It hadn't rained yet by evening, and the weather remained very gloomy. There was no wind or rain, and it felt very oppressive.
Finally, the heavy rain arrived as expected in the middle of the night.
"Is it raining?" Xu Han asked, still half asleep.
"It's getting windy, it'll probably rain soon. Don't worry, we brought everything in last night and closed all the doors and windows." Lu Chuan turned over and hugged Xu Han tightly.
Xu Han didn't reply to this, and drifted off to sleep again...
The next day, because of the rain, everyone woke up late, which was unusual for them.
When Xu Han woke up, she saw Lu Chuan still lying next to her and noticed that it was still raining outside, so she didn't get up and turned over to continue sleeping.
Xu Han slept until after ten o'clock, when Mu'er and Ze'er got up. Only then did Xu Han slowly get dressed, get out of bed, and leave the room.
"Wife, you're awake. Mu'er and Ze'er are in the backyard. Are you hungry? I'll go get you some rice."
"I'm starving, I'm starving to death," Xu Han said with a look of utter despair.
"Then go wash up first, I'll bring you the food." Lu Chuan said and turned to go to the kitchen.
Xu Han quickly finished washing up and then began to enjoy her breakfast.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, I finally felt better.
"Phew, I'm finally alive."
“There’s nothing to do today. Didn’t we pick some bamboo shoots last time? Should we peel them?” Lu Chuan asked while clearing the dishes.
"Oh right! I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it. Let me take out the bamboo shoots and we'll peel them."
"Okay, you can lie down on the ground first. I'll go wash the dishes and come back in a bit."
Upon hearing this, Xu Han took out a basket of bamboo shoots from her spatial storage and then went outside to fetch a clean wooden basin.
He poured the bamboo shoots onto the ground, moved a chair over, and prepared to peel them.
But after peeling two, he realized he had forgotten to bring a knife, so he called out, "Lu Chuan, bring me a knife when you come back."
"Oh, I remember now."
Xu Han peeled bamboo shoots while waiting for Lu Chuan to bring a knife.
When Lu Chuan returned, he said, "I'll teach you how to peel bamboo shoots faster. You see, make a deep cut from the bottom up, then peel the bamboo sheath to both sides, and a whole clean bamboo shoot will come out."
Xu Han explained and demonstrated at the same time. Lu Chuan learned very quickly and got the hang of it after peeling two or three.
"I'll prepare some bamboo shoots first, and then I'll use them to make hand-peeled bamboo shoots."
"What is hand-peeled bamboo shoot? Is it delicious?" Lu Chuan asked earnestly.
"It's delicious, you'll see in a bit."
After Xu Han finished speaking, she picked out a large basin of bamboo shoots, peeled off two layers of the older bamboo shoot skin, cut off the old roots, and then carried the wooden basin to the backyard to wash the bamboo shoots.
Wash the bamboo shoots thoroughly, blanch them in boiling water for two minutes, then remove them and drain them.
After the oil is hot, add ginger, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves and fermented bean paste, stir-fry until fragrant, then add an appropriate amount of boiling water to the pot.
Then pour the blanched bamboo shoots into the pot, add an appropriate amount of salt, dark soy sauce, and white wine to remove the bitterness.
Most importantly, you need to add an appropriate amount of rock sugar; this will make the hand-peeled bamboo shoots taste even better.
Because her family all like spicy food, Xu Han added extra chili peppers to the pot when cooking.
After boiling for about half an hour, the bamboo shoots can be peeled and eaten.
After cooking, soaking it in the broth for half a day or a day will enhance the flavor. Alternatively, you can eat it directly after cooking.
Because she had a lot of bamboo shoots from last time, Xu Han made a lot of hand-peeled bamboo shoots today, using both of the two cooking pots at home, filling two large pots.
After it's cooked, soak it in a large wooden basin. Then, put it in your space and you can eat it whenever you want.
These hand-peeled bamboo shoots can be eaten as a snack, or served as a side dish when there are no other vegetables available. They're absolutely delicious with a little wine.
"It smells so good! Girl, what delicious food have you made again? I could smell it from the backyard." The Taoist priest asked as he carried Ze'er into the kitchen.
"A few days ago, Lu Chuan and I went to the mountains to pick some small bamboo shoots, right? Today it's raining and we had nothing to do, so we washed some and made some hand-peeled bamboo shoots to eat."
The seasonings have just been added; it'll be ready to eat after cooking for a while, but it tastes even better after soaking.
"Haha, looks like we have some fresh food again. It smells really good, it must taste great."
"Of course, how could my cooking not be delicious?" Xu Han said with a proud look.
"Yes, yes, yes, your cooking is the best. Hahahaha."
"You help watch the child first, I'll go help Lu Chuan peel bamboo shoots."
"Alright, alright, I won't let you watch the child today. I'm going to take Ze'er to play." After saying that, the Taoist priest walked towards the backyard.
Xu Han then took another clean large wooden basin and went back into the main room to peel bamboo shoots with Lu Chuan.
"This little bamboo shoot doesn't look as big as the previous ones, but it still has a lot of meat on it," Lu Chuan said as he spoke.
"Yes, I think the smaller bamboo shoots taste better. Peel some more, and I'll pickle two more jars of bamboo shoots for pickling later. These are perfect for pickling. There are also even smaller bamboo shoots; those are even better for pickling, they taste even better when pickled."
"I've seen those before, but they're not found on the mountains around here. I think they're found on the hillsides near the county town, but I can't quite remember."
"It's okay, it doesn't matter if we don't have it, this is good enough."
"Okay, then you should make more. Pickled bamboo shoots are the best thing to eat in the summer. They're spicy and very appetizing."
"Okay, if everyone likes to eat it, then we can make more. We can put the leftovers in our space, they won't spoil anyway."
The two chatted casually, and before they knew it, it was lunchtime.
The rain outside was still drizzling, sometimes light and sometimes heavy, and it hadn't stopped much all morning.
"The rain has always come at just the right time this year; it's sure to be a bumper harvest," Grandpa Zhao said as he led Mu'er out of the backyard.
The Taoist priest following behind chimed in, "There have been natural disasters for four years. If the weather is bad today, it could drive people to their deaths. Heaven has eyes and can't bear to see the people suffer."
"I wonder how things are down the mountain? It's been so long since I've been down there," Xu Han asked with a worried expression.
“Those who were repatriated should have settled down by now, and things in the county town are almost back to normal. Let’s go down the mountain and take a look sometime,” Lu Chuan comforted them.
"We've almost finished with the chores at home. You can go visit whenever you want after the weather clears up," Grandpa Zhao said.
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