It's really hard to just farm peacefully.

Chapter 356

Jiang Yan planned to write down both guesses and let the recipient decide for himself which one is possible.

Chunying was a little dazed when she heard this. This should be the method Jiang Yan mentioned to let the right people see their hard work. She didn't expect it to be so straightforward.

But Chunying could not satisfy Jiang Yan's wish for a large piece of paper.

She said, "You know paper isn't cheap. There are only two shops in the county that sell it, and it's even more expensive. Let's save as much as we can until the next payment arrives."

Jiang Yan: ...

Seeing that no one was talking, Chunying glared slightly and said, "We'll use the copper coins we saved to buy some bone stew. Just tell me if you want some."

"Drink." Jiang Yan said obediently. This benefit was earned by her own tragic example of malnutrition and lack of energy, which had made her almost half-useless, and by helping to purchase housing supplies at low prices.

Their original food allowance was only enough for them to eat meat once every ten days, but now they can add an egg or a bowl of meat and bone soup to the table every day.

In the face of a better life, "integrity" has no binding force on the three low-level laborers. In particular, Tian Jiu, who is also responsible for supervision, also holds the mentality that if you don't eat him, you are a fool. He even anxiously urges everyone to find ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure because the money for extra meals has been seriously reduced.

Spurred by the food, Jiang Yan changed his laziness of the past few days and put in a great effort to write a text that was half the size of the previous day. He finally managed to write down the much simpler draft on the piece of paper without missing a single word.

When she handed it to Chunying, she moved the note closer and closer, and finally said speechlessly: "Aren't you afraid of hurting your eyes?"

Jiang Yan was very confident: "This is just one time." Then he thought for a moment and added: "I know a way. If the experiment is successful, our food standards can be maintained for a while."

What Jiang Yan was thinking about was naturally papermaking, but it was the recycling of waste paper.

In her early years, when she was squatting on the mud ground practicing calligraphy, she considered whether to bring papermaking from the people of Dongshan Village. This was one of the few skills she remembered the process for and was confident of success.

But the situation was not good at that time. Not only could the paper produced with so much effort not be exchanged for food, it was also likely to affect the interests of local tyrants and bring disaster.

Although the current situation is not clear, it is just recycling waste paper, and with the support of Chunying's connections, it is not a big problem.

As for making new paper directly from raw materials, Jiang Yan felt that he had to wait and it was not the right time now.

Jiang Yan directly asked Chunying for the waste paper. Even though she had read most of the contents, Chunying was still extremely careful in this regard. She stuffed all the waste paper into the stove and burned them all, regardless of whether they were important or not.

So when Chunying learned that Jiang Yan needed to use it to make paper pulp, she felt relieved but also felt that she had lost out by using it to start a fire.

Although this business cannot do without paper, their base is new and small, so the amount of waste in the short term is not large.

Chunying spent ten days collecting enough scraps of paper that were soaked beyond recognition for Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan asked Tian Jiu, who was watching, for help and asked him to use a wooden hammer and stone mortar to repeatedly beat and stir the shredded paper until it completely turned into an off-white slurry.

Since the slurry concentration could not be controlled in the initial test, multiple dilutions and attempts were required. Therefore, every time half a bucket of water was added, Jiang Yan had to use a small papermaking machine made of linen and wood chips to make paper.

Theoretically, when making paper, the cloth should be immersed diagonally and then gently swung horizontally. The fibers in the pulp will adhere to the linen cloth to form a paper film, which can be peeled off after drying to make paper.

But this operation is highly dependent on personal techniques and skills.

The three of them took turns trying repeatedly, and finally, when the moon was at its zenith, they peeled off a piece of paper that was visible.