When Jiang Yimian and her group arrived at the town entrance, Yang Er was dozing off while leaning against the oxcart. He was startled awake when they approached, and his gaze fell on the fish fry and loach fry in the bucket, where he paused in surprise.
"You're planning to raise fish?"
Jiang Yimian didn't hide anything and casually agreed.
Yang Er was taken aback, hesitated for a moment, and finally said nothing.
The group sat on the oxcart, and after a while, several women from other villages came to ride in the oxcart.
Seeing that it was almost noon, Yang Er didn't wait any longer and drove the oxcart away.
When the group returned to Qingshi Village, they could see smoke rising from every household's chimney and occasionally smell some delicious aromas.
Gou Sheng rubbed his stomach, feeling a bit hungry. He was determined to eat a big bowl of rice when he got back.
If they weren't worried about missing Yang Er's oxcart, they would have eaten something before coming back.
Thinking about food, he quickened his pace. From afar, he could see many people busy at the foot of the mountain. The once empty place was now piled with bricks, tiles, and some wood.
At this moment, standing in front of the open space piled with wood were the village chief and the old man with the white beard, who lived opposite Jiang Yimian's thatched hut.
The two seemed to be talking about something, and the old man lowered his head in disappointment.
Gou Sheng stared at the bricks, tiles, and wood scattered on the ground and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, so many blue bricks! How big a house must be built? Who is this person? So rich!"
Liu Dayong and Zhao Dashu were filled with envy, wondering when they would be able to live in a brick house.
Jiang Yimian didn't seem to notice anything; she glanced at it casually a few times and then walked straight ahead.
After greeting the village chief, the group didn't linger.
Jiang Yimian paused after taking only a few steps.
Li Yishi looked at the old man in front of him with some difficulty, "Scholar Zhang, I know what you mean, but you also know the situation in the village. There are hardly any people. They couldn't even set up a school before. How could they possibly set one up after the war and famine?"
"Your life is tough, and you want to set up a school in exchange for some food. I know that's not an unreasonable request, but everyone in the village is busy, and the children at home are the main breadwinners. No one can send them to learn to read. I still have some cornmeal at home; I'll bring you some later."
He was well aware of the hardships Zhang Xiucai's family faced, but the idea of setting up a school was simply wishful thinking.
Although Qingshi Village was not robbed by bandits like other villages, it was already poor, and was the poorest of the villages, with few people and little fertile land.
Although each family owned a considerable amount of land, the amount of grain they grew was meager, leaving them barely surviving. How could they possibly learn to read and write?
Those children are lucky to have enough to eat; what family would have the spare money to send them to learn to read?
Scholar Zhang shook his head, sighed, and silently limped back to the dilapidated thatched hut, leaning on his cane.
Jiang Yimian looked at the seemingly hunched back and felt a pleasant surprise.
She never expected that this white-bearded old man was a scholar. In the previous few meetings, she only thought that the old man looked very kind and did not seem like a farmer who spent all day in the fields. She never expected that he was a scholar.
If the other party could teach Ono and the others to read, wouldn't things be much easier for her?
A scholar who has passed the imperial examinations is certainly better than her; he can teach more and doesn't require her to worry about what she can and cannot say every day.
It seems she'll have a chance to talk to Scholar Zhang.
When the group returned to the small depression, Wang Fengqin was still cooking, clearly waiting for them.
Without hesitation, the group stayed at the Jiang family's house for a meal before heading off to their respective tasks.
Old Liu was busy with the land reclamation work with everyone, so much so that Liu Dayong and Zhao Dashu went to help after finishing their meal.
Wang Fengqin and several other women were also busy. The men were responsible for cutting down trees, while they were responsible for cutting off the withered roots and stems of wild grass.
Fortunately, the weather hasn't warmed up yet, otherwise all the grass on the ground would sprout from the ground.
Jiang Yimian found spare buckets and wooden basins in several places and raised fish fry and loach fry separately.
He's currently placing the basin in a warm spot where it can get some sun.
Xiao Ye, Xiao Nuan'er, and Daya curiously gathered around the new creatures, staring at the fish fry in the bucket and basin, and asked, "Sister, when will these little fish grow into big fish? Are they for eating?"
Jiang Yimian met the three pairs of expectant eyes and replied helplessly, "I can eat it, but I can't eat it all."
She was planning to exchange her money for copper coins; if it was just for food, the fish in the lotus pond would be enough.
Xiao Nuan'er nodded as if she understood, and stared at the little fish for a while before following Xiao Ye to practice calligraphy.
After settling the fish fry in and feeding them some chopped earthworms and aquatic plants, she went to work on the soap making.
There wasn't much pork fat left in the cellar; she would need to buy some more when she went to town tomorrow.
After Jiang Yimian finished her work and waited for the contents of the pot to turn into a paste, she ladled out several portions into bowls.
She then added different pigments to the bowls to create the colors she wanted, and took out a piping bag from her spatial storage, filling it with the various colored pastes.
The square box that she asked Gousheng to make last time is finished. The top doesn't need to be covered, and the other five sides can be laid flat or fixed into a square box.
It's very well made. The box is clearly polished and has no splinters; it's very smooth.
Jiang Yimian used a piping bag to draw the picture she imagined in her mind layer by layer inside the box. Soon the large box was covered with paste of different colors.
Jiang Yimian glanced at it and felt a little uneasy. She had watched quite a few videos, but she would have to wait and see how the finished product turned out after it dried.
She covered the square box with a dust-proof cloth and set it aside. Then she mixed the paste in the pot into pastes of different colors and aromas and poured them into bamboo tubes.
It was an hour later when all the paste in the pot was poured out.
Jiang Yimian stretched, cleaned the kitchen, and took out some distillation equipment from her space. She then distilled some high-concentration alcohol from the wine before helping to cultivate the wasteland.
Because there weren't many dense weeds on the ground, clearing the land wasn't too difficult, and with Jiang Yimian's help, cutting down trees was even easier.
Everyone worked until dark before they could rest.
After finishing her meal, Jiang Yimian didn't forget to bring the fish fry and loach fry into the house.
The weather is still not warm, so the small fish fry and loach fry must be kept warm, otherwise they will freeze to death before they grow up.
When the others learned that she wanted to raise fish and loaches, they didn't have much objection, but they were still a little apprehensive. None of them had ever done fish farming before, so they were inevitably worried.
Old Liu took a few glances and was only somewhat relieved to see that the fish fry and loach fry were all lively and jumping around. He was already thinking about how to help the fry grow up smoothly.
Since Yi Mian wanted to raise fish, he couldn't let her waste her coins; he had to come up with a good way to raise fish well.
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