It will be very smokey if you put it in the main room, but it will be fine once it is lit.

　　Gu Zhao helped, but he was not as quick as Zhou Zhou in lighting the stove, so he couldn’t help but say, “It would be more convenient to burn charcoal, the ash would be smaller, and there would be no need to carry it around.”

　　”Charcoal is expensive. Now it’s very convenient to burn this at home. It doesn’t cost much money. It’s durable and easy to use. The only problem is that the ash is a bit big. It’s good when it burns. At worst, just open the door more often.” Li Zhouzhou lit the firewood in a few seconds, fanned the stove with a palm leaf fan, and watched the flames grow stronger and stronger until they burned thoroughly. Then he said, “No one in the village is willing to buy charcoal. They still think this is more convenient.”

　　”You can pick it up from the firewood, it’s free, and it’s okay if the ash is a little bigger. You can’t be good at everything.” Li Zhouzhou stood up and comforted his husband, “Everyone in the village says it’s good, and they praise my husband.”

　　Gu Zhao nodded, “Zhou Zhou is right. If we have money, we can burn charcoal. If we don’t have money, we can burn firewood. It’s better than before—”

　　Yes, it’s better than before.

　　Gu Zhao stopped worrying about the gypsum and put it aside. He said happily, “Zhou Zhou, I have an idea. It doesn’t cost much, but I don’t know how much the yield of crops in the field can be increased.”

　　After thinking about what they were saying, Li Zhouzhou understood what his husband meant and said, “The harvest from the fields is there, and there is no change every year. If we can harvest one more bushel of rice, it will be a happy event.”

　　”By the way, what do we do with the roots in our fields after the wheat is harvested every year?”

　　When harvesting wheat, we don’t pull it out by the roots. We use a sickle to harvest it, leaving some wheat in the ground.

　　”Every household pushes the plow to turn the soil, and the roots rot in the ground. The old people say that this can also fertilize the fields.” Li Zhouzhou told his husband more about the farmland. “After the wheat straw stalks are dry, they are bundled up and replaced with hay for the pig and chicken pens. They can also be used as stoves, but they are not durable as firewood. Firewood is better.”

　　After the stove was moved back to the main room, Gu Zhao went back to the inner room to write things down.

　　Peat ash can be used to fertilize the fields, and human and animal feces can be added to dilute it. The effect is definitely not as good as adding gypsum, but it is cheap and has little cost. However, it is cold now, and Gu Zhao went to the backyard to check. The ground is too frozen and hard. When spring comes and the soil thaws, he can dig a big pit next to the toilet to mix it, saving the money for the big vat.

　　Gu Zhao was afraid that he was too idealistic, so he asked his father.

　　”Okay, then we need to tamp the ground with stone hammers over and over again so that water won’t seep in.” Li Da was puzzled and said, “Why don’t you just use a manure pit?”

　　This saves trouble.

　　”Dad, the manure pit is okay in the cold winter, but in the hot summer it ferments and produces gas. If you throw wheat straw in it, it will easily explode.” Gu Zhao explained.

　　Li Da didn’t understand what fermentation gas was, so he nodded and didn’t say anything more.

　　Gu Zhao was curious and said, “Dad, I’m an outsider to farming. Do you believe me when I say this? Aren’t you afraid that I will destroy our crops?”

　　If Li Da really didn’t dare to let Zhou Zhou let Gu Zhao do whatever he wanted before, then Gu Zhao made up a lie last night and fooled Wang Ergou, and he didn’t dare to spread it. This shows that Gu Zhao is a careful and courageous person, and most importantly –

　　”Using manure to fertilize the fields is something that all farmers in the village know about. There’s nothing wrong with adding water to it.” It will just have no effect. It’s just a little more work, so what’s the point?

　　”What about the peat ash?”

　　Li Da: “You said it was ashes. What’s ashes? They are the ashes from burning firewood at home. We just dump them wherever we want. We don’t see any weeds outside dying.”

　　If Gu Zhao said to put gypsum, that would be a different story. Li Da first denied it to you. If you haven’t heard of it, don’t even think about using it to grow crops.

　　It’s snowing again.

　　Li Zhouzhou hadn’t gone to buy tofu since the last time he came back from Uncle Wang’s house. Two days later, in the evening, Xiaotian knocked on the door with a bowl of tofu and said he wanted to deliver it.

　　Li Zhouzhou opened the door and let Xiaotian in to warm up.

　　Xiaotian shook his head and said, “Brother Zhou Zhou, my father told you not to worry about it. I will bring it to you when you want to eat.”

　　”Come in first and I’ll give you the money. If you don’t want to pay, I won’t take the tofu either.” Li Zhouzhou said.

　　Xiaotian then came into the house, but stood in the yard. Li Zhouzhou could not call him, so he went into the house to get the money, poured the tofu into his own bowl, gave the empty bowl to Xiaotian, and gave him four coins.

　　Uncle Wang always gave him more tofu.

　　Xiaotian waved his hand and refused to take the extra money. Li Zhouzhou said he would take it. Seeing that Xiaotian didn’t know what to say, he said, “No need for you to give it to me. I will buy it myself tomorrow.”