Chapter 59: Building a Road and Placing Flowers
Chen An stood up immediately: "Sister-in-law, can you teach me and Aning to read?"
Sang Luo smiled and said, "Yes, there is one thing your elder brother didn't tell you completely. Not only will you be at a disadvantage if you don't know how to count, but you will also be at a disadvantage if you don't know how to read. I will teach you some simple things first."
As for going to the local school, as far as I can remember, the state schools, county schools and local schools had been abolished by the previous emperor more than ten years ago. The later emperor did attach great importance to education and reopened some schools, but the specific implementation was not up to standard.
At least in my hometown, there was only a county school but no village school. If the children in the village wanted to study, they could only go to a knowledgeable teacher on their own. It was not easy to find a knowledgeable teacher who was willing to accept students these days.
After Sang Luo came here, she had never known about the existence of a rural school. As for the county school, although she often went to the county, she mostly went to the east and west cities. She had never paid attention to whether there was a county school or not. It seemed that she had to ask about it next time.
When Chen An heard his eldest sister-in-law say that she wanted to teach him and his sister how to read, he was extremely excited, but at a loss, and had no idea how to start.
Sang Luo laughed and said, "You and Aning can go find some fine sand. The finer the better. I'll ask Uncle Youtian to make you a wooden box to put the sand in. Use branches to learn to write on the sand first."
I can't afford paper and pen.
Paper is really expensive, very, very expensive. She can only use some suitable leaves that have been washed and dried to make them soft as a substitute for toilet paper...
…
When Feng Liuniang and others brought over the wooden barrels and ceramic basins, Chen Youtian also arrived.
Sang Luo went over to him, feeling a little embarrassed, and said, "I can make some rough things myself, but tofu is for sale. This frame is not well made and it affects the appearance of the finished product. I am causing trouble to you again."
Chen Youtian didn't mind at all: "It's nothing, it won't take long to finish."
It just so happened that all the tools were at Sang Luo's place, and the wood was also readily available, so Chen Youtian picked them out by himself and started working.
When Shen An and Shen Ning came back with a dustpan of fine sand, they saw Chen Youtian and called him Uncle Youtian. They put down their dustpans and came to Chen Youtian, so enthusiastic.
"Uncle Arita, can you make something for me and Aning as well?"
A face full of anticipation.
Chen Youtian was a good-natured person, so he asked with a smile, "What?"
Shen An and Shen Ning explained the uses of the sandbox, using gestures to describe how big, how deep, and the little one wanted to understand it.
It doesn't need to be very deep to write, it doesn't require much wood, and it's simple to make. After hearing this, Chen Youtian readily agreed.
Shen An thanked him profusely, remembering the bold words he had made when his sister-in-law injured her hand while building a chicken coop last time, and he did not leave, but stood by and watched Chen Youtian work.
Chen Youtian was surprised: "You still want to learn carpentry?"
He originally said it as a joke, but unexpectedly, Shen An nodded seriously: "I want to, Uncle Youtian, can you teach me?"
Chen Youtian: ???
"Do you really want to learn?"
Shen An nodded: "I really want to, I'm the only man in my family, and I should be responsible for these tasks in the future."
This sentence made Chen Youtian laugh, but he immediately remembered the bitterness behind it and sighed, "Your brother also learned from me, and his work is more detailed than mine."
One old and two young, all three of them look listless.
Chen Youtian patted Shen An: “Go ahead and learn. If you want to learn, I’ll teach you.”
While doing it, he explained some of the principles and techniques to Shen An, and Shen Ning also listened.
Seeing that they were talking seriously, Sang Luo did not disturb them. She went down the mountain to ask Old Lady Chen for some straw and borrowed a shovel.
The old lady didn't ask her what she wanted the straw for. Straw was the most available thing at that time of year, so she just tied a big bundle of it.
Sang Luo really didn't need so much, but when she thought about the need to frequently change the straw in the chicken and duck coops, she thought, at least she could save a little. After thanking the old lady, she picked up the shovel and carried the large bundle of straw back home.
Before I even entered the house, there was some yellow clay just outside the yard that was left over from building the house. I shoveled out a pile of mud on the side and fetched water and mud on the spot.
When Shen An and Shen Ning heard some noise and came out, Sang Luo had already thrown straw in and was ready to take off her shoes and step on the mud with her feet.
Shen An and Shen Ning are familiar with this job!
When the house was being built, they watched it for several days and even stepped on it themselves.
