Chapter 3 of 'The Forbidden Tome' - Dragon Yan's Basement

Taking advantage of Long Yan going downstairs to work, around noon when An An was about to deliver meals to Long Yan, the long-awaited Long Qian threw a little child's stubborn tantrum, pretending to cry and fuss in order to see Long Yan. An An really had no way to handle it, and it was impossible to pull Long Yan out at that moment, so she could only take Long Qian down with her.\Although this was somewhat childish, Long Qian really couldn't think of any other way, because he had once tried to ask Long Yan if he could go take a look. In the end, Long Yan didn't take him seriously at all, of course, because of his young age—Long Yan only treated what he said as a child asking for a toy.\At this age, Long Qian naturally confidently showed that he could stand and walk, but An An still habitually held him, and Long Qian had no way to deal with this.\When they reached the entrance to the basement in the backyard, An An opened the wooden door of the small cabin, holding Long Qian in one arm and twisting the meals with the other, skillfully stepping on the stone stairs heading to the basement, without needing any light at all.\After taking a few steps, Long Qian suddenly asked softly, 'Will he be unhappy?'\An An didn't realize that Long Qian was just worried that after going down, he might be taken back before even seeing what was inside. She thought her son was a little fearful, so she smiled and said softly, 'No, baby, you're so sensible. How could Daddy blame you?'\Knowing that Long Yan had definitely heard the conversation, Long Qian continued to ask, 'Then if I want to stay by his side a little longer, will he drive me away?'\Hearing her son's words, An An felt a bit of sadness in her heart. Recently, her husband had indeed not spent much time with their son. She understood the reasons, but her son didn't understand all this. Besides, even if she told him, could two-year-old Long Qian really understand?\An An kissed Long Qian on the forehead and gently said, 'Don't worry, Daddy won't drive you away.'\Long Qian knew he had achieved his goal. This way, even if Long Yan thought he was getting in the way in the basement, he wouldn't hurriedly drive him out, giving him enough time to figure out exactly what Long Yan was doing.It wasn't long before An An brought Long Qian to the basement. Long Yan had obviously overheard the conversation between the mother and son just now. He got up from his work position to greet them, immediately picking up Long Qian in his arms, rubbing his head, and smiling, saying, "You little rascal, you found a way to come down here. This isn't a place for fun, so be careful not to mess with anything."

After Long Yan bent down to put Long Qian down, he walked to the basement entrance, took the food from An An, and started eating it ravenously, while An An poured him some water, creating a picture of mutual affection between them.

The basement was only about ten square meters in size, with dim lighting. The walls were neatly constructed from bluestone, and a skylight opened at the top of the ten-meter-high vault, letting a beam of sunlight shine on a square off-white stone slab. This was a milky-white stone slab about fifty centimeters on each side and around ten centimeters thick, looking like an uncultured block of tofu. Below it was a roughly one-meter-high, uneven bluestone block, forming a stark contrast. In front of this stone block was a wooden chair, which Long Qian guessed was Long Yan's work position.

The basement also contained several large wooden boxes and a very peculiar iron processing machine. Its appearance was somewhat similar to the old machines Long Qian had seen on TV that were used for crushing stones. The machine had a funnel on top, was sealed in the middle with unknown internal mechanisms, had a handle on one side, and a thin pipe extending from the lower right side.

Long Qian walked in front of the machine, turned his head towards Long Yan, and asked, "What's this for?"

Long Yan took a few bites of his food with a huff and accepted the tea from An An. After gulping it down, he casually explained, "Crushing stones."

"Oh."

Long Qian did not press the matter further, instead standing on tiptoe to look at the thick layer of gray-green liquid stuck to the off-white stone slab, then shifted his gaze to the small table on the right side of the bluestone platform.

