Hua Hua couldn't understand what Zhang Shuzhen was saying at all. She just kept rubbing her head against Zhang Shuzhen's leg and making purring noises.

Zhang Shuzhen thought to herself that there was no point in worrying about these things. There were plenty of animals in the mountains, and she figured that providing for a tiger wouldn't be a problem.

So she led Huahua into the house and let it sleep, while Zhang Shuzhen took a knife and skinned the deer.

After breakfast, the family members started busy chopping filling and kneading dough to prepare for making dumplings.

Zhang Shuzhen kneaded a large basin of dough. Last night, she brought back several pieces of sow meat and yellow-haired cat meat, which Sheng Xikang chopped up.

I'll chop up a bowl of cabbage filling and a bowl of sauerkraut filling; I plan to make dumplings with two different fillings today.

Around 10 a.m., both dumpling fillings were prepared and the dough had risen. So Zhang Shuzhen led her daughter-in-law and daughter to start making dumplings.

Once the package was wrapped up and covered with a cloth, Sheng Xikang took it outside to freeze.

Around the Lunar New Year, the weather is at its coldest. Even during the day, the temperature can drop to minus 20 or 30 degrees Celsius, and the wind feels like a knife, cutting straight into people's faces.

In this weather, dumplings freeze solid within an hour of being served.

The frozen dumplings are then quickly rinsed in cold water with a strainer and spread out. In no time, each dumpling is covered with a layer of ice, which is commonly known as "wax coating".

The dumplings, with their ice shells intact, were placed in large wooden barrels in the warehouse, and then layered with snow. They could be eaten until after the New Year without any problems.

Zhang Shuzhen led her daughter and daughter-in-law to wrap dumplings inside the house, while Sheng Xikang led his younger brother and nephew Chen Feng, dressed neatly and covered up, to freeze the dumplings outside, coat them with wax, and then put them into a wooden bucket.

The family worked from around 10 a.m. until after 3 p.m., finally finishing wrapping, freezing, waxing, and storing the dumplings in the warehouse.

Finally, I left two trays of dumplings unfrozen and boiled them directly in water to eat.

"Here they come! The dumplings are ready. Hurry up and wash your hands so we can eat."

Steaming hot dumplings were served, and Zhang Shuzhen called the children to eat.

"Honey, let's eat. We only have two meals today. After you finish eating, get some rest. There's nothing much to do tomorrow, so you should get some rest."

"Okay, I'm coming."

Zhou Qinglan felt a heaviness in her stomach and a sore back, whether it was from being busy these past few days or something else.

She was feeling really tired after making dumplings, so she went to lie down in the west room for a while.

Hearing her mother-in-law call her, Zhou Qinglan got up from the kang (a heated brick bed), supporting her back as she headed towards the east room.

As soon as she took that step, she realized something was wrong; it seemed like she had wet her pants.

Zhou Qinglan was extremely embarrassed. She was such a grown-up, how could she still wet her pants?

So she hurriedly turned around and went to the closet to rummage through her clothes, wanting to change out of her underwear and long johns.

"Honey, what are you doing? We've been waiting for you to eat."

Zhang Shuzhen waited in the east room for a while, but Zhou Qinglan didn't come over for dinner, so she opened the door to the west room and poked her head out to ask.

"Mom, I just woke up and I wet my pants. I'll find a pair of long underwear to change into." Zhou Qinglan looked embarrassed.

"Oh dear, has your water broken?"