Chapter 58: Fire-Burn, Water-Shock Method for Quarrying Stone

"What method?" the village head's eyes lit up.

Jiang Wei looked at Zhao Tiezhu and said calmly, "Tiezhu, please gather some firewood and build a fire beside the rock."

After speaking, she turned to Liu Dagang, "Da Gang, go to my courtyard below the mountain and carry up two buckets of water."

"Alright, got it!" Even though he didn't know what Jiang Wei planned, Liu Dagang cheerfully agreed and turned to head down the mountain.

"Why do we need to gather firewood and burn the rock?" Zhao Tiezhu was utterly confused, looking dumbfounded and not moving an inch.

Zhao Youcai slapped him hard on the forehead, "Enough, you idiot, stop asking—hurry up and help me gather firewood."

Nearby were plenty of ready-made branches and dry grass; the father and son quickly gathered a large pile of dry firewood.

Jiang Xiaoxiao watched her mother pile all the firewood beside the large rock, then pull out a fire-starter and ignite it. Soon, the fire blazed up, gradually turning the rock red-hot.

She couldn't help but smile in understanding—so her mother intended to use this method to break the rock…

A group of people watched from the side, puzzled but, thankfully, not raising the same complaints as before.

As the fire burned, the large rock grew even redder and hotter, steaming and wreathed in smoke; no one dared approach.

At this moment, Liu Dagang returned from carrying water down the mountain, "Xiaoxiao's mother, I've brought the water—what now?"

Jiang Wei glanced at the scorching-hot rock and pointed, "Pour the water onto the rock."

Hearing this, others grew even more confused—why extinguish the fire just as it had just been lit?

Liu Dagang obeyed, hurling an entire bucket of water onto the blazing-hot rock. In an instant, the crisp stream struck it with a loud "Bang!"—the rock cracked open with numerous fissures!

Everyone froze in shock.

"W-What just happened?!"

"Why did the rock suddenly crack?"

"…"

"This is a fire-burn, water-shock method for quarrying stone," Jiang Wei explained calmly. "I once read about it in a book: first, heat the rock wall until it glows red-hot with fire, then pour cold water over it. The thermal expansion and contraction cause the rock to fracture, and the stone splits apart."

"So that's how it works!"

Everyone suddenly understood. Though they were illiterate and didn't grasp the principle of thermal expansion and contraction, it didn't stop them from admiring Jiang Wei: "Xiaoxiao's mother is truly impressive—no wonder she's read books!"

The few who had earlier grumbled with Li Dayong now hung their heads in shame.

How could these mud-legged farmers dare question someone who had read books?

Watching everyone gaze at her mother with admiration, Jiang Xiaoxiao held back a smile—this method wasn't obscure at all; in her past life's physics textbook, it had described the fire-burn, water-shock method for quarrying stone, using uneven contraction from sudden cooling to generate internal stress and fracture the rock.

Everyone eagerly picked up their tools; now that the rock had cracked, the rest would be much easier.

Several strong men drove iron wedges along the fissures with stone hammers, striking a few times—the rock split like soft tofu, breaking into chunks that scattered on the ground.

Once the rock was broken into small pieces, transporting it became no problem.

People carried the small rock fragments and tossed them aside; soon, the boulder blocking the ditch was gone.

Everyone resumed digging the ditch with hoes and shovels.

With the rock obstruction solved, Jiang Xiao didn't return home—she feared that if she left, the villagers might encounter other problems while digging, so she decided to stay on the mountain for a while and occasionally lend a hand.

With the village head supervising, none of the villagers dared slack off.

Jiang Wei watched for a few moments, then borrowed a firewood axe from the village head and began chopping wood nearby, preparing to take it home.

Over these past few days, she'd been burning a lot of firewood to cook Ice Cream and Snow Cake; their home's supply was nearly exhausted.

Jiang Xiaoxiao wasn't idle either—she gathered wild vegetables and dry grass nearby, planning to chop them up to feed the chickens.

Soon, lunchtime arrived, and the women came up the mountain with back baskets, bringing food for their husbands.

The village men, having worked all morning, were starving; they broke off branches from nearby trees to use as chopsticks, then grabbed their large bowls and devoured their meals in big bites.

Jiang Xiaoxiao noticed that everyone's meals were almost entirely Millet porridge, paired with vegetable dumplings—one spoon of porridge, one bite of dumpling; those with better means added pickled vegetables.

Those with worse conditions ate homemade vegetable-bran cakes—wild vegetables mixed with buckwheat flour containing bran, baked without oil, tasting only faintly of salt.

These bran-filled cakes filled the stomach but scratched the throat and were hard to swallow.

Jiang Xiaoxiao glanced at them twice, then quietly tucked away the oil-crusted sesame cake her mother had prepared for her that morning.

Too conspicuous—better to eat it later somewhere alone.

"Xiaoxiao, come here," Qiulian Niang finished delivering food to Zhao Youcai, noticed Jiang Xiaoxiao standing aside, waved her over, and pulled two coarse grain cakes from her back basket.

"You and your mother rushed up the mountain without preparing food—here, eat these cakes first to fill your stomach."

Jiang Xiaoxiao took the coarse grain cake—it was made of buckwheat flour, but not a single grain of bran; inside, it seemed to contain an egg, smelling deliciously fragrant.

"Thank you, Qiulian Yi!" Jiang Xiaoxiao smiled sweetly at Qiulian Niang; now with this cake as cover, she could take out her oil-crusted sesame cake to eat.

She scampered back to Jiang Wei's side on her short legs and handed one cake to her mother, "Mom, eat this—it's from Qiulian Yi."

Jiang Wei took it, bit into it, then frowned—she'd immediately noticed the egg inside. "Do you still have your oil-crusted sesame cake?"

Jiang Xiaoxiao nodded and opened the small cloth pouch hanging at her waist—inside, wrapped in oil paper, were several fragrant oil-crusted sesame cakes.

Every time Jiang Wei made cakes, she baked a large batch and stored them in her space to keep them fresh; when she sold Snow Cake in Town and couldn't return for lunch, she'd take them out to eat.

Jiang Xiaoxiao also carried a few on her person for convenience.

Jiang Wei took two oil-crusted sesame cakes from the pouch, then split open Jiang Xiaoxiao's coarse grain cake and slipped the sesame cakes inside it. "Return this one and say we two couldn't finish it."

"Okay!" Jiang Xiaoxiao scampered back to Qiulian Niang on her short legs. "Qiulian Yi, my mom and I already ate breakfast, and we're not very hungry yet—one cake is enough. This one should go to Tiezhu Ge."

"You're so tiny—how can you not finish one cake?" Qiulian Niang frowned, but before she could refuse, Jiang Xiaoxiao shoved the cake into her hands and ran off.

Her short legs moved too fast—Qiulian Niang couldn't call her back.

(End of chapter)