364 Top and Bottom
When they got home, he saw Xue Sanfu coming back from the workshop. He was carrying a bag of early rice that Xue Sifu had bought from town yesterday and was about to go out. It was obvious that he was going up the mountain again.
Seeing this, Li Hehua immediately asked, “Sanfu, is it done?”
“Hmm. Yeah.” Xue Sanfu’s voice was very indifferent. Not only did the little Jiang Yue need to look up to him, but even Li Hehua had to look up to him.
“Then you should go.” Li Hehua urged him at first, but when she saw Xue Sanfu carrying the rice, she excitedly and softly said to Jiang Yue, “Jiang Yue, let’s go and take a look too.”
As she said that, she quickly put the bamboo tube and the thin stick in the house and then came out to lead Jiang Yue up the mountain.
By the time Jiang Yue was led to the workshop by Li Hehua, they had already removed the husks from the rice that had been poured into the hole in the middle of the workshop. After a short while, the white rice mixed with the husks that had been removed fell into the connecting trough at the bottom.
The bottom of the wooden groove was round like a net, like a large sieve. There were many small holes for the chaff to pass through, but the white rice could not.
There was another groove below this one, which was for catching rice husks.
As long as he shook the connecting trough above, the chaff would be completely sifted into the connecting trough below.
The bottom of the husks was not like this. Usually, the husks would be pulled or pushed by humans or animals to grind out the rice husks. Then, the husks would be sifted by humans or blown by the wind. It did not look like this at all.
The reason why it was like this was because Xue Yan had improved it to make it more energy-saving.
The upper connecting groove had also been improved to be able to shake. The lower connecting groove was much larger than the upper connecting groove, so it didn’t matter how much the upper connecting groove shook.
The two connecting troughs had exits that could be tilted to pour out the white rice grains or husks inside.
“What’s this?” Li Qingshu and the others surrounded the rice and looked at him in a daze. Even though they knew that the design was already very clever, they still felt that it was particularly magical.
Moreover, it was grinding the rice very quickly, much faster than if a human or animal was doing it.
“Does this mean that I can come to your place to remove the rice husk in the future? We would love to use this instead. Our lives would be much easier.” Li Qingshu and the others couldn’t help but ask.
“That’s great that you want to.” Xue Dafu laughed so hard that his teeth could not be seen.
Jiang Yue walked to Xue Yan’s side.
Seeing her coming, Xue Yan took a look at her, then shook the top groove, leaving only white rice grains in the groove, and the chaff fell into the bottom groove.
Xue Wufu was also very happy, he jumped for joy. “Xue Yan, do you want to try the stone mill in the next room?”
Xue Yan said, “I don’t think so. Sifu bought that. It was moved from the yard of our house. We’ve used it at home before, so there shouldn’t be any issues with that. We’ve never used this one where it could take out the rice husks before. So that’s why I thought to try it out today.”
“You’re right.” Xue Wufu chuckled.
This matter was so magical that the villagers soon found out about it. Those who were free came to take a look. Of course, Chief Lu could not help but check it out too.
Before Chief Lu and the rest even reached the workshop, they could already hear the creaking of the wooden wheels. When they arrived, they saw the wheels spinning non-stop at the bottom of the elevated level, one driving another. It was a spectacular sight, and they couldn’t help but open their mouths wide and exclaim in shock. “This is a magical instrument, isn’t it? How does it work? It looks amazing!”
When they saw the process, they were shocked that the rice husks were easy to peel and quickly separated from the rice through the upper and lower connecting troughs. They couldn’t help but scrunch up their eyebrows and look thoroughly at the rice.
How was this possible?