The ox cart drove slowly on the country road, the wheels making a creaking sound. Chen Wanbai narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the lush mountains and forests in the distance. His thoughts were swirling in his heart, and he was secretly planning how to arrange the next days.
Unconsciously, the ox cart slowly stopped at the door of Chen Wanbai's house.
Wan Chaogui jumped off the bullock cart and helped them put their things at the door of their house.
"Sister-in-law, Xiaobai, I will leave the things here. If you need any help, come to me." Wan Chaogui said with a smile.
"Thank you, Uncle Wan."
"You are always so polite." Wan Chaogui smiled and waved his hand, turned around and boarded the ox cart, waving his whip to drive the ox cart slowly Leave.
After Wan Chaogui left, Chen Wanbai and Liu moved things into the house together.
"Xiaobai, Mom is going to cook. What are you going to do with the two big bones you bought?" Ms. Liu looked at the two big bones and asked curiously.
When Chen Wanbai bought it before, she wanted to ask, but she was too embarrassed to ask in front of outsiders.
"Mom, you rest, I'll go cook."
"Okay, mom, go cut the cloth." Ms. Liu was not stubborn, she knew in her heart that she was the one who cooked. Poor craftsmanship.
Chen Wanbai took a short rest, then walked into the kitchen, rolled up his sleeves and prepared to cook.
The stove is not enough, so I still plan to make bamboo rice today.
She poured the washed rice into the bamboo tube, added an appropriate amount of water, and then placed the bamboo tube directly in the stove.
After preparing the rice, she began to make bone soup.
Chen Wanbai first washed the pig bones, put them in a pot with cold water, added ginger and white wine, boiled them over high heat, skimmed off the foam, took out the bones and rinsed them with hot water.
Then put the big bones into a large clay pot, add enough water, then add scallions, ginger slices and a little peppercorns, bring to a boil over high heat and then simmer slowly over low heat.
While making bone soup, Chen Wanbai began to boil lard. She cut the pork suet into small pieces, put it into an iron pot, added a small bowl of water, and slowly simmered it over low heat.
As the temperature rises, the lard gradually releases oil, and the pot makes a "sizzling" sound. She flipped it with a spatula from time to time to prevent the suet chunks from sticking to the pan.
Wait until the suet pieces become golden and crispy, and the oil is almost cooked out. Chen Wanbai used a bamboo strainer to fish out the lard residue, and filtered the cooked lard into a clean wooden basin.
Afterwards, Chen Wanbai walked to the open space behind the house. The clearing was overgrown with weeds, including a lot of purslane.
Purslane is an extremely vigorous wild vegetable that grows almost all year round. Even in the dead of winter, if the weather is not particularly cold, you can still find it.
She carefully selected some fresh purslane, washed them, and took them into the kitchen.
She reheated the iron pot that had been fried in lard, and there was still a layer of lard on the bottom of the pot. She first added the chopped onion, ginger and garlic and sauteed until fragrant, then added the freshly fished lard residue and stir-fried it for a few times to make the lard residue become more golden and crispy.
Then, she added the chopped purslane and stir-fried quickly. Purslane softens quickly in hot oil, releasing its characteristic aroma. She added a little salt to taste, stir-fried a few more times, and a plate of fried purslane with lard residue was completed.
At this time, the bone soup was also simmering with a strong aroma. Chen Wanbai added some salt to the soup to season it. She also brought the bone soup to the dinner table and asked Mrs. Liu to come and eat with her.
Mrs. Liu was busy cutting cloth when she heard Chen Wanbai's shout. She put down her work with a smile and walked into the kitchen.
"Mom, come and try the fried purslane I made with lard residue, and see if it suits your taste." Chen Wanbai said with a smile.
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"Okay, look, your skills are getting better and better. I don't know where you learned them." Ms. Liu took the chopsticks, took a bite, and nodded with satisfaction, "It tastes really good. "
"Mom, when I went to Feng Dong's house with Uncle Wan, I saw the chef cooking several times, so I made a note of it." Chen Wanbai's face didn't change, and his heart didn't beat. Mrs. Liu can't ask.
"Actually, it's really simple. You can do it too, mother." Chen Wanbai smiled, "As long as you are willing to put in oil and salt."
After finishing lunch, Chen Wanbai put away the bowls Chopsticks, looking at the sunny weather outside the window, I feel very happy.
Taking advantage of the rare good weather, we quickly cultivated the vegetable field. While there's still time, plant some winter vegetables. Otherwise, in winter, wild vegetables will be hard to find, and you may not be able to eat green leaves.
Mrs. Liu started to yawn after eating. She looked sleepy, so Chen Wanbai persuaded her to take a nap.
Chen Wanbai then took the hoe and went not far away.
She first carefully observed the land where she planned to grow vegetables, and mentally planned the types and layout of the vegetables to be grown.
First, Chen Wanbai used a sickle to clean up the weeds on the ground. She knelt down and carefully cut off the roots of the weeds with a sickle.
While mowing the grass, she discovered that the roots of the weeds were very deep, so she pulled out the roots one by one with her hands to ensure that there would be no chance for regeneration.
There were mountains of weeds, which she gathered together to dry and use as kindling.
After clearing the weeds, Chen Wanbai began to plow the ground.
She used a hoe to turn up the soil piece by piece. During the process, she noticed the structure of the soil and found that the soil on this land was relatively loose and suitable for growing vegetables.
She used the tip of the hoe to break up the large clods of soil, making the soil finer and softer.
During the process of digging the ground, Chen WanBai also paid special attention to turning the deep soil up to allow the soil to fully receive sunlight to kill pests and germs hidden in the soil.
While digging the ground, she also found a few stones. She used the other end of the hoe to pick out the stones and pile them aside. Stones can be used to pave trails and prevent muddy weather.
After plowing the ground, Chen Wanbai began to loosen the soil again. She leveled the land with a hoe and pounded the turned-up soil into finer pieces to make the soil softer.
The purpose of loosening the soil is to make it easier for the roots to stretch, increase the permeability of the soil, and facilitate the growth of plants.
During the process of loosening the soil, she found a lot of earthworms. She picked them up into a small bamboo tube and planned to use them for fishing.
Then, Chen Wanbai used an iron rake to level the ground. She pushed and pulled the rake back and forth until the ground was smooth and free of large potholes and bumps. This step is not only for aesthetics, but more importantly, it facilitates subsequent planting and irrigation.
When preparing the soil, she paid attention to keeping the ground flat, so that the water flow would be more even when watering, and there would be no accumulation of water or poor water flow.
After the land preparation was completed, Chen Wanbai began to rid the land.
She used a hoe to draw trenches on the ground. The distance between each trench was about one foot, which ensured that each row of vegetables had enough space to grow.
She piled the excavated soil on both sides of the ditch to form ridges. The purpose of ridging is for drainage and water retention, especially during the rainy season, which can effectively prevent water accumulation from causing crop root rot.
Finally, she dug a small trench around the edge of the vegetable field for drainage.
After a lot of hard work, a neat vegetable plot was finally cultivated. Chen Wanbai wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling a little tired physically, but full inside.