The three of them used to sleep in one room, but now that there are beds and furniture, Qiu Xu sleeps alone in the west room.
Inside the west room, besides the bed and wardrobe, there was also a desk, making it much more convenient for Qiu Xu to study.
These days, Qiu Yan has been accompanying her younger brother in his studies, and tonight she is thinking about learning the methods of food preparation, just like that.
Because there is only one candlestick in the house.
The two of them read intently together by candlelight in the west room, but they were reading different books.
Qiu Xu asked, puzzled, "Sister, where did you get this ancient book?" The wear and tear on the book clearly indicated that it wasn't bought.
Qiu Yan replied truthfully, "I borrowed it from my great-grandfather to learn how to process herbs."
Qiu Xu moved closer to Qiu Yan and curiously flipped through a few pages. "Sister is so smart. I don't recognize most of the words on these pages, but you can understand them."
Qiu Yan: "Isn't there an ancient map?"
Qiu Xu has been attending the village school for half a month now, and the next day, the village school is closed for the holidays.
Qiu Yan wanted Qiu Xu to have a good rest for a day, but Qiu Xu refused.
"Sister, I want to learn how to identify herbs from you."
"Sister needs to go to Great-Grandpa's house first." Qiu Yan couldn't miss the opportunity to prepare herbs with him, as they had agreed.
"I'll go with you." Qiu Xu, who has a strong will, always thinks about sharing her sister's burdens.
Qiu Yan's mind stirred slightly, "Alright."
Bring Xiao Ling'er along too, so she can learn together.
The next day, Qiu Yan got up early and, as usual, led her younger siblings in morning exercise.
During their morning runs, Qiu Xu never complained, even when she was tired. Qiu Ling'er was almost driven crazy by her older sister.
Even though her older sister allowed her to slack off, she was still tired.
When the three returned from their morning exercise, they saw Ye chasing Gu Xiaoran around in front of her house again.
As she chased after him, Mrs. Ye complained, "You brat, where do you get all this energy?"
Gu Xiaoran hasn't been making a fuss at night these past few days, but he wakes up before dawn every day.
Mrs. Ye wanted to sleep a little longer, but how could she sleep if the child wouldn't sleep?
He wanted Li Zheng to share some of the burden, but the child started crying pitifully whenever he saw Li Zheng, and just didn't want him.
Ye's body couldn't take it anymore.
Qiu Yan wanted to make things easier for Ye Shi, so she told her to go back and catch up on her sleep, and let Xiao Ling'er and Gu Xiaoran play.
For breakfast, Qiu Yan fried a few vegetable pancakes, made a mushroom and meat soup, blanched shepherd's purse, and mixed some side dishes.
During the meal, Qiu Ling'er looked at Gu Xiaoran, who was chattering away, and asked, "Sister, do you know why Gu Xiaoran always likes to come to our house?"
Qiu Yan, "Why?"
Qiu Ling'er smiled mischievously: "Come and freeload a meal."
Qiu Xu nodded in agreement.
It's just a regular home-cooked meal, isn't it? Could it be that her cooking skills have improved since she transmigrated? Qiu Yan praised herself.
After the meal, Madam Ye came and took Gu Xiaoran away, preparing to take his measurements and make clothes for him.
Qiu Yan led her two younger siblings to find Old Man Zhao.
Old Zhao had already eaten and was now sitting in the courtyard waiting for Qiu Yan.
"Qiu Yan, you've finally arrived! Your great-grandfather has been waiting for you for a long time." Old Zhao had only one hobby in his life: practicing medicine and saving lives.
As soon as he saw Qiu Yan, he took out the medicinal herbs he had prepared the night before.
“These are all things I prepared beforehand. This is angelica root, this is licorice root… Look, they’re all prepared, this is what they look like.”
Old Zhao's mental state was inconsistent, but Qiu Yan was secretly relieved that he still remembered what happened yesterday this morning.
