The milling process is still done with water, which uses water flow to drive the millstone to grind the flour. Song Lili saw it when she was a child.
A watermill is a wooden house built on the river, with a millstone and some tools for holding wheat inside.
Beneath the house, on the side closest to the river, there's a hole dug; the waterwheel is connected to the millstone through this hole.
The waterwheel lies beneath the house, horizontally on the river. The water flows down through the deliberately narrowed channel, increasing its energy and propelling the waterwheel to turn.
Wheat was ground into powder, or flour, by grinding the millstone connected to the waterwheel and the millstone inside the house.
Song Lili had only heard of and seen milling before, but this was the first time she had ever seen a millstone in person, and she couldn't help but wonder how it worked.
First, there was the mill at Yangmei's house, and Song Lili finally saw how to operate it.
Two graphite discs were stacked together, with the upper disc tied to the roof beam with rope, and the lower disc connected to a waterwheel.
The wheat was previously washed clean in water and dried in the sun. It was then poured directly onto the millstone and swept into the millstone through the small hole between the two millstones.
The river behind Hongqi Village has a good water flow, the waterwheel turns quickly, and the flour milling is also relatively fast; Yangmei's milling is done in less than an hour.
Next, it was just Song Lili and Qin Hongxia left. Song Lili was about to ask who should go first when Qin Hongxia hurriedly said, "Lili, you go first!"
Song Lili agreed with a "okay" and, without thinking much, poured her small bag of wheat onto the mill and started grinding.
Song Lili's family had little wheat, so the milling was faster, and it was done quickly, only the flour wasn't very good.
Food is scarce right now, so everyone is producing whole grains, which means no bran, just flour. Because of the impurities, the flour is black.
But nobody complained; they were just glad to have something to eat.
Song Lili and Song Fang quickly swept the noodles together and put them into a bag, afraid that they would get mixed up with Qin Hongxia's noodles.
But after rushing and finally finishing the installation, Qin Hongxia said that Song Lili had installed too much, and that the other side of the wall was her house.
Song Lili was speechless with anger, and finally understood why Qin Hongxia had been so eager for her to come first—it turned out she was waiting for her here!
They've tried to extort money from her!
If this were in the future, Song Lili would definitely say, "Then I'll give it to you." But now, Song Lili can't bring herself to say it.
Qin Hongxia said it was just a bowl of noodles, but that was the Song family's food ration for a week. How could they just give it to Qin Hongxia like that?
Song Lili immediately stopped the grandmother watching the millstone, then pulled Qin Hongxia to stand right in front of it and asked, "Tell me where your family's flour is?"
"After my family finished grinding their flour, Grandma stopped and waited until we had almost finished loading our flour before starting to grind yours. Your flour still hasn't come out yet, and you dare to say that I took your flour."
"Are you blind? Can't you see if your noodles have come down? Since you can't see clearly, I'll let you take a good look."
As she spoke, Song Lili suddenly grabbed Qin Hongxia, pressed the back of her head and slammed it against the millstone.
"Ah... Song Lili, let me go..."
Song Lili's sudden behavior startled everyone, especially Qin Hongxia, who screamed in fright as the graphite disk got closer and closer to her.
Yang Mei, who had been watching from the sidelines, had been paying attention to Qin Hongxia's words. When she saw Song Lili's actions, she was so frightened that she ran over and grabbed Song Lili.
"Lili, Lili, let go quickly, Hongxia will get hurt if you keep doing this." Yang Mei's face turned pale.
Song Lili did not let go; instead, she grabbed Qin Hongxia's hair from behind and tightened her grip, though it was only equal to Qin Hongxia's resistance.
With his other hand, he gripped Qin Hongxia's arm, partly to prevent her from running away, and partly to try and save her if he used too much force.
She had no intention of hurting Qin Hongxia; it wasn't worth making a mistake for someone who was so greedy for small gains.
Qin Hongxia was so frightened that her voice trembled with tears. She grabbed Song Lili's arm with both hands and used all her strength to resist Song Lili's strength.
He shouted, "Song Lili, let me go..."
Song Lili asked, "Did you see clearly? Is that your noodles? Did I take your noodles?"
"No, no, I must have misread it, I must have misread it. I'm sorry..." Qin Hongxia screamed, because she felt the force on the back of her head increase again.
"Good that you saw it clearly, otherwise you might say I'm taking advantage of you." Song Lili mischievously pressed down again. "Are you sure you saw it clearly? Don't say I took advantage of your family later."
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