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Chapter 49 2/2
“Okay, we’ll help you pick stones again tomorrow,” Hu Zi said, then added, “You don’t have to give us snacks.”
They realized it was embarrassing to ask for food after eating. Shen An just smiled.
After exchanging greetings with Sang Lou, the children each took their baskets and left.
Shen An went to see someone off, while Shen Ning approached Sang Lou and offered her a piece of fruit cake. “Sister-in-law, have some.”
Sang Lou tilted her head slightly and looked down, saying, “Just give me half a piece.”
It was a habit she had developed during the years of her illness. No matter how good something was, she only ate in moderation.
Knowing his sister-in-law’s temperament, Shen Ning smiled, tore off half a piece, and then tore the remaining half in half again, stuffing one half into Shen An’s mouth.
After eating, Shen Ning went to feed the chickens. He cut dandelions and mugwort with a bamboo knife, mixed them with a handful of weeds and bran, and then realized, “Sister-in-law, we don’t have feeding troughs.”
Feeding the chickens with a bowl was impossible, and if they scattered it on the ground, it would make a mess of the newly built house and yard. Sang Lou thought for a moment, then brought out the bamboo stem she had only used a short piece of yesterday afternoon. She sawed off a section with a saw and split it in half from the middle, making two small feeding troughs and water troughs. She picked a slightly thinner piece and prepared a portion for the ducks.
“Let’s use these for now. We’ll get better ones later.”
While Shen Ning fed the chickens, Sang Lou put down the saw and continued to finish the grass nest, fixing the feeding troughs and water troughs. Shen An went to move the soft, dry straw they had previously found and brought it back to line the nest. Then they carefully picked up the three ducklings and gently placed them in the nest lined with soft straw.
This nearly three-sided, sheltered grass nest obviously pleased the three ducklings more. They felt safe and kept looking around, happily chirping.
Sang Lou watched the three fluffy little creatures and got up to tell Shen Ning to cook some half-cooked rice later to feed the ducks. Then she took a hoe and went out of the yard, selecting a piece of ground at the side of the house, and started digging.
The ground had just been cleared, so it was easy to deal with. It just needed to be leveled a bit. After a few digs, she silently calculated the size of the chicken coop and estimated that the bamboo left in the house probably wouldn’t be enough. She took a sickle and called Shen An to go with her to chop bamboo nearby.
After nearly an hour of fussing, the uncle and aunt came back dragging a bamboo tree, a small bundle of branches as thick as a child’s arm, and a large pile of big banana leaves. They didn’t enter the yard but took out wooden stakes, saws, and sickles outside the yard and processed the bamboo branches. They left the main stem and cut it to length directly with the saw.
After sawing the bamboo poles, they split them into long strips about two and a half fingers wide and then wove them into six sturdy bamboo fences. Each vertical fence had four long bamboo strips, and one of them had a large enough gate for the chickens and ducks to enter and exit conveniently and for her to clean.
After finishing the six bamboo fences, they moved them to the leveled earth they had prepared earlier. One piece was placed flat on the ground as the bottom of the cage, mainly to prevent weasels from entering the cage. The other four pieces were hammered into the ground along the sides, with the long bamboo strip part sticking into the soil. Thus, a simple fence was formed.
Then, they covered the sixth piece of bamboo fence on top and had Shen An go inside to get hemp ropes. They carefully fixed the eight corners of the fence and inserted a bamboo door, completing a simple yet sturdy chicken coop.
Finally, they used tree branches as thick as a child’s arm to drive into the ground vertically around the chicken coop. They hammered them deep enough and tested them by hand to ensure they didn’t wobble. Then, they started constructing the roof frame horizontally with hemp ropes and thick branches.
Under Sang Lou’s hands, the roof frame, which was twice as high and twice as large as the chicken coop, gradually took shape. They covered it layer by layer with tightly woven banana leaves, providing shade and rain protection.
