Chapter 1017 This is it
Everything was ready. Lu Miao waited until the water on the stove boiled before picking up a dozen silk cocoons and throwing them in to cook them with chopsticks.
Fu Jingyou watched from the side, and when he saw that she didn't need anything further, he picked up the rice carrying pole and went to the field to find He Hongjin.
Let’s talk about the back door of the kitchen.
The water boiled for seven or eight minutes, waiting for the cocoons to be cooked through. Lu Miao used chopsticks to pick up the silk ends of the cocoons and pulled them off.
Then gather the silk from a dozen silk cocoons together and wrap it around the part where the fan handle joins the fan frame a few times to secure it.
After finding a comfortable angle, she gripped the handle of the fan and kept spinning it.
The silk is very thin, but after winding more than ten strands together for half an hour, some parts of it gradually begin to vaguely show the texture of satin.
Lu Miao gained a little confidence, calmed down and continued to entangle.
During this time, Xiao Baichuan woke up from his nap and ran over barefoot to rummage through the cloth bag on the ground.
Baichuan played with the cocoon in his little hands, squatted beside his mother, tilted his head back, and mumbled in childish words:
"Mom, what is this white thing?"
"This is a silk cocoon, the little house made of silk by the silkworms that my mother raised in front."
"Silkworms can spin silk to make little houses, right?"
"Yes~"
"Then I will spin silk to make a small house, then a big house for Mom to live in!"
Lu Miao touched Bai Chuan's little head, raised the corners of his lips and smiled:
"Okay, Mom will wait for the big house in Baichuan!"
Baichuan grinned, his chubby face a little shy, and left a shallow saliva mark on his mother's arm.
It seems like it really wants to spit out silk.
After a whole afternoon of joking around, the round fan that Lu Miao was tinkering with gradually took shape.
The silk is wound smoothly and has a lustrous luster, and the effect looks pretty good.
Lu Miao was greatly encouraged. After dinner and washing up, he couldn't help but sit in front of the kerosene lamp and work overtime to continue winding silk.
But things weren't so smooth afterwards.
It was almost finished, but something went wrong.
The fan surface, which was wrapped quite smoothly in the front, suddenly bulged and wavy lines appeared.
Lu Miao was confused for a long time, and only discovered the problem after careful inspection.
Although the silk in the front is wound smoothly, the silk in the back is wound too tightly, and the shrinkage of the fan frame causes the silk in the front to become loose.
At this point, all the efforts to get the fan are basically wasted and it can no longer be kept.
Lu Miao sighed and put down the fan dejectedly.
Fu Jingyou stood behind her and supported the table:
"What's wrong?"
Lu Miao showed him the fan.
Fu Jingyou lowered his eyes to look and also found the problem:
"How did it become like this? Can it be salvaged?"
"It's my first time, so I have no experience..."
Lu Miao puffed his lips, feeling rather frustrated and annoyed:
"There's absolutely no way to fix it. I'll have to start over tomorrow..."
Fu Jingyou put his hand on her shoulder, nodded and patted her in a soothing manner:
"If you're tired of it, stop. If you still want to play with it, I'll find time to make a few more fan frames for you tomorrow... It's late now, go to bed first."
"Um."
Lu Miao twisted his sore neck, straightened his chest, and moved his shoulders, back, and spine.
She nodded obediently, cleaned the table and stood up reluctantly.
Fu Jingyou waited until she took off her coat and lay down before blowing out the kerosene lamp.
When it comes to pursuing his interests, Lu Miao can probably be described as a man of action.
Although yesterday's fan was scrapped, there was obviously a high probability of success in the production process.
So, after finishing his chores the next morning, Lu Miao couldn't wait to get back to the production.
This was Lu Miao’s first time making a silk fan.
She didn't know what specific problems she might encounter, so she could only slowly summarize and adjust based on her personal situation.
She was careful to avoid the same problem as yesterday, but she had only wound a few turns of thin silk when the sound of a bicycle came from the door.
I looked up and out the window, and it turned out to be Hu Zhiyuan coming over.
Lu Miao briefly dealt with the fan frame, then put his things down and got up to leave.
Outside the door, Hu Zhiyuan parked his bicycle and shouted:
"Girl! I think I found what you want. Can you see if this is it?"
"Let me see?!"
Hu Zhiyuan came in the front of the car carrying a small backpack.
Lu Miao took the small backpack and took a closer look. It contained a few pieces of cactus, and indeed, he could see some mottled white spots.
She stretched out her hand in delight to grab it, but Hu Zhiyuan stopped her and said hurriedly:
"Girl, be careful! Even though this thing doesn't look very impressive, it will hurt if you get pricked by it!"
Hu Zhiyuan was the first victim.
When he pulled out these pieces of cactus, he didn't take it seriously.
As a result, my hands were painful and itchy on the way here by bike, and I scratched them all the way.
He stopped to look and could vaguely feel some small thorns.
But it takes some eyesight to find where the thorn is.
Hu Zhiyuan didn't have the patience to deal with it, so he could only scratch it when it itched.
"Okay, I got it!"
Lu Miao said with a smile, turning his head to look at the door, and finally carried the basket to the steps under the windowsill and poured out all the cacti.
There are not many "little white spots" on the cactus.
Hu Zhiyuan came here on a bicycle, and the road was bumpy. Many of the "little white dots" had collided and shattered, revealing different shades of red.
It must be cochineal!
"That's it, that's it!"
Lu Miao was overjoyed and asked quickly:
"Where did you find this? Are there any more there? Are there many?"
She asked three times in a row, which showed how anxious she was.
Hu Zhiyuan scratched his forehead and said hesitantly:
"These bugs don't seem to grow much. I've done a cursory search of any cacti, and all I can find is here."
"ah?"
Lu Miao was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head to look at the cactus on the steps.
There are four pieces of cactus in total, and the cochineal insects on each piece are sparse, not too many, and they are all very small.
Even the cochineal beetles that had formed black scabs after their death occupied more...
Generally speaking, cochineal has a strong reproductive ability.
But Lu Miao understood after thinking about it.
At that time, the environment had not been polluted and the ozone layer had not been damaged.
Although the summer here in H Province is hot, the temperature is actually acceptable.
However, for cochineal insects, the autumn and winter temperatures in H Province are still not suitable for their survival most of the time.
The cochineal insects that can survive under such natural conditions are a minority among the minority.
It rained heavily for two days just a few days ago, and out of the limited amount, I guess some of it was lost...
Lu Miao felt sorry and helpless, but there was nothing he could do.
Lu Miao picked at the black scab on the cactus and twisted it open with force, leaving dark red marks on his fingertips.
She thought for a moment, then reached out to Hu Zhiyuan and asked:
"What about these dark brown scabs? Are there any left on that cactus over there?"
"There are still some of these hemp-like ones. How come this one can also be used?"
Lu Miao nodded, carefully avoiding the small thorns and placed the cactus on the windowsill.
"It's hot this time, so the water evaporates quickly. If we collect it in time, it should still be usable... Are you busy this afternoon? If you are, take me over to have a look."
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