Chapter 37 Mid-Autumn Festival and Television (Part 2) Building a Heating Stove (Part 2)…
The male high school student's energy and physical strength are unfathomable. After only sleeping for a few hours and washing his face, he is still full of energy.
Gong Zhili arranged for them to release the chickens and ducks, and reminded them, "Don't chase after them... Forget it, go play."
God knows why she has such concerns about her four-year-old children when she has never given them such instructions.
Geto Xiayou immediately made his position clear: "I will watch over Wu."
Gojo: "No matter how I think about it, this isn't directed at me."
Geto Xia Yu: "No, it's you no matter how you look at it."
Gong Zhili pointed outside the door and said, "Okay, time to get to work."
She is going to make breakfast.
Because she was thinking about the holiday today and wanted to fully feel the festive atmosphere, she couldn't sleep last night in the kitchen and made a lot of pumpkin buns, with two kinds of fillings: pork and wild onion and pickled beef. Now she is cooking porridge and fried eggs. She also went to get some sour taro stalks to try how they are pickled. With the steamed buns and dumplings, she has a very rich breakfast.
Although there is an area under construction in the living room, it does not affect the placement of the table. Firstly, the living room itself is quite large, and secondly, the fireplace is located closer to the balcony. Gong Zhili can place the table in the living room and use it normally.
Of course, the boys didn't just want to eat chickens and ducks. They went to the orchard for a walk, and Gojo Satoru came back with a Sichuan pepper branch. Gong Zhili asked, "What are you doing with that?"
Gojo Satoru: "This tastes amazing, let's use this to make a dish for lunch!"
Gong Zhili: "No, let's have steamed buns for lunch. I don't want to cook."
Gojo Satoru protested, "Isn't today a holiday? Why aren't we having a big meal?"
Gong Zhili: "Because I want to rest during the holidays."
Nanako then went to pull Gojo Satoru: "Let's go to the kitchen to serve breakfast."
Mimiko also grabbed the corner of Geto Suguru's clothes.
Gojo Satoru muttered, "Using a child to avoid problems is too much."
Gong Zhili sat on the chair and said, "The festive dinner should be left until the evening. This is the custom in our family."
She began to tune into the TV program with great interest and was attracted by the morning program on TV.
After looking at the gossip flash and super express for a while, she was sure: the TV programs here were much more interesting than the ones she was watching at that time.
Most of the morning programs are news and entertainment information, which is suitable for her to listen to while cooking in the morning. As for programs such as TV dramas, they should be concentrated in the afternoon or evening, right?
Miya Chiri said to Gojo and Geto who came out with breakfast, "TV is so interesting. I'll treat you to a big dinner tonight."
Nanako and Mimiko immediately sat down and watched TV intently - they had never seen it before!
Although the family members showed signs of being addicted to TV for a while, Gong Zhili felt that it was better to guide than to block, so everyone could watch TV while eating.
She looked for a while and then lowered her head to drink her porridge. Then she looked up and saw Nitro yawning and walking into the living room.
"Glass, go wash your face and come eat." Gong Zhili said, "Did you sleep well?"
Glass nodded: "I've barely gotten enough sleep."
Gojo: "Don't worry, you'll be forced to stay up late less often in the future."
Gong Zhili: "Assigning heavy labor tasks to high school students is illegal, right?"
Xia Youjie snorted and laughed: "That group of people..."
Gong Zhili: "Outlaw?"
Glass sat down next to her and picked up the steamed bun. "That's true. Those old guys think they're kings or something. They're full of broken rules."
No one would be in a good mood after listening to Gojo's all-night tale of the "inside story of the high-level scandal in the world of sorcery."
All three of them were in a bad mood, so it's understandable that they came to the village together to change their mood, right?
Anyway, Glass didn't want to talk about the upsetting things here. She tasted the faint sweetness in the steamed buns and felt relaxed from head to toe.
"What are we going to do for the holiday today?" Glass asked. "If we're having a big dinner tonight, we'll need to prepare a lot of things, right? I can help."
Gong Zhili said: "This part depends on what everyone sends."
Glass: "Send something?"
Gong Zhili shrugged: "Festival offerings... something like that."
Xia Yujie looked at her expression and asked, "Is this their spontaneous behavior?"
Gong Zhili: "Well, in a sense, it's also a matter of mutual benefit?"
Gojo Satoru finished his porridge and complained, "What do you need? You have money, so why can't you buy it yourself? They are simply asking something of you."
