Looking at the door soaked in snow, Yao Xiaoqing thought of those tung seeds. There was no oil extraction machine, and the wood for oil extraction was not ready. She thought of pressing them with stones to see if oil could come out.
She took Shan Amu and others out with several bundles of cattail grass, and weaved some net bags to hold the tung powder.
Fry the tung seeds in a stone pot and pound them into powder in a stone mortar. Then put the tung powder into a mesh bag and steam it on the steamer for half an hour.
Put the oil cake into a large vat, press it with stones, and wait for the oil to seep out slowly. After pounding it for a long time, everyone pounded all the tung seeds finely, steamed them all, and put them into the large vat.
Yao Xiaoqing shook his sore wrist and saw everyone rubbing their wrists. Thinking of the treadmill, he turned around and went to the place where the tribe made stone tools.
Muba saw her and smiled and said: "Xiaoqing, are you here to see if the stone mill is ready?"
Yao Xiaoqing smiled and shook his head, "You guessed it wrong. I thought of something and made it. It will save us trouble in the future when we make kudzu powder."
"Xiao Qing, why didn't you think of it earlier?" After hearing this, Zhi put down the flint in his hand and jumped over.
Looking at the dark charcoal words on the wall, Yao Xiaoqing smiled and picked up a piece of charcoal, drew something like a treadmill, pointed at the treadmill on the painting and said: "Brother Shi, look, let's
The stone pestle is embedded in a large piece of wood, a hole is drilled here, a log stick is inserted into it, and the log stick is placed on the two pillars."
"When pounding something, press down the wood with your feet. The stone pestle will tilt up, loosen your feet, and the stone pestle will fall into the mortar and smash the thing. Doesn't it save a lot of effort?"
"Yes, Xiaoqing's brain is easy to use. No wonder the leader said we are stupid." She said honestly.
"Let's see, what good idea has Xiaoqing come up with?" Everyone gathered around.
Yao Xiaoqing smiled and explained it again. Dashi smiled and nodded, "Yeah! This saves a lot of effort. Xiaoqing, just wait, uncle will do it now."
Yao Xiaoqing smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll go back first."
Dashi smiled and waved his hand, "Go ahead! It will be done tomorrow, go over and build the piles."
Yao Xiaoqing returned to the cafeteria and saw that the tung powder in the jar still didn't respond. Thinking that his work was in vain, he was unwilling to give up and picked up another stone and placed it on it.
When it was time to eat the night meal, a shallow layer of tung oil seeped out from the bottom of the tank, and Yao Xiaoqing felt a little relieved.
Early the next morning, Yao Xiaoqing went to the canteen, lifted the stone that was pressing on the oil cake, took out the oil cake, exposed the tung oil at the bottom of the tank, and scooped out a jar of tung oil with a wooden spoon.
Mu Feng shook his head when he saw it, "Xiao Qing, with so many oil seeds, we squeezed so little oil, which is only enough to wash the door!"
After working for a long time to get such a small amount of tung oil, Yao Xiaoqing was not satisfied, "Yes! If the tools are not good, the things you get will be less."
As the old saying goes, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. This time is a lesson. Next time you have to be prepared before starting. You can't take things for granted like this time and waste things and manpower.
Seeing that Yao Xiaoqing was frowning and unhappy, Mu Feng smiled and comforted her and said: "Xiao Qing, it's okay to be patient. I will accompany you to pick tung seeds later."
Yao Xiaoqing looked at him and smiled, "Yeah! While the weather is fine, you and Brother Shi go and paint the door with a layer of tung oil to prevent the wood from being damaged by snow and water."
"Okay!" Mu Feng took the jar and went to look for pigs.
It had been sunny for two days, but this afternoon, the sky turned dark, and soon snowflakes began to fall. The snowflakes were flying all over the sky, like big catkins.
After getting up the next day, Yao Xiaoqing finally saw the power of heavy snow. Everywhere he looked was a vast expanse of white, with no other colors visible.
The water in the bamboo tube was frozen and not a drop of water could flow out. Everyone could only melt the snow water and use it for washing and cooking food.
Several places on the roof of the hayloft and firewood shed were collapsed by the weight of snow.
After the snow stopped, everyone just repaired it, but the next day it snowed again, and other places were collapsed.
Thinking that the roof of the building would not collapse under the weight of the snow, Yao Hu simply told them not to repair it until next spring.
It's been snowing for several days, and it can reach your calves if you step on it.
Heavy snow covered all the roads going down the mountain to the cave, and all the people shoveled the snow to make a way to the cave.
When we reached the foot of the mountain, we found that the firewood shed had been crushed and the thatched shed was covered with firewood.
People who went up the mountain found that the wooden fence on the mountain turned into an ice wall, and the sun shone on it, reflecting dazzling light.
All the thatched huts at the entrance of the cave collapsed.
Yao Hu said happily: "Fortunately, I was not lazy when building the stables for feeding the animals, otherwise they would all be crushed to death."
"Xiao Qing asked us to spread cattail grass in the sheep pen and cattle pen to make nests for them, just to avoid them freezing to death," Ah Chong said with a smile.
"Alas!" Muba sighed, "It's been a long time since it snowed so heavily. I don't know how many people will freeze to death after winter is over!"
Yao Xiaoqing heard Muba's words and was worried that the weather was abnormal, "Uncle Muba, hasn't it snowed so heavily for a long time?"
Muba nodded and said, "Yes! It hasn't snowed so heavily for a long time."
It seems that the climate is a little abnormal. Yao Xiaoqing remembers that there was a Little Ice Age in ancient times. Severe droughts and floods occurred one after another in summer, and it was extremely cold in winter. If it happened again like that, it would be troublesome.
After finishing shoveling the snow, Yao Xiaoqing said to Yao Hu: "Father, is there any time in your memory when it was particularly cold in winter?"
Yaohu thought for a long time, frowned and said: "Yes, when I was not your age, the winter was very cold. Many people in the tribe starved to death and froze to death. It didn't rain once from spring to summer, and the wild
Everything has gone deep into the mountains, and the god of fire often sets fire to the mountains, and very few people survive."
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this winter was very similar to that time, "Xiaoqing, my father went to discuss with Dashi and the others. We should save some food. If it is like that time, everyone will be hungry."
Yao Xiaoqing nodded, "Yes, I think so too. Although we have saved a lot of food, if it's like what you said, it won't be enough."
Yaohu left in a hurry.
After the weather gets cold, pheasants and wild ducks don't lay eggs as much. Yao Xiaoqing thought that if they wait for a few more days, if it doesn't work, they will kill half of the pheasants and wild ducks and keep the green bar fruit, just in case.
Yaohu went to the stone tool room and told Dashi and others about his worries. The elders were still frightened by that encounter.
Uncle Achun said: "Chief, everyone should eat less and save some food so that we don't have to eat anything at all."
Muba nodded and said, "Uncle Achun is right. In the past, we all had two meals of food. We didn't have much work to do in winter. We just made weapons, barrels and basins in the tribe. It doesn't matter if we skip one meal."
"Yes! We will have baby dolls in the future! We have to save food."
Everyone agreed to save food to prevent disaster from the gods.