Wenxi took out a box each of beef balls, shrimp paste, fish balls, egg dumplings, fish roe dumplings, crab sticks, lamb rolls, beef rolls, tripe, and ham sausages. She also prepared some cabbage, cilantro, mushrooms, and potato chips. She estimated that the three of them would be stuffed.

"Jiaojiao, go wash some cabbage, cilantro, and chives, and slice some potatoes. We're having hot pot tonight. Leave the food there, and I'll clean it up in a bit," Wenxi instructed.

Afterwards, Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue excitedly went to get busy. People from big cities naturally know what hot pot is, but they just haven't eaten it before. Unexpectedly, Wen Xi had prepared all the ingredients for hot pot. Tonight, they can eat hot pot to their heart's content.

Wenxi drank a cup of hot water, rested for a while, then carried the basket to the kitchen and began preparing to make hot pot. She first took out the tools for cooking the hot pot.

Small alcohol stove, fuel blocks, small iron pot with two compartments, hot pot base.

Tear a small hole in the transparent packaging bag of the fuel block, put it into the small alcohol stove, light it with a match, place the cleaned double-sided iron pot on it, put spicy beef tallow hot pot base on one side and tomato-flavored hot pot base on the other side, then pour in hot water, cover the pot with the lid, and let the alcohol stove burn.

After a while, the hot pot soup boiled, and Wenxi put the same number of meatballs and sausages into the hot pot soup on both sides. These things take a long time to cook, so she put them in to cook slowly.

Eating hot pot isn't good if you only eat these things; it's better to have a mix of meat and vegetables. So Wenxi took a pound of oyster mushrooms and a pound of enoki mushrooms from the system's warehouse. She processed the oyster mushrooms and enoki mushrooms first, and then took them to the well for Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue to wash.

Half an hour later, the three of them sat around the dining table. In the center of the table was an alcohol stove, and around the stove were a circle of hot pot ingredients ready to be cooked.

Smelling the aroma of the hot pot, Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue kept swallowing. They both knew what hot pot was, and some of their families had eaten it, but they had never had the chance to try it themselves.

"Xiaoxi, is it ripe yet?" Shen Jiaojiao looked at Wenxi with expectant eyes.

Wen Xi lifted the pot lid, set it aside, and said uncertainly, "It should be cooked by now, let me taste it first."

Wenxi picked up a beef ball, blew on it to cool it down, and took a bite. It was tender, juicy, and delicious. She nodded repeatedly, "It's cooked, it's delicious."

Afterwards, Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue couldn't wait to start eating. The hot pot in the pot was quickly half empty, and when there was a gap, Wen Xi quickly put other ingredients into it.

These past few days, the puppy's mother has dared not eavesdrop behind Wenxi's house anymore, because there are many people on the mountain behind it, and she is afraid of being arrested. As the days go by, the puppy has not had a chance to contact Wenxi. The puppy's mother is extremely anxious. If this continues, the money and meat that Wenxi has will be squandered by those three wretches.

Thinking that the people on the mountain would probably go home for the New Year's Eve, the puppy's mother didn't want to wait any longer and decided to let the puppy start on New Year's Eve to avoid any unforeseen complications.

Wenxi and her two friends were happily eating hotpot, completely unaware of the schemes and plots of others. Even if they knew, it wouldn't matter, since Wenxi was not someone to be trifled with now.

Soon, it was time for the big cleaning. After breakfast, Wenxi and the other two started working. They first moved all the furniture that could be moved out of the room, and covered the furniture that couldn't be moved with burlap sacks and old sheets. Then they used brooms made of bamboo and bamboo strips to gently sweep the roof and remove the dust and cobwebs.

The three of them were busy when they suddenly heard a knock on the door. Wen Xi quickly went to open the door and was surprised to see Lin Yiwan and her group standing in front of it.

Previously, Lin Yiwan had Xia Minglei by her side, and Xia Minglei also had Lu Xiaoyun, his lackey. But Lin Yiwan ignored Xia Minglei, so Xia Minglei and Lu Xiaoyun were no longer by her side. However, now Lin Yiwan has Lin Chuyang, who is on vacation and has returned home, by her side.

Before Wen Xi could speak, Lin Yiwan said with a smile, "Wen Xi, I brought them here to help you."

Perhaps because they shared a secret, the relationship between the two became much closer.

"Thank you everyone." Wen Xi smiled and invited everyone in. Then everyone got to work enthusiastically, first cleaning the roof and walls, then sweeping the floor, and finally wiping the tables and chairs clean.

With many hands making light work, the house was quickly clean and spotless.

Wenxi brought hot water for everyone to wash their hands and faces and brush off the dust from their clothes. Then she made everyone some sugar water. Lin Chuyang looked at the bowl in front of her, then at Wenxi, smiled, took the bowl, and took a sip. She was surprised to find that it was sweet sugar water.

Lin Chuyang paused for a moment, then said, "We can just drink plain water. There's no need to make us sugar water. Life in the countryside must be tough for you."

He wanted to help Wenxi, but he couldn't do it openly. Besides, Wenxi wasn't the type to take advantage of others. If he quietly left the things outside the door and ran away, Wenxi probably wouldn't even touch them.

After everyone left, Wenxi gave Shen Jiaojiao and Jiang Yue bed sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases that matched the style of the era, so that they could change them. Then the three of them washed the bed sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases together. Some things just couldn't be handled by one person, so they had to work together.

When Tian Shengnan and the other two arrived, Wen Xi and her friends had just finished airing out their sheets, duvet covers, and other items. Their sheets and duvet covers were fluttering in the yard. The ones they had changed out of were all brought from home, and there was nothing wrong with them.

"Xiaoxi, our kitchen is ready to use. Why don't the three of you come over for lunch tomorrow? We're always the ones coming over for lunch, so you should come over and have lunch with us too," Tian Shengnan invited.

Wen Xi readily agreed, "Okay, then we'll go and bother you tomorrow at noon."

Everyone was quite busy today, so Tian Shengnan didn't linger here, afraid of disturbing Wenxi and the others. After the invitation, she went back to the educated youth settlement, since they were going to have lunch together tomorrow and needed to prepare in advance.

There were troops stationed on the mountain behind, so Zhao Zhiping couldn't leave the eels there. He asked Zhao Yuanyuan to bring them over when she came to class in the evening, and then Wenxi gave the money to Zhao Yuanyuan.

Wenxi would also go to other places to catch eels during the day. Now that the two of them were working together, Wenxi already had quite a few eels. As for when to sell the eels, Wenxi hadn't decided yet. She decided it would be better to sell the fish first, since she was guarding two rivers by herself. Moreover, she had also signed contracts for various fish fry, and was just waiting for spring to come so she could release the fry into the river.

She wants to make money, but she can't let it affect the river's ecosystem.