In the hot summer, pork spoils easily if not eaten for a long time.
There was nothing that could be done yesterday, but now that they have sumac, Jiang Tangtang wants to clean up the pork.
After dinner, she taught everyone how to wash salt using sumac.
Fill a large pot with water, wash the salt frost off the sumac fruit into the water, then filter out the black residue with gauze, and boil the water in the pot over high heat until it evaporates. The white powder that adheres to the iron pot is salt.
Many villagers did not believe that salt could be extracted by simply washing tree branches in water.
Hearing that Jiang Tangtang was teaching people how to make salt, many villagers gathered around to watch.
At first, some villagers looked on with disdain, but later, when a layer of white powder appeared in the iron pot, and one villager dipped his finger in it and licked it, discovering that it was indeed salty, he became excited.
"It really is salt! If you wash these tree branches in water and boil them dry, they really do turn into salt. That's amazing."
"That Lu Sanlang's wife is really amazing, she knows so much. From now on, her family won't need to spend money on salt anymore!"
"That's for sure. Just pick a few branches from the mountain, wash them, boil them, and you'll have salt to eat. Why bother spending money to buy it? I'm not stupid."
...
The villagers were abuzz with discussion, and some who hadn't joined the Lu family in picking sumac immediately regretted it.
The villagers who followed suit and picked sumac leaves were overjoyed, thinking that they could pick more next time they saw them. They planned to wash and boil salt like the Lu family when they had more water.
Many people, however, were reminded of the cassava they had dug up on the mountain that day.
Since Jiang Tangtang knows how to wash the salt off the sumac, is it true that she can remove the poison from the cassava?
That much cassava will last us a long time.
Many villagers who dug up cassava but then abandoned it for fear of poisoning are now regretting their actions.
"If only we hadn't thrown away the cassava we dug up back then." Zhao Er's wife, Sun Meixia, was filled with regret and couldn't help but blame her husband, saying, "It's all your fault for being afraid of getting tired. If you hadn't been afraid of getting tired and worried that it would be a waste of effort, we wouldn't have wasted so much energy and ended up doing all the work for someone else."
Zhao Er said irritably, "Now you're blaming me again. Didn't you say back then that the Jiang family was only half-baked and mostly pretending to know what they didn't?"
Sun Meixia knew she was in the wrong, but she refused to admit her mistake easily. "I was just saying a few sarcastic things, and you took it seriously. If you were as good to me as Lu Sanlang was, I wouldn't have said those sarcastic things."
Zhao Er cursed, "If you were as capable as her, I would pluck the stars from the sky for you. Are you that capable? Do you know what kind of tree can be boiled in water to make salt? Do you know how to remove the poison from the roots of that tree? You silly woman, you don't even look at yourself, all you do is compare yourself to others."
Besides Zhao Er and his wife, many other villagers were also talking about Jiang Tangtang. Although they didn't argue like Zhao Er and his wife, many villagers felt they had seen something truly eye-opening.
Many men were secretly amazed, never expecting that Jiang Shi, besides being spoiled, actually knew so much.
No wonder Lu Sanlang cherished her so much. If they had a wife as beautiful and capable as her, they would also be willing to pamper her and treat her like royalty.
Another woman said sourly, "No wonder that cunning old woman, Su, would let her daughter-in-law ride roughshod over her. Turns out, her daughter-in-law is quite capable!"
Besides the women who were envious of the Lu family, some people also expressed doubts, saying that Jiang Tangtang used to be an ordinary person in the village and they didn't realize she was so capable. How did she suddenly become so knowledgeable?
However, people soon came up with their own explanation: Jiang was very cunning and had been deliberately hiding his true abilities.
Some speculate that Jiang Tangtang had some opportunity during her escape from famine and sought out the Lu family to investigate her, both openly and secretly.
Jiang Tangtang didn't have time to pay attention to the villagers' various thoughts. At this moment, Lu Shiyan brought back a bunch of herbs from the mountain, crushed them, and handed them to her. "First, apply some medicine to the broken skin. Later, I'll go and brew you a medicinal soup to relieve your fatigue. After you eat it and get some sleep, you won't feel uncomfortable when you wake up tomorrow morning."
Jiang Tangtang never expected that he had been gone for so long just to gather herbs for her.
A strange, aching feeling welled up inside her. "Husband, please apply it for her!"
She stretched out her delicate, white feet.
Because she had been walking for two days straight, several places on her feet were chafed.
At this moment, it looks like the finest white jade has been stained with a flaw.
Looking at the wound on his foot, Lu Shiyan's breath hitched, and the words of refusal stuck in his throat.
He subconsciously changed his posture, completely covering her feet so that outsiders could not see them.
He took the crushed herbal juice and gently applied it to the wound.
His movements were gentle and focused, as if he were not applying medicine to Jiang Tangtang, but operating some kind of sophisticated instrument.
His face was sharply defined, as if carved by a knife and axe, and his thick eyelashes drooped like small fans, obscuring his eyes and making it impossible to fathom his inner thoughts at that moment.
Jiang Tangtang suddenly felt that if she said anything ambiguous at this moment, she would be blaspheming the gods in heaven.
"Alright." Lu Shiyan withdrew his hand and said, "Wait a moment, the medicine will be ready soon."
Jiang Tangtang looked up at him and said sweetly, "Husband, you must be starving after being gone for so long. I left you some food in an earthenware pot, and I specially warmed it with charcoal. Husband, go and eat!"
"No rush." Lu Shiyan remained standing in front of her, to prevent anyone from seeing her delicate feet.
"Husband, you must have gone to many places to find these medicines, right?" Jiang Tangtang said with a look of remorse. "If I had known you would go to so many places to find medicine for me and make you work so hard, I wouldn't have made that unreasonable request."
Lu Shiyan said in a low voice, "It's not an unreasonable request. If you feel uncomfortable anywhere in the future, just say so. Don't hold it in."
Jiang Tangtang blinked. "If I ask you for everything, won't you get tired of me?"
Annoying, isn't it?
Lu Shiyan was slightly taken aback.
He reflected on his reactions over the past few days; he had experienced many emotions, but not aversion.
He used to hate those pretentious women the most, but this woman in front of him was clearly a million times more pretentious than any of the women he had met in the immortal realm. Why had he never found her annoying?
Jiang Tangtang lowered her eyes, exuding a sense of dejection. "So you're already fed up!"
She had intended to put on an act, but once the words were out, she suddenly felt genuinely sad.
It seemed that just thinking about it made him feel disgusted with himself; his heart felt like it was being gripped, causing him unbearable discomfort.
"No! What are you thinking?" Lu Shiyan raised his hand and casually flicked her forehead.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com