Yun Xue's eyes widened and she looked at the old man in front of her, "Grandpa Dong, are you telling the truth?" Are you really going to teach me kung fu? Didn't you say you didn't accept apprentices? "Will such a good thing really come to your own head?

Qian Mingyuan was also a little excited over there. You must know that as long as Dong Lao accepts Yunxue as an apprentice, then they will be the first in this mountain field. In the future, other wooden gangs will never dare to bully them. That's great news. "Old man, you have to talk about it, it's not a joke."

Old Man Dong glared at Qian Mingyuan, "Do you still need to say it?" When have I ever made such a joke? That's it, I took this girl as an apprentice. Tomorrow, after your ritual of sacrificing to the heavens, I will have people inform all the wooden gangs, on the eighteenth day of the winter month, I will accept apprentices. Let these bunnies also come to meet my apprentices. The old man stroked his beard and looked at Yun Xue opposite with a smile.

Yun Xue was stunned by the sudden luck, her brain was a little unable to turn, and she stood there stunned.

Sun Changhai saw it and hurriedly said. "Xiaoyu, hurry up and pour wine for Dong Lao, you kid, you're happy and stupid."

Yun Xue reacted at this time, hurriedly stepped forward, and poured wine for Old Man Dong, "Master, you drink." "Yun Xue still can't believe it now, Brother Zhengsong, the old man who wants to apprentice, actually wants to accept himself as an apprentice? Yun Xue really wants to hit herself twice to see if it hurts, isn't this a dream?

The old man stroked his beard and smiled, "It's still a little early to call Master." You haven't apprenticed yet. ”

Yun Xue reacted this time, and knelt directly in front of the old man, "Master is above, please accept the apprentice's worship." "If you don't seize such an opportunity, you will be a fool.

"Okay, good, the old man has a habit of being alone in his life, and he has never confiscated his apprentices. It's rare to have a relationship with you today, but I liked it at first sight. Okay, from today onwards, you will be the old man's disciple. This old man Dong also smiled so much that the wrinkles on his face opened. It can be seen that he really likes Yunxue.

Sun Changhai on the side couldn't help but sigh, each of them has their own fate. Zheng Song has been in the mountain field for the fourth time this year, and he has always been thinking about worshipping this old man as a teacher, but unfortunately Old Man Dong ignored him at all. Unexpectedly, Yun Xue has only been here for a few days, and she was actually taken by others, which is really unreasonable. But no matter which one becomes Dong Lao's apprentice, it will be a great blessing for the Mu Gang.

"Congratulations to the old man, I accepted the apprentice today, and there will be someone to succeed me in the future." Sun Changhai picked up his wine glass and saluted Old Man Dong, "Come, old man, let's have one." In order for the old man to accept Xiaoyu as an apprentice, let's have two drinks. ”

So, Yun Xue stood next to him and poured wine, and Sun Changhai and Qian Mingyuan accompanied Old Man Dong to drink. This meal was drunk until the middle of the day, and it was over.

Yun Xue poured wine there at first, but later it was a little late, and she had to cook tomorrow morning. So I went to hand out a large pot of noodles, put it on the edge of the pot, covered the curtain, and came back again.

"Alright, we've had a lot of drinks tonight, let's find a place to sleep. This girl still has to cook tomorrow morning, so let her rest quickly. The old man saw that Yun Xue was yawning sleepily next to him, so he hurriedly said.

"Okay, that's easy to do, the old man's residence has already been prepared for you." Qian Mingyuan hurriedly said. It turned out that in this mountain field, each wooden gang had prepared a separate house, just to leave it for Old Man Dong.

So the three of them went out from this side and went back to the house to sleep. Before leaving, Old Man Dong also instructed Yun Xue to let her sleep well, do whatever she had to do, and not delay the big guy's meal for the sake of apprenticeship.

Yun Xue hurriedly agreed, and then sent the three out of the house.

"Okay, hurry back to sleep, plug the door at night, there are many beasts outside." Sun Changhai also said a few words before leaving.

Yun Xue waited for these people to leave, scooped some hot water from the pot, scalded her feet, and then went to sleep on the kang. Lying in the quilt, Yun Xue still felt a little trance. In the afternoon, I heard Zhengsong talk a lot about the old man's deeds. This old man is really a capable person, but why did he fall in love with himself? This is really puzzling. Forget it, if it comes, it will be safe, and it will not be a bad thing anyway. Yun Xue fell asleep in a daze.

The next morning, Qian Mingyuan took all the people of the Mu Gang and put the table in the place where they were going to cut down this year. On top of the table, there was a pig's head, a big rooster, and a fish. In addition, steamed buns, wine, and of course, incense burners and bowls are indispensable.

