The earthen kiln was built and the clay was ready. The next day, Xie Yushu went up the mountain to chop firewood in preparation for firing the kiln.
It turns out that you can't just cut down the trees on the mountain; if you want to cut firewood, you can only cut down dead trees or thorny bushes!
After two years of severe drought, most of the trees have died. These dead trees are left unattended, and many people have already started going up the mountain to cut firewood, probably to prepare firewood for the winter before the seeds sprout!
Many people in the fields have started leveling the land in preparation for planting. Today, only Xie Tianlin, Qu Xiaodie, and Xie Yushu are going up the mountain. Everyone else is also leveling the land at home. After a thorough rain, some small grasses have sprouted in the fields. Before planting, you have to tidy up the land first.
Many people in the village saw Xie Yushu's family hauling soil and mud, making clay, and building kilns, and secretly laughed at Xie Yushu for her unrealistic ideas. They thought that if everyone could fire their own tiles, what would the legitimate kilns eat?
These past few days, people passing by her house have been waiting to see her burn a large pile of mud.
Aunt Tian next door even spoke ill of Xiao Yi to his face.
"Why waste your time on this? This new wife is ignorant and needs to be disciplined. If she doesn't listen, she should be beaten. We can't let her squander the family fortune!"
Look at how much they've squandered the house these past two days! They've made white flour noodles, big meat pies, and even egg sauce. They've given all the good stuff to others, and the little grain they managed to buy is almost gone!
If my wife were this aggressive, I would have hung her up and beaten her long ago!
Aunt Tian was talking animatedly, spittle flying everywhere, while Xiao Yi calmly replied with a...
"You don't need to worry about our family matters, Auntie!"
Aunt Tian choked, and said angrily, "You're so hopeless!"
"What a loser! He's never seen a woman in his eight lifetimes! He got completely dominated by some immature blonde girl!"
"You'll regret it when you lose your mind like that!"
Xie Yushu was unaware that her antics had already drawn the ire of many women, and some were even secretly instigating Xiao Yi to beat her up. At that moment, she was huffing and puffing as she chopped down a tree with Qu Xiaodie and Xie Tianlin.
Normally, when chopping firewood, everyone prefers to choose small, dead trees that are as thick as an arm to cut, as they are easy to chop and easy to use for fire. However, Xie Yushu considered that a strong fire was needed for firing the kiln, so they specifically chose large, dead trees that were as thick as a person to cut. Almost every dead tree could be stacked into a large bundle of firewood that was taller than a person, which Xie Yushu and her team could barely carry on their backs.
Fortunately, there's no need to go deep into the mountains; it's just outside the village, only a little over two miles away, and it only takes about half an hour to get home.
Xie Yushu and her group were also eager to see the results, so they made six trips a day for two days in a row, cutting down more than a hundred bundles of wood before they finally stopped.
After chopping firewood for two days and drying the adobe bricks and kiln for two days, they were almost dry, so they started a fire early on the third day.
Xie Baotian, Xie Baoshu, and Xiao Dayong's family also arrived early and helped Xie Yushu load the clay bricks into the kiln. The kiln was not large and could only hold 500 clay bricks at a time. The first batch was loaded quickly.
Xiao Yi put bundles of wood into the fire and lit it. At first, the fire wasn't very strong, but Xie Yushu fanned it with a large palm-leaf fan. Soon, the flames roared and the heat made everyone scramble to avoid the flames.
And you know what? Once the fire starts, you can tell that the kiln has good ventilation and sealing. As long as the fire is heated enough, Xie Yushu thinks the chances of it being fired successfully are quite high.
In the modern era, the videos she watched showed that the kiln temperature had to reach around 1,300 degrees Celsius, and the firing time was about two days. Although she didn't know the details, she knew the general process, as long as the firing temperature was sufficient.