The brother and sister both ran over: "Sister-in-law, do you want to make mud? I'll do it!"
He ran over, took off his shoes and jumped in, rolled up his trouser legs, stepped in, and then asked, "Sister-in-law, what are we doing with the mud?"
Sang Luo wanted to laugh: "Did you forget the pebbles I asked you to pick up? Let's lay them out today."
There has been little rain in Qiyang County recently, but that doesn't mean it won't rain in the future. So it's natural that the cobblestone road should be paved as soon as possible.
With these two little brothers and sisters playing in the mud, she doesn't have to take off her shoes.
I turned around to tidy up the yard. Actually, there was not much to tidy up. I just had to shovel the road to be paved a little lower, calculate the depth of the mud and paste it on it, and then put pebbles in it, so that the height would be level with the unpaved ground next to it.
Also, use a dustpan to move the stones you need to use and set them aside for later use.
Chen Youtian looked at it and asked. He heard that the road was paved with gravel, but he didn't understand why this well-rammed yard needed to be paved with gravel again. But he didn't say anything. In his opinion, Sang was a capable woman and could read, so she must have her reasons for doing things.
He lowered his head and continued to do his work.
Everything is ready, all we need to do is go out and fetch the mud.
The two children's legs were covered in mud, but they were having a lot of fun. Seeing Sangluo carrying mud into the yard, they decided not to step on the mud as it had already been made up. They ran to the puddle, washed their feet, and ran in without even putting on shoes.
Sang Luo poured the mud in the dustpan directly onto the shoveled roadbed, then put the dustpan aside and started picking up stones with the two children.
"Pick out the pebbles that are obviously darker in color first. We will use them to make flower patterns later."
The two children were extremely excited. Chen Youtian: …
Paving the road and placing flowers on it?
Shen Ning was the most excited: “Sister-in-law, how do you arrange the flowers?”
Sang Luo also started to play: "Come, I'll teach you."
Take the black pebbles and start making the lines of the pattern: "In this way, if you want to make a pattern of any shape, you can make the edges first, and then fill it in with the same color later."
One big and two small ones, head to head, were playing with filling flowers with stones and having a lot of fun.
When Chen Youtian finished making the tofu carrying pole and the tofu pressing frame that Sang Luo wanted, a winding gravel road from the gate to the main house in the Shen family's courtyard had been paved, and it actually had flowers on it...
When he got home, he told his parents and his wife about this: "Ms. Sang is really amazing. She can read and write. She asked me to help make a sand table for the two children to teach them how to read. Xiaoan and Aning are really lucky. They even built a gravel road in the yard and placed flowers on it."
Old Man Chen, Old Lady Chen, Qin Fangniang, Chen Ershan, Little Girl: ???
How to arrange flowers on the road?
Of course, they did not forget the main business. Before leaving, Sang Luo asked Chen Youtian if he wanted to carry a load and sell tofu in the surrounding villages.
Originally, the business at the market was for Old Mrs. Chen, but the big market only happens once every five days. Sang Luo tried it herself these few days and found that selling tofu in the village was actually not bad, and she could exchange it for some beans or something.
What Sang Luo meant was that it was okay to exchange the soybeans for tofu. She could also buy them if there were too many.
Even if she really bought all the soybeans obtained from selling tofu in a dozen villages, it wouldn't be a lot, and most of it would be consumed in making tofu.
When Mrs. Chen heard this, she clapped her hands and said, "Of course, I'll go during the busy farming season, and you'll go during the slack season. This way, we can have two jobs."
The old lady was so happy that she was running around at home: "How can I thank her?"
The old lady felt that the greatest luck in her life might be helping Sang with two liters of rice and two pieces of maltose in the middle of the night.
…
When Qin Fangniang went to pick up the goods the next day, she saw it in the little daylight.
So this is how you arrange flowers.
The women from the three families arrived together, including Chen Youtian, Qin Fangniang and others. The three of them went to the county using Chen Youtian's cart, and the three of them walked together. As for Chen Youtian, he also came to pick up the goods. He told Sang Luo the amount he wanted yesterday, and today he brought the linen that his mother had cut for him, as payment for today's goods.
Gan and his friends only then knew that the Chen family had two stalls. Chen Youtian did business in the surrounding villages and towns. They were envious, but they also knew that there was no comparison. They vaguely heard that Sang almost starved to death, and it was the old lady who delivered sugar and food to the mountain in the middle of the night and saved Sang's life.
This kind of affection is incomparable.
