Jiang Xi counted the corn cobs she had broken off: ninety-six, just right, no more and no less.

Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an were responsible for using axes to cut the corn stalks from the base after the corn cobs had been picked and collecting them into a pile.

Jiang Xi and Du Ling gathered around a pile of corn cobs, peeling off the outer husks. Jiang Xi's initial anticipation cooled considerably after seeing the husks removed.

Some were dry, some were shriveled, and some hadn't even sprouted any kernels.

Having gotten used to eating artificially cultivated steamed corn from convenience stores, seeing this corn in its natural state is quite a surprise.

Jiang Xi sighed as she recounted how she had spent the entire summer working on this project.

I told myself: It's okay, there's next year, the year after, and the year after that. I'll definitely plant more and more.

Although they don't look very appealing, judging by the quantity, they can leave behind quite a few seeds. At worst, we can just eat less this year.

The corn was still very moist, so she specially picked out a few tender ones and put them in the kitchen, planning to cook them for dinner. Jiang Xi used the outer husks to tie the remaining corn cobs into strings and hung them under the eaves to dry.

After climbing down the ladder, she clapped her hands, looking at the strings of corn hanging up with a great sense of accomplishment. The green bricks and yellow tiles were decorated with golden corn cobs, making her feel as if she had returned to her grandmother's courtyard when she was six years old.

Yan Jing'an and Yan Zheng washed their faces and then went to pack their hunting tools. It was still early, and they planned to go to the lake again in the afternoon.

Before leaving, Jiang Xi casually picked a few reddish figs from the fig tree in the yard and put them in their baskets.

After seeing the two off and feeding the little member of the family, Du Ling and Jiang Xi tidied up briefly and led the fawn into the woods by the field.

In autumn, the leaves in the forest gradually lose their emerald green, and the colors in the woods become vibrant and dazzling, the era of yellow and red has arrived.

Jiang Xi and Du Ling were in a particularly good mood as they walked on the fallen leaves. The two girls looked around, trying to find plants they had never seen before.

This is their daily pleasure, and also a task that Jiang Xi set for herself—after finishing the chores at home, she goes to the nearby woods to collect firewood.

They were preparing firewood for the winter. Although their strength was limited, with the help of the deer and their perseverance, the woodpile by the yard was already taller than a person.

But that was far from enough. Jiang Xi still remembered last winter when Yan Jing'an was bedridden in the cave. In order to keep the fire burning, Yan Zheng would walk through the wind and snow every day. In winter, the firewood was buried under the snow, making it very difficult to collect. He spent nearly six hours a day collecting firewood.

The temperature was so cold that there was no way to stop it; his hands, face, and ears were covered in frostbite, which made Jiang Xi feel very sorry for him.

This year, she finalized her plan early and started collecting firewood ahead of time, determined not to repeat the mistakes of last year.

While gathering firewood, one can also store medicinal herbs.

Plantain, dandelion, and crescent moon grass are some of the most common types.

Although Yan Jing'an and Du Lingxia had brought back a lot from the forest in the summer, she always felt it wasn't enough and wanted to save more.

There hasn't been much rain in the last few days, so the corn cobs are drying quickly. Jiang Xi took a basket and sat on a stone bench to peel the corn kernels.

Discard the very small and deformed ones, and keep only the ones that are well-shaped and large.

In the end, these ninety-odd corn cobs yielded only half a basin of whole corn kernels, which should be enough for planting.

There were two bowls of small corn kernels that had been picked out. Following the principle of not wasting anything, Jiang Xi ground them into corn flour.

Stone mills are ancient, and compared to the high-tech production machines of modern life, the corn flour they grind is actually too coarse.

But having no better option, she thought for a moment and decided to make steamed cornbread.

Jiang Xi arranged for Du Ling to find some fresh lamb's quarters from the ground, which is also a type of wild vegetable.

Grandma often said that the cornbread made with lamb's quarters was the best food they ate when they were young.

Du Rongzhen taught her: "You must cherish food. We had a hard life back then. We all had to work to earn work points. A family of several people relied on work points for food. Your grandfathers often cried from hunger. There was no white flour. Being able to have a cornbread was already considered an improvement in life."

The grandfather was referring to Ms. Du Rongzhen's brothers and sisters. In those days, it was not uncommon for a family to have four or five brothers and sisters, and it was not uncommon for them to have seven or eight.

Women back then didn't have the right to choose how to give birth; if they were pregnant, they had to give birth, and whether they could raise the child was another matter.

