Chapter 179: Toad Transaction

"Good, very good! Uncle Liu is truly the best carpenter in Yixing Town; the work he does is top-notch and beautiful!"

Liang Qu was overjoyed; he hadn't expected Liu Quanfu to exceed the task, feeling like he had picked up a treasure.

One hundred taels, worth it!

Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—it seems to be a ranking of classes, but in reality, it is not; the first half of the sentence is missing: it is the four people dividing their occupations—scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.

Political status does not represent actual status; actual status still depends on money.

Especially as there are more and more tools: saws, planes, chisels, files, adzes...

The things a carpenter can build are varied and increasingly exquisite.

In a prosperous area with a dense population like Pingyang County, a carpenter as formidable as Liu Quanfu earns much more than a farmer.

One can tell from the carvings in Liang Qu's house that the craftsmanship is worth several taels of silver a month.

This is also why he didn't go to Pingyang County to find someone but insisted on finding Liu Quanfu.

First, it was closer and he knew the roots; second, Liu Quanfu's craftsmanship was truly not bad.

He worked day and night with seven or eight apprentices for nearly three months; Liang Qu's one hundred taels was only equivalent to double the labor pay.

It is normal to pay more for letting others do things they are not good at.

Hearing Liang Qu was satisfied, everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

Liang Qu's status was getting higher and higher; it would be a lie to say there was no pressure when communicating.

Coupled with the fact that it was the first time building a ship, they had no bottom in their hearts and were even more worried, fearing that more than two months of effort would be in vain.

After some discussion, the material costs plus the previously agreed labor pay totaled one hundred and sixty-seven taels.

Materials were not cheap; besides teak, there were beech and pine; the keel was the whole piece and the most expensive; others just planed the ship planks and broke several planes.

Liang Qu rounded it up and gave Liu Quanfu one hundred and seventy taels.

"This matter is best not to be too publicized; you know, I am going to give a gift, and it's not good for everyone to know."

"Understood, understood, Master Liang, rest assured, we will definitely not go out and talk too much."

Several apprentices responded one after another.

Having worked for so long and finally putting the money into their pockets, the feeling was top-notch wonderful, and they all followed Liang Qu's lead.

"Uncle Liu, I'll leave the ship with you for now; I'll come to get it tonight."

"Alright, please feel free, Master Liang; I didn't sleep all night last night, and I brushed tung oil this morning; the old man is terribly sleepy."

"Sorry to trouble you, Uncle Liu."

"It is Master Liang who is elevating me."

Liu Quanfu bowed, yawning, and went into the inner room, leaving Liang Qu alone in the courtyard to look at the ship.

Liang Qu took a ladder and climbed up and down, confirming all the details, and there were no problems.

After checking everything once, he came to the bottom of the ship's cabin, pressed his palm on the keel, and slowly exerted force.

The entire eight-meter-long small tower ship detached from the frame, suspended in the air, and he weighed it slightly.

The structural strength was maintained well and wouldn't fall apart at a touch.

Everything was ready, just waiting for the night to find the toad big demon to exchange things.

Liang Qu became nervous for a rare moment.

To trade with the toad, he invested a full one hundred and seventy taels of silver.

The small tower ship built was wanted by no one except the toad, and it couldn't go into the water; it wasn't caulked, so it would sink if it went into the water.

If it didn't succeed, it would all be a waste.

"Hope Brother Toad is helpful."

Night.

The entire Yixing Town was silent; taking advantage of no one noticing, Liang Qu shouldered the tower ship and rushed to the shore, entering the water marsh from a reed marsh.

The entire tower ship slowly sank from the water surface.

The fat catfish looked left and right, circled the undercurrent several times, and finally, with a ruthless heart, crashed forward.

A dizzy spell, the fat catfish was thrown out of the undercurrent, rolled several times, and landed on the ground, the world spinning.

Inside the toad cave, snoring shook the sky.

The small mountain-like white round belly rose and fell; the moment the fat catfish landed, the round belly's rise and fall paused.

