Chapter 83 A New Way to Catch Razor Clams
We said we were going to the beach, but the tide hadn't receded yet, so there wasn't much to see when we got to the beach.
Jiang Wan took Qin Yue back home first.
At this time, there were many villagers outside her house, all of whom came to sell adobe bricks. One after another, they delivered the adobe bricks to the fenced-in open space.
In their spare time, almost every household in the village would take advantage of good weather to dry some adobe bricks for future use.
They keep them at home, so if there is damage in the house, they can directly repair it, or save some time when the house needs to be expanded. If someone in the village is in a hurry to build a house, they can also sell it and make a little money.
When they learned that Doctor Yin's family wanted to buy adobe bricks to build a wall, everyone who still had adobe bricks came.
The mother and daughter had no idea how many bricks to use. After all, these were not modern bricks. Adobe was much larger than bricks. They had to ask a professional how many were needed for the entire wall.
The man who led the people to build the wall this time was said to have some grudges with their family. He was Hu Tou's father.
However, they didn't seem to remember what happened before. They were smiling when they came to work and spoke very politely.
How can you not be polite? The village school is about to be built, and the couple wants to send their son to study there. It's too late to build a good relationship, and they dare not even mention the previous unpleasantness.
Hutou's father is good at bricklaying, and he took a special leave today to come here to help build the wall.
"Doctor Yin, just feel free to collect them. I'm afraid these are not enough for today. The village has requested a batch of adobe bricks to build a school, and there aren't many ready-made adobe bricks in the village right now."
After hearing what Hutou's father said, the mother and daughter remembered that a school was still being built in the village.
That's true. They went to see the school and it was quite large. There must not be many adobe bricks left in the village.
Yin Huaixi didn't care about it anymore and took all the bricks and placed them in the yard waiting to be used.
Qin Yue had seen villagers build houses before and didn't find it strange, but she had never seen a stone house like Jiang Wan's.
The small house was filled with cabinets and boxes, stoves, pottery jars, buckets and all sorts of other things.
This room is probably only suitable for sleeping. I can't turn around to do anything else. I feel a little stuffy even standing at the door. And looking at the corners of the wall, I always feel that the room is a little damp.
"Xiao Wan, when you build a house in the future, you can make a brick bed. This way, you can keep it warm from time to time and it won't be damp at all."
Earthen bed?
Jiang Wan had never seen it in person, but had seen it on video. In the north, heating and kangs are like the second life of the local people in winter. But they are rarely used in the south.
"The weather here is not as dry as in the north, so it's not practical. You haven't spent winter on the island yet, right? In winter here, you only need to wear one layer of clothing. Kangs are basically useless, and will breed more bugs because of excessive moisture."
"It will be fine if you just burn it."
"Who would light a kang on a hot day? Not only does it waste firewood, but it also makes the house hot."
Jiang Wan laughed when she thought about how he added fuel to the fire when it was so hot at home.
"It's better to use a bamboo or wooden bed here, as it's easy to move and clean. You don't know how many bugs there are on this island."
Just as Jiang Wan finished her words, a large, shiny black centipede emerged from nowhere and swaggered past Qin Yue's feet.
Jiang Wan's scalp tingled when she saw the densely packed centipede legs. She was just about to ask her mother to come catch some to use as medicine when she saw Qin Yue kick the centipede away and then stomped on it hard.
The centipede died instantly and was chopped into pieces.
"Don't be afraid, Xiao Wan. I've already stepped on him to death."
Jiang Wan looked at the centipede corpse with pity and said thank you very seriously. The two of them watched the wall being built in the yard for a while, and Qin Yue couldn't stay there any longer.
"Xiao Wan, when will the tide you mentioned recede?"
"There's probably still half an hour left, but you feel bored?"
"Not really... I've just been cooped up at home for too long, and now that I'm out I want to run around and can't sit still."
Qin Yue chuckled and sat down on the pile of adobe bricks. With her sleeves rolled up, she looked more like a country girl than Jiang Wan.
"Xiao Wan, I really owe you a lot for the advice you gave me this time. I cried to my father all the way home. I don't know how he comforted my mother. Anyway, my mother didn't care about me in the morning and didn't let me learn anything."
She now felt relaxed all over, and even the slightly salty smell in the village seemed particularly sweet.
When Qin Shui was no longer frowning, her eyes seemed to be shining and very bright, and her appearance was also very pleasing. Several aunties who came to sell clay in the village noticed her at a glance.
She was pretty, well dressed, and not from the village. Everyone wanted to know where she came from. A group of people came over to talk to her, and Qin Yue actually blended in.
I don't know how long we chatted, but Xiaoyan suddenly called someone over.
"Miss!"
Qin Yue frowned and turned around to see Xiaoyan holding a purse.
"Miss, you forgot to take this insect repellent sachet with you when you left. This is what the master asked you to make for him."
Xiaoyan originally wanted to say "adult", but the young lady stared at her unkindly, so she had to change the words and say "grandfather".
Upon hearing this title, the aunties from each family immediately dispersed.
Everyone still has self-awareness. Young ladies are out of reach for the villagers.
"Look at you. I told you not to call me Miss outside, but now all the ladies are scared away by you."
Qin Yue really likes listening to the villagers chatting. They always have all kinds of strange gossip, which are much more interesting than the books at home.
"Miss……"
"Okay, I don't need you to serve me here, just get back to the boat."
Qin Yue simply led the man away and went back to find Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan disappeared when she was chatting with the aunts just now. I vaguely saw her burning something, but I didn't know what she was doing.
"Xiao Wan, are you kneading the dough? Are you going to make lunch?"
"How is that possible! Look at the noodles I made. It's enough for several people."
Jiang Wan used chopsticks to stir the sticky little dough balls in the bowl. The little dough balls were not even as big as her palm.
"It seems that there is not enough food, so what are you doing with it?"
"It's just for fun. You'll know what it is in a moment."
Jiang Wan wrapped the dough with the prepared leaves and put it in the basket. Then she took the bucket, basket and other tools necessary for fishing and was ready to go to the beach.
The dough she prepared this time was made with water filtered out after boiling mugwort ash. Mugwort ash is alkaline, and the water filtered out is alkaline.
I don't know whether edible alkali existed in this dynasty or not, but there was none in the village.
What is this Alami here for? This is her main activity today.
She's going to use this to catch razor clams.
The conch that Brother Lian Yue sent yesterday contained a small bundle of clams, which his grandmother dug on the beach to the east. Jiang Wan immediately became interested and decided to get some more clams to eat today.
There are two ways to catch clams at the seaside: use hooks to catch them, dig them out, or pour salt on them and let the clams pop out on their own.
She didn't have any special thin hooks, and digging it out by herself would be time-consuming and laborious. As for using salt to catch it, that was even more impossible.
Although the salt on the island is not that expensive, it still costs several dozen coins per pound. It still hurts her to use it to catch razor clams, after all, it takes a lot of salt to catch one, and people are willing to spend it only because salt is cheap nowadays.
If you use alkaline flour to catch them, just a little bit each time will make the clams feel uncomfortable and drill out on their own. (I have only heard about this method from the old people in the village, but I have never tried it myself and I don’t know the effect!)
Jiang Wan feels that she should be able to return home with a full load today, right?
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(I’m stuck!＞︿＜The second update will probably be around 9 o’clock)
(The second update has been completed, but because of the pictures, it is still under review for half an hour╥﹏╥...)