Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 24: Strength is the most important thing
Strictly speaking, to make baskets, rattan needs to be soaked in water first and then smoked to increase its flexibility and prevent insects.

But Yu Qiutang doesn't have that much time.

He simply asked Yu Xiaowei to pass the vines over the fire one by one, and then began to weave them by trial and error.

He took the old basket and studied it. He thought he should find a way to weave the bottom, but he tried several times and each time he couldn't get the bottom and the sides to fit together smoothly.

Fortunately, he had the foresight to cut some extra vines as a backup, otherwise it might not have been enough.

Just as they were struggling, Yu Dejin came back from outside with a bundle of rattan in his hand. The two men's eyes met and they were both stunned.

This is not a coincidence.

Yu Dejin's rattan should be used to weave pot lids. The outer layer of skin has been scraped off, and the rattan has been soaked in water and dried in the shade, with a slightly grayish white color.

He carried the rattan and placed it at the entrance of the cave, asked Yu Qiushi to bring a small stool for him to sit on, and started weaving.

In addition to being a carpenter, Yu Dejin can also weave baskets, various kitchen utensils, and even make paper figurines and rockery for funerals. He is a versatile person.

Apart from his bad temper, rudeness, preference for boys over girls, male chauvinism, and partiality and unfairness, there are no major problems in other aspects.

In front of outsiders, he is still a good man with some popularity. Yu Qiutang once said with disdain, "What kind of man is it to give your best mood to others and vent your anger on your own children!"

This is also what Yu Qiutang hates most about the father who raised him, even more than the beating itself.

At this moment, the father and son were silent, but doing the same thing, as if they were competing secretly. Yu Chunmei and Yu Xiaoyun were chasing the hemp rope on one side, while Chen Meidi and Wang Chunhua were winding wool on the other side, which was also very symmetrical.

The pressure came to Yu Qiutang.

He gritted his teeth and tried again, but when he got to the point where it joined the waist, it just wouldn't fit together and it would get stuck in the same place every time.

He couldn't help but glance at Yu Dejin and found that Yu Dejin had also set up the bottom, but his waist was all stretched out vertical vines instead of a flat bottom.

Yu Qiutang suddenly realized.

It turns out that the basket is not woven by putting the bottom and waist together, but the rattan at the bottom of the basket is used as the "pillar" of the waist, and then filled with rattan horizontally.

He took a long time to figure out such simple wisdom.

He also understood that no matter what other cage it was, it was not like a basket that required a flat bottom to hold things, but rather a cage that had a raised bottom to prevent the prey from escaping.

The quality requirements are very low.

As a carpenter, his father naturally did not want the things he made to fall apart before others had much use. He regarded honor as more important than anything else, even his own life.

They must have thought about how to make it more suitable for the villagers to use. Everyone must bear the weight when they buy tools and carry them back. If they carry something precious and it suddenly falls and breaks, then the signboard will be ruined.

After understanding the trick, Yu Qiutang's speed immediately increased. His hands-on ability was no worse than his father's and he was very strong. His father needed tools to tighten the rattan, but he could do it with his hands.

After a few rounds, he surpassed his father and finished faster than him.

In less than an hour, the first basket was woven.

Moreover, based on his father's work, he added his own understanding and weaved the basket into a beautiful octagon, leaving an ear on each corner. When he finally finished it, the basket looked more like an octagonal chandelier, which was very beautiful.

He put the finished basket aside and started to make the second bottom. He looked at his father and found that his father was staring at him with disbelief in his eyes. He probably never thought that his lifelong skills would not be as good as Yu Qiutang, a novice who had just debuted. His self-confidence was completely shattered.

Yu Qiutang felt very happy.

He wanted to "bully" his father in this way, to kill his arrogance and to take revenge for the beatings he had received in the past.

Everyone has to pay the price for the mistakes they have made.

He couldn't really beat or scold his father, but it was nice to do some small bullying.

Chen Meidi over there naturally also saw Yu Qiutang's actions. He was not much better than Yu Dejin. The ball of wool in his hand was tangled into a messy oval shape.

Feeling proud of himself, Yu Qiutang started to compile the second one.

This one was more skillful and faster than the previous one, probably taking only half an hour. After he finished weaving, he saw that his father had just finished weaving, and there were obviously still many rattans left to weave, but his father left them behind and went into the kiln.

My soul has been hit by 10,000 critical points and I can't sit still.

Yu Qiutang's pride reached a new level.

I told you to hit me all the time. Now you know how it feels to be looked down upon. Just bear with it.

Looking at the rattan, since there was less waste in weaving, about one third of it was still left unused. He then began to weave some pot lids, jar lids, plates, as well as several baskets for steamed buns, baskets for collecting water, and so on.

When all the rattans were used up, the ground was already filled with all kinds of small tools.

But Yu Chunmei and the two children were stunned.

Everyone felt that Yu Qiutang was just like a magician. With the cane in his hand, he could change it into various shapes in no time.

As a result, Yu Xiaowei no longer liked his job of smoking wood, thinking it was too easy and not challenging enough.

Yu Qiutang told them that he would teach them when he had time, and that these were all trivial matters. He also reminded them again that children should focus on studying and that they needed to be cultured no matter what they did.

Even if an uneducated person earns some money, due to the barrenness and poverty of his spiritual world and his unworthy moral character, he will not only not be able to keep the money, but may also end up with his family broken up and his life ruined.

Although the two children did not understand much, when they heard Yu Qiutang talk to them about studying whenever he had time, they knew that he attached great importance to it. So they thought that even if not for themselves, they should study hard to make their uncle happy.

After all the rattans were woven, Yu Qiutang trimmed all the joints inside and outside the basket, rinsed them clean with water, and tied them with hemp ropes so that they could be carried on a shoulder pole.

As for the carrying pole, it was naturally not a problem for him. He just went to the bamboo forest at the entrance of the village to cut a few bamboos, broke them in the middle into bamboo boards, threw them into the canal to soak for a while, and then tied the bamboo boards together front and back with hemp ropes, keeping a slight curvature. After the bamboo boards were taken shape, he tied two layers together, drilled rope holes on both sides with a hammer, and passed the hooks made of hemp ropes through.

The advantage of this kind of shoulder pole is that it is simple and easy to make, but it is too elastic and will shake up and down violently, making it difficult to use it to carry heavy objects.

But Yu Qiutang only carried 20 to 30 kilograms of magical tofu, and at most some water, which was not particularly heavy.

And what he lacks the least is strength.

While he was making a shoulder pole in the yard, his father came out again to weave the remaining things. After he finished, he sat against the wall and watched him work, his old pipe slowly blowing out smoke rings.

(End of this chapter)