Yan Zheng had previously planned to build a firewall, but how to plan it became a problem.

Traditional firewalls consist of three parts: a chimney, a hearth, and the firewall body.

The firebox can be placed inside the fire wall or built close to the fire wall to form a T-shaped wall-mounted stove.

When the fire is lit, the hot air enters the three hollow walls in a T-shape, and these three walls become an automatic heat source.

When it's cold, the temperature in a room with a heated wall is generally more than 20 degrees Celsius higher than the outside temperature. When it's hot, it's not a problem to wear a sweater inside.

Another advantage of this firewall is that the stove does not need to be set up in the same room. It can be set up in an annex or kitchen. As long as there is a passage for heat to pass through, the firewall can be as good as an electric heater.

However, if a firewall is taken into account, the previous plan to divide the house into three parts, with a living room and dining room in the middle and a bedroom on each side, would have to be overturned.

Yan Zheng went through several options in his mind, and finally settled for changing the layout of the house.

The layout is still divided into three parts. The leftmost room is used as the living room and dining room, while the two bedrooms on the right are connected together, with the firewall placed between the two bedrooms.

A kitchen was originally built against the wall of the main house at a 90-degree angle. The large iron pot that Jiang Xi used to take a bath in was taken from here by Yan Zheng.

The stove inside had already collapsed halfway, so Yan Zheng simply smashed the entire stove and dismantled the wall frame as well.

The entire kitchen was restored to its bare state, the kitchen door was moved to a different direction, the stove was moved to a position against the wall, close to the wall of the main house, and three T-shaped firewalls were built from behind the stove.

In addition, a small stove without a fire wall was set up next to it for cooking in the summer.

At this time, although the temperature is rising, the temperature difference between day and night is large, so it is not a good time to sow seeds.

Taking advantage of this time, Jiang Xi and Yan Zheng discussed firing the yellow bricks and tiles, and then moving into the house before the busy farming season.

The first step is to fire the bricks.

The bricks used in this building are different from those used in the previous earthen stoves.

The best bricks for building are made by adding a certain amount of fine sand to clay, which increases hardness and stability. These bricks are also better at heat preservation and earthquake resistance.

Jiang Xi had some understanding of soil properties. Before going to the field for archaeological work, her mentor gave her a book on archaeology and geology to study on her own.

In my memory, sandy soil and sandy soil are different. Sandy soil generally refers to soil with a high sand content, which also contains a high quartz content.

It can be easily squeezed into a ball by hand, and you can clearly feel the sand grains inside, unlike sand which scatters when the wind blows. It is generally found in riverbeds.

Jiang Xi vaguely remembered the location where they dug clay in her dream. Following the memory from her dream, she found the dried-up riverbed where the ancestors dug kaolin.

This river channel should also be divided into flood season and drought season; otherwise, it should have disappeared long ago after so many years.

Jiang Xi took a stone shovel and rummaged around as she walked, and soon found clay and sand.

Yan Zheng, along with Xiao Lu, pulled the wooden cart over.

Worried that the clay would dirty the car and make it difficult to clean from the back, he put a thick layer of dry grass on top.

So the two of them each took a stone shovel and shoveled soil into the cart.

Yan Zheng said that she could just hold the car from the side, but Jiang Xi insisted on refusing. Her grandmother often said that work is something that can be trained, and the less you do it, the less you will know how to do it.

Since arriving here, Jiang Xi has deliberately cultivated her endurance and physical fitness.

Moreover, she had previously said that she wanted to learn kung fu from Yan Jing'an, but she also knew in her heart that with her current physique, without a good foundation, even if she learned it, it would only be fancy moves.

While taking a shower, Jiang Xi would sometimes quietly admire her current figure.

In the past, even a fitness coach would probably have said that the body fat percentage was really low.

After months of working in various ways, she felt that her shoulders and neck had become more upright, her waistline was smooth, and her originally thin arms and legs now showed firm and well-proportioned muscles. It was not fat or muscular, but a natural and smooth beauty.

Unlike before, she feels that she is in her best state now. The gentle and refined female student of the past is long gone; now she is full of vibrant vitality.

So even though Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an were there for many things, she tried to do them herself first, and only handed them over to them if she really couldn't handle them.

Repairing houses, making stoves, and building brick beds all require a lot of bricks, so they have to dig several cartloads to have enough.

On the very first day, Jiang Xi's hands were covered in blisters, and Yan Zheng felt heartbroken as he applied herbal medicine to her that evening.

She bluntly stated that she hadn't done much work, but had suffered a great deal, and if the wound got infected, it would be even harder to heal later.

Jiang Xi couldn't refuse him, so she had to agree to stay in the village and clean up the clay.

The clay they shoveled back often contained large stones or grass roots. Jiang Xi needed to add water to the clay to soften it again before removing the impurities.

Only clay that has undergone this treatment can be fired into bricks; otherwise, the fired bricks will easily develop cracks and air holes, affecting their durability and stability.

Yan Jing'an's health has improved a lot, so he simply works with Jiang Xi. Yan Zheng is in charge of transporting the clay back, while the two of them are responsible for sifting the clay and making bricks.

After the clay has been sieved, a certain proportion of sandy soil is added to it. The two types of soil are then mixed evenly and placed into a wooden mold.

The mold was made by Yan Jing'an under Jiang Xi's guidance, still using the mortise and tenon technique. Yan Jing'an made two, one for each of them.

Yan Zheng was in charge of digging the soil, while the two of them were in charge of making the bricks. The division of labor was clear, and the process went relatively smoothly. In just two days, the two of them had made about three hundred bricks.

Considering that the floor inside the house also needed to be paved with tiles, the two enlarged the brick model into 20x20 cm square tiles. They spent seven days making about three hundred wall tiles and more than a thousand floor tiles.

If this speed were in the past, the brick seller would probably be furious, but here, even Jiang Xi would have to praise herself for being so fast.

After finishing the work, there was still some soil left. Remembering that Yan Zheng had said some of the roof tiles were broken and needed to be replaced, they simply made dozens more tiles.

The shaped bricks need to be left to dry in a cool place. Yan Jing'an stood all the dried and shaped bricks up to allow them to ventilate.

Raw yellow bricks will crack if fired directly. In the summer, they need to be fired for three to five days. Now that the weather is a bit cool, they are expected to be dried for about seven or eight days.

While the bricks were drying, Yan Zheng first had to completely clear out the main house. The wardrobes, chairs, eight-immortal table, and some lamps and bronze mirrors that had been in the house before had already been taken away by him.