Leng Yuan set down the flatbed cart and walked over to Gu Jiaojiao.
"What’s wrong?"
Gu Jiaojiao had been staring at him, her big eyes seeming to speak. Leng Yuan knew sothing was on her mind, so he set down the cart and ca over to ask the mont he could.
"Leng Yuan, I just thought of a way to shell the peanuts. It’s like this..."
Gu Jiaojiao whispered a few sentences in Leng Yuan’s ear, gesturing with her hands, then looked at him uncertainly.
"I’ve seen other people use sothing like it, and it looks like this, but I don’t know how to make it. Can you build one?"
Gu Jiaojiao wasn’t very confident. She had never actually used one herself and was worried her description wasn’t accurate.
"Jiaojiao, your description was great."
Even before he started building it, Leng Yuan already had a good idea of what it would look like. Gu Jiaojiao had even described the details.
At that mont, the man’s eyes shone with a startling light. When Gu Jiaojiao described these things, she seed to glow, and the delicate smile on her face was all the more captivating.
’Gu Jiaojiao is such a treasure,’ he thought. ’She’s always coming up with these strange and wonderful ideas.’
Only Gu Jiaojiao could think of sothing like this.
He didn’t make a big deal about it. Instead, he asked Chen Jianshe to go ho and bring back a couple of bamboo stalks.
Chen Jianshe was dumbfounded. ’Bamboo?’
’What do we need bamboo for right now?’
Although Chen Jianshe was confused, he still went to get it.
The bamboo grew on the mountains, so every household had so.
Back then, not everyone had money to buy thermoses, but they still needed to drink water, so they would cut bamboo to use as water containers. Sotis, when they were too busy in the fields to go ho for lunch, they would use bamboo tubes to pack their als. That’s why every household had so.
Chen Jianshe carried a stalk over. Leng Yuan took a sickle and imdiately cut it into three long sections. He hamred them into the ground nearby to secure them.
Then, he split them down the middle, shaved off two-thirds from one side, propped them open with a bamboo strip in the center, and secured them with iron wire.
Chen Jianshe didn’t understand what he was doing at first.
Then he saw Leng Yuan take a handful of peanut plants and thrust them into the contraption. Holding the bamboo with both hands, he used its clamping force to grip the plants, then gave a sharp pull. All the peanuts stripped right off.
The maneuver left Chen Jianshe absolutely stunned.
When he ca to his senses, he couldn’t help but let out a cheer.
"Brother Leng, Sister-in-law is amazing! This is so much easier than all that whacking we were doing before."
With the bamboo, you just need one pull. With the wooden boards, you had to hit them at least four or five tis, and even then, you might not get them all off.
Chen Jianshe’s cheer drew the attention of the other villagers. When they saw Leng Yuan’s swift movents, they looked at Gu Jiaojiao with even greater astonishnt.
’How in the world does Gu Zhiqing’s brain work?’ they wondered. ’How could she co up with an idea like this? We’ve been using bamboo for years and never thought of it.’
The brigade leader was also pulled over by soone. His voice arrived before he did.
"What’s going on? I heard Gu Zhiqing ca up with another great idea for shelling peanuts?"
His voice was filled with unmistakable excitent and enthusiasm.
Everyone was speechless for a mont.
’Brigade Leader, if your voice gets any more excited, we’ll be able to hear you laughing.’
As the brigade leader’s words faded, he arrived in front of them.
When he saw Leng Yuan’s efficient peanut-shelling motion, he couldn’t help but circle the device in amazent.
Finally, he clicked his tongue in wonder.
"This is great! Just great! Why didn’t I ever think of this!"
’I’ve been in the village for over thirty years, and I never even knew about such a simple thod.’
’No wonder I was bad at my studies when I was a kid.’
After lanting his own shortcomings for a mont, he quickly turned and gave everyone instructions.
"Anyone who has bamboo at ho, hurry up and bring it over! With these things, we won’t have to worry about the peanuts anymore."
There were only a limited number of wooden boards, so only a few people could use them. So people even brought their own stools to use, but it still wasn’t enough. Now, with Gu Jiaojiao’s "miraculous tool," everyone could have one. They were fast, and simple to make.
The brigade leader was so excited he was at a loss for words.
"Gu Zhiqing, you’ve done a wonderful job. You’ve made a great contribution to our brigade. I’m giving you an extra month’s worth of work points!"
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