Today, Xu Han plans to make beef and savory rice. She remembers when she was little, her mother would make this dish whenever her family bought beef, and it was especially delicious.

Take the beef out of the space, cut it into thin strips and wash it clean, then cut some ginger into strips.

Heat oil in a wok, add shredded ginger and shredded beef and stir-fry, then add water and an appropriate amount of white rice to start cooking.

After the water boils, add the last little bit of sweet potato vermicelli, broken into pieces and added in. Finally, add pepper, chicken bouillon, oyster sauce, and salt to taste.

Once it's simmered until thickened, add a little sesame oil and it's ready to serve. It's also delicious with some pickled vegetables.

After dinner, it was still early, so the two continued working until 10 o'clock before going to rest.

The next day, when Xu Han got up, it was still drizzling outside. After breakfast, Xu Han suggested going outside to see if any ground ivy had grown.

Every year in March/April and August/September, lichen grows.

Xu Han hadn't thought of it before, but she saw it by the vegetable garden yesterday and realized that it was the season for lichen to grow.

The two put on straw hats and raincoats, and came together to the hillside in front of their house.

Sure enough, they saw some very plump and juicy lichen, and Xu Han taught Lu Chuan how to pick it.

Nostoc commune is delicious, but it's extremely difficult to clean. When picking it, be careful to choose large, broken pieces. Otherwise, cleaning it at home will be a real hassle.

Each person had a bamboo basket, and they squatted down to pick up the items. After picking them up in one place, they would move on to another place to continue picking them up.

It was foggy and drizzling all day. The rain wasn't heavy, but it wasn't convenient to work.

The two went home around lunchtime. After lunch, they each drank a bowl of ginger soup, changed into dry clothes, and went out again.

In the afternoon, we continued picking wild vegetables, only picking the large ones. By the end of the day, the two of us had picked quite a lot, enough to eat something fresh every now and then.

Back home, I first boiled water and made ginger soup. After taking a hot bath, I took out four large hairy crabs from my storage space and started cleaning them.

I haven't eaten the hairy crabs I bought before, but I'll definitely cook a few to try since I have time today.

First, clean the crabs thoroughly, then steam them directly in a pot. Xu Han thinks that steamed crabs taste best, retaining their original flavor and being especially fresh and sweet.

When steaming crabs, place the shells side down and put scallions and ginger on top of each crab. Then wait for them to cook through.

Xu Han prepared some vinegar, which would make the crab taste even better, but Xu Han doesn't like to eat crab with vinegar; it's mainly for Lu Chuan.

They quickly stir-fried a few more dishes, and then the two of them began to eat their dinner.

The first thing to eat was, of course, crab. Xu Han skillfully began to dismantle the crab, eating it herself while teaching Lu Chuan how to eat it.

Lu Chuan found it troublesome and there was no meat, so after eating one, he refused to eat any more! Xu Han ate three crabs by herself, and after finishing them, she even made herself a cup of ginger tea.

Crabs are considered to have a cooling effect, so if you eat too many, you should definitely drink some ginger tea to neutralize it.

The rain intensified again at night...

When they woke up the next day, the rain had stopped. The two spent the morning picking wild vegetables, and then went to the pine forest to pick matsutake mushrooms.

When she returned home in the evening, Xu Han washed some lichen, intending to use it to stir-fry with eggs later.

It has to be said that lichen is really difficult to clean. Not only is it covered in mud, but it also contains dead branches and weeds. You have to be very careful and patient when cleaning it.

First, blanch the lichen. Then, crack a few eggs into a bowl and scramble them. Fry the eggs first.

Then heat oil in a wok, add minced ginger and garlic, then add the blanched lichen and stir-fry briefly. Finally, add the eggs, seasonings, and it's ready to serve.

Next, I'll stir-fry celery with beef and make beef bone and winter melon soup. The winter melon was freshly picked from the field.

Today's staple food is white flour steamed buns, filled with stir-fried eggs with lichen, it's incredibly delicious!

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, they went to bed early.

It's been raining these past two days, so I've been going to bed a little earlier. Tomorrow I'll be picking mushrooms for another day, and then Lu Chuan will be going into the mountains to hunt again.

After dawn, the two ate breakfast and started walking up the mountain. They first went to the pine forest deep in the mountains to pick matsutake mushrooms.

Even after lunch, I didn't rest for a moment and kept picking things up.

On their way home, the two took a different route, which led to an unexpected discovery.

Xu Han found many pepper trees. The peppers were fully ripe, and some were even dried and cracked. Xu Han didn't mind and just dried them on the trees, which saved her a lot of trouble!

If they picked them little by little, it would be too late today, so the two of them simply used a saw to prune off the small branches, which will sprout again next year!

After pruning all the nearby pepper trees and storing the branches in their spatial storage, the two quickly started heading home.

They weren't home yet! It was already getting dark, so Lu Chuan lit a torch to light the way ahead.

Fortunately, they were already very close to home. The two of them knew the area well, and Lu Chuan had already hunted down all the large prey.

Otherwise, staying out after dark is practically suicidal.

Knowing in advance that they would be almost home by dark and there would be no danger, Lu Chuan said he would finish pruning the pepper trees before coming back.

Otherwise, even if they had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare to covet that little bit of Sichuan peppercorn.

When they got home, it was already quite late. Xu Han went to the kitchen to boil water, while Lu Chuan went to feed the chickens, ducks, and geese in the backyard.

The two of them took a shower before starting their dinner.

Lu Chuan is going hunting in the mountains again tomorrow, and he should be back soon this time. After eating, we didn't linger and went straight to rest.

After all, we walked for a long time today and were quite tired.

After Xu Han got up, she didn't see Lu Chuan. She went to the tool shed to check, but the tools were gone. They must have gone up the mountain.

Xu Han tidied up, slung her basket over her shoulder, and went out. Since it had just rained, her main task for the next two days would be to pick mushrooms!

Let's put everything else aside for now and deal with it after we've picked all the mushrooms.

Three days passed like this. On the fourth day, Xu Han spent her morning picking vegetables and weeding at home, her afternoon pulling weeds in the wasteland, and her evenings picking the peppercorns she had cut a few days earlier to dry and preserve them.

In the late afternoon, Lu Chuan dragged back another wild boar and also hunted four or five pheasants.

After arriving home, Lu Chuan began processing the wild boar, while Xu Han helped process the pheasant; the two were busy with their own tasks.

"Are we going to the county town to sell wild boar meat again tomorrow?" Xu Han asked while eating.

Yes, do you want to come along?

I'm not going!