It is said that during the hardest times, they could only eat carrots to fill their stomachs every day. After eating one or two carrots, their legs would swell up. In order to earn more work points, they had to go to work in the fields before dawn.

Even if there were cornbread buns, each person could only get half a bun at most, and if they ate a little later, that half bun would be gone.

Jiang Xi kneaded the cornmeal and muttered to herself, "People remember the bitter past to appreciate the sweet present. Now even cornbread is a rare treat for us. Keep going, Jiang Xi, one day we'll be able to eat white flour steamed buns."

Du Ling helped start the fire, and the cornbread didn't come out of the pot until after dark. Before the lid was even lifted, the whole yard was already filled with the aroma of corn.

Du Ling took a few deep breaths greedily: "Xiao Xi, this tastes familiar."

Jiang Xi smiled and said, "Of course I'm familiar with it. You might have even eaten it when you were little."

Each person received two steamed buns.

Without yeast, the steamed buns made naturally wouldn't be fluffy, so Jiang Xi specially prepared a side dish of mushrooms and diced meat to go with them.

Although it's hard at first bite, it actually tastes a little sweet as you eat it, with a rich aroma and the unique sweet fragrance of corn.

Little Black smelled the odor and frantically circled around the group.

Jiang Xi sincerely exclaimed: This year's efforts weren't in vain.

After finishing his cornbread, Yan Jing'an picked up a corncob and said contentedly, "Indeed, people still need to eat grains. Cornbread is the best. Next year, we should plant all the remaining corn kernels."

Yan Zheng nodded in agreement and said to Jiang Xi, "I'll gather more leaves later and pile them up as fertilizer to use next year."

Before September was even over, the tomatoes and cucumbers in the field had already begun to wilt, with most of the leaves sparse and the fruit yields far less than before.

In mid-October, the first autumn rain arrived as scheduled, and Yan Zheng led Yan Jing'an to clean up the fallen leaves in the pond and river in the yard.

The supplies were almost ready. Over the past two months, the two of them had hunted a lot of game, and the yard was often filled with the smell of burning pine needles.

There were twenty or thirty ribs, not many, just enough for a winter treat.

I did make quite a few jars of braised pork, about ten jars in total. If we eat them sparingly, we can get through the winter.

Needless to say, there might still be quite a few of the remaining plant species left by next spring.

Winter grain reserves are about 80% complete. There's still some time before the first snow, so we can prepare some more.

The couple set their wedding date for October 26th, a date chosen after discussions among the four of them.

Nobody knows what the lunar calendar date is, but since it's an even number, it shouldn't be wrong.

There are only about ten days left until the divorce.

Inside the house, Jiang Xi took out a jar from the kitchen, which contained beeswax that she had steamed from honeycomb.

She didn't know how modern lipsticks are made, but she watched a lot of short videos when she was in college, so she had a general idea.

Most homemade lipsticks are made by mixing beeswax and sweet almond oil with rose juice.

She couldn't find red roses, and she didn't dare use other flowers casually, in case they were poisonous, and a good thing would turn into a bad thing.

Therefore, Jiang Xi chose to use red raspberry powder.

The almonds used were wild apricots eaten in the summer. Jiang Xi specially cracked the almonds out and dried them in the sun. She even tasted them to make sure they weren't bitter almonds before drying and storing them until now.

First, grind the almonds on a stone mill. Then, stir-fry the almond residue in an earthenware pot until oil is released.

This process was extremely long, and Jiang Xi's hands soon became sore. Then Du Ling took over to continue stir-frying, and the room was filled with the smell of almonds.

After a while, the almond residue turned light brown. Jiang Xi took out a bowl and poured the roasted almond residue into it. Then she repeatedly squeezed it, and slowly you could see the oil squeezed out of the almond residue.

Jiang Xi poured out and collected the almond oil. The clean, sweet almond oil was a pale yellow color and clear and transparent.

After cooling, put hot water back on the pot, place a ceramic bowl on top, and melt the beeswax using a double boiler method. Then pour in sweet almond oil and red raspberry powder.

To get the color right, she specially made a small spoon the size of a toothpick and carefully added the raspberry powder little by little.

Since we've already made it, the color is secondary; ideally, it should also be usable as an everyday lip balm.

So she didn't adjust the color to be too red; she stopped when it looked slightly watery red and took a small amount to spread on the back of her hand.

The lip rouge was a light red with a glossy sheen, just the look she wanted.

Jiang Xi took out two exquisite small jars, each about the size of a walnut and one centimeter deep, with a lid on top.