Gong Zhili: "You can say that."
Geto: "Don't you feel burdened?"
Gong Zhili pondered and said, "To use a rather inappropriate analogy, they're a bit like... the small animals living in my territory? Of course, I'm not using this analogy to judge their lives, but it's just this sense of distance—do you understand?"
Geto: "They may not think so."
Gong Zhili: "I don't care what they think."
Anyway, as long as they still live on this land, they will be affected by her power, they will be aware of her attitude, and they will be transformed by the environment.
After breakfast, the twins took out the knitted toys and painting supplies they had bought at the fair and sat in the living room to play. Xia Yujie sat next to them and asked, "Don't you want to continue watching TV?"
Mimiko shook her head: "I want to learn painting." She wanted to draw Lord Gong and their house!
Nanako is struggling with the thick needles in her hands: "I want to knit a scarf!" I hope I can finish it before this winter.
Geto Summer Oil: "Let's put painting aside. Nanako, have you learned to knit?"
In his impression, knitting is quite difficult.
Nanako nodded confidently: "I learned it completely yesterday!"
She watched the stall owner knit from the beginning yesterday, and most of the stitches were repeated. Now she was recalling the past while knitting, and she managed to knit something that looked good.
Gradually, villagers began to walk outside the house. Most of them put down their things, bowed devoutly several times, put their hands together and made a wish, and then left, leaving their place for others.
Gong Zhili turned a blind eye. When they didn't speak to her, she just watered the vegetable garden, weeded the orchard, and threw the cut grass into the farmland.
The villagers who usually talk to her in the village were particularly solemn today and kept a distance from her cautiously. The children they brought with them had probably been taught a lesson, and although they kept following her with their eyes, they refrained from making a sound.
Seeing them doing this kind of weird blessing activity, Gong Zhili thought with a bit of evil humor that if she went to talk to them with weeds in her hands, she would definitely see some very interesting expressions.
"What are you thinking about? You have such an evil expression on your face." Gojo Satoru bent down slightly and looked at her sideways. "And didn't you say you wanted to rest? You're back to work again."
Gong Zhili pointed to the things piled outside the door and said, "I want to see what they sent."
Gojo Satoru: "Do you like people giving you gifts?"
Gong Zhili: "No one would dislike gifts." Moreover, these gifts are "carefully selected" and "full of sincerity", so the content of the gifts is no longer that important.
The villagers seemed to have made an appointment to deliver the offerings in the morning. With so many people in the house, they quickly took everything in.
——Almost all of them are small portions of food with exquisite packaging, which is in line with the local people’s definition of offerings.
Whether it is homemade side dishes, dried goods hung out to dry, or air-dried, smoked, and pickled foods, there are also processed food products sold in the store, such as dried meat, sausages, dried fish, dried tofu, bean curd, buckwheat noodles, small bottles of wine, homemade soy sauce, miso, small bottles of sesame oil, sugarcane sugar blocks, peppermint essential oil, as well as handmade products, such as small pillows filled with cotton, knitted cup covers, rabbit fur felt pendants...all of which are small and exquisite.
"It's a bit like samples from a trade show." Glass said, looking at the things on the table. "There's even an address and phone number on them. Maybe I can place an order by phone later."
Gong Zhili suddenly realized: "Xiaozi, you are so smart, I didn't even think of it."
She collected the cards from the items, noted them one by one, and placed them in the side cabinet in the living room.
Glass looked at the cabinet and asked, "Are you going to decorate the living room in the future?"
Gong Zhili: "Ah, you figured it out?"
Glass pointed to the sideboard and said, "It looks weird to be placed here. There's nothing next to it."
Gong Zhili: "I plan to partition off the living room after the heater and flue are installed. I'll put the sofa on the north side for watching TV, and the south side for the dining room and the heater."
Xia Yujie looked around the living room and asked, "So, we can't watch TV in the dining room?"
Gong Zhili remained calm, "You shouldn't be watching TV while eating—but I'm not planning on partitioning off the entire space. A thin grid will do, and it won't affect the lighting."
It does not affect the heating effect.
Gojo Satoru complained to her: "You are the kind of parent who uses all kinds of means to prevent children from watching TV."
Gong Zhili: "You used to praise me as an educator." People are so fickle.
Xia Yujie looked at him strangely: "Satoru, do you still understand something about education?"
Gojo Satoru was silent for a moment, then patted Geto Suguru's shoulder and said, "You definitely understand education better than I do."
