Chapter 134: The Cave
I don't know how to make a wooden barrel with mulberry leaves, but there is a stupid way.
While Chen Youtian and the others were still chopping trees with axes, Sang Luo asked Grandma Chen to borrow her set of carpentry tools. She picked out a suitable piece of the wood that Chen Lie had placed at the door, scraped off the bark, and then used a hammer and chisel to chisel out a piece. Sang Luo felt that she could do it!
I went to the next door and found old lady Chen. After she asked what was going on, she slapped her thigh and said, "We need this at home too! Let's go together. Ah Luo, can you help grandma see if there is a good place outside to make a clean room?"
Is it called the clean room?
What nice names, bathroom, clean room, this literate young lady is different, not only is she smart, but she also has her own way of calling things by names.
Then Sang Luo was dragged by the old lady and walked around outside their cave. Granny Chen even went to see the place Sang Luo had chosen. She looked around the two sides of her cave but couldn't see any place to build a small room. She was worried: "Should we make a space in the cave?"
It's narrow enough, and even if you only use it at night, even if you just go to the bathroom, there will still be a little bit of smell. The cave can't be like a house, with north-south access.
Sang Luo walked back and forth, and said, "Actually, it's possible."
Mrs. Chen exclaimed, and before she could react to what this meant, Sang Luo had already pointed to a concave area whose bottom was about sixty to seventy centimeters above the ground.
The Chen family also filled that space with soil, apparently planning to plant some vegetables.
"At this location, the concave part is wide enough for people to turn around, and the facade is neat. If we can chisel away the rock below and then widen and flatten one side a little, it should be fine."
Mrs. Chen's eyes suddenly lit up: "What about the top?"
"You can build a roof with wood and straw mats. It's such a small piece. You can plant some vines on the rocks next to it and cover it with vines. It won't be an eyesore at all."
Mrs. Chen was so excited that she almost hugged Sang Luo, but she patted her at the last minute and said, "Oh, how can this brain be so smart!"
In fact, it is possible to build a plot of land under the tree reserved for their family, but Mrs. Chen was reluctant to do so. In order to grow more food, the land reserved by each family, together with the path that had been cleared before, was only half a zhang wide in total. Except for the area beside the pool of water by the waterfall and under the most luxuriant tree not far from the pool of water, the half-zhang wide area on the right side of the canyon was the activity area for all the people in their valley.
Moving around, going out of the cave to get some fresh air, raising ducks and chickens, drying things and growing vegetables all depend on such a tiny piece of land. Who would be willing to use it to build a hut? Even if there were trees to provide cover and there would be no worry of being discovered by people on the top of the mountain, I would still not be willing to build one.
It's good like this now. We can make use of the original terrain of the mountain and dig a little to build a small clean room to save space. As for the few vegetables that we plant, we can pile up some stones and plant them in a slightly higher position.
Mrs. Chen even thought of building a chicken and duck coop on the mountain side. Unfortunately, there were not many such locations, so she had to give up the idea for the time being.
The two people were talking animatedly here, while Old Mrs. Xu came out to dump soil on the other side. She saw what was happening and came over.
When it comes to who can't stand that toilet, Sang Luo, a modern person, comes first, and the Xu family comes second.
Finally, he also asked Sang Luo and Mrs. Chen to help discuss it. After turning around a few times, he chose a piece. Just like the Chen family, they had to use a chisel to dig it out.
Naturally, this was something the men did. The two old ladies and Sang Luo started thinking about making a toilet. According to the stupid method Sang Luo suggested, Old Lady Chen also suggested taking turns, since there was only one hammer and chisel. Sang Luo's idea was the first one to be implemented.
Mrs. Xu smiled and said, "More than one, more than one, we can do it together."
After telling her that her son had asked Chen Lie to bring in a complete set of stone-cutting tools, Sang Luo called Chen An and asked him to ask Chen Lie where he had put them, and they were found.
While the men were still busy cutting down trees, Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Xu, Qin Fangniang, and Sang Luo were all in the Chen family's cave, chiseling tree stumps.
It was only at this time that Sang Luo realized that Chen Youtian also didn't know how to make a barrel. He had tried many times, but the barrels he made leaked, so it was very likely that Chen Lie didn't know how to make one either.
Then their efforts were not in vain.
When Chen Lie and his crew were chopping trees at noon, four small wooden barrels of different shapes came out. Several people even used Chen's plane to plane the mouth of the barrels smooth, and chiseled a hole on each side. Then they went back to find a thick hemp rope in the luggage to tie them up, and they also had a carrying rope. Perfect!
