Chapter 23: Clean and efficient
At noon, in order to celebrate the safe return of Yang Lan'er and the success of their property purchase, Yang's mother slaughtered chickens and rabbits with some daughters-in-law and made a sumptuous lunch.
After lunch, Sister-in-law Zhou led several sisters-in-law happily to the field with vegetable seeds they bought from the county. Yang Lan'er and her father discussed the specific matters of building a house. They all supported the idea of building a house, but let Yang Lan'er decide on the specific arrangements.
After the discussion, Yang Lan'er asked her father to lead her second and third brothers to make ten wooden frames and show him the approximate size. Then she took his fourth brother and Wang Qing's son with hoes and sickles to the valley.
Yang Lan'er found a low-lying area in the valley and let her fourth brother use a hoe to dig up a shovel of soil. She squatted down and pinched the soil and found that the red clay was suitable for making bricks. She asked them to clean up the grass, stones and other debris in this area.
There happened to be a pond nearby, which was perfect for making bricks. In the future, the pits dug for making bricks could also be used as fish ponds, killing two birds with one stone. Yes! Yang Lan'er wanted to make bricks and build a house by themself.
At night, Yang Lan'er lay on the bed, covered with a new quilt, with a satisfied expression on her face. She held his children and smiled, having a good dream all night long.
The next morning after breakfast, Yang Lan'er led everyone with tools to the low-lying area where her fourth brother and the others had cleared a large area of space yesterday.
Yang Lan'er asked everyone to dig up a pile of clay, showed them how to mix it, sprinkle ash on the wooden frames, fill them with well-mixed clay, and then use a bamboo knife to level the excess clay on top of the frames. Finally, they used appropriately sized wooden boards to carry the brick molds to a flat area next to them to dry.
While everybody was practicing, Yang Lan'er taught her children a few big characters and asked them to practice on their own. After lunch, She carried a bamboo basket and went to One Line Sky.
This time, Yang Lan'er didn't go in the direction of the bamboo forest, but went in the opposite direction, entering a dense forest with many medicinal herbs. Yang Lan'er picked some and threw them into the space. She also found some mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms and picked them all.
Unknowingly, Yang Lane'er walked deeper and looked up at the ancient trees towering around her with dense foliage. She touched the rough brown bark of the tree next to her and felt the distinct grooves and textures. It was rare to find such ancient trees in the 21st century, but here they were, covering the sky and blocking the sun. As she looked at the yellow flowers on the feather-like compound leaves of the tree branches, they seemed familiar to her.
Yang Laner pondered, "Yellow flowers, compound leaves... Yellow flowers... Oh, right, Huanghuali." She slapped her forehead in frustration. She quickly snapped a tree branch, sniffed it, and recognized the scent of aloeswood, which was strong and elegant. Huanghuali, also known as yellow flowering pear, was a valuable wood and also a traditional Chinese medicine with the effects of promoting blood circulation, relieving pain, and reducing swelling. Although she had dealt with wood before, she had never seen such a large tree in her life.
Yang Laner looked around and was shocked to see that most of the trees were Huanghuali, and their age was mostly over a hundred years old. She was overjoyed and burst out laughing three times. She felt like a boss. In the future, all her furniture would be made of Huanghuali wood, which would surely make Sun Shao and his crew envious and jealous. They had always complained that she was too thrifty during their missions.
Yang Laner quickly took out a saw from her space, selected a hundred-year-old tree trunk that was straight, and rolled up her sleeves to get to work, pulling the saw back and forth with a "whoosh whoosh" sound.
Since she had started using the "Xishuidan Pill," she found that all of her old illnesses from childbirth had disappeared, and now she was healthy and strong. Whenever she thought of furnishing her entire home with Huanghuali wood, she was filled with energy. She cut down two ancient trees and stored them in her space.
As the sun began to set, Yang Laner wiped off her sweat. She was about to take a break when she heard a sound in the woods. She quietly approached and saw two wild boars. She quickly took out two daggers from her space, which she had bought in the county town but had forgotten to give to her second brother. She quickly threw the daggers, which were swift and agile, and hit the wild boars with a "swish swish" sound. The wild boars let out a howl and fell to the ground with a thud, clean and efficient.