amaotonovel Chapter 224 Busy Daily Life
Chapter 224 Busy Daily Life
In the past few days, Han Zhibai cooked light and easily digestible food for every meal. Today, her body has recovered well, so she can change her taste and eat some small dumplings.
"I'm not hungry, I'm just bored lying in the room. Let me help you cut sorghum." She walked forward eagerly.
Han Zhibai stretched out his long arms to stop him. Beating sorghum seeds is a physical job, and there is a lot of dust when beating. His eyes flickered a few times, and he said quickly: "The peanuts are all dried. I'll go and pour some over. How about you sit in the main room and peel them?"
As long as she didn't just lie in bed doing nothing, it would be fine. She nodded and said yes.
"Then take the oil lamp and go to the main room and wait for a while."
She was obedient and did as she was told.
After a while, Han Zhibai brought out a small stove with a bright red charcoal fire and placed it next to her for warmth.
Then he went to get some peanuts, poured them into a large round dustpan, and placed the dustpan on two benches placed side by side. She only had to sit on a low stool and start shelling the peanuts. The peanut kernels fell into the dustpan and the shells were thrown into the empty wooden barrel next to her.
Finally, Han Zhibai brought a small plate with four pieces of red date and walnut candies and several pieces of dried apples. There are many dietary restrictions when taking medicine for illness.
After everything was ready, Han Zhibai returned to the kitchen to continue beating the sorghum ears.
Xia Qingyue was in a very happy mood while peeling peanuts, humming a song she had composed.
Every autumn rain brings a chill. The rain lasted for eleven days before it finally stopped.
The rain had stopped, but the sky was gloomy and the temperature in the valley was getting colder day by day.
The two little ones became even sleepier.
Through observation during this period, Xia Qingyue and Han Zhibai found that Xiaobai's belly was still the same as before and had not expanded any more, thus they determined that she was not pregnant.
It was already early December.
Xia Qingyue's body recovered after rest. Recently, she had been eating and sleeping, or doing some simple things, so she was full of energy and vigor.
Because it was cloudy and there was no sun, a lot of work could not be done, so the two of them stayed at home and did a thorough cleaning and tidying up.
After finishing their work, they each went about their business.
Han Zhibai, who made skin care cream, nitrated the animal skins and said he wanted to make a few cloaks to wear as outerwear.
Xia Qingyue put a lot of effort into food, making glutinous rice cakes with chili peppers and hot pot base made with lard.
It was getting colder and colder, and the dishes cooked in every meal got cold quickly, so they simply cooked hot pot and soup pot every day. They used a double-flavored pot to cook both non-spicy and spicy dishes, and prepared some other dishes, which they ate right after they were cooked, warming their bodies up.
One day in mid-December, the sky finally cleared up, the sun came out, the sky was clear, and the long-lost warm sunshine shone on the world, sweeping away the dull and gloomy weather, and the whole world became bright.
Xia Qingyue and Han Zhibai took advantage of the good weather to wash all the bedding, clothes, and kitchen utensils in the house and dry them in the sun.
The wheat that had been harvested earlier was also spread out in the front yard to dry, and was turned over with a scraper from time to time to ensure even drying.
In my spare time, I go to the fields to cut sweet potato vines, cut them into appropriate lengths and dry them in the sun. The leaves are easier to dry in the sun and can be dried in one day, but the vines need two days to be dried in the sun.
Over two days, they cut hundreds of pounds of sweet potato vines, dried them, and stored them in bags.
The radishes, cabbages and shepherd's purse in the fields were growing very well. After discussion, they decided to use these vegetables to make some kimchi and dried pickles, and also prepare some chicken, duck, fish and other dishes, so that they could bring them down the mountain after a while and use them for the wedding banquet on the wedding day.
They got to work right away and harvested more than 100 kilograms of vegetables from the fields, soaking some, drying some in the sun, and pickling some.
During this process, Han Zhibai went to the river and caught several carts of fish and shrimp, which he then dried.
