Crossing 70: Fish in the Pond Have Good News

Jiang Yu heard the noise outside, walked out and looked at Zhuang Shouren.

"Well, the two educated youths' rooms need to have a kang..." Zhuang Shouren hurried over and explained to her in a low voice.

Jiang Yu suddenly realized, "Let's sell them some bricks from the village. The kiln won't need that many."

Zhuang Shouren immediately breathed a sigh of relief. It would be fine if he could free up some time. After all, he had promised others at the beginning. If he hadn't forgotten so many things, this mistake wouldn't have happened.

He turned around and said to Luo Xinci, "I'll ask someone to bring the bricks over later. You guys pack up your things. The workers will start the work this afternoon."

"Okay, okay! Thank you, Captain!" Luo Xinci was so happy. That was great. Now that the construction had started, she would be able to move out and live there herself soon.

Yuan Jiaojiao cheered and shook Luo Xinci's hand, "Let's go pack up and put the things first... Can we put them with your brother first?"

Luo Xinci also held her hand, "I'll go ask. It's okay if it can't be put away. Just lock it up and put it in the front temporarily..." Can they still pick the lock?

In the afternoon, the villagers who were building the kang came to the backyard, and Jiang Yu took his friends to Yaoer Mountain.

That's right, they're joining in the fun again.

Jiang Yu directed the villagers to dig the foundation, compact the ground, and build pot kilns with earthen bricks and mud.

The other villagers went to make thick mud.

According to the original method of making ginger fish, the clay should be dried and then sieved after it is dry, but rougher bricks can also be made according to the current simple process.

Zhuang Shouren was arranged by Jiang Yu to go to Old Liu's house to order brick molds.

In order to make the clay more sticky, Jiang Yu asked them to bring in logs and pound the mud, repeating this process over and over again.

After the thick mud is ready for use, the blank molds are used to start making bricks.

The bricks must be placed in a cool place as they will crack if exposed to the sun, and sand must be spread on them to prevent them from sticking together.

The process of making bricks can be handed over to the women in the village, leaving the men to build the kilns, and everyone else can go back to grow winter vegetables.

Originally, the women were very dissatisfied with this matter. After all, it was autumn, the harvest season, and there were many things to pick up in the mountains.

But the men all said that after the bricks were fired, they could be sold cheaply to the villagers. Who wouldn’t want to have a beautiful, solid, and airtight brick house?

The women were immediately convinced and set to work with great enthusiasm.

Jiang Yu only stayed in Yaoer Mountain for two days. After making sure that everyone was working together according to her instructions, she rushed into the mountains behind with confidence.

The hazelnut trees were full of fruits, densely packed. Jiang Yu took a branch and hit the branches with a crackling sound, and the fruits soon fell to the ground.

To pick hazelnuts and walnuts, Jiang Yu was skilled and courageous, so she went directly to the deep mountains where there were few people and no one was interested in these wild nuts, which was a good bargain for her.

But the next day, she brought her little friend along.

Xue Li loves to eat pine nuts, so he wanders around in the pine forest near Jiangyu.

The male educated youth were not picky; they picked up whatever they could find and filled their backpacks to the brim.

Wu Aiqing also found a wild chestnut tree, but most of the fruits had already fallen to the ground, so it seemed like it would take quite some time for them to mature.

He took out a small dustpan, used a branch to pick up the thorny fruits, and put them into his bag one by one.

There was a jujube tree on the top of the mountain. There were not many fruits on it, and there were signs that it had been eaten by insects and birds. Fu Biao climbed up to the treetop like a monkey and collected all the fruits that looked intact and edible.

After searching in the mountains for several days, Jiang Yu was taken away by Zhuang Shouren again. The other educated youth did not have the courage to fight the beast, so they had to retreat to the outskirts of the mountains and pick up mountain products with the villagers.

The kiln was built, the wind was strong in the mountains, the bricks were dried, and the charcoal fire that Jiang Yu ordered was also lit. Everything was ready.

Jiang Yu watched as the villagers excitedly but restrainedly put bricks into the cave, sealed the door, filled the gaps with straw and mud, and then lit a fire to start cooking.

Black smoke came out of the chimney, and the villagers were nervous, fearing that the fire would not burn. But soon, a bright light came out of the furnace, and when they approached the kiln, they could feel a hint of heat. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the fire was burning.

The villagers used ladders and large stones to block the chimney, sealed the sentry eye, left a few people to guard it, and then left happily.

Jiang Yu stayed with them for a whole day, mainly because the villagers didn't know anything, so she had to stay and teach them how to watch fire.

When Xue Li came to deliver the meal, he felt the temperature of the Can Can Kiln and said, "It would be comfortable to live next to this place in winter!"

Zhang Baoguo answered cheerfully, "We did plan to do that. The team leader said we'll wait for this batch of bricks to come out and see what Master Jiang wants to do with them. If there are extra ones, we'll build a house!"

"Really? That's a good thing. If we can burn bricks in winter, the villagers can build houses after the land thaws next year!" Xue Li was as happy as they were.

The other person also smiled from ear to ear, "A brick house! It's a brick house! When I went to the town before, I saw their blue brick houses and I envied them. I never thought that one day we would be able to build our own houses with bricks!"

"This is all thanks to Master Jiang! We are blessed by our ancestors to have Master Jiang~"

The few people who stayed behind suddenly started to flatter Jiang Yu for free.

Xue Li giggled.

Jiang Yuren was already numb, so he just let it go. Since the beginning of building the kiln, this group of villagers seemed to have opened up their Ren and Du meridians. They had learned the skill of farting without any instruction, and their skill was improved from time to time. Everyone had a good mouth.

But stay calm! Don’t get lost in the sugar-coated bullets.

Xue Li finished laughing and asked again, "Can we burn tiles? Most of the roofs in the village are thatched, so the insulation effect may be a little worse and they are not frost-resistant."

"Okay, but let's take it slow. Let's build another kiln and do it bit by bit." Jiang Yu also had this idea. The winter in Northeast China is no joke. In the past, the villagers had no conditions and could only endure it, but now that she has built the kiln, of course those things that can improve the quality of life must be arranged.

"Burning tiles? We can still burn tiles? Oh my God, I really, I really have no regrets if I die now..." An old man next to him suddenly barked and burst into tears.

Jiang Yu and Xue Li were both stunned.

Zhang Baoguo patted the old man on the shoulder and explained, "His wife died when the roof collapsed due to heavy snow two years ago."

Jiang Yu nodded, not feeling anything. After all, people who had lived through the apocalypse had long been accustomed to death caused by natural disasters. Xue Li, on the other hand, sighed, feeling sad.

The development history of this country is somewhat similar to the world Xue Li once lived in. The life of the lower-class people during this period was like this: hard, poor, and the heavy farm work bent their backs. The simple living conditions could only allow them to barely get enough food and clothing, but they still actively fought for their lives.