To extract the soapberry kernels from dried soapberries, you first need to slowly peel off the outer shell to get individual green kernels. Then, peel the green kernels to get the white soapberry kernels.
Xu Lin and Zhou Pin worked until 5 p.m., their hands were shaking a little, and they finally finished drying a basket of soap pods, harvesting a total of about five catties of soapberry rice.
Since both soapberry and peach gum need to be soaked in advance, it's best to soak them overnight so they can be used the next day.
Xu Lin wanted to make more to store space, so she soaked the 5 jin of soapberry rice she had prepared during the day, and also soaked a jin of peach gum. Don't underestimate just a jin of peach gum; it can soak a whole basin, so Xu Lin found a large basin to soak it.
After finishing these tasks, the two went to the space to feed the poultry and livestock, collect chicken, duck, and goose eggs, and harvest the grain in the planting area. There was a lot of work to be done, and Xu Lin and Zhou Pin remarked that the apocalypse was even busier.
The number of boxed meals in the space didn't decrease. Since there were outsiders present, neither of them ate the food stored in the space. They made and ate fresh meals on the spot, and occasionally they could replenish some food in the space.
Before going to bed, Xu Lin changed the water for the soapberry rice, and then lay down in peace.
The next morning, the first thing Xu Lin did after getting up was to change the water for the soapberry rice. After breakfast, she took the basin of soaked peach gum outside and sat down to pick out impurities.
Zhou Pin wasn't interested in such meticulous work, so Xu Lin put him in her space to collect grain and do farm work. She could keep watch in the yard and release him from the container if anything happened.
After a morning of work, Xu Lin finally cleaned out all the impurities from the peach gum, while Zhou Pin used the harvester in his space to harvest more than half of the grain.
The two of them didn't cook lunch; they ate what they had stored in the kitchen, ate quickly, and continued working.
Xu Lin set up a large pot in the yard, poured in water, peach gum, soapberry rice, and snow swallow to stew.
Take out the fresh white fungus I picked earlier from the space, wash it clean and set it aside for later use.
Everything was on track. Xu Lin sat in front of the big pot, adding firewood and picking wild vegetables, preparing a "bitter-sweet" dinner for the evening.
More than an hour later, the food was ready. Xu Lin put it into a stainless steel insulated container and put it into her space, and then started the second batch.
When the second batch was almost ready, Xu Lin checked the time and it was already four o'clock, so she went to her space to bring Zhou Pin out.
Zhou Pin has already harvested all the land in the space and prepared feed for poultry and livestock, he hasn't been idle at all.
"Can't you take a break?" Xu Lin said to Zhou Pin after they came out of the space.
“This work isn’t tiring at all. We can do this often in the future. You stay outside and I’ll go inside to do the work.” Zhou Pin, feeling refreshed after taking a shower, sat in front of the stove adding firewood.
"We can't let you do everything yourself. We'll take turns doing the work from now on." Xu Lin didn't want Zhou Pin to be so tired.
The second batch of peach gum, soapberry, and snow swallow soup was ready. Xu Lin only put half of it in her spatial storage, and put the rest in bottles to give to Li Jingjing and Shu Ling'er.
Now the two of them are Xu Lin's good friends, the kind who share the same interests.
Around 5 a.m., the alarm went off. It was Sun Wei and his team returning. The surveillance footage showed them carrying bamboo baskets on their backs and reusable plastic bags in their hands. Sun Wei was also holding a stone.
Stone?
“Let’s go open the door for them,” Xu Lin said.
Actually, Xu Lin mainly wanted to know why Sun Wei brought back a stone.
Seeing through it but not saying anything, Zhou Pin and Xu Lin walked towards the door together, with Xu Lin carrying two bottles of freshly made peach gum, soapberry, and snow swallow soup.
Just as they reached the door, Sun Wei and his family arrived. Xu Lin glanced at the things they had brought back.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
