Travel to ancient times and become rich women with your bestie

Duan Minmin came here early in the morning.

"Why did you come here so early? Why didn't you go to the fields with Taoer and the others?" Zheng Yuan asked casually, while tying up her hair.

"Oh! The weeds have been weeded and the manure has been applied. What else can happen now? Tao'er and the others are worried and insist on checking every day. I would say that once every two or three days is enough. The field is not going to run away. If you check it again, it will be half dead."

"You can be lazy if you want to. I won't laugh at you or make so many excuses. Taoer is more like your parent, little Amin." Zheng Yuan joked.

Duan Minmin was not annoyed, and even looked proud: "Of course, you are my sweet little cotton-padded jacket, you can envy me."

"Besides, I'm not here to be lazy, I have something important to do. I was busy watching the fight between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law next door, and I forgot about it halfway through. Yesterday, I said I would continue with it after dinner, but you interrupted me again. I felt uncomfortable when I went home to rinse my mouth last night, probably because I ate too much meat these days. I always felt that I stunk when I went to sleep at night, and it was very uncomfortable."

As she spoke, Duan Minmin found the bucket where the pig hair was placed that day in the corner and showed it to Zheng Yuan.

Duan Minmin prepared lime water and soaked the pig hair in a bucket to degrease it, otherwise it would have a strong pig smell. After two days of soaking, it should be completely degreased and ready to use.

"Anyway, I didn't have anything to do in the morning, so I thought I'd come over and brush my teeth. Freshen your breath and be a confident woman."

"Yes, yes, this is a big deal. I didn't realize it until you mentioned it. Now that you said it, I feel like my breath can scare away mosquitoes. We have to make the toothbrush quickly." When Zheng Yuan heard her say that she wanted to make a toothbrush, he also felt something uncomfortable in his mouth.

Zheng Yuan was busy preparing breakfast for the family in the kitchen, while Duan Minmin was wrestling with a toothbrush handle in the yard.

The bamboo looked thin, but it was not easy to make a hole. Duan Minmin found a corn-peeling awl from Zheng Yuan's tool room and spent a long time drilling on the bamboo. She finally made a few holes, but they were either too big or too small, and her hands were sore from the grinding.

Sizhu got up and saw her struggling with the bamboo sticks. He didn't even bother to wash his face and squatted beside her curiously.

"Auntie, what are you doing? Are you making toys? Xiaoyu's grandfather is a carpenter and can make many novel toys. We are so envious."

Duan Minmin patted his head and said, "I am making a toothbrush. Only when we make a toothbrush and use it to brush our teeth can our teeth be white and clean, tooth worms will not bite our teeth, and we can speak sweetly and eat happily. Sizhu, have you forgotten? That day you went with us to cut bamboo, and you also worked with me to figure out the appropriate length of the brush handle."

Sizhu suddenly understood and looked expectant. Although it was not a toy, he had never heard of anyone in the village using a toothbrush. When Aunt Duan made it, he would definitely show it off to his friends.

"Auntie, can you do mine for me?" Sizhu looked at Duan Minmin expectantly.

"The toothbrush handle is ready, but this hole is hard to drill. I always can't drill it well. Once the hole is drilled, we can just string the bristles in and it'll be done." Duan Minmin showed a piece of bamboo to Sizhu.

"I'll come, I'll come!"

Hearing that there was only one step left, Sizhu volunteered excitedly. He took the bamboo piece and put it on the ground, then rubbed the awl with both hands.

Duan Minmin didn't stop him. It was a good thing that the child was interested in doing it. Her hand was hurting, so she let Sizhu do it for a while.

Looking at Sizhu's hands that were almost smoking from rubbing each other, Duan Minmin suddenly slapped her head.

Tsk, you're getting older and older, even worse than a six-year-old child.

If you can't poke it, then rub it. Sizhu rubbed the awl back and forth, which reminded her of the tool used to make fire by drilling wood. If the awl was made in that shape, wouldn't it be easy to drill a hole?