Gong Zhili brought up the topic and turned around to busy herself with clearing the table, leaving aside the two high school boys who were arguing over a trivial matter.
Glass almost laughed at this and she also went to help clean the table.
Gong Zhili put the food that needed to be put in the refrigerator and arranged the small decorative items according to her own preferences. Glass walked around and looked at the extra vases of flowers and wind chimes in the house, and stood there quietly listening to the sound of the wind chimes for a while.
"Do you like this kind of wind chime?" Gong Zhili asked, "If you like it, I can give you one."
Each member of their family has three wind chimes with different patterns, which are hung in different places.
But Glass shook his head: "No need."
The sound of the wind chimes can only be felt here. Even if she takes it back to the technical college, she will not feel such comfort.
"Chiri, why don't you have any snacks here?" Gojo Satoru's voice came over, "No ice cream either? There's not even any Coke in your fridge!"
Gong Zhili said loudly: "If you want to eat snacks, go buy them yourselves. Getu knows the place, and Nanako and Mimiko also know the place!"
There was a faint commotion in the living room, and after a while only the sound of the TV could be heard. They probably all went out.
"Do you want to go play in the mountains?" Gong Zhili invited Xiaozi. "I still have to go collect firewood today."
We usually burn firewood for cooking at home, and we also need firewood for heating in winter, so collecting firewood is a daily routine at home.
Glass nodded and said, "But I didn't bring any trousers." She did bring a change of clothes - they planned to stay here overnight, and now that they had Honglong, it would be convenient to leave the village.
Gong Zhili looked at her height and said, "You should be able to wear my clothes." She went to the closet to look for pants. Gaozi tried them on and found that they were actually a little too long.
When Gaozi rolled up her trouser legs a little, she saw Zhili standing beside her, with a look of smugness on her face that was hard to conceal.
She immediately realized what Zhili was thinking and asked, "How tall are you?"
Gong Zhili put his hands on his hips and said, "He should be about 1.6 meters tall."
Glass: "I'm actually about the same height as you."
Gong Zhili shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to listen: "Her growth period is longer than that of Glass! After all, she is younger!"
Xiaozi didn't care much about this. She put on the same equipment as Gong Zhili and prepared to put on the other backpack. Gong Zhili asked: "Xiaozi, do you want to carry firewood too?"
Glass: "I said I would help you."
Gong Zhili: "What I mean is, I'm going to play in the mountains with you, and I'll pick up some firewood while I'm there."
Glass: "It's okay. It's fun to collect firewood with you."
Miya Chiri: I really like glass!
--
Seriously speaking, this should be the first time she has gone so deep into the mountains since she was a child.
When you enter the glass house, you can feel the rich information of the deep forest, listen to the plant and animal footprints seen by Zhili Science, and receive beautiful wild flowers from time to time.
"Just pick it like this?" Glass felt a little regretful. "It will wither soon."
Gong Zhili didn't care at all: "They grow very fast and are everywhere. As long as you like it, the time it takes for it to be beautiful in your hands is worth it."
Glass stood there holding the flower, with a complicated look on her face: "You..."
Gong Zhili turned around: "Huh? What's wrong? There's a stream ahead. Do you want to step on the pebbles in the water? It's cool and comfortable."
Glass held the bouquet of wild flowers, looked at her and said, "Don't say that to a boy."
Gong Zhili: "What kind of flowers? Oh, something like giving flowers? I wouldn't give flowers to a boy." She was not without common sense. Giving flowers to a boy would definitely be misunderstood.
Besides, if boys like wild flowers, they can just pick them themselves. Don’t they have hands?
Glass laughed: "That's good."
They stepped on pebbles in the stream. Glass took a photo with her phone of a blue-winged damselfly perched on Gong Zhili's fingertips and said, "They're not afraid of you."
Gong Zhili stood on a rock beside the stream, opened his arms, and said proudly: "Because I am the incarnation of the earth!"
Glass said calmly: "Put on your shoes first."
She also noticed that Gong Zhili was really relaxed after entering the mountains.
Gong Zhili obediently came down to put on her shoes.
They walked and played leisurely in the mountains. Their backpacks were filled with more than just firewood. Because Xiaozi was obsessed with mushroom digging, Gong Zhili took her to pick various mushrooms. Gong Zhili said, "But don't pick mushrooms casually when I'm not around. Some poisonous mushrooms look very similar to non-poisonous mushrooms."