…
At noon, we still had a big pot of rice. In the afternoon, the women and children continued to cultivate the land that had not been cultivated before, while the men were busy with carpentry work.
Towards evening, the rocks and grass roots on the land outside the canyon were finally cleared. When Sang Luo and her two children returned to the cave carrying farm tools and dustpans, Chen Youtian and his son were already installing the door frame at the Chen family's side. At the Xu family's side, neither Wei Qinghe nor Old Lady Xu had the skill to do it, so Old Man Chen took Wei Qinghe with him to work on it.
On the contrary, Chen Lie was still busy with a chisel in the open space outside, chiseling some things that looked like mortise and tenon joints.
There were a lot of wooden stakes and planks piled up nearby, and even some sharpened logs that were not too thick. They should be branches of trees, about as thick as an adult's arm. Sang Luo couldn't understand what they were, but guessed that they were things needed to make the doors and walls of the clean room.
Sang Luo looked at the sky and hurriedly took a few steps: "Do you need my help?"
Chen Lie looked at the farm tools in her hand and nodded: "Yes, but it will take a while. We still need some things. I will call you when everything is ready. You can help me."
"Okay." Sang Luo didn't say much. She went into the cave, got a shovel and shoveled all the embers from the fire she had burned during the day into the dustpan. She asked Chen An to pour the ashes directly into the toilet.
In fact, not only wood ash, but also sawdust, grass clippings, leaves or soil are all good things for fermenting fertilizers. Mixing them in a certain proportion can not only fully stimulate the fertilizer power, but also make the odor completely eliminate. Later, when applying fertilizer, the whole valley will not be filled with an unpleasant stench.
She used to make more green manure, and got some understanding of manure fermentation when she was learning. The fermented manure is brown and looks similar to soil to the naked eye.
Of course, proper composting is not about pouring it directly into the toilet like she does now. It is better to dig a few composting pools, cover them with wooden boards and thick straw mats, and leave a little gap. Without the fungal agents that can be bought modernly, the fermentation time will be longer. It will take about two to three months to be completely decomposed, depending on the temperature.
Thinking of this, he simply went next door and told Old Man Chen about it.
When Old Man Chen heard that it was about manure, he took it very seriously. He didn't install the door frame yet and asked Wei Qinghe to hold on to it while he listened to Sang Luo talk in detail about the method of fermenting manure.
He is also an old farmer who has been farming for decades. In the past, if the fields needed to be fertilized, the only way was to use the method of crop rotation and fallow. Fields that were not fertile enough would be densely sown with bean seeds in May and June. Mung beans would be planted first, followed by adzuki beans. In July and August, the land would be plowed and the bean seedlings would be covered in the ground to suffocate them, which would become green manure. The fields that had been fertilized in this way could be used as grain fields in the spring of the following year.
As for manure, they mostly apply it directly. Those who are better off have cows and use them to step on the manure before applying it. They don't have such conditions in the countryside, so they just listen to it.
When he heard a completely different method, he was very interested and asked a lot of questions in detail. Of course, new methods are always accompanied by doubts, so he confirmed with Sang Luo where he learned it.
This naturally led to the collection of books at home.
Ordinary people believe in books very much, because they are all written by people with great abilities!
And Sang Luo also said that when she was farming again in August last year, she tried to make compost according to the method in the book. Because the weather was hot at that time, the fertilizer decomposed faster. So she used the fertilizer in October, and the vegetables in the vegetable garden grew quite well.
As for growing vegetables with mulberry leaves, Old Man Chen’s deepest impression was the first batch of vegetables he planted. It is really hard to describe in words.
He now dared to listen to Sang Luo's method of making fertilizer. First, the impression he had of Sang Luo had been completely overturned. Second, it was his admiration for the book. Sang Luo said that this was recorded in the book. The third reason was that it was the second time Sang Luo had planted vegetables last autumn and winter, and the vegetables grew really well.
Why did Old Man Chen know how those vegetables grew? Because rather than saying that those vegetables were grown by Sangluo, it would be more accurate to say that they were grown by Shen An and Shen Ning under the guidance of his old wife.
Old Man Chen knew what his wife was capable of, and as a result, the vegetables she grew behind the courtyard halfway up the mountain were better than those they grew in their own garden.
Mrs. Chen was surprised at the time, as she had never seen any manure or water used, so how could the plants grow so well? After taking a closer look at the soil, she found that the soil was exceptionally good. Now Old Man Chen finally understood what exceptionally good soil is. It is fertilizer, and fertilizers are different.