Duan Minmin got to work right away. She found a piece of wood, a ball of twine, and split a longer piece of bamboo. She first fixed the twine to one end of the bamboo, then wrapped the hammer around it, and finally fixed the twine to the other end of the bamboo. A simple bow drill was made.

Ask Sizhu to go to the kitchen and find a thin branch with one end burnt, and use a bamboo stick to draw two rows of small holes on the toothbrush handle.

Use one hand to hold down the awl with a wooden board, and the other hand to pull the bow, then you can aim at the small dot you just drew and start drilling.

I watched Duan Minmin make a small bow in just a few strokes, and drilled the bamboo quickly. After a while, the holes for a brush handle were drilled. Not only were the holes uniform in size, but they were also neatly arranged.

Sizhu looked at Duan Minmin with admiration: "Auntie, you are so amazing! How do you know so much? I think you are even more amazing than Xiaoyu's grandfather!"

"What's the big deal? You may not know that this bow of mine can also be used to make fire by drilling wood!"

Listening to Sizhu's flattery, Duan Minmin said she enjoyed it very much. Yes, yes, that's it, keep praising, don't stop.

"Drilling wood to make fire? Can you use this bow to make fire? How is it made? Aunt Duan, can you also make a small bow for me? I want to try to make fire by rubbing two sticks together." Sizhu's eyes were shining as he waited expectantly for Duan Minmin's response.

Seeing his pitiful begging appearance, Duan Minmin was reluctant to refuse: "Okay, but you have to wait until you finish drilling these toothbrush handles, okay?"

"Yeah! Then I'll help you drill it."

After getting Duan Minmin's promise, Sizhu jumped three feet high with joy. He rushed to help Duan Minmin draw the bow, so that the sooner he finished drilling, the sooner he could get his little bow.

Duan Minmin would never let him do it. This thing is connected to the awl, and the child has no strength in his hands. If the strength is not right, the awl will deviate and hurt him, which will be troublesome. There is no tetanus vaccine at that time.

Even though he was not allowed to do it, Sizhu obeyed and squatted obediently with his hands in his pockets, watching Duan Minmin operate.

But his mouth was never idle. One moment he asked Duan Minmin where she learned it, the next he asked how to make fire by rubbing two woods together, and the next he asked if the bow could be used for hunting.

Duan Minmin had been the son of her sister's family during her university vacation. When her nephew was this old, he would always ask her questions, which gave Duan Minmin a headache. At this moment, Sizhu asked questions one after another, but she didn't feel annoyed. She even felt a little friendly and patiently answered his questions one by one.

A big and a small one squatted in the yard and chatted animatedly.

At this time, Sanni had also finished chopping the pig grass. She came out and saw them squatting there, and came over curiously.

So, it became a question of two hundred thousand whys that kept asking Duan Minmin.

Children's thoughts are always wild and imaginative, and some questions make Duan Minmin laugh and cry.

For example, the four pillars asked her whether rubbing wood together to make fire was a magic trick, or whether it was a magic tool given to her by the gods? If she had a magic tool, would she be like a god, and could she take him to heaven?

Duan Minmin had no choice but to explain to him carefully that this was because wood had an ignition point, and the process of drilling wood was to generate heat through friction to raise the temperature of the wood surface to the ignition point, thereby igniting the wood.

Sizhu's eyes lit up when he heard this. No one had ever talked about these things before, and it felt like the door to a new world had been opened.

He then asked what the ignition point is and why friction can generate heat?

Duan Minmin was really confused by the question. She racked her brains to explain the physics knowledge she had learned over the years in simple terms that Sizhu could understand.

With the two little ones chattering nearby, it wasn't boring at all. After a short while, ten toothbrush handles with holes drilled in them were ready.

Now we just need to use twine to fix the pig hair on the brush handle. This step will be handed over to the girls who are good at sewing. The two of them have only touched a few needles and cannot do this delicate work, so they are only suitable for moving their mouths.