Rebirth in 1984, starting from beekeeping in the mountains

Chapter 12: Making Beehives, Sleeves of Love
His eyes stayed on Fang Hongan for a long time.

Yang Maolin still suppressed the urge to interrogate him.

Seeing that Fang Hongan had finished the painting without him noticing, he turned his attention back to the drawing.

"This is……"

Yang Maolin pondered for a while, as if he had thought of something, and looked at Fang Hongan and asked uncertainly: "A box for raising bees?"

"what!"

Now it was Fang Hongan's turn to be surprised. He looked at Yang Maolin with astonishment in his eyes: "Uncle, have you ever made this?"

For a carpenter, it is a basic skill to recognize objects by looking at blueprints.

What Fang Hongan painted was indeed a beehive used for beekeeping.

But as far as Fang Hongan knows, the beekeeping industry in the entire Xiaonan region actually started very late.

Individual beekeeping began several years after the transition from the big pot system to the contract responsibility system, with land divided among individuals and the individual working model being adopted.

Throughout the initial stages, beekeepers used old wooden barrels and hollow tree sections to keep bees.

The real promotion of the use of movable-frame beehives for beekeeping and the formation of a beekeeping boom did not begin until the mid-90s.

The structure of the movable frame beehive and the old wooden beehive is very different.

and so……

At the moment, Yang Maolin should not be able to recognize him.

Unexpectedly, the old carpenter guessed it after just looking at it for a while.

Yang Maolin was a little surprised to find that he had guessed correctly. He shook his head and pointed to a spot on the drawing: "I haven't done it before! I guessed it because the size and method of this opening are similar to the beehive I made before!"

Fang Hongan took a look at the place he pointed to, which was the entrance and exit of the entire beehive.

This kind of entrance and exit must be present in both movable frame beehives and wooden beehives, and it is probably the only very similar structure on the two types of beekeeping tools.

Unexpectedly, Yang Maolin saw it at a glance.

Of course, there may be another reason, which is that he was more likely to make the association because he had just delivered the honey.

But based on this information alone, you can guess that it is a beehive.

The old carpenter's eyes were even more vicious than he had imagined.

Seeing that Yang Maolin was still staring at the drawings, Fang Hongan quickly asked, "Uncle! Are you free these two days? If you are, please make two for me first!"

He was aware of Yang Maolin's craftsmanship, which was top-notch in the entire area around Tianmang Mountain. With the blueprint, there was no need to ask whether he could do it or not, because he definitely could.

Yang Maolin nodded: "It's not difficult to do. If there are two, we can finish them tomorrow."

"it is good!"

Fang Hongan smiled and nodded: "Then you take care of the materials and labor. Ten dollars for a box. I'll come back in three days to pick it up!"

"Why ten dollars?"

Yang Maolin glanced at Fang Hongan fiercely and said unhappily, "For this size, I have plenty of extra scraps, and it's not labor-intensive. You can just come and get it the day after tomorrow!"

Fang Hongan naturally understood what he meant and just came to get it, which meant he didn't need to pay.

Fang Hongan immediately glared at him: "It won't work without money. Isn't this breaking the rules of our carpenter master?"

"Besides, I'm only making two this time. I'll have to make a lot more in the future. If you don't give me a definite price, how can I dare to do it again in the future!"

"Otherwise, I'll just go find Carpenter Luo from Shanmuling to do it!" Fang Hongan pretended to walk outside.

"Are you looking for Blind Luo?" Yang Maolin suddenly became anxious and stretched out his hand as if he wanted to hit someone.

Seeing this, Fang Hongan immediately turned around with a smile: "That's right! You can't force me to find someone like Luo Xiazi who is so unpopular."

"If you really want to take care of me, let me buy it on credit first, and then give me a discount and charge me seven dollars!"

Yang Maolin rolled his eyes: "I didn't expect you to give me cash!"

Then, he saw Fang Hongan's resolute tone, and after a moment of silence, he slowly sighed: "Five dollars!"

After saying this, he turned around with his hands behind his back, obviously not leaving any room for bargaining. Fang Hongan initially said ten yuan, and he didn't expect Yang Maolin to agree, just to lay an ambush for the seven yuan later.

Unexpectedly, Yang Maolin finally got it down to five yuan.

Fang Hongan estimated that at a price of five dollars, the basic material costs would also be this amount, which means that the work was given for free.

But Yang Maolin did not give him a chance to discuss the matter, and he could not really go to the next village to find other carpenters.

After thinking about it, I decided not to be pretentious anymore and simply nodded and agreed.

Hearing Fang Hongan's agreement, Yang Maolin turned around and went to the workshop to get busy.

When the clang-clang-clang sound was heard, Fang Hongan was just about to go out to say hello to Aunt Hong outside the house and then go home.

Aunt Hong walked in with a smile on her face. Seeing that Fang Hongan was about to leave, she quickly picked up the bag of rice on the ground and put it in Fang Hongan's hand.

After repeated tugs, Fang Hongan couldn't refuse. In fact, during one of the tugs, Aunt Hong almost fell down.

With no other choice, Fang Hongan could only take it.

He thought that when he came back from the market to exchange rice and get the beehives, he would carry back another 30 kilograms... Oh no, maybe 50 kilograms.

……

……

Fang Hongan returned to the mud house carrying the bag of rice.

Lan Wenxiu, who was finishing her needlework in the inner room, poked her head out when she heard the voice: "Hongan, wash your hands when you have time, and come over to try this sleeve to see if it fits you!"

Sleeves?

Fang Hongan responded, scooped a bucket of water, and went outside to wash his hands.

When he finished rinsing, Lan Wenxiu had already come out, holding a handkerchief in her hand, waiting to help Fang Hongan wipe his hands.

After wiping her hands, Lan Wenxiu noticed the extra bag of rice on the ground. She couldn't help but walk over, opened it and found that it was full of rice.

"I guess Aunt Hong's family doesn't have much surplus food!" Lan Wenxiu sighed with her mouth wide open, her eyes welling with tears.

"Yes!" Fang Hongan nodded and gently put his arm around Lan Wenxiu's shoulders. "It's okay. I'll give them a big bag when we get back from the market!"

"Yes!" Lan Wenxiu nodded heavily.

Entered the inner room.

Fang Hongan immediately understood what Lan Wenxiu meant when she asked him to try on the sleeves.

On the table in the inner room, there was a bee-bee hat that had obviously been re-sewn, and next to it, there was a long sleeve.

The sleeves should have been sewn from old gauze fabric that had been cut up, and a layer of mosquito net gauze was added on the outside. Although Lan Wenxiu had figured it out entirely on her own, the style was surprisingly exactly the same as that commonly used by beekeepers in later generations.

Fang Hongan put his gloves in and tried them on, and found that the length and size were just right.

"Hahaha! It fits my hand perfectly!"

Lan Wenxiu clapped her hands, feeling very happy. She urged Fang Hongan to move around a bit and asked him if he felt comfortable.

After receiving Fang Hongan's affirmative praise, the smile on her face became even brighter, and then she began to sew the second sleeve with great interest.

Seeing that she was concentrating on her work, Fang Hongan quietly left the house and began to prepare to go up the mountain tomorrow.

We were in a hurry on this trip today, so many things were prepared hastily and are not complete.

Fortunately, everything went quite smoothly.

But you may not be so lucky tomorrow.

The tools still need to be fully prepared.

A hoe and a sickle alone are not enough, and in the end you have to bring a shovel and a crowbar.

Also, if you want to dig more, it might be too much for you to run back and forth by yourself, so it would be best to find a capable helper.

(End of this chapter)