Lu Yunfeng bundled up the branches she had cut. It was only a few hundred meters from home, and even if they weren't dry firewood, these branches wouldn't be heavy for him. "The village isn't always safe, so don't go out alone in the future."
He had just seen a man with a bad reputation in the village looking around at the foot of the mountain, and thinking that Qin Xiaozhou was over here, he came over.
Qin Xiaozhou thought he meant he was afraid of wild animals, and she was grateful for his thoughtfulness.
In just over an hour, they had collected a whole bamboo basket. Lu Yunfeng escorted Qin Xiaozhou home and then went to the duck pen in Qingzhugou.
Qin Xiaozhou boiled water in a large pot, added the pear blossoms to blanch them and remove their bitterness. After the water boiled for a few minutes, they were taken out. A portion was set aside to eat that evening, and the rest was spread out in a basket and carried to the yard to dry in the sun. They could store it and slowly stir-fry it with the cured meat later.
Cooling and detoxifying, farmers rely on the mountains and eat what they can find in the mountains to stay healthy.
She then took out the loaches she had been raising, gutted them, chopped one into two pieces, and stewed them in a pot with scallions and ginger.
In the evening, the Lu family returned home. Lu Yan ran in happily, "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, my eldest brother shot down an eagle today. He's really amazing!"
Qin Xiaozhou brought the food to the table and went to the yard to check. The eagle was already dead, about half the size of a hen. "Quickly pluck its feathers and roast it over the fire in the stove."
Wang Lan jokingly scolded him for being greedy, but still added firewood to the stove, boiled water, and poured it on the eagle. She plucked its feathers, gutted it, and took out its internal organs. Lu Yunxing chopped up the internal organs and threw them into the duck pen along with the loach.
Rub the eagle with salt, chili peppers, and Sichuan peppercorns, skewer it on bamboo, and roast it on the stove.
The family was eating when they turned the eagle over and roasted it until it sizzled and dripped with oil. Little Si, smelling the aroma, struggled to grab it, but Zhao Fen held him and fed him a bowl of loach soup before he calmed down.
Lu Yan kept her eyes glued to the roasting meat on the stove, hurriedly ate her rice and dishes, drank a bowl of soup, and even ate half a bowl less of rice. She put down her chopsticks and squatted by the stove, asking, "Is it cooked yet?"
"Not yet." Qin Xiaozhou glanced at it. "Don't add firewood. Just scoop charcoal from the stove and put it in the furnace. Adding firewood will blacken the meat."
As darkness fell and the aroma filled the air, Qin Xiaozhou divided the eagle into pieces. Since the Lu family was large, each person only received a small piece, and they happily gnawed on it around the fire. Lu Yan received a leg, and after finishing it, her eyes lit up as she licked her fingers. "Big brother, this is so delicious! You should go hunt eagles tomorrow too!"
Wang Lan gently poked her forehead, "You can't get enough to eat by just hunting eagles. Your older brother has a lot of things to do."
Qin Xiaozhou was still not satisfied, "You keep the chickens healthy, and when this batch of chicks grows up, we'll roast one for each of you and you can eat your fill."
"Wow!" Lu Yan clapped her hands happily, "I will definitely raise the chickens well."
Lu Yan and Lu Yu were responsible for raising the chickens, while Zhao Fen took care of the ducks. Wang Lan was busy stacking leaves every day, Lu Yunfeng cleaned the chicken and duck pens and carried the fermented fertilizer to the orchard, and Lu Yunxing was also busy taking care of the orchard. He had to go around the dozens of acres of orchard two or three times a day. Inadvertently, Qin Xiaozhou was left to cook at home.
Without deliberately trying to lose weight, she simply went to bed early and got up early, ate on time, and took medicine to nourish her spleen and stomach. In just over a month, Qin Xiaozhou's weight loss plan showed remarkable results. Now she can enter and leave the house without getting stuck in the door. Qin Xiaozhou was overjoyed, and her old clothes also became looser. It seems that she has lost a lot of weight without realizing it.
The next morning, after breakfast, the Lu family went about their business. It was still quite cold in Qingzhugou in the morning, so Zhao Fen stayed home to take care of Xiao Si. Qin Xiaozhou picked up a basket and followed Wang Lan to the duck pen. As soon as they stepped out, an old woman came up to them and said, "Auntie, you're going to work so early?"
Upon seeing Qin Xiaozhou, the old woman asked, "Is this the bride? She has a delicate face and eyes like a Bodhisattva; she looks very fortunate."
In Wangjia Village, there is only one Lu family. In recent years, natural disasters and man-made calamities have dragged the Lu family down, making them so poor that they couldn't even afford to marry a wife. Now, regardless of the new bride's appearance, they can be considered to have finally found a wife.
Granny Wang lives at the edge of the village. Her family is poor, and she's busy every day at her age. Before spring, she goes to the mountainside to cut firewood to sell. She has no time to visit neighbors, let alone chat and gossip under the willow trees in the village. Qin Xiaozhou has been married to Wangjia Village for a month, and she hasn't even met her yet.
Qin Xiaozhou was hardworking, strong, and kind-hearted. She cooked white rice porridge every day to support her family. Wang Lan was genuinely happy and said, "She's a good woman. Cousin-in-law, please come in and sit down."
Grandma Wang waved her hand hastily, "No, no, I'm here to buy a basket. The one from a few years ago is worn out and keeps snagging my clothes."
After buying the basket, Grandma Wang hurried off to the village to the east; she still needed to go back up the mountain to pick wild vegetables. Wang Lan smiled and pulled Qin Xiaozhou to look at the ducks.
After checking on the ducks, Qin Xiaozhou followed Wang Lan's instructions and headed north to Qingzhugou, where there were bracken ferns. It was harvest time, and they would sell them if they could, and if they couldn't, they would blanch and dry them to eat later.
The orchard is a sea of flowers, with peach, plum, and pear blossoms covering the hillsides, along with apple, chestnut, and walnut trees. Buds are sprouting and pollinating, butterflies and bees are fluttering about, creating a lively scene. The pomegranate flowers bloom later, with only small buds appearing yet. Chickens and ducks are allowed to roam freely, chicks scratching for food, ducks swimming, bursting with life along with all things in nature.
The Lu family didn't own any land, and wild vegetables were worthless in the spring. Bamboo shoots were all used to make pickled and dried bamboo shoots, and the house was overflowing with them. They had no appetite to eat them every day, so they kept the bamboo shoots to grow into big bamboo, since there would be plenty of places to use bamboo in the future anyway.
When Qin Xiaozhou saw the fallen peach blossoms, he thought of peach blossom wine, but he couldn't use any of the ones near the chicken coop, as they were all chicken droppings.
During a meal, Wang Lan casually mentioned this idea. After thinking for a while, she said, "I remember there's a family in Guojiatai who makes good rice wine. We could sell their rice wine and use peach blossoms to make it."
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