Xie Yushu and the others were taking out all the tiles from the kiln while talking.
I don’t know if some places are heated unevenly or the degree of drying is different. There are dozens of cracks in the tiles near the corners. They are obviously useless. There are also a few deformed ones, but most of them are. If it works, it can barely be considered a success!
After this batch was moved, the next batch was put in and fired again. Since the first batch had some defective products, Xiao Yi added another hundred pieces of soil to make up for it. Anyway, it is estimated that two more kilns will be fired. Let it dry!
After seeing the results, Xiao Dayong and Xie Baotian went back. Xiao Yi put the burned ones in the corner, and carefully placed the good ones in the most conspicuous place. The person who was originally making sarcastic remarks neatly arranged the items after seeing them. The tiles all shut up.
Aunt Tian and Uncle Tian next door came over specially to have a look. They saw that the tiles were okay, and Uncle Tian praised them honestly.
"Xiao Yi, my wife, still has two brushes. Although the tiles are not as good as those bought from outside, they are still acceptable. Even if the color is uneven in some places, just use a good one and press it on top. This will be fine! If you burn it yourself, you can save a lot of money!"
Xiao Yi said kindly while adding fuel to the fire.
"I think it's pretty good. Besides, the first batch was inexperienced and heated unevenly. The next batch may be better than the first batch."
"It's possible, Xiao Yi! After you finish burning it, give us the earthen kiln to use. You see, our house is in urgent need of repair. The thatched roof has to be replaced every year and a half. With this earthen kiln, If you burn some tiles and replace them yourself, you won’t have to worry about wind and rain!”
Xiao Yi remembered what Xie Yushu said about renting a kiln, and said
"Uncle, it's like this. You've seen the kiln being built in the past few days. My eldest brother's family, Huya brother and sister, and my father-in-law's family are all working together. We have to squeeze in with them after we finish burning!
Moreover, to build this earthen kiln, we also bought several taels of silver for the bottom of the iron bars. We were almost running out of money, and our family had to eat and drink, so we planned to rent this earthen kiln. "
As soon as Xiao Yi finished speaking, Aunt Tian said dissatisfiedly
"I said Xiao Yi, you are too stingy. You, a fellow villager, are asking for money even if you use your earthen kiln!"
Xiao Yi said neither softly nor hardly.
"There's nothing you can do about it. No one can live a happy life. Didn't you say before that my wife can't live a happy life? How can she ruin the family? I think you're right. You can't just go out and get out. I have to find a way to spend my money." Earn it back!”
Aunt Tian's airway
"Hey, you are taking revenge on me! It's not for your own good that I'm talking to you! Are you still embarrassed to accept our money?"
Lao Tiantou scolded
"Shut up! You don't have enough to worry about. You have to take care of your own home, and you are also taking care of other people's homes. There is nothing wrong with what Xiao Yi said. People's earthen kilns were built with money, so it is reasonable to rent them out."
After that, he asked Xiao Yi again
"How do you plan to rent this earthen kiln? If the price is right, we can rent it for a few days."
"If you give money, thirty coppers a day. If you don't have money, you can give rice and firewood. If you give rice, ten kilograms of corn a day, and if you give firewood, thirty bundles of firewood a day, a big bundle that can be carried by at least one person!
In addition, you have to roll out the adobe yourself, prepare firewood yourself, and burn the kiln yourself. "
Old Tiantou nodded after hearing this.
"Okay, I'll go back and discuss it with a few boys."
"Thirty coppers a day, he robbed!"
Aunt Tian was dissatisfied and muttered to Lao Tiantou and left.
Lao Tiantou calculated an account for her. Thirty copper plates a day, and a kiln produced in three days, is 90 copper plates. One kiln has more than 500 tiles, and one room uses about 300 tiles. His house originally had three tiles. House, build six more and two small side rooms, it is enough to burn four kilns at most, which is 360 copper plates.
His three sons, two daughters-in-law, and the old couple are all working in the labor force. It is not a problem to build the land by themselves. It basically does not cost money. If you buy more than 300 copper tiles by yourself, it will not even be enough for half a house. Quite a bargain.
After hearing this, Aunt Tian was still aggrieved and murmured,
"After all, our neighbors should give us cheaper prices after all these years."
"Oh! Don't try to take advantage of us. Even though your neighbor has been there for so many years, what help have you given to them? To be honest, we are busy enough as a family. Xiao Yi has inconvenient legs and feet, so we don't have to Reach out!
Even if you are afraid that Mrs. Xiao will be difficult to deal with, you will stay away if something happens, or you will climb the wall to watch the fun. Why should Xiao Yi give you a cheaper price? You are so merciless to him! "
Lao Tiantou knew that his mother-in-law did good deeds and was stingy, but she only did it to make a living for her family. Although she looked down upon her actions, she had raised a group of children and grandchildren for herself, and she was not less affected, so he turned a blind eye.
Seeing her endless nagging, she had no choice but to say a few words.
Things went as Xiao Yi expected. The second kiln and the third kiln were much better than the first kiln. The color was more even and there were basically no cracks.
After all four kilns of Xie Yushu's family were burned, Xie Baotian's family had already laid out the soil. However, in the meantime, the imperial court distributed all the potato seeds and rapeseeds in autumn, and the courtyard's own Xiao Yi planted an acre of them. Potatoes, one part of cabbage, and two parts of radish and spicy vegetables (also called pickles in some places).
Although potatoes cannot be used as a staple food, there is only half the season left. Only potatoes with a short maturity cycle can mature before winter and are easy to store.
Fortunately, Xiao Yi enclosed the only two acres of land in a yard, so there was no need to pay taxes. Otherwise, just paying taxes on this acre of land would not be enough.
But this is also the limit of ordinary people's yards.
In fact, most people's yards have one or two acres of land, but they have a large population, four or five sons, seven or eight more, so in addition to the main house, the side rooms, and the gatehouse are all full of people, it seems The yard is small, and there are only four or five people in Xiao Yi's family, so the yard seems extra spacious.
Now that vegetables have been planted in the yard, Xie Baotian's family put the soil embryos outside the door. Fortunately, Xiao Yi's home is at the entrance of the village, and the door is spacious. .
After installing the kiln, Xie Baotian, Xie Baoshu and Xie Tianlin went back to farm. It was Lu who came over to burn the kiln. Fortunately, Xie Yushu and Qu Xiaodie took turns to help, so they were able to take care of it. Xiao Yi was responsible for the night shift.
At this time, when I heard about Xie Yushu’s earth kiln for rent, many families who had sold mountain goods and had extra money came to queue up. Now that the queue had reached late autumn, most families chose to give half the money and half firewood. .
Because even if the family has a large labor force, they cannot produce too much firewood. After all, they have to consider geography, prepare firewood for the winter, and prepare firewood for the kiln. They can only provide as much firewood as possible, and if there is not enough, they can use money to make up for it. .
Aunt Tian's family next door was calmly planning to wait. Anyway, they had to plant the land first, and they might finish planting. All the people at the kiln were scheduled to leave two months later, so they came over in a hurry to put their numbers on the queue, and the family was busy going up the mountain to cut firewood.
