Seeing that she had finished talking with Aunt Zhou, Jiang Yuwei didn't linger any longer and got up to say goodbye to Aunt Zhou. She needed to hurry home to tell Ning Huaizhi the good news.
As Jiang Yuwei approached the courtyard, she smelled the aroma of food wafting from inside. It seemed Ning Huaizhi and the two children had prepared a meal at home, so she could simply come back and eat. Thinking this, Jiang Yuwei quickened her pace. Upon entering the courtyard, she saw the stone table already set with food, and the three of them were eagerly waiting for her return. She chuckled and said:
"What? You're not even eating since I'm not home?"
Ning Huaizhi smiled and nodded:
"Well, of course we'll have to wait for you to come back before we can eat. So, did you manage to buy the land?"
Jiang Yuwei pulled out the land deed from her bosom and waved it proudly in front of Ning Huaizhi, then slapped it on the table for him to see.
Seeing this, Ning Huaizhi took the land deed and looked at it. A smile appeared on his lips. Although he didn't know what his wife wanted to do with these three acres of wasteland, he would definitely support Jiang Yuwei as long as she wanted to do it.
Jiang Yuwei looked at Ning Huaizhi's smiling face and said:
"How about that? Aren't I amazing? Aren't you going to praise me?"
Ning Huaizhi carefully folded the land deed and handed it to Jiang Yuwei, smiling as he said:
"Amazing! My wife is the best! Zhao'er, Wan'er, isn't your mother amazing?"
The two children, holding chopsticks, stared brightly at Jiang Yuwei and nodded:
"Amazing, Mother is the most amazing."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and patted the two children's heads, saying:
"Alright, alright, let's eat quickly, I'm a little hungry too."
The family of four enjoyed their dinner together and then went to their respective rooms to rest.
next day
Jiang Yuwei had just gotten up and washed her face when she heard Ning Wu shouting at the top of his lungs outside the courtyard:
"Sister Yuwei, let's go up the mountain!"
Seeing that the two of them had arrived so early, Jiang Yuwei smiled helplessly:
"Come in first, sit in the yard and wait for me for a while."
Jiang Yuwei took a lot of locust flower buns from the kitchen. She didn't know how much Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu could eat, so she brought extra to avoid running out of food on the mountain at noon. She needed to hurry up and peel all the bark off the trees on the three acres of land in the next few days, otherwise the production progress would fall behind.
Seeing her mother in such a hurry, Ning Zhao quickly dressed and got off the kang (heated brick bed) and said:
"Mother, I'll go up the mountain too. You two go about your business, and Wan'er and I will gather firewood right next to you, okay?"
Jiang Yuwei thought that the firewood at home was indeed insufficient, so she nodded and said:
"Okay, hurry up and pack up."
The group quickly packed up and went up the mountain, leaving only Ning Huaizhi at home to look after the house.
Once they reached the mountain, Jiang Yuwei personally taught Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu how to peel the bark off the trees. After they learned how, the two began to work diligently.
The three of them peeled the bark off half an acre of trees in one morning. This was even though they weren't very skilled and their technique was a bit slow. At noon, they sat on the edge of the field, ate a few locust flower buns, drank some cold water, and then continued working.
Jiang Yuwei thought that the two children would be too tired to stay on the mountain, so she asked Ning Zhao to take Ning Wan home to feed the cattle first. She also told them that they didn't need to go up the mountain in the afternoon, but just stay home and help Ning Huaizhi cook dinner.
None of the three of them slacked off, and they quickly finished another acre of land in one afternoon.
When they returned to the courtyard after descending the mountain, Jiang Yuwei's legs were completely unresponsive; her toes ached as if they were broken. Ning Huaizhi felt extremely distressed seeing his wife like this.
“Yuwei, if you can’t do it, then don’t go up the mountain to work. It’s all men’s work. Let Tiezhu and Ningwu do it. It’s okay if they’re slow.”
Jiang Yuwei then waved her hand and said:
"No, peeling the bark is only the first step. There are many more steps to follow. It's not something that can be done in a few days. I'll help out as much as I can, and every day I can shorten the time will be one day shorter."
Seeing a plate of twice-cooked pork, a fish dish, two cold dishes, and locust flower buns on the table, Jiang Yuwei smiled and said:
"Huaizhi, your cooking skills have improved recently."
Ning Huaizhi laughed and said:
"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching. If you teach me more dishes in the future, I'll take care of all the meals at home, so you won't have to cook."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and handed the chopsticks to Tiezhu and Ningwu:
"Okay, that's exactly what I'd like. You two should try the food your brother Huaizhi made."
The two had been working all day and were starving. They took the chopsticks and buns and began to wolf them down.
Seeing this, Ning Huaizhi laughed and said:
"Eat slowly, you two, don't choke. There's plenty of food."
The two nodded and shoveled rice into their mouths. Jiang Yuwei and Ning Huaizhi exchanged a smile upon seeing this.
"Looks like you've mastered the craft. Let's eat quickly. I need to go to bed early tonight. One more day of work tomorrow will be enough."
After everyone finished eating, Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu went home, Jiang Yuwei boiled a kettle of water to soak her feet, and Ning Huaizhi and Ning Wan washed and put away the dishes.
After the family finished their chores, they went to bed early.
Early the next morning
As usual, Jiang Yuwei and the Ning brothers went to peel off the remaining bark, while Ning Zhao felt that there was still not enough firewood at home, so he took Ning Wan up the mountain to collect firewood.
With everyone working together, they quickly finished peeling the bark off the trees on the three acres of land. After having dinner, Jiang Yuwei told Ning Wu and the other man to come back and help peel the bark the next day before going back to her room to sleep.
The Ning brothers arrived at the courtyard early in the morning. Peeling the bark wasn't tiring, but it required care. So the four family members, along with the Ning brothers, worked together and quickly peeled all the bark. Jiang Yuwei set up several rows of racks in the yard, tied them with hemp ropes, and spread out the peeled bark to dry.
Jiang Yuwei thought that if she wanted to make paper in the future, it wouldn't work to just stay in this courtyard. She would have to build a big house specifically for making paper. She also thought that there was a large vacant plot of wasteland behind the house. She thought she might as well take advantage of the time while the tree bark was drying to build a house on the land behind the house and set up a small papermaking workshop.
Anyway, the backyard is very close to the pond next to it, so we can build a small path to the pond. It will be more convenient to use water for papermaking in the future. I also have the money from selling gastrodia elata last time, so I can take this opportunity to build the backyard wall higher with blue bricks. This way, it will be safer to live in this house in the future.
It can not only protect against people, but also against wild animals from the back mountain. It's spring now, and those wild animals can find food in the mountains. If it were winter, those wild animals might come down the mountain to look for food. Since our house is so close to the back mountain, if wild animals come down the mountain, our yard will definitely be the first to suffer.
With this in mind, Jiang Yuwei felt that the backyard wall and papermaking workshop needed to be built as soon as possible. Jiang Yuwei took twenty pickled preserved eggs from the kitchen, put them in a small basket, and carried the basket to the village head's house.
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