My name is Xiaochui — Little Hammer — because I can't swing the big one.
My master is Ou Yezi, the best smith in town and the stubbornest furnace in the world. When he took me on, he said: can't swing the hammer, fine; can't keep the bellows steady, out you go. Four years now, and my bellows haven't missed the heat once. Spear-tempering, hoe-hammering, pot-mending — anyone will tell you: steadiest bellows in town.
Master keeps saying he's waiting for a piece of good iron. I ask what iron, and he says he'll tell me the day I can swing the big hammer. Fine. I train. Fifty stone-lock lifts before dawn, then the bellows. One day I'll make him say it out loud.
And that day, I'll swing the big hammer, and Master can pump the bellows.