newbobooks Chapter 233: Shoe Soles
Chapter 233: Shoe Soles
When talking about Old Man Zhou and Mrs. Huang, Zhou Dacang was speechless for a moment and the atmosphere suddenly became silent.
Zhou Guo took out another sole from the basket and imitated Li's way of threading the needle. She imitated Li in doing the same thing. In her hand, such a thick sole was like a thin insole. She pierced it with a slight thrust. She pinched the tip of the needle with two fingers and lifted it upwards. The large needle was threaded through easily without even the need for a bottom needle.
After a few tries she got the hang of it. She lowered her head and held the needle, poking it all over. She even found it interesting to do so. The rows of densely packed stitches were quite beautiful.
Mrs. Li, who was standing by, saw her daughter sewing shoe soles like sewing clothes, and said with a smile, "It's different because you have more strength. It's easier for you to sew shoe soles than for us. Now, you can sew this one in my hand, and all the other things in the basket need to be sewn. I'll just make the uppers."
Zhou Guo nodded. She could make ten soles in this way in a day.
Zhou Xing looked up and felt very envious. It’s good to be strong, as you can do anything effortlessly.
When the old man came out after taking a bath and changing his clothes, he saw everyone sitting in a row under the eaves making straw sandals. The only two people who were not making sandals were still sewing the soles and uppers, looking a little dazed.
Zhou Guo felt the shadow and looked up, then said with a smile: "Master, come and sew the soles of my shoes."
The old man's face darkened. "Do I look like someone who can sew shoe soles?"
Zhou Guo just chuckled.
The rain lasted for half an hour and then gradually subsided. Li and Zhou Xing made lunch. The masters wanted to leave after eating, but the rain stopped. Taking advantage of this time, Zhou Dacang and others came to help. With six or seven people, the wellhead was built in less than half an hour. Stones had already been laid around the well.
Everyone also helped build a small shed at the mouth of the well. After doing all this, the masters' work was completed.
Li paid them the last few days' wages, thinking that the young men not only had to dig wells these days, but also had other things to do at home, and sometimes they had to help out. They helped build the rabbit and chicken coops and also helped a lot in paving the yard.
Then he asked Zhou Xing to bring out a large piece of badger meat from the house and handed it to them. "Master Wang, thank you for helping us so much. We don't have anything else good at home. This little bit of meat was brought back from the mountains by our old man and a few children. Although it's not much, it's still a piece of meat. It's also a little token of our appreciation. You can take it back."
This piece of meat is not light, it looks like it weighs about seven or eight pounds, and if you take it to the town to sell it, you can at least get thirty or forty cents.
Master Qin was a little embarrassed to accept it, but his sons beside him accepted it without hesitation, and said with a smile: "Thank you very much, then we will accept it without hesitation. The main reason is that your food is too delicious. This time we will have to eat coarse food when we go back, which is really not used to it."
Zhou Dacang smiled and said, "Don't be so polite. We are the ones who should be thanking you. You have helped us a lot."
After seeing off the workers, it started to drizzle again. Not long after, it started to rain heavily. It was raining heavily and then lightly. It was impossible to do any work in this weather.
Everyone could only lie under the eaves and continue to make straw sandals, sew soles and uppers.
Because it was raining, the sky was a little dark. Zhou Guo was tired of sewing the soles of shoes, his neck was sore and his eyes were blurry. He threw the soles of shoes into the basket, stood up and said, "Shall we make something delicious tonight?"
Everyone raised their heads at this sentence, "What's delicious?"
Zhou Guo thought for a long time, thinking about all the animals kept in the backyard of his house, but still couldn't find anything suitable. He decided to make roast suckling pig, but the space in the house was too narrow and it would be inconvenient. The shed in the yard had collapsed due to the heavy rain.
It seems inconvenient to kill deer and roe deer on the spot.
Rabbit and pheasant are good, but they are not fresh if you eat them every other day.
That’s all?
After all the calculations, we still have to eat badger meat. The two badgers we brought back yesterday were processed this morning. The skins were peeled and the oil was boiled out. There were still about 10 to 20 pounds of meat left. After a meal, I gave a big piece to the chefs. There are still two big pieces left at home, enough for two meals.
This must be eaten quickly, so let's add another dish, "Let's have fish tonight, stewed fish."
She still remembered the fish stew she had on the way to escape. It tasted really good and she missed it a little now.
Zhou Dacang and his companions also missed it. It was the best dish they had eaten in more than a month of fleeing, and it was meat. They felt that no other dish could compare to it.
"Yes, yes, yes. There are so many fish at home. Those that were just processed last night are still hanging dripping with water. We have eaten the freshly roasted ones, and I haven't eaten the stewed ones yet." Zhou Gu stood up and went to get the fish. He was greedy.
Zhou Mai and Zhou Mi waited for the rain outside to stop, then each of them ran out with a basket on their head and went to pick wild vegetables. Last time they cooked fish with wild vegetable soup, so they had to do the same this time. Fish cooked with wild vegetable soup is delicious.
Zhou Guo looked at the sky and saw that the rain had stopped. She sat down and continued to sew the soles of shoes. In such a short time, she had already sewed half of a shoe. If she used the rest of the day to sew the soles, she should be able to finish it. She could sew a sole in a whole day. If it were someone else, it would probably take seven or eight days to finish one. Making shoes was too time-consuming. After they were finished, she was reluctant to wear them.
Li was quite strong. When she was sewing the sole of a shoe, she pinched the needle and pushed it forward with all her strength. She then used the bottom needle to push the needle up. Then she pinched the needle with her fingers and pulled it out with great effort.
It was even more difficult for Zhou Xing, who was less strong. It felt like she had used up all her strength just to pierce the sole of her shoe with a needle. It was even more difficult to pull the needle out of the sole. It was so difficult to pull it out without any support that she had to bite it with her teeth.
Who would be willing to wear a pair of shoes like this?
Zhou Guo was sewing the soles of shoes stitch by stitch.
There were only two people left watching the rain under the eaves. The other one was the crazy and stupid Xu, who sat on the side staring at the yard, not knowing what she was thinking.
The old man who made straw sandals has disappeared.
Zhou Dacang took Li Lai to the backyard to feed the livestock.
Zhou Guo stood up holding his shoe sole and wanted to go into the house to see what the old man was doing.
But when I entered, I saw him sitting on the kang, picking out the ginseng roots in the hanging basket.
Zhou Guo's eyes lit up, and he walked up to her without even sewing his shoes. He asked, "Master, are we going to start cooking?"
The old man nodded and said, "It's raining. I'm afraid this thing will get moldy."
"Then Master, I will help you."
"Well, take a close look and remember, you won't come across one of these for decades, so this is a rare opportunity."
"Yes." He threw the sole of the shoe in his hand onto the kang and then into the corner.
The two of them each took a piece of cotton cloth and slowly scrubbed the ginseng roots clean, making sure not to break the skin.
Zhou Guo washed it very carefully, much more carefully than sewing shoe soles.
After washing, place it in a ventilated place to dry.
Zhou Guo looked at the plump white ginsengs in the basket and thought that such a good thing should be put in a better box. It can't just be put in the basket. "Master, I will go to the county town to buy a box tomorrow. We don't have a box at home."