Chapter 147: Jam Filtering Brine + Making Jam
Speculations aside, He Guixiang certainly wouldn't ask a junior about this. Regardless of whether it was Ah Ye or Ah Shu, she couldn't bring herself to ask, and ultimately, she could only pretend she knew nothing.
But this did not stop her from thinking in her heart.
Ah Shu is such a shameless kid, how can she ask Ah Ye to wash her clothes?
It's fine with other things, but even the underwear I wear...
He Guixiang sighed, feeling both happy and sad.
I am happy because none of the men in this village have ever washed clothes for their wives. Aye treats Ashu so considerately and attentively, and Ashu will definitely have a good life in the future. But I am worried that maybe Aye has spoiled Ashu too much.
It would be fine if Ah Ye stayed this way, but she was afraid... well, it wasn't that she doubted Ah Ye's character, but even the sweetest feelings would eventually fade. Just like when she and Lin Dashan were married, in the first two years, Lin Dashan's heart and eyes were completely devoted to her. His mother-in-law's nagging made him feel guilty, and he cherished her even more. But as time went on, his initial passion for her slowly cooled. He still felt guilty, but it wasn't as strong as it had been at the beginning. He slowly grew accustomed to her dedication to the family.
Once upon a time, Lin Dashan was the one who secretly helped He Guixiang wash the pots and pans. But now, he just washes up and goes to bed after eating, so why would he help her do these things?
But He Guixiang thought this was normal. Working on the farm was hard enough, so there was no need for him to be busy with these chores around the house.
What is abnormal is the unnecessary things that men do when they are overwhelmed by their emotions when a couple is in love.
It is impossible for A Ye to wash clothes for A Shu for the rest of her life.
He Guixiang was afraid that Ah Shu would feel disappointed after getting used to it.
Zhou Ye was filtering the saltpeter-infused brine in a bucket. He'd taken Lin Shu's advice last night to heart. This morning, after finishing his daily chores of fetching water and chopping wood, he began filtering the brine as Lin Shu had instructed. He'd already completed the first coarse filtration and was beginning the finer filtration.
Zhou Ye's heart tightened when he noticed He Guixiang's gaze, but he remained calm. He looked towards He Guixiang and asked, "Aunt, is there something wrong?"
He Guixiang quickly waved her hand, "No, no, I just want to see what you're doing."
Zhou Ye explained, "This is the brine for making saltpeter that Ah Shu mentioned. It needs to be filtered several times with fine linen cloth until the brine becomes clear."
He Guixiang uttered an "oh" and asked, "Do you need help here? I can help you stretch the linen so it can filter the water better."
"No, Auntie, I can do it alone." Zhou Ye tied the linen cloth to the edge of the basin with a rope while filtering the brine. If he poured the brine slowly, he could handle it alone. If this job required two people, he would not choose to do it at this time.
He Guixiang just asked this question, and when Zhou Ye said it was not necessary, she went to take care of her own business.
She had to chop grass to feed the chickens, go to the vegetable patch to water the seedlings and pull out the weeds, and before making breakfast, she had to take the clothes of several people in the family to the river to wash and hang them out to dry. She also had to take out the dried things collected the night before, such as the herbal tea made by Ashu, the wild vegetables she picked, and the mushrooms that were not used up yesterday, all of which had to be spread out again to dry in the sun.
If she had more time, she'd go outside and pick a few more mugwort and calamus. It was hot, and the mosquitoes were getting more and more numerous. Mugwort that had been left out overnight didn't smell as good as freshly picked ones, so she'd pick some more to put inside. She'd also pick some cedar, which Ah Shu said smelled better.
These are not hard or heavy work, just quite miscellaneous.
When Lin Xiaopu got up, He Guixiang had already finished half of the chores. When A Shu got up again, most of the chores were finished.
In the yard, on the clothesline stretched between two bamboo poles, except for Ah Shu and Ah Ye's clothes, everyone else's dirty clothes were also washed and hung out to dry.
