Chapter 317: Chapter 5: The Famine Years Without Hunger (Part 5)

Thank you “Heart as vast as the sea” student for the reward.

Wishing everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival~

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Li Shuning thought long and hard, and after rummaging through the Qiankun Ring for a long time, she finally found a book about the kang.

The Qiankun Ring was vast, and when Li Shuning was preparing things, she stuffed all sorts of miscellaneous items into it, especially practical things for daily life, so it’s not strange to have this book.

She tore the page that introduced the kang directly out and tossed it onto a small hillside, weighing it down with a few stones.

A few days later, when she went back to check, she found that the page had become wrinkled and had some dirt on it.

To be honest, in the cold weather, even the mischievous kids in the village wouldn’t come to this barren little hill. There’s nothing here; they’d rather go to the small forest on the right side of the village or the foot of the big mountain behind the village.

Fortunately, it hadn’t rained or snowed in the past few days, and she had been keeping an eye on it every day.

Li Shuning ran home excitedly. In these past few days, Li Rengui stayed home since it was close to the New Year, and work had already started to wind down.

Seeing Li Shuning running so fast, Li Rengui called out to her to slow down a bit.

Li Rengui was literate, taught personally by his father, whereas Li Chunhua was illiterate.

“Dad, look, I found this here. I don’t recognize all the characters, but it says it can turn into a bed and won’t be cold? Dad, what is this? Can we make one too? It’s too cold when I sleep at night.”

Li Rengui felt a pang of sympathy. Every night, he and Chunhua slept together to keep each other warm, but the child was young and sleeping alone; indeed, it was cold.

Ah, this wretched weather.

Li Rengui took the piece of paper Li Shuning handed over, and the more he looked, the more excited he became.

“Daya, where did you find this piece of paper?”

“What’s wrong, Dad? Previously, I found those seeds on the little hill, so I went looking again these past few days and unexpectedly found this piece of paper under a few stones.”

“Daya, you have really made a contribution.”

While Li Rengui wasn’t the type to be hasty, the content on this paper was very practical; if they could make it, Daya wouldn’t be cold anymore.

Although Li Rengui was a carpenter, he was also somewhat knowledgeable in other areas.

Before long, he understood the content on the paper.

He excitedly ran out to find his father, Li Haoge.

His father was well-informed, and with him around, it would be easier to accomplish.

Li Rengui didn’t go out to work for several days and instead, together with Li Haoge, studied the kang bed.

In half a month’s time, the two of them actually figured it out. Even a few casual words from Li Shuning enlightened them along the way.

The Li Family had a total of three rooms, and outside was a large courtyard. To the far right was the pigpen, and behind the house, a small piece of land was cultivated, with chicken and duck coops placed at the back.

The grandparents lived in the middle, while Li Shuning’s family lived in the room on the left.

At this time, houses were still single-story buildings.

However, each room was quite large.

For example, the room where Li Shuning’s family lived was divided into a front hall, a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a place at the back used for bathing.

In the backyard, there was an outhouse.

Behind the front hall was the bedroom, and the kitchen was in between the two bedrooms.

Usually, meals were prepared, then moved to the front hall to eat.

If it was too cold, they would eat huddled in the kitchen.

Li Shuning reminded her father that the kang’s stove could be placed in the kitchen so that they could stay warm while cooking and sitting on the kang bed.

Once they made three kangs at home, Li Shuning was so warm when she slept at night that she hummed in comfort.

It was so warm.

Li Rengui wasn’t a selfish person and told the village chief about the kang.

The village chief was the first to ask Li Rengui to help make one.

Of course, he paid for the labor.

Before long, kangs became popular in the village.

Li Rengui made some money from this, but for some impoverished families, he did not charge any money, only eating meals at their homes and taking some food as a form of payment. Of course, they still had to prepare their own materials.

For those who really couldn’t afford the materials, Li Rengui had no solution.

After all, he wasn’t a savior.

Let alone at other houses where he received payment, even at those where he didn’t, he had meals and took some food.

If he didn’t charge money and also covered materials, even those who paid the normal price would start to grumble.

As a carpenter, Li Rengui had quite a bit of work in the past, but it couldn’t compare to building kangs.

Li Rengui was smart enough to know that there were many gossipy people in the village. Since he was in the spotlight, some might be envious. He thought it over and went straight to the village chief.

“Uncle, don’t you think the kang is great?”

Li Daliang grinned, “Rengui, you’ve got a sharp mind. This thing is excellent. With firewood always around, winter’s enemy is the cold; this is really good.”

“Uncle, I was thinking, how about forming a small team to take on jobs outside? What do you think of the prospects?”

Being the village chief required good insight, and he slapped his thigh, his eyes lighting up.

“Rengui, what are you thinking?”

“Uncle, our Brother Yu is strong. I was thinking of letting Brother Yu help me.”

The village chief’s son, Li Yu, was uneducated and without skills, only capable of farm work. Naturally, he was quite strong. In the cold winter, he was just idling at home with nothing to do.

Hearing Li Rengui speak so politely and agreeably, the village chief immediately smiled and agreed.

Afterward, Li Rengui recruited a few people. Of course, people weren’t randomly chosen.

Li Rengui knew that during this period, even working within the village made people envious. If he earned money, wouldn’t people begrudge him even more? So he found some people to share the burden.

When Li Shuning learned of this, she was a bit impressed with her own father.

Meanwhile, during this time, Li Shuning also harvested quite a bit of bok choy at home.

Li Chunhua didn’t recognize this thing and naturally didn’t know how to handle it, so it was just as well that Li Shuning could experiment with it herself.

She took advantage of Li Chunhua’s absence to take a pot of vegetable oil from the Qiankun Ring and started to fry the bok choy.

At this time, the bok choy was so tender that almost no seasoning was needed; just a little salt and a splash of wine, and it tasted fresh and delicious.

And since it was cooked in vegetable oil, it didn’t appear greasy.

Li Chunhua thought Li Shuning had used a bit of lard, and she felt distressed.

She didn’t know if this could be eaten, yet it was cooked with lard. If it couldn’t be eaten, wouldn’t that be a waste?

However, when Li Rengui and Li Chunhua ate the bok choy, they found it incredibly delicious. How long had it been since they tasted something so good?

Of course, good food should also be shared with the elders.

Li Shuning fried two plates, and while Li Rengui and Chunhua were eating one, she took the other to the next room.

Grandpa and Grandma were equally full of praise.

Afterward, Li Shuning showed off her skills a few more times, and seeing how she loved to experiment with cooking, Li Chunhua handed over the kitchen. She could then do other tasks.

For instance, now that there was a kang, there was a higher demand for firewood, and going up the mountain to collect it was quite good too.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep