The triplets haven't had a bath for three days, so I need to give them a wash today.
Bathing children in winter is particularly troublesome. There's no central heating in this era, and unlike in the north where you can heat a kang (a traditional heated bed), adults can manage with a quick shower, but children can't.
First, a brazier had to be lit in the room to heat it up, and then the triplets had to be quickly bathed next to the brazier. This was a big project, and Liu Yun didn't like it, so she took the initiative to cook and boil water, leaving the task of bathing the triplets to Yu Qianhe.
As soon as she stepped into the kitchen, she smelled a fishy odor. She had killed a lot of fish this year. Liu Yun had seen fish scales used to make fish jelly online and wanted to try it, so she asked her father to save the fish scales for her.
I had already washed the fish scales clean with vinegar, but I forgot about it a couple of days ago because I was busy. Luckily, it hasn't gone bad yet.
So I washed the fish scales several more times, poured them into a pot, added three times the amount of water, brought it to a boil over high heat, added ginger slices and scallions, and also added vinegar and sorghum wine to remove the fishy smell. Then I simmered it slowly over low heat. This kind of fish jelly needs to be simmered slowly; the longer it simmers, the thicker and more fragrant it becomes. Fish jelly made in this way is also an excellent source of nutrition for children.
Three pots were heated simultaneously: one for boiling water, one for making fish jelly, and one for stir-frying vegetables. Rice was steamed in a clay pot on a coal stove to save time.
I ate something greasy for lunch today, so I'll have something lighter for dinner. I looked through the cupboard and decided to have corn rice, some spicy and sour chicken giblets, a stir-fried cabbage, and a steamed egg custard.
Corn rice is made by cooking coarsely ground cornmeal with rice.
There were quite a few corn plants in the space. They are easy to grow and easy to harvest. Every now and then, we would shred some corn to grind and cook rice. This was the norm in those days.
Nowadays, it's difficult for almost everyone to have enough to eat, let alone eat well. Most people eat corn rice, sweet potato rice, or potato rice. Liu Yun also eats like this and rarely eats plain rice. However, Liu Yun eats mostly rice with a little bit of mixed grains, while ordinary families eat mostly mixed grains with only a little bit of rice.
There's no rice or paddy growing in the space; it's too difficult to harvest. Liu Yun always takes things from the space under the pretense of buying them from farmers. This isn't entirely a lie; at least she buys rice and the like. She goes to the suburban market once or twice a month, if not every week.
Although individual businesses are no longer allowed, going to the market is still permitted, though the requirements are more stringent than before, and it's only once or twice a month. However, since Xinshi is located at the border of two cities, there's more than one market, and Liu Yun often goes to different ones. Selling things like grains and oils is prohibited, but selling what you produce yourself is allowed; you just need the brigade leader's approval and stamp to set up a stall.
These days, most of what people sell themselves are vegetables grown at home, eggs laid by poultry, or handicrafts, like bamboo ware. There's a lot of bamboo in the south, and many pieces of furniture are made of bamboo, which Liu Yun particularly likes.
Every time Liu Yun goes to the market, she always buys all kinds of noodles and rice noodles, whether they're made from whole grains or just wheat flour. She buys them whenever she sees them and knows what they're like. These days, people don't really like them. She remembers that in the 21st century, her grandfather never ate noodles, saying he was tired of them from eating them when he was young. But Liu Yun loves them and eats a different kind every morning—they're delicious and convenient.
Another thing is rice. If you find someone trustworthy or suitable, you can secretly buy rice. There are quite a few people who sell rice secretly. This area is near the river and has abundant water resources, so rice is widely grown. Moreover, rice can be grown for two seasons. As long as you are diligent, you won't starve to death in the countryside. However, in the countryside, they can secretly exchange money, but tickets are hard to come by. City people also lack tickets. Liu Yun doesn't lack tickets. When she buys rice, it's very easy to buy it with the ticket.
By the time the rice was ready, the soup was also done. The fish scales had curled up. The scales and debris were scooped out, and the soup in the pot was filtered, poured into a bowl, and left to cool. After it cooled, the lid was put on and placed in a ventilated area so it could be eaten the next day.
With no time for TV, Liu Yun would lie in bed and play with her child after eating and washing up. However, the child was sleepy because he hadn't taken a nap and fell asleep after playing for a while. Liu Yun would then continue to daydream, as Yu Qian was at home and she couldn't easily go online.
Yu Qianhe came in and saw his wife staring blankly on the bed. However, he didn't know she was in a daze and thought she was thinking about something. He took off his clothes, got on the bed, and hugged her.
"Honey, should I buy the meat for the fourth son's wedding banquet? I can get it."
Yu Qianhe thought his wife was worried about her brother-in-law's wedding banquet. He knew she could buy some vegetables in the countryside, but the meat was limited to poultry like chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits. She couldn't get pork; the pork from their own farm was all bought from the supply and marketing cooperative or meat processing plant.
Actually, Liu Yun was quite lucky. Fortunately, the things she kept bringing home were things that could be raised in the countryside. Because she brought in a lot of them, everyone just assumed that she bought them from many people or that someone in the countryside had secretly raised them. So there was no danger, and no one said anything. After all, who doesn't secretly buy things these days?
If Liu Yun frequently brought pork, beef, and mutton home, her family might not have reacted the same way. After all, it's impossible to get these without certain connections, and the risks involved are also high.
Liu Yun hadn't expected him to bring this up. She wasn't in a hurry at all; she had enough meat coupons, and her mother would definitely give her some, so she wasn't worried at all. But Yu Qian didn't know that she usually didn't look at the box where Liu Yun kept her coupons and change, so she had no idea how many meat coupons were in there or how many Liu Yun had exchanged.
However, Liu Yun didn't say anything when she heard that he could get it. "Then buy about 20 jin! That should be enough. If there's too much, send some to your parents. You don't need the rest."
"OK."
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Lantern Festival, families naturally gather together to eat glutinous rice balls (yuanxiao). Liu Yun had always thought that tangyuan and yuanxiao were the same thing, just with different names in the south and north. She never imagined they were two different things. Yuanxiao has a thick skin and is large, while tangyuan has a thin skin and is small. The soup for yuanxiao is cloudy, while the soup for tangyuan is clear.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
