Chapter 5
From here, I could see smoke rising in the distance. I guess they had rekindled a fire in the yard to keep warm. Wen Yi and the others also lit a fire outside to make something warm to eat.
Shu took the coarse cake he had made earlier from the hanging basket, broke it into pieces and put it in a pottery jar. He also cut a small piece of salted dried meat, added millet with the shells removed and a few pieces of dried vegetables and boiled it.
The pancakes are made from a mixture of various grains. When heated, you can smell the aroma of wheat and rice. When swallowed, they have a strong presence and are rough and difficult to swallow. They are slightly better when added to porridge, but still not delicious, but the hot soup is always pleasant.
After eating, Wen Yi carried the rolled mat from the house to a clean place and spread out the straw to dry. It was always damp when rolled up at night, which was very uncomfortable.
It was a bit cold when the snow melted. It was much more comfortable to sit around the stove than in the house. My body slowly relaxed and I didn't want to leave this warm place at all.
But today it seems that I can’t just sit there by the stove.
When the village head and his men passed by, they shouted that someone heard a strange noise in the east in the middle of the night yesterday, and they called people from several nearby houses to go and take a look.
Seeing Shu and Wen Yi put down their things, straightened their clothes and prepared to change into straw sandals, the village head quickly waved his hand, indicating that only one person would be enough:
"We don't need so many people. Let's just agree that each family can send one person." He already had four or five people behind him, one from each family. If there were more, it would be a waste of manpower.
Shu put down the stone pestle in his hand and prepared to follow the village head to take a look. Before leaving, he told Wen Yi to come to her if she had any problems.
"If you can't find me, go over there and shout loudly." The house on the east side is not too far from here, and if there is any emergency, the voice can be heard.
"Remember." Wen Yi raised his hand and waved, indicating that he understood, then lowered his head and began to struggle with the wood.
One of the animals caught in the trap had been slightly injured, but without a net to cover it, it was impossible to keep it alive. Wen Yi had been spinning a lot of hemp rope during his free time, and he thought he might as well make some with finer holes and hang rocks underneath to use as a fishing net when not in use.
Several families around had this thing. Wen Yi saw that the family to the west had covered a small area with a net and fed live animals such as pheasants. However, if they were not fed, they would only get thinner and thinner. If they were not going to eat fresh food, it would be better to deal with it in time.
But if everyone else has it, you still have to do it.
She initially wanted to make a bone shuttle to weave the net, but she didn't have a piece of bone that large enough. Even if she chiseled cracks on it, it would be easy to break, and the gap in the middle would be even more difficult to make. In the end, she chose wood.
Light wood is easy to carve. Without pursuing aesthetics, Wen Yi quickly hollowed out the middle of the long teardrop-shaped wood, wrapped a thin hemp rope around a branch, and inserted it into the space.
The weaving board is directly made of flat stones. The size of the mesh is determined by the width of the weaving board. Handmade products cannot achieve the fine mesh of later generations, but they are still much more uniform than weaving hemp ropes directly by hand.
Ah Mu watched Wen Yi wrap a thick hemp rope around the ground, then begin weaving with the shuttle. Constantly adjusting the knots and weaving board, she soon had a string of knots with the same length left uncrossed. After finishing the first row, Wen Yi quickly placed her hands over the fire to warm them. After a short while, her fingers stiffened, and it took a long time for her to recover and continue.
The position for tying knots in the second row is the middle of the empty space in the first row. When changing rows, turn the shuttle over, and what is left is a diamond-shaped grid.
When he returned, he saw a fine linen net that was two steps long and one step wide, and Wen Yi was fixing the knot at the end.
Seeing that she had lost, Ah Mu stamped his feet and ran over, handing her the thing in his hand, and said in a raised tone: "Look!"
She was also holding a small piece of mesh hemp rope in her hand. The little girl has always been smart. After Wen Yi said a few words, she understood and took out the thin rope to try it herself.
Amu was much more resistant to cold than Wenyi, and he hardly needed to warm his hands by the fire. He also discovered on his own that when weaving, he could form a net bag by connecting the two ends together. It was a kind of container, but it was not as strong as one woven directly with rattan or reeds.
The little girl was very proud of this. When she was taught to weave baskets, she had said that if she had the chance, she would also make some rope nets. However, twisting the hemp ropes was time-consuming and laborious, so it was put aside until Wen Yi, who became the majority of the labor force, joined the family.
Shu Mingxian also remembered what he said at that time, and tried to raise the corners of his mouth, which was frozen stiff.
Wen Yi handed Shu a ceramic pot filled with warm water. This pot had been boiled repeatedly and was not suitable for drinking, but it was very good for warming hands.
"A house collapsed in the east. It took quite a while to get the person out." Shu Jiang placed his cloth-wrapped hands on the pottery jar, feeling himself warm up. He then continued, "Luckily, we got there in time, so nothing serious happened. But it looks like he injured his arm, and he was frozen for most of the night. The village head has already taken him back."
"Could this layer of snow actually collapse a house?" Wen Yi turned to glance at the building behind him, feeling somewhat unbelievable. Could it be that this snow had some special properties that could cause damage to thatched houses?
Qi, who was sitting next to him, thought for a moment and spoke slowly, but it made people listen carefully: "It did collapse, but it should be more similar to the situation at the old woman's house."
