandalwood wrapped with python skin were done in only about two hours time.

“It’s… really… beautiful.” Looking at the exquisite patterns on the scabbard and the greyish handle that had a texture as smooth as a girl’s delicate skin, only greed gleamed in Chen Fan’s eyes. It must be admitted that a man’s special feelings towards gadgets such as swords and knives are the same as a woman who has no resistance to cosmetics and perfumes such as Estee Lauder and Lancome.

“It indeed is!” The fat boss also sighed and said, “But unfortunately, although the man who forged this dagger is very skillful, he wasn’t that smart. I can’t understand why he didn’t carve oracle bone inscriptions on it instead of two traditional characters. Otherwise, a lot of people will easily believe that this is a ’Kun Wu jade knife’ judging by its appearance!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep