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Chapter 23 Delicious Spinach Porridge

There was nothing much to clean up inside the house, just sweep the floor and get rid of the dust and cobwebs, because the grass on the roof of the left room was gone, there was a big hole, and the sky could be seen, and the other two rooms must be leaking, so we had to repair the house, and we had to start tomorrow. Today I built a stove and put the pot on.

The stove had just been built when the eldest son of the Shen family arrived. He came secretly on his own, feeling uneasy for not being able to help Shen Zian move, and wanted to help him clean up the house.

Su Zhi saw that although Shen Zifu looked at her with an unusual look, he still greeted her. She thought that he was an honest man and was probably afraid of a daughter-in-law like Wang. She remembered that Wang had a stern face and was quite intimidating.

"It's still early, let's get some corn stalks and build a fence. This way we can live more comfortably."

Shen Zigui was very happy to see his elder brother coming. There was not enough time today and the house repairs would have to wait until tomorrow. Seeing that the front and back of the house were empty and other people's houses had fences, he thought of getting one too.

Most families use branches or bamboo that are not too thick to make fences. Some use plants with thorns, corn stalks, and reeds. However, those things rot too easily and usually need to be replaced once a year. Therefore, few people use them, and they are usually only used in emergencies. For example, Shen Zian was in a hurry to build a fence now, so he chose corn stalks first, as he had just harvested corn not long ago and had plenty of them.

Shen Zifu also agreed. He just wanted to help his brother with some work, otherwise he would feel sorry for him.

"Isn't that field at the back all ours? The corn stalks are still there. It's convenient to use. We can just pull them back with a flatbed truck."

Shen Zifu said this and went to pull the flatbed truck.

"Zi'an, you dig the ditch here. My brother and I will do the job." Shen Zigui said and left.

"Wife, what size do you think our yard should be?"

Shen Zian asked Su Zhi, he was very excited. When he thought that this would be his and Su Zhi's home in the future, everything in front of him became beautiful. He thought about asking Su Zhi to point out a piece of land, and then he would enclose it.

Su Zhi thought that the ancient times were good. The area in front of and behind the house was large enough. She only needed to build a fence and it would be her own territory. She looked around and made a plan.

The location of this new home seemed perfect to Su Zhi. There was a large open space in front, with some depressions and nothing but grass. Now that the weather was cold, the grass was green with yellow, which made it look even more desolate, but it was quite spacious. Further away were the mountains. To the east were the neighbors, and then the river. To the west was also an open space, and about a hundred meters away was a bamboo forest. She had just looked at the back, which was a piece of land, with a few trees at the far end, and pedestrians. Now, after listening to Shen Zifu, that piece of land was the land allocated to them by the Shen family.

Shen Zian said that the place where the tree was was a river, and the pedestrians were walking on the other side of the river. It turned out that the river they passed by flowed out of the mountain, passed by the riverside village, turned a corner, and flowed to the east. Their place was surrounded by the river. This river was not a small river. If you wanted to cross it, you had to cross a bridge. Only the other side of the river was a main road that could lead to the city. This was also the reason why people did not want to live on the east side of the river.

"From here to there, fence those three trees in the yard. This is the front yard. Later we will fence the back yard as well. It will be convenient to grow vegetables then."

Su Zhi gestured with her hands, deciding on the size of the yard. She thought she would make it this big first, and then expand the yard when she built the house in the future. At that time, the house would also have to be built big. This piece of land was really not small, and she thought it would be better to circle the whole thing. Who would complain that the house was too big and the yard was too big?

"Daughter-in-law, you take a rest. I will go to work."

Shen Zian picked up the shovel and started digging according to the area marked by Su Zhi. Su Zhi watched him digging, then went into the house, put everything away, and boiled water. The water was in a wooden barrel, and it was obvious that it had just been brought in. Su Zhi felt that Shen Zian was even more meticulous.

