Zhao Wei looked at the people in the yard slapping mosquitoes in a panic, and suddenly wanted to do something. He turned and walked towards the woodshed, where Wang Caigu was changing the straw bedding for the female wolf. When she saw him come in, she stood up and said, "It's late at night, what is this..."
"Mom, let me get you a hand-cranked fan!"
It should have been done a long time ago, but Zhao Wei was always busy with trivial matters and didn't have time to do it.
It doesn't seem like a big deal at the moment, so this little invention is still worth trying.
Zhao Wei pointed at the wood in the corner and said, "All of these wood can be used. Just wait for me to give you a surprise!"
Wang Cai glared at him and said, "You only know how to do these things. Don't you even sleep? Your wife follows you. If you don't sleep, she can't sleep either. How can the child grow up well?"
Well……
This really left Zhao Wei speechless.
The child still comes first, and for now, Yunxiu really can’t be allowed to stay up late.
So he could only say angrily: "No, it will be the same tomorrow."
At worst, we can capture Huangmao and Erxiao to serve as soldiers. With their help, there is nothing we can't do.
I had no dreams all night long until dawn, but I woke up because I felt hot, and woke up because I felt hot again. This day was quite hard to endure.
Especially Yunxiu, who tossed and turned like she was frying fish, which made Zhao Wei very tired. He fanned her all night.
Normally, although it is very hot, it doesn’t seem to be this hot and I can still bear it.
But now, Yunxiu's enthusiasm has made him hot too.
Are pregnant women so scary?
He thought of ice. Yes, he had to make some ice. Just buying popsicles seemed to be a drop in the bucket.
This thing is not that difficult to make, the main thing is to have saltpeter.
Let's go to the nearby quarry to inquire tomorrow.
As he was thinking, he fanned Yunxiu and slowly fell asleep.
The next morning, the rooster crowed three times before the whole family got up.
None of them slept very well.
Moreover, I was already feeling dizzy from the heat early in the morning.
It's not just this family, it's the whole village.
Zhao Wei knew that people were in a state of unrest. It would be too much to ask them to work under such circumstances.
So he went to the commune immediately and called the office staff to hold a brief meeting, mainly to discuss the suspension of work and production.
Just arrange a few people to be responsible for the rice production records every day, and don't worry about other things for the time being.
In the adobe house of the commune, the officials sat dejectedly on long benches, with their straw hats placed on the table, all stained with sweat.
As soon as Zhao Wei finished talking about stopping work, the officer in charge of recording work points waved his hands and said, "Boss, the rice seedlings are growing now. If we don't water them for a day, they will wilt. We can't stop!"
"Who said to stop watering?" Zhao Wei poured half a tank of cold water into the enamel tank. "We arranged four people to take shifts every day. They would watch the canal in the morning and evening when it's cooler, and rest at noon. It's really making people suffer from the heat. It's not worth it."
He pointed at the sun outside the window, which was dazzlingly bright just after noon.
"I heard yesterday that Erzhu's wife fainted in the field. It was still 10 o'clock in the morning. This damn weather is unbearable!"
After this was said, no one refuted it.
In case someone dies from the heat, no one dares to joke with their life.
Seeing that no one had any objections, Zhao Wei added, "Let the women go to the grain drying ground to build a canopy, and dig out all the old mats in the warehouse for everyone to rest at noon. I will ask the village kitchen to make more mung bean soup, and send it to various places after it cools down."
When the meeting was over, someone came up to me and said, "Boss, I just heard someone say that you were going to look for saltpeter? I heard that saltpeter burns your hands and is not easy to get."
Zhao Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "It's better to try than to wait to die of the heat. Don't hospitals in the city use saltpeter to make ice? We don't need a lot, just two basins to cool down pregnant women and children."
When he got home, Huangmao and Erxiao were already chopping wood in the yard. Seeing Zhao Wei coming back, Huangmao raised his axe and shouted, "Master, how do you make the fan you mentioned? Do you want me to draw a diagram first?"
Zhao Wei threw the canvas bag onto the stone table and said, "Don't worry, come with me to the quarry to find saltpeter."
Erxiao scratched his head: "What is saltpeter?"
"Uh... a kind of shiny white stone, right?"
"Tsk tsk...I think I saw it on the east side of the quarry last year."
Zhao Wei's eyes lit up: "Yes, that's the kind. This thing can dissolve water. If you find it, I'll give you credit."
The quarry is at the foot of Biaoshui Rock, ten miles away. In the past, there would always be groups of villagers coming to knock stones and sell them for money. But now the sun is too hot, and only an old man who is watching over the quarry is taking a nap in the shack.
Seeing Zhao Wei and his friends coming, the old man took off his straw hat and said, "What are you looking for? The stones have been cracked by the sun lately, so it's hard to mine."
"Looking for saltpeter."
Zhao Wei handed over a piece of tobacco, "Have you seen it, uncle? It's shiny and sparkles when it comes into contact with water."
The old man puffed on his pipe and said, "Oh, you mean saltpeter! There's plenty of it on the hillside behind us. We used it to make earth explosives, but it has a strong smell."
He led the three people to the back of the mountain, and sure enough, they saw a lot of crystal stones embedded in the rock wall, which were hot under the sun.
Just as Huangmao was about to pry it open with his hands, the old man stopped him, "Wear gloves! That thing will burn your skin, and it can cause you to peel off a layer of skin if it gets wet with sweat!" Zhao Wei quickly asked Erxiao to take out cloth gloves from the bag, and the four of them carefully knocked over half of the sack.
When we walked back, the sun was shining brightly and the stones under our feet were hot enough to bake pancakes.
Huang Mao held the sack and grinned: "Can this thing really make ice? It looks like salt lumps to me."
Zhao Wei took the sack and weighed it: "We'll know if it works when we go back and try it."
As soon as I arrived at the entrance of the village, I saw Yunxiu and Honggu standing under the old locust tree looking around, with two coarse porcelain bowls in the bamboo basket.
"Hurry up and drink some water." Yunxiu handed over the bowl, which contained herbal tea with honey. "Auntie Hong said that drinking this can help you get rid of the heat."
Zhao Wei drank it all in one gulp. The sweet and cool feeling flowed down his throat, and he immediately felt much better.
Hong Gu pointed at the sack and said, "Is this saltpeter? I've seen it in a pharmacy before. The shopkeeper said it can cure abdominal pain. I didn't expect it can also make ice."
Zhao Wei smiled and said, "I'll let you see it today."
He asked Huangmao to pour saltpeter into a large ceramic jar and add half a jar of well water into it. Sure enough, a layer of white frost formed on the wall of the jar after a while.
"It's done!"
Erxiao clapped his hands and shouted, "It's so cool! Master, you are amazing!"
Zhao Wei found a small pottery jar, filled it with water and immersed it in the pottery jar, then covered it with a lid: "Wait half an hour, and it will freeze into a lump of ice."
Yunxiu squatted beside the pottery jar, reached out and touched the wall of the jar, and opened her eyes wide in surprise: "It's really cold! Much colder than well water."
Zhao Wei scratched her nose and said, "I'll make you some iced sour plum soup tonight so you can sleep well."
As the sun set, a thin layer of ice formed in the pottery jar.
Wang Caigu used the ice to make an ice pillow for Yunxiu and was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling: "My son is really capable. He is not afraid of the hottest weather."
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