Reborn in 1966

Chapter 87 Weaving Straw Mats

The children in the village are all quite shy. When they meet their elders on the street, they usually just call out a greeting. It's rare to see someone like Pei Yin greet them face to face. The children in the village were a little surprised, but a few of them still followed Pei Yin and said, "Hello, Grandpa!" Secretary Tian was delighted and smiled. He felt that this showed how polite the children of Shenjia Village were, and that all their schooling had not been in vain.

After understanding what had happened and listening to Tian Xiaomin's report, Party Secretary Tian highly praised Tian Xiaomin's actions in protecting collective property and promised to commend him at the village meeting. Tian Xiaomin was overjoyed, his eyes crinkling into slits. If the Party Secretary praised him at the village meeting, his reputation would rise significantly, and with increased fame, he would have more say at home.

After praising the children, Secretary Tian returned to the village, but he was already thinking about whether he should give the children something during the Spring Festival. Children are the future. If we don't raise them well, what future can we talk about?

Regardless of Secretary Tian's motives, the children gathering firewood on the ridge felt proud to be associated with Tian Xiaomin after hearing the village secretary's praise. They quickly carried their baskets back to the village to tell their friends about it.

Peitian, along with his two younger sisters, went to collect firewood twice more. Seeing that there was already a lot of firewood in the storage room, he said to his grandmother, "Grandma, next week I will take Peizhi and Peiyin to collect more firewood until this room is full."

Grandma said, "Great! With such a capable child like Peitian leading the way, our two daughters will be incredibly capable."

Pei-zhi said, "Grandma, my third brother is very capable. I will be as capable as my third brother in the future."

The village organized people to weave straw mats and reed mats, which could be sold at the purchasing station. Pei Yin's second grandmother was a skilled reed mat weaver, and many people in the village learned this skill from her. This time, she naturally became the technical instructor for reed mat weaving.

Many reeds grew in the ponds and rivers around Shenjia Village. After the first frost, the reeds were harvested. After the harvest, the village organized a group of skilled reed mat weavers, including Second Grandma, to sort the reeds. Those that could be used to weave reed mats were selected, while those that couldn't be used or didn't grow very well were put together. They could be used to weave reed mats for building houses.

The selected reeds, after being split, soaked, crushed, and thrown into the soil, become raw materials for weaving reed mats.

Splitting reeds involves splitting a whole reed into 2-5 pieces using a special reed-splitting tool. A skilled reed splitter can produce reed strips of uniform thickness, resulting in a flat reed mat that is not concave in the center or warped at the corners.

Soaking involves splitting the reed strips in water and then sprinkling them with water; generally, the reeds are soaked overnight and then crushed the next morning.

The soaked reed strips are laid on a hard, flat stone mill and pressed back and forth with a stone mill, turning them twice, until the reed strips are pressed like leather.

"Throwing reeds" means dividing reeds into four grades: "first reed," "second reed," "third reed," and "short reed," based on the length of the reed strips. These are then bundled together, and each grade of reed strip is used in different parts of the mat weaving process.

When the villagers were not busy with farming, they used pre-processed reed strips to weave reed mats. Pei Yin was very interested in this and followed her second grandmother like a little tail to the brigade's courtyard.

The reed mat weaving took place in the brigade headquarters' warehouse. The grain in the warehouse had already been handed over to the public and distributed to each household, leaving the huge warehouse empty. This was the perfect place for the villagers to weave reed mats.

Grandma Er divided the people into groups, with several people weaving a reed mat. These reed mats were the mats laid on the kang (heated brick bed) of each household. The quality of reed mat weaving in Shenjia Village was among the best in the surrounding area. Every year, weaving reed mats could bring a considerable income to the village, so the village attached great importance to the weaving of reed mats every year.

The skilled weaver moves incredibly fast. Squatting on the ground, Pei Yin sees only the fluttering reeds, leaving behind a smooth reed mat. Second Grandma needs to pay attention to the quality of each reed mat's weaving, and sometimes she has to patiently and meticulously explain the weaving method to those who come to inquire. She's busy all morning.

Many young women and wives in the village come to learn this skill. In this era, it is believed that a skill is never a burden. Having a skill can become your means of making a living at any time. In addition, the second grandmother of the Shen family is not a secretive person. She patiently explains to anyone who wants to learn, so many people like to come and learn how to weave reed mats.

Pei Yin noticed that four female educated youths were also watching from the side, but judging from their eyes, they looked very confused, and it would probably be difficult for them to learn this.

These educated youths had always been the focus of Pei Yin's attention. In Pei Yin's view, Wu Jiajia was a person with a strong sense of class struggle, who regarded all the spirit of the leaders as the golden rule and talked about class struggle all the time. She guessed that this job was not something she could do.

Zhou Manni probably doesn't come from a very good family background. She doesn't talk much and does everything with the elegance of a well-bred lady. It would probably be a struggle for her to learn this.

