Chapter 21

For Zhang Tie, the two days of the weekend passed quickly. Since his father had to work on Saturday, Zhang Tie spent the day at home with his mother, making rice wine. The family's small shop sold about five or six jars of rice wine every week. This income was not much, but for the Zhang family, who had always lived frugally, it was a helpful supplement.

Rice wine is a traditional Chinese delicacy, and its preparation is not complicated. The main ingredient is rice, and the process is simple: first, wash the rice and cook it until it is about seven-tenths done. Then, drain the rice, dry it, and steam it until it is fully cooked. After that, dry it again, and pack it tightly into earthen jars. During the packing process, mix in sugar and honey, and finally sprinkle yeast liquid over it. Seal the jars and let them ferment naturally. After a month, the rice wine can be opened and consumed. The finished rice wine retains the sweet, soft, and glutinous texture of the rice, is rich in nutrients, and has a pleasant sweetness. It can satisfy hunger and has a refreshing, slightly alcoholic taste that does not cause intoxication. It is cooling and nourishing to the spleen and stomach, making it extremely delicious. Zhang Tie and his brother grew up eating the rice wine their mother made.

Although the process of making rice wine is simple, each step requires careful attention to detail. The Zhang family's rice wine has gained a bit of a reputation and a loyal customer base in the neighborhood over the past decade through their diligent efforts.

The result of Saturday's hard work was seven jars of rice wine. After making the rice wine, Zhang Tie moved it to the storage room behind the shop. Then, he rode the family's modified tricycle to make two trips. One trip was to the rice shop to buy rice, as the rice in the family's rice bin was almost empty after making the rice wine. Every weekend, Zhang Tie had to go to the rice shop. After buying the rice, he also bought two pounds of sugar. This time, Zhang Tie noticed that the price of rice had increased. Last week, a 25-kilogram bag of ordinary rice cost 4 silver coins and 45 copper coins, but today, the price had quietly risen to 4 silver coins and 58 copper coins, an increase of nearly 3% in just one week.

Zhang Tie was startled. As a commoner, he was extremely sensitive to changes in the prices of daily necessities. He remembered that the price of rice in Black Flame City had remained stable for the three years since he started middle school. Last week, it was still 4 silver coins and 45 copper coins per bag. How could it have risen so much in just one week?

"Oh, Zhang Tie, we have no choice. The price of rice went up when we restocked two days ago, so we had to raise our prices too. We can't do business at a loss!" The rice shop owner, who was an old acquaintance, began to complain about the price increase. "Seventy percent of the rice in Black Flame City comes from outside. The few farms and planting areas outside the city can't meet the city's food needs. We have no control over the prices, which are set by the large merchant groups. Not just rice, but flour has also increased in price over the past two days. If you don't believe me, go check other shops. The prices are the same, and some are even higher..."

The rice shop owner was a long-time customer, and Zhang Tie wasn't foolish enough to actually go check other shops. The prices of rice in Black Flame City were generally consistent, with the price difference for the same bag of rice between different shops being at most one to three copper coins. A price difference of more than five copper coins would make it difficult to sell. After many years of dealing with the shop, Zhang Tie trusted the diligent and shrewd Chinese owner.

At 4 silver coins and 58 copper coins, or 458 copper coins, Zhang Tie bought three bags of rice, totaling 75 kilograms, and loaded them onto his tricycle. The tricycle was modified from a second-hand bicycle with an added basket and wheel. It was not only ugly but also had a limited load capacity. Three bags of rice plus Zhang Tie himself were almost at its limit. When moving the rice, Zhang Tie carefully inspected the stitching and thread on the rice bags to ensure there were no signs of tampering or re-sewing, which some unscrupulous rice shop owners and grain merchants might use to reduce the weight or quality of the rice or even add sand. Being the child of a poor family, Zhang Tie had learned to be meticulous when buying rice.

After buying the rice, Zhang Tie also bought two pounds of sugar at a nearby general store. As expected, the price of sugar had also increased, more so than the price of rice. Last week, the price of coarse sugar was 91 copper coins per kilogram, but this time it had risen to 1 silver coin per kilogram. Checking the prices at a few nearby stores, Zhang Tie bought two pounds of sugar, which he put in a cloth bag and hung on the handlebars of the tricycle. He then rode the ugly, modified tricycle back home.

Upon returning home, Zhang Tie told his mother about the price increases of rice and sugar and handed over the remaining money from his purchases. Seeing his mother put the money away, he thought for a moment and then counted out ten copper coins to give to Zhang Tie as pocket money.