After the fire had burned for half a day, the group finally ate. Old Man Xiao then called Xiao Dayong and his wife to help Xiao Yuanhang clean up the ground. Old Man Xiao originally wanted Xie Yushu to come along as well, but Xie Yushu said that she still had a lot of work to do at home. Xie Baotian had even put aside his work at the Xie family to help out, so how could he ask her to help Xiao Yuanhang?
Seeing that the Xie family was all there, Old Man Xiao didn't say much and called Xiao Dayong and his family away.
That evening, Xie Baotian and the others also went home.
Since firewood was free, Xie Yushu, Xiao Yi, and Qu Xiaodie took turns burning it for a day and a night, then sealed the kiln and waited for the temperature to drop before opening it.
Another day and night passed. The next morning, the temperature outside the kiln was just right, not too hot to touch. Xie Baotian, Xiao Dayong, and the others arrived. Amidst the anxious yet expectant gazes of the group, Xiao Yi broke open the kiln.
Although the outside temperature was not high, as soon as the cave was broken open, a wave of heat rushed out, and the group was still sweating profusely.
After airing it out for about half an hour, the heat inside had mostly dissipated, and Xiao Dayong couldn't wait to crawl inside and bring out a stack of tiles.
"Wow, you actually managed to do it!"
Qu Xiaodie exclaimed in delight!
"Haha, see? Not bad, right? I can cook for a month!"
"Tch! Fine, let's do it!"
"Hmm, it's not deformed, but it's all black and yellow, it doesn't look very good!"
Xie Baotian sighed as he read!
"Uncle Xie, this is already quite good. We poor folks are just happy to be able to build a tiled house without spending money. Why worry about whether it's beautiful or not? Even the big kilns make mistakes sometimes. Besides, if we fire it ourselves, we can save several taels of silver per room!"
You should know that even the cheapest gray roof tiles, the thin, coarse kind, cost three taels of silver per room! Better ones cost five taels, and I heard that glazed tiles used by wealthy families cost dozens of taels of silver per room!
In the past, we wouldn't even dare to dream of the cheapest gray tiles, but now we're determined to build three tiled houses for each of my brothers Song and Bai, and if we have time, we'll build two more side rooms!
Second brother's wife, in a few days, can I borrow your kiln for a while?
"Sure! You and your sister-in-law can use it whenever you have time."
"Let's finish planting the land! We can only stop burning tiles once we've finished planting our land and Lao Si's land!"
Seeing that Xiao Dayong didn't have time for the moment, Xie Baotian spoke up.
"Then let's burn it first, and I'll call my family to come and haul soil over later. It'll save us the trouble of making the clay here!"
"It's a good time to replace all the thatched houses with tiled roofs, so we won't have to worry about snow in winter, rain in summer, or wind in spring and autumn!"
Xie Yushu said upon hearing this
“Okay, then come tomorrow. We can fire another kiln tomorrow and free up a lot of space, which is perfect for laying new adobe bricks! We’ll ask Tiger Tooth and the others if they want to build a house.”
"Once you all finish repairing them, rent out this earthen kiln. That should be enough to recoup the money spent on the iron sheets."
“This is a good deal. Most families in the surrounding villages live in thatched houses. If they can make their own tiles, they will definitely be willing to switch to tiled houses. How much are you planning to rent them for? I'll pass it on to you later.”
Xie Baotian was already distressed about the money Xie Yushu spent on buying iron bars, and he was very happy to hear that he could get some back. He planned to help Xie Yushu find customers.
"If you have money, I'll give you thirty copper coins a day. If you don't have money, I'll give you ten catties of grain or thirty bundles of firewood a day. Anyway, we need a lot of firewood in winter. Xiao Yi can't go into the mountains to cut firewood, and I don't want to go either. Exchanging for some firewood is not bad. But I want firewood. Don't try to fool me with bundles of straw!"
Xie Baotian listened and nodded.
"These conditions aren't harsh; most people can accept them. Poor people may lack other things, but they have plenty of strength!"
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