Chapter 97: This Putty Powder Is Excellent!
The Great Sheng Dynasty had lime, fine sand, and the like. They also painted walls. However, their materials were nowhere near as delicate and pure as modern putty powder. Modern putty powder felt incredibly smooth to the touch, and even after being on the wall for a long time, the flakes that peeled off weren’t overly coarse.
Jian Xingxia took the opportunity to bring over the tools and materials she had purchased online.
Old Man Xu had brought his own trowels, scrapers, and other ordinary tools. But the moment Jian Xingxia lined up her tools, Old Man Xu couldn’t help but cry out in surprise, leaning in close to inspect them.
“Such bright iron, and it’s used just to make a trowel?”
The Great Sheng Dynasty was more advanced than the Great Liang Dynasty, so iron implements were more common. In Lin Sanniang’s household, having an iron wok and a kitchen knife was considered quite fortunate; they couldn’t even afford a wood-chopping cleaver. In the Great Sheng Dynasty, however, almost every household owned a few pieces of ironware. Old Man Xu could easily afford iron trowels, scrapers, and putty knives.
Yet, even for Old Man Xu, whose family finances were decent, seeing the stainless steel trowel Jian Xingxia brought out made him exclaim in sheer amazement.
Jian Xingxia smiled. “So it can be used?”
Old Man Xu clicked his tongue in admiration. “Such bright iron, yet it’s only used to make a trowel.” The Great Sheng Dynasty had plenty of iron, but their blacksmithing techniques couldn’t achieve this level of quality.
After that, when he saw the roller brush, he praised it repeatedly, showing great appreciation. “This is far more convenient than our wide horizontal brushes.”
When he finally laid eyes on the putty powder, the artisan’s eyes instantly lit up.
“May I ask Manager Lin, what kind of powder paste is this? To think it’s so fine and pure white.”
How could Lin Sanniang possibly know? She could only look toward Jian Xingxia for help.
Jian Xingxia said, “This is putty powder. Um, it’s the quick-drying type.” She glanced at the main ingredients listed on the bag. “It contains cement, gypsum powder, talcum powder… roughly those things.”
Cement again. Old Man Xu had heard this word during his last visit, but he hadn’t known how to use it. This time, he was determined to try it out.
Jian Xingxia found a broken bucket and, following the instruction manual, mixed a little bit of putty powder to demonstrate for Old Man Xu.
For a bricklayer, mastering one skill meant mastering them all. Old Man Xu caught on very quickly. When he took over to try it himself, he marveled continuously.
“Oh, my goodness! This powder paste is so wonderful—no need for sieving, no need for settling, just mix it with water and it’s ready to use?”
“Applying it to the wall feels so smooth and soft. It spreads open so easily and adheres perfectly. Truly excellent stuff.”
Old Man Xu tested a small patch, feeling utterly delighted. For a craftsman, encountering excellent materials brought a sense of pure, unadulterated joy that made him forget the original purpose of his journey. He threw his family’s doubts completely to the back of his mind, happily using the stainless steel scraper to clean the wall surface, eager to apply the putty powder.
Looking at the cheerfully smiling little old man, Jian Xingxia was just about to remark that Old Man Xu was quite nimble for someone his age, climbing up and down with such a robust physique. Before the words could leave her mouth, she suddenly remembered—wait, he was only thirty-eight! He was right in the prime of his life!
While Old Man Xu scraped the walls inside the house, Jian Xingxia and Lin Sanniang busied themselves in the courtyard, preparing to build a chicken coop.
Back when Dahua was the only one around, Jian Xingxia let it sleep wherever it wanted. Dahua was a clean, beautiful hen that smelled nice, so sleeping in Jian Xingxia’s room was perfectly fine. But the other chickens, ducks, and the goose were a different story.
Right now, in addition to Dahua, the old house was home to sixteen chickens, two ducks, one goose, and even a sheep… it was truly getting far too lively. At night, the courtyard became a raucous clamor. If Jian Xingxia didn’t wake up exceptionally early in the morning to let them out, the chickens, ducks, goose, and sheep would hold a massive assembly—some butting the doors, some crowing, and others breaking into brawls. It was an exasperating frenzy of flying feathers and squawking geese.