With a smile, Zhang Tie said, "Thank you, Mom!" Today, his mother was more generous, usually giving him only five copper coins.

Sighing, his mother frowned, "With the prices of rice and sugar going up, we might have to raise the price of our rice wine too. The profit margin is already thin, and if we don't raise the price, we won't be able to continue the business. But if we raise the price, we might lose some of our regular customers. Sigh..."

Seeing his mother's worried expression, Zhang Tie, moved by emotion, blurted out, "Mom, don't worry. I'll make sure you and Dad have a good life in the future. I'm not the same as I used to be!"

"Mom knows, our little Guoguo has grown up. Of course, you're different now!" His mother smiled and patted Zhang Tie's head.

Hearing the implication behind the word "grown up," Zhang Tie felt a bit embarrassed, "Mom, it's not what you think. I mean..."

"Alright, alright, Mom knows our Guoguo has grown up and is a filial child. Let's not talk about this. You should hurry and deliver the rice soup to Sister Teresa. If you're too late, it won't be ready for today!"

Zhang Tie's words were cut off by his mother, and he couldn't finish what he was going to say. He lowered his head and loaded the remaining jars of rice soup onto the ugly tricycle. Feeling a bit depressed, he rode the tricycle to another destination. He thought about how, in his moment of impulsiveness, he almost revealed the secret of the Black Iron Fortress. He realized that if his family knew about it, it would only cause his parents worry and bring many unpredictable risks. He couldn't think of any benefits it would bring to the family. On the tricycle, Zhang Tie made a silent vow to keep this secret to himself. If he had the ability, he would let his family enjoy the benefits of the Black Iron Fortress without worrying about it. For both himself and his family, the fewer people who knew about the Black Iron Fortress, the better.

Black Flame City was a new industrial city with little historical heritage. One of the advantages of a new city is that it was planned with the convenience of urban transportation in mind. Many roads were wide, especially the main roads, where pedestrian paths, non-motorized vehicle lanes, and motor vehicle lanes were clearly separated. Zhang Tie, riding his modified tricycle, rang the bell and quickly weaved through the non-motorized vehicle lanes of Black Flame City. He envied the cars that occasionally passed by on the motor vehicle lanes and fantasized about one day owning a car, taking his family or a beautiful woman like Teacher Daina for a drive around the city.

Before the Great Catastrophe, steam engines were a technology that humans had abandoned for nearly a hundred years. It was said that at that time, humans had invented various advanced machines and technologies, relegating steam engines to the dustbin of history. Some of these advanced technologies seemed like myths to Zhang Tie—machines that could fly in the air, ships that could run for hundreds of years without refueling, methods to send people to the stars, devices that could communicate and see each other over vast distances, and weapons that could destroy a city or even a country with a single mushroom. When teachers talked about these, they were full of amazement, and Zhang Tie's eyes sparkled with wonder. The human society before the Great Catastrophe was truly unimaginable. After the Great Catastrophe, humans lost all of this glory and, out of necessity, dug steam engines out of the dustbin of history. From the simplest condensing steam vacuum pumps to the most complex high-pressure steam turbines, these once outdated and obsolete technologies began to flourish again, supporting humans in this new era, much like the small, high-quality reciprocating two-stage steam engines that powered the cars zipping through the city.

In Black Flame City, the common means of transportation for ordinary people were their feet and public transportation. Some working-class people might buy a bicycle, like the modified tricycle that Zhang Tie's family used for deliveries. But for the truly wealthy, their means of transportation would only be cars, which cost thousands of gold coins each. For these people, cars were not just a means of transportation but a symbol of status and power. In the entire city, after so many years, the number of private cars had never exceeded 1,000. Those who could sit in them were either rich or powerful. At least in Zhang Tie's school, he had never seen a student or teacher who could afford such a car. Even for Captain Collin, the most feared one-eyed man in Black Flame City, whose salary was already much higher than that of ordinary people, it would take 50 years of living frugally to afford a car.

From a young age, Zhang Tie had learned everything he knew about mechanics and tools, which was almost entirely related to various steam engines. As a man with a natural desire to conquer the world, 15-year-old Zhang Tie had two grand dreams: one was Teacher Daina, and the other was a beautiful private car. These two dreams combined to form Zhang Tie's vision of a paradise-like life—driving a car, taking Teacher Daina to a beautiful, undisturbed place, and engaging in steam engine-related activities with her, while also testing the shock resistance of the car's tires and seats.

Immersed in his secret "ambition," the young boy pedaled the tricycle through the city. Thirty minutes later, he finally arrived at Sister Teresa's orphanage before 6 PM, delivering the items on the tricycle.