Chapter 320 This is Black Gold Stone
Crackle, crackle.
Cheng Wanwan was awakened by the sound of firecrackers outside the window.
Many bamboo piles were burned in the yard, making crackling sounds. Poor people couldn't afford firecrackers, so they burned these to celebrate the New Year.
It's still snowing outside, but the snowfall has lessened a bit, and the village has gathered to shovel snow.
Cheng Wanwan put on a coat and sat up. She glanced at her little granddaughter, who was fast asleep on the kang (a heated brick bed), and felt a sense of satisfaction.
She covered her granddaughter with a blanket and went out to wash up.
Because the weather was so cold, the kang (a heated brick bed) was heated 24 hours a day, and there was always hot water available on the stove.
It feels so good to wash my face with hot water mixed with snow water first thing in the morning.
After washing her face, she saw some women from the village walking towards her house.
"Grandma Mountain, do you still have any firewood to sell?"
"My firewood is almost gone, we don't have enough."
"It's been snowing every day, and the firewood brought down from the mountain is wet. When we burn it, the whole house is filled with smoke, which is choking us. What are we going to do?"
In previous years, we would store this much firewood to get through the winter, but this year it's too cold, so there isn't enough firewood. Everyone in the village has used up all their firewood, let alone the people in Xindahe Village. They are shivering and stomping their feet to keep warm... The only good thing is that three or four families are crammed into one blue-tiled house. With more people, it's a little warmer.
Cheng Wanwan shook her head: "Everyone bought a lot before the New Year, and they sold out in four or five days. My family doesn't have much left either, but I can..."
She knew of a type of stove with a powerful fire that could burn a small amount of dry firewood at the bottom, and wet firewood could also be ignited. The stove body was equipped with ventilation holes according to specifications, so there was not much smoke, and because of the air circulation, the combustion rate was also very high.
However, she was interrupted before she could finish speaking.
“Grandma, are you still burning firewood at home?” Granny Zhang’s head suddenly popped into the room. “Tsk tsk, it’s so warm. Everyone else is out of firewood to cook, and you’re still burning firewood to keep warm. These rich people just don’t know the hardships of ordinary people.”
Upon hearing this, Cheng Wanwan smiled.
She put down what she was holding and said leisurely, "As far as I know, Zhang the scoundrel bought about thirty catties of firewood from me. It could last for at least ten days to cook two meals a day, but it's all gone in just four days? You can burn firewood at home to keep warm, so why can't I? What, are you from the Zhang family born noble?"
Granny Zhang was so choked up that she couldn't utter a single word.
The villagers nearby couldn't help but speak up.
“Grandma Dashan sold firewood to everyone because she thought that we were all from the same village and should help each other out. Even if she didn’t sell a single piece, no one had the right to criticize her.”
"The village uses up firewood so quickly because people burn it all day to make a fire. Why can't Dashan's mother make a fire?"
"Da Gang's mother, you just love to be annoying."
"It's time to get Zhang the scoundrel in line."
The crowd started chattering, making Granny Zhang blush with embarrassment, and she quickly left.
Cheng Wanwan looked at everyone and her voice became gentle: "If you're free this afternoon, come to my house and have a chat."
The women nodded quickly.
The heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed) at Da Shan Niang's house is so warm; it's incredibly comfortable to come over and chat.
After the people in the courtyard left, Cheng Wanwan began preparing lunch.
There were some leftovers from yesterday's family reunion dinner. These were mostly meat and oily dishes, so we stewed them together with Chinese cabbage. The taste was quite good.
There are still some meatballs left; we can heat them up and serve them.
Buy another pound of fresh meat from the mall and stir-fry it with cabbage stalks.
She was arranging lunch, while Wu Huiniang was preparing the dishes. The two worked together very well.
As Cheng Wanwan was cutting meat, her fingers suddenly paused: "Hui Niang, do you smell anything strange?"
Wu Huiniang sniffed herself and said embarrassedly, "Little Pearl peed on me this morning, I'm going to change my clothes..."
"no……"
Cheng Wanwan sniffed, and the strange smell seemed to be coming from outside the window.
She put down the cleaver and went outside, where the strange smell was even stronger.
Zhao Sidan, who was reading a book inside, also ran out: "It smells terrible, like something is on fire."
Zhao Dashan quickly looked around and finally saw a sign: "Look, there's smoke on the back hill."
Dahe Village has more than just Dadong Mountain; there are many other low hills as well. The low hills behind it are wasteland that was granted by the imperial court last time. They are barren, continuous low hills with no grass growing on them, and are full of rocks and mud. No one in the village wants to go up there.
