Meng Yan's Transformation

Most of the households in Aobao Team 4 lived in adobe thatched houses with pointed roofs. Zhan Yu's house was a flat-roofed house with a gable made of stone and adobe, and the roof was made of rafters covered with straw, soil, and mud.

The soil used for plastering the roof is very particular. The soil that is sticky and as solid as iron after drying is the first choice. Because it is not easy to loosen when it comes into contact with water, it can prevent the suffering of being drenched after the rainy season in summer and the suffering of being frozen in the cold winter when the wind and snow are flying outside. There is a kind of yellowish soil in the east of the village that basically has these characteristics, so every time the summer and winter seasons come, the villagers will slightly repair their houses to safely survive the summer or winter. Therefore, in the spring when the flowers are blooming, most people will plaster the roof and adobe walls. After the autumn harvest, when the grain is stored in the warehouse, people will have a lot of straw. Before winter comes, every household will bundle it and stack it on the roof to increase the temperature of the house in winter.

The most worrying thing for Zhan Yu's family when plastering the roof is mud mixing, which is a heavy and labor-intensive physical work. Generally, Zhan Yu and his sons need to start preparing the night before. It takes at least five or six people to complete it, so they also ask Zhang's two sons for help. Some people mix mud, some people carry water, and Zhan Zi'an is always a chores, while Zhan Ziqiang is the main force. Zhan Ziqiang first evenly spreads a thick layer of the prepared rice straw or wheat straw cut to a moderate length on the large soil pile, then uses a two-tooth rake to dig a circle of channels around, and then sprinkles a layer of firewood, pours in enough water, and when the water has almost penetrated, digs off the soil on top, and then sprinkles firewood, and repeats this cycle until all the soil and firewood are evenly mixed together, and the main work of mud mixing is basically completed. Zhan's father and son, plus Zhang's two sons, stop for a while to rest, smoke a cigarette and drink a sip of water, but at this time everyone is basically sweating and covered in mud. After a short rest, Aunt Zhang had something to do at home, and her two sons left. Zhan Ziqiang was responsible for the remaining cleanup work, which was to clean up the dirt and firewood around the mud pile, mix them into the mud pile, make a pit on the mud pile, pour two buckets of water, and finally let it ferment freely at night.

At about four o'clock the next morning, when it was just light, Zhan Ziqiang got up first, prepared all the tools needed for plastering the roof, and then soaked the mud again, which was actually to add an appropriate amount of water to the mud that had been fermented overnight, and used a two-tooth rake to dilute and stir it once. At this time, the three sons of Aunt Zhang came to Zhan Yu's house to help, and everyone turned the mud over again. In this way, taking turns to apply methods to the mud was nothing more than increasing the viscosity and strength of the mud, so that the quality of the mud reached the best state. Everything was ready and they began to divide the work of plastering the roof. The roof was plastered by Zhan Ziqiang and Aunt Zhang's eldest son Zhang Jingrui. They each held a corner of the front and back eaves from the same direction and worked backwards. Zhan Yu, Zhan Zifeng, and Aunt Zhang's other two sons, who were delivering mud, were responsible for further mixing the mud. One of them stood under the eaves with a shovel with a small head handle and threw the mixed mud onto the roof continuously. This kind of work lasted for about two or three hours. When the red sun rose and the sun's rays splashed the entire roof, it was basically coming to an end.

The day before yesterday, Yunqing distributed a pot of corn and flour, steamed a large basket of steamed buns, and cooked a pot of stew with two lards to entertain the villagers, friends, and neighbors who helped. After the roof was plastered, Zhan Yu, Yunqing felt more at ease. He no longer had to worry about the rainy season, when it rained heavily in the yard and lightly in the house, and when it stopped in the yard, it was still raining in the house, with no place to sit or stand, and the house was filled with pots and pans to collect rainwater.

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Yunqing swept away the white icicles from the roof to the four corners of the wall, smashed the icicles in the water tank outside the house to get water, boiled water and cooked. After the children had breakfast, Yunqing began to make paste to paste the walls. At ten o'clock, the sun rose higher, and the only large icicles on the window glass that had been frozen into the original forest began to melt. Yunqing brushed the paper on the window with soybean oil and wiped the glass clean.

Yunqing first used a broom to sweep the entire room from the ceiling to the wall. It was not dusty so that the newspaper could be pasted. Zifeng made a brush with corn leaves. After setting up the eight-immortal table, spread the newspaper flat on it, and then used corn leaves to apply paste. After brushing, Zifeng handed the newspaper to Yunqing by the two corners. Yunqing pinched the newspaper with her thumb and index finger, and put the two broken palms against the wall. She hung the line herself, and let Zifeng and Zi'an hang the line below to ensure that the newspaper was not skewed. After several adjustments to confirm that it was "proper", Yunqing pasted the two corners of the newspaper on the wall. She pressed the newspaper with her left hand to prevent it from falling off due to gravity. She held the broom in her right hand and swept it from the upper left corner to the lower side. After most of the newspaper was attached to the wall, Yunqing took her left hand off the paper and continued to sweep with her right hand.

After the newspapers were pasted, Mengyan and Zi'an lay on the kang and looked at the newspapers on the ceiling and the wall, asking each other to give the test questions. One person read out the title or a paragraph of the newspaper, and asked the other to point out which newspaper and where it was. The newspapers included People's Daily, Reference News, and the local newspaper Red Member Newspaper. This test improved Mengyan's literacy and reading ability. Because the Red Member Newspaper occasionally printed colorful content, Mengyan liked to read it.

Yunqing took the scissors and went to the elm forest on the hillside behind the village. She cut off the elm branches that had lost all their leaves. After trimming them into shape, she put red candles and white candles in two iron basins respectively and heated the basins. The candles quickly turned into "red water" or "white water" when they were heated. Yunqing put her fingers in the candle-melted water and quickly stuck them to the dead elm branches. The dead elm branches immediately came to life and "bloomed" beautiful plum blossoms. As Yunqing's fingers moved, the elm branches were full of plum blossoms, some were blooming passionately, some were in bud and shy, and some were holding small and delicate fresh and lovely pink buds... The flowers were red, and the petals were smooth and transparent, like amber or jade carved into the elegance of ice and jade, some were as bright as the morning glow, and some were as white as snow...

Yunqing made various "plum blossom" branches and started to make pottery. She found clay to make the body, and then used her hands to shape it, wheel-made it, molded it, etc. She then used stones to build a simple kiln and made various vases and other pottery. She put the "plum branches" in the vase and placed it on the big round table made by Yunqing with straw. Next to the big round table was a sofa made by Yunqing with Mengyan's old cotton coat. It was really beautiful...

Yunqing took out the brush and painted four landscape paintings, which she hung on the wall. On the east side of the house, Yunqing built a fire wall. On the fire wall, there were pottery, which was filled with soil and planted with cabbage heads. The cabbage heads were in full bloom with golden flowers and a faint fragrance! In this cold winter, such gorgeous and dazzling flowers made people feel moved and happy! Yunqing dug out the heart of the big red radish, put water in it, and hung it upside down on the fire wall. The radish grew green leaves downwards. She peeled the garlic, tied it into a circle with straw skin, and put it in the radish with the heart dug out. The garlic cloves grew tender garlic sprouts. During the Chinese New Year, Yunqing cut the garlic sprouts and fried meat for the children...

After being renovated and decorated by Yunqing, Zhan Yu's house became the most beautiful and novel house in the village. People from the village came to Zhan Yu's house to visit in an endless stream, and the villagers were amazed!