All the dried goods that needed to be dried were laid out again, some in bamboo sieves, some on mats. The bamboo sieves were placed on the roof of the firewood shed to dry, while the mats were spread out in the courtyard.
In the chicken coop, the hens were clucking. The pheasants Zhou Ye had caught last time had also adapted to life in captivity. Unlike at the beginning when they always wanted to fly, they were now pacing proudly in the yard. Several chicks were circling around the pheasants, chirping.
"Mom, the hen seems to have laid an egg!" Lin Xiaopu chuckled, and walked into the chicken coop as if he knew the way there. After a battle of wits and courage with the old hen, he successfully took out an egg from the nest.
The freshly laid eggs were still covered in chicken droppings, but Lin Xiaopu didn't mind the dirt. He grabbed a handful of dry straw to wipe the chicken droppings off them, and then put them back in the egg basket in the kitchen.
The old hen at home was laying fewer and fewer eggs, and there were not enough eggs for us to eat. Lin Shu stretched and asked, "Mom, are there any females among these chicks? We only have this one hen, and she can't even lay enough eggs for us to eat."
He Guixiang laughed and said, "No family in the village raises two or three hens. One hen can lay one or two eggs a day, which is enough for us to eat. We can save the eggs and sell them at the market. They are just for our family's food."
Hens need to eat well in order to lay eggs. They are more difficult to raise than roosters. Usually every household only raises one, and most people raise geese and ducks.
Before the Lin family split up, they raised a flock of ducks. Most of the time, He Guixiang was the one who drove the ducks. One time, when she came back, one of the ducks was missing, and she was scolded by her mother-in-law.
Perhaps because she had been herding ducks too much in the past, she no longer liked raising ducks. After the family split up, she only brought back a hen to raise, not even the chicks. It was only in the past two years when she had a little more money that she finally got a few chicks at the beginning of last month.
Lin Shu chuckled and said, "Mother, do you think I eat too much?"
He Guixiang gave her a glare. "No matter how much you complain, I'll give it to you. If you want the eggs, you should buy a half-grown hen. I'll ask Mrs. Zhang, the village head's wife, which family has more hens than others. She knows best. This old hen at home is laying fewer and fewer eggs. It's really time to get another one."
"Mother, there are many people in the village who raise ducks and geese. Why don't we raise a few?"
He Guixiang said, "You think you can raise ducks and geese at will? You have to drive them to the river every day and drive them back to their nests before dark."
After chopping the chicken grass, you need to mix some fine bran into it, which wastes grain. Ducks and geese are easy to raise; they can forage on their own, and they love earthworms, snails, and loaches. But again, it takes more effort to herd and monitor them. Sometimes ducks run so fast that you can drive them twenty or thirty miles. Even if you only have two or three ducks, you can't be lazy.
In their Tianshui Village, it's not so bad. The road is relatively flat, with just some small hills and bumps. In other mountainous villages, the roads are rugged and it's impossible to drive the ducks. If you're not careful, the ducks will fall to their death, so more people raise chickens.
"Ashu, do you want to eat duck meat?" He Guixiang asked.
Lin Shu was a little greedy for duck meat, but she didn't dare to nod her head, for fear that her mother would take it to heart and really spend the money to buy it from other families.
"No, I'm just asking out of curiosity."
Zhou Ye was lost in thought when he heard this, and suddenly said to Lin Shu, "Wild ducks often fly over in the lower reaches of the river, where the river surface is wider. I'll take Xiao Pu with me to catch a few later."
Lin Xiaopu was stunned at first when his name was called, but then he realized what Zhou Ye was talking about and pointed at himself in surprise, "Brother Ye, are you saying you want to take me to hunt wild ducks?"
Zhou Ye nodded and said, "You are very good at using bamboo slingshots, so bring your bamboo slingshot and use it to shoot wild ducks."
Lin Xiaopu nodded excitedly, "Okay, Brother Aye, when are we going? Today?!"
Zhou Ye: "I'm busy today. I need to help Ah Shu make saltpeter."