On the tabletop was a delicate wooden box, opened, containing several sheets of somewhat rough gray paper. The paper was thick and resembled small pieces of parchment at first glance.The size of the exquisite wooden box was about the same as the black 'Forbidden Tome' that Long Qian had seen the most over the past two years. The paper inside, however, was slightly smaller than the box. The corners of those few pages were cut very neatly, almost reaching the fine cutting precision of a past life. At the very center of each page, there was a circular emblem.
The strangest thing was that the emblem in the center of the page was faintly visible and slowly wriggling, somewhat like an image projected by an invisible projector swaying on the paper.
Long Qian glanced to the left at the milky-white platform, then looked at the few strange pages in the exquisite box on the right, as well as the pile of fragmented gray-green blocks stored in a large wooden crate under the table. After thinking for a moment, he guessed what Long Yan's work was.
Perhaps Long Yan's job was to create those strange pages in the exquisite box. However, Long Qian still felt that something was missing.
According to his vague memory and understanding, if one were to make paper, shouldn't the pulp be placed in a container for pressing and drying? But no matter how he looked, he could not find any tools related to pressing or drying, not even tools for cutting and trimming the paper.
After thinking for a while, Long Qian finally decided to ask indirectly. He stood on tiptoe and leaned over the low wooden table, staring at the strange pages in the exquisite wooden box and asked, "What is this? Did you make this?"
Hearing this innocent question, Long Yan was slightly stunned. He turned to look at his wife and found that she was equally surprised. Turning back, the way he looked at Long Qian had shifted somewhat.
"Son, come here." Long Yan beckoned. Long Qian, who had been facing away from Long Yan, had obviously not noticed what had just happened. He obediently walked in front of Long Yan, his round, bright black eyes full of curiosity.
Long Yan placed both hands on Long Qian's small shoulders, looked into his eyes, and smiled faintly: "Tell me, why do you think that was made by your father?"
Long Qian had never expected that his indirect questioning would lead to Long Yan interrogating him, but he immediately found the most suitable explanation and replied crisply: "I saw you take this box out once, and when you came back, mother bought me some treats;"It's just like Uncle Qin across from our house. Every time he goes out with a basket of fish, he comes back at night and buys candy for Xiao Shou (Spoiler: Meimei-chan). Uncle Qin sells the fish in the basket, so I wonder, do you sell paper in boxes?” Long Yan was stunned for a moment again, then burst out laughing. Although Long Qian's explanation sounded a bit childish, it wasn't unreasonable. He thought maybe children just think this simply, and it even led the two-year-old Long Qian to guess his work.

However, being just over two years old and being able to connect these things, Long Yan felt his son's mind was quite sharp. He hugged An'an and laughed, saying, “An'an, our Qian'er is really smart. He will definitely succeed in the future.”

An'an looked at Long Qian with a face full of love, leaned down to gently pat Long Qian's head, and praised, “Of course, our baby is the smartest child in the world.”

Long Qian breathed a sigh of relief. He had never seen Long Yan take any boxes out the door. Long Yan had always been very secretive about this, and Long Qian only assumed that Long Yan might have seen it, which is why he dared to come up with such a childish explanation.

After dinner, Long Yan started his work again, and Long Qian was taken away from the basement by An'an. After a brief observation, he basically understood how Long Yan made those strange sheets of paper.

However, as for what those sheets of paper were used for, Long Qian could not figure it out.

Doing a simple calculation, Long Qian realized that there were only a few days left until the end of the month. There were only seven or eight sheets in that delicate box, and Long Yan would go out at the end of each month, only returning four days later.

According to An'an's ledger, Long Yan's income in recent months fluctuated between twenty and twenty-five silver coins. Long Qian was quite surprised that Long Yan could sell a single sheet of paper for three silver coins. From what he knew, the average family in Qitan Town could only earn about ten silver coins a month with hard work. How could Long Qian not be surprised that Long Yan could sell a sheet for so much?

However, looking at Long Yan's earnings last year and the year before, it was easy to see that the situation was not looking good.Based on the information collected over the past two years, Long Yan should have gone to Qingtian City, which is about a two-day journey from Qitan Town. Two years ago, Long Yan earned at least fifty silver coins a month, whereas last year it dropped to forty, and this year it was halved again to only twenty.\In fact, earning more than twenty silver coins a month is considered a pretty good income in Qitan Town, but Long Qian did not see satisfaction in Long Yan and An'an's eyes. Instead, he often saw a deep worry. Every time An'an was bookkeeping, Long Qian noticed that the family's savings not only did not increase but were decreasing rapidly.\The family's normal expenses were actually not much, and their monthly silver consumption was even less than that of ordinary households. Long Qian guessed that there must be some family expense he was unaware of, and it was this expense that made the household gradually more financially strained. Pessimistically, in a few years, the family might face a situation where they could barely make ends meet.\However, what could one do even knowing these things? At Long Qian's current age, he had absolutely no ability to improve any of this.\So Long Qian felt time was passing too slowly; he wanted to grow up quickly. But obviously, that was something that couldn't be rushed. The more he wished for time to pass quickly, the slower it seemed to go.\One monotonous day after another passed, and Long Qian grew a year older. He lived with Long Yan and An'an, the couple, for three years, and was constantly under their indulgent care. From the bottom of his heart, Long Qian gradually began to regard Long Yan and An'an as his real parents. However, even though he could speak freely, he still wasn't accustomed to saying the words ‘Dad' and ‘Mom.'\These two names were somewhat heavy for Qian, who had once been an orphan...\Chapter Three - Long Yan's Basement End