In the centre of the round platform, a good amount of softened Wolf Tail Grass Stems were placed.
“You can start pushing now, several people together.” Su Bai instructed.
“Yes,” Qing Mu nodded, leading several Warrior Trainees to push the wooden rods on the stone pillar.
*Kiiiii Kiiiii…* Everyone began pushing around the round platform, and as soon as the stone pillar started moving, it made a grinding sound against the round platform, sounding very dull.
Yan Jiao raised his eyebrows, his red eyes constantly looking at the stone mill, his heart full of confusion.
“This… this stone platform is so strange…” Yan Hua also kept standing on her tiptoes looking at the stone mill.
“Can we make paper ?” Yu Ying mumbled with puffed cheeks.
“This is only the first step. It will not be that quick to make paper.” Su Bai explained.
Yan Hua nodded thoughtfully, sometimes standing on the left, sometimes on the right, her red eyes full of curiosity.
*Kiiiii Kiiiii…* Qing Mu and the others kept pushing the wooden rods in the same direction, and the softened Wolf Tail Grass Stems got slowly grounded up into a mushy state.
The mushy Wolf Tail Grass Stems appeared in a light taro purple colour, with a scent of dry grass wafting out.
“Take out what had been grounded and set them aside. Continue to put some more Wolf Tail Grass Stems to grind. We need to prepare more.” Su Bai instructed.
“Okay.” Qing Mu and the others stopped, took out the ground Wolf Tail Grass Stems, and added some new ones.
*Kiiiii Kiiiii…* The entire round platform was covered with many Wolf Tail Grass Stems, and the stone mill started operating again.
“Shaman, are these broken Wolf Tail Grass Stems the raw material for making paper?” Yan Hua walked to the crushed Wolf Tail Grass Stems and embarrassedly questioned, “But these look like… like… How can we make paper with this?”
“Like what?” Su Bai did not quite understand why the cow horned girl was blushing.
“Nothing,” Yan Hua shook her head repeatedly, unable to say how it looked like human excrement.
“Okay…” Su Bai also did not know what the cow horned girl was thinking of.
Yu Ying reached out to poke the mushy Wolf Tail Grass Stems, looking very curious, and murmured, “What a strange thing.”
Su Bai also took a pinch and rubbed it in his hands, saying with satisfaction. “En, it’s crushed fine enough.”
Ten minutes later, the second batch of Wolf Tail Grass Stems was also crushed. Qing Mu collected the pulp again and placed new Wolf Tail Grass Stems on the mill to grind.
This process was repeated seven or eight times before Su Bai told them to stop, letting Qing Mu and the others take a rest. The taro purple Wolf Tail Grass Pulp filled more than half a bucket.
“Shaman, what’s the next step?” Yan Jiao began to look forward to what to do next.
“Bring a large piece of linen, put this pulp in it, then prepare water in wooden buckets. The pulp needs to be washed and squeezed.” Su Bai instructed.
“Alright,” Although Yan Jiao did not quite understand what was being said, he still followed Su Bai’s instructions, having people bring in linen and large wooden buckets.
A few minutes later, they brought a large wooden bucket filled with water and a large piece of linen.
Su Bai took the linen and filled it with the pulp, then began washing it over the wooden bucket.
While washing, he was also teaching, as the first step still needed to be personally demonstrated.
All the onlookers were strictly selected by Yan Jiao. They would be responsible for papermaking in the future, so they watched and attentively listened.
“This step is crucial, you need to watch carefully.” Su Bai put the Wolf Tail Grass Pulp into the wooden bucket and stirred.
Gradually, the originally clear water also turned into a light taro purple colour, and the water began to thicken.
Yan Jiao and the others watched Su Bai’s actions without blinking, all very curious about why papermaking required the pulp to be put into water, why it needed stirring, and why the colour was so strange.
“Shaman, is this enough?” Yan Jiao asked, puzzled.
Yan Hua walked to the wooden bucket, looked at the still swirling water, and asked curiously, “Is this paper?”
“Hahaha… This is still just water, the paper isn’t made that quickly.” Su Bai laughed.
“Shaman, what’s the next step?” Yan Jiao also wanted to see what the final product would look like.
Su Bai picked up a board woven from wood strips and said, “You need to watch this step carefully as well. This concerns the shaping of the paper.”
That board woven from wood strips was also made by Gu Mu, according to the depiction on the Animal Hide.
“Yes,” everyone nodded seriously.
Su Bai put that wooden board into the bucket full of Wolf Tail Grass Pulp and began to slowly shake it.
The fine Wolf Tail Grass Pulp slowly gathered on the wooden board. After a few minutes, the wooden board was covered with a light layer of taro purple pulp.
Su Bai continued to do the same with the remaining wooden boards, shaking them in the bucket.
Half an hour later, many wooden boards were placed on the ground, all with a light layer of Wolf Tail Grass Pulp.
Of course, Su Bai only demonstrated with three or four boards, and the rest were done by others learning from him.
Yan Hua and Yu Ying both squatted on the ground, staring intently at those wooden boards, sometimes tilting their heads, sometimes changing positions to look.
“Shaman, is it made ?” Yan Jiao held a wooden board in his hands.
“En, it’s considered done, but it needs to be dried for at least three hours.” Su Bai looked at the results with satisfaction.
When scooping up the paper pulp, he was very careful, and when squeezing out the water, he was also very careful.
If not careful, all the effort in papermaking would have been wasted.
“Alright, I’ll have people take these out to dry,” Yan Jiao responded, turning to have people take each piece out.
“Remember, don’t let them dry under direct sunlight, just let them dry naturally. Otherwise the paper made won’t be as flexible.” Su Bai reminded.
Yan Jiao naturally did not understand why this was done, but just nodded and instructed them to do as he was told.
Those wooden boards were carried out one by one. Yan Hua and Yu Ying, out of curiosity, each took one out as well.
[noscript][/noscript]