Chapter 446: You Better Call An Ambulance In Advance.
Chapter 441 of "The Great Ming in the Box" begins with: Early in the morning, Li Daoxuan dialed Cai Xinziâs phone number.âHey, Old Cai, I want... See the full story!
Early in the morning, Li Daoxuan dialed Cai Xinziâs phone number.âHey, Old Cai, I want you to custom-make something for me again.â
Cai Xinzi chuckled: âGot tired of ship models? What do you want play with this time?â
Li Daoxuan: âI want to custom-make that kind of thing⌠a realistic doll that can move freely. One with a mouth that can open and close, eyes that can move, and limbs that can move freely. The material should be as close as possible to a real person⌠oh, right! Whatâs it called? I remember nowââsiliconeâ.â
Silence fell on the other end of the line. Cai Xinzi actually didnât speak for quite a while.
Li Daoxuan: âHey? Whatâs up? Bad signal?â
Cai Xinzi let out a long sigh: âPal, you should just find a girlfriend. Playing with dolls too much is bad for your health.â
âPfft!â Li Daoxuan: âWhat the hell are you thinking about?â
Cai Xinzi: âIâm thinking about your physical and mental health. Youâre only thinking about it looking good, being convenient, helping you deal with loneliness anytime, anywhere⌠but you havenât considered the side effects. Brother, think carefully!â
Three veins bulged on Li Daoxuanâs fist: âWhat I want is a legitimate toy, not the thing youâre imagining!â
Cai Xinzi: âI know, this can also be considered a legitimate toy. We shouldnât discriminate against peopleâs needs for such things. Itâs much better than going out carousing⌠Alright, whose face do you want? Some female celebrity? Iâll try my best to make it realistic for you. Please donât tell me you want the face of Thirty-Two Middle Schoolâs school beauty⌠thatâd be a bit awkward⌠sheâs married with kids now, a mother of two. If you made a fake version of her and used it for⌠ahem⌠thatâd be immoral. Brother, I canât help you with that.â
âStop!â
Li Daoxuan said, torn between tears and laughter: âI want to make it look like my own face.â
Cai Xinzi gasped in astonishment: âWhat? Playing with yourself? Brother, how did it come to this? Does not having a girlfriend for a long time really lead to such a twisted personality?â
There was simply no reasoning with a guy who had no common sense.
Li Daoxuan: âThe doll only needs to be three or four centimeters tall! Itâs not for the perverted use youâre imagining.â
Cai Xinzi gasped in astonishment again: âSo small?â
Li Daoxuan: ââŚâŚâ
Cai Xinzi: âWhatâs wrong? Why arenât you saying anything, brother?â
Li Daoxuan: âWait at home. Iâll be there in fifteen minutes to beat you half to death. Youâd better call an ambulance in advance.â
One day later!
Li Daoxuan received a doll. It was four centimeters tall and made of silicone.
This material was indeed quite similar to human skin. From a distance, it looked entirely real; you had to touch it to feel the slight difference from human flesh.
The advantage of it being four centimeters tall was that Cai Xinzi could perform some very detailed work on it. For example, he incorporated a metal skeleton inside the doll, and the joints of this skeleton could move freely.
This kind of skeleton was difficult for an ordinary person to create, but for Cai Xinzi, who had long worked on models, it was easily done.
Cai Xinzi also made the dollâs face resemble Li Daoxuanâs. However⌠crafting a skeleton for a four-centimeter figure was relatively simple, but crafting a face was too hard. Cai Xinzi wasnât skilled in micro-sculptingâthe face ended up incredibly abstract, with indistinguishable features⌠not good-looking at all.
But that wasnât a problem. Li Daoxuan removed its head and gave it to Gao Yiye, instructing her to have a sculptor re-carve its face into his own.
Besides this four-centimeter doll, Li Daoxuan also got a small chunk of silicone from Cai Xinzi, roughly one centimeter square. He gave this to Gao Yiye too, telling her to have the sculptor create another life-sized statue.
Two statues, one large and one small, started construction simultaneously.
The Spring Festival of Year Four of Chongzhen arrived.
A new year, new festivities!
The current Gaojia Village was scarcely comparable to what it had been during Year Seven of Tianqi. Back then, it only had forty-two villagers, trembling under the threat of bandits. Now, it had nearly ten thousand residents. It could no longer be called a village; it was practically a city.
The actual center of Chengcheng County was no longer the county seat where Liang Shixian resided, but Gaojia Village where Thirty-Two held sway.
But an interesting oddity occurred.
During the Spring Festival, Gaojia Village became much quieter than usual.
The workers from various villages and towns didnât stay in Gaojia Village for the New Year. Instead, they packed up the money theyâd earned that year, bought New Year goods, boarded the small train, and happily returned to their hometowns.
Their hometowns werenât farâjust the surrounding small villages. Thus, all those surrounding villages bustled with activity, festooned with red decorations and lanterns, leaving Gaojia Village strangely quiet in the middle.
Naturally, some didnât return to their hometowns.
For example, Song Yingxing didnât go back. Returning to his hometown would require months of travel. In these troubled times of war and chaos, traveling for months back to Jiangxi Province would be perilous. It was much better to stay in Gaojia Village working on his strange inventions.
However, as he was directing the craftsmen staying behind to repair a steam spinning machine inside the artisansâ well, he suddenly felt something was off. Why was Young Master Bai also here in the artisansâ well?
âYoung friend Bai, arenât you going back to Bai Family Fortress for the New Year?â
âNo!â Young Master Bai chuckled heartily: âMy steam small train is about to start trial runs! At this critical juncture, I donât want to waste time on social rituals.â
Song Yingxing smiled: âIs that so? Well, I find that train quite intriguing myself.â
As they spoke, their gazes involuntarily drifted through the window. Outside the village, right beside the colorful small train placed by the Deity, now stood a black, clumsy-looking engine.
In terms of appearance, it was leagues behind the Deityâs electric small train, its workmanship extremely rough. Crucially, it held nothing provided directly by Li Daoxuan. Every single component had been forged by the small ironworkers, hammered out by hand.
This was a real steam small train, governed by physics, not divine power!
Tracks had already been laid at its feet. Of course, the test track wasnât very longâless than half a kilometer.
Song Yingxing: âHow much longer until this thing can be tested?â
Young Master Bai: âHeh heh, at most five days! Weâre in the final inspection phase right now.â He turned to an ironworker and asked: âCan you finish the cabin door within five days?â
The ironworker replied: âGuaranteed.â
Song Yingxing broke out in a cold sweat: âThe door isnât even finished?â
Young Master Bai said sheepishly: âWe focused on the core functions first⌠didnât get around to the door⌠Oh, and the chimney isnât properly done either. The coal smoke is billowing wildly right now, really smoky. Needs a proper chimney.â
Song Yingxing: ââŚâ
He covered his face with his hand: And here I was looking forward to it. Looks like five days isnât happening at all.