Chapter 45
Several families were making their own preparations, and Sang Luo knew nothing about it.
In the newly built yard, all the people who came to help went back to rest and prepare for the busy farming season, except Chen Youtian, who did not stop. He was determined to make the new bed he had promised to make for Chen An before bringing the wine into the house, and he used the saw and planer like crazy.
Sang Luo and her two younger children were also cleaning up the main house. For example, the firewood that was originally piled up had now been stacked under the eaves outside the kitchen. The original barrels and the old clay pot had also long been moved into the kitchen. Only the simple stove and a piece of stone that was previously used as a table were still there. They were now being cleaned up, and what needed to be dismantled had been dismantled, and what needed to be moved out had been moved out.
Mrs. Chen and Qin Fang came over together and brought back the unused rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar that Sang Luo had sent to their house when she was cooking.
Qin Fangniang would come to pick up the goods every morning, but this was the first time for Mrs. Chen to come here. She asked Sang Luo and looked around the newly built part of the house. The smile lines at the corners of her eyes were wrinkled. "Not bad, it looks like a home now. It will be more lively if we raise a few chickens and ducks. They can lay eggs from time to time. We can exchange them for money or eat them at home. It's all good."
Sang Luo was also very happy and said, "I have this plan. The extra bran from pounding rice must be put to good use. However, hens only start brooding in March and April, and there is nowhere to buy chicks now. I am thinking of asking around in the village to see if anyone has half-grown chickens to sell."
Granny Chen raised her eyebrows and said, "I'll ask for you later."
The Lu family is large, so there is a lot of bran left over from pounding rice, so they raise more chickens than families with fewer people like theirs.
Sang Luo was delighted to hear this: "That's great, you can help ask around. If there is one in the village, that would be great. If not, we can only try our luck in the county's East and West Markets."
Sang Luo recently saw some ducklings for sale in the West Market. They were so cute and yellow. However, they were living in the mountains and had to use the spring water near their house. They were afraid that if they bought ducks, the water source for daily use at home would be polluted, so they had to give up the idea for now.
Mrs. Chen took over the matter and looked away. Qin Fangniang smiled and said, "My mother and I came to ask, your family is going to hold a wedding, is there anything you want us to help you with?"
Sang Luo waved her hand: "You are busy enough at home, you have helped me a lot, I can handle it, but I won't go to the West Market on the 25th. I have to ask Auntie what your plan is, are you going to set up a stall or harvest at home?"
"It's autumn harvest. I'm afraid we have to wait until the autumn harvest is over before setting up the stall." Qin Fangniang didn't even hesitate. The food in the fields was the top priority and the autumn harvest could not be delayed at all.
Sang Luo nodded: "Okay, then you can tell me when the time comes. We are going to the county in the next two days. I have to buy some things. One of them is particularly heavy, so I may need Uncle Tian to help move it."
She really couldn't handle the stone mill by herself.
Living in this mountain, everything else is fine, but a cart can't go in, and it's really not easy to carry anything heavier in and out.
Qin Fangniang didn't need to ask her husband, she readily agreed: "It's okay, it's no big deal to move some things, just call him when the time comes."
Sang Luo has been buying a lot of household items these days, bringing back a little bit every day. Qin Fangniang is not curious about what she bought, after all, they are things for household use.
On the other side, while the two were talking, Mrs. Chen not only did not enter the main house, but also looked around the bathroom. She saw a clean and covered toilet bucket inside and said with a smile, "You know what, it's quite clean and convenient to have one like this. I don't have to grope in the dark to the toilet at night."
After looking around, Mrs. Chen got down to business. She said, "On the 25th, Fang Niang will be harvesting rice, and I will be cooking at home. I thought you would have nothing to do in the morning, and I will be free in the afternoon. I will come to help you then. The Shi family has few people, so I am afraid they will all go to the fields. I think your grandmother from the Lu family will also come that afternoon."
He also told Sang Luo that the three families would each pick some vegetables from the fields and send them over, and asked her not to buy another portion from the county, so as to avoid buying a larger portion later. Then he said goodbye and went back.
…
Sang Luo sent the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law away, cleaned up the main house, left the two children at home, and went out herself, carrying a backpack and taking a sickle.
She picked sour dates every day, and today was no exception. After picking the sour dates and coming back, she put the things in the main house. Sang Luo looked at the tools that Chen Youtian had placed on the ground.
