The chicken blood was collected in a bowl and salted, resulting in another bowl of chicken blood. After killing the chicken, Tong Wenyao twisted the chicken's neck behind its wings to ease its death. Then, she filled a ceramic pot with hot water and placed the chicken in to scald its feathers.

The chicken Second Aunt bought had beautiful feathers and a bright red comb. She estimated it weighed about five or six pounds. She held the chicken by its feet and flipped it over, scalding both sides evenly. Then, she flipped it over and held the head, scalding the claws as well. This would help the chicken shed its feathers quickly.

After plucking the chicken, she cut it into small pieces, used half of the chicken to make soup, and the other half to stir-fry, and then added the chestnuts that her mother had peeled. Although Second Aunt said she wanted to drink durian chicken soup, she still prepared a chestnut chicken soup for her first. If she drank durian chicken soup, then she would drink this chestnut chicken soup.

The chopped chicken was put into a clay pot and she fried the chicken on the side. Her eldest brother had already washed the vegetables and brought them back. She would stir-fry the vegetables later and lunch would be ready.

Second Aunt said that the chicken had been raised for more than a year and might be a bit old, so Tong Wen Yao planned to stew the chicken for a longer time so that the meat would be more tender and easier for children to bite off.

The air was filled with the rich smell of chicken. Wen Jiang was already standing in front of the stove, waiting for Tong Wen Yao to lift the wooden cover and give him a small piece to taste.

He tried hard to smell the smell in the air and exclaimed in admiration, "Sister, your cooking is so fragrant, it's amazing." Tong Wenyao snorted, "This is just the beginning, I can make more delicious food later."

Wen Jiang's eyes sparkled with anticipation, and she said, "Oh yeah, I'll be lucky enough to eat it then." She lifted the wooden lid, stir-fried the chicken with a wooden spatula to make it more flavorful, and then took out a small piece for Wen Jiang to taste.

When Wen Jiang saw this, she didn't care about the heat and stuffed it directly into her mouth. It was so hot that she wanted to spit it out but couldn't bear to do so, so she could only open her mouth and breathe out the hot air.

Tong Wenyao wanted to scold him, but couldn't help laughing at him, "Are you in such a hurry? Can't you just blow on the entrance?" He exhaled hot air and replied, "Sister, you don't understand my temptation to taste the delicious food as soon as possible."

After cooking the dishes, the soup in the clay pot was also ready. She asked Wen Jiang to call her second uncle out. Now it has been a month and a half, and her second uncle can walk out on one leg with a crutch. During this period, her second uncle needs to supplement calcium, otherwise his bones will hurt. She asked her eldest brother to buy a ewe when the time comes, as the children at home also need calcium supplements.

The whole family gathered in the kitchen, beaming with joy. Second Aunt took a sip of the durian soup with a skeptical attitude, but still felt she couldn't accept the taste. Fortunately, Tong Wen Yao had been thoughtful and took out chestnut chicken soup for her to drink.

Second Uncle took a sip of the soup and sighed.

"Yao'er's cooking skills are beyond words. They're even better than some restaurants in the capital." Mother Qian was delighted to hear this and said modestly, "Yao'er's cooking skills are no match for the drinking capacity of those in the capital! I heard that the chefs there all came from the palace."

Second Aunt said from the side, "Sister-in-law, don't be so modest. We've eaten imperial dishes at palace banquets before, but they weren't as delicious as this."

Tong Wen Yao did not feel proud after hearing this. She had known since she was a child that there are always people better than you. The people who can come out of the palace cook meals that are carefully selected by the royal family. How could her little tricks compare to that?

After dinner, Tong Wenyao taught her second brother how to drive a horse-drawn carriage. The wasteland next to them had been cleared by the previous craftsmen, and there was already a large open space. However, her bricks had not been fired yet, so she did not start working. She had asked them to take out the things in the room in the morning.

Today, the village chief Wu came with four or five people to cut the kang.

She had already explained the principle to them and showed them the blueprints, but they had to figure out how to do it. Village chief Wu took the four or five people to look at the location of the room. Since he had never done it before, he was not completely sure. After planning the location of the fire pit, the other four people used the remaining bricks at the village entrance to build the fire pit. If it was successfully fired today, then this family heirloom would be the capital for the future life of Changjiang Village!

Village chief Wu then asked Wu Feng to build the chimney, and the whole process took less than two hours.

Because one side is close to the kitchen, they renovated the kitchen and moved the smoke exhaust to the other side. When cooking in the kitchen, there is no need to light a fire again in this room.

When Tong Wenyao came to see them, the kitchen fire was just beginning. But no matter how hard they burned, the smoke still came out of the stove, not through the kang in the room, and was exhausted outside. The whole kitchen was filled with smoke, making it difficult to open your eyes.

She had never encountered such a situation before, but she intuitively felt that the base of the chimney was not well made, otherwise the tobacco leaves would not come out of the stove, and the kang in the room would not be hot.

Village Chief Wu discussed it with them again and decided to pry open the stove and rebuild it, making a new one and fixing the return air duct to prevent smoke from flowing back. Wu Feng was more familiar with this step, so he took over. Soon, the base of the chimney was rebuilt, and they lit the fire again. This time, there was no smoke, but the heat on the kang was uneven. The area near the stove was too hot, while the center was almost cold. There was some warmth at the back of the kang.

Not satisfied, they dismantled the kang and added various flues inside. It was not until the evening that Village Chief Wu led the group to successfully build a kang. Tong Wenyao climbed up and touched everywhere. She was very satisfied and believed that she would not be cold when sleeping tonight.

Before it got dark, everyone built a kang in the next room. With their previous experience, they built the kang very quickly this time.

But now the kang still needs to be cleaned, so she called two little helpers (Xin'er and Wen Jiang) to clean the bricks on the kang one by one.

Second Aunt and Mother made dinner. They were going to prepare meals for Village Chief Wu and the others tonight. Tong Wenyao happened to have a few white radishes left over from last night, so she went to the village river to catch fish, just as she had caught fish on her way to exile. With bread crumbs in her hands, the fish in the river came to nibble at the food, and she took the opportunity to catch several and put them in the bucket.

This afternoon, when her second brother was practicing riding a horse-drawn carriage, she told him that they were going to the county to buy meat. Although her second brother was not very skilled in driving a horse-drawn carriage, his horse-riding skills were still good.

She dragged the four fish in the wooden barrel back. Although she was much stronger than people of her age, the barrel was still quite heavy with fish and water, so she had to drag it back. Fortunately, their home was not far from the river, but they had to walk uphill, which was very tiring.

She thought about putting it in the space and taking it out when she was almost home, but everyone in the village, young and old, was there, so she was worried and had to drag it back.