Glass: "Of course."
She was curious: "How did you learn so many things?"
Mingming Zhili looks a few years younger than her.
Gong Zhili showed a deep look: "Do you believe that people have past lives? These are all my memories from my past life."
Glass said seriously: "Doesn't that mean you were also very powerful in your previous life?"
Gong Zhili smiled brightly: "Yes, I am that awesome!"
Glass suppressed a laugh: "Well, you are also very powerful now."
She didn't say whether she believed it or not, but just stopped talking about the subject.
After having fun, the two of them went down the mountain and went home. They found that Geto and Gojo had steamed buns and dumplings under the guidance of Nanako and Mimiko, and also found various side dishes. This was their lunch.
Seeing the two people coming back, Geto Suguru asked, "Is it fun to go to the mountains?" He was the only one among the three who had never been to the mountains.
Glass was still holding the wild flowers in her hands. She was anxious to find a vase to put them in. She just said, "It's very interesting and fun."
Gong Zhili put the mushrooms in the kitchen and said, "There are a lot of things in the mountains. If you are interested, let's go together next time."
Xia Yujie nodded: "Okay."
Gojo was already sprawled out in the living room, his head propped up on one hand as he watched TV. Hearing this, he replied, "Lunch is in the kitchen. It's steamed buns and dumplings."
Gong Zhili: "Don't talk like 'I cooked this'. I kneaded the dough, mixed the filling, and made the dumplings last night."
Gojo Satoru: "Jie and I steamed it!"
Gong Zhili stood there, and just by raising her chin slightly, she was able to create a dismissive attitude: "That was really hard work."
She leisurely walked into the kitchen. Gojo Satoru said to Geto Suguru in disbelief, "What was that expression on her face just now?"
Geto Xia Yu shrugged and couldn't help laughing.
Nanako, who was sitting cross-legged watching TV nearby, replied, "Miya-sama means 'whatever you say'."
Mimiko added, "'As long as you're happy.'"
Gojo Satoru said angrily, "Thank you so much for your translation."
After a quick lunch, Naoko took the twins back to their room for a nap. Gong Zhili sat in the living room, looking around, and asked, "Noko said you guys are staying here tonight, but the beds on the second floor aren't ready yet. Is it okay for you to sleep on the folding beds tonight?"
Geto Summer Oil: "Isn't there a straw mat on the second floor?"
Gong Zhili: "The straw mat can only sleep one person, but there are exactly two folding beds."
Geto Summer Oil and Gojo Satoru looked at each other across her, their eyes filled with the familiar fighting spirit: "It's okay, we will decide among ourselves who gets to sleep on the straw mat."
Gong Zhili: "Don't interact over my head, it makes me irritated." By the way, why did he have to sit on both sides of her.
She moved back and stood up to look at the foundation of the stove.
The clay underneath was completely dry, and the slab was flush with the floor. Gong Zhili looked at it and felt itchy. He couldn't bear to leave the unfinished stove there, so he ran out to mix the mud, carrying a bucket and a trowel, and directed the two men to work. In short, no more playing rock-paper-scissors: "Help me bring some refractory bricks over. I want to start building the hearth."
Gojo Satoru: "Ha, I won the last game just now. In total, I won ten times, more than you!"
Geto Summer Oil: "So you're going to sleep on a straw mat?"
Gojo Satoru: “Yes!”
Geto Xiayou sighed: "Okay, I'll sleep on the folding bed."
Gojo Satoru was suspicious: "What's the problem with the straw mat?" He was tall and had long legs. If he slept on a folding bed, he couldn't stretch his legs and it would be restrictive to turn over. Of course, sleeping on a straw mat was better.
Geto Suguru: "No problem, I actually want to sleep on a straw mat too."
Gojo Satoru muttered, "Just looking at your face I can tell there's a conspiracy—" and narrowed his eyes.
A vein bulged on Xia Yujie's forehead: "Then switch with me."
Gojo Satoru: “No.”
Gong Zhili brought the refractory bricks herself and listened to their bickering as if it were a radio program. She had already built a furnace before the two of them started moving bricks.
Because she had to set aside time to prepare a big dinner in the evening, Gong Zhili only built the furnace, sealing it on three sides and leaving the furnace door on one side. The rest of the room was covered with double-layer refractory bricks, and then a layer of red bricks was laid on the outside. A mixture of clay and perlite was filled between the red bricks and the refractory bricks. After smoothing the top layer and installing a cast iron plate with a smoke hole, she finished her work and prepared to go into the kitchen.