Hearing this, Lin Shu covered her lips and smiled, "It's okay, just take Xiao Pu with you. You can filter out the brine for me, and the rest of the saltpeter boiling won't take much effort. I can do it alone. If it really doesn't work out, we still have Mother and Aunt Lin."
Zhou Ye didn't nod, but said, "When you are free, we will go together."
Lin Shu couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth, feeling a little sweet in her heart.
Lin Xiaopu laughed and said, "Then let's wait until Sister is free. I also want Sister to see my accuracy with her own eyes. Don't let me catch a wild duck and you guys not believe me."
"So clingy." Lin Shu muttered, not knowing whether she was talking about Lin Xiaopu or Zhou Ye.
She leaned over to look at the brine Zhou Ye was filtering. "It's almost done now. We can start boiling the brine. I'll light a small fire in a minute and boil it in the old clay pot that Aunt Lin brought. Ah Ye, help me boil it first. I'll go to Old Man Liao's house and be back soon."
After dinner yesterday, Lin Shu told Old Man Liao that she wanted him to help take the chicken mushroom sauce to Li's Soup Noodle Shop in town.
Lin Shu didn't want to go through the hassle of making this trip just to deliver a few jars of sauce. She'd already been to town twice, and there weren't many places to eat or shop, not to mention the month-end market was tomorrow.
Thinking of the chicken mushroom sauce, a smile appeared on Lin Shu's brows again.
When she woke up today, she found that the chicken mushroom sauce she had made last night had been put into a bamboo jar.
Each bamboo jar was filled to 80%, then the mouth was covered with clean linen and tied tightly with straw rope.
Lin Shu knew who did it just by looking at the way the straw rope was tied, without anyone telling her.
Along with ten bamboo jars filled with chicken mushroom sauce, there were also wild mountain flowers inserted in the pottery jar. Lin Shu, who had just woken up, felt in high spirits just by looking at them.
"Ashu, do you want me to help you?" Zhou Ye asked.
Lin Shu glanced at him leisurely, "I have hands and feet. I'm just delivering a few jars of sauce. Do I really need your help?"
"Ten cans, that's a bit heavy." Zhou Ye's eyes unconsciously swept over the part of Lin Shu's exposed wrist. The wrist was thin, and he didn't dare to use force when he grabbed it, for fear that it would break if he exerted a little force.
"If it's serious, I'll take a break. I still have something to tell Father Liao."
Zhou Ye then gave up.
Lin Shu placed ten jars of chicken mushroom sauce in a bamboo basket one by one, and went to Old Man Liao's house at the village entrance with the basket on her shoulder.
When I got there, Old Man Liao was harnessing the ox cart and was about to drive it away.
"Old Man Liao, why are you leaving so early today? Am I late?"
Old man Liao waved his hand. "Not too late, just in time. By the way, Ah Shu, listen to me repeat your instructions. I'm afraid I've misremembered them. Deliver ten jars of chicken mushroom sauce to Li's noodle soup shop on the street and ask the shopkeeper to settle the remaining balance. It's three hundred coins, right?"
Lin Shu smiled and replied, "Yes, that's right. I brought ten jars of chicken mushroom sauce. Please trouble Father Liao to make this trip for me."
Old man Liao took the basket and moved all the bamboo jars in it into a small bamboo basket on the ox cart. He placed ten bamboo jars next to each other and filled the remaining space with dry straw to prevent the bamboo jars from falling over and scattering while driving.
Since he came back from dinner yesterday, until now, Old Man Liao is still a little surprised.
Ah Shu actually did business with Li's noodle soup shop in the town. The shopkeeper asked for ten jars of sauce at one time, and Ah Shu told him that this small jar of sauce cost forty cents!
The villagers often asked him to bring things, but they were only daily necessities like needles and thread, oil, salt, sauce, and vinegar, and the quantities he brought were small. He was paid in advance, with any excess refunded and any shortfalls supplemented. Then Ah Shu asked him to go to the shop to settle the bill, and it was three hundred wen at once. What kind of trust did this show him?
