When they had fought enough, Ningxia called them over, reached out and called Sangsang over, tugged at the hem of her dress and wrung it out, releasing a circle of water. The silly girl was still grinning happily, and Ningxia smiled and pinched her face, "Let's go! You're all wet, go home and change."
Sangsang nodded, water droplets dripping down the shaking wet fabric, her eyes full of joy, "Well, let's go home!"
"Xia Xia, what are we going to do for a while?" Sangsang was holding a toy car in his arms. The master bedroom was the only clean room in the whole house, so the three of them stayed in the bedroom after returning from the river.
"Uncle Li Gang and the others left a chicken for us, right? We'll eat it later and then clean the house." Ningxia straightened her T-shirt that was about to slip off her shoulders. She only altered her summer clothes into a sleeveless vest, which she got wet and was now hanging in the yard.
I could only pick out a small T-shirt for her to wear first. Once the clothes in the children's room dried, she would have something to wear. Sangsang was small anyway, so it should be suitable. As for men's and women's clothes, it didn't matter.
Both children said they were not hungry, so Ningxia didn't care and decided to clean up the kitchen first, as the pots and pans would be needed at any time.
She hadn't finished looking at the kitchen cabinets yet, so she had time to tidy them up. Lin Yi brought a basin of water into the kitchen, along with two towels, the same ones from the bathroom that had softened after being soaked in water.
Whenever Ningxia cleaned a cabinet, he would take Sangsang to clean it as well. They had a very good understanding of each other.
After squatting on the ground for most of the day, Ningxia finally cleared out the things in a row of cabinets on the ground.
There were several bags of moldy glutinous rice flour, half a 50-jin bag of rice with worms, some dried goods with worms, such as wood ear mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms, and two handfuls of noodles. These were all I had to eat, and none of them could be kept.
Some more plates and bowls were found, ceramic, stainless steel, and two wooden ones, but they were already cracked. Ningxia even found a pressure cooker in the corner and put them all on the usable side, waiting to be washed later.
I have finished looking at the lower level, but I haven’t looked at the wall cabinets above the kitchen counter yet.
Chopsticks, spoons of various sizes, shovels, and large colander are all placed in a wall cabinet, in an attractive ceramic bucket, but the chopsticks are no longer usable and are moldy.
Various seasonings and a bottle of white wine. Except for salt and white wine, the rest can all be discarded.
Even though the salt has clumped and turned yellow, it can be saved for curing meat in the winter. Who would want too much, Ningxia thought. As for the shelf life, as long as it doesn't kill you, it's not a big deal.
Ningxia took out the inner pot of the rice cooker and threw away the outer shell. It had no power, so what was the point of keeping it?
The kitchen knife on the knife rack had already been taken out and used. There was also a more delicate kitchen knife, a heavy bone chopping knife, a fruit knife, and a pair of scissors. It was obvious that these things were made of good materials. Aside from the scissors being slightly rusted, the rest were fine, just a bit dusty. Ningxia took it down as well, and would clean and sharpen it later. These were the tools for eating.
There were also some peanuts, sesame seeds, etc., which were all rejected. Ningxia also found a large can of sugar and a small can of honey in a compartment.
The sugar was also clumping and had melted at the bottom. Ningxia opened it, smelled it, took a little and put it in her mouth. It was still edible! But the honey was not good. It was visibly spoiled and had to be thrown away.
Ningxia took out some sugar from the jar and put it into Sangsang's mouth. The little girl licked her lips while eating, her eyes full of greed. Ningxia pretended to glare at her, took some more sugar and put it into her mouth, then ignored her and handed the jar to Lin Yi.
"Try it."
Lin Yi took it and covered it, "Didn't you let me taste it when you exchanged it for sugar at the trading point? Keep these and eat them slowly."
Ningxia ignored him after hearing that and continued to rummage through the drawers and cabinets, finding a bunch of miscellaneous things. The cabinets on both sides were finally empty.
"Sister Xia Xia, what should we do with that?" Lin Yi pointed at the refrigerator.
Ningxia said she didn't want to clean it up at all. She opened it and smelled it yesterday. She would not forget the smell for a while. It was not smelly, but disgusting. The smell of all kinds of rotting food mixed together was almost killing her.
There is no electricity now. Although it is possible to put some dishes in the clean room, Ningxia thinks it is unnecessary. Lieyangyue doesn't care where you put the cooked food, it will definitely go bad and it will take up space. So he waved his hand and decided to throw it away.
The pot on the countertop was also outside, and Ningxia also took the small steamer out to use. The large steamer remained on the stove. Ningxia lifted the lid, gathered the pots and pans on the floor, and carried them out to the yard. She planned to wash them there, as the water from washing the utensils could be used to rinse the yard.
Lin Yi stayed in the kitchen to clean the cabinets. He changed two basins of water before he finally cleaned the lower row of cabinets. He asked Sangsang to open the cabinet doors to dry them, and then he went to clean the upper layer.
Sangsang carried the unwanted items on the ground little by little to the cart in the yard. In a short while, he had carried a lot of them.
Ningxia left the siblings busy. She had to prepare lunch, so she took a small bowl and went out the courtyard gate and around to the back of the house. She had seen some gray-gray vegetables from the master bedroom window yesterday and planned to pick some to bring back.
Sure enough, not long after walking, we came to a large patch of ash greens. Ningxia picked the tips, only the tender ones. After gathering a handful, Ningxia returned home. Blanching the ash greens in hot water and dipping them in chili sauce was incredibly delicious, refreshing and appetizing. However, we didn't have the means to make chili sauce now, and we didn't have any soy sauce, vinegar, or anything else, so we had to eat it plain.
Back in the courtyard, Ningxia took a small basin, filled it with water, and boiled it, then went to wash the vegetables. When the water boiled, she threw the vegetables into the basin and rolled them for a while. She took them out, let them cool, squeezed out the water, and placed them in a bowl. That was it.
I have a lot to do these two days, so Ningxia plans to steam a pot of corn tortillas to save trouble. Although the taste may not be very good, it is better than multi-grain pancakes!
I have seen the cornmeal exchanged from the trading point in Ningxia. It is all new corn, ground very finely. Adding a little sugar to it will taste good.
Ningxia had only exchanged two pounds of sugar for it, and she was thinking of saving it for later, but she found a huge jar in the kitchen, weighing about five or six pounds. Ningxia was willing to give it up, so she scooped a large spoonful into the dough, mixed it thoroughly, and then added warm water and stirred it into a flocculent consistency before she began to knead it.
In a short while, half a basin of cornmeal turned into a smooth dough in Ningxia's hands.
Ningxia had no choice but to cover it with a lid and let it ferment naturally in the sun without yeast.
The flour was ready, and Ningxia was about to cook the chicken. She had already stuffed it with wild onions and dried bamboo shoots, placed them at the bottom of the pot, added water to cover the white chicken, turned up the fire, and left Ningxia alone.
There was nothing she could do. She wanted no oil and no seasoning, so she had to make do with it. She had originally wanted to roast it, but how could a roast chicken with only salt be delicious?
It’s better to add some green onions and bamboo shoots to make a fragrant chicken soup, which is nutritious and delicious.
While the chicken soup was stewing, Ningxia went into the house to see what the two little guys in the kitchen were busy with.
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