The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and at noon, Xu Han plans to make garlic noodles!

First, knead the dough and let it rest for a while. Then you can roll out the noodles directly.

First, make the broth for the garlic noodles. Take out the freshly picked tomatoes, wash them, put them in a pot and stir-fry them to make tomato juice, then add water and bring it to a boil.

While the water is boiling, take out the wild amaranth, wash it clean, and put it in the soup later—it will be especially delicious! Then take out eight eggs, beat them into an egg mixture, and set them aside.

Take out a few cucumbers, wash them clean and cut them into thin strips. Also, prepare the water chestnuts, which are essential for garlic noodles. Set them aside for later use.

Peel a few more cloves of garlic and mash them into a paste. This will be used to season the noodles.

Once the pot boils, pour in the beaten eggs, add the amaranth, seasonings, and adjust the flavor. Then, ladle the mixture into a large bowl and let it cool.

The broth is ready. Next, we'll start rolling out the noodles. First, roll them into a large sheet, then fold them up and cut them into thin strips.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, then add the noodles and cook. Once cooked, transfer them to a bowl filled with cold water to cool them down and prevent them from clumping together.

After finishing all that, Lu Chuan returned.

"The weather is getting hotter and hotter these days, the sun is so strong outside!" Lu Chuan said as he walked into the kitchen.

"It's hot today, so I made garlic noodles to cool down!"

"What are garlic noodles? I've never tried them before!"

"You'll find out soon," Xu Han said as she scooped the noodles into the broth, then added cucumber strips, water chestnuts, sesame oil, and the prepared garlic sauce.

Stir well and it's ready to eat. The first bite is refreshingly cool, and even the broth is delicious.

Xu Han made a lot today, enough for two or three meals.

"This is delicious! It's the most refreshing thing to eat in the summer, and it even improves my appetite!"

"Right! I love eating it too! Then I'll make it often from now on."

After eating, the two took a nap. The days were getting longer and longer; it was already light around 5 a.m. and it wasn't dark until 7 or 8 p.m.! If they didn't take a nap at noon, they would easily lack the energy to work in the afternoon.

After waking up, Xu Han continued to cook bamboo shoots. It was hot now, so cooking bamboo shoots was not an easy task!

Although I don't have to be in the kitchen all the time, the kitchen is always on fire, and I always come out drenched in sweat every time I go in!

While the bamboo shoots were cooking, Xu Han went to the backyard to weed and water the plants.

I'm so busy, I'll just have a simple dinner!

The next day, Lu Chuan went to collect the game and fish baskets as usual, while Xu Han did housework and cooked bamboo shoots. They hadn't finished cooking them all day yesterday, so they had to continue cooking them today.

There was still a bag of pickled peppers in her refrigerator. Xu Han took out the bamboo shoots that she had soaked yesterday, drained the water, and planned to make some pickled bamboo shoots later.

Slice the ginger and garlic, add a little chili, and put them into a jar along with the drained bamboo shoots. Add a certain amount of cooled boiled water, put it in a cellar, and seal it for preservation.

After Lu Chuan finished collecting the traps, he took a machete and went to chop firewood. Xu Han then went to collect the firewood in the evening.

In the afternoon, Xu Han picked mulberries and cooked bamboo shoots. After all this effort, the space was finally completely cleared out.

The Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner, but we don't have any glutinous rice at home, so we can't make zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). It looks like we'll have to go to the county town.

As the sun was setting, Xu Han went up the mountain to find Lu Chuan and collected all the firewood he had chopped that day into her spatial storage. She hadn't finished collecting it in one trip, so she went again.

The freshly chopped firewood was still wet and couldn't be burned directly, so Xu Han put it all in the open space by the front door to dry before bringing it into the woodshed.

During dinner, Xu Han told Lu Chuan about her recent desire to go to the county town, and Lu Chuan immediately agreed without hesitation.

The tiger I hunted last time is still stored in my inventory! I can sell it when I go to the county town.

So he said, "Why don't we go tomorrow? There are only a few days left until the Dragon Boat Festival!"

"Okay! Then wake me up early tomorrow, and we'll go early and come back early!"

Another good night's sleep...

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Lu Chuan finished feeding the chickens and ducks and called Xu Han to get up.

The two of them set off without even having breakfast, but they figured they could eat on the way anyway! Let's get going!

After entering the county town, as usual, I went to the market first. Today, they were selling beef, so I bought another 10 jin (5 catties).

I had said I was going to hunt cattle, but because of what happened last time, I was afraid of the danger, so I kept putting it off until now.

For safety reasons, we can only wait and see.

Along the way, we even saw vendors selling seafood. When we asked Lu Chuan, he said that this wasn't a common sight here, only during holidays and festivals.

Upon hearing this, Xu Han knew she couldn't miss the opportunity!

Dried shrimp, dried fish, seaweed, kelp, and all kinds of dried shellfish—I need a little of everything! It cost a total of four taels of silver, and I bought a lot of things!

Seeing that she was buying peaches again, Xu Han bought them all, filling four large baskets, for a total of 300 coins.

The two went to the two grain shops they had visited before and bought a total of 1,000 jin of rice, 1,000 jin of wheat flour, 3,000 jin of wheat flour, 1,000 jin of cornmeal, and 600 jin of glutinous rice using the same method.

This time it cost a total of 62 taels and 800 coins. The production of glutinous rice is low, and a pound of glutinous rice is 3 coins more expensive than a pound of regular rice!

We have a total of 1 jin (500 grams) of grain now. We don't know how many babies Blackie will have, so the grain we have stored is definitely not enough for them!

After buying the grain, the two went to the pharmacy and restaurant to sell the tiger. They sold the tiger penis, tiger bones, tiger meat, and tiger skin, earning a total of 182 taels of silver.

They bought another 500 catties of dried bamboo shoots and received 5 taels of silver.

After selling these, Xu Han went to the general store again. She planned to make some fruit wine later, so she wanted to buy a few more large jars. She also wanted to buy small jars for making jam.

I ordered ten of each, but it still wasn't enough, so I bought ten more medium-sized jars. The total cost was 600 coins.

After buying these things, they went to the tavern and bought 200 catties of liquor, which cost 10 taels of silver.

Today I bought so many things that it cost about 79 taels of silver. Adding the money from selling the tiger and dried bamboo shoots, I now have about 292 taels of silver left.

Hahaha, this is absolutely fantastic! After buying so much stuff, I actually have more money than before!

It seems that Lu Chuan won't need to hunt and sell in the fall; this money will be enough for the two of them to live comfortably!

From now on, she won't have to be so stingy when buying things. Within her means, Xu Han still hopes to maintain a good quality of life. At the very least, she doesn't want to compromise her own well-being.

This amount of money might not even buy a small one-courtyard house in the county town, but for Lu Chuan and Xu Han, it was enough for them to get through this famine year!