SFS Chapter 411: Burning the Mountain and Quarrying Stones
Chapter 411: Burning the Mountain and Quarrying Stones
"Li Xin, we helped you pick up the ghost-seeing monsters. Will you really treat us to peach water after we go back?" Zhao Sijiao asked.
Li Xin, who was being questioned, did not seem to be in a hurry to defend himself. He continued to look for those dry and well-preserved ghost-seeing fruits from the ground.
Just when Zhao Sijiao thought he would not get an answer, Li Xin asked without stopping and without looking up, "When have I ever lied to you?"
Zhao Sijiao let out a duck-like quacking sound from his throat. "I'm just asking, didn't you say that Aunt Qingqing added sugar to the peach water she cooked?"
Although Aunt Qingqing made them some twisted candy again after the wheat harvest, it was so delicious that they couldn't get enough of it, so the remaining ones at home were finished early.
Now only Wenxin's family has remaining twisted candy.
Li Xin nodded without denying it, and it was only at this time that he turned his head to look at Zhao Sijiao and Zhao Jianghe.
Looking at the two younger ones, she said, "You better fill your baskets quickly. We need to get other food later. Otherwise, I won't share any food with you two."
Compared with children of the same age, Zhao Jianghe and Zhao Sijiao are much more sensible, but no matter how sensible they are, they are still children. They have tasted the sweetness of sugar, so how can they not miss it?
After hearing what Li Xin said, the two stopped talking and hurriedly squatted down to pick up the good-looking ghost-seeing fish on the ground and put them in their respective baskets.
Seeing that they had almost finished picking, Li Xin took them to pick pine, cypress and mulberry leaves...
......
That afternoon, Gu Qingqing put the soapberry, pine and cypress leaves, mulberry leaves, saponins, astragalus, privet, etc. that Li Xin brought back into a clean pot, added water and began to boil shampoo.
On the other side, after Li Xin poured a bowl of peach juice with peach flesh for Zhao Jianghe and Zhao Sijiao, he hurried into the kitchen.
"Aunt, it's hot in the kitchen. Let me light the fire and you can go outside where it's cooler." Li Xin said as he was about to take the firewood from Gu Qingqing's hand.
Gu Qingqing added the big firewood in her hand into the stove and said to him with a smile, "If I'm hot, you won't be hot too? We won't watch it. I'll put a big firewood in it and let it burn first."
Gu Qingqing drove Li Xin out of the kitchen as well. In winter, her kitchen was very convenient to use because it was warm and airtight. But in summer, it was really not friendly at all because the kitchen was very hot.
After the pot of simmering Chinese medicine boiled, Gu Qingqing stuffed a piece of dry firewood of appropriate thickness into the stove, and let the medicine slowly boil.
The aroma of Chinese medicine spread in the yard. Old Yang, who was at home making straw hats with wheat straw, smelled the aroma and went to the kitchen. He saw a large pot of Chinese medicine boiling in the pot. He thought something was wrong and hurried to find Gu Qingqing, "Qingqing, why are there so many medicines boiling on the stove? Are you going to use them? What are you going to use them for?"
Old Yang asked nervously.
Seeing that Old Yang had misunderstood, Gu Qingqing hurriedly explained with a thick smile on her face, "Uncle Yang, that is not for people to drink. I plan to use it to make shampoo. After it is boiled, you and your children can use it to wash your hair. It will make your hair smooth and soft."
"Haha, I'm an old man already, why should I care whether his hair is smooth or not." Old Yang laughed.
Seeing that she was not busy, she walked away with her arms behind her back again, but this time she did not go to get the straw hat, but just walked out of the yard with her arms behind her back.
He first went to the house where Zhao Dong lived, and seeing that there was no one there, he simply put his arms behind his back and went up to the mountain behind the village.
"Master Yang, where are you going?" The man who came down the mountain carrying stones greeted Old Yang.
Old Yang's children are literate, and the villagers respect him very much.
"I have nothing to do. I'll go to the other side of the mountain for a walk."
"Then please go slowly, the mountain road is not easy to walk on."
"Hey, get down the mountain quickly. The stones on your back are putting pressure on you." Old Yang said to the other person.
Old Yang walked up the mountain with his hands and feet behind his back. From afar, he saw the village men with their upper bodies naked, trying to find ways to smash and carry stones.
However, the rocks are hard and not easy to mine.
These villagers are good at farming, but they use the most clumsy method to mine stones.
Seeing how hard everyone was working, Old Yang couldn't help but start searching for things he had seen or heard before, to see if there was any good idea.
His frown suddenly relaxed. He seemed to have seen this in a book before. It was...
"Master Yang, why are you here? When will the village school start?"
Old Yang was interrupted from his thoughts. He turned around and saw a man from the village. He saw that the bamboo basket behind him was also carrying stones. He answered, "It will take half a month to return it."
"I was just about to look for you. My sister knew that my child was learning to read with you, and her child also wanted to learn to read. When she came the day before yesterday, she asked me to ask you, do you accept children from other villages?"
"Other villages? Hahaha, as long as the child wants to study, he can come. What's the problem? There are still two empty tables in the school. Since he is from another village, is the distance far? Can he come to school every day regardless of rain or shine? The most taboo in learning knowledge is to fish for three days and dry the net for two days. By the way, how old is the child?" Old Yang asked finally.
“I’m seven years old this year.”
"Then it's just right for enlightenment." Old Yang replied.
"Hahaha, since you can teach here, I will let the child live in my house, and when he is rested, I will send him back to his village."
"Okay, let him come when school starts. As for what books you need to prepare, isn't your eldest son also in school? Just follow his advice." Old Yang said, looking at the bamboo basket behind him. "The stones are very heavy. You should go back quickly. I'll take a look around here."
"Hey, you're busy."
When Old Yang arrived at the foot of the mountain, he first found Zhao Nan, Zhao Zhong and Zhao Feng who were also there.
"Old Yang, why are you here?" Zhao Nan and his companions were also shirtless at this time, and their dark skin was shining oilily under the sun.
"I came here to take a look today when I had nothing to do. You guys are mining by smashing stones together?" Old Yang just saw Zhao Nan holding a large pebble and smashing it on a protruding limestone.
"We haven't found a good crack yet, so let's find one and hit it a few times to make a crack, and then use an iron pick to mine." Zhao Nan said, pointing to his feet.
"Come here, I was just standing over there watching you do it, and then I remembered that I read in a book before that it said to use fire. You can try it." Old Yang said.
"Burn with fire? Wouldn't it turn into lime if burned with fire?" Zhao Zhong said.
Old Yang shook his head and said, "It won't work. Even if it does, it will only be on the surface."
"Then what should we do?" Zhao Nan asked, wiping the sweat off his face with the towel around his neck.
Old Yang looked around and pointed to a place with a slightly protruding rock above and a rock cave about one foot wide and half a foot deep below. He said, "For example, there is a cave there. You can try to light a big fire over there and then bring a few buckets of water to quickly pour it on."
"Will this work?" The Zhao brothers were all puzzled.
"It should be possible. It is said that the stones will easily crack if you put them down like this." The master nodded.
The brothers looked at each other, and finally Zhao Nan said, "How about we give it a try?"
"Just try it."