Therefore, when Sang Luo told him about the composting method, Old Man Chen was so excited that he even ignored the door frame of Xu's house. "Come on, A'Luo, come with me to the other side and tell the families over there about the composting method. You know a lot and can explain it more clearly. After we tell them, we can dig the pond you mentioned in the next two days. There is not much else in the valley right now, and there are a lot of grass leaves and sawdust from sawing wood. We can make a pond right away."
There is no need to apply fertilizer before transplanting the rice seedlings. The soil in this valley and the soil to be transported in from outside in the next few days are all good soil with sufficient fertility. Piling up fertilizer now will be just enough for top dressing in the next few times.
He left Wei Qinghe behind, told Old Lady Xu that he would be back later, and left, calling Sang Luo.
Sang Luo also understood that for farmers, there was nothing more important than farming.
Mrs. Xu had just heard the whole thing and obviously knew what was going on. She waved her hand at the two of them and said, "This is an important matter. You guys go ahead and do your work. We are not in a hurry."
After watching the two of them leave, Old Lady Xu murmured, "Could this Miss Sang be a young lady from an aristocratic family?"
Old Man Chen only saw that there was good fertilizer to be used in the valley, but Old Lady Xu saw more. She saw a way to fertilize the land. Although the effectiveness was still unknown, as long as it was slightly better than the current one, it would be something that the wealthy families would hold on to tightly.
If the common people have such good things in their hands, they will definitely find ways to gain some benefits for the family. If they find the right way and offer them up to obtain an official position, it will not be difficult for the family to revive.
…
Sang Luo didn't know that the composting method she provided made her life experience even more mysterious in the eyes of Old Lady Xu. As for herself, as a common person, there was no benefit for her to have this thing, so she didn't think too much about it. She just wanted to solve her current survival problems and improve her quality of life.
Sang Luo had only explained the general method, but she didn't worry about the specific operation and where to dig the pool. She thought it should be the section outside the canyon, as there was already an entrance and exit path. However, if a few more composting pools were to be dug, the Lu family, whose land was allocated over there, would probably have to give up some space. This was something the old men had to discuss.
Sang Luo said goodbye to everyone and went back to her own cave. At this moment, Chen Lie finally finished the work at hand, and when he saw Sang Luo, he called her for help.
The so-called lending a hand, the work that Sang Luo had to do was similar to Wei Qinghe's, helping to install things like door frames and handing things over, that's all.
Then she really witnessed what Chen Youtian once said, that Chen Lie was a good carpenter and was very steady in his work.
There was a pile of scattered wooden pillars, planks and stakes. Sang Luo saw him hammering them into the ground to make pillars, or aligning them with mortise and tenon joints. He used wooden blocks and hammers to rhythmically knock them into beams. The boards and pillars were so smooth and obedient in his hands that in less than two quarters of an hour, the door and walls of the clean room were all installed.
Even the door latches are complete.
They moved to the entrance of the cave where they lived. After another busy procession, the door frame was formed. Then they saw Chen Lie putting up wooden boards that were more than an inch thick one by one. After putting up a few pieces, Sang Luo finally knew what the so-called temporary simple door that Chen Lie mentioned looked like.
She thought that the simple temporary door could be made by tying together some wood like rafts from the big cave, and then moved over one by one. If it was carefully tied up and could block snakes and insects and not fall down and hit people, it could be considered a simple door.
Well, Chen Lie and the others sawed the boards, and Sang Luo felt that it was at most like your bamboo raft, putting a few boards together to make several large pieces, which would be easier to move than the one in the big cave, so it would be considered a delicate job.
As a result, the simple temporary door made by Chen Lie was like this: when the shops on the county street opened, the door panels were taken down piece by piece, and put back up piece by piece when the shops closed. He made the same style, exactly the same style!
He calls this a simple door!
That’s not easy. Young man, are you planning to make flowers?
But Sang Luo was a very realistic person. She ran to the mountains to avoid the disaster. Having such a craftsman at home, Sang Luo was so happy that her face was almost blooming with smiles.
Touching the smooth planed door panel, he praised without hesitation: "Uncle Youtian didn't lie to me, Chen Lie, your craftsmanship is really amazing!"
Being praised.
Chen Lie couldn't help but raise his lips, feeling extremely happy, but not wanting to be seen by Sang Luo, he turned sideways to find work to do, taking down the door planks he had just tried and leaning them against the cave wall, saying, "Use them for now, and when all the food is picked, the moisture in the planks will be almost dried out, and then I'll make them into a door that can be opened and closed normally, so it won't be so troublesome to go in and out."
How could Sang Luo refuse? She happily agreed and even helped to remove the door panels to try her hand.
