Living on a Mountain with my Husband

Chapter 42: Work Starts

Work started early the next morning. Everyone knew where they needed to go and what they needed to do. Because it was the first day, LongWei moved between the clay pit and the logging area to check on the progress and success.

Zimo, spend most of the day inside the shed working on his woodcarving. What he wanted to make was a noodle press. It was a simple design he read about while researching a cooking novel he wrote.

The design was simple. You made a cup with long handles and holes at the bottoms the width of noodles and a second block of wood that would fit snuggly inside the other. It sounded simple but wasn't. He would either make the holes some too big or small, break the bottom with the holes by adding to many, or the worst was the block of wood would be the wrong size.

This must have been the twentieth one he had tried making. After many trials and errors. He finally succeeded in making the cup part. Now he was trying to make the block to fit inside.

"This stupid thing better work this time. I don't want to make another. You hear me?" Zimo said talking to the wood in his hand. Woodworking was truly a difficult thing to master.

In the afternoon, LongWei returned to the house to prepare Zimo's medicine and lunch. Because of how busy they had been, Zimo hadn't taken the medicine for three days. The doctor had said he didn't need to take it as frequently every two to three days would be okay. Therefore it was time to to take his medicine.

When LongWei entered the room with Zimo lunch and the medicine simmering in the kitchen, he saw Zimo collapsed on the bed.

"Baby, what's wrong?" LongWei asked.

"Cry... I give up. It doesn't fit. I take off a little and it's too big, I take a little more and it's crooked, I take off more to even it out and BAM! It's too small. Dear, what should I do?" Zimo complained as he showed LongWei his most recent failed noodle maker.

LongWei looked at the piece of wood and didn't know what to say. It would be a lie if he said it looked good. The reality was it looked like a mess. However he didn't want to hurt his little birdie's feelings, so he said,

"Baby, I'm worried about up your hands. Why don't we take what you made over to a carpenter instead. They work with wood and might have better luck." LongWei suggested.

"Listen to you." Zimo said as he tossed the failed project into the corner with the other failed attempts.

"What's for lunch?" Zimo asked looking at the. Owls in LongWei's hands.

With Zimo's instructions LongWei has learned how to make a lot of new and delicious food. Today, he made two steam buns. One stuffed with meat, cabbage, ginger, and salt and the other was vegetable only with cabbage, eggplant, leek, and garlic.

LongWei made a large amount of the buns. He would give the other buns to the workers for dinner with some vegetable soup and rice porridge. He didn't give it to them now, because unlike him and Zimo most people did not eat three times a day.

Zimo stared at the food mouth watering. LongWei's cooking was always very delicious.

After eating, it was time for Zimo to take his medicine again.

"No." Zimo said the moment LongWei entered the shed with the medicine in hand. He had never liked taking the medicine. However recently he didn't object as fiercely.

"Baby, we've talked about this. You need to take your medicine." LongWei coaxed.

"No, the doctor said I don't need to take it as often now." Zimo countered.

"Baby, it's been three days. You need to take it every two days, three at most." LongWei wasn't going to give up.

They argued back and forth for a while, but isn't he end Zimo lost and drank the putrid and disgusting medicine. After they took a short nap before going out to check on the progress of the work.

Everyone was working diligently. They had already chopped and moved six logs. It was going much faster then they planned.

"Dear, should we find a few more logs to cut? Just in case some break, don't fit or we need more?" Zimo asked. They were paying for five days of work, and intended to get their money's worth.

LongWei agreed that more was better so he planned to find a few more logs to tie off for cutting later.

At the clay pit, the men also worked hard. There were only four of them, but they worked quickly. It seems they developed a system where two would gather and pile up the stones together while the other two moved the clay to the house with the mule ready to load them when the mule returned. It was efficient, but Zimo was a little worried about the old mule.

"Dear, will DaiDai be okay?" Zimo asked LongWei. DaiDai was the name Zimo gave the old mule.

"It's fine, it's resting while they fill and empty the cart." LongWei reassured him.

After making their rounds, Zimo who had decided to give up on his woodwork moved on to the next project. He decided to make a fishing rod. Zimo had wanted to eat fish for a while, but to catch them they would need to use a net.

It was just the two of them and the rapids were dangerous. The only other place to catch fish was in the river bend that had very deep water. Neither was good for net fishing. Zimo also liked the idea of spending a lazy afternoon by the water fishing. He decided to make a simple fishing pole using bamboo and some braided string he bought.

He braided it because he wasn't sure if it would be strong enough. Then he made the reel. It was a simple design with a spindle attached to the bamboo pole. Along the pole he tied wooden hoops to hold the string in place.

" Viola!" Zimo said as he showed off his fishing pole to LongWei when it was time for dinner.

LongWei looked at the pole Zimo had made, smiled, and praised him for his work. Secretly thinking "My little birdie is so smart and creative, but his crafting skills are terrible."

...