doomsday survival

Chapter 45 Tanning
The whistling north wind blows flakes of snow across the earth, adding a layer of white coat to the earth. In this weather, the birds and beasts are hiding in their nests and shivering, hoping for the sunshine to appear soon. Let the world regain warmth.

Shi Jian carried a rabbit and pushed open the door. Suddenly a gust of cold wind blew in with snowflakes, which dropped the temperature of the warm room. Shi Jian hastily closed the door.

Xia Qing walked over to take the rabbit, patted the snow on Shi Jian's body, and complained: "It's so cold, don't go out, anyway, there's still food at home, I'll freeze you."

Shi Jian smiled and said, "It's okay, I used to wear fleece pants all winter."

Seeing that the two of them were getting tired again, Xia Rou rolled her eyes and said, "Sister, should I deal with those roe deer skins? I'm too cold to go out now."

Shi Jian also became interested when he heard the words. He didn't know how to use animal brains to tan fur, so he also asked, "Can it be tanned? Come on, let me see."

Xia Qing looked at Shi Jian anxiously like a child, laughed, and said, "It's long ago, but you were injured a few days ago."

"Then let's do it today, Xiao Rou should wear a new one." Shi Jian made a final decision, and Xia Rou laughed so hard that her eyes narrowed.

Xia Qing actually wanted to tan the leather a long time ago, but Guang was busy taking care of Shi Jian the other day, so he smiled and said, "Okay, but you have to help me."

"Must." Shi Jian stood up and said as he walked out, "I'll go get those roe deer heads back first."

Shi Jian's work is pure physical labor, splitting the skulls of those animals with a fire ax and taking out the brains inside, without any technical content.

When Shi Jian took the brains, Xia Qing had already taken off the dried roe deer skin and soaked it in water.

When Shi Jian saw it, he couldn't help asking: "Why did it get soaked again, didn't it dry up for nothing?"

Xia Qing explained with a smile: "Dry leather can't be tanned, only wet leather can."

"How long does it have to soak?" Shi Jian asked again.

Xia Qing calculated the time in her heart, and now she has started to use the hour system like Shi Jian, and she doesn't say "time for a meal" like before.After thinking about it, Xia Qing said, "It will take about two hours."

"Such a long time?" Shi Jian felt that it was too long, and thought that it would be enough as long as it was soaked wet.

"What are you looking for?" Xia Rou interjected beside her, "The leather of my shoes has soaked for two days."

Shi Jian looked at Xia Rou in disbelief. Xia Rou brushed the hair on her forehead and said, "That's because the fur needs to be depilated. We don't need to depilate to make leather clothes. It can be done in two hours."

It was only then that Shi Jian realized that hair removal was more troublesome, but fortunately, he could do the physical work by himself, and leave this technical work to Xia Qing.

Relatively speaking, Xia Qing's work is indeed a technical stream.

First, scrape off the film and remaining flesh on the skin.Xia Qing waited until the roe deer skin was softened, and asked Shi Jian to find a long log and bring it in and lean it against the wall. This one was easy to find. The white birch that Shi Jian cut down when he built the wooden house was still a long way away. It was enough for Xia Qing.Xia Qing spread the roe deer fur down on the wood, and gently scraped off the film on the skin with a rice shovel vertically from tail to head.Shi Jian wanted to try it after seeing it, but Xia Qing refused.

"Let me do it. If you don't use enough strength, you may scratch the leather." Xia Qing explained.

Shi Jian had no choice but to watch from the sidelines. After Xia Qing shaved the roe deer skin smooth and soft, he immediately helped her press her shoulders. Xia Qing turned around and smiled at Shi Jian, and said softly, "I'm not tired."

Then the brain must be heated on a low heat and boiled slowly, while stirring continuously to make it evenly heated and to prevent sticking to the pan. Finally, the brain must be boiled into a viscous liquid.

Xia Qing stayed by the pot all the time, even though the fire had been dimmed, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.Xia Rou wiped her sister's face from time to time, while Shi Jian was serving tea and water.

Finally, the brain was boiled successfully. Shi Jian took a look and found that it was really sticky, just like the paste made from white flour at home.

Xia Qing washed the shaved roe deer skin with water again, then spread the fur downwards, and rubbed his brains on the skin until the whole skin was wiped all over, and he didn't stop until the whole roe skin was smooth. .

