Mountain Miscellaneous

Chapter 25 Build a chicken coop and harvest leeks!
In the past, saws, planes, axes, chisels, rulers, and ink fountains were common tools used by old carpenters in the village.

Woodworking does not need a chainsaw at all, just an ordinary saw can break down the wood into flat boards.

However, with the progress of the times, new tools such as table saws, hand-held chainsaws, square mortise machines, and sand belt sander machines have appeared, and these steps can be completed directly by machines.

"These old guys haven't been used for some years, and they are still so easy to hold in your hands!"

Li Dajiang found a cowhide bag from the sawdust pile, took out various old carpenter's tools and said with a smile.

"Haha, I still remember it! Every time I see my second uncle coming back from the outside with a leather bag on his back, I know there are sweets to eat!"

Li Changqing recalled that as long as Li Dajiang went out to work in the past, he would wait at the entrance of the village in the evening to wait for the candy and laughed.

"Yes! People at that time were so easy to be satisfied, a big white rabbit can be excited for several days!"

Li Dajiang turned off the table saw, pulled out an old bench on the beam, and replied.

"Second Uncle, do you still keep this stool?" Li Changqing asked in surprise, looking at the bench that Li Dajiang used to do carpentry.

"Hey, I can't bear to use it up!" Li Dajiang said while stroking the bench.

"I'm thinking about my second aunt again... There are not many people who are as dedicated as you these days!" Li Changqing muttered in a low voice.

"Let's get down to business. It's easy for you to learn carpentry, but it takes time to become a real carpenter!" Li Dajiang began to demonstrate to Li Changqing with old tools.

"Yeah!" Li Changqing watched with great interest from the side.

In mountain villages, whenever a daughter is married, her natal family must marry dozens of chairs, so carpenters do the most work on chairs.

Li Dajiang started from how to split the wood with a saw, planed the material with a plane, and then drilled holes with a chisel. He did it very carefully.

Li Changqing witnessed the whole process of turning a pile of wood into a chair, thinking about the use of each step.

Then Li Dajiang mainly demonstrated to Li Changqing how to decompose the wood into the materials he wanted, without talking about how to do it.

"Have you learned it?" Li Dajiang asked.

"Understood!" Li Changqing replied.

"Well, just understand it! Practice makes perfect, just do it a few times!" Li Dajiang smiled with satisfaction.

"Understood" means knowing the reason for doing so, and "knowing" means being able to do it well!

Li Dajiang's teaching is not a simple force-feeding method, but makes you think about why you do it.

Take the most common wooden chair as an example. Before making it, you should think about why you make a wooden chair?

What is the function of the wooden chair?How to manifest this effect?

When you think about these problems, you can use the old carpenter's tools to make what you want.

"Second Uncle, you are such a good teacher!" Li Changqing said sincerely.

"Haha, this is the first time I met your second uncle? These old guys will give it to you, and the bench will be taken away!"

Li Dajiang took a deep breath, pointed at the leather bag and the bench and laughed.

"Well, anyway, Second Uncle will only think of the sad things in the past!" Li Changqing smiled bluntly.

"Go, go, lest I go back on my word!" Li Dajiang waved his hand reluctantly looking at the leather bag.

"Then I'm leaving!" Li Changqing said, carrying a long bench and a cowhide bag.

After turning over the back mountain, Li Changqing put the cowhide bag and long bench under the shed of the wooden house.

Before thinking about how to make a chicken coop, Li Changqing needs to be familiar with the use of various carpentry tools.

There was still a lot of wood left when building the wooden house, and Li Changqing used it as practice materials.

Li Changqing started from the most basic use of a saw to disassemble a wooden board, and gradually explored the use of planes, chisels, rulers, axes, and ink fountains.

At the beginning, I couldn’t control the strength and direction well, and it often happened that the saw was off, the plane was uneven, and the chisel was crooked.

But what Li Changqing lacks most is perseverance. He reads and waters every morning, devotes himself to carpentry during the day, and practices calligraphy and painting in the bamboo forest at night.

After infused with Confucianism, Li Changqing's control over body functions is slightly stronger than that of ordinary people. After constant adjustments, trials, and improvements, he slowly finds the feeling, and basically does not make mistakes.

During the adaptation period, Li Changqing made himself a rocking chair.

It looks ugly from the outside, but it is quite comfortable to lie on it and enjoy the cool breeze, listening to the birdsong and admiring the green mountains and green waters.

Li Changqing made basic preparations and began to think about why he wanted to build a chicken coop?

The primary function is to keep out the wind and rain. How big should the chicken coop be and what kind of wood should be used?
If you want to stock chickens, what should you do to facilitate the formation of the daily habits of the chickens?
A lot of excrement is produced in the chicken coop every day, how to clean it most simply and effectively?

……

Li Changqing listed all the problems he could think of on paper, and then drew the prototype of the chicken coop for various functions!
It is subdivided into detailed steps, and it only needs to be completed step by step.

Li Changqing went to the village to buy some wood, and started to work with the old carpenter's tools given by Li Dajiang.

Ten days passed without knowing it. Before Li Changqing's chicken coop was built, the leeks planted were already lush green.

The mountain wind blows through the leek field, turning up green waves!
Every leek is like a slim girl, pure and tender, so beautiful!

Li Changqing couldn't bear to cut them off, but the leeks would grow back after cutting them.

"Qingwa, is this the leek you planted?" Liu Cuie looked at the vegetable basket Li Changqing brought home.

"Yes!" Li Changqing nodded.

"Why does it look so tender, as if water can be squeezed out?" Liu Cuie said in surprise.

"Hehe, I probably water it every morning!" Li Changqing said with a smile.

"The leeks our family used to grow, I watered them several times a day, but it didn't work!" said Liu Cuie.

"Then it may be that the soil in the vegetable field I cultivated is better, I'll send some to my second uncle's house!" Li Changqing took the opportunity to say.

"Hey, Brother Qing, you really look like a farmer now!"

Li Changliang happened to be at home during the May Day holiday, and saw Li Changqing staring wide-eyed and said.

"Haha, brother, you're so wrong! Brother Qing doesn't look like a farmer, he is a real farmer!" Li Hongdou patted Li Changliang on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Hong Dou, don't forget that I'm still a carpenter, and my second uncle's food has been passed on to me!" Li Changqing also said with a smile.

"Brother Qing, why are you a top student fighting for a job with a scumbag like me?" Li Changliang pouted.

"Little Liangzi, if you want to learn, Second Uncle won't teach you yet!" Li Changqing said with a smile.

"That's right, instead of studying hard, I want to learn carpentry!" Li Hongdou chimed in.

"Why can brother Qing learn?" Li Changliang said unconvinced.

"Hmph, if you can graduate from a famous university like your brother Qing, I will teach you!" Li Dajiang interjected when he came out of the workshop.

"Father, who is the real one?"

Li Changliang said with an aggrieved look, instead of getting sympathy, it aroused laughter from everyone.

"Second Uncle, I'll give you some of the chives I planted at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain!" Li Changqing said as he put the vegetable basket down.

　Thanks for the nicknames Tainima Trouble, Ji Jiasanlang, Qianmo Yulin, Piaoge vs. False Nightmare, Zhu Laomi, OS Renxian, etc. for their rewards!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)