Xu Lin laid out a bamboo mat on the flat ground outside the container, poured mushrooms and wood ear fungus on it, went home to get a few cloth bags and plastic bags, and then continued picking mushrooms with Li Jingjing.
The two chatted as they picked herbs, occasionally finding other Chinese medicinal materials such as Ganoderma lucidum and Artemisia argyi, which they also collected.
At noon, the two ate a bag of compressed biscuits, drank some water, and continued collecting.
Li Jingjing is a very pleasant person to be around. She is knowledgeable and thoughtful, and you can chat about anything, but she doesn't pry into other people's privacy. Xu Lin really enjoys being with her.
“This is wild ginger! We’ll dig it up and take it back; we can use it for cooking and as a seasoning, and we can also use it as a traditional Chinese medicine,” Li Jingjing said.
The two dug up all the wild ginger under the tree. They carefully put the good ones in their baskets to plant back home, and put the bad ones in their cloth bags to cook with.
Before they had finished digging up the wild ginger, the two discovered other plants such as Anoectochilus roxburghii, Paris polyphylla, and Lysimachia christinae. They were having a great time digging when Zhou Pin and Sun Wei returned.
"You dug so much?" Sun Wei asked.
"We've sent a whole batch back already! Oh! Rabbits!"
When Li Jingjing looked up, she saw that Sun Wei and Zhou Pin were each carrying two small rabbits.
In addition to rabbits, the two also caught a wild boar and four sheep, two large and two small. The wild boar was dragged on a sled behind them, while the sheep were led around.
"You've had a great time!" Xu Lin said.
Zhou Pin and Sun Wei took the baskets from Xu Lin and Li Jingjing, and the four of them went home together.
It was already past six o'clock when they got home. Grandma Wu invited Xu Lin and Zhou Pin to have dinner together, but Xu Lin declined and went home with Zhou Pin instead.
The two tidied themselves up first, and then Xu Lin took out the spicy crayfish and boiled pork slices she had made earlier for dinner. On such a humid day, you have to eat something spicy.
The wild boar that had been captured was waiting for Zhou Pin and Sun Wei to deal with it. The two hurriedly finished their meal and went to Sun Wei's house, where the wild boar was placed not far from Sun Wei's house.
The wild boar was already unconscious, so the women didn't need to help with the slaughter. Zhou Pin had practical experience, and Sun Wei worked well together; the two of them finished the job in an hour.
The outside temperature is around 18℃ now, and around 10℃ at night, so the pork should be fine to leave outside overnight. The two families split the pork on the spot. Xu Lin and Zhou Pin took half a pig home, about 200 jin (100 catties). They were too tired today, so they decided to wait until tomorrow to process the pork. Anyway, Xu Lin could store it in her storage space without worrying about it spoiling.
The next day, Zhou Pin and Sun Wei went hunting again, while Xu Lin, Li Jingjing, and Grandma Wu stayed home to prepare pork.
Xu Lin is preparing to make ham, smoked pork, and sausages.
Before starting, feed the sheep and rabbits. The sheep are easy; just lead them to a place with plenty of grass. But Xu Lin will need to cut grass to feed the rabbits.
Yesterday, during the hunt, Xu Lin and Zhou Pin received two sheep, one large and one small, four rabbits, half a carcass of pork, half a set of offal, and half a pig's head.
The sheep were tied outside the container, and the rabbits were packed in crates, but this wasn't a long-term solution. Zhou Pin said he would build rabbit burrows and sheep pens when he came back at night.
There were many sausage casings in the space, some of which she had stockpiled before, and others that she found while searching for supplies. Xu Lin gave Li Jingjing a few sausage casings and promised to lend her sausage-making tools. She was very grateful and said that she would help Xu Lin make the sausages.
Li Jingjing kept her word and first went to Xu Lin's side to help her stuff sausages.
Li Jingjing chopped the meat, while Xu Lin prepared the filling and processed the sausage casings. A total of 80 jin (40 catties) of meat needed to be chopped. After finishing her own tasks, Xu Lin joined Li Jingjing in chopping the meat, which took two hours. Then they started stuffing the sausages.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
