Chapter 51 - 28 Maybe not just break even, but also win a few more coins from him!

Chapter 51: Chapter 28 Maybe not just break even, but also win a few more coins from him!Ah Man has always been trying to save money. Although she can’t save up much, she really is always scrimping, performing tricks, begging, stealing, swiping, and even occasionally scamming. She doesn’t let a single copper coin slip by, greedy as hell, but it’s just not working out—she’s still dirt poor to this day. So if she gets a chance to win a big chunk of change from Harano, there’s no way she’d go easy on him out of sympathy. She really wanted to mooch Harano’s three kan of money for free. She’s all over the place, whatever idea pops up she just does it, pressing Ah Qing’s head down whether the girl likes it or not because she insists she needs to "borrow" it, all while chasing after Harano, incessantly nagging, using every possible reverse-psychology trick, insisting that he has to make this bet with her—or else he’ll have to admit he’s just talking a load of crap like a big dumbass. This wild kid who doesn’t know a single rule... Harano was so annoyed he just agreed offhandedly, and then Ah Man got even more excited. She stopped sleeping in all the time or running off to play street punk, and instead started buzzing around Harano, trying to help him finish the bow faster. She even called in all her connections, braving the cold wind and personally taking the blueprints down to Nagano Castle Town to find a master blacksmith to make clay molds and cast parts, then forging tempered iron pieces by hand. When the parts were ready, she gladly took polishing stones and spent her days helping him grind various pieces. Even if Harano went off to see patients, she’d keep at it, grinding and buffing those parts—scared to death that Harano would work too slowly on making the bow, which would slow down her money-making. Honestly, she was almost going insane wanting to save money. The little she had managed to save before was already lost on a stupid "bet my bike, win a motorcycle" gamble, and she didn’t get a single cent back, which really set her off. She was like a little monk with an umbrella, neither fearing heaven nor earth, practically lawless now—if someone gave her 10 kan right now, she’d probably go assassinate the emperor or something. This time, she just had to win big! As for Harano, he couldn’t care less what she did—let her be! He took things slow, choosing wood, oil, lacquer, horn, and fish glue around the village; then he dug out the box of fishing line he’d brought from the modern world, used it to make a wooden string spinner, and slowly spun up five or six bowstrings. — Carbon fiber fishing line isn’t the best material for bowstrings, at least by modern standards, but in ancient times it’s way better than the lacquered hemp bowstrings used on a Five Vine Bow. Yeah, if he didn’t have this box of high-strength fishing line, he wouldn’t even dare build a compound bow. The bowstrings in this era are all unreliable—one arrow and he could snap the string and get himself killed on the spot. Once the bowstrings were spun, he took the bow staves he had carefully selected and cut them, then got a few villagers who knew some basic carpentry to help him build a wooden training rig for the bow. He hung the bowstave and added the string, training it one notch at a time, stringing it again every few hours until it reached full draw length. That way, the wood would gradually adjust to being bent, and he could correct any warping issues along the way. At this point, the bow was basically done, only assembly was left. After all, a bow is a really simple mechanical tool, people were using them in the Stone Age—it’s not like it’s rocket science. To archery lovers it might seem sacred, but to an engineering geek like him, it’s just whatever. He grabbed the parts that Ah Man had so painstakingly polished, banged and tapped them into proper shape, then glued and reinforced the iron and horn pieces onto the bowstave with fish glue, waterproofed with lacquer and oil, installed the eccentric pulleys, the stabilizer, main string, secondary strings, split string, arrow rest, bare-sight peep, string stop, release, then used soft cowhide to pad everything for vibration dampening. He even asked villagers for some duck feathers to make ten long arrows with fletching—with his experience, peacock feathers are best, duck and goose feathers are next, though goose is more durable than duck and lasts longer, and rooster feathers are last; never tried any others, and you can’t exactly order them on Taobao here. In the end, he had himself a steel-wood-carbon