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Sonɡ Jinɡyun struggled aɡain to pull out the machete. After a few attempts, it took him longer to pull the machete out than to cut the bamboo. He was left pantinɡ and exhausted without havinɡ even cut one bamboo.
“You can’t just follow that mark and cut a thin line. That’s why the machete gets stuck,” Jiang Mixia took her own machete and demonstrated to Sonɡ Jinɡyun. “You see, here you can cut anywhere. Once you’ve made a notch, you can keep cuttinɡ there, or cut from the opposite side. It will be easier to cut through.”
“I’ll ɡive it a try,” Sonɡ Jinɡyun learned the trick and attempted it himself. Soon, a tall piece of bamboo fell down at his feet. Sonɡ Jinɡyun felt quite accomplished and enerɡetically continued cuttinɡ the bamboo.
Jiang Mixia, stronɡ and nimble, cut at a faster pace than Sonɡ Jinɡyun. Before lonɡ, the two of them had six pieces of bamboo at their feet.
“That’s enough. Let’s carry these back for now.”
“If we’re just trying it out, let’s not cut too much. We can always come back for more when we need it,” Jiang Mixia gathered the bamboo together, tied it with hemp rope, and prepared to carry it on her shoulder.
“I’ll do it,” Song Jingyun eagerly volunteered.
Having stayed here for these days, Song Jingyun had observed carefully. Here, the men did the heavy lifting. Yet, most of the heavy lifting had been done by Jiang Mixia these days. Song Jingyun felt that something was not quite right. He wanted to do it himself, like Jiang Youcheng.
Jiang Mixia looked at the sturdy bamboo, then at her husband, who was as thin as a rack of ribs, and pondered for a moment. “Alright, you give it a try.”
She made up her mind.
They lifted the bamboo, and Jiang Mixia placed it on Song Jingyun’s shoulder.
After a stumble, Song Jingyun nearly fell to the ground. Once he managed to steady himself, his hunched back refused to straighten, his legs shook, and he couldn’t take a single step. His face turned crimson.
Unable to bear it any longer, Jiang Mixia reached out. “Let me do it.”
“No, I can do it,” Song Jingyun insisted. He struggled to take a step but ended up dropping to one knee.
Song Jingyun, “…”
Placing the bamboo on the ground from his shoulder, he panted heavily, looking defeated. “You should do it.”
Seeing this, Jiang Mixia untied the bundled bamboo, splitting it into two piles. She hoisted one pile of bamboo onto her shoulder. “You take the other one.”
Song Jingyun carried the two pieces of bamboo on his shoulder. It was somewhat heavy but manageable. His spirits lifted, and he walked with a renewed sense of confidence.
He’s not behaving like a husband; he’s clearly acting like a child, handling everything like you would when coaxing a child. But this “child” is more endearing than the average rascal.
Jiang Mixia thought to herself, while Song Jingyun slightly slowed his pace and earnestly asked Jiang Mixia, “How can I increase my strength?”
He wanted to be able to effortlessly carry six pieces of bamboo like Jiang Mixia.
Increase strength?
Jiang Mixia, with a sturdy physique, looked at Song Jingyun’s tall and thin, almost skeletal figure, and said emphatically, “You probably need to eat more.”
Song Jingyun’s eyes instantly lit up.
Eat more?
That he can do!
The two of them made their way back home. After bringing the cut bamboo back, the family began to bustle about. They removed the leaves and branches from the bamboo, preparing to dry them for firewood. They sawed the bamboo poles into appropriate lengths, used a machete to split them into suitable widths, and then processed the bamboo strips into thin, appropriate pieces.
The bamboo was quite solid, allowing each piece to be split into three or four suitable strips for weaving bamboo baskets.
Splitting the bamboo strips was a skill that required practice. Initially, the strips would be too thin, too thick, or uneven. Some would even break at the joints. After pondering and practicing for a while, Jiang Youcheng was able to produce uniform, well-suited, and good-looking bamboo strips.
Liu Shi and Jiang Mixia also learned well. Although their strips were not as good as Jiang Youcheng’s, the bamboo strips they produced were still usable.
Interestingly, after observing Jiang Youcheng split the bamboo strips, Song Jingyun took a bundle of bamboo strips and began working on them alone.
Seeing her husband engrossed in his work and silent, Jiang Mixia went over to check on him.
“How’s it going? Are you getting the hang of it?” she asked.
“I think I’ve got it,” replied Song Jingyun, scratching his head. He then took a piece of bamboo strip, held it with his legs, and used a machete to carefully split it. The machete moved smoothly, and as it reached the end, a perfectly even and well-crafted bamboo strip fell to the ground.
Looking over, she noticed a small pile of well-split bamboo strips, each as good as the one in her hand. There were hardly any mistakes, unlike the initial flawed pieces that both she and Liu Shi had made.
“Not bad,” Jiang Mixia exclaimed. “These bamboo strips are much better than the ones mother and I made.”
Surprisingly, despite his slender build and limited strength, her husband had good learning and practical skills. For instance, he quickly learned how to spear fish last time, and now he was picking up the skill of splitting bamboo strips.
Pleased with the praise, Song Jingyun smiled shyly. “It’s alright.”
As he spoke, he continued deftly splitting bamboo strips.
Jiang Mixia went on with her work. When there were enough bamboo strips, Jiang Youcheng began to try weaving a bamboo basket. First, he laid several wide and thick bamboo strips as the base, then interwove and fastened thinner bamboo strips layer by layer.
The bamboo strips were much thinner and lighter than reeds, requiring less effort during weaving. Having developed significant hand strength from weaving reed baskets, Jiang Youcheng found weaving the bamboo basket quite effortless.
Soon enough, a cylindrical bamboo basket began to take shape.
“Not bad, you’re quick to pick it up, and your weaving speed is not slow,” Liu Shi chuckled. “If you weave for a day, you’ll probably make more than with reed baskets.”
Compared to reed baskets, bamboo baskets and bamboo crates were more expensive. If they could produce a similar amount in a day, it would mean earning much more.
“I told you, listening to our daughter’s advice was the right move,” Liu Shi chimed in.
As they were speaking, Jiang Chunshe, the eldest son of the Jiang family, approached. “Uncle, Aunt.”
“Oh, Chunshe is here,” Liu Shi stood up, brushing off the bamboo shavings. “When did you get back?”
Jiang Chunshe, the eldest son of the main branch of the family, had been apprenticing at a carpenter’s house in town for four or five years. He was usually very busy, and because his strict master rarely allowed him time off, he seldom returned home. Even on the day of Jiang Mixia and Song Jingyun’s wedding, he only stayed for half a day and hurried back without even sitting down for the banquet.
Seeing Jiang Chunshe at home at this moment was quite unexpected for Jiang Youcheng and Liu Shi.