"Brother Zhong, it's true that he comes as soon as he comes and doesn't bring anything with him."
Heifu's sister is named "Huan". She is in her mid-twenties and looks a bit like their mother, but her skin is darker. Although she is polite, she can't hide the joy in her eyes. She always holds a black hand in her hand.
My husband turned over the piece of fine grass cloth that he had given me, and praised the workmanship in the county town for being better than in the countryside.
"My brother is lucky enough to get a reward, how can he forget about my sister? I just want to buy some new clothes for myself and my sister-in-law."
Sister Huan smiled from ear to ear, pinched the eight-foot tall man who was silently pouring water for Hei Fu, and said angrily: "Look at my brother, you can talk more, look at you again, a year and a half."
You don’t even know how to buy a piece of cloth for me, when I was blind and insisted on marrying you.”
"Wife, I was at the township market the day before yesterday, but you said you still had enough clothes to wear, but you refused to let me buy any."
The big man quickly moved away with an honest smile, not because he was afraid of pain, but because he was afraid that the sawdust and dirt on his body would stain his wife's hands.
This is Hei Fu's brother-in-law, named "Cheng". Although he also lives in Sunset, he is different from other families in that he is a "craftsman". He has been a craftsman for generations, doing woodworking, masonry and other tasks.
He makes a living by breaking stone tools and tools for the people in the village and repairing their houses.
Although the Qin State did not have the bad habit of discriminating against craftsmen after the Han Dynasty, the countryside also had its own chain of contempt: those with nobility looked down on the scholars, those who farmed the land looked down on the natives of Baigong, those with the native place of Baigong looked down on the merchants, and the merchants looked down on the son-in-law.
, the son-in-law can only look down on the concubine...
So when Sister Huan wanted to marry Citron, her parents disagreed a hundred times. However, love is very free in this era. In the end, the two of them came together and settled the matter in the haystack until the children were all born.
She was about to give birth, so the Heifu family had no choice but to agree.
Hei Fu felt that his sister-in-law was a pretty good person. Although he was as silent as a stone and illiterate, he knew how to care for his wife and daughter, and he was also good at craftsmanship.
When he first married Sister Huan, he often went to Hei Fu's house to work for free, making oranges for his family, building beams, and making stone mortars. He was really hardworking and never complained. In the end, his mother was moved and recognized this son-in-law.
Let the two of them take their children to live at home. Citron also treats her like his own mother. Some time ago, his mother fell ill, so he and Sister Huan often ran home.
It's a pity that no matter how good the craftsmen are these days, they are still trapped by their household registration, unable to leave the countryside, and don't have much financial resources. Looking at the small courtyard of my sister-in-law's house, most of it is filled with wood and stones, and the most valuable thing is a hammer.
, copper saws and the like, life is quite tight.
Hei Fu did not hesitate, and while Sister Huan was talking sincerely, he made it clear to his sister-in-law the purpose of his visit.
"To make something similar to oranges?" When he mentioned his specialty, the taciturn Tong suddenly became energetic. Most of the oranges that were collecting water in the nearby areas came to him to make them.
"That's right."
Heifu held a wooden stick and began to draw on the ground: "Same as Juekai, a longer piece of wood is placed on a fixed wooden frame, but the top of the stick is connected to a stone hammer, and a stone mortar is placed under the hammer head.
In this way, if you can step on the tail of the wooden stick with your feet, you can drive the stone hammer up and down like water, and repeatedly smash it into the stone mortar, so that it can be used to pound rice!"
Using your feet instead of your hands can save a lot of effort and improve efficiency. This is why "treadmill" is named. Although it requires a lot of effort to step on it, which is not as good as a roller or a stone mill, it is still much more advanced than simply pounding rice.
, the key point is that the cost is low and it is easy to promote.
This thing should have been born in the Han Dynasty, and then spread rapidly. Every household can do without grinding, grinding, but cannot do without treading. You know, "chun" as a kind of torture for female prisoners gradually disappeared, perhaps with this thing
invention is related.
"This is a good idea! From now on, you don't have to lift the wooden pestle to pound rice. You just have to step on it. A child of half an age can also step on this to pound rice!"
