klisemfg Chapter 73: Peeling Tree Bark on the Mountain
Chapter 73: Peeling Tree Bark on the Mountain
Seeing that she had already agreed with Aunt Zhou, Jiang Yuwei did not delay any longer and stood up to say goodbye to Aunt Zhou. She had to go home quickly to tell Ning Huaizhi the good news.
When Jiang Yuwei walked into the courtyard, she smelled the aroma of food wafting from the courtyard. It seemed that Ning Huaizhi and the two children had prepared the food at home, so she could just go back and eat the ready-made food. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuwei quickened her pace. As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw that the stone table was already set with food. Three people were eagerly waiting for her to come back, so she chuckled and said,
"What? You won't even start eating until I go home?"
Ning Huaizhi smiled and nodded:
"Well, of course we have to wait for you to come back before we can have dinner. So, have you bought the land?"
Jiang Yuwei took out the land deed from her arms and waved it in front of Ning Huaizhi's eyes ostentatiously, then slapped it on the table for Ning Huaizhi to see.
Ning Huaizhi took the deed and looked at it, a smile appeared on his face. Although he didn't know what his wife wanted to do with these three acres of wasteland, as long as Jiang Yuwei wanted to do it, he would definitely support her.
Jiang Yuwei looked at Ning Huaizhi's smiling face and said:
"What do you think? Am I awesome? Why don't you praise me?"
Ning Huaizhi carefully folded the deed and handed it to Jiang Yuwei and said with a smile:
"Awesome, awesome! My wife is the best. Zhao'er, Wan'er, isn't your mother awesome?"
The two children stared at Jiang Yuwei with their chopsticks in their hands and nodded:
"Awesome, mother is the best."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and touched the two children's heads and said:
"Okay, okay, let's eat quickly. I'm a little hungry too."
The family of four finished their dinner happily and then went back to their rooms to rest.
next day
Jiang Yuwei had just gotten up and washed her face when she heard Ning Wu yelling outside the yard:
"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 and sit in the yard and wait for me for a while."
Jiang Yuwei took out a lot of locust flower buns from the kitchen. She didn't know how much Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu ate, so she could only bring more to avoid not having enough to eat at noon on the mountain. In the next few days, she had to peel off all the bark from the three acres of land, otherwise she would not be able to keep up with the production progress later.
Seeing his mother in a hurry, Ning Zhao also put on his clothes and got off the kang and said:
"Mom, I'll go up the mountain too. You guys do your own things, and Wan'er and I will just sit by your side and collect firewood, okay?"
Jiang Yuwei thought that the firewood at home was indeed insufficient, so she nodded and said:
"Okay, clean up quickly."
The group quickly packed up and went up the mountain, leaving only Ning Huai to look after the house.
After arriving at the mountain, Jiang Yuwei personally taught Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu how to peel the bark. After they learned it, they began to work hard.
It took three people one morning to peel the bark of half an acre of land. However, they were not very experienced and their technique was slow. At noon, they sat on the field, ate a few locust flower buns, drank some cold water, and continued to work.
Jiang Yuwei thought that the two children were too tired to follow Ning Zhao on the mountain, so she asked Ning Zhao to take Ning Wan home to feed the cows first. She also told them not to go up the mountain in the afternoon, but just help Ning Huaizhi cook dinner at home.
None of the three of them were lazy, and soon they finished working one acre of land in just one afternoon.
When they returned to the courtyard after going down the mountain, Jiang Yuwei's legs were no longer under her control, and her toes felt as if they were broken. Ning Huaizhi felt really distressed when he saw his wife like this:
"Yuwei, if you can't do it, don't go up the mountain to work. These are men's jobs. Let Tiezhu and Ningwu do it. Go slowly if you want."
Jiang Yuwei waved her hand and said:
"No, peeling the bark is just the first step. There are many other steps to go, and it's not something that can be completed in a few days. I'll help out as much as possible, and I'll save as much time as possible."
Jiang Yuwei saw a plate of twice-cooked pork, a fish dish, two cold dishes and locust flower buns on the table, so she smiled and said:
"Huaizhi, your cooking skills have improved recently."
Ning Huaizhi smiled and said:
"It's all because of your teaching, Master. In the future, if you can teach me a few more dishes, I will take care of all the meals at home, so you don't have to cook."
Jiang Yuwei smiled and handed the chopsticks to Tiezhu and Ning Wu:
"Okay, that's what I want. You two should try the food your brother Huaizhi made."
After working all day, the two were already starving, so they took the chopsticks, picked up the buns and started to wolf them down.
Ning Huaizhi smiled and said:
"Eat slowly, don't choke, there's plenty of food."
The two of them nodded and ate their food. Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei smiled at Ning Huaizhi:
"It seems that your cooking skills have improved. Let's eat quickly. I want to go to bed early today. I will have to work for another day tomorrow."
After everyone finished their meal, the brothers Ning Tiezhu and Ning Wu went home. Jiang Yuwei boiled a pot of hot water to soak her feet, while Ning Huaizhi and Ning Wan washed the dishes and put them away.
After the family finished their work, they went to bed early.
Early the next morning
As usual, Jiang Yuwei went with the Ning Wu brothers to peel the remaining tree bark. Ning Zhao felt that there was still not enough firewood at home, so he took Ning Wan to the mountain to collect firewood.
With concerted efforts, they soon finished peeling the bark from the three acres of land. After returning home to have dinner, Jiang Yuwei asked Ning Wu and the other man to come and help peel the bark tomorrow before returning to the house to sleep.
In the morning, the Ningwu brothers came to the yard early. Peeling the bark was not a tiring job, but it required carefulness. So the family of four plus the Ningwu brothers worked together and soon the bark was peeled. Jiang Yuwei set up several rows of racks in the yard, tied hemp ropes, and spread out the peeled bark one by one to dry.
Jiang Yuwei thought that if she wanted to make paper in the future, it would not be possible to do it in this yard. She would have to build a big house specifically for making paper. She also thought that there was a large piece of wasteland behind the house. She might as well build a house on the land behind the house while the bark was drying and set up a small papermaking workshop.
Anyway, the land in the backyard is very close to the pond next to it, so I can just build a path nearby leading to the pond, which will make it more convenient to use water for papermaking in the future. I still have the money from selling Gastrodia elata last time, so I can take this opportunity to build a high wall in the backyard with blue bricks, so that it will be safer to live in this house in the future.
It can not only protect against people, but also against wild beasts in the mountain behind. Now it is spring, and those wild beasts can find food in the mountains. If it is winter, those wild beasts in the mountains may have to come down the mountain to find food. My house is so close to the mountain behind. If a wild beast comes down the mountain, the first to suffer will definitely be my yard.
Thinking so in her heart, Jiang Yuwei felt that the backyard wall and the papermaking workshop must be built quickly. Jiang Yuwei directly took twenty pickled century eggs from the kitchen and put them in a small basket. She carried the basket and walked towards the headman's house.