Chapter 360 - 360 I Can"t Do It

360 I Can’t Do It

“Mother, I’m fine.” Xue Yan said after catching his breath.

“Don’t ever do this next time. It’s a good thing you didn’t let Jiang Yue drag it with you. Jiang Yue is even younger than you. It’s not like there aren’t any adults at home. You really don’t need to do everything by yourself.” Liu Guixia said.

“Alright,” he said. Although Xue Yan agreed, if there was a next time, he would definitely drag it back himself.

It was not like he could not do it. It was just a little tiring.

“What is this bamboo for?” Finally, Liu Guixia got to the other point. She didn’t know why her two precious children were cutting the bamboo.

Xue Yan said, “Jiang Yue said that she wanted to freeze some ice in the bamboo tube to eat. It was her idea to hold it in her hand, but she didn’t know if it would work. If she could really make ice, you’ll know when the time comes. I’m just worried that we won’t have time to get the bamboo if the ice thing works out.”

“Alright, alright, alright.” Liu Guixia and the others had no objections.

Meanwhile, Xue Yifu had already helped to carry the two bundles of bamboo inside. The long and thick bamboo had also been carried in, but the courtyard could not fit it, so they could only lean it against the courtyard wall.

Then, Jiang Yue, Xue Yan, Liu Guixia, and the others also entered the courtyard.

Since Liu Guixia and the others had already finished making today’s rice noodles, they didn’t close the courtyard door because they weren’t making the rice noodles anymore.

“Jiang Yue, how do you want me to make this bamboo for you? I’ll make it for you now.” Xue Yifu stopped making the wooden basin and asked Jiang Yue with a soft grin. He wanted to help Jiang Yue settle the bamboo first.

Jiang Yue untied the two bundles of bamboo, which had five bamboo sticks each, but each bamboo stick only had four to five segments. She picked up one bamboo stick and gestured to Xue Yifu, “Can you see it from here, then from here, then here, then here, until it’s a bamboo tube with a hole on one end.”

“Bamboo tubes? I know. I’ve seen some people use bamboo tubes to get water. Wait here, I’ll cut it for you now.” With that, Xue Yifu picked up a bamboo stick that was four to five segments and placed it on a high stool. He stepped on it with one foot and supported it with one hand to stabilize the bamboo. With his other hand, he picked up the saw that was used to saw wood and began to see the places that Jiang Yue had pointed out.

Then, pieces of bamboo fell down very quickly. After the bamboo had been sawed into bamboo tubes, Xue Yifu asked Jiang Yue about the huge bamboo.

“This needs to be made into a thin stick. The stick can’t be too thin, or it’ll break easily in the tube and it we won’t be able to withstand the cold ice. It doesn’t need to be too thick either. If it’s too thick, it won’t fit into the bamboo tube. Let’s just keep it about this thin.” Jiang Yue found a thin branch from the pile of firewood. “As for the length, it’ll be fine as long as it’s half the length of our chopsticks.”

“Alright, no problem.” Xue Yifu agreed, then began to cut the large bamboo into many small pieces. Each small piece was about the length of a pair of chopsticks at home. Then, he began to chop it up and make it into the thin sticks that Jiang Yue had described.

This was a little time-consuming.

Jiang Yue looked at the process for a while and then stopped looking at it. She began to put away the bamboo tube that had been cut up. When Xue Yifu was done with the thin stick, she would bring it to the river to wash it.

Xue Yan wasn’t by her side, but in the central room, watching Liu Guixia and the others take out the seeds of the late rice.

It was time to sow the seeds of the late rice and germinate the seedlings.

Other families were already done with the process, but his family was planning to do more tomorrow. In order for the late rice seeds to germinate better, they would be soaked in cold water for one night.