"There are no trees or grass on the mountain, so how did it catch fire?" Zhao Dashan wondered. "I have to go and see."
Cheng Wanwan frowned: "Don't you think the smell is awful? It might be poisonous. Go to Uncle Lizheng's house right away and make sure no one comes up the mountain. If they get too close, they might get poisoned."
She felt like she'd smelled this scent somewhere before.
When I try to think about it carefully, I can't remember it.
The villagers smelled the strange odor and stood at a distance on the other side of the low hill to watch the spectacle.
"What are you all looking at? Go back now!" The village head chased everyone away. "Go back and lock the doors and windows tightly. Don't come out."
The village head himself did not go back, but instead called the patrol team to dig ditches at the foot of the low hill to create firebreaks, so as to prevent the fire from spreading to the village.
"That's really strange." The village head shook his head. "The mountain is covered in snow, and the soil is soaked with snow water. The key is that there's nothing to burn, so how come there's so much smoke?"
Wang Yongcheng didn't know either, and casually said, "Was someone drying firewood on the mountain and accidentally set it on fire?"
The village head took a puff of his pipe: "Once the fire is extinguished, I'll have to go up and see what happened."
Cheng Wanwan also had the same idea.
The more she smelled the scent, the more familiar it seemed; she might not be able to sleep if she didn't figure it out.
The mist on the mountain gradually dissipated by evening.
This low hill is at the other end of the village, on the edge of wasteland. Since it was incorporated into the territory of Dahe Village, no one in the village has ever gone up it.
Cheng Wanwan and the village head walked up the mountain one after the other.
A fire melted the snow, and the meltwater flowed down the mountain, making the mountain path very difficult to walk. However, after walking a short distance, one could discover that the stones on the mountain were all black.
The village head squatted down, picked up a black stone, and smelled it: "It's hot, and it smells burnt. How did this thing get on fire?"
Even Cheng Wanwan, who is usually calm and composed, was losing her composure at this moment.
If she wasn't mistaken, this thing was coal!
When she lived in an orphanage as a child, there were always piles of black coal in the yard, so she was very familiar with it.
She wasn't from this era, and for a moment she couldn't be sure whether coal mines had even started being used in this time.
“Uncle Village Head, this should be it,” Cheng Wanwan said slowly. “I don’t know what it is either. I’ll take it back to Master Yu and the others. They are knowledgeable and might know.”
If Master Yu and He Xiao do not know each other, it means that the coal mine has not yet been widely used.
The village head picked up a small black stone, wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and the two of them went down the mountain together, heading directly to Master Yu's residence.
Master Yu was drinking tea with He Xiao, and it was unclear what they were talking about. Both of them looked somewhat lost. When they saw Cheng Wanwan and the village head arrive, they quickly got up to greet them.
The village head wasn't one to ramble on, so he simply took out the item and asked, "Master Yu, have you seen this before?"
Master Yu took the cloth bag, examined it carefully, and said slowly, "The book says that the mountains are rich in stones of various colors. They are shiny and can be burned. They are called black gold stones, also known as black coal, which contain infinite heat."
“Black gold?” He Xiao pondered for a moment. “The sacrificial vessels in the ancestral temples of the capital and the large smelting furnaces are all made of black gold.”
Cheng Wanwan pressed on, "Since black gold can burn, does anyone use it specifically for cooking and heating?"
“Although black gold has high calorific value, it is poisonous. People will feel dizzy and vomit if they smell it. It can be thrown into a smelting furnace and burned on its own,” He Xiao said. “Of course, some ordinary people who cannot afford charcoal will also use black gold as fuel. They call it coal briquettes. When burning it, the doors and windows need to be wide open, and the air needs to be changed every half hour…”
Cheng Wanwan understood.
This stuff was mainly used by the imperial court for forging utensils and smelting iron, and it was also made into coal briquettes and sold to the poor.
Coal briquettes are simply lumps of raw coal that have not been processed. When burned, they release large amounts of toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, which can easily lead to poisoning and death if one is not careful.
In modern society, during the 1980s and 90s, honeycomb briquettes were a popular fuel.
The process of turning raw coal into honeycomb briquettes is extremely simple. It not only minimizes toxic gases but also increases the combustion rate of coal, making it perfect for cooking and heating.
Cheng Wanwan smiled.
Just when they were short of fuel, a coal mine was discovered. God really has been kind to Dahe Village.
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