Chapter 025 First Pot of Gold – Manual Noodle Maker (3)

Lei Tie didn’t bother about his intention. “[China] fir. It is fairly pliable, straight vein lines, easy handling and corrosion resistance.”

Qin Mian thought for a moment. “Make two; one for the sample and the other for our own use.”

“Nn.”

Qin Mian was about to speak when he was pulled.

“Be careful with your steps.”

He looked down and saw that there were some hedgehog-like fruits scattered on the ground and several brown fruits were wrapped in the prickly shell. His eyes brightened. “This is…”

Lei Tie explained: “Prickly fruit; walking into the mountains, pay attention above your head.”

Prickly fruit? This is obviously chestnut! Qin Mian was so excited that he almost blurted out.

“It’s called prickly fruit?” He asked tentatively, “Can it be eaten?”

Lei Tie looked at his eyes with some complexity. After a moment’s silence, he said: “Can’t eat. There are wild apple trees[1] ahead.”

Qin Mian opened his mouth with some helplessness in his eyes. Lei Tie thought he was fond of good food. He conveniently snapped two twigs, squatted down and picked up the “prickly fruit” to look at it carefully for a long time, he was very sure that it was chestnut.

He took his hand out of Lei Tie’s hand and quickly picked up the chestnuts into the basket. “Come and help. This is a good thing!”

“Can’t eat.” Lei Tie frowned with a little distressed surged up in his chest.

“Can be eaten, trust me!” Qin Mian looked up at him with firm eyes.

Li Tie pulled him, “Pick them up when we go back.”

“Right.” Qin Mian responded, dumped out the prickly fruits in the basket and piled them at the side.

His hand was back in Lei Tie’s. Probably because this was the second time, he was not as uncomfortable.

Two pheasants passed through the dense grass in front of them. The pheasants noticed them and wanted to sneak away. Lei Tie loosened Qin Mian’s hand and shot two arrows at the same time. The two pheasants died without even having a chance to flap their wings.

Qin Mian gave a thumbs-up Like[2] to Lei Tie and ran over to pick up the pheasants.

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They found a fir tree as thick as thigh. Lei Tie made Qin Mian to step back and cut it with a saw. While waiting, Qin Mian was bored and wandered around.

“Wife, don’t go too far.” Without turning back, Lei Tie knew what he was doing.

“I know.”

Qin Mian luckily found a few hawthorn trees with bright red hawthorn fruits hanging on them. He picked the big ones and soon filled less than half of the basket.

Lei Tie found a time to glance at him and was puzzled by the excited expression of his shining eyes, but he didn’t ask and diligently sawed the tree.

After the fir tree was cut down, he sawed off a half-person-high section from the top and carried it on the shoulder easily, “Let’s go to pick apples.”

Lei Tie familiarly took Qin Mian to the apple tree. The apple tree was very thick, but only one person tall. The apple on the branch was only slightly bigger than a tennis ball, but the pink color looked very enticing. Qin Mian picked one and wiped it on his clothes before he took a bite. He was pleasantly surprised. “This fruit is not big, but it tastes good. It’s sour and sweet.”

Lei Tie put down the fir wood and chose big ones to pick.

After picking more than 20 of them, Qin Mian stopped. If he picked too many, his back would not be able to bear it.

When they returned to the chestnut area, Qin Mian knocked off the chestnut shell, picked up a lot of chestnuts and straightly filled the basket with chestnuts. It was hard for his shoulders to bear it but he was reluctant to throw out some of them.

Lei Tie put the basket on his back without saying anything.

Qin Mian rubbed his nose, “Or else, pours some out?”

“No need. Go.”

Qin Mian obediently kept up with Lei Tie, admiringly looking at his big and strong back. When could he grow up like this?

When they got home, Xiao Hu was sitting obediently under the shade of the tree with a long stick next to him, which was unknown where he got it.

“Uncle Lie. Brother Qin.”

“Cough——” Qin Mian choked by his own saliva. Why did it sound like “dear (Qinq) brother”?

Lei Tie gruffly said, “Call him Uncle Qin.”

“Oh.” Xiao Hu nodded in assent.

Qin Mian took two apples and handed them to him, “We won’t go to town until later. You go to the grain-sunning ground to play first. We will call you when we leave and then you can help us look after the rice grain.”

“Alright.” Xiao Hu smiled with crescent eyes. He took the two apples and ran away.

Lei Tie took out all kinds of tools as he sat at the entrance and made the noodle maker according to the drawing.

Qin Mian took out all the things in the basket and put them under the shade. He cleaned the two pheasants and prepared some dough for use. Then he washed two apples and sat next to Lei Tie to watch and guide.

Upon seeing Lei Tie skillfully peeled the fir wood unlike a novice, he got more confidence in the noodle maker. The holes in the bottom plate were the most difficult to do and needed to be chiseled one by one. Lei Tie was very patient; neither in a hurry or impatient.

“Chisel a notch here on the body, connect it with the base plate, it can be removed with a twist on the left and right….. Right…… Polish here…… The slide bar here should be straight to ensure that the handle can apply vertical force…..”

In less than an hour, the first noodle maker was finally produced.

Qin Mian stroked the smooth body and sung praises, “This is the first noodle maker in the world. We keep it for our own use.”

Lei Tie nodded and was very satisfied with his craftsmanship.

“Let’s try it.” Qin Mian ran into the kitchen excitedly. First, he cleaned the noodle maker inside and outside with water. Then he propped up the noodle maker with a triangle trestle, put it in a basin, and then put the dough into the body.

Lei Tie held the handle and pressed it down hard. The long and thin noodles suddenly extruded from the hole below and fell into the basin.

Qin Mian laughed and said: “It’s a success.”

Lei Tie’s eyes also flashed a smile and he continued to press.

Qin Mian took a pair of scissors to cut the noodles and smilingly said: “Let’s have noodles for lunch.”

Lei Tie naturally had no objection and then made a second noodle maker.

After lunch, the two went to the grain-sunning ground to call Xiao Hu over and took the noodle maker and dough to town.

Note:

[1] Also called crabapple

[2] to like (an online post on Weibo, Facebook etc)