Although he spoke somewhat haltingly, Qiu Yan listened intently.
Although the old man was a bit senile, he remembered things ingrained in his bones very clearly.
After explaining to Qiu Yan all the herbs he had prepared before, he said, "Great-grandfather's family doesn't have any herbs on hand. Let's go to the mountains and forests to find some herbs."
The herbs that Qiu Yan dug up a few days ago had already been sent to Renaitang, and there were no herbs available at home.
"Great-Grandpa, leave the herb gathering to me. You don't need to go. I'll come find you this afternoon." Herbs aren't easy to find near the mountains.
If they go too far, and something happens to the old man, Qiu Yan would be in deep trouble.
Old Zhao frowned. "Are you trying to take advantage of my old age? When I was young, I crossed every mountain I could find."
Qiu Yan wants to say that you are no longer young.
The old man ultimately didn't go. He's too old to deny it, so he didn't want to hold them back.
Today, as usual, Qiu Yan first looked for her snares to see if she had any prey caught.
When I first arrived, the hunting lasso was empty.
During the harvesting process, the three of them went from one hillside to another. Qiu Xu and Qiu Ling'er humbly sought advice. In terms of herbs, Qiu Ling'er knew more than Qiu Xu because she had been spending a lot of time with her sister these days.
Therefore, she often pointed out the herbs to teach her brother to identify them, which greatly boosted her self-confidence.
"Brother, this is called Schisandra chinensis, and the harvest season is from June to August. We only need its fruit, not the roots..."
Qiu Xu studied very hard; as the older brother, he couldn't let his younger sister outdo him.
Before returning home at noon, Qiu Yan went to check the snares again. She had eight snares and was lucky enough to catch a wild rabbit.
Qiu Yan was secretly delighted; this would be her lunch today.
This is the second time Qiu Yan has cooked rabbit at home.
After returning home, she prepared the rabbit, first cutting it into large pieces, then chopping it into chunks and soaking it in water.
Then I chopped the remaining small piece into minced meat, stir-fried it in oil, and made a pot of minced meat soup.
The soup was mixed with some flour paste and shepherd's purse. After it was done, it was sticky. Qiu Yan first ladled out a bowl and asked Qiu Xu to take it to Old Man Zhao.
After all, the old man had no teeth, so he couldn't bite into large pieces of rabbit meat.
After Qiu Xu left, Qiu Yan steamed rice, then blanched and washed the rabbit meat pieces that had just been soaked, marinated them for a while, chopped some other ingredients, and started braising them in hot oil.
It wasn't that the rice was cheap, but that she didn't know how to steam buns.
After she finished cooking, she delivered a bowl to the Li family.
For some reason, Ye felt nauseous at the smell of meat, and all the braised rabbit meat that Qiu Yan had given her ended up in Li Zheng's mouth.
Before Qiu Yan went home, she had some meat sauce in her hand, which was made by Ye Shi herself.
When Qiu Yan returned with the meat, Qiu Xu had not yet returned with the soup.
Qiu Ling'er looked longingly at the rabbit meat on the table. "Sister, when can we eat?"
"Ling'er, eat first." Qiu Yan served Qiu Ling'er a bowl of rice and a bowl of rabbit meat, then turned to look for Qiu Xu.
This younger brother has always been very easy to take care of, but so much time has passed and he still hasn't returned from delivering the soup, so Qiu Yan can't help but feel worried.
She was afraid that her younger brother would run into the Yang family or the Qiu family.
She walked and looked around, and when she reached the alleyway ahead, she saw three people—two adults and one child—fighting fiercely around a corner.
In the corner, Qiu Xu covered his head with his hands. Despite the excruciating pain, he gritted his teeth and endured it, not allowing himself to make a sound.
They each held a stick and laughed evilly.
Among them, Qiu Xiaobao was the most vicious, waving his wooden stick while punching and kicking Qiu Xu.
The other two were the two sons of Qian's maternal brother, Qian Wang and Qian Ming.
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