However, my good fortune soon arrived, and alcohol was no longer a luxury.
I have to thank Top this time, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find something so wonderful so quickly.
Tonight I feel like I've eaten the most in my life. It's not just about being full; I ate until I was stuffed.
Top went all out this time, eating until his stomach was as round as a ball.
There's no alcohol today, but if there were some to liven things up, I dare say this monkey would drink and shout until it's completely drunk.
The combination of my pleasant mood and physical exertion made me feel sleepy earlier than usual. I lay down in my tree bed and quickly fell asleep.
I had another dream, this time about exploring the great mountain on the east side of the lake. I now held an exquisite bronze spear in my hand and a bronze sword several feet long at my waist.
Top and I made our way through the primeval forest, with it clearing a path through the branches ahead to warn me of any potential dangers below.
As we were walking peacefully through a ravine, a harpy eagle flapped its wings and swooped down. Top let out a scream and was carried away from the branch by the eagle.
"No!"
In my sleep, I screamed hysterically. I absolutely could not allow my only friend to be taken away.
I hurled my spear at the harpy eagle, and the instant the spear left my hand, a white figure flashed and pounced in front of me—it was the enormous white tiger!
I reached for the knife at my waist, and just then the white tiger roared and pounced, biting my neck.
"No!"
This time I screamed out loud, so frightened that I sat up on the spot, my back covered in cold sweat.
Top heard my shout, but it didn't know what had happened. It quickly came to my side, nervously pricking up its ears to listen to the surrounding sounds.
But after listening for a while, it didn't find anything unusual, and looked at me with some doubt, then stretched out its head and patted me.
It felt like it was saying, "Are you out of your mind? What are you yelling about in the middle of the night? You scared me half to death, I thought some wild animal was coming."
I felt a little embarrassed, but how could I explain something like a dream to a monkey? I could only shake my head helplessly to indicate that I was fine.
Seeing that nothing was amiss, Top went back to his shack to continue sleeping.
I let out a long sigh of relief. It turns out I've been under too much stress lately.
...
The next day, it was still raining heavily.
Just as I predicted, the rainy season brought down rain that lasted for half a day without stopping. Even when it paused briefly, it would immediately resume.
With the shelter from the rain, I wasn't so worried about the heavy rain, and I continued to carry out my plans inside my shelter.
This morning I wove some large baskets from willow branches. These baskets will be very useful; they can be used to hold things like charcoal or ore.
With the raincoat, the intermittent rain seemed insignificant. I took my basket; today I needed to fetch some clay, an essential material for making charcoal and a kiln.
As for clay, I did find some near that poplar grove when I was cutting down trees, but the clay wasn't pure; there were still quite a few stones mixed in.
However, there was a solution to this problem. I went back and forth several times and brought back quite a bit of clay.
I took the clay I retrieved directly to the small ditch where I often washed wild vegetables and fruits.
Because of the rain, the soil had become softer. I used a stone adze to dig a small, one-meter-wide pit next to the irrigation ditch, and then I channeled water into the pit.
I poured the collected clay into it and dissolved it completely in the water, just like mixing flour. Then I used a wooden stick to thoroughly stir the mud.
Once the mud becomes as thin as water and there is little resistance when stirring it with a stick, you can leave it alone and let it settle overnight.
The heavier stones will sink to the bottom first, leaving behind the finer clay suitable for making earthen kilns.
After mixing the mud, I started collecting materials like dry grass and fallen leaves. These materials weren't for starting a fire.
I plan to add these withered grasses to the clay to increase its plasticity.
Back in the shed, I began measuring for a suitable location to start the stove. In the end, I decided to place the stove in the middle of the room, slightly to the left.
This frees up a large portion of the space on the right, which is a great option for storing charcoal or firewood.
I started by drawing a square about sixty centimeters in size on the ground with a wooden spear. Since I wasn't planning to build a traditional earthen kiln for burning charcoal, the fire opening at the bottom didn't need to be too big.
The kiln I plan to build has also been calculated to maximize its performance, striving to make it multi-functional and squeezing its utilization rate to the limit.
Therefore, my plan is to build a dry distillation gas collection and reheat furnace, specifically the kind with a furnace bridge.
The next day, I drained all the water from the puddle. I then used my hands to carry the top layer of fine mud back into the shed in a basket.
The clay still had a relatively high moisture content, so I mixed in dried leaves and hay.
Throughout the process, to ensure that the clay was thoroughly mixed, I started to stomp on it with my feet. If the humidity was high, I would also sprinkle some dry wood ash on it to absorb the water. Only in this way could the clay be used.
Because this type of stove needs to bear a certain amount of weight, it cannot be made entirely of clay.
In particular, the furnace bridge at the bottom needs to be made sturdy, otherwise it may collapse during subsequent charcoal burning and copper smelting.
Therefore, I went to the lakeside and brought back a lot of relatively flat stones. These stones will be mixed with clay and hay to form the main load-bearing base of this stove.
This process is similar to building a house and laying bricks in my hometown. You spread mud mixed with dry grass on the ground, then stack the stones in an alternating pattern, and then apply clay to both the inside and outside.
I built the entire square base of the stove with stones to a height of 30 centimeters, leaving a fire opening on the side closest to the lake for easy placement of firewood.
The next step is the construction of the furnace bridge, the most crucial part of the kiln. This step greatly influences the success or failure of charcoal production and can even directly determine the outcome.
Previously, due to the irregular stacking of stones, the internal space of the square furnace bottom, which was 60 centimeters in length and width, was now only about 30 centimeters.
This is also the standard size of the firebox for rural wood-fired stoves.
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