novelaction Chapter 194 Playing Cotton
Chapter 194 Playing Cotton
The others quickly ran back to their homes, brought small stools, and gathered around the cotton to help pick out the cotton seeds.
At home, apart from Mrs. Wen who was taking care of the children and Mrs. Xu who was cooking, everyone else was sitting by and shelling cotton seeds.
It was almost the end of the year and the school had already been closed for the holidays. The three little ones didn’t have to go to school, so they came over to help peel the cotton seeds.
The yard was full of villagers sitting there, all of whom came to help peel cotton seeds.
From more than 600 kilograms of cotton, after peeling out 26 kilograms of seeds and removing various impurities, there are exactly 600 kilograms of pure cotton left.
Shen Wanning remembered watching a movie before, which had a scene of fluffing cotton. So she knew that cotton needed to be fluffed before it could be made into a quilt.
But she didn't know how to do these, so she had to turn to netizens for help again.
Fortunately, Ningjing Wanfeng had thought of this a long time ago, so she sent her a private video about cotton-fluffing in advance.
In addition, she was sent a blueprint on how to make slingshots, hammers, nail boards and other tools.
After everyone left, Shen Wanning took the blueprints to find Lin Jiang and Lin Dashan.
"Dad, can you take a look at these drawings? Can the things on them be made?" Shen Wanning took the drawings, handed a few to Lin Dashan, and gave one to Lin Jiang.
Lin Dashan took a look and said, "Isn't this just a bow? What do you need such a big bow for? Can you pull it?"
"This bow is not used to shoot prey, but to fluff cotton. This cotton cannot be made directly into clothes or quilts, otherwise it will easily become hardened. So we have to use a slingshot to fluff up the cotton first." Shen Wanning explained.
"Is that so! Then we have to try it for a few days to see if it works! It looks quite simple, let's see if we can do it tomorrow." Lin Dashan replied after studying it.
Lin Jiang replied, "Master, I think this slingshot can be made tomorrow. We have wood at home, so we don't have to go up the mountain to chop it. We can start making it now."
"Okay, let's try it now and try to make the slingshot by tomorrow."
They got down to work right away. While pointing at the blueprint and discussing how to make a slingshot, they picked up the wood and started making it.
Shen Wanning sat in the yard in a daze, watching the video of cotton-fluffing over and over again.
After all, once the slingshot is made, she has to learn how to fluff cotton herself before she can teach others.
Two days later, Lin Jiang took the slingshot he and Lin Dashan made and ran excitedly to find Shen Wanning.
"Aunt, aunt, the slingshot is ready. Look, is it like this?" Lin Jiang raised the slingshot and placed it in front of Shen Wanning.
Shen Wanning picked up the slingshot and tried it out. It felt similar to what she had seen in the video. She had to try it to know for sure.
During the two days they were waiting to make the slingshot, they had already crushed the cotton on the nail board and were just waiting for the slingshot to be made.
She took the slingshot, walked to the wooden bed, and slowly tried to flick the cotton.
"Wan Ning, can you do this?" Aunt Zhang looked at Shen Wan Ning and saw that she didn't look like someone who could work.
"It's okay, Mom. I'll try again. I think it's okay." Shen Wanning said as she tried again.
The cotton was bounced up into the air and fell to the ground. Shen Wanning felt a little embarrassed, picked up the cotton and continued to bounce.
After playing for about ten minutes, I finally found the feeling. The more I played, the more proficient I became. However, my arms were really tired.
She looked at the villagers gathered around to watch the fun and asked loudly, "Is there anyone willing to learn how to bean cotton?"
Chen Zihao was the first to step forward. "I, Miss Shen, am willing to learn how to fluff cotton."
Most people stood still, motionless. The Lin family was the only one with this cotton crop, so even if they learned how to grow it, it would be useless.
The village head nudged Tieniu, who was standing in front, and said, "Tieniu, go and learn. Master this craft."
Tie Niu touched his head and said, "I only need to farm and drive an ox cart to town. Why should I learn this? I won't be able to use it in the future."
The village head slapped him on the head and said, "Wan Ning never does useless work. Even my official position was earned by Wan Ning. It must be right to follow her."
"But...but why are you learning this? Is it just to earn a few hundred coins now and fluff cotton for them?"
"You are such a hopeless case! Just go when I tell you to! If you don't go, I will beat you!" The head of the village raised his hand, as if to hit Tie Niu on the head.
Tie Niu subconsciously shrank back and quickly took a step forward, "I... I'm willing to learn too."
Shen Wanning smiled and nodded, then asked, "Is there anyone else who wants to learn how to fluff cotton? If so, I'll teach you today. Opportunities are fleeting. Once you miss this opportunity, you'll never get it again."
Seeing Shen Wanning's encouraging look, several more people stood up, half-raising their hands and saying, "I want to learn too."
Shen Wanning took a look and saw that there were seven people in total, including Chen Zihao and Tie Niu.
Two of them were the younger brothers of the Heiba brothers.
"There are seven people in total. If no one steps forward, I will start teaching you now." Shen Wanning said again.
This time, the other younger brothers who followed the Heiba brothers all stood up.
They avoided looking at each other and were a little cautious, fearing that Shen Wanning would not teach them.
Shen Wanning nodded. "Okay, there are twelve of us. Come over here, closer to me. Watch my movements carefully. First, tie a cloth belt around your waist, then... finally, hit the wooden hammer..."
Shen Wanning explained and demonstrated, and everyone listened attentively. The few younger brothers who had been cautious at first gradually became fascinated, and even occasionally followed Shen Wanning's pounding movements with their hands.
After demonstrating a few times, Shen Wanning took off the slingshot and asked, "Who of you would like to try it first?"
One of the younger brothers raised his hand high and said, "I, I think I can do it!"
"Well, you try it first." Shen Wanning handed the slingshot in her hand to the man.
The man recalled Shen Wanning's previous movements and slowly began to play with the cotton. He wasn't very good at the beginning, but gradually became proficient.
Seeing that he played the cotton very well, the others were eager to try it themselves. Finally, they took turns to learn how to play the cotton.
Before she knew it, it was evening, and she had only fluffed fifty kilograms of cotton, with more than half left to go. She made an appointment with the others to come back tomorrow to continue fluffing the cotton.
It took a total of four days to fluff all the cotton.
These days, the twelve of them took turns to pick cotton, and Shen Wanning sat in the yard, watching them pick cotton and learning how to pull yarn.
Unfortunately, it takes two people to pull the cotton, and she can't do it alone. She plans to wait until all the cotton is fluffed and then select two from the twelve of them, teach them first, and then let them teach the others.