Chapter 30: Pound
Life is lived, not spoken. Even the swallows know to build their nests in spring.
After traveling for two days, the tribe was weary, so Chen Jian had his people rest first.
They settled into the warm rooms, each one filled to capacity. The elderly and children of the Shi tribe also stayed inside, while their young adults rested under the thatched dining shelter.
Since they hadn't been sowing seeds, Chen Jian wasn't particularly tired. He took Yu Qian'er and a few of the younger children to a pile of rocks under the cliff, where they found a large bluestone slab. Together, they carried it back and set it up in the most conspicuous spot in the yard.
With a piece of charcoal, he drew a round moon on the top row of the bluestone. The moon had been full the previous night, and this symbol would serve as the date. Below it, he drew or wrote vertical symbols for fish, deer, sheep, and tubers, creating a simple inventory board.
"Yu Qian'er, from now on, you'll look at the moon each night and draw its shape here. Then, write down the quantity of food we have each day to keep a record."
Chen Jian had a deeper purpose in this. By recording their supplies, Yu Qian'er would learn how to plan and distribute resources, and she would always know how much food the tribe had left. The amount of food would determine their daily work: would their primary focus be fishing and hunting simply to survive? Or could they free up time to develop other crafts?
Yu Qian'er understood. It was similar to the old grandmother's method of tying knots to keep records. After a moment's thought, however, she voiced her concern.
"Brother, fish can be big or small. A dozen small fish might not be as filling as one big one. How should I record that? Should I just count how many there are?"
Chen Jian smiled at his sister. "What do you think we should do?"
"I don't know." Yu Qian'er grabbed her braids and shook her little head, a habit of hers whenever she was stumped.
Chen Jian retrieved a small ladder and took down a piece of bacon hanging from the thatched shed. He drew a stone knife, handed it to Yu Qian'er, and said, "Of course, there's another way. Here, cut off a piece that you think would be enough for one person to eat their fill."
Yu Qian'er took the stone knife and studied the smoked pork leg. After considering, she sliced off a large chunk.
"Well, this would be enough for me. But it wouldn't be enough for you."
"That's right. So being full isn't about how many fish you eat, but *how much* fish you eat. Right?"
"Right."
"Then I have a task for you. Work with your brothers and sisters to find a way to measure out sand and stones that are just as heavy as this piece of meat. Put them in a cloth bag. Once you've done that, I'll tell you what to do next."
Yu Qian'er looked at the bacon, thinking to herself that this was no easy task. How could they possibly get a bag of sand to be the exact same weight as the meat?
Chen Jian called over the other children and told them to help Yu Qian'er figure it out. He then went to take stock of the tribe's remaining food, property, and, most importantly, its population.
His own tribe didn't have a surname yet; that was something they would need to discuss. But the Huaihua people could certainly be considered part of their tribe now.
Currently, his family numbered 210 people, with 130 able-bodied adults, more than 20 who were disabled, sick, or injured, and the rest being elders and children. The Shi tribe had over 90 people, with more than 60 of them able-bodied. In total, the labor force he could command was close to two hundred.
A village of more than 300 people would require about seven to eight hundred catties of food every day. That was equivalent to four or five sheep plus tubers, wild vegetables, and a great deal of fish.
They didn't consume much salt daily, so the saline-alkali soil they had dug up would last for a long time.
There were still four jars of maple syrup. Only maple and birch trees that budded in spring could be tapped for syrup, so if they didn't eat this, they would have to wait until next spring. There was also a jar of honey and a jar of beeswax. The former was for eating, the latter for other uses.
They had three or four baskets of dried fish left. The fishpond was clearly overstocked with live fish; some needed to be caught soon, or they would suffocate from lack of oxygen. Chen Jian also spotted the red fish Yu Qian'er had mentioned. It was very eye-catching, with barbels around its mouth—it had to be a carp. He decided not to eat this fish but to keep it for breeding.
The lotus roots in the pond had also begun to sprout. The water near the shore was shallow and warm, perfect for their growth, but it would be some time before they were edible.
That was the extent of their food supply. Tomorrow, everyone would have to go hunting. With their current tools and technology, even with the fish in the pond, it would be impossible to free up even three to five days for tasks unrelated to finding food.
Living off the river, Chen Jian had long planned to make fish their main food source. They would store as many tuber seeds and the like as possible for planting. Their current fishing methods were limited to wicker baskets and spears. He knew how to weave fishing nets, but the fiber ropes they had were not suitable—they were too thick and not pliable enough.
It was early summer now, and it would be another three months before the nettles and other fibrous weeds were mature. Only after retting the plant fiber could they extract the strands needed to make real cloth and thread. He lacked the abilities of a druid from a fantasy novel who could accelerate plant growth, so they could only wait.
As he was taking out his charcoal to plan future tasks on the slate, Yu Qian'er shouted from a distance, "Brother, come quick! We've found a way!"
Chen Jian was stunned, thinking it impossible they could have succeeded so quickly.
Yu Qian'er took his hand and pulled him toward a small tree. When Chen Jian saw their setup, he couldn't help but laugh.
A piece of bacon hung from a very thin willow branch, which was bent low by the weight. The tip of the branch hung down to Yu Qian'er's shoulder.
"Look!" she said eagerly. "When I take the meat off, the branch straightens out again."
She demonstrated, and the branch sprang back up. Then, she hung a small bag of stones on it. The willow branch bent down again, but this time it was lower than her shoulder. She took out two stones, and the branch rose until its tip was perfectly level with her shoulder again.
