The Beginning of a Courtyard House: Sixty Years of Internal Strength

We need to buy more wine jars, but buying too many wouldn't be right.

Forget it, I'll just make it myself. Should I make some more beer?

By the way, you can make them yourself; ceramic wine jars and wooden wine barrels shouldn't be too difficult.

Thinking of this, Li Jianguo quickly told Yao Yao and left the space.

I went to Xinhua Bookstore and secondhand bookstores to look for relevant books.

These kinds of manufacturing books are easy to find; I found several in no time.

Li Jianguo took the book back to his space and searched for materials in the small world, but the trees in the space were too small and there wasn't much usable wood. Going to the forest to cut down trees would be too much trouble.

I started making pottery following the instructions in the book, but I didn't expect that making wine jars would require building a kiln first. Building a kiln requires refractory materials, so it looks like I'll have to go to the forest.

Li Jianguo followed the steps to create a prototype of a large kiln, then left the space and rode a donkey cart towards the western mountains.

Upon arriving at the location, they found it too crowded, so they didn't rush to cut down trees. Instead, they returned to their space to continue repairing the kiln. Li Jianguo built a large one, thinking he could fire more wine jars at once and save himself the trouble of going back and forth.

Beer also needs wooden barrels and earthenware jars, so it seems we'll have to cut down a lot more trees.

It wasn't until evening that Li Jianguo ran into the deep mountains for an hour before he started logging.

We also need to select some dead trees, because burning live trees directly produces too much smoke, and they also need to be dried.

Logging is so much faster now; you can basically chop down a big tree with one strike. The kitchen knife imbued with internal energy is also quite useful.

They quickly cut down more than fifty trees, then pruned the branches and leaves, and were busy until dawn before they finished.

This is really hard work. I should have just bought wine jars instead of going through all this trouble. I'm starting to regret it. I've come this far, I can't just give up now.

After returning to my room, I fell asleep immediately. I was so tired after working all night.

When Li Jianguo woke up at noon, Yao Yao asked him about it.

"Brother Jianguo, what are you busy with? Why are you gathering so much firewood?"

"It's all for firing kilns and making wine jars. I should have bought more large wine jars, but buying too many isn't good, so I'll just make them myself."

Li Jianguo complained helplessly.

"Oh, no rush, there are still several days left. Come and eat."

After finishing his meal, Li Jianguo continued working with renewed vigor, cutting the wood into pieces of varying sizes before studying the steps involved in ceramic production.

Shaping was relatively easy, but glazing was the most difficult step.

The main problem is that the glaze has to be made by ourselves. The bluish-gray glaze of the ceramics is actually made from plant ash and clay. We also burned some straw to gather enough plant ash.

It took me a long time and a lot of effort to get it done. It really needs to be glazed, otherwise it will really become a ceramic jar.

After sifting and stirring, the glaze was prepared and placed in a jar.

I checked the kiln and found that it wasn't dry. So I followed the instructions in the book and used a slow fire to bake it. It had to be completely dry before it could be fired.

They baked for a whole day before finally getting the kiln ready.

During this time, I carefully read through the books and learned that firing a kiln requires continuous high temperature for two or three days without interruption of the fire.

This is really worrying; it seems I'll have to take turns with Yao Yao.

This amount of wood doesn't seem to be enough. After the kiln was fired, I told Yao Yao about it that evening.

"It will take Yao Yao two days to make the wine jars, and the fire can't be turned off during that time. Let's take turns."

"Oh? It'll take this long to burn? Do you have enough wood? Why don't you work harder tomorrow and get some more dry wood?"

"OK."

I spent the night with Yao Yao, and the next day I went logging again. I felt like I had really become Bald Qiang (a character from a popular Chinese cartoon).

This time, we specifically searched for dead trees, and after a day of collecting them, we found thirty.

Back in the space, after dividing the wood blocks,

He then began to use his mind to make wine jars and glaze them.

Select and wash the clay, knead and age it, shape it on a potter's wheel, air dry and trim it, and then apply glaze.

Li Jianguo decided to make three sizes of wine jars: 5 jin, 10 jin, and 100 jin. He planned to store the 100 jin jars in a cellar for many years, since the longer the liquor is stored in a cellar, the better it tastes.

The capacity of these wine jars, made with my mind, isn't very accurate, but I'll make do with them.

10斤装的足足製作了500个，10斤装的製作了300个。100斤装的製作了100个，这才把窑填满。

A 10-jin (5 catties) container can be used to make beer. After reading the book, I learned that beer fermentation requires temperature control, and a container that is too big is not good either. It is best to use a container that weighs about 10 jin (5 catties).

After filling the fire with wood, Li Jianguo started the fire. After the fire was properly fired, he said to Yao Yao.

"Go back to sleep first. I'll cover your shift tonight, and you can come back tomorrow."

"Okay, Brother Jianguo."

After saying that, he went back to his room to sleep, and Li Jianguo watched him all night.

Yao Yao brought breakfast over and took over the shift this morning.

After finishing his meal, Li Jianguo quickly went to catch up on his sleep and slept all morning before getting up.

He cooked a meal with his mind and then went to keep Wang Yao company while she watched the fire.

It took two days of burning to finish the wine jar. After it cooled down, Li Jianguo took out the wine jar and examined it carefully.

As expected of a clay body made with intention, the thickness is very even, and there are no air bubbles or cracks. It's perfect.

Then he suddenly remembered the problem of sealing it. The popular sealing material in this era was yellow mud and palm leaves, which probably wouldn't last for twenty or thirty years.

We need to find a better sealing method first, since this batch of sorghum hasn't been harvested yet.

Yao Yao also wanted to wander around and look at the wine jars.

"Yaoyao, I see you've learned almost all the characters now, so let me start formally teaching you about meridians and acupoints."

Once you've memorized most of it, I'll directly infuse you with internal energy. At that point, you just need to remember the flow path of that internal energy.

"Really? Brother Jianguo, I can already practice martial arts now."

"Of course, but you need to memorize the meridians and acupoints first."

As he spoke, Li Jianguo found a piece of wood and began to modify it, creating a life-size model.

He started marking the acupoints and meridians on it, carving and drawing, and it took Li Jianguo two hours to finish.

"Look at this model. It shows all the meridians and acupoints. Start memorizing them. Once you've memorized them enough, I can teach you martial arts."

Yao Yao excitedly picked up the wooden stake and began to memorize it.

Several days passed in the blink of an eye, and Li Jianguo kept thinking about the issue of sealing the mouth.

Yao Yao hadn't memorized the meridian knowledge yet, so Li Jianguo quickly comforted her.

"Don't rush, take your time to memorize it. It won't be done in a short time. Come on, let's go home first; eight or nine days have already passed."

"Alright, Brother Jianguo, but there are just too many meridians. They're giving me a headache."

"Take your time, we're still young."

The two drove the donkey cart back to Beijing, found a corner, and stored the donkey cart in their spatial storage.

Li Jianguo deliberately carried a burlap sack, pretending to have bought a lot of things.

"Jianguo is back? What's this?" Yang Ruihua asked excitedly as she approached.