Although Zhou Qian's family is not well-off, she is still a city dweller. Judging from her appearance, she should be able to master this craft if she studies it carefully.

What impressed Pei Yin the most was Qian Xiuju. As soon as she started weaving, Second Grandma was very happy, saying that Qian Xiuju was quick-witted and could weave any pattern at a glance. So, of the four female educated youths, only Qian Xiuju was left to weave reed mats.

Three female educated youths, along with two male educated youths, Wang Sizheng and Tong Hui, were assigned to weave straw mats.

Straw mats, also called straw blankets, are excellent for covering things. Pei Yin remembers when she was on a train, she passed through a large greenhouse planting area. It was winter then, and each greenhouse was covered with straw blankets, which had excellent heat retention properties.

It wasn't just Shenjia Village; many villages organized straw mat weaving. During the summer wheat harvest, they would sort and save the wheat straw, then weave it into straw mats to sell for money during the off-season. It has to be said that people back then were really shrewd and calculating.

Weaving straw mats isn't very technically demanding. You just need to nail nails in the yard, string some thread, divide the wheat straw into small bundles, and slowly weave them.

There are also people specifically in charge of quality supervision. Any substandard products have to be reworked immediately. You have to know that these are to be sent to the purchasing station. If the quality is not good, they may not want anything at all. So from Secretary Tian to the workers, everyone attaches great importance to quality.

Pei Yin followed her second grandmother and watched everyone bustling around. She had never seen working so happily before.

In just one morning, several reed mats were placed in the brigade's warehouse. The mats were clean and tidy with straight edges. Second Grandma was very satisfied with them, especially with Qian Xiuju, who was making them for the first time. Second Grandma praised her repeatedly, saying that she was a girl with a keen eye for things. Qian Xiuju blushed with admiration.

Pei Yin was small, and no one cared if she wandered around. As long as she didn't interfere with other people's work, no one would care that there was a little girl squatting next to them.

Pei Yin looked around in the warehouse and then in the yard, finding it beneficial to be inspired by the atmosphere of labor.

Five educated youths wove two straw mats. Wang Si and Zheng Tonghui wove one, and Zhou Manni, Zhou Qian, and Wu Jiajia wove the other. After several corrections from an old man in charge of quality, the two partially woven straw mats finally met his standards. He said, "You need to work harder and improve the quality. This is barely acceptable to me. If it's not woven well and the purchasing station rejects it, then all your work will be for nothing." Pei Yin saw Zheng Tonghui frowning constantly, and even Wu Jiajia's brows were getting tighter and tighter. They didn't seem to be very patient people.

Pei Yin squatted on the ground, her little hands supporting her chin as she watched everyone busy at work. Although she didn't do any work, it didn't feel out of place, given her age. So Pei Yin watched everyone busy at work with a clear conscience, especially the educated youth.

The old man went to watch other people weaving straw mats. Zheng Tonghui whispered to Wang Si, "He's such a chatterbox. It's just weaving straw mats. A straw mat only sells for a few dollars. Is it really that big of a deal?"

Wang Si looked around and whispered, "Keep your voice down, it's not good if someone hears us. We're on their turf now, so let's listen to them." Zheng Tonghui pursed his lips and continued what he was doing.

Wu Jiajia said to Zhou Manni and Zhou Qian, "She just knows how to weave a reed mat, why are you praising her like that? You're practically calling her a fairy descended from heaven. Seriously, does knowing how to weave a reed mat mean you can do a good job in the revolution?"

She muttered softly, and if Pei Yin hadn't been so close, she wouldn't have been able to hear what Wu Jiajia was saying.

Zhou Manni whispered, "It's all the same no matter what we do. We don't know how to make stories, so it's good to earn some money by doing this."

Zhou Qian, who was standing nearby, said, "That's right. Doing this is much better than doing that. I find those reeds quite scary. You could easily cut your hand if you're not careful. This is much safer."

Wu Jiajia said, "All revolutions are the same. Okay, let's do this well." There was an undeniable hint of jealousy in her words. Pei Yin had to admit, women's jealousy is truly everywhere.

When I went home for lunch, Grandma asked Peiyin, "Peiyin, how about weaving a reed mat?"

Pei Yin shook her head and said, "No."

Grandma asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Pei Yin said, "You'll cut your hands. Those older sisters said that weaving reed mats can cut your hands."

Second Grandma said, "How can you cut your hand while doing something perfectly fine? Don't listen to their nonsense."

After a few days of bustling activity at the brigade headquarters, an oxcart carrying the hopes of many villagers went to the purchasing station.

Now, if you want to sell something, you have to go to the purchasing station, which will buy it all and then resell it. If you find someone to sell your things yourself, that's considered speculation and profiteering, and you'll be branded and paraded through the streets, and you'll be subjected to a public denunciation meeting.