When she worked with a woman, she was stronger than the others, so she had to do the physical work herself. She felt embarrassed to let the other women do the work while she rested, as she was more tired than anyone else. But when she worked with men, she didn't have to worry about that. She could just order them around, and she only had to use her brain and mouth, without having to exert any physical strength.
"When the line manager and I are not on duty, we can come and work. Others will be happy to do it too." Shu said.
"Okay, then just call me, I need about eight to ten people." Qiao Yu agreed.
The next morning, Shu and nine other people were waiting in the clearing.
Seeing Yan coming, Qiao Yu had no expression on his face and led a few people out of the tribe: "Let's go, get out."
Qiao Yu did not go to the earthen kiln where she made pottery, but chose a slightly raised hill.
"Use your wooden shovels and dig all the way down from here." Qiao Yu pointed to a place and said, "I want to hollow out the bottom of this hill and fill it with branches."
Considering what Qiao Yu said yesterday, "Don't ask", Shu remained silent and started digging in the place where Qiao Yu pointed.
Qiao Yu found another place and dug down.
She once again thanked herself for her special interest in civil engineering. She also took a look at the rural charcoal kilns with interest. She knew that charcoal must be isolated from the air, otherwise the firewood would turn into ash when burned and would not be able to become charcoal at all.
The others who were not informed by Shu knew about this and were filled with envy. They came over and asked, "Yu, do we have enough manpower? If you need anyone, just let us know. We all want to work."
In the tribe, whether it was pottery making, animal husbandry, or yam digging, everyone was paid, and half of the profits were shared. Previously, the men were busy hunting, unaware of the benefits, and no one competed for the work. Now, even though they were taking a break, seeing Qiao Yu standing in front of the kiln, everyone was tempted.
"There are enough people." Qiao Yu was very satisfied with this phenomenon.
As a leader, she had the power to distribute supplies, which gave her prestige. She didn't need to be told to do it; everyone rushed to work. If she were like a mountain, suppressing people with fists and force, believe it or not, whoever she asked to work more would be reluctant?
Everyone was very disappointed.
Disappointed as they were, they didn't dare to complain. Didn't they see that Huo and Qinglang were isolated by the entire tribe because they offended Qiao Yu?
Yan came over to work. Qiao Yu didn't know the reason, but the others could guess why - Lu must not want his grandson to end up in the same situation as Qinglang, so he forced him to show goodwill to Yu and reconcile with her.
Qinglang and Shan had a deep-seated grudge, one that couldn't be resolved with a smile or a few kind words. But Yan was different. The marriage wasn't going through, so as long as Yan bowed his head, Shan and Yu wouldn't bother with them too much, thinking it was for Lu's sake.
The ten men were all good workers. Some went in to dig the soil, while others pulled out the rattan baskets filled with soil and dumped them out. After being busy for most of the day, the charcoal kiln was almost dug out.
Qiao Yu stood under the kiln, asked the tree to pass branches to her, and began to fill it with firewood. After filling it up, she sealed the kiln mouth with mud and then lit the thatch.
"Okay, go back to sleep." Qiao Yu said.
After the firewood at the kiln entrance burns, the fire will slowly spread into the kiln along the stacked firewood, igniting the firewood inside. After a few hours, when all the firewood has burned through, the fire will go out. This is different from firing pottery, which does not require human supervision.
Two days later, when the temperature of the entire kiln has dropped, you can open the kiln and pick the charcoal.
Qiao Yu had never burned charcoal before, so she just relied on the little knowledge she had and estimated it. She couldn't guarantee that she could burn it successfully right away.
Everyone in the tribe was very curious about what Qiao Yu was tinkering with as soon as she came back, but when they asked her, she wouldn't tell them, only saying that it might not succeed, which aroused everyone's curiosity.
Therefore, on the day when the kiln was opened, except for the people who were on duty to guard the captives, the entire tribe, including the children, came and gathered around to watch the fun.
Qiao Yu opened the kiln entrance and started taking things out.
Lu was an impatient person. Relying on his age and status, he pulled Shan and Shi to choose the position closest to Qiao Yu.
Qiao Yu handed the charcoal to Shu Yi, and Lu took it and looked at it over and over for a long time. He said depressedly, "What on earth is this black thing?"
The charcoal passed around in the hands of several people, and no one knew what it was.
Qiao Yu dug out about a dozen pieces of charcoal, each as thick and long as his arm, and climbed up. He said to the tree, "You guys take turns digging. Put what you find in rattan baskets and carry it back to the tribe."
"Okay." The tree replied.
Qiao Yu picked up the rattan basket containing the charcoal she had taken out and said to everyone, "Come on, let me show you what this thing is used for."
Everyone followed her, and soon, only Shu and a few other people working were left in the cave. They were eager to know what the black stuff they were digging out was.
Qiao Yu entered the tribe and handed the charcoal basket to Xiaoquan: "You lead everyone to our cave, and I'll go to the fire hall to get some fire."
Koizumi took the wicker basket and asked everyone to follow him. Qiao Yu went to the fire hall and used a stone slab to fill it with some firewood to burn the remaining charcoal.
Back in her cave, she broke the charcoal into pieces, placed them on the ground, and then placed the burning charcoal on top. After fanning it with leaves for a while, the charcoal began to burn.
Because the cave was not big, everyone except the elders and Shan stood outside the cave.
Qiao Yu came out of the cave and said, "Let's go in in groups of ten and experience it."
The people standing in the front hurried in. As soon as they entered, a warm feeling hit them. Before they could figure out what was going on, they saw Shan and the three elders sitting around a pile of burning charcoal in the middle.
Miraculously, the charcoal fire had no open flames and no smoke. It made the entire cave warm, but without the slightest pungent smell of smoke.
"Come here, come and warm yourself by the fire." Lu stretched out his hand and warmed it by the charcoal fire, smiling at the people who came in.
Without him calling out, everyone gathered around.
"Is this what Yu made?" Everyone looked at the charcoal fire in amazement. "There's really no smoke at all, and it's still warm."
At this point, they were pleasantly surprised: "In the future, we can use this to keep warm in the cave, so we don't have to suffer from the cold anymore and can sleep well at night."
"That's great. The snowy season used to be the hardest to endure. People in poor health would get sick, and it was too cold to sleep at night. Even if the tribe had dried meat to eat, these people would still get sick and die." Someone said, "With this, no one should get sick anymore."
Speaking of this, they thought of the people who had died of illness in the past, and then looked at the blazing charcoal fire in front of them. They were once again grateful to Qiao Yu for bringing another magical thing to the tribe.
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