Sang Lou admired the double-layer chicken coop, which was as tall as a person. She couldn’t help but marvel at it, feeling like it was a villa in the chicken world for miles around.
Feeling satisfied with her work, Sang Lou took two unused banana leaves and carefully tucked them inside the coop. Then, she had Shen An bring out the remaining straw and layer it on top of the banana leaves.
Perfect!
In the future, when it got dirty inside, they could simply roll up the banana leaves to remove the dirty straw, making it easy to replace with a new straw.
After finishing the job, Sang Lou admired her masterpiece and finally had time to look at her hands. Although she had handled the bamboo strips, she wasn’t a professional carpenter or craftsman, so her craftsmanship was quite rough, and the surfaces weren’t smooth.
Without gloves, even though she had been careful, her hands had about seven or eight cuts from the work. While she was working, it was manageable, but now that she was done, the palms of her hands were itching and painful.
She went back inside, lit a fire, and used one of her two needles, heated at the tip with two wooden sticks, to carefully pick out the bamboo thorns embedded in her flesh, one by one, until not a single thorn was visible.
Shen An and Shen Ning were originally extremely happy to see such a beautiful chicken coop built next to the house. However, when they saw Sang Lou’s hands with so many small wounds, their excitement instantly dissipated, leaving only discomfort and guilt.
“Sister-in-law, this is men’s work. From now on, I’ll do it. If there’s anything I don’t know, I’ll ask Uncle Arita. You don’t have to do this kind of work anymore,” Shen An said solemnly.
Shen Ning, standing beside him, also expressed her agreement, “Yes, sister-in-law, with so many cuts on your hands, it must be painful.”
Seeing the siblings like this, Sang Lou couldn’t help but smile.
Men’s work? Sang Lou couldn’t help but find it amusing that a first or second grader like Douding was already talking about “men’s work.”
Nevertheless, it was important to encourage boys to take responsibility. She smiled and said, “Okay, our Xiao An is a little man. You learn well, and when you’ve learned, your sister-in-law and Ning can rely on you for this kind of work.”
Taking it seriously, Shen An nodded firmly, “I will definitely learn it. I don’t think it’s difficult. I’ve already learned what my sister-in-law did today.”
Sang Lou smiled, feeling refreshed after resting enough. She went to the kitchen to fetch a bamboo cup of water, brought the wooden stools inside, picked up the saw, and continued working.
Shen An was anxious, “Didn’t we agree that I would do it once I learned it?”
Holding the saw, Sang Lou raised her eyebrows with a smile, “Didn’t we agree that you would learn to make a cutting board the day after tomorrow?”
Shen An was at a loss. How could he make a cutting board?
Originally just a casual remark, Sang Lou thought about it seriously. It seemed feasible. She rummaged through a pile of materials and found a piece of round wood sawed off by Uncle Arita. Knocking on it, she found the material quite solid and turned to Shen An, “Actually, it’s not difficult. The material is readily available. This is elm wood left over from making the main beams at home. I think it’s quite suitable for making a cutting board. Just saw a piece of round wood. Want to give it a try?”
As she spoke, she became more certain. She called Shen An over and said, “Come, if you want to try, come and help me. I’ll watch you.”
Even if it was ruined, it would only waste a bit of material. She could just make another one.
Or rather, how bad could it be? One side was already sawed flat by Uncle Arita, so even if the other side was messed up, she could still use it to chop vegetables.
Shen An was somewhat uncertain. Could he really make a cutting board?
Then he saw the encouraging look in his sister-in-law’s eyes. His initial uncertainty quickly turned into eagerness. “Alright! Sister-in-law, teach me.”
He could take on some responsibilities in the family now. Shen An even felt an indescribable excitement.
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Sang Luo had a great idea of using banana leaves lined with straw as the bottom layer of the chicken coop because it’s like a disposable cleaning tray. I can’t wait to see others’ reactions when they see the chicken “villa” with easy cleanup, lol.
Thanks for the chapter! 😀