Chapter 183: Building a Wooden Bridge
Compared with stone bridges and arch bridges, wooden bridges are very easy to build.
If you don’t have wire or iron chain, use hemp rope instead.
In order to prevent the hemp rope from breaking and the wood from falling apart in an instant, causing people to fall into the river, all the wood was first tied together in pairs, then tied together in pairs, and finally wrapped with a few rounds of hemp rope on the outside to secure it.
In this way, even if some of the hemp ropes are worn and broken, they will not fall apart all at once, giving time to repair them.
Shen Qing was thinking that once the brush workshop made a profit, he would buy back the iron chains and reinforce all the wooden bridges. Currently, he had nothing and was short of everything, so he could only make do with what he had.
In the construction of the wooden bridge, everyone in the village, except for the very young children, participated.
The men cut the wood, the boys fished out the logs and carried them over, the girls sorted the logs by thickness, and the women tied them with hemp ropes...
By evening, the five wooden bridges were completed and the woodcutters had returned. The strong men worked together to move the bridges to the river bank and placed them in place, then nailed wooden stakes on both sides of the bridges to secure them.
After a careful inspection and confirmation that it was secure, Carpenter Guan pointed to the wooden stakes on both sides of the riverbank and said, "Twist some straw ropes, tie them from one stake at one end to the other, and wrap them around one side a few times. Then you don't have to worry about the children crossing the river."
The amount of hemp rope is limited, so it should be used sparingly, but straw rope can be made at any time.
"Okay, we'll get it ready before dinner, so don't worry!"
There are five bridges in total, and two families are responsible for one. Each family has a large number of people, so it is easier to work with more people, and it can indeed be completed before dinner.
Shen Qing and the Guan family worked together to build a bridge.
Others always think that Shen Qing is at a disadvantage, but in Shen Qing's view, she is always taking advantage of the Guan family.
Although the Guan family has few people, everyone is diligent and hardworking, especially Guan Xiaoshan. When he is not working, he helps to look after the two little kids. This is much more useful than her sons!
His hands were even more skillful. At this moment, Jiang Shui was responsible for collecting weeds, while Guan Xiaoshan was twisting the weeds into ropes. The messy weeds turned into dense and tight ropes in his hands in a short while.
After rolling it into a strip, take it from the river to the east and tie it to the west.
Here, Jiang Xiangnan, Xiangbei and Xiangzhong were bending over and cutting weeds with sickles in their hands.
These grasses are not thrown away. The tender ones are picked out to feed the cows and donkeys, and the ones that the cows and donkeys don’t like to eat are dried and used to start fire for cooking.
It's not like being on the run now. Back then, we cut too much and couldn't take it away, so we had to throw it away. Now, no matter what it is, as long as it is useful, we will stock up as much as we can, and no matter how much, it is not too much.
Shen Qingjiang Yu Guan Li went over first to clear out a space for dinner.
I just made some fried noodles to fill my stomach at noon, but by the evening my stomach was growling with hunger.
Shen Qing instructed the two of them: "Dinner is the first meal in our new home on the new land, so make something hearty so everyone can eat their fill!"
"Sister-in-law, every meal we eat should be enough to fill our stomachs. How much more sumptuous can it be?" Jiang Yu asked with a faint smile.
The food they ate while fleeing famine was better than what many families in the village had eaten before.
Except for the meals they had while traveling, every other meal had either meat or eggs. Even without lard, it was still enough. Only the lunch meal was not good, and my sister-in-law felt sorry for them and found an excuse to give them an extra meal.
Shen Qing disagreed: "The gap is huge. Ours can only be considered as filling our stomachs."
After Shen Qing finished speaking, he took out a whole piece of smoked meat from the bamboo basket, soaked it in hot water, and sliced it after it softened slightly.
I took out a whole air-dried chicken - before leaving, I dried all the chickens and ducks at home, and this was the only one left to eat on the road. Today I decided to splurge and stew a whole one at a time.
Take out the dried cowpeas and bean curd sheets that were soaked at noon;
Then he took out more than ten salted duck eggs from the jar;
Finally, he took out five or six goose eggs from the rice bucket and washed a large basin of rice;
Two large iron pots and one small iron pot are lit at the same time. Rice is put into the large iron pot to cook, and a steaming rack is placed on top to steam salted duck eggs.
Chop the air-dried chicken into pieces and stir-fry, then add the soaked and cut dried cowpeas, add boiling water and simmer on low heat;
Then cover it with twisted buns.
Cut the smoked meat into thin slices and stir-fry it with bean curd sheets until it is well-seasoned. Then add the wild garlic dug from the wasteland and simmer until cooked. Then remove from the pot and serve in a bowl.
Chop the wild garlic leaves, blend the goose eggs, and make a ceramic pot of garlic leaf egg drop soup.
When the rice is cooked, all the dishes are ready.
The salted duck eggs are first soaked in cold water, and then handed to each person one by one after they are warm.
One per person.
The shiny rice is piled high in the bowl, and the steamed buns on top of the air-dried chicken are also ready. Those who like noodles can eat the steamed buns directly.
Everyone sat on the ground around a big iron pot of stewed air-dried chicken, holding a bowl of rice and a whole salted duck egg, with stewed chicken, bacon and egg drop soup in front of them!
Guan Mujiang and Guan Xiaoshan were particularly uncomfortable. After a while, Guan Mujiang cheered up and announced: "I have been eating and drinking with you all these days. I don't know what to say.
I will not say any more polite words. I originally said that I would take care of all your beds, boxes, tables and chairs, but after you came here, you don’t sleep on wooden beds, you only sleep on kangs.
I can only turn it into boxes, cabinets, tables and chairs. If you see anything else you need, tell me and I will make it together!"
Not only Shen Qing was surprised, but everyone except the Guan family was shocked.
"No, Uncle Guan! We can accept one or two things, but we can't let you give us everything." Jiang Xiangdong, as the eldest son, immediately refused.
Jiang Xiangnan hastily agreed: "Yes, what's the point of asking for free? You brought so much food and bacon. Aren't we two families sharing the same necessities? Now that we've arrived safely, how could we ask for so much from you? Who would we be?"
They support and care for each other. Sister Li has always done the same work as her sister-in-law and sister-in-law. Although Xiaoshan has difficulty walking, he does not cause them any trouble and always helps take care of the baby.
Even though he was so thick-skinned, he really couldn't accept it with a thick face!
The others nodded.
Shen Qing concluded: "Look, the children have said that we had agreed on this before we set out, so why are there additional thank-you gifts now?"
Guan Li advised: "Aunt, my father has already told us on the way, just agree to it."
"Aunt, we have been taking your food along the way. We know this. These things are my father's gift, and this is all we know." Guan Xiaoshan looked at Shen Qing nervously.
Afraid she would refuse.
Shen Qing looked at the three pairs of expectant eyes, "...Okay, we don't need boxes, just two cabinets, a table and four long benches.
If there are too many, I won’t accept them even if you give them to me.”
This was far different from what Carpenter Guan had originally planned, and he looked at his children awkwardly.
Guan Li knew that Shen Qing had given in and nodded to her father.
Guan the carpenter just responded: “Okay, then tell me if you need anything in the future;
By the way, starting tomorrow the three of us won’t be coming over to eat.”
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