The earth rumbled, half of the small mountain collapsed, a huge claw reached behind to scratch its butt, and the collapsed small mountain rose again.

The snoring continued.

The fat catfish bumped its dizzy head against the ground several times, regained its senses, aimed at the direction, twitched the water flow, and turned into an arrow leaving the string.

A small circle collapsed under the white small mountain, and a black shadow popped out between the rises and falls; the black shadow climbed up from the ground and launched impacts one after another.

It persistently crashed more than ten times.

The huge snot bubble burst with a bang, the water flow surged and shook, and the firebird feathers were like wild grass in a gale, all lying flat.

The toad opened its eyes blankly, dazed for a while, sat up, and could see a black shadow galloping from afar.

"Little brother! Long time no see; the last time we met was..."

The toad patted its belly, leaned against a more comfortable position, tilted its head, counted for a long time, and lowered it again.

"Still yesterday."

The fat catfish waved its long whiskers to convey information; having evolved for the second time, it was still tiny in front of the toad.

"Has it been ten days? Little brother's arithmetic is not good; since we last met, Toad has only slept once, and one sleep is one day."

The toad stretched its claws to dig into the pile of debris next to it and dug out a few sticks.

"This is called counting rods; Toad sleeps once for one stick, so it is one day; little brother remembered wrong."

The fat catfish stared at the long sticks in front of it and fell into deep thought, only recalling what it had come for after a long time.

The toad sat up as it listened.

"Little brother's ship brought?"

The fat catfish shook its head.

The toad set out the counting rods.

"Only ten days, very fast."

The fat catfish was confused, but felt it made some sense; it led the big toad to the entrance of the undercurrent.

Opposite the undercurrent.

Liang Qu stood on the deck.

The tower ship under his feet was completely submerged in the water, very stable.

Small has the advantages of small; if it were a real tower ship, it might not be able to pass through the undercurrent intact.

Liang Qu received the message conveyed by the fat catfish in his mind; a huge amount of water surged, wrapping the miniature tower ship, and slowly approached the secret passage.

One-third of the hull entered, a suction force came, and the entire tower ship disappeared without a trace.

No matter how many times he observed it, Liang Qu felt this undercurrent channel was ingenious, and then hurriedly sent the remaining few masts that hadn't been installed inside.

The masts were too long and easy to twist off during transport if installed on the ship, so he could only let the toad assemble them itself.

Finally, there was...

Liang Qu glanced to the side and threw something like a six-sided pillar into the undercurrent.

Six-sided lock, made by Liang Qu himself.

Very simple thing, just six pieces of wood, and then cut a few interlocking interfaces on them.

It's just that the six-sided lock from earlier was a super-sized version, where one pillar would consume an entire tree.

I wonder if the toad likes this gift.

On the other side, the undercurrent suddenly surged violently, throwing out a black shadow.

The toad was quick-eyed and fast-clawed, catching the ship in its claw; it was exactly the size of one of its webbed palms.

Immediately after, several masts popped out, poked its belly, and rolled off with a bounce.

"A storied ship!"

The toad had studied ship models for many years and recognized the type of ship at a glance.

"What a tiny storied ship."

Fearing the toad might be dissatisfied, the fatty catfish hurriedly explained.

"Concentrated things are the essence? It seems a bit more refined than an ordinary ship, doesn't it?"

The toad flipped the ship over, skillfully inserting the masts into the pre-drilled holes.

Seeing the toad playing with the ship and completely forgetting about the exchange, the fatty catfish had to remind it of the original terms of the trade.

"Go, go, you can take anything except the ships, but one ship can only be exchanged for one item."

The fatty catfish nodded vigorously and rushed into the toad's nest to rummage through it.

The toad played with the storied ship, unable to bear putting it down.

In the past, the ships it collected were more or less damaged, but this one was the only one that was complete.

Especially assembling the masts itself—it was a novel experience for the first time.

Snap!

Another object slammed into its belly.

The toad picked up the uniquely shaped six-column object.

Something from the ship?