Her house had fallen into disrepair and was inconvenient to climb up and down, so she had to ask for help, and could only turn a blind eye to some minor problems.
Shu nodded, indicating that this was indeed the case. "But at least everyone won't be frozen to the point of being unable to move this year."
Like them, the more diligent families had accumulated a considerable store of twigs and coal, which, combined with the harvested hay, was enough to get them through the coldest months. In previous years, I'd personally witnessed people unbuttoning their clothes in the snow, crying out for warmth, only to scratch their skin and never wake up again.
"By the way, the vendors from Xinyi have just arrived. If you're interested, Ayi, go and take a look with Amu." Shu suddenly remembered that on the way back, there were many children running towards that side with things in their hands.
"Are they here already?" Wen Yi was genuinely curious. He had heard about it before when he was doing labor. It was said that there would be many new and interesting things. "Amu, do you want to come with us?"
Amu thought about it, ran back to the house to get something, and then nodded to indicate that he was ready.
Wen Yi took A Mu out. If there was something they really wanted, they could come back to get enough money and food. Anyway, the merchant would stay here for a day or two, so there was no need to rush.
"Hey, this isn't enough. These are all the stuff we brought from Xinyi. We can sell a lot of them there. No, no, no."
Before reaching the place where those people were resting, Wen Yi heard some strange accents.
Turning the corner, what caught my eye was a large rattan box, inside which were layers of small boxes similar to storage boxes, which contained various things. On the other side was a simple frame, on which were placed many full cloth bags and rattan baskets, which were also goods for sale.
In winter, no one exchanges these large items. The vendors obviously want to sell their goods and save some labor, but the people who come to watch the fun will not buy. However, those inexpensive small items can still be exchanged.
Wen Yi saw a lot of stone and wood carvings, some of which were very similar to the ones that Amu used to play with in his hands. He wondered if he had also exchanged them from these vendors.
After looking around for a long time, Wen Yi was a little disappointed to find nothing else interesting besides these little toys. However, these little toys were extremely attractive to the other children who came over, and even Ah Mu was a little moved.
Wen Yi sighed, pulled himself out from the crowd of children, and looked at the bicycle frame on the other side.
It was somewhat similar in style to a chariot, with wooden wheels that were not completely round, but it didn't shake too much when pushed. Wen Yi also noticed that there seemed to be some buffering structure connected to the frame, which was not the spring structure as expected, and he couldn't help but feel curious.
The man next to him didn't have much business, and at first he thought Wen Yi was interested in his goods, but people who travel around have a strong ability to read people's expressions, and he quickly determined that the man was not interested in what he brought with him.
This is also common. Many people are interested in this means of transportation that they have spent a lot of money to purchase, and many people will even bite their teeth and pay for it. Unfortunately, this thing requires an appointment with the craftsman, the production period is long, and it is indispensable for people outside, otherwise...
He looked at Wen Yi with some surprise as he squatted and used branches to draw the structure of wooden strips and buffers on the ground, as if he was thinking about something.
"I still don't understand."
Wen Yi smoothed out those traces. It was impossible to analyze the external structure clearly just by looking at it, let alone replicate it.
The group of children could only buy a limited amount of things, so they quickly left with their new toys. After searching for a while, Ah Mu didn't find anything he particularly liked, so he looked at Wen Yi and asked her with his eyes what she wanted.
Wen Yi, who was treated as a little friend, was a little amused and shook his head to indicate that he really had no interest in these things.
"Shall we go back first?" Wen Yi asked.
The little guy nodded, then took Wen Yi's hand and walked back. Sensing that Amu was not in a good mood, Wen Yi used her other hand to rub the little guy's hair, "What's wrong? Didn't you find what you wanted?"
Amu responded somewhat sullenly.
From the moment Wen Yi met Amu, she always remained calm or happy, and would not complain even if she was very tired or cold, unlike other children of her age in the village.
Normally, he would not play around, and he could not play with those children who relied on the wild animal stories made up by their elders to avoid running into the deep forest. He always did things quietly at home.
Wen Yi sighed and suppressed his words of comfort.
The two returned empty-handed. The loser didn't say anything and just handed over the things that Amu had woven before. The little guy's attention was diverted and his mood recovered a lot.
However, Wen Yi had more thoughts in his mind.
She wasn't someone who had a strong desire to survive, either in the past or now. All she did was "let nature take its course," following the rules set by her predecessors and just living her life.
Sometimes what the world needs is a screw like Wen Yi. The surrounding environment tells her this every moment, as if using a hammer to shape each individual into the required shape. As for what the original shape was, no one cares at all.
As she sank, Wen Yi felt a moment of calm, even joy. Her life, which had been like a ditching pond, had finally changed. So, after waking up, she didn't try to reenter the river she'd emerged from. After all, even if she did, she would be faced with endless water, and she didn't think she could survive there until rescued.
The same was true of Tongshu and Amu's life before. She would make choices that would make her life a little more comfortable, but she did not have the courage and determination to change or burn her boats. The unknown is always scary.
History is made up of countless invisible tragedies. Later generations used pens and ink to erase the sad and painful parts, leaving behind the magnificent dynasties and technological music, which attracted countless people to rush into the fire.
Wen Yi didn't mind dying peacefully, like dust returning to the earth; after all, that was everyone's destined fate. But if someone who treated her well wanted to change, she probably could do something about it.
Not to change the world, but just for something or someone.
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