Old Man Dong twisted three incense sticks in his hand, lit them, and knelt on the ground. The people from the Mu Gang in the back also knelt on the ground, and Yun Xue had to come today, so he knelt down behind everyone.

I only heard the words in the old man's mouth, "The old man of the mountain god, we have kowtowed to you." Please bless this year's smooth mountain farms, so that we can cut down more big trees and make a lot of money. ”

Yun Xue was a little farther away, and could only hear part of it intermittently. Of course, it is to pray for the blessing of the gods, so that when everyone goes up the mountain to cut wood, it will be safe and smooth, and there will be no accidents or anything. In people's minds, there is a mountain god on the mountain, and to engage in logging work, you must get the consent of the mountain god. So, before the start of each year, there has to be such a ceremony.

Next, all the big guys kowtowed to the mountain god, and then Old Man Dong inserted the incense into the incense burner, and poured the wine on the table on the ground. Then Qian Mingyuan and Sun Changhai also twisted incense and stepped forward to pray for incense, so that the ceremony was over.

"Okay, take our belongings and go into the forest to put the trees." Sun Changhai shouted, and was the first to walk towards a few big trees not far away. These big trees are tied with a red cloth, which is the first batch of trees to be sawn this year, and everyone has already selected them.

So they were divided into several groups, and two people in each group came to the bottom of the tree with a saw and began to see the tree. The saw used at this time is quite similar to the one used in later generations, the kind of big-bellied saw used by two people. I only heard the two people working together, and between coming and going, the big tree was sawn open.

These trees, which have grown for at least one or two hundred years, must be the thickness of one person hugging each other. Some even have to be hugged by two people. This kind of tree sawing is not something that can be done in a short time. In this era, there is naturally no such thing as a chainsaw or chainsaw, and you can only rely on manual labor, so you can cut off the trunk little by little.

Felling does not cut the tree all at once, but when it is almost halfway sawed from one side, it is necessary to start sawing again from the other side. And the other side should be higher than this side, and this height is generally determined according to the diameter of the tree, which is basically about one-tenth of the diameter of the big tree.

In order to control the direction in which the wood falls, the side that is sawn first is generally in the direction you want to fall, and this side is short. The other side is high, and when you have to saw, you have to smash a wedge into it, so that you can prevent the sawing and control the direction of the tree falling.

When the saw marks are more than half the diameter of the tree, you have to be careful. The two men under the tree carefully stopped sawing and walked away, and then someone took an axe and gently struck the wedge that was stuffed into it, and the tree would fall.

At this time, someone shouted, "Go down the mountain." "This is down the mountain, that is, the big wood falls down the mountain, which is the best. If you go against the grain, it's easy to go wrong.

At the moment when the tree falls, people must not move, otherwise, the tree may not fall down the mountain according to people's will. There is a possibility of falling to the side, and it is usually at this time that there is an accident in logging, so people are very careful. When the tree fell, someone came up and cut down all the branches of the tree with an axe, repaired and leveled them, and then cut the wood as required. Under normal circumstances, it is two zhang long. A big tree can generally be cut into two or three sections, and the rest of the tree is of little use.

Of course, the remaining trees are not completely useless, everyone will carry them back when they get off work, and use them as firewood to cook on the kang or something. Usually they are brought back and sawn and then waited for the fire to dry.

The fallen logs are gathered together, and they are usually transported to some forks in the mountains. When the peach blossom water is running in the spring, the water in these ditches will wash the big wood into the river below. At that time, as long as the wood was punched and threaded together, it could be arranged in rows.

Yun Xue watched the logging here for a while, and felt that it was not interesting, so she left. She still has to prepare dinner for the big guys, so many people can't eat without preparing in advance.

Qian Mingyuan asked Yun Xue to bring back all the things on the table, "You can do this way, and eat some together in the evening." That fish, don't use it, keep it for the old man to eat. With that, Qian Mingyuan helped Yun Xue and sent all the things back to where they lived.

These cooking things are not difficult for Yunxue. Yun Xue boiled the pig's head, then pulled off all the pig's head meat and cut it into slices. I cut some cabbage again, put it in the pot and fry it together. And that chicken, naturally, was stewed with potatoes, two dishes, and two large pots, which were enough for these people to eat.

In the evening, when the work returned, he was very satisfied with the meal. Today, Mr. Dong was eating with everyone, he tasted those dishes, and nodded as well, praising Yunxue for making delicious dishes.

Sun Changhai hurriedly announced, saying that the old man wanted to accept Xiaoyu as an apprentice. At this moment, the wooden gang's wooden handlers became excited.