Zhao Qinghuai finally had a day off, and Lin Ying wanted him to rest as well, so she didn't rush to get busy that day. Instead, she prepared to make chili sauce from the various dried vegetables that she had soaked the day before.
Lin Ying washed and diced the soaked dried vegetables and mushrooms. Then, she heated oil in a wok, sautéed scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, and then added the diced dried vegetables and mushrooms, stir-frying evenly. Afterward, she added salt, sugar, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and other seasonings in sequence, continuing to stir-fry to allow the aroma to fully permeate each ingredient.
As time passed, the mushroom sauce in the pot began to emit a rich aroma. Lin Ying scooped up a little with a small spoon and tasted it; it tasted wonderful. She nodded in satisfaction, turned off the heat, and poured the mushroom sauce into a clean glass jar. This mushroom sauce could be used to mix with noodles, rice, or as a condiment—it was delicious in all of them.
In one day, Lin Ying made three kinds of sauces: cured meat, mushrooms, and diced rabbit.
All day long, Lin Ying's house was filled with an irresistible aroma, making the neighbor's kids drool. The reason was that the smell was so strong, and Li Yue'e wouldn't let them over.
Of course, because Lin Ying's house smelled so good, people outside started to gossip about it again.
However, her sarcastic remarks were quickly silenced by Zhang Shanlin's wife. To support her husband's work, and after being given a pep talk by him, she decided that no matter who Lin Ying was, even if someone wanted to target her in the future, it couldn't originate from within the military dependents' home.
Otherwise, if blame is assigned, Zhang Shanlin will be the first to be held accountable, unless a women's federation is established in the family compound in the future.
For lunch, Lin Ying mixed rice with mushroom sauce and chopped cucumbers from her own garden as a side dish. Zhao Qinghuai ate it with great relish.
There weren't enough canning jars at home, and even if they bought more canned food, they couldn't eat that much, so Lin Ying went next door to borrow some. Of course, she didn't forget to bring two bowls of sauce: one non-spicy mushroom sauce and one spicy chili meat sauce.
Lin Ying felt a pang of regret, regretting letting Zhao Qinghuai rest during the day. Because he was energetic during the day, he would torment her relentlessly at night. As others would say, since he'd been gone for so long, he felt he had to make it up to her.
Lin Ying was so angry that she wanted to kick someone, but she was too weak to do so because she was sore all over.
When Lin Ying woke up the next day, Zhao Qinghuai had already left with the things he had prepared for her.
Because it was time to go to town, Lin Ying had to get out of bed. She needed to buy some canning jars to return to Li Yue'e's family. The military supply and marketing cooperative didn't sell them.
In addition, she used up a lot of seasonings yesterday while making the sauce, and she needs to restock.
In the coming days, Lin Ying will be preparing to build a house, so she will have less time to go up the mountain to collect ingredients, and she will also need to buy some to take back.
Unsurprisingly, Lin Ying bought a lot of things again, attracting envy from others. However, fewer people dared to gossip.
In the afternoon, Lin Ying tidied up the house. Just as she expected, with the well, the surrounding area was not so damp when it didn't rain.
In this way, when building a house, you only need to avoid the location of the well.
The well was originally located where the toilet was, so Lin Ying only needed to consider where to build the toilet. Considering the location of the well, it was natural not to build the toilet in the same spot.
Looking at the water storage pit that had been dug in the courtyard to build the shed, Lin Ying had an idea.
Winters here are very cold. Now that they have cement in the house, as a resident of Haishi, she can't stand not showering all winter. So, Lin Ying wants to build a place where she can shower even in winter.
With that in mind, Lin Ying decided against building the house and instead started drawing up plans again.
After revising several options, we finally chose the most suitable one.
Here, every household relies on stoves and heated brick beds for heating. However, stoves are prone to causing carbon monoxide poisoning. In the previous rooms, the stove was right inside the room, separated from the main room by a wall, and on the other side of the wall was a row of heated brick beds.
Actually, this is enough, since there are only two people in their family, and one kang (heated brick bed) is sufficient.
However, Lin Ying wanted her home to be warm but didn't want to put a stove inside. The conditions here weren't suitable for her to install a water-based heating system, so the only way to keep warm was to build a heated wall.
Lin Ying's reason for getting cement was to build a water channel. Naturally, she couldn't get bricks or anything like that, since there were quite a few people watching her from the outside, always looking for trouble.
Therefore, Lin Ying could only choose to use yellow mud, glutinous rice water, lime, and Ula grass to make adobe bricks. Lin Ying could only use wooden boards to make molds. Now, even the original paths in the yard were reduced to just enough space to walk on.
To prevent the adobe bricks from drying too quickly and cracking, water needs to be sprinkled on them during the drying process, and they also need to be covered with straw. In addition, they need to be turned over in time to ensure that they dry evenly.
Actually, Mo Zi possessed memories of brick and tile making techniques, which she had practiced herself in the wild. However, Lin Ying didn't intend to do it. Firstly, the houses here would likely be demolished and rebuilt soon, and she didn't need to go to such great lengths. Secondly, if she went to great lengths to make it too good, it would only attract jealousy and cause trouble.
So whatever you do inside is fine, but outside, it's best to be in line with everyone's wishes.
Although Lin Ying had no concept of winter here, she did have some idea. As a southerner, Lin Ying needed to take precautions against the frost if she wanted to spend the winter here.
She has technical skills and physical strength, so she naturally won't mistreat herself.
After finalizing the blueprints, Lin Ying began construction at the site where the house was to be built.
To keep warm and to ensure she could take a shower in winter, Lin Ying decided to install underfloor heating. Not water-based, of course; she planned to cover the entire floor with the heated brick bed.
However, this would create a problem with the height between the ground and the roof. Since the height above needs to be uniform, Lin Ying decided to work on something underground.
So she dug down half a meter in the area where she wanted to build the house, making the foundation even lower.
Then, she started digging a drainage ditch. That's right, Lin Ying planned to create a seepage pit, where water would flow from the toilet into the pit. This was a well-considered decision; rather than building a toilet anywhere, she opted for an indoor flush toilet, which would also allow her to better control the distance between the toilet and the well. Currently, the seepage pit was about 10 meters from the well, which should be sufficient.
Of course, if possible, Lin Ying would also like to build a septic tank, but cement is limited, so there's nothing she can do about it.
Lin Ying paved the sink with cement and cut stone slabs, and even installed a valve in the middle to allow water to flow outwards, preventing backflow. This also prevented odors and small animals from crawling in.
Of course, this valve is located on the lower level of the room, also to prevent the blankets from freezing in the cold winter.
After the irrigation canal was completed, Lin Ying began the next step: laying the foundation.
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