Chen Youtian is not a professional carpenter. It is a craft he has figured out on his own, so his tools are not complete, there are only a few items, but there is a machete. Yes, that's right, the machete that everyone usually uses to chop wood in the mountains.
Sang Luo remembered something and asked, "Uncle Youtian, are you going to use this scimitar now?"
While Chen Youtian was sawing wood, he looked up at her and asked, "Do you want to use it?"
Sang Luo nodded quickly: "Yes, I want to cut some bamboo and make a broom."
In the past, there was only a small thatched hut, and because they were poor, there was not much garbage, so a broom was really dispensable. If something fell on the ground, she could just pick it up. She was too busy to have time to get a broom. But now there are front and back yards, so a broom is indispensable. If she were to make a broom now, she could use it to rub against Chen Youtian's tools.
"You can also do this?"
Chen Youtian was a little surprised. In fact, everyone in the family guessed that Sang came from a well-off family in the past. She was too particular and didn't even know how to farm, so Chen Youtian was quite surprised when she said she could make a broom.
"Yes." Making a broom is not a difficult task. During the years she lived in the mountains, she would look up videos online to learn how to make these household items by hand, and she made it herself.
Chen Youtian still looked unconvinced: "Can you cut the bamboo yourself? Or I can help you cut it, and then you can tie it yourself."
Sang Luo laughed and said, "No need, uncle, you just do your thing, I'll just lend you the scimitar."
Chen Youtian was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Take it and use it. I don't need it right now."
When Chen An heard that they had to cut bamboo, he wanted to help, but when he thought about the things in the house, he gave up.
Sang Luo went out with a machete in her hand, and came back about two or three quarters of an hour later, dragging a fairly large bamboo stalk and a fir branch.
When Chen Youtian saw that the branches of the fir tree that Sang Luo cut down to make the broom handle were used, he knew that what Sang Luo said about her making brooms was true. The material selection in this first step was quite suitable. The fir branches are light in texture, and most of the villagers who make brooms choose this as their broom handles.
Seeing Sang Luo coming back, the brother and sister came over. To make a broom, they had to cut down the bamboo branches first. Sang Luo was not fast, but Chen Youtian watched her do it steadily step by step.
One big and two small ones got together to remove the leaves by hand. When it came to pruning the branches, they didn't have scissors, so they still used the curved knife with a piece of wood underneath, and they chopped each one accurately.
Chen Youtian smiled when he saw this, and simply put the work at hand aside. He took the fir branch and helped to process it. He sawed it into a suitable length, removed the bark and plane it into a smooth shape, then sharpened one end to make a suitable broom handle and put it aside for her.
The sorted thin branches were tied into small bundles with hemp rope, and a few thick branches were selected and cut into bamboo nails. Finally, the broom handles that Chen Youtian had helped to process were used to start the final bundling.
She wrapped the hemp rope around and around several times, then added a bundle of bamboo branches. She did each step carefully and used all the strength in her hands. In Chen Youtian's opinion, the final product was much better looking than the brooms made by 90% of the families in the village. In comparison, the brooms of most families were just too simple.
Sang Luo tied a knot, hammered in the prepared bamboo nails, picked it up and took a look, feeling quite satisfied.
Chen Youtian rarely said much, "With your skills, you can make brooms and sell them in the county."
Sang Luo's eyes curved with laughter, "It seems that I will have another skill to make a living in the future."
At this moment, she was truly grateful from the bottom of her heart for the years she had lived in the mountains in her previous life. Not only did she calm down, but she also learned a lot.
The broom was tied up, and Sang Luo sorted out the remaining bamboo branches that were as thick as fingers and tied them into a bundle. She moved them to the place where firewood was stacked outside the kitchen and placed them neatly. Then she turned around and saw the bamboo stalk that was as thick as her upper arm. Sang Luo stared at it for a while, and an idea formed in her mind.
She turned and walked out of the yard, came to the mountainside where they used water daily and stared at the spring. The spring water actually flowed down along the mountain wall, and the source might not be the water source on the mountain. To be precise, it should be the water veins in the mountain.
Although the water flow was not strong, it was continuous. After Sang Luo took a look, she turned back to the yard, dragged the bamboo pole, measured the length of about fifty or sixty centimeters, and asked Chen Youtian to help her saw it off.
Although Chen Youtian didn't know what she wanted to do with it, he didn't ask. He took the bamboo stalk and sawed it down for her as she asked.
