Traveling through the mountains and farming

After eating their crystal ice jelly for a break, the children all ran out to play.

When Lin Wande had some free time, she went to help the carpenter Wang Laohan to move furniture and cleaned all the rooms at the same time.

When she saw a lot of extra wood in the yard, she borrowed tools from Old Man Wang and prepared to start making some interesting and fun wooden objects.

At this time, she was concentrating on making a bow and arrow. Luo Dashan, who was passing by, saw her and asked curiously, "Are you making a bow and arrow?"

"Yeah, I want to try it, but I can't find the right material for the bowstring. Uncle Dashan, you often hunt and you should know a lot about bows and arrows. How do I make this bowstring?" Lin Wan stopped what she was doing, looked up at Luo Dashan and asked.

Luo Dashan walked a few steps closer and said, "Usually, animal tendons are used, but this is not easy to handle. You have to soak it first to soften it, then slowly rub and stretch it to make it tough and elastic."

When it comes to areas that he is familiar with, Luo Dashan is no longer as dull as before and becomes talkative.

"It's so complicated. Uncle Dashan, do you have any extra ones? I want to buy some." Lin Wan asked.

"No need to buy it, I'll give it to you. If you're not in a hurry, I'll make the bow and arrow for you. The wood you're using now is not tough enough, so don't bother." Luo Dashan replied.

"That's fine, but you still have to give me some." Lin Wan picked up the half-finished slingshot beside her and handed it to him, and continued: "Look~ This one is already done, it just lacks a bowstring."

Luo Dashan took a look and replied, "No problem!"

Then he asked curiously, "Why do you suddenly want to do this?"

"I go to the mountains sometimes, one for self-defense, and the other to see if I can catch some pheasants or rabbits." Lin Wan said with a smile.

In fact, she only answered half of the question. She was mainly worried that she might encounter some unknown dangers in the future and wanted to make some preparations in advance.

She continued, "By the way, Uncle Dashan, could you please teach us archery?"

"Of course." Luo Dashan agreed readily.

In order to reserve time for Luo Dashan to make bows and targets, they finally agreed that starting three days later (starting on the Mid-Autumn Festival), Luo Dashan would come every morning to teach them archery.

Then, Luo Dashan continued to build the courtyard wall, while Lin Wan continued to tinker with making objects to be placed in the yard for leisure and play.

Not long after, Old Man Wang and his eldest son came over to help after they finished making the yard gate, and they finally completed a wooden climbing frame together.

At this time, the wall was also completed.

Lin Wan smiled and thanked everyone, and they all said they were welcome. Then she paid everyone their last day's wages.

After everyone left, Lin Wan began to clean.

After a while, the two siblings came back.

As soon as Li Chongle arrived at the gate of the yard, he found that the courtyard wall had been built and a new gate had been installed. He thought that their new home should be completed.

He felt very safe when he looked at his own courtyard wall, which was much higher than others. His sister-in-law had specially instructed to have ceramic tiles installed on it, making it even safer.

Li Ke, who was standing next to him, had already opened the courtyard door and walked in, shouting loudly: "Sister-in-law, we are back."

At this moment, her eyes swept over a few novel wooden toys, and she quickly walked to the swing and asked curiously, "Hey, sister-in-law, did you make this swing?"

Lin Wan smiled and walked over to introduce them one by one: "Yes, there are also seesaws, slides and climbing frames next to them."

Li Chongle, who was following behind, quickly walked to the climbing frame that Lin Wan introduced, touched the wooden frame and said:

"Wow, this is a climbing frame. I like it. It feels interesting and challenging."

Lin Wan looked at the two siblings who were eager to try, and said, "Yeah, it's really fun, but now is not the time to play, we have to clean up first."

Although the two siblings really wanted to play with those new toys right now, they were very sensible kids and obediently followed their sister-in-law to start cleaning.

They were mainly responsible for cleaning the front and back yards, because Lin Wan had already cleaned up the interior of the house.

There are actually not many things that need to be cleaned in the front and back yards. It is mainly to sort out and put in place some of the leftover wood, loess, straw and bricks from building the house.

They cooperated with each other to pile the wood neatly in one place, shoveled the loess into the appropriate corners, gathered the straw into bundles, and stacked the bricks in an orderly manner.

After doing all this, the brother and sister picked up the brooms and began to clean up the unwanted garbage in the front and back yards respectively.

At this time, Lin Wan was staring at the pile of loess in a daze, wondering how to make the best use of the loess and bricks.

Just as she was thinking hard, suddenly, a picture flashed in her mind. She remembered the parent-child study activities carried out on her modern farm, in which children were taught to make bread kilns using only loess and straw.

She immediately thought of building a bread kiln, so she called the two siblings over and told them that she was going to build a bread kiln in the backyard.

Although the two siblings didn't know what the bread kiln that their eldest sister-in-law was talking about was, they firmly believed that everything her sister-in-law did was right, so they immediately responded positively.

They eagerly asked Lin Wan how to build it and what they could do.

Lin Wan patiently explained to them the steps of building a bread kiln:

First, you need to mix the loess and dry straw thoroughly, and lay the bricks on the ground as a foundation;

Then, the soil is kneaded into long sticks, piled up in circles on the base until it reaches the height of the basin, and dry soil is added as the foundation. Then, it is carefully piled into a semicircle and the opening is fixed with bricks;

Finally, light some firewood and burn it into charcoal. Then dig out the dry soil in the earthen kiln and put the burned charcoal in.

After listening, the brother and sister and Lin Wan went to the backyard to discuss the location for building the bread kiln. They chose a place close to the kitchen.

After that, the three of them immediately started to move, cooperating in transporting loess and dry straw.

The brother and sister were barefoot, happily stepping and stirring in the mud, as if they were playing an interesting game.

Lin Wan was building a foundation with bricks next to her.

Then, they followed the steps Lin Wan had said and began to pinch long strips of mud and stack them up in circles.

With their joint efforts, the prototype of the bread kiln gradually emerged. Finally, Lin Wan even made two ears out of mud and installed them on it, which cleverly matched the entrance of the bread kiln. It looked like a cute big-bellied cat, which was adorable and endearing.

"Wow, sister-in-law, this looks so cute," the brother and sister exclaimed in unison.

Lin Wan sighed and said, "It's a pity that I can't use it to make delicious food today. I'll use it to make it for you next time I buy flour."

Then they built a small rain shelter for the "big-bellied cat" and finally cleaned up the messy yard.

In this way, their new house was officially completed.

Before going to bed at night, Lin Wan calculated all the expenses of building the house:

All the materials cost nine hundred and five wen, mainly quicklime, bricks, slates, and ceramic pipes;

The wages cost two thousand seven hundred and ninety coins, excluding the three people from Uncle Li's family; the other six people were fully present. Luo Dashan worked half a day each at the two markets, so he worked one day less than others.

Other expenses included one hundred and eighty cents for pork delivered to Uncle Li's house, a few pheasants that he caught himself, small fish, and three dou of rice.

The final result is that I have more than 48 taels left on hand, plus the money from the ice jelly that the teahouse has not yet collected.