Chapter 203: The Soon-to-be-Revolutionized Way of Wiping One's Bottom

Baifeng only rested for one day before he became busy again. The myriad of matters within the tribe left him no room for leisure. Although nothing major had happened in the two months he was away from the tribe, which showed that the tribe could function without him, he could never stay idle once he had returned; he wanted to manage everything.

The bamboo, tree bark, and Grass that had been soaking before he left were now ready to be used. So, taking advantage of the fact that spring had not yet arrived and he was temporarily free, Baifeng immediately began papermaking again.

This time, it seemed there should be no problem, as the fibers of the materials could be beaten very fine. After putting the pulp into the wooden trough, Baifeng first picked out some of the inferior impurities on the surface, then used a wooden rake to completely break up the pulp.

It was just that the pulp was yellow rather than white, but Baifeng was not picky; as long as it could be used, that was fine. Where would he have the qualifications to be picky about the color of the paper now?

He inserted the bamboo screen into the pulp, lifted it up, shook it even, and brought it out of the water. On a wooden board that had been polished extremely smooth by sand and stone, he laid down a piece of wet Hemp Cloth. He pressed the side of the bamboo screen with the paper onto the Hemp Cloth, then gently lifted the bamboo screen, and a sheet of paper landed on the Hemp Cloth.

Baifeng stood to the side, so nervous he dared not even breathe. This was the most complete papermaking process he could think of. If it failed this time, he truly would not know how to make paper.

However, since the paper had already been peeled off, it meant that the paper was basically made. If it could stick together and be peeled off, it would not fall apart after drying. It was just a matter of how durable the paper would be.

Everyone stared intently at the wet paper. Although they did not know what this thing the Tribal Chief was making was, they could tell from the Tribal Chief's expression that he seemed to care a lot about it. What they did not know was that their future work would change, and they would likely have to shake bamboo screens every day until they doubted their lives, because the tribe had entered the era of using paper to wipe their bottoms.

The sun was quite bright, but the temperature was relatively low after all, so the paper hardly changed. Moreover, there was a layer of wet Hemp Cloth underneath, so no matter how much these tribesmen stared, the paper did not change any further. Someone wanted to touch it with a finger, but was scolded by Baifeng, so they had to quickly pull their hand back and quietly retreat behind the others, avoiding Baifeng's gaze.

Baifeng remembered that wet paper could be stacked like this, one sheet on top of another, so he let everyone repeat the previous process to continue making paper. Only when the paper had been stacked to the thickness of a coin (a millet comparison method) did Baifeng let everyone stop.

Afterward, he found a smooth and flat wooden board, pressed it on top of the paper, and added stones onto the board to press the water out of the paper.

As most of the water was pressed out, the paper was moved into Baifeng's room. The temperature inside was high enough to slowly air-dry the paper. Baifeng did not care if the resulting paper would be wrinkled; he did not intend to write on this paper anyway. Although he would definitely use paper to record text in the future and would teach the tribesmen text, that was not the main goal right now; the priority of wiping bottoms was even higher than learning to write.

As for the pulp in the large vat, Baifeng chose to selectively forget it. Although, based on the materials put in, the paper that could be made would certainly be several times more than what he had now, for Baifeng at the moment, this was enough.

The tribesmen assigned by Baifeng to make paper were very bewildered. The Tribal Chief had walked away holding the paper and had not given them further instructions. However, since the tools were complete and there were still so many materials, they might as well continue working, either until the materials were used up or until they finished their shift.

At this moment, Baifeng was still resting his chin on his hand, thinking about the subsequent problem: he had paper and Gunpowder, but how to make the Fuse? Should he roll the Gunpowder in paper? It felt wrong; the fuses he had played with were not that crude.

After thinking for a long time, he still had no clue how to make a Gunpowder Fuse. After all, he was not a science student, and he was completely ignorant about scientific ratios. In the end, he decided to just try rolling the Gunpowder in paper.

The more anxious he was, the slower the paper dried. Finally, he could not wait any longer and decided to stop looking at it for now and go out for a walk. Once he stepped out, he remembered that he seemed not to have arranged work for those tribesmen. If he just left the things there and walked away, wouldn't the materials be wasted? So he hurriedly walked back toward the place where the paper was made.

Unexpectedly, when he arrived, he saw that those few people had already scooped up a high pile of paper. He had not expected them to be so self-motivated. Thinking of his own lack of trust in the tribesmen, Baifeng still felt a bit ashamed.

Seeing the Tribal Chief arrive, those tribesmen just offered a ritualistic greeting and then went back to their work. Baifeng did not feel right just watching, so he told them to take those sheets of paper down to dry and start a new stack.

After saying this, he turned and left. On the way back to his room, Baifeng suddenly remembered that he still had a Glass greenhouse. It had been so long, he did not know what state it was in. Moreover, after the Glass greenhouse was built, Baifeng thought of a troublesome matter: it was true that there was a greenhouse to keep warm in Winter, but what about in the summer when the temperature was very high? It could be said to be scorching inside the Glass house, because for the sake of airtightness, they had made non-removable Windows, and the roof could only be managed if it were completely dismantled.

In such an environment, the Tea Tree would likely not survive the summer. It was impossible to transplant them out in the summer and move them back in the winter. Sometimes Baifeng felt that his brain could not turn corners; he only realized something was wrong after the work was done. None of his tribesmen had discovered the problem either; after Baifeng spoke of the wonderful uses of the Glass greenhouse, they had all been exceptionally enthusiastic about building it.

However, when Baifeng reached the greenhouse, he found that his worries were completely unnecessary, because not a single Tea Tree was alive; they had all died. Opening the door, the inside was filled with a damp, foul smell. Baifeng quickly retreated and let it air out thoroughly before he dared to enter.

The Tea Trees he had traded for were all bare sticks now, with their leaves on the ground. With one step, he did not know whose "Big Ban Zhang" or "Broken Silver" he was stepping on. As an evergreen shrub, this situation meant they were definitely dead, no doubt about it. Breaking a branch, it was dry and brittle; it would definitely burn well.

However, Baifeng did not feel much heartache. It was just an attempt; if it did not work, it did not work. There was no need for his tribe to grow everything themselves; they could just trade for things once they had food. It was just a pity about such a large greenhouse, having spent so much manpower and material resources. Now he just hoped to grow vegetables in it.

But after Baifeng strolled through the not-so-large greenhouse, he did not see a single vegetable leaf, though there were many tender green weeds, especially wormwood, which were already quite long. It was just that there were no vegetables to be seen. This made no sense; it was understandable that the Tea Trees did not survive, but if the weeds could grow, why were there no vegetables?