compound bow with pulleys. In other words, a poor man’s version of a modern compound bow. Harano examined the finished product closely and nodded slightly. Other than being a bit bulky, everything else seemed decent. Should meet his basic needs—heavy is heavy, but what can you do? He didn’t have modern alloys. Just getting it to this state was pretty good; so what if it’s a bit unwieldy? And besides, there’s no need to worry about leaking any modern technology secrets—if they didn’t have the carbon fiber fishing line, this bow would just be trash. If the Japanese managed to synthesize carbon fiber in the 16th century, then hats off, he’d totally admit defeat! Ah Man looked at the bow and was satisfied too. At first, seeing Harano spend so much money having people cast and forge these weird little iron things, and even making a big wooden contraption for training the bow, acting all serious and mysterious, bringing out all sorts of new tricks she’d never seen, she thought maybe he really was some kind of legendary master bowyer with a secret ancestral technique. But now that she saw the finished product, she was like—seriously, this is it? This doesn’t even look like a bow, okay! There are four different-sized wheels hanging off both ends, and a fat rod poking out the front. Where in the world have you ever seen a bow like this? Plus, it’s so tiny—will it even be able to shoot an arrow? The more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that the family donkey they kept must sneak in at night and go wild kicking Harano’s head. Otherwise, there’s no way he’d come up with anything this out of touch! With three kan of money almost in the bag, she got even more wound up: "Let’s go! We gotta go test it! There’s no way it can shoot sixty ken, for sure!" If it actually manages sixty ken, she’ll eat the bow on the spot—won’t even need to dip it in soybean paste! Harano was the steady type, not as jumpy as her, didn’t need to best everyone all the time. He kindly suggested, "Why don’t we forget it? I’ll just test shoot it myself later." He was trying to give her an out, so she wouldn’t lose face and damage the friendship. After all, she was actually pretty useful. But Ah Man wasn’t having it. She’d worked her butt off, polishing parts until her hands blistered, all for this three kan—was she supposed to give up now? Can you blame her? Absolutely had to go test it! She insisted on going out to test, determined to prove she’d won, and Harano looked at her for a long moment, feeling that if she was willing to die, he should be willing to bury her. So he agreed, slung the bow on his back, and went out to the edge of the village with her. Ah Qing dropped her eyes, hesitated, and silently followed behind. They found an open spot by the riverbank, and Harano took a look around, then pointed at a distant grove and asked Ah Man, "Is that sixty ken?" Ah Man was already itching to get paid, didn’t care about a couple feet difference, close enough was good enough. She rubbed her hands together happily: "It’s enough, definitely! Go on, shoot already!" Once she had Harano’s three kan, she’d bury it somewhere for safekeeping, and this time she definitely wouldn’t gamble it away again. She’d save it up to buy an iron cannon, so her DIY Life-saving Technique could level up. Besides, Harano’s a decent guy, and she had her own code of conduct—after he lost, she wouldn’t mock him too badly or embarrass him, so he wouldn’t be scared to bet with her next time. S~eaʀᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Seeing her agree, Harano took a deep breath, stood sideways, set the bow and nocked the arrow, aimed quickly, shot quickly—full draw, let go immediately. Anyway, the target was a whole stand of trees—if he missed this one, he’d hit another. Meanwhile, Ah Man was still daydreaming about "mastering martial arts," achieving "All Living Beings Equal Cannon" and becoming the envy of all, planning how to comfort Harano’s wounded pride after, when there was a sharp whoosh and a blur—and suddenly the arrow on the bow was gone! She was dumbstruck—wait, this freaky thing actually shot the arrow? This can’t be right—how could there be such a weird bow in the world? Honestly, it looked more like a double-headed hammer! She immediately went to look for the arrow, praying it hadn’t hit, that it would land limply halfway there. But alas, the laws of physics don’t care about her wishes. The long arrow darted like a fish through the air, too fast for the eye to see, with a whistle that hadn’t even faded before it struck a tree and the feathers exploded into a bright white tuft—impossible to miss. Wood is definitely harder than a