Shi Jian helped Xia Qing wring out the roe deer skin, and then the two of them stretched out the roe deer skin vigorously with each side. After going back and forth a few times, the roe deer skin was almost dry.Xia Qing put his hair inward on a horizontal bar, and that's when it came to an end.

"Is that all right?" Shi Jian asked Xia Qing.

"How can it be." Xia Qing wiped off the sweat from his forehead, smiled, and said, "We have to shovel and comb again when it's seven or eight minutes dry. I guess it won't be completely healed until the day after tomorrow."

"It's too troublesome." Shi Jian sighed, "We've been working on the three skins for a long time."

"There is no way. The raw hide is too hard. We can make beds, but we can't make clothes." Xia Qing explained to Shi Jian.

"I know this, but the materials I copied are all tanned with chemicals. I really don't remember the pure natural method like yours." Shi Jian scratched his head and said, "Thanks to you, if I didn't I really can't do anything with these skins." After speaking, while Xia Rou was not looking at them, he secretly kissed Xia Qing.

Xia Qing's face flushed, feeling very sweet in her heart, but she still said coquettishly: "Be careful to let Xiao Rou see."

Shi Jian chuckled, didn't speak, and nodded to show that he understood, and he must pay attention next time.

The two of them saw that they had enough brains left, so they tanned a few more rabbit skins.

Two days later, the processed furs were ready to use, Xia Qing began to sew leather clothes, a total of three big ones, one small and four roe skins, plus five rabbit skins, Xia Qing made a roe skin coat for everyone , each with a pair of rabbit leather gloves.The remaining piece of roe deer skin was used as a quilt for Xia Rou, while Shi Jian and Xia Qing were still covered with dry and hard raw hide.These clothes can be made thanks to the sewing kit that Shi Jian found last time, otherwise it would be much more laborious to make.

Xia Qing kept praising Shi Jian for finding such a good thing.

Although Shi Jian boasted about himself, he thought in his heart: "Brother was too impulsive last time in the supermarket, and rushed in without any plan. You can't be so reckless. This is not hot-blooded, this is called second-hand goods, and you don't take your own life seriously."

Of course, in order to maintain his glorious image, Shi Jian will not admit to the two sisters that he acted recklessly last time. It is better for men not to talk to women about some things. Shi Jian now has a deep understanding.

But the house has no windows, and the interior is completely illuminated by the light of the fire. Xia Qing was almost stuck to the fur, even so, his hands were pricked a few times.

Seeing Xia Qing's finger pricked several times by needles, Shi Jian felt very distressed. In order to let Xia Qing see clearly, Shi Jian took out the barrel of gasoline and was going to try to see if he could make an oil lamp. When I opened the barrel and smelled it carefully, I realized that it was diesel oil. I didn’t notice it at the time and thought it was gasoline in the barrel, but I forgot that the Land Rover used diesel oil.

Diesel is better, at least it can make safe oil lamps.Shi Jian emptied a bottle of wine and filled it with diesel oil, pierced a small eye on the cap of the wine bottle, then cut a thin strip from the pure cotton vest, and used a piece cut from an iron box for tea. The thin iron sheet was rolled up and passed through the bottle cap as a wick. After screwing it up, the wick that had absorbed enough diesel was ignited with a lighter, and the room lit up instantly.

"Brother Jian, why didn't you bring out such a good thing earlier?" Xia Rou expressed dissatisfaction with Shi Jian.

Shi Jian explained: "I thought it was gasoline. Of course I didn't dare to make oil lamps, otherwise it would explode with a 'boom'." After speaking, he made an exaggerated gesture.

Xia Rou, who already knew what an explosion was in class, was taken aback. Seeing Shi Jian smiling, she was so angry that she hit Shi Jian with her small fist.

While avoiding it, Shi Jian said, "I'm not kidding you, gasoline is dangerous, this is diesel, it's fine to make oil lamps."

Xia Qing called Xia Rou to prevent her from continuing to fight with Shi Jian, and said to Shi Jian: "It's bright, but the smell of this oil makes me a little dizzy."

"It's okay, the smell of oil is always like this for the first time, and it will be fine after you get used to it." Shi Jian comforted.

In fact, kerosene is the best way to make oil lamps, because diesel lamps have a lot of smoke and are not as bright as kerosene lamps, but with oil lamps, Xia Qing's speed is much faster, and he finished the clothes in two days.

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(End of this chapter)