Human feelings and worldly affairs

  Su Hao had already guessed what the women were thinking, and seeing his mother cast him a glance with a mixture of apology and expectation, he smiled slightly, pulled Yang Genie to one side, and said in a low voice: "Mom, you handle this matter, whoever you say I should work for, I'll go work for them."

  Yang Genjian said, "Haoer, I know you want to warm up the book. This kind of thing shouldn't be asked of you. However, they are neighbors and after your father passed away, these families in the village have been taking care of our family quite well. I couldn't turn this down."

  "Why push it away?" Su Hao said, "Since they've helped us before, I'll just help them this time and return the favor we owe them. Isn't that good?"

  "Alas, it's all because your mother talks too much." Yang Genjian got her son's promise and was overjoyed, but still scolded herself severely before going back to the group of women and chatting with them for a while. Then she came back to Su Huan and said: "I've talked to them, you first help your uncle Jinwang's family build a stove, then Tian Gui's family, then..."

  "I can't remember so much, mom, you just take care of the order, I can barely finish one stove in half a day, two in a day, how about you arrange it?" Su Hao handed over all the power to his mother. Since they were going to repay kindness, let his mother be in charge, and in the future, everyone would naturally think more of their mother's kindness.

  "Will this afternoon be okay?" Jin Wang's wife heard that Su Hang had already agreed and hurriedly asked.

  "It's just in time." Su Hao said, "Jin Wang auntie, you go back home first and move away the things unrelated to the kitchen. I'll go to the east of the village to fetch some clay from that slope. We can start working right away."

  "It's just a matter of carrying the soil, you can ask Jin Wang Shu to do it." Jin Wang's wife said with a smile, "I'll go call him back to help now."

  Su Hao went back to his room, changed into a short-sleeved work shirt, and picked up his tools. Led by Yang Genlian, he walked towards Su Jinwang's home. As soon as they entered the door, they were greeted by three generations of Su Jinwang's family lined up in welcome.

  "Ah, Scholar Lang has arrived, what a bother. I said Scholar Lang is busy with his work, this small matter can't trouble him, but my wife insisted on asking you to come and help. No choice, my family has many people, firewood is scarce every time we burn it, I heard that the stove modified by Scholar Lang is particularly fuel-efficient, take a look..." Su Jinwang, who looked sturdy and honest, fidgeted with his hands as he spoke to Su Hao.

  "Uncle Jinwang, look at what you're saying. Normally you've helped my family a lot, and I just happened to learn some skills in fixing stoves, so helping you fix yours is no big deal." Su Hao said politely.

  "Look, the scholar is indeed eloquent." Su Jinwang said with a smile, "Scholar, you don't need to lift a finger, just tell me what to do and I'll take care of it. Earlier, I heard Zhang Gen's mother say that she looked around your house for half a day but couldn't see any difference between your stove and mine. I said, 'The scholar is the reincarnation of the celestial star of literature, his stove must be different from others.' If a woman like her could understand it, that would be strange indeed."

  Su Hao smiled and said, "Uncle Jin Wang, don't praise me anymore. The matter of repairing the stove is not complicated, it's just that there are a few places that require some attention to detail, maybe I need to do it myself. If Uncle Jin Wang has time, it would be great if you could help me out."

  "Oh...... I know, I know. Where you can let me take action, just say so. Where I'm not allowed to take action, I promise not to move." Su Jinwang said with a somewhat enlightened expression, nodding repeatedly.

  Su Hao was stunned by Su Jinwang's words, and it took him a while to react before he understood what was going on. He quickly explained: "Uncle Jinwang, I didn't mean to hide anything from you..."

  Su Jinwang said: "No, no, making a stove is a meticulous thing, I definitely won't learn it, just help Xiucai Lang with the work, and put in some effort."

  Su Hao had intended to tell Su Jinwang that this fuel-efficient stove was not complicated, it just required mastering a few key techniques, and he could have taught him everything. But then he thought about it and suddenly felt that keeping this technique properly secret might be more valuable. Modifying the fuel-efficient stove wasn't much trouble, but the effect was very good, making it most suitable for doing favors for others. If others also learned how to do it, wouldn't he no longer be able to do favors for them?

  In the past, the Ministry of Agriculture promoted the use of provincial stoves nationwide, hoping that farmers could master this technology themselves. Therefore, in terms of technical specifications, it was designed to be very simple and easy to understand. Su Hang only followed a technician in a rural area for a few days and fully understood it. Su Hang believed that if he explained these specifications to the villagers, they would also quickly grasp them.

  At first, Su Hao did have the idea of promoting this technology, but Su Jinwang's words just now suddenly changed his mind. In that era, people with skills always kept their skills tightly sealed, and even when passing them on to future generations, it was "passing on to sons but not daughters". Not teaching others unrelated to the craft about modifying the provincial stove is also something everyone can understand.