After all the door panels were removed, she looked outside the cave and saw four remaining logs. From a distance, they seemed to be planed very smoothly, with some grooves for mortise and tenon joints chiseled out on one end.
Sang Luo was curious, so she went over to touch it, then turned to ask Chen Lie: "What is this? A stool?"
It's a bit narrow and looks a bit strange.
Hearing her guess that it was a stool, Chen Lie couldn't help but chuckle, "Bedposts, we sawed the boards together, and we only had one saw. Our family built the door and wall of the purification room more than the Chen and Xu families, so we didn't take care of the bed boards, so I sawed a few pieces of wood and chiseled the bedposts. Uncle Chen's family should just sleep on the bed boards at night, so if you need to use a saw, you should only saw the bedposts, which doesn't take much time. If you don't go to bed too early tonight, light a fire on the stove, I'll borrow the saw, and La Dashan to help, and rush it. With the light of the fire, we can get the bed beams and bed boards out, and you and Aning and Xiaoan won't have to sleep on the floor tonight."
As for using unprocessed wood directly to make a bed, it would be bad, as the boards would crack or even get infested with insects. These would only happen after a long period of use. During this time, he could just prepare some processed wood and make another one. In the future, in this mountain, one must be able to do anything but lack time.
It was still cold at the end of February, especially in the mountains. Sleeping directly on the ground, no matter how thick the bedding was, it couldn't stop the damp cold coming up from the ground. It would have been fine if I hadn't taken care of them before, but now that I had, how could I have just watched them continue sleeping on the ground?
When Sang Luo heard that she could sleep in bed tonight, her eyes lit up: "Yes! I don't go to bed early at all. Aning and Xiaoan should be able to wait!"
The sleeping floor was really cold, so cold that it penetrated into the bones. Every morning she would pinch the mattress on the hay and feel that it was damp, so every family had to find a way to hang out their quilts and mattresses every day.
Chen Lie knew how badly she needed a bed just by looking at her reaction. He smiled and nodded: "Okay, I'll make the bed beam before it gets dark."
Sang Luo really wanted to pat Chen Lie's legs, pat his back and massage his shoulders at that moment. It was so nice!
She was so excited that she suppressed the urge and said with a smile, "Okay, go ahead and do your work. I'll ask Xiao An and Aning to bring our cooking utensils over and make you something delicious in the evening. You can ask Dashan to come over too, so that he doesn't help us in vain."
She knew Chen Lie's appetite very well, and he could never be full by eating from the big pot.
Besides, the cave has been repaired today, so it’s time to cook separately, so let’s start with this meal.
Their family had stored as much as 21 dan of grain, and most of it was fine grains. Plus with Chen Lie's hunting skills, well, she could also go out with him to look for mountain products. Sang Luo felt that there was no need to be too conscientious about food, especially since everyone had been doing heavy physical work recently, so they had to eat when they needed to, otherwise the body would have to compensate.
After she finished her instructions, she rushed out like a gust of wind. Chen Lie stood outside the cave and watched her walk for a while before turning around and heading towards Chen's house.
…
At the same time, in Shili Village, Shen Jin and Shen Yin just crawled out of an inconspicuous cave in the mountain behind their house. The two brothers were in the cave and didn't notice much of the changes in the weather outside. When they came out, they found that it was not early anymore, so they hurried back home.
Li was lucky. It was still cold when he was injured, and the herbal paste made by Shen Jin was indeed effective. His wound did not get worse. Except for the fact that he didn't know if his lung was injured by the kick, he always had a cough and was short of breath when he was tired. There were no other problems. He was able to get out of bed and do some light work.
She watched the sky getting dark and found that the two older ones had not returned, so she stood up to prepare dinner. Just as she walked out of the main room, she saw her two sons running in, covered in dust, as if they had rolled in the mud a hundred times.
She was stunned: "How did you do this?"
Normally, the two brothers would carefully brush off the dust on their clothes and hair, and wash their hands and faces before coming back, but today it was too late and they didn't take care of it and were caught by Li.
Shen Jin thought about the hole he and Shen Yin had dug for seven or eight days. It was almost done. Seeing that no one was passing by the yard, he whispered mysteriously, "Mom, Xiao Yin and I dug a hole to hide in."
Li's eyes flashed, and just as she was about to ask again, Shen San came back carrying a hoe.
Shen Jin wanted to say more, but Li grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard, and the words in Shen Jin's mouth were stuck. He was a little confused, turned around and saw Shen San, then looked at Li, a little confused, but still shut up, and didn't mention anything about digging a hole, and ran away with Shen Yin.
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