During times of famine: I have a spiritual spring space

Chapter 18 My nephew is getting better too.

"What are you thinking? When you're hungry, anything tastes sweet. Why add sugar? If you want sugar, add it yourself when you get home," Zhuang Lihui said with a laugh.

Zhuang Zhenmin said, "Lihui, the corn you brought back is really delicious, it's quite different from other corn varieties."

He can tell by eating.

After eating one bowl, Zhuang Zhenmin stopped.

"Second Uncle, there's still some in the pot, let me fill it for you." Zhuang Liming reached out to take the bowl from his second uncle.

Zhuang Zhenmin shook his head and put the bowl away: "Second Uncle is full. You guys eat by yourselves. I'll go back first."

"Second Uncle, have another bowl! If you don't eat, how can I ask you to work again tomorrow?" Zhuang Lihui said.

Zhuang Lihui is never stingy with his own people.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuang Liming took the bowl away and filled it with corn porridge from the pot, making it a full bowl again.

"Your second uncle knows you brought corn back again, but you have to eat it sparingly. Who knows how long the famine will last!" Zhuang Zhenmin said earnestly to his nephew.

Zhuang Lihui: "Second Uncle, there are no outsiders here, so I'll just tell you the truth! The person I rescued is someone important. He doesn't lack food and has repeatedly told me to go to him if I need anything to eat."

This time, he was planning to give me 10 bags of corn, but I was afraid someone might have bad intentions if they saw them, so I asked him for 5 bags first.

Chen Jian'an and the others opened their mouths in astonishment.

So, does that mean Hui-ge (nephew) will never have to worry about food again? That's fantastic news!

"Lihui, you're really lucky. You should treat that kind of benefactor sincerely. In the future, he'll give you a helping hand and you'll be able to avoid many years of hard work," Uncle Er said excitedly.

This time, he did not refuse the corn porridge that Liming brought him.

Suddenly, I realized that my two nephews were also getting better.

We won't go hungry later, and we'll be renovating the house. Once the house is finished, it'll be time to persuade Li Hui to get married and start a family as soon as possible.

That's the real issue.

Once his nephew is married and settled, he will be able to give an account to his elder brother who died young.

Thinking of this, Zhuang Zhenmin felt very relaxed.

After eating two bowls, no one, including Zhuang Lihui and Zhuang Liming, continued eating.

Zhuang Lihui felt embarrassed to eat alone, and Zhuang Liming shared the same thought as his second uncle: even though there was food, they couldn't just eat and drink recklessly.

Two years ago, when the canteen was first established, they ate and drank whatever they wanted, but now everyone is eating coarse food and vegetables, and in many places people are even starving to death.

We must learn from this lesson and never do that again.

"You're back? I left you a bowl of food in the pot," Huang Lan said immediately when she saw her husband return.

Zhuang Zhenmin shook his head: "You share it with Shi Tou and Xiao Hua! I just ate at Li Hui's place, and I even had two bowls. Li Hui really had a stroke of good luck; he saved an amazing person."

"How amazing is it?" Huang Lan asked curiously.

Zhuang Zhenmin shook his head again: "I don't know, but they can guarantee that Lihui and Liming won't go hungry."

He didn't specify the details, fearing his wife might blurt it out to others. If the other villagers knew Li Hui could obtain large quantities of grain, they would definitely come after him, putting him in a difficult position.

These days, being able to ensure that two people don't go hungry is considered a remarkable achievement by many.

Huang Lan stopped talking, scraped the bottom of the pot clean, and brought it out for Shi Tou and Xiao Hua to share.

"By the way, the corn that Liming brought is really good. Let's keep two ears to plant in the vegetable garden later," Huang Lan said, adding that her idea was the same as Chen Jian'an's family's.

Or rather, when almost every farmer sees good grain, their first thought is to save it for seed.

"Then let's keep two ears!" Zhuang Zhenmin nodded.

……

Zhuang Lihui arrived at the Spirit Spring Space and once again harvested rice, husked corn, pulled peanuts, and collected chicken and goose eggs.

The most troublesome part is harvesting rice. Using the most primitive methods, the rice grains are threshed off the seedlings, and the workload is enormous.

At that time, foot-operated threshing machines had not yet been invented, and rice threshing efficiency was low.

The foot-operated threshing machine was invented by a factory in Yueyang around 1972.

The threshing machine consists of a wooden grain bucket, iron gears, foot pedals, and rollers. The threshing rollers are driven by human foot pedals, which significantly improves efficiency. Two people working together can thresh about 3 acres of rice per day.

The structure is not complicated; as long as you have the materials, Zhuang Lihui can make it by hand.

Looking at the huge pile of peanuts, Zhuang Lihui wondered if he could ask the brother and sister to help him pick them. So far, the brother and sister seemed reliable enough.

Cutting down trees wasn't very kind to the two kids; it was a bit difficult for them. Picking peanuts, on the other hand, was something even the smallest children could do.

However, we need to find a safe enough place first. We can't bring them into this space, can we? That's too risky. Only he knows about this space; that's the law of time travel.

"Brother! Didn't you sleep last night?"

The next day, Zhuang Liming saw his older brother yawning repeatedly and couldn't help but ask him what was wrong.

"There were so many mosquitoes, I didn't sleep well."

Then, Zhuang Lihui added, "You guys should reheat the leftovers from last night and eat them!"

"Brother, what about you?"

"I'll be out for about half a day today, so you don't need to worry about me."

Alright! After hearing what his older brother said, Zhuang Liming stopped asking questions.

After washing up, Zhuang Lihui went out alone. He had to pick up the remaining cement, as well as the furniture and planks delivered by the furniture store, which were scheduled to arrive this morning.

Second Uncle and Chen Jian'an arrived quickly.

"Liming, where's Hui-ge?"

Zhuang Zhenmin also looked towards Zhuang Liming.

"My brother just went out; he said he'd be gone for about half a day."

Upon hearing this, Chen Jian'an and Zhuang Zhenmin didn't ask any further questions. They quickly ate a bowl of corn porridge that Zhuang Liming had heated up and then got to work.

Mixing cement slurry requires water. Under normal circumstances, each person's daily water usage is regulated, but in special circumstances, you can talk to the clan elders.

This matter required my second uncle to personally explain the situation to the clan elders.

Zhuang Liming and Chen Jianan moved all their belongings out of the house. Fortunately, they didn't have much stuff, so they finished moving everything without much effort.

"Let's go fetch water! I've already spoken to my uncle and the others," Zhuang Zhenmin said.

Soon, even my second aunt came to help.

Zhuang Zhenmin just went home specifically to ask his wife to help his nephew renovate the house as soon as possible.

"Liming, did you make this chair yourself? It's quite nice!" Auntie said in surprise when she saw the bamboo chair and sofa.

Zhuang Liming nodded: "Yes! My brother made it."

"Alright, let's begin! I'll mix the mortar." Zhuang Zhenmin was afraid that others wouldn't be able to handle it and would make the cement mortar too thick or too thin, so he decided to do it himself.

"Wait, let me call my older brother over," Chen Jian'an said.

With one more person, we might be able to get it done today. The house isn't very big; it's just laying a layer of cement on the floor. As for painting the walls, that will have to wait.

When quicklime is placed in water, it reacts and releases heat. After sedimentation, it becomes gypsum, which is what we all know as plaster.