Chapter 76: Rebirth in the Nineties: The Tyrant Flower, Chapter 76: Old Matters of the Past

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Chai Mi really didn't want to hear Chai Youqing talk about those old, rotten matters; her ears were practically calloused from listening.

"Alright, stop. Those old stories of yours—don't say them anymore. Apart from letting you feel what you're saying is meaningful, they're nothing but the same old nonsense, completely meaningless."

Chai Mi directly interrupted Chai Youqing, who had wanted to bring up the past, saying she should eat up and go to sleep early, then she left the house and came to the courtyard to cool off.

Those old stories of Chai Youqing's—Chai Mi had heard them countless times in her previous life.

Chai Youqing's meaning was that her father Chai Zhongxiao was a good person, and her mother Wang Huirong wasn't a bad person either; it was just that villains below had blinded their eyes...

This reminded Chai Mi of the imperial amnesty in Water Margin... Chai Youqing had been a timely blood Song Jiang back then.

The few at the old house lived by sucking the family's blood.

So Chai Mi didn't like hearing it, nor did she want to hear it.

At some point, the evening breeze blew, stirring Chai Mi's long hair; she rubbed her head, and after being busy all day she had a bit of a headache, only feeling somewhat comfortable after a good while.

The noise was the most draining; although Chai Mi's body could still hold up, she clearly felt that recent events had left her mentally and physically exhausted. She went to the courtyard to check on the calf and those few small goats, saw nothing was wrong, then returned to the house and slept early.

Chai Mi's house has been introduced before: three rooms, with Chai Mi and Chai Xiu living in the room on the west side. Chai Xiu saw her sister seemed dazed, asked a few questions, but Chai Mi didn't speak and went straight to sleep.

Chai Xiu was afraid her sister would get cold sleeping, so she got some firewood and heated the kang head until it was very hot.

The summer in the Northeast was indeed hard to endure.

Especially the summer around Liaoxi; in this era it was even harder to endure.

Once summer came, the countryside would have a particularly contradictory problem—heating the kang.

The earthen kangs of this era were all made from earthen bricks; that technique of dragging the bricks has already been lost to later generations, first because it's no longer used, second because it's too troublesome. Simply put, they used local purplish-red clay mixed with millet straw, made into small bricks, about 30 by 60... The reason it's too troublesome is that in this era the purplish-red clay could still be dug anywhere, whereas in later generations it's destroying basic farmland and can get you sent away, so the main reason it's too troublesome in later generations is—getting people out.

And the most contradictory thing about summer was that the weather was hot, but the kang head was cold. In this era, they laid a mat called "fine narrow-eye" made of sorghum stalks on top of the earthen kang. It was a kind of kang mat, relatively fine, meaning you couldn't see the gaps when squinting your eyes. On top of that came the bedding.

If they burned firewood, the kang would instantly become scorching hot, like living in a fire pit. If they didn't burn a fire, it was easy to get a cold waist...

So it was especially hard to endure.

Chai Xiu saw her sister was uncomfortable and guessed she had gotten cold sleeping these past few days, might catch a fever, and felt unwell, so she lit a fire.

Chai Mi felt increasingly muddled and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

When she woke up again, it was already past four in the morning.

She opened her eyes, put on her clothes, and went out for a walk, only then feeling her body had improved a little; although still not very comfortable, her headache had improved a lot.

Chai Mi opened the courtyard gate, then went to the vegetable garden and pulled some bok choy.

Summer vegetables grew fast; the summer bok choy she had started planting was especially thick and abundant. Pulling out some let the remaining ones grow bigger.

Chai Mi washed the bok choy, chopped it up, and dug up a few small potatoes, preparing to stew potatoes with bok choy.

The vegetables of this season were fresher and more fragrant to eat.

Just as she was busy working, she saw a shadow moving outside the main gate...