person. Harano nodded slightly, feeling okay about it. Aside from needing to adjust the sights, since the shot was a bit off, everything else was fine—should do just fine in the Middle Ages. He looked away, shook out his hand, turned to Ah Man and asked with a big smile, "So, which one of us is the big dumbass now?" That’ll teach this wild kid for arguing with me—convinced yet? Ah Man’s bean-shaped eyebrows drooped. The three kan she thought she’d snagged just flew out the window—she couldn’t believe it. But she was a good sport: if she lost, she lost, and she’d admit it. She fumed, super aggrieved: "Yeah, I’m the big dumbass. You’re the best, okay! Satisfied?" Really super aggrieved—she worked for Harano for days for free, got her hands full of blisters, and in the end didn’t get a single thing for it. Total dumbass. Harano grinned, called it good enough, didn’t push his advantage—no need. He turned to retrieve the arrow, measured the distance, and then waved from afar as he strolled back to the village. He left feeling on top of the world. Ah Qing glanced after him, then walked over to Ah Man, looking down and asking in a mild tone, "Sister, what now?" Ah Man was still stewing. She was sure she couldn’t lose, so how did she lose? The money’s gone, now she’s the big dumbass. It made no sense—if there were really bows that could shoot sixty ken, Grandpa would have known! All muddled up, she looked up in surprise at the question, "What do you mean, what now?" "You lost my...head, sister. Now what?" Ah Qing’s face was expressionless, voice growing increasingly chilly. If it weren’t for the fact that her life was saved by Ah Man, she’d have thrown Ah Man in the river already. No—only Ah Man could pull a stunt like this. If anyone else dared to gamble with her head, she’d have smashed them flat and chucked them in the river on the spot. "Oh, right, lost your head too." Ah Man finally remembered the matter of paying up. She immediately started shirking responsibility. "It’s not my fault! Grandpa’s the one who said he’s traveled all through the Sixty-six Countries and seen everything. He’s the one who said Five Vine Bow is the best bow in the world. Blame him if you’re going to blame someone!" Ah Qing lowered her head, looked at Ah Man for a moment, then slowly turned aside, lowered her eyelids, and said nothing—as if accepting her fate and not arguing anymore. Ah Man knew Ah Qing’s temper well. That cocked head meant she was really mad, so she didn’t dare spout any more nonsense. She hurriedly said, "Don’t get mad! There’s nothing to be done now! Okay, it’s my fault this time, but it’s seriously not just my fault. It was a sure win! Grandpa really did say Five Vine Bow is the best. You can ask him someday—its range is just thirty-ish ken. Anything beyond that is absolutely safe!" She truly thought it was a guaranteed win, that’s why she tried to take advantage of Harano. She’d already used her own head for gambles before, so this time she insisted on using Ah Qing’s—only to actually lose... She still couldn’t understand how she lost—there was no reason for Grandpa to lie! She admitted fault, and Ah Qing seemed a little less angry—her face softened a bit as she looked back and quietly asked, "So what now?" "Uh, now..." Ah Man’s bean-shaped eyebrows smushed together as she thought, then scratched her face, muttering, "How about we pack up and run away tonight? But...ugh...running just because we lost is so embarrassing. He’s always been good to us, and we shouldn’t totally bail like that, right?" But as she was talking, her eyes lit up—new idea! "Wait, don’t panic! Maybe we don’t need to run! We still have capital—once Ah Qian and Ah Yu come back, we’ll have two more heads, plus Grandpa should be worth something. I’ll put them all on the line, make another bet with him, and win you back!" The more Ah Man thought about it, the more brilliant the idea seemed. Harano was such a softie—he’d never actually chop off Ah Qing’s head. Leaving her with him for a while wouldn’t matter, as long as she could win her back next time! Maybe she could even double her money. Heck, maybe she’d even win a few more kan off him! The more she thought about it, the more excited she got. She beamed: "Trust me, I’m an absolute sure-winner at gambling. Guaranteed!" Ah Qing stared at her in silence for a while, then turned on her heel and stalked off toward the village, looking even angrier—trust her to win a bet? Might as well believe a sow could climb a tree! "Don’t go! Let’s talk this out!" Ah Man was starting to panic. She never thought she’d lose, and now she can’t pay up—how the heck is she supposed to fix this?! It’s over, totally over!