Without the straw curtains to block out the light, the cave became bright. Looking at the snow in front of her, Jiang Xi suddenly felt dazed, as if her body had returned to that day in July.
It was all white, and perhaps because the impression was so deep, she felt only fear and no wonder when she saw snow like that.
Jiang Xi picked up a broom and swept the snow off the steps at the entrance of the cave. She had to breathe on her hands to warm them because they were so cold.
It's too cold.
Suddenly, the broom in her hand was taken away. Jiang Xi looked up and saw Yan Jing'an. He was wearing a rabbit fur cloak he had made himself. He had just woken up, with wisps of hair still sticking to his face and his eyes still sleepy.
Yan Jing'an coughed twice and said impatiently, "It's freezing! You're disturbing my sweet dreams so early in the morning."
"Get out of the way, I'll do it."
Jiang Xi glared at him angrily and threw the broom at him.
Then she brushed the snow off the woodpile by the door, took a few pieces of firewood and went into the cave. The water that had been placed on the earthen stove before going to bed last night was still warm. Jiang Xi took it down and replaced it with fresh cold water. Then she lit the earthen stove with an oil lamp.
Despite their extreme frugality, they ran out of lighters some time ago. Although Yan Jing'an brought another one later, the three of them only had two in total.
Jiang Xi thought that there was still a long way to go, and starting a fire by rubbing sticks together was not easy, so she might as well save some money now.
So she refined extra fish oil to ensure the oil lamps in the room burned continuously, so that they could be used to light fires.
The earthen stove was lit, and the temperature in the front hall gradually rose.
What to eat? On a snowy day, nothing beats a hot pot.
The bubbling of the pot also raised the room temperature.
Just then, there were still the fish and shrimp that Yan Zheng had brought back in the fish trap last night, which were hanging outside the door. Thinking about this, Jiang Xi asked Yan Jing'an to take down one of the hanging cured pork ribs.
Just as Yan Zheng was pouring hot water onto the ribs, he led the deer out of the cave corridor. The deer was wearing a sweater crocheted by Jiang Xi, which matched its beige spotted pattern quite well.
It had grown quite a bit larger, its body now reaching Jiang Xi's chest. She estimated that in another month, she wouldn't be able to cross the cave's corridor. Perhaps because it was female, its antlers stopped growing after reaching thirty-four centimeters.
Upon seeing her, the little deer even let out two "yoyo" sounds.
Jiang Xi smiled broadly: "How was its appetite today?"
Yan Zheng tied the deer to the gatepost and said, "It's doing well. It ate two pieces of that mountain... yes, mountain stick."
Then he went over and took the hot water from Jiang Xi's hands: "Let me do it, you chop the vegetables."
Jiang Xi couldn't have wanted it more, because she disliked washing ribs the most; they were greasy and required scrubbing thoroughly with a straw brush.
The side dishes included some soaked wood ear mushrooms, some bean sprouts that she had grown herself, and a special one: dried sweet potatoes. Jiang Xi even regretted not drying more of them.
The texture of dried sweet potato is different from that of fresh sweet potato. A few days ago, I made braised rabbit with dried sweet potato. The dried sweet potato is more chewy and perfectly absorbs the flavor of the meat in the dish. It was even more popular than the rabbit meat. The three of us even argued about who should eat the last piece of dried sweet potato.
Jiang Xi felt that since she dried the potatoes herself, she should eat them herself.
Yan Zheng felt that since he was the one who cooked the dishes, it was naturally his responsibility to do so.
Yan Jing'an was even more unconvinced, feeling that since he had brought this way of eating, it was perfectly appropriate for him to eat it.
None of the three would give in.
Jiang Xi shook her head at this thought, thinking how childish it was, and unconsciously grabbed another handful from the wooden basket to soak.
The three of them were drenched in sweat after eating a pot of stewed pork ribs. After the meal, Jiang Xi took out a scarf, a rabbit fur hat, rabbit fur gloves, and rabbit fur boots that she had crocheted and kept at the bottom of her trunk, and gave each of them a set.
She made the rabbit skin boots by guessing what they were made of. She drew the size of the sole based on the style of sneakers, then used carbon fiber to make a thousand-layer sole, and finally sewed on two layers of rabbit skin and fixed them to her calves with straps.
As for whether it will bear fruit or not.
She's never done it, so she doesn't know.
In terms of comfort, because it has not undergone professional processing, the fur is rather stiff. She tried wearing it for half a day and found it to be barely comfortable.
Yan Zheng was going to check the rabbit traps. His daily routine was quite fixed. Every day after breakfast, he would first go to the hillsides near the front and back gates to check the rabbit traps, and then go to the lakeside to check the fish traps that had been set down.
Perhaps it was because winter was coming that the rabbits didn't like to leave their burrows and move around. Sometimes they wouldn't catch anything all day. Jiang Xi was thinking that if the weather was better, she could throw some sweet potatoes into the forest and on the hillside every few days. Since more animals survive the winter, they would give back more next year.
As for the lake, it's getting cold, so we can't go into deep water. We can only put the fish traps in shallow areas, so the daily harvest is limited, mostly small fish or shrimp.
Jiang Xi didn't think there was anything wrong with it. At least it was fresh, and after being cooled down, the fish and shrimp meat were especially plump and delicious. Sometimes in the morning, she would cook some fresh shrimp porridge or mixed fish soup, along with the pickled radish greens she made, which was quite nice.
Her biggest worry was that it snowed heavily last night, and if the lake froze over, they would only be able to eat salted fish and salted meat, which would be truly miserable.
After finishing all this, Yan Zheng went hunting, although most of the time he could only catch some small prey.
Sometimes he would patrol around the cave to see if there were any signs of large animals, in order to ensure the safety of the cave.
Yan Jing'an no longer goes into the forest. It's cold, and some large animals have no food, making the forest dangerous.
Now, he mostly takes Xiaolu out to dig sweet potatoes. Xiaolu can now carry dozens of kilograms of goods and walk for miles without getting out of breath. She's a great laborer, so he takes Xiaolu with him whenever he goes out.
Sometimes he would gather firewood, but he didn't chop wood anymore. The axe blade was damaged once when he chopped wood, and after it was repaired, he stopped using it. He only had one axe, and using it for chopping wood was a bit too much for the blade. Jiang Xi carefully kept it, planning to take it out next spring when they repaired the courtyard wall.
A full stomach gives a person strength. Yan Zheng put on gloves, a hat and a scarf, changed into rabbit skin boots, and stepped into the snow, his feet sinking deep into the ground.
The snow here is dry, and it makes a crunching sound when you step on it, unlike the snow in Huaichun, which is wet and squelching when you step on it.
As usual, he went to check the rabbit traps on the front and back slopes first. He thought to himself that with such heavy snow last night, the traps would probably be empty again.
As expected, they found nothing on the back slope; the potatoes in the trap had all frozen solid.
There was something in a trap on the front mountain. Yan Zheng thought it was a two-legged rabbit, but when he got closer, he found it was a small grayish-brown creature, about half a meter long, with black and white stripes on its face.
His leg was broken, and he was frozen all night. He wouldn't live much longer. Yan Zheng took care of him and wrapped up his internal organs to use as bait.
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