So, a couple of days ago, Jian Xingxia had tasked Dahei with heading into the mountains to cut down some bamboo, which was then split into strips. Right now, she and Lin Sanniang were sorting through them first, chopping the bamboo strips into roughly equal lengths, and using sand paper bought online to smooth out any sharp splinters and rough edges. Later, they would find a vacant plot of land to build a shed for this rowdy flock.
Just like that, though there were only three people at the old house right now, it was a hive of activity. Accompanied by the flock of chickens, ducks, and geese, it was exceptionally lively.
Jian Xingxia had finally realized that ever since she returned to the old house, there was an endless stream of chores to do every single day. Even though she had hired several people, she still started working the moment she opened her eyes every morning, kept at it until nightfall, and faced another mountain of tasks the next day.
Fortunately, no one rushed her, and all arrangements were entirely up to her. Her body was tired, but her heart felt immensely secure and happy.
Perhaps what humans hated wasn’t work itself, but meaningless, repetitive labor. When everything was done for oneself and decided by oneself, labor became a joy.
They kept busy until noon before Old Man Xu finally finished scraping away all the flaking, peeling, moldy, and soiled wall surfaces, exposing the red bricks underneath.
He removed the face shield and the hat from his head, feeling a bit distressed. “Proprietress, Miss, I’ve gone and made this face shield and hat so filthy!” They were covered entirely in dust.
Jian Xingxia smiled. “This was meant to block the dust for you in the first place. It’s fine if it gets dirty.”
Seeing that the young mistress didn’t blame him, Old Man Xu felt much better. Still, running his hands over the face shield, he felt a deep sense of reverence. He didn’t know what material this shield was made of; it looked like glass, perfectly transparent without hindering his sight, yet it felt somewhat flexible to the touch, not hard and brittle like glass. This singular, wondrous contraption had blocked the vast majority of the dust, allowing Old Man Xu to spend a crisp, clean morning scraping the walls.
Finally, he could apply the putty powder.
Old Man Xu was filled with anticipation. Following the steps Jian Xingxia had taught him, he mixed a bucket of paste and happily set to scraping. He didn’t dare speak too much to Jian Xingxia, fearing he might offend her, but facing Lin Sanniang, he couldn’t resist rambling on.
“My word, Manager Lin, look at this putty—it’s truly smooth! Look at this application—it’s perfectly level! If the powder weren’t fine, one could never scrape out such a smooth wall surface!”
“Look here, this stuff dries incredibly fast! The patch I repaired earlier only feels a bit damp to the touch, but the surface is already dry! Doesn’t this mean it can dry completely in just a few hours?”
Lin Sanniang naturally didn’t understand the finer points of painting walls. Her home was built with dirt bricks made of wood, yellow clay, and rice straw; the wall surfaces were only coated with a layer of mud, and sand and dirt would flake off from time to time.
Old Man Xu said, “Look at this putty—it’s a single, solid sheet, so smooth. It won’t shed sand or dirt in the future.”
Lin Sanniang took a break from her chores to step over and take a look. “It is indeed excellent.”
Finding someone who appreciated the quality of the putty powder, Old Man Xu grew happy again, humming a tune from the Great Sheng Dynasty as he worked joyfully.
Midway through, Jian Xingxia urged him to rest, but he refused. “Proprietress, I only have an hour left before I must return. I don’t dare waste any time…” He wanted to keep playing with the putty.
Jian Xingxia was amused. She had finally realized that Lin Sanniang, her daughter, and Dahei were all impoverished folks who came here primarily seeking warmth and sustenance. This Old Man Xu, however, didn’t lack grain at home; coming here a second time was purely for the experience.
Each of the three had their own tasks. At noon, Lin Sanniang simply stir-fried two dishes and cooked a big pot of noodles. Having inquired with Old Man Xu, she knew that whether in the Great Sheng Dynasty or the Great Liang Dynasty, the commoners’ meals were roughly the same, so she didn’t rashly prepare food according to Jian Xingxia’s usual standard. To hired hands like them, that would be far too extravagant and shocking.
She first sliced a small piece of cured meat, rendering the lard out to sear the fragrant ginger, garlic, and chili before stir-frying a massive basin of green vegetables. Then she fetched a few eggs, stir-frying a plate with green peppers. The absolute key was that there had to be plenty of noodles.
