amaotonovel Chapter 205 Packing things
Chapter 205 Packing things
The two men worked for the whole morning and were hungry, so they sat on low stools by the stove and ate pears and dried fruits together, chatting as they ate.
"I see Heihei and Xiaobai sleeping in the main room."
"Yes, they are full. I steamed some fish and eggs. By the way, did you see that I soaked some snails under the eaves?"
Han Zhibai nodded.
"The snails are edible after being soaked. Don't throw them away or feed them to chickens or ducks."
Curiosity flashed in his eyes. "Snail is very dirty. Can it be cleaned and cooked as a dish?"
"Of course, snails are also fine!" She listed many ways to eat snails.
Han Zhibai was a little greedy after hearing this.
After finishing the dried fruit in her hand, Xia Qingyue clapped her hands and said, "It's almost winter now. It was about this time last year when my uncle and aunt and I went to the woods to look for winter supplies.
Although they are not in the mountain this year, I still want to stock up more things like last year, such as taro, wild apples and banana taro. We will go there to see if we can find them. If we do, we can bring them back to plant.
Unfortunately, the spices need to grow for several years after being picked, so we won’t be able to harvest them this year.”
Her face was full of regret.
"You can find spices in the woods outside the formation, but it's a bit far away."
"Oh, is that so? The spices are enough for now. We can look for more next year."
Chatting about these trivial matters, they worked together to prepare lunch.
The two of them sat around the table eating with hot rice and dishes.
After dinner, Han Zhibai cleaned up the dishes and called Xia Qingyue back to her room for a nap.
"I'd better not sleep today and get the persimmons out. The sun is so bright."
She took a knife and sat at the door of the main room to peel the persimmons, choosing the harder ones for making dried fruits.
After washing the dishes, Han Zhibai brought two chairs and placed them side by side, placed a chopping board and a knife on them, then took a low stool and sat next to her, where he peeled the persimmons and cut them in half.
After cutting four buckets, he went to the kitchen to light a fire, placed two large iron pots on the stove, added water to heat it up, put the peeled persimmons into the hot water to boil, then took them out and put them into a vegetable colander to drain.
When they are almost drained, place the persimmons on a bamboo raft and take them out to dry in the sun.
After being busy until around 3 p.m., Xia Qingyue saw that it was getting late and had to prepare to go back.
"Going back and forth like this every day, the journey back and forth alone takes more than two hours." It's just like commuting to work, getting up early and going home late, which is tiring both physically and mentally.
She thought it was a waste of time.
Han Zhibai, who was turning over the persimmons to dry in the sun, heard her words and turned around. "Qingyue, how about this? You move to the valley and live in the room opposite me before you get married. What do you think?"
She didn't stick to certain rules, and she thought that everything should be convenient and comfortable, so she nodded and said, "If we're moving, I want to get the poultry here, and the rest can be moved later."
"Let Xiao Hei do the heavy lifting. Do you want me to take it back today, or should I lead it to the stream tomorrow and wait for you?"
"It's all right. I have the most rabbits, more than 70, and about 120 chickens and ducks in total. I can lead the sheep around.
With all the other miscellaneous items, one trip is enough. What I am worried about is that the enclosure area seems not to be big enough. "
Han Zhibai thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Hei's room is quite spacious. We can clean it up and separate it to raise chickens or ducks. It's a bit crowded, but if there's space at the back, I want to burn some earth bricks and build a large poultry house in the backyard."
"Okay, then you take Xiao Hei to the stream and wait for me tomorrow."
She hurried back to the tiankeng. It was already dark. Nowadays, it gets dark early at night and gets light late in the morning. She simply cooked something and ate it with Heihei, then quickly packed up the things she would take away tomorrow.
The clothes, pants, beddings and shoes were all thick and packed with large sheets of linen.
As for food, we put away soy sauce, white wine, a little glutinous rice and beans, a few jars of kimchi and sauerkraut, and dried goods.
The crops planted in the vegetable garden include sweet potatoes, peanuts, ginger, mung beans, etc. We will come back to harvest them next month when they are ripe.
She basically packed up, boiled some hot water for a bath and washed her hair, and hung the washed clothes on bamboo poles. When they were dry, she would pack them up and take them away the next morning.
After getting into the cave, she held up the oil lamp and went to each room to stop and look, finally coming to the sleeping room, her eyes slowly shifted from the desk by the window to the bamboo cabinet where clothes were kept.
These things were all made and purchased by her own hands. She was used to using them. As she looked at them, her eyes felt sore and hot. She walked to the bedside, put down the oil lamp, sat on the bed, looked around the room, and said with a smile: "I will come back later. This will always be my home."
That night, Xia Qingyue slept peacefully and comfortably.
At the beginning of the morning hour, it was pitch black outside. Xia Qingyue was awakened by her biological clock. She quickly got up for her morning archery practice. After finishing, she cooked something to eat, tidied up, and carried water to water the crops in the field with some farmyard manure.
It was almost the end of the morning when she finished her work, so she went to the stream to meet Han Zhibai.
When they arrived at the place, Han Zhibai was waiting with Xiao Hei, who was eating grass.
He handed her the rope that tied Xiao Hei and asked, "Have you packed your things?"
"Yeah, let's go." She took the rope, turned around and took two steps, then found Han Zhibai standing there, turned back and said, "Let's go."
Han Zhibai was stunned for a moment, then followed.
Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the tiankeng cave. The lush weeds blocked their way. Xia Qingyue said, "More than two years ago, when the situation was not good, my father accidentally found this safe and secluded place in the mountains, and moved our family to live in the mountains."
"That's it."
Han Zhibai raised his eyes and looked around. He couldn't see anything from the surface, which showed how hidden and safe this secluded place was.
She asked, "Will Xiao Hei go away if he is left outside alone?"
"It won't."
"Leave it here and follow me." She walked towards the cliff and led him to follow it closely.
When Xiao Hei saw so many wild grasses, he grinned and was so happy that he opened his mouth and ate the grass without caring that his owner had left him.
After opening the cave door, she walked in front and Han Zhibai followed behind. He walked in and saw a different world inside. He was surprised and said, "There is such a wonderful place in the world."
She took him on a tour of the tiankeng.
Han Zhibai was amazed again and again.
After the inspection, the two men carried the things they wanted to take away and it took them three trips to complete the move.
After coming out, the two of them retreated while covering up the traces they left behind.
Xia Qingyue looked up at the sinkhole in front of her for a few more seconds, then turned around and smiled at Han Zhibai, "Let's go home!"
There was still some space in the iron basket on Xiao Hei's body, and they all carried backpacks, so they decided to pick some wild apples along the way.
There are many white fruits on the Chinese tallow tree, and one third of them are harvested.
Many wild apples this year were eaten by birds, insects and squirrels, and quite a few fell to the ground. I harvested one third of them and will harvest the rest next time.
When they returned to the valley, it was already past noon. Han Zhibai unloaded the things, took out the jar of dried pears and asked Xia Qingyue to sit down and have a snack and rest for a while, while he went to make lunch.
She sat in the main room and ate some dried fruit. After she rested, she washed her hands and put the things she had moved into the room into order.
When she finished her work and relaxed, she smelled a fragrant aroma in the room and her stomach started to growl.
"It smells so good." She walked out of the room and saw steaming food on the dining table.
Three dishes and one soup: braised chicken, fried eggs with spicy and sour sweet potato stems, fried river shrimps with leeks, and cabbage and fish ball soup.
In the curling hot air, Han Zhibai stood by the table and placed chopsticks. When he saw her, he smiled and said, "Come and eat."