Sang Luo took the sawed bamboo stalk, held it upright and split it in the middle with a machete.
Bamboo is actually quite easy to split. It can be split into two halves very neatly. Take one half and use a machete to knock off the bamboo partition in the middle. This will make a very good water pipe.
She slightly trimmed the sides of one end, went out to find a branch with branches and cut it down, and then ran straight to the spring with these two things.
There are concave areas on the mountain wall, and she usually gets water from the springs flowing down from the concave areas. The water she gets this way is particularly clean.
This time, Sang Luo directly brought the water pipe made of half a bamboo stalk over to try it out. The spring water was naturally led to the bamboo stalk and then flowed down along the stalk.
Perfect! Next time I will no longer need to bend down and lean forward to get water. It will be much easier. The water will no longer flow down along the uneven mountain wall, but will extend outward, making it more convenient to fetch water with a bucket.
She hammered another branch with a twig into the mud in the position of the bamboo pole and fixed it there, creating a perfect support. She then inserted one end of the bamboo pole into the cliff and placed the other end on the branch. After trying it, she found it to be quite stable.
To be on the safe side, Chen Ning was called back to the house to get a hemp rope, and he simply fixed the bamboo stalks and branches.
Shen Ning looked at the mountain spring water flowing from the bamboo stalks and was very happy: "Sister-in-law, you are so smart. How did you think of this way to divert water? It's much more convenient to collect water this way."
Sang Luo smiled and said, "It will be more beautiful if we decorate it. Let's dig the pit a little bigger and make a small pond."
Shen Ning responded, turned around and ran back to get the stone hoe.
The aunt and sister-in-law were making a lot of noise outside, and the puddle formed naturally by the spring water was enlarged by nearly half.
The originally clear water became a little turbid, but slowly became clear again.
"Aning, ask your brother to go find some stones together. Pick the round ones and put them at the bottom of the pit. The water in the pit will be much clearer in the future."
Knowing that Chen An had been curious for a long time, Sang Luo did not go by herself. She handed the job to the little brother and sister, and went back to collect the unused bamboo stalks and some scraps of wood.
Chen An was indeed very excited. He came out and saw that the originally unremarkable mountain spring had now changed its appearance. He was so surprised that the brother and sister each picked up a dustpan and went to the mountain stream to look for beautiful stones.
There were so many stones of various shapes in the mountain stream that soon a man came back with half a dustpan and started piling them one by one into the bottom of the pit.
The puddle was not big, and after running a few times, the bottom of the puddle was cleared. The brother and sister gathered at the edge of the puddle and watched the turbid water in the puddle being washed away and gradually becoming clearer.
Sang Luo came out, took a look and smiled.
Now we can raise ducks. It is easy to collect water for drinking. We can just use a bucket to collect it. This small puddle is big enough for a few ducklings to paddle and play.
She didn't say anything, preparing to give the two children a surprise tomorrow, so she just smiled and suggested, "You can pick some flowers that grow well near the spring and move them over and plant them beside the pit. This will make it look nice, and the soil will also be reinforced by the roots of the plants so it won't collapse easily."
The two children loved this job. They took their small stone hoes and dustpans and went looking for beautiful flowers and plants.
Chen Youtian heard the noise and had just finished his work. He went out to see what was happening. When he got out of the courtyard, he saw the spring that had been flowing down the mountain wall. Now it had become a scenic spot. He went over to take a look and was amazed: "It's much more convenient to use water here."
There was also a mountain spring on the cliff behind his house, and he would get his daily water from there. Chen Youtian thought about making one himself when he got home. He was too lazy to cut bamboo, so he simply asked Sang Luo for the remaining half of the bamboo stalk.
Sang Luo smiled and said, "Okay, just take it."
She looked at the sky and decided not to stay outside. She went back to the house to prepare dinner.
When Chen Youtian saw her heading for the kitchen, he stopped her and said, "You don't have to cook for me. You can eat your own meals. I'll go back to eat. The bed boards have been dug out today. Tomorrow I'll make the bed frame and install the bed. I'll move the bed boards under the eaves for you. That's all for today. I'll come back tomorrow."
As he said that, he went to clean up.
Sang Luo naturally stayed. Chen Youtian waved his hand and said, "It will be the same if I have a feast at your house in a few days."
Adding one more guest would cause so much trouble that it would not be enough.
After Chen Youtian finished speaking, he quickly packed up his things and left.
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