Chapter 39 : Building a Stove and Grinding Grain

“Alright, Yun Siying, Uncle promises to help you finish building the stove today,” Jiang Fugui said with a wide grin, his tone cheerful. He was confident he wouldn’t suffer any losses working for someone recommended by Nangong Ruochen. He had met him several times and trusted his judgment.

Jiang Fugui wasn’t just talking, his hands were skillful and fast, and his process was well organized. Before long, he was going in and out of Yun Siying’s room on his own to start the work.

“What do you use to grind the corn and wheat into flour?” Yun Siying asked Nangong Ruochen curiously, watching as he brought out the corn and wheat he had dried for her the day before. In the era she came from, these tasks were all handled by machines.

Nangong Ruochen pointed to a nearby stone mill and said, “We use that stone mill over there to grind.”

“Can we grind them now?” Yun Siying asked earnestly. She knew she had to learn how to do these things on her own after all she’d be living here for almost five years.

“Check the surface of the corn and wheat to see if they’ve dried properly,” Nangong Ruochen said, taking the opportunity to teach her this essential life knowledge.

Yun Siying picked up the corn with her fair hands, inspected it carefully, then did the same with the wheat. After examining both, she said confidently, “They’re dry now.”

Nangong Ruochen walked over to her, checked the grains himself, and confirmed, “They are indeed dry.”

Because they were standing quite close, Yun Siying suddenly felt a strong masculine presence envelop her. Her heart started to race. This strange yet pleasant feeling made her a bit flustered, she had never experienced anything like it before.

Nangong Ruochen returned to the house and quickly brought out two clean enamel basins. He placed the corn into one of them and carried it over to the stone mill. Rolling up his sleeves to reveal his strong, muscular arms, he took a stance, left foot forward, right foot back, gripped the mill handle tightly with one hand, and began the rhythmic motion of grinding. He leaned back, pulling the handle to the right, then leaned forward to push it left. He grabbed a handful of corn and gently poured it into the eye of the mill. The ground flour spilled out into the surrounding groove.

After watching for a while, Yun Siying offered, “Let me add the corn!”

“Alright,” Nangong Ruochen said, feeling pleased with her gesture. It reassured him that she hadn’t changed, she never accepted help or kindness without remembering it and looking for a chance to repay it.

Yun Siying was a bit clumsy at first, but soon they fell into a rhythm and cooperated seamlessly. Their grinding speed increased significantly.

“Let’s switch,” Yun Siying said, looking at the basin that was half full. She didn’t want him to get too tired.

“Sure.” Nangong Ruochen explained the technique to her and they traded places. Yun Siying was also good at working the mill, but after a while, her wrists started to ache badly.

So Nangong Ruochen swapped with her again. It took them about an hour to grind 20 kilograms of corn and 6 kilograms of wheat.

With his guidance, they used a fine sieve to separate the soft flour from the rough corn husks. Just then, Li Laidi walked by and said, “You’re being wasteful! Those shells you’re sieving out can still be eaten. Why bother sieving them?”

“How did you handle the coarse shells after sieving?” Yun Siying asked.

“I was too lazy to deal with them, so I just gave them to the other educated youths,” Nangong Ruochen replied a bit awkwardly. That kind of rough food could still be eaten by the poorest villagers if it was ground again and mixed with cornmeal, though it was much harder to swallow.

“Then help me give these shells to them later,” Yun Siying said. Now that she had money and grain stored in her space, she naturally didn’t want to keep eating coarse grains that scratched her throat.

“Comrade Yun, if you don’t want them, just give them to me,” Li Laidi quickly chimed in.

“Alright, get a bag to put them in,” Yun Siying replied. She didn’t care who she gave them to, she wasn’t familiar with the people here so as long as they weren’t wasted, that was fine.

“Thank you, Comrade Yun. I’ll get a bag right away!” Li Laidi returned shortly after with a white cloth bag and packed the coarse shells into it.

Nangong Ruochen helped Yun Siying put the corn flour, corn kernels, and wheat flour into cloth bags, and she carried them back to the cupboard in her room.

“Comrade Yun, the stove is built. Wait about five days for it to dry before using it, that way it won’t crack or explode. Don’t put anything on top of it during this time,” Jiang Fugui said, wiping the sweat from his face with a sense of satisfaction.

“Thank you, Uncle Fugui. Here are your wages and the money for the materials,” Yun Siying said, handing him two yuan after inspecting the area and finding everything clean and well done. She had confirmed the appropriate amount with Nangong Ruochen beforehand.

“Alright, Comrade Yun. If you have any problems with the stove later, you can ask Nangong Ruochen to bring you to me,” Jiang Fugui said. He looked at the two yuan in Yun Siying’s fair hand, then at his own hands, which were covered in dirt. He pulled his hands back, wiped them on his pants, and only then, a bit embarrassed, took the money.

“Okay, Uncle Fugui. Thank you for your hard work today.” Yun Siying noticed his small gesture and felt a surge of appreciation, her impression of him instantly improved.

After seeing Uncle Fugui off, she noticed Shu Ruxue and Shen Subai grinding corn. However, the corn hadn’t been washed before being put into the mill. Under Shu Ruxue’s guidance, Shen Subai was clumsily learning how to grind.

Seeing this, Lin Zikang suddenly remembered he hadn’t ground his own corn yet. He approached Shu Ruxue and asked, “Comrade Shu, Comrade Shen, can I grind corn with you?”

Shu Ruxue figured he was a new educated youth who didn’t know how to grind corn, and that she’d probably end up doing all the work, so she shook her head and decisively refused, “No, Comrade Lin, find someone else.”

“…Alright,” Lin Zikang replied awkwardly, the corners of his mouth drooping as he quietly stood aside to observe and learn how to grind corn on his own.

Yun Siying watched them for a bit, then glanced at her watch it was 3 p.m. Thinking of the pork fat she had bought that day, she said, “Nangong Ruochen, I want to render the fat I bought into oil. Then let’s pick some mustard greens and have mustard green dumplings with cracklings tonight. How about it?” She remembered reading about mustard greens in novels set in this era.

Seeing the sparkle in her eyes as she spoke, Nangong Ruochen couldn’t say no. “Alright, I’ll leave the fire to you, and I’ll take care of the rest,” he replied. Wasting no words, he took out the fat, washed it, and began cutting it into pieces.

Yun Siying didn’t stay idle either. First, she washed the clay jar she had bought and left it to dry in the yard. Then she cleaned the iron pot, placed it on the stove, lit the fire, and added some of the chopped fat that Nangong Ruochen had prepared, stir-frying it to start rendering the oil.