Turning around, she saw the village chief walking excitedly towards Jiang Ling, dragging a bamboo pole as thick as a bowl.
"Um, village... village chief, actually I... I only need one section! And could you also please give me some firewood and hay? Oh! And I also need a tinderbox!" Jiang Ling gestured the length of the bamboo as she spoke.
The village chief took out a wood-chopping knife and deftly chopped the bamboo section by section.
Looking at the bamboo scattered on the ground, Jiang Ling gently reminded her, "Village Chief, this is still in the experimental stage, and I can't guarantee that this method will be 100% successful!"
The village chief wiped the sweat from his brow, completely ignoring Jiang Ling's words. He smiled and said, "Jiang, go ahead and experiment! I... I'll go get you some firewood and hay!"
After saying that, the village chief disappeared from Jiang Ling's sight in a flash.
Jiang Ling sighed helplessly. To be honest, she had no idea whether this method would succeed.
"We can only take it one step at a time now!" Jiang Ling thought to herself as she picked up large stones and dirt from the ground.
While the little boy wasn't paying attention, Jiang Ling hurriedly opened the shop and bought a little bit of sulfur, charcoal chips, and saltpeter.
They hurriedly stuffed the bamboo with stones and soil, and then found a larger stone and stuffed it into the other side of the bamboo.
Looking at the bamboo that was still a bit drafty, Jiang Ling's originally calm mood began to inexplicably become tense and excited.
The village chief carried firewood and hay and walked with Jiang Ling to the side of the boulder. Jiang Ling looked left and right, chose a good spot, and then picked up some stones to build a simple frame.
After placing the hay, firewood, and bamboo, Jiang Ling looked at the village chief and said, "Village chief, please take the little fairy boy and leave the cave first. I'm worried that the explosion might hurt you."
The village chief looked at Jiang Ling with worry in his eyes and said, "Jiang Shi, then... then you must be very careful!"
"Okay, let me know when you're out of the cave!" Jiang Ling squatted on the ground and continued to adjust the position of the bamboo tube.
Soon, the village chief's voice came from the cave entrance. Jiang Ling swallowed hard, lit the dry grass on the ground with a tinderbox, and the dry grass quickly ignited the firewood, and the fire gradually grew bigger.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Ling turned and ran towards the cave entrance.
Upon exiting the cave, the village chief's anxious gaze met Jiang Ling's. Jiang Ling pointed to the cave and said, "Just wait! I can't say exactly how much longer!"
The village chief seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just opened his mouth without making a sound.
The waiting time was anxious and unsettling, and even the usually composed village chief paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.
Seeing this, Jiang Ling wanted to remind her, but after thinking about it, she wisely kept quiet.
This matter concerns the food supply of an entire village, and as the village chief, he was under more pressure than anyone else.
A sudden loud bang startled the three people standing outside the cave, and the little boy shrank behind Jiang Ling in fear.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!" Jiang Ling comforted her.
"Jiang... what... what's going on?" The village chief asked, covering his nose with a look of horror.
Jiang Ling looked over and saw plumes of black smoke rising from the cave, mixed with the unique smell of sulfur.
"That's what happens when bamboo explodes! Let's go inside and check it out when the smoke gets lighter!"
"No, no! I mean the smell! Why does it smell so awful! Could it be poisonous?" The village chief pinched his nose, his voice sounding rather strange.
"No, it's probably just the smell of rocks exploding. Don't worry!" Jiang Ling guessed they probably hadn't blasted rocks before, so she quickly shifted the blame to the rocks.
After a few minutes, Jiang Ling noticed that the smoke in the cave had noticeably decreased, and turned to the village chief, saying, "Village chief, the smoke has almost dissipated. Let's go in and take a look!"
Jiang Ling was filled with anxiety throughout the journey, unaware that the village chief behind her was even more nervous than she was.
The two quickly arrived at the boulder. The bamboo was charred black and shattered into pieces, and the surrounding area was full of mud and broken stones.
Jiang Ling had no time to pay attention to her surroundings and quickly stepped forward to check the condition of the boulder.
Looking at the blackened parts of the boulder, Jiang Ling secretly marveled at the power of the bamboo. By the light of the fire, Jiang Ling quickly discovered that several fine cracks had appeared at the bottom of the boulder.
"Village chief! Village chief, look! Here! There's a crack here!" Jiang Ling said, pointing to the crack with a trembling voice.
The village chief arrived at the sound. In the firelight, his face appeared even redder. He squinted and pressed his face against the boulder.
Before long, his whole body began to tremble slightly, his cloudy eyes fixed on the bottom of the boulder, his hands trembling as he stroked the cracks back and forth.
"My...our village! Our village is saved!!!" the village chief shouted excitedly.
"Village...Village Chief...calm down...calm down, we still have a problem!" Jiang Ling looked at the village chief and secretly broke out in a cold sweat. She was really worried that the village chief might go crazy.
The air inside the cave wasn't good, and the village chief's condition was a bit frightening. Jiang Ling was worried that something might happen to him, so she coaxed and tricked him into leaving the cave.
The village chief's face flushed, but his eyes still shone with extreme excitement. He looked at Jiang Ling with trembling lips and said, "Jiang Shi, is there anything else?"
Jiang Ling pointed to the path beneath her feet and said, "Village chief, we have water, but how do we get it down there? We can't expect everyone to come to the cave to fetch water every day to irrigate the fields, can we?"
"Huh? Then... what else?" The village chief looked at Jiang Ling with a puzzled expression.
When Jiang Ling heard the village chief's answer, her jaw almost dropped to the ground. Jiang Ling didn't say anything more. The matter of cutting bamboo for "explosion" was beyond what a village woman like her could think of. If she continued to talk about it, the village chief would probably become suspicious after getting excited.
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