Day Ninety-Two: In Full Swing (Part One)

Little Leaf, hand me the knife over there... Brother Qian shouted loudly. The courtyard was a bustling scene of activity, with everyone hard at work.

I was busy placing the unbaked clay tiles into the kiln. Brother Qian and Ye Qingchen were building a clay stove and chimney inside their tree house, while Yi Ban was weaving branch panels. Mida Kang had taken an axe, and along with Ying Yuefeng, had gone out to gather stones. I had already explained the route to them; the small hill was not very far away, and the two of them carrying plastic crates would be more than enough.

My idea from yesterday turned out brilliantly. Not a single giant tortoise had escaped, and they were getting along quite well in the enclosed area. However, the speed at which they ate took us by surprise. Judging by their current appetite, the grass within the enclosure would likely be eaten down to bare dirt in less than three days. Their appetites were simply astonishing!

That being said, no matter how huge their appetite was, gathering a bit of grass wasn't too difficult. Early this morning, Brother Qian even dug a small pit for the giant tortoises and added some water. It thrilled the tortoises so much that they immediately rushed into the little puddle to drink and soak...

The current weather was fine, but I worried about rain. I wasn't sure if these giant tortoises preferred dry places. After discussing it with Brother Qian, we reached a consensus: once the urgent tasks were completed, we would build a small shed for them inside the tortoise enclosure. If they preferred to seek shelter in a dry place during rainy days, that shed would be their best option.

It was worth mentioning that Brother Qian and the others checked the traps we set yesterday morning, only to find them completely intact with zero harvest. Over the past few days, the wild boars seemed to have caught wind of something, as we hadn't even caught a glimpse of them.

The clay tiles were arranged neatly inside the kiln, one by one. Before lighting the fire, I walked over to the front of Brother Qian's tree house and used the tiles we had already fired to measure the total number we would need. But I nearly had a mental breakdown after doing the math. While the first batch of tiles was quite substantial, tiling their entire tree house roof would require at least a hundred more!

Considering that I could only fire a dozen or so tiles at a time, and adding my own tree house to the mix, we would need over two hundred tiles in total. That meant firing the kiln at least eighteen times or more. This number almost made me want to give up right on the spot. We had to endure the intense heat during the firing process, not to mention all the preparation work—making and drying the clay tiles took a tremendous amount of time...

Perhaps I had stood in front of their tree house for a bit too long, because Ye Qingchen noticed and ran over to ask, "Brother Luo, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. I just calculated the total number of tiles we need. It turns out to be a lot more than I imagined!" I looked up at the roof and replied casually.

"Did Brother Luo calculate that we need over a hundred of them?" Brother Qian had overheard the conversation between Ye Qingchen and me, and walked over as well.

"Yeah, combining both tree houses, we need over two hundred. My kiln can only hold a dozen or so at a time. I might have to enlarge this clay kiln." Perhaps that was the only way to speed up the progress.

"No need for that, Brother Luo. Once we finish what we're doing tomorrow, we can all dig a bigger one together. It'll be fine as long as we can fire thirty or fifty at a time. This isn't really a major issue, so don't worry. Looking at the weather, it won't necessarily rain anytime soon."

"I hope so. It'll be a real pain if it rains." Shaking my head, I walked back toward the kiln. I needed to get the fire going quickly, and take advantage of the good weather to make more clay tiles. Once the tiles were prepped, I could run the kiln continuously.

Brother Qian's side seemed to be nearing completion, and whatever remained required Mida Kang and Ying Yuefeng to bring back the stones before work could resume. Therefore, he sent Ye Qingchen over to help me out. His arrival was quite timely. I was busy stoking the fire, so I asked Ye Qingchen to help split five small tree trunks to use as racks for drying the clay tiles.

At first, he lacked experience and tried to use the knife to split the logs from the top down, inch by inch. That method was far too clumsy and completely impractical. So I climbed out of the clay pit and began to show him how it was done.

First, place the tall sapling vertically into the pit so that one end rests right at Ye Qingchen's chest height, then strike it fiercely with the knife to create a small split. Next, insert a pebble or small stone into the gap, and strike the back of the knife firmly. Once the crack widens a bit, wedge a small branch into the fissure. As you hammer the back of the knife, the split will grow wider and wider until the entire log is separated into two halves.

After watching my demonstration, Ye Qingchen had an epiphany and grew eager to try it himself. Initially, he was still a bit uncoordinated; he kept splitting the logs crookedly, either breaking off tiny chunks or ending up with completely asymmetrical halves.

It wasn't until he reached the fifth log that he began to get the hang of it. While the technique sounded very simple on paper, anyone who watched it would realize it was no easy task. Every single strike required an enormous amount of physical stamina, and each blow had to be delivered with force to drive the wedged branch further down. Maintaining a relatively even application of force was essential to keeping the split log symmetrical.

The fire inside the clay stove grew fiercer, and the temperature rose accordingly. Just like last time, I repeatedly climbed in and out of the pit to add firewood. After nearly two hours of firing, I noticed that Mida Kang and Ying Yuefeng had returned.

Ye Qingchen had already split four small tree trunks. After taking a short break, he followed the method I taught him and started making clay tiles. The efficiency of working in pairs was more than just a little higher. There was still plenty of termite nest soil left from my previous trip, enough to make at least twenty or thirty more tiles.

This firing process seemed to be going quite smoothly. During the last batch, by this point in time, a loud cracking sound—presumably a broken tile—had already echoed from inside the kiln. There was no such sound this time, and I hoped it would stay that way.

Hours passed, and the temperature inside the kiln soared. Even Ye Qingchen, standing some distance away, was drenched in sweat from the heatwaves, let alone myself. The thought of having to endure this sauna-like condition made me feel like collapsing. I really wished I had a massive kiln where I could fire everything in one go. But that was impossible; I had considered it, and if the kiln were too large, the heat generated by the burning firewood likely wouldn't reach the required firing temperature. So, it was just wishful thinking.

My notebook contained instructions on how to make charcoal. After reviewing the process, I found it quite cumbersome and time-consuming. Most importantly, the yield wouldn't be very high, making it completely useless for tile-firing purposes. Therefore, making charcoal would have to wait until I had some free time in the future.