"The pebbles in this bag must be as heavy as the bacon!" Yu Qian'er declared confidently, a proud tone in her voice. Seeing her brother just smiling, she huffed in slight annoyance.
The principle was sound. Even if the error margin was two *liang* (a smaller unit of weight) per *catty*, the insight was remarkable.
"Brother, are these two the same weight? Can you tell us what to do now?"
"Yes, they're the same weight. Well done. Now, call your brothers and sisters over. We have something very important to do."
Yu Qian'er laughed and ran off. Chen Jian found a piece of wood that was uniform in thickness. After finding its balance point, he folded a rope in half to mark its midpoint, chiseled a hole through the wood there, and inserted a thin wooden pin as an axle.
Using some leftover clay, he built a small pedestal and set the simple balance on it. He tried it out, then added dabs of mud to the lighter side until it was perfectly balanced. The accuracy was likely within one or two *liang*. For the tribe's current needs, this was more than sufficient.
Yu Qian'er ran back with the other children, who looked at the balanced log. Yu Qian'er seemed to understand what it was.
Chen Jian hung the bacon on one end and the bag of stones on the other. The beam wasn't perfectly level, but it was close.
"Very good. They're almost the same weight. Do you understand now?"
"We understand!" Not just Yu Qian'er, but several of the other children grasped the concept.
"Then go ahead and make ninety-nine more cloth bags of the same weight, filled with stones."
The children quickly got busy, weighing bag after bag, meticulously adding or removing pebbles to get the weight just right.
Meanwhile, Chen Jian took a slender piece of pinewood about three fingers thick. He scraped off the bark and coated the surface with boiled pine resin. He attached a heavier stone to one end as a counterweight and affixed a tanned leather loop near that end to serve as a handle. Because of the counterweight, the short end of the beam hung lower than the long end.
He chose another stone for the sliding weight, drilled a hole through it, and threaded a rope. Carrying all these components, he walked over to where the children were working. By now, a large number of stone-filled cloth bags lay on the ground. He did a quick count and, seeing it was nearly enough, called the children over.
He found a sturdy stick, passed it through the leather loop, and had two of the older boys hoist it onto their shoulders. He slid the weight onto the long arm of the beam and gently pushed it along until he found the point where it balanced perfectly. This was the zero mark.
With the beam level, Chen Jian had Yu Qian'er carve a mark at the weight's position.
Next, he hung the original piece of bacon from the hook on the short end, moved the sliding weight back until it balanced again, and had her carve another mark.
After taking off the bacon, he put one of the cloth bags in its place. Without moving the weight, Yu Qian'er said confidently, "It has to be level."
Sure enough, it was. The children let out a cheer.
Then they added a second bag, a third, a fourth, and a fifth. Each time a bag was added, they moved the weight further down the beam and carved a new mark. After all the bags of stones were hung and measured, the beam was covered in densely packed lines.
A proper scale, of course, was not this simple. It would need to be dried and sealed with turpentine to ensure moisture didn't warp it. This large steelyard scale could weigh objects of several dozen catties, but its error margin was large. To weigh smaller items, a smaller scale would be needed.
But for now, it would do. He had demonstrated the concept of making a scale to the children, and Chen Jian believed they would eventually figure out better methods on their own.
The children looked at the strange device with curiosity. Chen Jian held up the original piece of bacon. "This weight needs a name, doesn't it? What should we call it?"
"A 'full'?"
"A 'meat-piece'?"
"A 'piglet'?"
The children chattered, suggesting all sorts of strange names, each more outrageous than the last.
Chen Jian had no idea how many pounds or grams this piece of meat weighed by the standards of his previous life. But a unit of measurement didn't affect the science. The acceleration of gravity, `$g$`, is `$9.8 \text{ m/s}^2$`, which can also be expressed as `$29.4 \text{ ft/s}^2$`, or in any other units, as long as the system is accurate. The same was true for weight. Whether it was a pound, a catty, or a kilogram, as long as the standard was consistent, they were all inter-convertible. It was merely a question of who held the authority to set the standard in the future.
He held the bacon, pondering for a long moment before saying, "Let's call this much weight a 'catty'."
"Why?" the children asked.
Chen Jian spread his hands. "No reason. It's just what I thought of. When you discover something no one else has, you get to name it whatever you like."
"Okay!" the children agreed, remembering the new word as they turned their attention back to the steelyard.
Yu Qian'er grabbed the hook with both hands and shouted, "See how much I weigh!"
Two boys immediately lifted the scale while several others peered at the back, counting the marks. After a long moment, one shouted, "You weigh seventy catties! Get down, my turn!"
The novelty quickly became the children's favorite new toy. They weighed everything they could get their hands on. The wolf cubs, geese, and piglets could not escape their grasp. One by one, they were tied with ropes and weighed amidst laughter and shouts of various numbers.
After letting them play for a while, Chen Jian pointed to the bluestone board. "Alright, now go and weigh how many dried fish we have and write down the number."
The children, full of enthusiasm, turned to grab the fish but were stopped by Chen Jian again.
"Wait. I have a question for you. If you can solve it, I'll give you something fun. Something very, very fun."
Chen Jian thought for a moment, then pointed to a small pile of sand. "I want you to divide this sand into sixteen parts, and all sixteen parts must be equal in weight. Also, I want you to make a steelyard of your own. Don't ask me for help; think it through yourselves. When you're done, I'll give you a fun new thing you've never seen before. Also," he added, "don't forget your other tasks—remember to cut the grass and feed the piglets!"
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