There are many poultry at home, and I have to prepare a lot of food to feed them every day. As the end of the year is approaching, I have to prepare New Year's goods. So I plan to kill some chickens, ducks and rabbits, and pickle them with salt and make them dried.
It's fine with chickens and ducks, especially rabbits, when raised together, they reproduce quickly. After killing the chickens and ducks and making some room, they want to raise the male and female rabbits separately.
So, they checked the weather in advance and chose to kill chickens, ducks and rabbits early in the morning on a sunny day, boil hot water to remove the feathers, and stir-fry and marinate the ingredients.
Dozens of chickens, ducks and rabbits were killed, and many basins and wooden barrels were used for pickling, but it was still not enough.
They were busy until the evening and were exhausted, so they simply cooked a pot of soup and some hot vegetables for dinner.
While eating, we talked about the daily arrangements.
"It will be the 20th of the winter month in a few days. I think it will snow near the end of the month. In the next few days, we will harvest the sweet potatoes from the sinkholes and valleys. We will not harvest vegetables like cabbage, radish and garlic sprouts for the time being. Vegetables that have been frosted are delicious. We will dry the pickled chickens, ducks, fish and rabbits.
This is what I thought. On the 19th day of the winter month, we will take a pig down the mountain and kill it. Then when it snows, we will kill another pig to survive the winter."
She took two sips of the yellow chestnut chicken soup from the bowl. The hot soup was delicious, and her eyes were filled with relief. "Aren't you going to kill the pig in advance to make bacon?"
"It's a bit late to kill pigs and make bacon when it snows, but if there is snow, you can save some pork and put it in a bamboo tube, seal it, and put it in the snow. In this way, you can eat fresh meat in winter and take it whenever you want."
He said that this was how they slaughtered pigs in the valley in previous years. They would first mark out an area and dig a deep pit with a hoe and pickaxe. When it snowed, the pit would freeze and the pork in a bamboo tube would be put in to freeze. The meat would still be fresh within three or four days after the snow melted.
"That sounds great. I'll listen to you and slaughter the pig after it snows." She smiled happily at the thought of eating fresh pork all winter.
The next day, Xia Qingyue and Han Zhibai left the two little ones at home to sleep, and took Xiao Hei to the tiankeng to harvest sweet potatoes.
All the sweet potato vines were cut off and taken back with the dug sweet potatoes. About 160 kilograms of sweet potatoes were dug out from the two plots. Some of them had worm holes, so they had to be picked out when they were brought back.
Before leaving, they dug up the camellia trees and took them away.
After the vegetables were harvested, only a few scattered, yellowed and withered weeds remained in the sinkhole, which looked empty and desolate.
Xia Qingyue looked around the pit and watched alone for a long time before she calmed down and left.
Return to the valley.
The first thing to do was to plant the camellia trees. They had already decided where to plant them, which was outside the front yard fence, surrounding them in a circle.
Han Zhibai was grunting in front, wielding a hoe to dig a hole. Xia Qingyue threw dry manure into the hole, then planted a camellia tree in the hole and covered it with soil.
When she was halfway through planting, Han Zhibai had already finished digging and went to fetch water to water the plants.
After planting the trees, I would sit under the eaves and pick out the sweet potatoes with worm holes, and feed them to the poultry.
The sun sets in the west, and another busy and fulfilling day is over.
After a night's rest, a new day begins.
In the early morning, white mist lingered in the valley and the sky was gray. In a small piece of land reclaimed in the front yard, there were more than ten cabbages tightly wrapped in a circle of dry straw, several rows of green garlic sprouts, and a few short and messy weeds in the field.
At this moment, the roots of the garlic sprouts and cabbages on the grass are covered with a layer of silver-white coat, and the crystal frost flowers seem to be condensed from the bright moonlight, cold and holy.
After getting up and washing up, Xia Qingyue went for a walk outside. She saw a vast expanse of white frost on the green plants on the ground. She looked up at the sky worriedly and said, "Please, let the sun come out a little more in the next few days so that we can get the chickens, ducks, fish and rabbits out to dry."