After boiling the water, leave it in the pot without scooping it out, so that it won't be cold when you drink it later. This was the bad thing about ancient times. If you wanted to drink hot water, you had to boil it on the spot, and it was really troublesome without a thermos.

Shen Zian was strong and worked quickly, so he finished digging the ditch quickly. Shen Zifu and Shen Zigui had already pulled back several carts of corn stalks. Corn stalks were useful at this time and could be used to make fire after being dried.

The three grown men started working on the fence together. Su Zhi also wanted to join in, but Shen Zian stopped her. The two older brothers also stopped her from working.

Su Zhi had no choice but to find other work. She walked to the back of the house and looked around. It was late autumn now, and it was not too cold. The crops had been harvested, and some plants had begun to turn yellow, but there were still many tenacious plants that were still green. It did not look desolate at all. Su Zhi found a few vegetables among the weeds, which looked like the spinach she had seen before.

Su Zhi thought spinach was delicious, but there was too little of it and she couldn't make it into a dish. It would be nice to make it into soup, but then she changed her mind and decided to put it in the porridge.

Su Zhi is the kind of person who doesn't want to owe favors to others. The eldest and second brothers of the Shen family came to help them. Although many people think that it is the elder brother's duty to help the younger brother, they still came when others were shunning them, which made them very precious. Besides, their time and energy were not wasted. If you ask others for help, you have to pay them or treat them to a meal. Brothers don't talk about money. They don't want it even if you give it to them, so just treat them to a meal.

But now that we have just moved in, we don’t have any seasonings for cooking, not even oil or salt, no rice or flour, only a small bag of corn dregs.

Let’s make porridge. Porridge with vegetables grown from Lingquan is no worse than eating meat!

Su Zhi looked around and saw that no one was around, so she took out the spring water and watered the spinach plants with it. She put the spring water away, stood up and walked around a few more times. When she came back, she saw that the vegetables were already juicy. She pursed her lips and smiled. This feeling of a good harvest was really good. She could even imagine the situation in the future where her hands would cramp from counting the money she earned from growing vegetables.

Pull out the vegetables and wash them. They are not very big, so just separate them from the roots without folding them and throw them directly into the porridge that is eight-tenths cooked. It will be ready in a moment.

"Big brother, second brother, thank you for your hard work. I made some porridge. You can eat some while you rest. Zi'an, please let big brother and second brother in. The water is here. Wash your hands first."

Su Zhi looked at the fence and the door that had been built and installed, and said to the three people who had stopped working to put the basin of water in front of them.

Shen Zifu and Shen Zigui waved their hands in haste. They knew Shen Zian didn't get much food, so they couldn't stay to eat with him. They turned around and were about to leave without washing their hands. Shen Zian stopped them.

"Brother, Brother, I don't have any good food to cook for you now. I only have thin porridge. If you don't eat it, don't come to help me repair the house tomorrow."

Su Zhi was also persuading them, and the two of them turned around a little embarrassedly, washed their hands and went into the house. In fact, they had already smelled the fragrance, and felt that their mouths were about to water. They felt really ashamed, but they were also curious about what kind of porridge this fourth brother's wife made that smelled so good. In fact, when they were at the Shen family, sometimes when they went to the backyard, they could smell a fragrance, and they were curious about what delicious food Shen Zian and his family had eaten, but they didn't dare to ask, because Sun Shi also said that Shen Zian had eaten delicious food behind their backs, which made the two elders of the Shen family very dissatisfied. But at that time, Shen Zian had already managed the money except for paying some meal expenses, so they couldn't say anything, and that kind of fragrance was not the smell of meat. Shen Zian said it was the porridge he made, and they were skeptical.

When Shen Zifu and Shen Zigui saw the porridge brought by Su Zhi, they felt that the fragrance was stronger, and they finally believed that what Shen Zian said was true.

The golden corn porridge with emerald green spinach leaves on it was placed in a large black coarse porcelain bowl. It looked so delicious no matter how you looked at it. Shen Zifu and Shen Zigui drank two bowls each and still felt they were not full.