Gojo watched the whole process. When she put down the trowel and prepared to clean up, he asked excitedly, "Can I continue to fix this?"
Gong Zhili: "Do you know how to build a stove?"
Gojo Satoru was very confident: "I just learned it. It's very simple."
Gong Zhili took the trowel and bucket away and said, "Don't touch them."
The three people who were taking a nap woke up. Glass looked at the big furnace in the living room and said, "Did I sleep for the whole afternoon?" He checked the time and found that only more than two hours had passed.
Geto: "She is just that impatient."
Gong Zhili also checked the time: "It's almost time to start preparing dinner. The weather is great today, and we can see the beautiful moon."
She said, "Please move the table to the second-floor terrace, and we will have dinner there while appreciating the moon."
Gojo Satoru: "If you prepare so early, you won't be able to see the moon by dinner time, right?"
Gong Zhili: "The bigger the meal, the longer it takes to prepare."
In short, everyone in the house started to move. Nanako and Mimiko went to the kitchen to process the mushrooms picked today. Gong Zhili soaked the dried chicken, dried fish and dried mushrooms sent by the villagers and bought by herself in water, put the whole sausage into the bottom layer of the steamer, added cold water to the pot, and prepared to steam it directly later.
Then cut the beef brisket into pieces, add cold water to the pot, add ginger slices and cooking wine to blanch it, skim off the foam and remove it from the pot, and pour out the broth for later use.
The pork belly is also cut into pieces, blanched separately, set aside to drain, and then marinated.
The meat was almost ready, so she started preparing the vegetables. She cut some of the carrots into dice and some into diamond-shaped slices. She also picked the sweet potato leaves that she had specially bought from the villagers, tore the cabbage into large pieces with her hands, removed the seeds from the green peppers and sliced them, and sliced the dried tofu. After washing them, she put them all in the vegetable basket and covered them with a basin.
She even smashed the garlic, cut it into minced garlic and put it into a small bowl. In the middle of her preparing the food, three people from the college came into the kitchen to help. In the end, they just helped her pass some things and wash the vegetables and were unable to get involved at all.
Geto Suguru: "This can also be considered a kind of field."
"You're as skilled as if you've been a chef for over a decade," Gojo Satoru said. "What kind of life did you lead before?"
Gong Zhili glanced at them and said, "I grew up watching my mother cook."
The expressions of the three students from the technical college froze for a moment.
Gong Zhili: "What's that expression on your face?"
Gojo Satoru was honest: "This is the first time I've heard you mention that you have a mother."
Geto Suguru had a feeling something was wrong and didn't say anything, and Nozomi pretended her expression didn't change.
Gong Zhili was furious: "I didn't come out of a stone, of course I have my own mother!"
Because they angered the head chef, the three were punished by going to the living room to mark the ceiling with the chef supervising them.
Gojo stood on the ladder, raised his hand to mark the direction, Naoko gave instructions from below, and Getsu helped hold the ladder.
Gojo Satoru: "Jay, your job doesn't matter." It's not like he's going to fall off the ladder.
Geto Suguru: "If I don't take the initiative at this time, I'll be scolded." He grew up in a normal family and knew that when the head of the family was angry, it was best not to appear to be doing nothing.
Gojo Satoru raised an eyebrow and said, "Let go, I'll show you how to walk on a ladder."
Gong Zhili who was watching: “Ah?” Is there such a thing?
She kind of wanted to see it.
As soon as Gojo finished speaking, the twins who were reading a picture book next to him also looked up, obviously very interested.
Gojo Satoru immediately became excited: "Jie and Nazori, get out of the way, I really can!"
He insisted on performing, and since everyone really wanted to see it, Glass and Jie readily stepped aside.
Gojo Satoru planted his feet firmly on the steps, knees slightly bent like springs, hands gripping the handrails on either side. With his back straight and his weight centered in the middle of the ladder, he lifted one foot, causing the ladder to sway slightly and tilt at a wider angle. After moving forward a distance, he shifted his weight and pulled the other leg back. The ladder began to move forward, relying solely on the strength of his waist and legs.
"Oh—" Gong Zhili applauded him, "Great!"
The twins also joined in the applause: "That's amazing!"
Glass: "When did you learn this skill?"
Gojo Satoru couldn't hide his smug smile: "Just now."
