Farmer's eldest sister becomes rich

Chapter 338 Adobe Brick Making

An Yue walked into several rooms, turning around and studying.

After much consideration, we finally decided to build a brick bed in the east room first.

After deciding on the room to build the kang, An Yue began to prepare the materials needed to make adobe bricks.

The first thing to do was to prepare straw. An Yue asked A'er to go to her own rice field, harvest some dried rice straw and carry it back.

Then she dug some sticky mud from an open space outside the yard to use as the mud for making adobe bricks.

......

Soon, A'er came back with a basket of rice straw, and An Yue began to prepare to cut the rice straw.

Rice straw cannot be cut too long. If it is too long, it will easily twist into a ball when stirred and will not be easy to mix evenly with the soil.

But it cannot be too short, as rice straw that is too short will not provide the tensile strength.

An Yue found the wooden squares that had been used to make adobe bricks for the kitchen in the farm tool room.

Then he quickly made a square two feet long and wide to make adobe cover for the kang.

In this way, all the materials were prepared and the three of them began to make adobe bricks.

Gu Mingchuan had stayed in Anyan's room long enough, so he came out to join in the fun.

He came up to An Yue and asked, "What are you doing?"

An Yue replied with a mischievous smile: "Playing in the mud."

An Yue shouted, "Daniu Ale, come here quickly."

They put down what they were holding and walked up to An Yue.

An Yue began to demonstrate personally. First, she mixed the cut rice straw with the soil, and then added an appropriate amount of water to stir it into a sticky mud ball.

A'er and Daniu followed Anyue's example and did it exactly as she did.

After some effort, a large pile of adobe mud was finally mixed.

"Next, we need to dry these adobe bricks."

After that, An Yue found a vacant lot and said to Daniu Ale, "Let's put the finished adobe bricks neatly in rows along here. When the adobe bricks are completely dry, we can build the earthen kang."

After that, Daniu and Ale started to work together to form a group.

Daniu shoveled the soil into the wooden grid, and Ale began to compact the concrete in the wooden grid and then smoothed the surface.

At this time, Gu Mingchuan walked up to An Yue and helped shovel soil into the wooden grid, and they also formed another group.

In this way, the four of them paced back and forth in the open space, talking and laughing as they worked.

......

Time flies.

After a day's hard work, the four of them had made a sufficient number of adobe bricks, which were laid out in rows in the open space outside the yard.

Several people were already exhausted with backaches, but when they saw the rows of adobe bricks, they began to look forward to the earthen kang beds even more.

It doesn't take too many adobe bricks to build a kang bed, but after three people worked hard for a day, the number was more than enough.

At this moment, the western sky was filled with a flaming sunset glow.

Before I knew it, another day had passed.

An Yue and a few others packed up their tools and prepared to return home.

As An Yue entered the yard, she smelled the fragrance of food. She thought that her sister-in-law Meng Xiuer had already prepared dinner.

An Yue was about to go to the kitchen to get some water to wash her face, but when she arrived she found that her grandmother Zhou's mental state had returned to normal.

Grandma watched An Yue carrying a wooden basin into the kitchen with muddy hands. She walked up to An Yue and said calmly, "Let me do it!"

After saying that, Zhou snatched the wooden basin from An Yue's hand and began to help An Yue scoop water into the basin.

An Yue was a little surprised when the wooden basin in her hand was taken away by her grandmother. Her hands were still hanging in the air and she stood at the door of the kitchen without moving.

Seeing her grandmother and aunt suddenly being nice to her, An Yue was a little uncomfortable for a moment.

Meng Xiuer took the bowls and chopsticks from the wooden cabinet and said to An Yue, "Yueyue, hurry up and wash up for dinner."

An Yue finally came to her senses and quickly responded, "Okay..."

At this time, my grandmother Zhou came to the yard with a basin of water and said, "Come here and wash."

At this moment, my grandmother's tone was calm and her emotions were stable. She was no longer as rude and aggressive as before.

An Yue looked at her grandmother's back. She couldn't help but pursed her lips, took a breath, and then followed her to the yard.

An Yue knew that her grandmother Zhou suffered from Alzheimer's disease, and the early symptoms were sometimes better and sometimes worse.

Everything is normal when he is not ill, but when he is ill it is very sudden.

No one could predict when an attack would occur, and each attack would gradually worsen the condition.

Daniu Ale and his friends went to the well and washed themselves from head to toe with the well water, saving themselves the trouble of taking a bath.

After they returned to the yard, they each went back to their rooms and changed into clean clothes.

Soon, everyone sat around the octagonal table on the benches, waiting for An Yue to come over and have dinner together.

Without Anyue's permission, my aunt and grandmother still sat in the kitchen to eat.

......

The next day, early in the morning.

My aunt and sister-in-law Meng Xiuer prepared breakfast early.

The family had breakfast quickly.

After breakfast, everyone knew what they were going to do and An Yue didn't need to make any arrangements.

After Daniu Ale came out of the main hall, he went to the farm tool room to get a backpack and a sickle. He was going out to cut grass for the pigs.

After A'er released the chickens and ducks from the pen, he went out with Da Niu.

An Yue discovered that the ducks now recognized their home.

Every morning, let them out of the pen and open the yard gate for them. They will form groups on their own and go to their own paddy fields with a "quack quack" sound.

At dusk, they will return home in groups.

But now is a time of food shortage, and I’m afraid that if I’m not careful, it will end up in someone else’s stomach.

An Yue was worried about the ducks, so she usually asked her family to check on the fields frequently.

Although I raise a lot of ducks, I can't bear to slaughter any of them. I keep them for laying eggs to make preserved eggs.

An Yue saw An Nian teasing Ba Shi and chasing him in the yard.

So she said to An-nian, "Niannian, take Bashi to the edge of the field and keep an eye on the ducks."

An Nian responded: "Yes, okay, sister."

Afterwards, An Nian called Ba Shi to walk behind the flock of ducks.

At this time, my aunt-in-law came out of the kitchen carrying a handful of stove ash. She saw that there was a lot of charcoal mixed in the ash.

An Yue turned to her sisters-in-law Meng Xiu'er and Chunzhi who were cleaning the table and said, "Sister-in-law, Chunzhi, after we finish cooking, please check if there is charcoal in the stove."

"If there is charcoal, be sure to pick it out, put out the fire with water, and then pick it up and store it away."

After hearing this, Chunzhi and Meng Xiuer did not ask any more questions. They responded in unison, "Yes, OK."

The storm had passed for several days, and the mud on the ground had almost dried up.

Even if you go out wearing cloth shoes, your shoes won’t get dirty.

An Yue thought about the adobe bricks she made yesterday, which would take at least three to five days to dry out.

I thought of taking Chunzhi to the back mountain during this free time.

So she said to Harue: