After hosting a simple New Year's banquet, on January 5th, he finally made the first high-quality wooden wheel without ever delaying his work, and organized all the steps needed before and after bending the wood into a wheel.
From selecting the wood, cutting the logs, letting them air dry or kiln-dry, to steaming and heating them to bend using molds.
Then to fixing the bent wood with clamps to prevent it from springing back and deforming after cooling, sawing off the excess parts after drying, and assembling two semicircles into a complete rim.
Next, embed and install the hub inside the rim for the spokes, use fish swim bladder glue to bond, and make the structure of the entire wheel more reasonable through mortise and tenon construction. Only then is the wheel considered complete.
The entire process is so complex, the costs of trial and error can be imagined.
Without the mindset brought by modern education and knowledge in subjects like materials science, physics, and chemistry, Chen Zhou could hardly imagine how long it would take him to make this wheel.
However, he felt his efforts were worth it, as this 80cm-diater wheel already t his needs.
It's no exaggeration to say that if given a chain, he could completely make a bicycle with wooden wheels.
Now, just by removing the wheel casters from the ergonomic chair and taking out the bearings from inside the casters, his handcart would be more than half finished. To go a step further, using a billy goat to pull the cart isn't just wishful thinking.
...
But after such a long period of intense work, once he ensured success and had complete confidence in building the handcart, Chen Zhou decided to relax his mind and body and take a rest.
Unknowingly, the three kittens in the cave were already over three months old.
Currently, the largest kitten, also the only male cat, the second one, weighed nearly five pounds. With its broad skeleton, it didn't look much smaller than its mother, Ti Zi, when standing together.
This fellow, with its yellow and black stripes, resembled a tabby cat a bit, lively and alert, often following Ti Zi out hunting lately. It was much stronger than its unreliable father, Xiao Huihui, and was deeply loved by Chen Zhou.
With so free ti at hand, Chen Zhou enthusiastically nad the three kittens, formally accepting them as mbers of his little family.
The smallest, the first one, had fur with mixed colors and looked quite like a popular internet cat that Chen Zhou liked, but without looking aged and wouldn't "baa" like that cat.
Chen Zhou nad this cat "Boom," exactly the sa as that internet cat, which showed his nostalgia for modern life while satisfying his wish—he had wanted to have a cat similar to Boom for a long ti.
The second one was the largest and bravest, nad "Tiger Head." Once Ti Zi got older, catching mice at ho would depend on it.
Xiao Huihui was lazy and greedy, and even with so changes from before, it could never beco the main force in catching mice.
Additionally, Chen Zhou believed that with Tiger Head's combination of Xiao Huihui's size and skeleton and Ti Zi's fierceness and agility, it might beco the "cat king" of the area.
With a good family diet and no lack of nutrition, once this guy grew up, even three or five wild cats might not be its match.
The third one was also a female cat, inheriting Xiao Huihui's fur color, slightly bigger in size than the first, with a similar lazy disposition to its father, hence nad "Gray Ball."
The three little ones used to huddle together in their young days, inseparable, but as they grew, their personalities changed, and they gradually drifted apart.
Tiger Head liked to follow Ti Zi out to catch mice, and being brave, dared to venture deep into the forest. Chen Zhou had seen it at a place not far from the camp at the foot of the mountain.
Boom wasn't lazy, but less brave than Tiger Head, daring at most to go to the edge of the forest.
To find it, one only needs to call out a few tis around the farmland, and it would erge from the rice or wheat fields. Among the three kittens, Boom was also the most affectionate.
As for Gray Ball, it lived up to its na, mostly lounging by the bed or in the kitchen.
The "maternity house" Chen Zhou prepared for Ti Zi had now beco its private villa, where it napped all day, no wonder it was a circle larger than Boom.
Because they were nad late, the kittens weren't quite used to their "formal" nas yet, but responded eagerly when called "First," "Second," or "Third."
To correct their wrong ideas, Chen Zhou fried many fragrant small dried fish during his breaks and trained them like dogs.
Calling out to them repeatedly, as long as they ca over, there was a reward, and gradually there was so effect. They really started to understand what their nas were.
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