Chapter 30: Summer Sleeping Mats

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

May 1. The weather grew hotter and the crops were growing faster.

The cultivated land of the Vine Tribe had already reached 30 acres. Because the tools being used were extremely primitive, it was very difficult for a dozen people to take care of 30 acres of farmland.

Therefore, Jiang Xuan no longer let the vagabonds continue to open up the wasteland. They just needed to cultivate these 30 acres of land.

“This grass, plus plant ash, manure, cracked bones, and pond mud. Pile them all together and press them tight for half a month. Cook them thoroughly for fertilizer.

When you discover earthworms in the fertilizer pile, these fertilizers will be usable.”

In the field, Jiang Xuan personally taught the vagabonds how to compost. Even when facing the smelly feces, his expression did not change.

The compost was a great treasure for farming.

Apart from the lack of management, the lack of fertilizer was also an important reason for the low yield of this method of farming.

Although plant ash was very good, it was definitely not enough to rely on plant ash to grow crops.

Composting was a mixture of various materials. After it was cooked, it would become organic fertilizer rich in nutrients. It was very beneficial to the growth of crops.

The raw materials for composting were very varied and easy to obtain. For example, grass, wood ash, feces, food scraps, animal bones, and so on could be used.

Sweet Pine remembered everything Jiang Xuan said.

Ever since he lost an arm, hunting had become a difficult task for him. Even a simple rope trap was extremely difficult to set up because he only had one hand.

But now, he had found what he could do, and what he could do well was farming.

Although he only had one hand, through his own efforts, he could master the technique of farming. He did as much work as the others.

Gradually, he fell in love with farming.

This feeling of opening up wasteland, planting crops, and then watching the crops grow, and gradually harvesting them fascinated Sweet Pine.

Sweet Pine said confidently, “Don’t worry, Chief. We’ll definitely pile up the best fertilizer!”

“Yes, work hard. If we gather a lot of food in the autumn, everyone will eat well in the winter. There’s no need to go hungry.”

Jiang Xuan gave a few more instructions before turning to leave.

“Get to work!”

Sweet Pine shouted and began to find various materials to compost according to Jiang Xuan’s method.

It was a busy scene in the fields.

Jiang Xuan walked to the stream and found a large patch of tall reeds. He looked for intact reeds and cut them off with a stone knife.

Actually, it was best to harvest the reeds in the autumn. When the new reeds bloomed, they would be the most resilient.

However, Jiang Xuan could not wait any longer. He cut some of last year’s reeds and planned to weave a few mats.

As the weather gradually became hot, padding the bamboo beds with animal skin mattresses was no longer suitable.

However, it was not comfortable to sleep on the bamboo bed directly because the bamboo was not flat. It was uncomfortable to sleep on it.

Jiang Xuan thought about it and decided to weave a few mats.

Bamboo could also be woven into a mat, and it worked very well. However, that required breaking bamboo into very thin bamboo stalks. Without the right tools, this was not an easy task.

Reed was different.

It was softer and more resilient. Be it cutting down or weaving, it was much easier to handle than bamboo.

After Jiang Xuan cut down the reeds for a while, Chi Shao came over to help.

She was always by Jiang Xuan’s side, silently guarding him against any danger.

“Ji ji ji…”

The weather was hot. There were many unknown insects calling out from the grass by the stream.

“Sister, that’s enough. There’s no need to cut anymore.”

Jiang Xuan cut down a large bundle of reeds, and so did Chi Shao. The two of them simply twisted the reed leaves together and made simple grass ropes. They tied up the reeds and carried them back to the bamboo house.

“Pop!”

A large bundle of reeds was thrown to the ground. Chi Shao wiped the sweat from her cheeks. Only then did she ask curiously, “Xuan, why are you cutting so much reed?”

“I’m weaving summer sleeping mats.”

“Sleeping mat?”

“It’s a mat for sleeping on the bed. That animal skin mattress is too hot to sleep on. I want to make a few cooling mats for us.”

“I see.” Chi Shao nodded. The weather was definitely not suitable for sleeping on animal skins.

“Sister, let’s throw these reeds into the pond to soak them first.”

“Good!”

The two of them carried the reeds to the pond and threw the entire bundle into the pond to soak.

This was because the reeds that Jiang Xuan and the others had collected were all old reeds from last year. They were already dry and very brittle. They would break easily.

Soaking in water allowed dry reed to absorb water and become resilient again. It would be more suitable for weaving.

After throwing the reeds down, the two of them went to do other things.

More than two hours later, Jiang Xuan returned to the pond. He pulled out a piece of reed and tried to fold it. He realized that the reed had been soaked until it was soft. Then he scooped up the two bundles of reeds and brought them back to the empty space in front of the bamboo house.

He untied the straw rope that bound the reeds, then found a flat stone and a log. He placed the reeds on it and smashed the round reed pole flat, bit by bit.

“Knock, knock, knock…”

As Jiang Xuan kept knocking, the reed poles were flattened.

After Chi Shao finished her business, she came over to help.

Hook Vine, Stone Loach, and South Star also came over to help.

When all the reed poles were smashed flat, Jiang Xuan began to weave them.

It was tedious and time-consuming to weave beautiful, fine, patterned reed mats.

However, it was much easier to weave the entire reed into a mat after it was flattened. It did not take long to weave a mat, but it looked rough.

The tribesmen had been weaving since they were young. Everyone was very skilled.

Jiang Xuan first used a flattened reed as a weft, then tied the reeds vertically and evenly to the weft as warps.

Then he only needed to insert the reeds into these lines and press them tightly. Then he could weave the reeds into a whole mat.

In just one afternoon, the five of them threw in their effort and wove the reeds they had brought back into five single summer cooling mats.

The next day, these mats were left to dry in the sun for a long time.

Then Jiang Xuan and the others replaced all the animal skin mattresses on the bamboo beds.

At night, Jiang Xuan lay on his bamboo bed. The thick cooling mat under him was very breathable. Lying on it, he did not feel cold or stuffy. It was very comfortable.

“It feels pretty good.”

Jiang Xuan smiled happily. As long as he was willing to take action and not slack off, he could improve his life bit by bit.

The three youths were also very satisfied with the new mats. This thing was very comfortable to sleep on.

Chi Shao lay in her small room. She stroked the mat beneath her and said in a barely audible voice, “Xuan has grown up. He’s more capable than me.”

With a relieved smile, she quickly fell asleep. The night was a pleasant dream.