Citron is knowledgeable, his eyes suddenly lit up, he patted his thigh and said: "Brother Zhong, how did you come up with this idea!"
Heifu excused himself and said: "When I went to bed in the morning, I heard the sound of pounding rice and fetching water. I dreamed about these two things together. When I woke up, I thought it might be possible, so I wanted to ask my sister-in-law if it could be done."
Citron smiled and said, "This is simple. Once I get all the materials, I can make it for you in two or three days."
"I don't know how much it will cost..."
As soon as Hei Fu mentioned the money, Tong's face suddenly darkened. He stood up and said, "Family, what kind of money are you asking me for? Do you still treat me as an outsider?" The loud voice frightened Zhong He on the side.
Sister Huan jumped.
Sister Huan saw that her husband's stubborn temper had relapsed, and she quickly pinched him again and cursed: "You talk to my brother, why are you yelling? Sit down!"
Citron listened to his wife's words and sat down again, but he was still angry.
"My little brother was wrong."
The young man had to apologize and said with a smile: "I also know that my sister-in-law is not that kind of person. In fact, I want to make this thing because I feel that my mother, Sister Qiu, and my sister are too tired from pounding rice every day. I want to
Let them save some effort and spend less time. My brother-in-law, why don't we make two, one for each side of the family. If you need to chop down trees and gravel, just call me and Jing."
"Look, my brother-in-law still knows that he feels sorry for my sister. You should learn from this."
With a smile on her face, Sister Huan deliberately bumped Citron twice with her elbows. Only then did Citron's face relax, and he nodded and said, "If this can be done, it is a good thing. Don't worry, Mr. Hei, I can do it in three or two days."
"Sister-in-law, if you do something like Treading, don't make it public. If others ask about it, just say that you work for Jue."
Before leaving here, Heifu repeatedly told Citron and Sister Huan that this matter would be kept secret for the time being.
Although the treadmill was not invented until the Han Dynasty, it is simpler and cheaper than the stone mill, and can be copied with just a few glances.
By this time, Zhongya understood what Heifu wanted to do, and kept praising him for being really thoughtful.
In fact, Zhong didn't know that the reason why Heifu wanted to make a treadmill was not only to reduce the hard work for the female relatives at home, but also because he had a vague idea in his heart that it might be able to make profits for his family. But whether it could be done, he still had to ask.
I am an expert in the legal field, so let’s keep it to ourselves for the time being.
My sister-in-law's home is in the north. This place is already at the end of the sunset. Beyond the walls, there are large tracts of fields. Now that we are here, Zhong made an appointment with Hei Fu to go to the one hundred acres of farmland he was assigned.
Take a look at the field.
After leaving the inner gate, they walked eastward for nearly a mile along the road that bounded each family's fields. The terrain became higher and closer to the mountains and forests.
Zhong sighed with some shame: "Brother, I have no ability. Although your house is not far from home, I couldn't get the best land for you. This land is too high, it is difficult to draw water, and you can't grow rice. You can only
Plant millet."
"It doesn't matter." Hei Fu said with a smile: "If I can successfully become the director of the pavilion, I will probably be at Huyang Pavilion and have no time to take care of the fields."
"You can't say that."
Zhong takes a longer-term view: "As a pavilion chief, you get a salary of 72 dan per year, but if you hire people to farm this hundred acres of land, even if you sow seeds all over the sky, you will get a harvest of 180 dan per year at worst.
I can get half of it. Excluding the rent and taxes paid to the government, I can almost catch up with the annual salary of the pavilion chief."
"Brother is right."
Heifu was right when he thought about it. Even if he didn't farm the land, it would be good to hire people to do the work. There are still farmhands who can only work hard when there is no land these days. Alas, I just don't know where that little farmhand named Chen She is now.
What? Hei Fu really wanted to invite him to help him farm, sit on the ridge, and talk about the land together, and the ambitions of the sparrows and the swans...
While speaking, Zhong stopped and pointed forward: "This is your field."
Heifu looked left and right according to Zhong's gestures, and couldn't help but sucked in a breath of cold air! He cursed in his heart!
"It's so big!"
The newly cultivated field in front of him, at a glance, was actually as big as five or six football fields!