Traveling through the mountains and farming

Lin Wan passed by the study area at the entrance of the cave and saw the children reciting "Three Character Classic" fluently.

She immediately thought of Li Chongle reviewing and reciting at home, and knew that they were already learning "Hundred Family Names".

Because they had no pens, ink, paper or inkstone, it was inconvenient for them to recognize and write.

The current teaching method used is that Li Chonghao writes on the ground with tree branches, and the children gather around to learn and write on the ground.

Also, due to a series of problems such as the lack of books to review properly and the lack of conditions to practice writing, many children often forget what they learned the day before.

Therefore, the teaching effect is not ideal. I heard from Li Ke that they learn ten characters every day because they are afraid that there are too many to remember.

Thinking of this, Lin Wan felt that it would be nice to have a blackboard.

Just write the words you learned that day on the blackboard so you can see them all day, thus solving the problem of not being able to review without a book.

But she didn't know how to make a blackboard, so she decided to go to Old Man Wang to ask if there was any material that could make the wood board black.

She immediately walked towards Old Man Wang's house not far away. When she saw Old Man Wang, she went straight to the point and explained her purpose.

Old Man Wang frowned and thought for a moment before saying:

"Lin Wan, if we want to paint the wood black, we don't have anything ready-made. But maybe we can try using the black ash from the bottom of the pot."

Lin Wan immediately asked, "Will this fall off if I put it on? If you want to paint the furniture you make, what do you usually use to fix the color?"

"We use raw lacquer, but that's very expensive and only the rich can afford it. Our furniture is usually simply treated with tung oil, which is good enough to keep it out of moisture."

“Can tung oil fix color?”

Old man Wang shook his head. “Tung oil is mainly for moisture-proofing, and its color-fixing effect is not very good, but you can give it a try.”

"Grandpa, let's do this. First, sand the wood until it's smooth, then paint it with the black ash from the bottom of the pot, and then use tung oil to fix the color."

Old Man Wang nodded slightly: "Your method may work, let's try it."

Next, Lin Wan explained in detail to Old Man Wang the size and shape of the blackboard, and asked him to help make three small blackboards that were one foot long and half a foot wide.

After hearing this, Old Man Wang said that it was no problem and that he could make it in the next two days and ensure that the children could use it the day after tomorrow.

Lin Wan thought that all she needed was chalk, so she decided to find some time to try to make it using the quicklime at home.

She thanked Old Man Wang and went back to make breakfast.

~

After breakfast, Lin Wan took the two siblings to hang the bacon, and asked Li Chongle to continue smoking the bacon at home.

Lin Wan and Li Ke followed the crowd to pick cypress branches.

When they came out of the cave, they saw Li Changyi and a few others starting to choose a place to build a small house for smoking bacon.

Lin Wan discovered that the people who went out to pick cypress branches this time were all young ladies from various families, and of course, Li Chongwu, Li Chongshan and Li Chonghai also accompanied them.

The little fox also followed out. It happily shuttled among the crowd, sometimes sniffing in the grass, and sometimes running to rub against Lin Wan's feet.

Everyone living in the cave knows that this little fox named Xiaobai belongs to Lin Wan's family. They usually tease it, but the little guy is very arrogant and only allows Lin Wan and others to touch it. It will hide away if anyone else touches it.

After walking for a while, Lin Wan realized that she had never been here before, so she began to pay attention to the surroundings to see if there were any wild fruits or vegetables to pick and bring back.

Li Ke, Li Tao and other little girls were picking some wild fruits they encountered on the road ahead.

"Sister-in-law, here are some chicken feet and black grains for you to eat."

Li Ke ran over and handed the freshly picked wild fruits to Lin Wan.

When Lin Wan took a look, it turned out to be Guai Zao and Di Nian!

When she was a child, she and her cousin would go to the hill behind her grandmother's house every year to find these common wild fruits to eat. Now, she hasn't eaten them for many years.

Another time, when I went up the mountain to pick grass, I actually found a nest of eggs. Later I found out that they were laid by chickens that had sneaked out from my neighbor's house on the hillside.

Thinking of this, Lin Wan couldn't help but laugh, and took a handful of it and put it into her mouth.

After she finished eating and swallowed it, Li Ke smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, stick out your tongue."

Lin Wan had already seen through her little thoughts, so she deliberately didn't show them to her.

These little tricks are left over from when she was a child.

Li Ke stamped his feet anxiously, pulled Lin Wan's arm and said coquettishly:

"Sister-in-law, please let me see it. I want to know if your tongue is stained black."

Lin Wan was so annoyed by her that she stuck out her tongue and smiled. Li Ke saw the black tongue and laughed so hard that he fell backwards.

At this time, Xiaobai next to him was also showing his tongue, which was also black and purple.

When Li Ke saw this, he smiled and asked, "Xiaobai, you ate it too?"

Xiaobai whimpered twice, as if responding to Li Ke.

Everyone who saw this scene laughed.

"We're almost there, everyone hurry up and follow." Li Chongwu shouted in front.

Everyone quickened their pace and followed forward. Lin Wan seemed to see a familiar plant.

I seem to have seen it before when I went out, but I was always delayed by other things. At that time, I had to remember the location and think about digging it when I have time later.

Looking at the people in front of me walking past it, could it be that this thing is not considered food here?

Li saw that his sister-in-law was the last one standing there, so he turned around to look for her.

"Sister-in-law, hurry up, everyone is almost here!" Li Ke said, pulling on the corner of Lin Wan's clothes.

Lin Wan pointed at the plant and said to Li Ke:

"Xiao Ke, do you recognize this?"

Li Ke looked in the direction Lin Wan pointed, tilted his head and thought for a while: "Sister-in-law, I don't recognize it either."

Hearing another voice calling her from the front, Lin Wan put it aside for the time being. Anyway, no one knew this thing and it wouldn't run away, so she decided to take the cypress back first today.

He took Li Ke and quickly caught up with the main force.

When they caught up, they found that they had arrived at the place, with about ten large cypress trees.

Everyone has already chosen their trees, and if two people work together to choose one tree, there are still four or five trees for Lin Wan to choose from.

I saw girls and young ladies waving axes and chopping branches. Judging from their posture, it seemed that their recent morning exercises had taken effect.

That's called a neat move.

Lin Wan and Li Ke quickly joined in, and soon they had picked a large bunch of cypress branches.

Li Ke has grown taller recently, and with daily exercise, her strength has also increased. She actually took the initiative to ask to chop branches and let Lin Wan organize the broken cypress branches.

Seeing how capable the women were, the men who followed them consciously stepped back and helped to organize the folded cypress branches into piles and tie them up so that they could be taken back later.

"Haha, we grown men are outshined by the wives and sisters at home!" Li Chongwu joked with a smile.

"Of course not. If he keeps practicing this sword technique, we will all be defeated!" Li Chongshan also laughed.

"You just know how to talk nonsense, why don't you help more!" Li Chonghai's wife He Hua smiled and scolded.

Everyone was chatting and laughing while working, and the atmosphere was very cheerful.

After a while, enough cypress branches were folded.

Everyone packed up their tools, carried the cypress branches and walked back.

Li Ke followed behind and shouted to all around: "Xiao Bai, go home."

A pigeon ran over happily, carrying the little fox's food.

When Lin Wan saw it, her first reaction was, "Could it be a carrier pigeon?"

She hurried forward, took the half-dead pigeon out of Xiaobai's mouth, and examined it carefully.

Seeing that there was no bamboo tube or anything on the pigeon's legs, I gave up my curiosity.

She even thought she could see what a carrier pigeon looked like.