  A person living in this world should have some unique abilities to stand on their own. Now, Su Hang only knows how to read a few dead books and has no practical skills. It's still uncertain what he can rely on to survive. In such a situation, if he accidentally discovers that he has a skill that others value, he should naturally think of ways to make the most of it.

  The principle of the fuel-efficient stove is simple to explain, but without someone to interpret it, others would find it hard to grasp its subtleties. Concepts like thermal efficiency, radiation, complete combustion and fluid dynamics were unknown in the Ming dynasty, let alone in rural areas during that time. Without these theoretical tools for analysis, relying solely on observation would be like an outsider watching a show, unable to understand its true essence.

  In fact, the women who went to Su Hang's house to visit the provincial stove just now also pondered a little, but they couldn't see any difference between Su Hang's stove and their own stoves, which is why they need to ask Su Hang for help to transform them.

  With Su Jinwang's help, Su Hao's workload was indeed much lighter. Tasks such as digging soil and mixing mud were all handed over to Su Jinwang. Su Jinwang did exactly as he promised, doing whatever Su Hao asked him to do, and not looking at anything he shouldn't, lest someone misinterpret his intentions and think he wanted to steal Su Hao's craftsmanship.

  Su Hao took down the pot from the stove of Su Jinhong's family, used a chisel to remove some of the original clay in the furnace, and also adjusted the position of the flue. This is an important technical link in making a fuel-efficient stove, which must ensure that fresh air entering from the stove mouth can flow fully inside the furnace to guarantee sufficient oxygen supply for the fuel. If others dismantle this modified stove, they can see the changes inside but find it hard to understand the purpose of the changes. Therefore, if no one explains, others will make stoves in the same way with much lower efficiency.

  After renovating the furnace, the next step was to thicken the furnace wall and reduce the size of the stove opening. These tasks were all manageable for Su Jinwang. The final step was to raise the chimney, which Su Hang specified a dimension for, and Su Jinwang climbed onto the roof to implement it.

  After finishing all the work, Su Hao asked Su Jinwang's daughter to bring some straw to the furnace to burn, so as to make the clay dry quickly. He himself sat in the main room of Su Jinwang's house waiting.

  Just as Su Huan was busy finishing up, Jin Wang's wife had already rushed to the neighbor's house to borrow fire and cooked two bowls of sugar egg soup, which she brought over just in time. One bowl for Su Huan, one bowl for Yang Genjie.

  "His aunt, are all neighbors, why bother cooking soup?" Yang Genie looked at the rock sugar eggs, her eyebrows opened with a smile, but she still pretended to scold him. Rock sugar boiled eggs in rural areas are called boiling soup, which is a courtesy for receiving distinguished guests.

  At that time, every household's food was not rich, and they could only raise one or two chickens. Eggs were a rare thing. Su Hang, although he enjoyed the treatment of being a precious gem in his family, it was also difficult for him to eat an egg. In the morning, he made an omelette with two eggs for everyone in the family to eat, and Yang Genyuan was very heartbroken about it.

  Jin Wang's daughter-in-law said, "Hao is a scholar and he helps me with household chores. I feel embarrassed that he does so much for my family. His uncle can't help much either, but I must cook him a bowl of soup."

  Yang Genjian actually couldn't wait for her son to eat this bowl of eggs, and upon hearing this, she took the opportunity to say: "Hao'er has sweated so much, it's enough to cook a bowl of soup for him. I didn't exert myself, so let's just give this bowl of soup to the kids."

  Yang Genjian made such an excuse, and Jin Wang's wife naturally had to insist again and again. In the end, Su Hang ate two of the three eggs in his bowl and left one behind. This was also a rule - leaving one behind meant that you couldn't eat any more, which implied that the host had prepared too much food. If you ate all three eggs, wouldn't that mean that the host wasn't hospitable enough and hadn't prepared enough food?

  Yang Genjian politely declined several times, finally took a bowl and picked an egg from his own bowl to eat, leaving two behind. Jin Wang's wife shouted, and the children in the house rushed out, happily dividing up the three eggs left by Su Huan and her son.

  After messing around for a while, the clay in the stove had dried up. Su Huan went over and tidied it up again, declaring that the job was done. Jin Wang's wife personally lit the fire and cooked a pot of pig food, discovering that this new stove indeed had stronger firepower, was extremely fuel-efficient, and didn't produce much smoke. As a result, the whole family once again heaped praise on Su Huan, with Yang Genie also reaping some compliments along the lines of "definitely able to enjoy good fortune in the future".

  Having a stove that can save half of the firewood is a big problem for farmers. Su Jinwang also knew that just cooking three eggs to show gratitude was not enough. The Su family was not short of labor, and when sending Su Hang's mother and son out of the house, he patted his chest and said to Yang Genyuan that he would help Su Hang's family carry 20 loads of water in the future, first irrigating Su Hang's fields and then irrigating their own fields.