Before leaving, Gan and Feng Liuniang told Sang Luo that they would order tomorrow's tofu once they returned from the county today and confirmed the sales volume.
Sang Luo naturally had no objection. She just wanted to have enough time to pick the leaves of the magic tree. The soybeans were enough for the time being, so she simply asked Qin Fangniang and Chen Youtian to decide on their portions in the afternoon.
…
Just after dawn, the little girl also came to the courtyard, looking for Chen Ning.
He stared at the cobblestone road in the courtyard for a long time and wondered: "So this is how flowers are arranged."
Shen Ning also liked the gravel road that their family had worked hard to pave: "Isn't it beautiful? My sister-in-law taught us to do it. This way, when it rains, we can walk into the house on this road, and our shoes won't get dirty easily. We're also going to pave one from the yard to the puddle outside."
The little girl was envious: "It's beautiful, and there's a strip of it. Do you have enough beautiful stones like that? Let me help you find some."
Shen Ning shook his head: "There is no need for such small and beautiful stones outside the door. My sister-in-law said that it is okay to pick slightly larger ones. The shape does not matter, as long as one side is flat. When the time comes, it will be beautiful to piece them together to form a road."
Exquisiteness has its own beauty, and simplicity has its own artistic conception.
Well, Shen Ning didn’t quite understand this sentence, but it looked good anyway.
"Did your sister-in-law teach you to read? What did she teach you to read?"
"Names, mine and my second brother's names. The character Chen is too difficult, but I already know the character Ning."
As he said this, he happily led the little girl to the yard, took out his own small sandbox, and drew a crooked word "Ning" on it with a branch.
Although the little girl didn't know what the use of learning to read was, she envied her friends from the bottom of her heart when she saw them so happy: "I don't know how to write my name."
Shen Ning thought for a moment and said, "Wait until I learn my own name. Next time, I'll ask my sister-in-law to teach me how to write your name, and then I'll teach you."
"Okay, okay." The little girl was very happy: "I'll help you pick up stones then."
The big ones are everywhere.
As the two girls were talking, Shen Ning remembered something and asked the little girl curiously, "Have you seen Shen Jin and others recently?"
I haven't been to their house for a few days, which is a bit unlike Shen Jin's personality.
When Xiao Yaer heard that this was the question, she nodded and said, "I saw it. Except for Shen Tie who is at home taking care of Tian Yaer, Shen Jin and Shen Yin have been sent to work in the fields."
The little girl came close to Shen Ning and whispered, "That day when we had a feast at your house, Shen Jin got beaten when he got home. Although it seemed like only one or two hits, I heard it. He was chased out to the fields the next day."
Shen Ningke didn't know why her uncle and aunt beat people this time, but since the little girl's life has been good, she no longer has to live under the looks of her uncle and aunt. She has been busy every day and has forgotten about them.
As for Shen Jin working in the fields, well, it's not surprising. She and her second brother were assigned various tasks since they were seven years old.
Shen Ning didn't think much about it.
The two of them chatted together, and Shen Ning watered the vegetables, moved her precious sand table back, and took the little girl to pick wild vegetables to feed the chickens.
The little girl was surprised: "Didn't you see your second brother?"
Shen Ning closed the courtyard door and said, "I'm busy."
As for what he was busy with, he didn't mention a word.
What are you busy with? You are drying the sour jujube cakes in the backyard with the door closed.
In the backyard, Chen An and Sang Luo were drying things. The ground was raised with stones and two large round winnowing baskets were placed on it. Chen An heard the door closing and said, "Sister-in-law, we need to buy a few more winnowing baskets. These are not enough. We dare not make more at a time."
He looked at the size of his backyard and said, "We'll need four. If we spread out the entire backyard, we can dry four."
Sang Luo smiled and said, "There are more than four. Make a few shelves and put them on top of each other. We can put more than ten of them."
"What kind of shelves?"
Sang Luo gestured roughly and said, "Let's think about it later."
Four are not enough, she also wants to save some dried konjac.
Konjac can't just be cooked right after being dug up. It can also be cut into pieces and dried. The dried konjac can be stored for a long time. If you want to make konjac tofu, use a mortar and stone to pound it into powder and it can be used directly.
After all the sour jujube cakes were dried, they carried out the clay basin, closed the door to the backyard, and after washing the basin, the uncle and his wife got out a pile of wood and piled it in the yard. The two carpentry rookies gathered together to figure out how to make the shelves.
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