On the last day of the holiday, Yi Qingqing delivered the favor she had promised to Li Mengxue and the others, then went up the mountain to chop firewood.
The winters in Northeast China are very cold, so you need to prepare enough firewood. Although winter is still a long time away, the winters in Northeast China are long and the summers are short, so it is always a good idea to prepare early.
As it is now, the team only has two or three days off a month, and the firewood they need on weekdays has to be collected by rushing out after work. There may not be enough time to stockpile firewood.
She also wanted to chop some wood, saw it into short wooden stakes of similar length, and stick them around the vegetable garden in the yard to make a fence. That way, she wouldn't have to worry about the soil in the ground being washed onto the gravel road when it rains.
At this time, the property has not been distributed to each household. The mountain belongs to everyone and firewood can be cut as much as you want.
Yi Qingqing chopped and sawed the wood on the mountain. It took her two or three trips back and forth in the morning to finally prepare all the wood for the vegetable garden. Then she began to prepare to store firewood for heating the kang in winter.
This is much simpler. You don't have to pick the thickness carefully. You will have to split it into pieces later anyway. You don't need to burn such good firewood for cooking on a daily basis. You can just use the fine firewood you picked up.
This trip was almost done, and it was estimated that it was almost noon, so Yi Qingqing carried the backpack and went to the abandoned hunter's cabin.
"Are they coming?" Yun Guyuan was boiling water to scald chicken feathers. He looked over when he heard the noise in the bushes.
Yi Qingqing looked into the shed and asked, "Where's Gao Beizhu? He's not with you today?"
She often saw Gao Beizhu following him like a little tail.
"No, he has something to do," Yun Guyuan said seriously.
Yi Qingqing believed it and asked, "Let's make chicken for dinner today?"
"Well, there are the most pheasants in this forest, so they are easier to hunt," said Yun Guyuan.
Even though there were many pheasants, they were also very clever. They would slip away without a trace before anyone noticed them. When Yi Qingqing was learning hunting skills, she went around the Daqing Mountain with Mr. Li countless times in his time. It was said that there were fewer people at that time, and there were more wild animals in the mountains, but they were not easy to catch.
She practiced for many days to follow the trail of her prey, but the prey always managed to escape before her.
Yun Guyuan spoke as if this pheasant was his second best option, which was really frustrating.
"Do you come hunting every day?" Yi Qingqing asked him.
Yun Guyuan nodded and shook his head, "It's true that I go up the mountain every day, but I don't hunt every day, otherwise the prey will go bad if I can't finish it all at once."
"Then I will teach you how to make smoked bacon today. If you can build a wooden shed, you can also build a small shed in your backyard and seal it on all sides to smoke meat. It can be stored for a long time after being smoked. It can also be made into jerky, but chicken is not suitable for making jerky." Yi Qingqing thought for a while and said, "We will cook half of this chicken for lunch, and I will teach you how to marinate and smoke the other half."
"Okay," Yun Guyuan agreed. It didn't matter what he did, the important thing was to be with her.
"Some smoked bacon is made with cypress branches, pine needles, and tea tree branches. The flavor of the ingredients will remain on the meat, and each has its own flavor. In Daqing Mountain, pine and cypress are the most abundant trees. You can choose the wood for smoking the meat according to your own ideas. The most important thing is to marinate it. For the meat, first apply salt on it and marinate it overnight..."
While he was processing the chicken, Yi Qingqing gave him a brief overview of the process of making smoked bacon.
This incident also reminded her that she could build a small shed to smoke some bacon. Bacon and fresh meat have completely different flavors. The most important thing is that it would be easier to send some of the bacon back home.
Ever since she went to the countryside, she has been thinking about sending something back home to reassure her mother and to show her filial piety to her parents.
It's hard to say where the money and notes came from. If I send it rashly, I'm afraid her mother will think she did something bad outside. So I can only send some gifts.
When sending things, food and clothing are naturally the hard currency.
But most of her fabrics were prepared by her mother. Besides, she had no other way to get fabrics. Most of the fabrics she got by signing in at Nanping County were still unused.
She had thought about it before, whether she should cut some of the cloth and send it back home when she went to the county town this time, but the cloth was light green and would not be suitable for her parents to use. She was afraid that Liu Meili would end up getting a bargain in the end, so she gave up the idea.
So the only thing we can do is to think of something about food.
Her original plan was to wait a few months, when the mountain products were ripe, and then send some back, or wait until the autumn harvest and use the excuse of distributing grain to send some food back.
Now she realized that she could also make some bacon or canned food that is easy to store and send it back home. This would not only stop her mother from worrying about her going hungry in the countryside, but she could also make something to satisfy her hunger.
Thinking of this, Yi Qingqing paid more attention to the practice of hunting skills, and gradually prepared some tools. "Comrade Yun, are you good at carpentry? Can I ask you to help me make something?"
Yun Guyuan thought, this girl finally knew to ask him for help. He had shown so many things before just for this.
"What do you want to do?"
"I want a rocking recliner and a hunting bow," said Yi Qingqing.
Yun Guyuan could understand a rocking recliner, but a hunting bow?
"You can also use a bow?" Yun Guyuan was really surprised.
Because of family reasons, I have a home but feel like I have no home, and a mother but feel like I have no mother. This is why I need to find ways to solve many problems on my own and have learned quite a few skills.
It is good for children who are usually loved by their families not to become arrogant because of the favor. Yun Guyuan has never seen a girl like Yi Qingqing who loves life like the little sun, and she can even use a bow?
Yi Qingqing nodded, "A little bit."
She was speaking the truth. It was just a little bit, and she still had a lot of hunting skills to learn.
Yun Guyuan just thought she was being modest. "Okay, I'll make it for you. You can try to pull my bow first, and I'll know what it is. For a rocking chair, it will take a little longer."
"Okay, how much?" Yi Qingqing asked happily.
Yun Guyuan was originally very happy, but his smile disappeared when he heard her words. In her eyes, is he just a money-grubber?
Yi Qingqing saw that he didn't answer for a moment and glanced at him.
She always felt that there was cold air coming out of this person, but it was quite cool in such a hot day. She even moved a little closer to him. If it were in the south, this could probably be used as a mobile air conditioner!
Yun Guyuan sighed inaudibly, "No money required, just teach me how to cook."