??Chapter 451: 451. Do you want waterlon? _1
Chapter 451: 451. Do you want waterlon? _1
But… 10,000 strands?
That’s not a mattress you’re weaving, is it?
She was curious, “Grandpa, how many strands did you weave for the one you made for
before?”
“At that ti, there wasn’t enough grass…” Song Youde was tidying up the yard with the sun-dried grass, speaking in a casual tone: “Your grass mat, I just weaved a single layer, and it was narrower too, didn’t even use 1,000 strands.”
Song Tan: …
“And Qiaoqiao’s?”
Song Youde started to boast, “Isn’t Qiaoqiao’s especially nice? Let
tell you, I reckon it used 3,000 strands! Woven evenly on both sides! Tailored to the size of your beds.”
“Once sumr is over, wash it, dry it, roll it up, and it can be used for many years! Don’t think I haven’t woven these in a long ti, now that I’m doing it again, what’s that called? The old blade is still sharp!”
Look how proud the little old man is!
So Song Tan put on a stern face, “Grandpa, you’re favoring others way too blatantly.”
Song Youde also felt a bit embarrassed, “Why bring that up again? Kid, I told you there wasn’t enough grass at the ti. Why didn’t you tell
sooner about such a big adow? Look, now I have to weave another one for you—otherwise what? Weave you one with 10,000 strands?”
“I don’t want that.”
Song Tan shook her head, “New mattresses now are specially designed to fit the body, so when you lie down, there are no gaps under your waist. If you put a 10,000-strand mat on it, it won’t be even and will wear out quickly, wouldn’t it?”
“Forget it! I’m not one to nitpick, just weave a 2,000-strand one for .”
Song Youde: …
He couldn’t help but burst out laughing in the end, “Look at you, so petty, and yet you say you’re not one to nitpick? Alright, alright, I’ll weave a 2,000-strand one for you—but is that mattress of yours really that soft and cushy?”
“Sigh, too soft isn’t good for the back.”
Song Tan laughed, “Grandpa, we need to play with our phones in bed, too hard of a mattress is uncomfortable.”
“Plus, the ones made of spring and foam these days are pretty good, they even customize spring firmness for different body parts. Head is for the head, waist is for the waist, feet are for the feet…”
So when choosing mattresses, modern cell phone users all picked the sa model.
Wu Lan and Song Sancheng were used to firm mattresses, so they bought coconut fiber ones.
Song Tan preferred the soft type, with an added layer of latex.
Qiaoqiao, Zhang Yanping and Xin Jun were heat-sensitive, so they had a thin layer of palm fiber on top.
Good lord, this talk of modern sleeping habits left Song Youde utterly baffled—
Is sleeping so sophisticated nowadays?
He still slept on a hard wooden board, himself.
When Song Sancheng got married, he even specially spent money to buy a spring mattress from town—though over ti, he said that so springs would give in…
But this also made Song Youde frown.
“If you’re saying that mattresses can conform to the body, then it’s not just a flat board anymore—then if I weave you another grass mat, I’d have to split the grass even finer.”
Song Tan was stunned, “Even finer?”
“Yep,” Song Youde picked up the first batch of dried grass to show her: “Feel this, isn’t it still hard in the middle? It’s sumr now, so weaving like this, it’s resilient and not easy to break.”
“But think about it, if it’s laid on the bed and soone lies on it tossing and turning, over ti, the uneven spots are definitely prone to breakage, so it has to be split even finer.”
“Like when weaving straw hats, the finer and softer you rub the grass leaves, the softer and more comfortable it’ll be.”
It’s just more labor-intensive.
Song Tan quickly comforted him, “If it’s more work, it’s more work. I’ll help you sell it for a higher price; it’s worth it.”
Song Youde had little concept of “selling for a higher price,” pondering that the grass was already split, and besides, he’d have to find a few more people to split the grass again and to rub the grass—
Which ans taking these long sedge grasses, tying them into bundles, and slowly rubbing them on stone slabs or concrete, also having to pick out the unevenly colored ones so the woven mat wouldn’t co out looking patchy and ugly…
However, this is quite a large project.
I’m afraid the rush grass on these two acres will take until winter to braid, right?
“No rush, wait until winter, and we can just sell them next year.”
Song Tan quickly soothed her grandfather’s mind.
Song Youde, however, frowned, “We need to hurry up, or else the grass will dry out in the dry winter air, and it’s prone to breaking. We’ll have to keep it damp by spraying water before braiding.”
Song Tan: …Is it that complicated?
“How about we just make bamboo mats instead?”
In her mory, when she was little, she saw her family making bamboo mats and baskets, and all they had to do was to split the bamboo into strips or threads, which didn’t seem so demanding.
“What are you thinking?”
Song Youde bluntly criticized her, “Grass mats are so flexible, I’m worried they won’t be firm enough if pressed on your mattresses. Bamboo mats are even more brittle… What if so heavy person sleeps on one, and over ti it suddenly breaks, they reach out a hand, and a bamboo splinter gets into their skin—”
“Hiss!”
Just thinking about it made Song Tan frown:
“Alright then.”
She gazed at the large patch of bamboo forest by the roadside and could only sigh, “It seems apart from growing shoots, they don’t have much use.”
“Who says that?”
Song Youde was not happy to hear this:
“Don’t we use them all the ti for building cucumber trellises in your vegetable garden?”
“Besides, if we can’t make mats, can’t we still make baskets? I’ll talk about it once I free up my hands.”
However, it was clear that Song Youde still had worries weighing on his mind—
“If the grass mats are to be made so ticulously, we definitely won’t be able to finish one in a day. Continuing at this pace, I’m afraid the whole sumr will pass, and we still won’t have made much.”
Thinking about the amount of money spent to hire people to cut the grass, Song Youde was starting to regret it.
“What’s there to be afraid of?”
Song Tan, however, was optimistic, “If we can’t make it in ti this year, we’ll definitely catch up next year. Grandpa, make them as intricate as possible, these days many people love finely made handcrafted goods, soone will buy them!”
The grass was already piled on the ground, and Song Youde just sighed about it. Now, hearing Song Tan so full of confidence, he couldn’t help but smile…
As the grandfather and granddaughter were talking, they suddenly heard the rattling of a tricycle outside.
Zhang Wang arrived late in the afternoon, braving the sun, and as soon as he saw Song Tan, he asked anxiously:
“Tan Tan, I saw the weather forecast; it says it’s going to rain heavily for several days starting tomorrow. The waterlons in the fields can’t withstand rainwater! Let’s pick them all this afternoon!”
Normally, waterlons in their growth period are not afraid of such rain, but the problem was that many of the large waterlons in their field were on the verge of ripeness.
If the atmospheric pressure dropped at this ti and they were pounded by rain, they would explode or split in the field before they could be picked—waterlons at 20 yuan per jin, who could withstand that?
Song Tan: …!!!
She had almost forgotten about this, even though she had watched the weather forecast for several days!
“Okay, then I’ll go talk to the family first, and we’ll all go up the hill to help pick the waterlons!”
“Good.”
Zhang Wang also got back on his tricycle, “The second batch of early waterlons hasn’t been rushed, no worries there. The main concern is the large waterlons that are ripe right now.”
Because they were so big, they weren’t planted in large numbers, but added up, it was still several acres—a physically demanding task.
After thinking it over, Song Tan decided to make a phone call to the vegetable dealer, “Old Zhao, do you want waterlons?”
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