Chapter 113 Winter Solstice

I didn't dare to make a sound to provoke it. I tentatively pulled on the rope and scarf at the same time. Seeing that the leopard was biting very tightly, I slowly pulled it up.

The process of pulling was extremely tense, for fear that Sang Biao might not have gripped the rope tightly enough. If he slipped off the rope and fell, he would be shot through the heart.

Fortunately, the process went very smoothly, and Sang Biao successfully made it ashore.

After Sang Biao was rescued, he could feel that the wolves around him were very happy and came up to lick his fur.

But I can't relax yet, there's another one in the pit.

The wolf king was quite clever. After Sang Biao's demonstration, it followed Sang Biao's actions exactly, crawling into the rope and biting the scarf.

Pulling on both ropes together, the wolf king was slowly pulled up, and the rescue operation was a complete success.

Both the Wolf King and Sang Biao had small cuts on their bodies, probably from falling into the trap.

Looking at the wooden stick in the trap, I really had no idea what to do. The pit was too deep, and I couldn't reach it or pull it out.

After thinking about it, I could only break off some branches and stick them around the pit, hoping that the wolves would avoid it next time they saw it.

It was completely dark by then, and I was getting ready to go home.

The wolves were very perceptive and escorted me down the mountain, with Sang Biao and the wolf king following along.

The bloodstains on the pheasant's fur had dried, indicating that it had been trapped in the pit for some time.

When we arrived at the door, the wolf pack was about to leave. I called out to Sang Biao and the wolf king.

They brought the two wolves into the house, went to the wardrobe to find some medicine for their wounds, and carefully treated their wounds.

The wound was deeper than I had imagined. It wasn't just a scratch on the skin; the flesh inside had been pierced by the stick. Wild animals are really tough; they can still move freely even when injured.

Sang Biao looked at me with a pitiful expression, it seems he still sees himself as a baby.

After treating the wound, I patted Sang Biao's wolf head to comfort this adorable creature.

There wasn't much meat left at home, so we went to the kitchen to find some leftover fried dough cakes, tore them into small pieces, and the two wolves didn't mind at all, eating all four large fried dough cakes.

The wolf king cannot leave the pack. Even though he was injured, after eating his fill, Sang Biao still returned to the pack with the wolf king.

As I watched the wolf pack disappear into the distance, a sense of unease crept into my heart.

I first met Sang Biao because of a trap set by the hunter, and today Sang Biao has fallen into the trap again.

With hunters constantly interfering, the wolf pack will likely face mortal danger one day.

But there was no good solution, and the worry could only put the matter aside.

I was out in the cold for more than an hour, my face was frozen stiff, and my toes were a little numb.

They changed out of their cotton-padded clothes, added firewood to the stove, drank hot tea, and warmed themselves by the fire.

It's already evening, and I'm so cold outside that I'm too lazy to cook. I warmed myself by the fire for a while, then crawled into bed on an empty stomach.

Sure enough, I woke up hungry the next day. I was so hungry that I didn't want to do anything complicated and just wanted to eat as soon as possible.

I cooked a packet of instant noodles, added a few fish balls and some greens, and that was enough to fill me up.

It felt like I'd missed something. I checked my phone calendar and realized today was the winter solstice. Time really flies; I almost missed it.

It's customary to eat dumplings on the Winter Solstice. The elders in my family say that if you don't eat dumplings on the Winter Solstice, your ears will freeze off.

I prepared a dough early and set it aside to rise.

Let's start preparing the dumpling filling. Let's make a filling we haven't had since the apocalypse: pork and mushroom filling.

Based on long-term practice, filling made with a cleaver tastes better than filling made with a meat grinder.

So they melted a piece of pork and soaked some wild mushrooms.

Once the meat is tender enough to cut, slice it thinly, and finally dice it.

By this time, the wild mushrooms had been soaked, washed, and diced.

Chop the mushrooms and minced meat together, and the pork and mushroom filling will be ready in no time.

Add soybean oil, thirteen-spice powder, chicken bouillon, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and aged vinegar, and stir in one direction. Even if the pork is still raw, the aroma of the minced meat will waft out.

Set the minced meat and dough aside to rest, and start making dumplings when you feel a little hungry.

Add firewood to the stove, roll out round, white dough wrappers, and wrap them into plump, white dumplings that look like gold ingots. Each one looks very appealing.

Make extra dumplings, not only for me, but also for the dogs on the Winter Solstice.

Once the dumplings are almost wrapped, put them in the pot to boil. Gently stir them a few times with a spatula to prevent them from sticking together.

While the dumplings are boiling, peel a few cloves of garlic and crush them into garlic paste.

Once the dumplings are cooked, they are placed on a plate. The plump, white dumplings, packed together in the round dish, emit a misty steam, bringing a sense of immense satisfaction.

The dumplings for the Winter Solstice should be eaten in a more formal way, with a small dish of pickled celery and a small dish of pickled cowpeas as side dishes.

The freshly cooked dumplings are a bit hot. Let them cool slightly, dip them in minced garlic and vinegar, and take a bite. They're both hot and fragrant. Although they're so hot they make you wince, they're incredibly delicious.

I have a knack for boiling dumplings; none of them break, and each one is bursting with juicy flavor.

The pork is springy, the shredded shiitake mushrooms are also very chewy, and paired with the sweet and savory juice inside the dumplings, it becomes more and more delicious with each bite.

After eating 20 dumplings in a row, I was finally full. Then I drank a bowl of fragrant dumpling soup. As the old saying goes, the original soup helps digest the original food.

Of the remaining dozen or so dumplings, each dog can get three.

Just like always, the little melons, the third and fourth ones, were swallowed whole without even breaking the skin.

Xiao Di ate politely, taking quite a while to finish three dumplings.

I watched the dogs eat with a smile, and then used the leftover dumpling soup in the pot to cook some noodles, which I poured into the dogs' trays. The dogs ate them all, soup and all.

I realized I hadn't been eating much glutinous rice flour when I was making kimchi a few days ago. Since people in the south also eat glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice, I decided to make some to eat.

I don't have much black sesame at home, so I can only make red bean paste.

The red bean paste needs to be soaked in advance, so it looks like we'll have to eat glutinous rice balls the day after the winter solstice.

I found some red beans, filled a large bowl, picked out the bad ones, and kept the plump ones. I then soaked them in water overnight.

The next day, I put the red beans in a pot on the small stove to cook.

First, stir the glutinous rice flour with cold water until it forms clumps, then mix it with boiling water to form a dough.

Pinch off a small portion of dough, cook it in a pot, and then knead it together with the raw dough. Add some lard while kneading to prevent it from cracking when frozen.

Cook the red beans until soft and mushy, then scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Add some honey and sugar, and mash them into a paste with a spoon.

I don't mind eating the red bean skins, so I didn't pick them out.

Once the red bean paste has been pressed to the desired consistency, roll it into small balls by hand, arrange them separately on a tray, and refrigerate it in the back room.

Cut the glutinous rice dough into small pieces, roll them into balls, make a hole in the center, stuff a small red bean ball into the hole, seal the opening, and a glutinous rice ball is made.

I made more than 20 glutinous rice balls in total, kept 8 to eat, and put the rest in the back room to freeze.

Once the water boils, add the glutinous rice balls. At first, some of them will sink to the bottom, so stir them gently. Once they float to the surface, they are almost cooked.