This is a rouge jar that she specially burned to store lipsticks.

Pour in the prepared lipstick liquid. After the rain, the air was slightly cool, and the lipstick solidified into a creamy consistency in no time.

Gently dab the product in with your fingertips in a circular motion, then spread it across your lips. Without a mirror, Jiang Xi could only smile at Du Ling, her cherry lips slightly parted as she asked, "Does it look good? Is there any color?"

Du Ling watched her actions, gazing at the faint red on her lips, her eyes widening, and she stammered, "Red...it looks good, the bride is so beautiful."

Jiang Xi had no idea where she got that word from. The wedding hadn't even started yet, and the bride was already calling it that. Jiang Xi felt a flush of embarrassment.

He asked her in a low voice, "Who did you learn all this from?"

Du Ling chuckled foolishly: "Yan Jing'an said it. He said you'll be a bride in a few days and that you're going to marry Brother Yan."

At first, she didn't understand what a bride was, until Yan Jing'an surprisingly patiently explained it to her.

"A bride is someone who marries a man and a woman; the woman becomes the bride, and the man becomes the groom."

When Du Ling heard this, she thought of the red dress that Jiang Xi had made, and she was very envious of it. So she quickly said, "Then I want to be a bride too."

That way I can wear a red dress.

Upon hearing this, Yan Jing'an's hand, which was drinking water, trembled. He then said irritably, "What kind of bride are you? Have you even mastered all your kung fu? Look at you now, you can't even climb a tree as fast as I can. All you do is think about nonsense all day long."

"Besides, who would marry you? In this place, you might not see a soul for miles, let alone ten miles."

Upon hearing this, the glimmer of hope in Du Ling's eyes instantly dimmed. She thought to herself: Does that mean I can't be a bride if no one else is getting married? Then I'll just marry myself, and I'll be a bride too.

On October 26th, the weather was perfect, with a gentle breeze.

Early in the morning, the sound of firecrackers crackling could be heard in the yard.

Yan Jing'an said, "Logically speaking, the bride and groom should not meet for three days before the wedding."

Unfortunately, their courtyard was too small, so it wouldn't be right not to meet. However, Yan Jing'an still dragged Yan Zheng to his room to sleep three days in advance, claiming it was to respect tradition.

In the morning, Du Ling was asked by Yan Zheng to bring water to Jiang Xi to wash her face and hands, and then the two of them busied themselves in the room.

Jiang Xi changed into a red wedding dress and used the wooden hairpin given to her by Yan Zheng to tie her hair up high. In the blink of an eye, she noticed that several red camellias had appeared on the windowsill.

She smiled gently and let Du Ling help her put the hairpin in her hair bun.

Du Ling picked up the charcoal pencil on the table and gently drew her eyebrows. Over the past ten days, she had practiced drawing eyebrows no less than a hundred times. Now, without needing a mirror, Jiang Xi felt that she must have drawn them very well.

As a final step, she applied two more coats of lipstick with her fingertips.

When the second firecracker went off, Jiang Xi pushed open the door, and Yan Zheng was already waiting for her at the door.

The red wedding dress accentuated his tall and slender figure. It was clear that he had taken great care in his appearance, and he looked dashing at first glance. Although the tailoring of the dress wasn't particularly exquisite, it made him look incredibly handsome.

He looked at Jiang Xi with a gentle smile on his lips.

The girl before him wore a red dress, her black hair piled high, and a red camellia at her temple accentuated her slightly flushed cheeks, making her graceful and charming. When she looked at him, her eyes were filled with endless tenderness and intelligence, and her features were like the distant mountains in the forest, radiant as the autumn light.

Just like the one downstairs in the dormitory building seven years ago.

Yan Zheng looked at her, his eyes slightly warm, and said softly, "Jiang Xi, we have a long future ahead of us."

The story ends with a warm embrace and the everyday joys of life through the four seasons.

The End.

That concludes the story. Thank you all for your company and support during this time.

Actually, I could write more, but after thinking about it for a long time, I decided to stop here. I've already written everything I wanted to write, and the plot and word count are just right.

I went through a lot during the writing process, which can be described as the lowest point in my life, so I took a break for a while. It was your companionship and love that supported me to persevere until now.

While writing, many scenes and words in the book warmed not only your hearts but also mine, so I would like to thank you again for your comments and encouragement to update, for your gifts and your support, which kept me true to my original aspirations even as I typed late into the night.

Wishing everyone all the best in the future, and happiness every day!

Three meals a day, four seasons, the everyday life of ordinary people.