First time trying!
Gong Zhili slowly put down his hands, lowered his head and said seriously to the twins: "Don't learn this kind of behavior!"
She vaguely felt that letting Gojo Satoru stay at home all the time would make it much more difficult for her to teach her children...
After marking the fixed point, Gong Zhili checked the time and returned to the kitchen.
She chopped the soaked air-dried chicken into pieces, trimmed the hard fins of the dried fish, squeezed out the water from the soaked shiitake mushrooms and spread them on the bottom of the plate, placed the air-dried chicken and dried fish on top, poured a little of the mushroom soaking water and rice wine on them, put them on the second layer of the steamer, and started steaming them together with the sausages.
Next came the braised pork, which the children said they hadn't had enough of. This time, she cut slices of pork belly and put them into the pot to stir-fry until the oil and sugar color came out. She then poured in the fully marinated pork belly cubes, added boiling water, seasonings, and spices, turned to low heat, covered the pot, and simmered it slowly.
Then comes the beef brisket. Pour the blanched beef brisket into the pot and stir-fry. Add the remaining broth and ginger slices, add seasonings and spices, and wait until it boils over high heat, then simmer over medium heat.
She took out the dried tofu and fried it in a frying pan until both sides were crispy, then added garlic slices and green pepper slices and stir-fried them together, and seasoned them. Before serving, she hesitated whether to thicken the dish, but she hadn't thought of preparing starch water before. Forget it, and just served the stir-fry. She then beat the eggs, added salt, put them into the pan with thick oil and stir-fried them into tender egg crumbs, then served them. She then added oil to a clean pan and stir-fried the sweet potato leaves and tender sweet potato stems together.
I originally wanted to stir-fry the cabbage, but Gong Zhili remembered that she had some dried chilies at home, so she cut a few and made a sauce to make spicy and sour cabbage.
Before the meat dish could even begin to smell, the aroma of the spicy cabbage spread across the kitchen. Gojo Satoru asked, "What kind of spicy stir-fry are you making?"
Gong Zhili poured the sauce along the edge of the wok and stir-fried it over high heat. He casually replied, "Have you never had spicy and sour cabbage?"
Gojo Satoru felt like sneezing when he smelled the smell. He stepped back a little towards the back of the kitchen and said, "This is a bit too stimulating."
Gong Zhili took the dish out of the pot and turned around to see the three people all looking troubled. He asked curiously, "Don't you all like spicy food?"
Glass nodded reluctantly: "I'm okay." She had eaten that kind of extra spicy ramen, but she felt that none of them were as strong as the taste of these dried chilies.
Geto Suguru: "I can try it." It still smells very good.
Gong Zhili: "This dish goes really well with rice. You'll know once you try it."
At this time, she poured the carrot pieces into the stew pot with the beef brisket and cooked them together.
The sausages were also steamed. She took them out and cut them into slices, added garlic sprouts and carrots and stir-fried them over high heat. After seasoning, she quickly served them out of the pan. This is also a quick dish, but the sausages need time to be steamed.
She thought about the dinner and instructed Xia Yujie to beat three eggs. She instructed him, "Help me make a bowl of steamed eggs. Add salt and beat the eggs. Once they are thoroughly beaten, add warm water to the edge of the bowl. Stir the egg liquid and water until evenly combined. Skim off any foam on the surface. Cover the bowl with a plate and steam it for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. After serving, drizzle with soy sauce."
She tried to simplify the process, but the noise made by the three people assigned the task in the kitchen was completely different from steaming eggs. Mimiko couldn't stand it anymore and stood by the kitchen door to redistribute the tasks: "Sister Naoko, get the eggs. Brother Getu, beat the eggs. Brother Gojo, boil some warm water."
Nanako took Gojo to use the small stove to make a fire and boil some warm water, and the sense of order in the kitchen returned.
Gong Zhili was checking the state of the stewed meat with chopsticks. He took the time to glance at them with a smile on his face.
Cook the braised pork over high heat until the sauce thickens, then serve on a plate and garnish with chopped green onions.
The platter on the second layer of the steamer was also ready. She put on heat-insulating gloves and took out the plate, tilted the plate slightly to pour out the excess water from the steaming, and poured the prepared sauce on it.
The beef brisket and carrots were stewed to just the right degree. When the dish came out of the pot, it was already getting dark.
The steamed eggs were in good condition after coming out of the pot, and the three people who collaborated all felt that they had made a great contribution to the creation of this dish.
