The cooked vermicelli is hung directly on bamboo poles to dry, and there's no need to bring it in at night. After it freezes due to the low temperature at night, you can tap the vermicelli with a stick the next day to break off the ice, and the vermicelli will dry very quickly.
After finishing everything and cleaning up the yard, the two of them each lay down on a deck chair, too tired to move.
"I feel like this is even more tiring than digging yams on the mountain!" Xu Han said.
"I think so too. Maybe we're just too busy and on edge the whole time!" Lu Chuan added.
In the evening, Xu Han was so tired that she didn't even want to eat, so she took some sweet potato porridge from her space and drank it.
In the middle of the night, the two of them woke up hungry for no apparent reason. They ate another meal and then went back to sleep.
The next day, unusually, when Xu Han woke up, Lu Chuan was still not up. It seemed he was exhausted from the previous day.
Hearing Xu Han get up, Lu Chuan also got up.
After getting up and having breakfast, I started pounding the rice noodles and using wooden sticks to smash off the ice on them so they would dry quickly.
The two of them worked together and finished quickly, completing the task by lunchtime.
Some vermicelli crumbs fell out, so Xu Han took out a winnowing basket and put them in to dry.
The noodles I made this time will last me a long time, and I even have some sweet potato starch left in my storage space! I'm saving that specifically for cooking.
After the two finished lunch together, Lu Chuan went to the backyard and slaughtered the rooster and duck they kept at home.
The roosters and male ducks weren't laying eggs. We'd been feeding them for a year, and they were eating well and had grown quite large. There was no point in keeping them, so we only kept two of each, and slaughtered the others that weren't laying eggs.
Now that the weather is cold, there isn't much food left for the chickens and ducks. Instead of feeding them grain, it's better to slaughter them now! That way, we can save some grain.
Recently, when they went to the mountains to dig for things, the dogs hunted a lot of pheasants and rabbits, which Xu Han has been storing in her spatial storage without dealing with them yet!
We took advantage of the time this afternoon to process them together. Lu Chuan was in charge of skinning the rabbit, and Xu Han was in charge of removing the chicken feathers.
Another busy afternoon ensued, and when it was time for dinner, Lu Chuan said...
"There's not much heavy work to do at home, so I'll start digging the reservoir tomorrow!"
"Okay, you dig the reservoir and I'll process the meat. I'll make some cured meat and sausages."
"Sure, sausages are delicious too, make more!" Lu Chuan said ingratiatingly.
"Okay, I'll make you lots and lots of sausages, three meals a day, until you feel like throwing up just looking at them," Xu Han teased.
"Of course not, sausages are so delicious! My wife makes them even better, how could I ever get enough!" Lu Chuan retorted.
When Lu Chuan lived alone before, he didn't know how to air-dry meat or make sausages. He would just sprinkle some salt on the prey he hunted and pickle it. He didn't think it tasted that bad before.
But after eating Xu Han's dried chicken, I realized what I had made before! It was such a waste of so much meat.
Actually, meat cured with salt is quite delicious, but Lu Chuan ate it the wrong way, which is why it tasted fishy.
The next morning, Lu Chuan began digging a large pit in a pre-emptive spot in the backyard.
I drew the location and shape of the digging with wood ash, and then picked up a shovel and started digging.
When you first start digging, there are no special techniques. Just dig big and deep. Once you've dug big enough, adjust the shape according to the drawn lines to make it a square with the same length and width.
The excavated soil was piled directly into the vegetable garden next door, making it easier to fill in the pit later.
The biggest challenge in digging a reservoir is ensuring it is waterproof and leak-proof; otherwise, all the stored water will leak out, and all the effort will be wasted.
Because digging a water storage tank has been an idea for a long time, we had already prepared the necessary waterproofing materials at home.
After the pool is dug, a certain proportion of brown sugar, eggs, glutinous rice porridge, red clay scallop ash, and tung oil are mixed together to form the five-component soil for ancient buildings.
When these materials are mixed together, they achieve a waterproof effect and are also extremely hard, making them difficult to damage by human intervention.
In this day and age, only wealthy families can afford to buy and use this kind of building material; they use expensive items, and ordinary families are unwilling to spend money on such things.
If it weren't for the need for waterproofing, Xu Han wouldn't have been willing to use it.
When they bought these things, Lu Chuan and Xu Han didn't have that much money! They didn't buy much at first, but later, when they had more money, they bought some more to keep on hand.
Using mortar and limestone to waterproof the reservoir is a large project, and it requires digging two large reservoirs: one in the yard and another as a backup next to the stream behind the house.
These two pools alone will keep Lu Chuan busy all winter. The main problem is the many steps involved. Not only do they have to dig the pits, but they also have to waterproof the pools. With all these steps, it will probably be after the New Year.
This was left to Lu Chuan to handle, while Xu Han was responsible for taking care of the housework and preparing meals in advance.
Lu Chuan was digging a pond in the backyard, while Xu Han was making cured meat and sausages in the front yard.
The last batch of dried meat I made has already been eaten halfway, so I'll prepare more this time.
First, she washed and dried everything she needed, removing any surface moisture. Then, Xu Han went to prepare the seasonings.
Today's main task is to marinate these chickens, ducks, rabbits, and fish. This time, we're marinating much more than last time.
Xu Han also marinated some beef and steak. She had never tried beef before, so she made a little to see if it would taste good.
After marinating and air-drying, just hang them in the storeroom or woodshed. They're very convenient; you can take them down and eat them whenever you want.
Because there was so much meat, and it needed to be washed and marinated, it took Xu Han a whole day to process all of it.
Today I made air-dried meat, tomorrow I'll make some smoked meat, try different flavors of cured meat, and don't make all of them the same, eating too much of the same thing won't taste good, it's better to change the flavors often to make them taste better.
She marinated a lot of meat, using all the large wooden basins in the house. After marinating, Xu Han put the meat in the main room to leave it temporarily until it dried before putting it in the storeroom.
Seeing that it was still dark, Xu Han went to the backyard to check on the progress.
Lu Chuan has already dug a pretty deep pit. He used the space to help transport the soil to the vegetable garden next door, and piled it up in heaps. When spring comes, he can flatten it out and plant vegetables!
After dinner, Xu Han took out the beef head that hadn't been processed before and started cleaning it, planning to braise it in a few days.
The next day, Lu Chuan continued digging the reservoir, while Xu Han began preparing to cure the pork.
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