novelslam Chapter 9: One piece of clothing passed down through three generations
Chapter 9: One piece of clothing passed down through three generations
Zhuang Lihui took the grain and entered the space again.
In just one day, both the hen and the two white geese grew very strong. The chicks, which were originally smaller than a fist, are now much bigger.
It seems that staying in space has many advantages!
Zhuang Lihui could also feel that the longer he stayed in the spiritual spring space, the stronger and more energetic he became. However, this strength did not manifest in his muscles, nor did it make him taller or bigger.
At this growth rate, the chicks will grow to adulthood in about 10 days.
Zhuang Lihui turned his attention to the piece of wood, which was as thick as a thigh, over three meters long, and quite dry. Otherwise, even two children wouldn't be able to move it.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the wood had not been broken down.
The main reason for bringing in the wood was to figure out one thing: whether things brought in from the outside world would be broken down by the space.
If he could, then his idea of building a house wouldn't work.
It now appears that "waste" not produced by space will not be decomposed.
Moreover, there is a waiting time when space is broken down into useless things.
As long as you remove it within a certain time, it will be fine. If you haven't dealt with it after a certain time, the system will assume you don't need it and will automatically delete it for you.
Zhuang Lihui felt he had so much to do that he couldn't possibly finish it all.
Harvesting corn, planting rice, building chicken coops, constructing houses, digging ponds, and so on.
He thought for a moment and decided to plant the grain first. It wasn't farmland, so he wondered if planting it like corn would work.
Zhuang Lihui dug a shallow hole every foot's length and put two grains of rice in it. A bowl of rice was gone in no time, not even enough to cover a large area.
Next comes pouring water from the sacred spring.
With something as miraculous as the Spirit Spring, I believe that even if you just throw it away randomly, the seeds will sprout and grow.
And indeed, within minutes the grains sprouted and began to grow taller at a visible rate.
That's it.
At that moment, Zhuang Lihui felt as if he were possessed by Shennong.
Then he harvested the remaining corn and piled it up haphazardly. After finishing this, feeling that it was about time, he decided to leave the spiritual spring space.
My second brother made cornbread using cornmeal.
These past two days, he's been busy grinding the corn into cornmeal, bit by bit. However, without a stone mill, it's never ground finely enough, and the flour is quite coarse.
It's not a big problem; it's better than just making porridge.
After all, I might need to carry dry food in the future, and cornbread would be perfect; I can't exactly carry porridge with me. Of course, I can also store some in my storage space later.
"Brother, I'll take the cloth to Uncle's house later, and then I'll shred the corn when I get back," Zhuang Liming said.
Zhuang Lihui nodded: "You like it."
It doesn't matter; he only cares about the result. He won't interfere with the process.
After eating about half full, Zhuang Liming took the cloth and went to his second uncle's house. Although there seemed to be a lot of corn at home, he still didn't dare to eat too much.
Being able to eat until you're 50% full is already a very fortunate thing in today's environment.
Seeing this, Zhuang Lihui was too lazy to persuade him. He would eat on his own when he was hungry. He wasn't a three-year-old child who needed to be chased around and fed.
Bathed in moonlight, Zhuang Liming arrived at his second uncle's door again and gently knocked: "Second Uncle, Second Uncle!"
The door opened quickly, revealing a dim oil lamp inside. Flying insects occasionally swarmed around it, crackling and popping. Auntie was having dinner with Shitou and Xiaohua—corn porridge.
"Liming's here! Have you eaten? Come in and have something to eat," Uncle Zhuang Zhenmin said warmly.
When Shi Tou and Xiao Hua saw their second brother arrive, they stopped eating their corn porridge and ran over to hug his legs.
"Second Uncle, my brother and I just ate corn too."
"I came here tonight mainly to ask my second aunt to make some clothes for my brother and me. My brother said that he'll use the leftover fabric to make new clothes for Shitou and Xiaohua as well," Zhuang Liming explained his purpose.
Only then did Uncle and Aunt notice the cloth Zhuang Liming was holding.
"Where did you get this cloth? How come you have so many cloth coupons?" Uncle Er frowned and questioned.
Auntie stopped eating and quickly came over, took the cloth from Zhuang Liming's hand, and said with a smile, "Liming, leave this to your auntie. I guarantee you two will be satisfied."
She wondered if she had been too harsh on her two nephews before.
Li Hui and Li Ming never seem to forget their cousins whenever they have something good, just like this time with the cloth.
Zhuang Liming recounted the story his elder brother had made up verbatim, leaving his second uncle and aunt stunned. Yet, they actually believed it.
Because that makes sense.
"Sigh! Your older brother still can't be patient. Wouldn't it be better if he got a job later?" Zhuang Zhenmin sighed, feeling that his nephew had really made a mistake in his choice.
If they had jobs, supporting the two brothers shouldn't be too difficult, and they could even leave the village and go to more prosperous places.
As for the current difficulties, let's find a way to overcome them first, and we'll get through them.
My aunt, however, had a different opinion: "I think Li Hui is right. The most important thing is to survive. As for waiting for that job, when will we ever get it?"
"That's enough. There's nothing more to say now." Second Uncle waved his hand.
Then he added, "You two brothers can use this cloth to make clothes. There's no need to make any for Shitou and Xiaohua. What do children need new clothes for? Old clothes can be altered."
Nowadays, it's fashionable to mend and patch things up for another three years. Children's clothes are usually made from old clothes that adults have worn out.
One piece of clothing can be passed down through three generations!
"Second Uncle, it's no use telling me. It was my brother who made the decision."
After saying that, he ignored his second uncle's reaction, turned around and left, because he still had to go back to husk corn!
Zhuang Zhenmin wanted to say something more, but Huang Lan pulled him back.
In the middle of the night, Zhuang Lihui went to the space again, harvested the mature rice, planted a second crop, and then went to sleep in the space.
The next day, he woke up to find that the second crop of rice had ripened. Like the corn, its growing period in the space was only three or four hours.
Zhuang Lihui stretched and loosened up before getting back to work.
We can leave the corn for now; it'll be enough for our immediate needs. Let's plant more rice and millet for a few more crops first.
After he planted the third crop of rice and left the spiritual spring space, he found that his second brother had already retrieved the water and gone out, and he didn't know where he was going!
Zhuang Lihui thought for a moment and then mixed about half a bucket of spiritual spring water into the water vat. After this dilution, it tasted slightly sweeter, but there wasn't much difference in flavor.
After finishing all that, he was about to head outside to get some materials he needed, such as bamboo, wood, and stone.
If you want to build infrastructure in the Spirit Spring Space, you can't do it without materials.
Just then, Chen Jian'an arrived.
"Brother Hui, I haven't seen you for the past two days. Where have you been?" As he spoke, he pulled out a handful of peanuts from his pocket and secretly stuffed them into Zhuang Lihui's hand.
After stuffing it in, he looked around nervously.
At this moment, Zhuang Lihui had only one thought: This brother is someone I can get along with!