They brought the food to the table on the second-floor terrace in a lively atmosphere. Gojo Satoru took out the iced cola he had bought in the afternoon from the refrigerator. Miya Chiri turned on the light next to the second-floor terrace. A group of people sat down at the table, opened the pull rings, and clinked their glasses.
Nanako and Mimiko, as children, had their own small cups. Miyajima divided a bottle of Coke into two and poured them two portions. He was very strict: "After finishing this cup, you can't drink any more drinks. Drink water."
Nanako nodded, her eyes glued to the bubbling dark brown liquid in the cup.
After the toast, the two children tasted the most magical flavor since their birth.
"It's delicious!" Mimiko smiled. "Can you drink it again next time?"
Gong Zhili thought for a moment, "Before I started elementary school, I could only drink one cup a week."
Nanako couldn't wait: "We'll be able to go to elementary school soon!"
Xia Yujie: "Drinking too much of this is bad for children's teeth."
Glass: "A small cup a week is not a big problem. I can check their teeth."
Gojo Satoru: "I told you that no one would dislike Coke, especially iced Coke in the summer!"
Gong Zhili: "It's Mid-Autumn Festival now, not summer, so you should drink less ice." Although drinking ice cola is indeed very joyful now, we must not let children develop bad habits.
Oh, being a parent is so hard.
The children nodded obediently, but she herself, holding the can, fell into deep thought: Has she been nagging them too much lately? She had clearly intended to let them make their own mistakes and then take responsibility for the consequences, but why did she end up lecturing them non-stop? Besides, the two children hadn't actually done anything wrong, so this seemed like she didn't trust them at all...
"What are you thinking about? You're so engrossed." Glass patted her arm. "If you don't eat now, those two will grab all the food."
The two men were at the age where they could eat, and they were tall and strong, with appetites as big as black holes. In a short while, they had finished half of the rice in their bowls.
Glass was busy picking up some food for Zhili, but seeing that she was still in a daze, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to eat a single bite of the meal she had worked so hard to prepare.
Gong Zhili came back to his senses and picked up some food, saying, "It's okay, I made a lot of it."
Dining outdoors makes you feel the sky is high and the earth is vast. The chirping of insects in early autumn and the cool breeze at night all indicate that the weather is gradually getting cooler.
The dinner was almost over, and the person who didn't cook was responsible for cleaning up. Gong Zhili brought out a recliner, lay down on it and began to admire the bright full moon.
After everyone had packed up, they lay down on the lounge chairs and quietly admired the moon. Gong Zhili was just about to ask the twins if they were cold when he saw that there was a blanket on the lounge chairs under them.
Following her gaze, Glass said, "I was worried they were cold, so I covered them with the mat."
Gong Zhili looked back at the moon and sighed softly: "Raising a child is really not easy."
Glass laughed: "But didn't you take good care of them? They came here when we had nothing at home."
Geto Suguru: "And their bodies are getting healthier and healthier."
Gojo Satoru put his hands behind his head and felt sleepiness gradually rising. He didn't sleep well last night and he did a lot of things today. It was natural for him to feel sleepy after eating and lying down.
He gradually couldn't hear what the people around him were saying.
Nanako and Mimiko looked at the moon for a while, but eventually got bored and ran off to watch anime.
The three remaining sober people were still discussing the children's education, and the topic was getting more and more heated. It took a while before they realized that Gojo Satoru had not spoken.
Seeing that Gojo Satoru had fallen asleep, they tacitly shut up and stopped discussing. Gong Zhili said, "Go wash up, it's time to go to bed - do you want to wake Gojo?"
Getsu: "Just cover him with a blanket."
Glass: "He doesn't seem to have ever caught a cold."
Gong Zhili: "Wait, wait, wait, do you really mean to leave him outside for the whole night?"
After she said this, she immediately remembered that she had let him sleep under the gardenia tree the first night she met him, and she abruptly changed her tone: "Cover him with a thicker blanket."
"...That's too much, Chiri." Gojo Satoru said vaguely, "I don't want to sleep on a recliner." He was the winner.
"So you're awake," Gong Zhili patted him, "Take a shower and go to sleep."
The moonlight was like water, sprinkling on the terrace, as if covering them with a layer of snow-white gauze.
Gojo Satoru slowly opened his eyes and looked at his friends in front of him. He was in a trance and didn't even know what year it was.