Old man Liao couldn't sleep for a long time last night because of this little thing.
"Don't worry, Ah Shu girl, I will make sure this is done!"
"Old Man Liao is a reliable person. I have nothing to worry about. Come over after you get back from town today. I'll make something delicious for dinner."
Old man Liao sighed quickly and smiled.
"Oh, by the way, could Father Liao please bring me a wide-mouthed clay pot with a lid? This size will do." Lin Shu gestured to him, demonstrating its size. "The money for the pot will be deducted from the proceeds from the sauce. Try to get a good one that's cold-resistant and heat-resistant, especially cold-resistant. Don't worry about spending money. You know more about this than I do, so feel free to buy it."
Old man Liao responded to every request.
Lin Shu bought this wide-mouthed ceramic jar with a lid to use for making ice.
Making ice from saltpeter requires a smaller container nestled inside a larger one. The ice in the smaller container is meant to be eaten directly, so it needs to be airtight and have a wide opening for easy access. The pottery jar also needs to be of good quality, as it won't withstand the cold and will crack easily. Since she'll be making ice frequently, she might as well buy a good one.
When Lin Shu returned to the courtyard, Zhou Ye had already prepared the brine as she had instructed.
"Ashu, how long will it take?" Zhou Ye asked.
Lin Shu glanced at the large earthenware pot of brine and pinched her chin as she said, "It depends on how much saltpeter is in the brine. If it's high, it'll take about two hours. If it's low, it'll take three hours or even longer. Anyway, when the brine becomes as thick as porridge and the surface starts to peel, it's time to put out the firewood.
Zhou Ye's expression was calm, but Lin Xiaopu beside him was stunned, "Sister, it takes so long?" Doesn't this mean it will take a whole day?
I don’t know how much firewood alone would cost. Fortunately, we have a brother named A Ye at home who is good at chopping wood and fetching water. Otherwise, most people can’t afford such a use of firewood.
Lin Shu glanced at Zhou Ye. "It's worth it to be able to use ice cubes in the hot summer. Don't you think so, Ye?"
Zhou Ye didn't even pause for a moment and nodded in response: "Yes."
Lin Xiaopu: ...
Humph, why did my sister ask Brother A Ye? Anyone who has seen how Brother A Ye treats my sister these days knows that Brother A Ye is a henpecked man who listens to his wife in everything.
"Xiao Pu, come and make jam with me. We need to hurry up, Aunt Lin will be here soon. Forget it, Aye, move the clay pot away first and let me make the jam. You can continue after I'm done."
Zhou Ye:......
Can this kind of thing be interrupted midway?
But he did it anyway.
Lin Shu brought out a bowl of Chatianpao from the kitchen.
The chatianpao (tea puddings) they'd picked yesterday were all cooled with spring water. She and Lin Xiaopu had already removed the stems from each one and poured them directly into the pot. The thick base of the clay pot allowed for even heating, preventing the bottom from getting burnt. They simmered slowly over medium-low heat.
Zhou Ye was responsible for adding firewood, while Lin Shu was simmering the fruit while crushing it with a wooden shovel to remove all the pectin from the pulp.
When the pulp juice in the pot boiled, Lin Shu hurriedly called to Lin Xiaopu, "Xiaopu, break two pieces of rock honey for me."
The tea itself contains a lot of sugar, but Lin Shu doesn't plan to put too much sugar in it, after all, it's expensive.
Lin Xiaopu: Okay!
Add rock honey to the pot, turn to low heat and continue to simmer, stirring constantly with a spatula to prevent it from sticking to the pot. After about a quarter of an hour, the color of the jam in the pot becomes darker and thicker, and the rich fruity aroma fills the air.
Lin Shu smiled and scooped a spoonful of jam and poured it down. The sticky jam dripped slowly like syrup, leaving a large piece on the edge of the spoon.
Planting the fields and making jam is done!
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