noffsinger Chapter 13 Making Charcoal
Chapter 13 Making Charcoal
The commotion surrounding Yundan's family's new clothes has passed.
Xiaoyue came to find Yundan and looked at Yundan wearing new clothes, feeling envious.
She couldn't help but exclaim, "This dress is so beautiful!"
However, just then, a voice reached Yun Dan's ears: "Little girl, this dress is really pretty."
The voice surprised Yun Dan. She turned around and found that the speaker was Xiao Yue.
Yun Dan was startled when she heard Xiao Yue's words.
She realized that she might have overlooked other people's feelings, especially the feelings of children in this ancient rural village, so she began to reflect on her behavior.
She carefully observed Xiaoyue's clothes and suddenly understood why Xiaoyue had said that.
It turned out that Xiaoyue's clothes were quite old and simple in style. In contrast, seeing other people's new clothes made her stand out.
Yun Dan felt deeply guilty. She thought about how to help Sujia Village change its current situation.
As a modern person, Yun Dan was indeed unaware that Sujia Village didn't even have a single calf, and all farming was done by hand.
She said to Xiaoyue, "Xiaoyue, I know you want a beautiful new dress. Actually, I can help you fulfill this wish."
And it's not just you; everyone in our Su Family Village has enough to eat and wear.
Upon hearing this, Xiaoyue's eyes sparkled with excitement, but she hesitated and said, "But... my family isn't wealthy, I'm afraid I can't afford such expensive clothes."
Yun Dan smiled and comforted her, saying, "Don't worry, I have a way to solve this problem."
Then we can find some cheap but good quality fabrics and make our own clothes.
This way, we can meet your needs and save money at the same time. Xiaoyue nodded happily, indicating that she was willing to try.
Yun Dan does have many ways to make money, but she is still limited by her age.
Yun Dan felt she should discuss this with Grandpa Lin.
Yun Dan and Xiao Yue, along with a group of children, began their plan.
The first thing Yundan needs to make is charcoal. Sujia Village has nothing else but a lot of trees and withered grass.
Yun Dan took out pastries and candies from her spatial storage. Don't ask where these things came from; they were bought in town.
Yun Dan and Xiao Yue gathered a group of friends, carrying sickles, shovels, axes, small shovels, wooden buckets, and tinderboxes, among other tools.
A large group of people went up the mountain; she wanted to make charcoal.
Upon arriving at a relatively soft loess slope with little vegetation, Yun Dan directed her companions to begin digging a charcoal kiln.
Lured by the delicious food, the older kids grabbed hoes and dug with all their might.
The younger ones, whether boys or girls, would gather firewood.
A few taller men took axes and went to the surrounding mountains to cut down trees, and collected a large pile of them.
Yun Dan and a few other older children started splitting the longer pieces of firewood into sections about 20 to 30 centimeters long.
Yun Dan took a step forward and directed the two younger children to stomp in the mud.
Two young men carried two buckets of water and placed them beside them.
After working all morning, the group was hungry, so they went home for lunch and came back to continue in the afternoon.
On the way home, Xiaoyue was very thoughtful and gave each child cakes and candies.
A little snotty-nosed child, his mouth stuffed full, mumbled, "Sister Xiaoyue, don't forget to call me when you're digging the hole this afternoon!"
“Okay, let’s continue this afternoon. Your little sister said that we can sell these charcoal pieces for money.”
"When we sell this charcoal, we'll have money to buy cloth and make new clothes."
When a group of kids heard that the charcoal could be exchanged for money to buy cloth and make clothes, they immediately went wild.
They all crowded around Yun Dan, "Wow, Sister Xiao Ya, is what Sister Xiao Yue said true?"
Several older children also asked eagerly, "Little girl, is what Xiaoyue said true? Can those charcoal pieces be exchanged for money?"
"Yes, it really can be exchanged for money. Winter is coming soon, and it will be very cold. Let's make a lot of charcoal these next few days and then take it to town to sell."
Upon hearing this, the group of people began to imagine what they would look like in their new clothes, and they thought about how they should work harder in the afternoon.
Each child told their elders about it when they got home, but the elders didn't take it seriously, thinking the children were just playing around.
Little did they know that this incident would later make winters in Sujia Village exceptionally comfortable, and they would no longer fear the cold.
After lunch, a group of kids excitedly went to find Xiaoyue.
"Little Moon."
"Sister Xiaoyue, when are we leaving?"
Xiaoyue didn't expect so many of them to come looking for her.
"Let's go find Xiaoya first and see if she's finished eating, then we'll set off."
When they arrived at Yun Dan's house, Yun Dan originally wanted to rest for a while, but she didn't expect them to be even more excited than she was.
There was no other way, and Yun Dan couldn't spoil everyone's fun, so the group got busy again.
Yun Dan taught the older children how to place the firewood, then covered it with mud bricks, leaving the openings, and then sealed each opening after it started burning.
Yun Dan lit the first fire, sealed the cave entrance, and waited until no more smoke came out before considering the job done.
I didn't personally handle the remaining piles of cloud pills; I taught them how to arrange them, how to place them, how to apply mud, and so on.
Yun Dan taught them carefully, but they had a great time playing.
Several days have passed in the blink of an eye, and today is the day to see the results.
A group of people arrived at the secret base, and at a glance, there were more than twenty piles forming a small mountain.
When Yundan dug open the first kiln opening, all the wood had already turned into black charcoal.
Yun Dan pried the whole thing open and saw that some parts were intact, while others had turned to ashes.
This was also Yun Dan's first time making charcoal; she had seen it in a video on her phone in her previous life in the modern world.
Although I remember the general steps, I've never actually done it before, fearing that my lack of expertise might lead me to omit some crucial steps.
Having never done it before, I'm not sure what to expect.
He picked up two pieces of charcoal from the ground, tapped them, and the sound was quite loud.
A fire was started with a tinderbox, and the charcoal was ignited in no time. It produced no smoke and burned for a long time, making it comparable to silver wire charcoal.
"It's done!" Yun Dan exclaimed. Now everyone can make their own charcoal!
When the children heard Yun Dan say "It's done," they cheered happily together.
Yun Dan called her friends, and together they pried open the remaining pile of soil and dug out the burnt charcoal.
Everyone put the charcoal into the bamboo baskets they brought, filling more than ten baskets to the brim.
Yun Dan spoke to a group of children.
"Did you know that these charcoal pieces can not only be used for heating, but also for painting and calligraphy?" Yun Dan said to the children with a smile.
The children's eyes widened, and they asked curiously, "Really? Can we draw with charcoal too?"
Yun Dan nodded and encouraged, "Of course! As long as you're interested, you can give it a try."
So the children excitedly picked up the charcoal and started drawing on the ground.
They unleashed their imaginations and drew all sorts of patterns.
Yun Dan looked at the children's happy figures and felt a sense of satisfaction.
After all, Yun Dan was an adult in her previous life, and seeing the children's happy smiles made her very happy too.
She hopes these children can find joy in their simple lives and develop a love for art.
When Yundan saw the dozen or so baskets of charcoal, she asked everyone to carry them back to the village.
The next step is to find a market for these charcoal pieces, but these dozen or so baskets are still too few; we need to produce more.
Whether you sell it or use it yourself, it won't be wasted.