He stood up, sat on the recliner for a moment, and said nonchalantly, "We're going back to the technical college tomorrow."
Gong Zhili stood up and said with a smile, "Don't you want to go to school? Or don't you want to go on a mission?"
Gojo Satoru said lazily, "I don't want to do anything." He wanted to rest.
He also earned his rest time today by his own ability. The world of magic gradually changed into a new look in his hands, but for it to be fully formed, the cancer inside must be eradicated.
Someone has to do it, so let him do it.
Geto Suguru didn't say anything, leaning against the terrace to admire the moonlight.
Glass stretched and said, "Okay, let's get ready to rest."
Take every moment of rest you can.
Gong Zhili comforted him just like she comforted the children in the territory who cried to her about being tired from classes: "Come back to play next time you have a break. There will be new and delicious food next time you come."
--
The next day, the three students from the college left. Gong Zhili rolled up his sleeves, stepped onto the ladder, and began to try to walk on it by himself.
After all, today she had to tie the rings on the ceiling marks, and it would be much easier if she could move directly on the ladder.
Gong Zhili, who had just taught her children not to learn this yesterday, did not feel guilty at all: if Gojo could succeed in one try, she could definitely do it too.
The two children trusted her more than she did, and stood by with admiration on their faces, cheering her on.
The key lies in leg strength and shifting the center of gravity. She tried twice and successfully controlled the ladder to move horizontally.
It works!
The flue on the heater has been fixed. She is now going to install the ring on the ceiling. With a handheld electric drill, this step is completed quickly. The distance between the ring and the ceiling is arranged in a circle from slightly far to close. Then she uses a rope to tie the flue together and pull it up, lifting it under the ring. She uses U-shaped bolts to cover both sides of the flue and the ring, puts rubber pads on them to prevent slipping, and tightens them with a wrench. She puts the handheld electric drill in the small backpack on her back.
The more she worked, the more she realized the benefits of carrying a ladder with her. She would use ceramic fiberboard to separate the hanging ring and the ceiling, and place it between the steel belt and the ceiling. In addition, the inner layer of each smoke pipe joint should be wrapped with a layer of ceramic fiber cloth, and the outer layer should be locked with a hose clamp. Now she doesn't have to go down to the ground. The parts are carried on her back. After installing one place, she can immediately move to the next place with the ladder.
She's a genius, right? A genius at working at heights!
This does improve efficiency. The flue pipe starts from the top of the straight flue of the furnace, spirals from high to low, and goes out from the original air conditioner outlet on the east side.
The high-altitude work came to an end here. She landed on the ground to add a stainless steel door to the furnace mouth, nailed a stainless steel handle to the door, carefully coated the handle with mud and clay, and wrapped it with ceramic fiber cloth. The scald and fire protection work on the handle was completed.
The overall stove was completed here. She tested the strength of the straight chimney and the hanging ring smoke pipe and was initially satisfied.
She took the children to the barn to select firewood and taught them how to make a fire in the stove.
She first lit some waste paper to test the exhaust and observed that there was no backflow of smoke. After the firewood in the furnace had burned for a while, she stood on it and touched the screws of the hanging rings to see if they were hot. She found that the insulation was very successful and the efficiency of the furnace was very high. Even though the doors in the front and back of the living room were open and there was a ventilated aisle on the east side, the indoor temperature still rose significantly.
"Success!" Gong Zhili said with satisfaction, "The next step is to stock up on firewood. We must not suffer from the cold this winter!"
Mimiko raised her little fist: "It's not cold!"
Gong Zhili put away the ladder, disassembled the custom-made table, and surrounded the stove. There were table tops on three sides. The wooden board in the middle was removed to reveal the cast iron plate. The kettle could be placed on the cast iron plate to heat it up, or the food could be placed on it to keep it warm. Under the table top was a foldable cross-shaped angle steel bracket. The bracket was connected with a buckle at the corner and could be manually fixed into the slot. If the buckle was slightly pulled outward, it would slide out of the slot and return to the foldable state.
In short, this table can be disassembled and combined into several shapes, and it is probably one of the most useful pieces of furniture in this house in the future.
-----------------------
The author has something to say: After writing 10,000 words, I'm questioning my life. I've been writing since dawn, barely stopping. I've wondered a few times if I'm typing too slowly, and I've wondered how those people who write 10,000 words a day manage to stay focused. It's incredible! Anyway, this is my first time successfully writing 10,000 words a day! Everyone, please use it!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
