Traveling through time and space to meet a replacement bride? But I’m a man!

Following Xu Wenyan's method, the village chief organized another speech.

The main purpose is to introduce methods to keep warm, but if you don’t have cotton clothes at home, you still have to wrap yourself as much as possible.

With these warm-keeping tips, the number of deaths due to the disaster in Jixiang Village gradually decreased over the next month.

It was also on New Year's Eve that the temperature successfully warmed up to minus ten degrees Celsius.

Most villagers believed that it was the blessing of the dead in the underground that prevented the disaster.

Xu Wenyan's family went out a few days ago, and the firewood in the yard had been burned out. They moved some more in from outside the yard yesterday.

Xiaohu is temporarily living in Xu Wenyan's house. He will be able to return to his own home after the temperature calms down in the next two days.

Xu Wenyan never thought that his first New Year after traveling through time would be spent like this. It was estimated that no other traveler was more miserable than himself, as he started off with a hellish difficulty.

Fortunately, after taking the medicine for the past few months, my body has recovered a little. Although I no longer cough, I still need to catch up in nutrition.

I finally finished drinking the extremely bitter Chinese medicine.

On New Year's Eve, things had to get busy. Xu Wenyan opened the door wide. With so many people living in such a small house, the house was filled with a stuffy smell. Xu Wenyan felt very uncomfortable because he hadn't taken a shower for two months.

Chen Sanlin and Xiaohu's task was still to chop firewood. Thinking about the large amount of firewood stored at home around the beginning of winter and how most of it had been burned now, Xu Wenyan couldn't help but sigh at his own cleverness.

All the housework was left to the children. In the Chen family, both men and women had to work.

Xu Wenyan's task was to cook. There were only two rabbits left out of the dozen or so, and there was still plenty of deer meat.

It was a rare warm day, so Xu Wenyan diligently made potato pancakes. These pancakes were not difficult to make, but they required a lot of ingredients. Not to mention the two men who were working on them, Rongrong could eat three or four by herself.

There is no way to spoil her.

After breakfast, you have to cook the deer meat, as the smoked bacon is difficult to stew.

"Brother Chen! Go tell my eldest uncle and second uncle's family to come to our house for dinner today." The tradition during the Chinese New Year is to visit relatives and friends for dinner and New Year's greetings. Having witnessed the deaths of people around him, Xu Wenyan didn't care so much about He Xianhua.

"understood."

Since there are many invited people, Xu Wenyan has to do more things so as not to lose face for himself and Chen Sanlin.

Wash the potatoes, steam them, peel them, put them into a small clay pot and mash them into a paste. Add some salt and put them in a bowl for later use.

Then cut the cold steamed buns made a few days ago into dices and put them into an iron pan and roll them around. This is to dry out the moisture and prevent the dices from becoming mushy.

After a dozen minutes, it will be almost done. The steamed bun cubes will become crispy and you can put them in a clay pot and crush them with a rolling pin.

In fact, the rolling pin is a stick made by Chen Sanlin himself using willow tree.

After the mashed potatoes cooled down, Xu Wenyan tasted them and found that they tasted okay, so he coated them with low-end breadcrumbs made from steamed buns and started frying them.

If other women in the village saw this, they would definitely scold him for being a spendthrift. How much fuel would that cost? But Xu Wenyan is the kind of person who only cares about enjoying life while he can.

If you want to eat it, it tastes good, and you like it, then make it and don’t worry about anything else.

The flavor of the fried potato balls came out immediately, and Xu Wenyan couldn't wait to try one. It was crispy at the beginning and soft on the inside, with a strong potato aroma.

It would be great if we had some ham sausage, cut it into cubes and put it in there.

"Kids, come and eat potato balls." Xu Wenyan called out and even Xiaohu came over.

Xu Wenyan looked at him and then at the meatballs in the bowl.

"Brother Xu, I'm only fifteen years old this year, and I'm also a child." Looking at the golden meatball, Xiaohu swallowed.

Anyway, Xu Wenyan fried a lot and it was originally for everyone to eat, so he just took a bowl and let Xiaohu and the other kids share it.

Looking at Chen Sanlin from a distance, he saw his own Xu Wenyan waving at him.

Chen Sanlin raised the corner of his mouth slightly and walked over slowly.

"Brother Chen, try it."

"My hands are dirty."

Xu Wenyan put the bowl down: "Okay, then you can eat later."

Chen Sanlin: “…”

"Can you feed me?"

"You're already an adult, and I still don't need to feed you." Although he said this, Xu Wenyan had already picked up a meatball and stuffed it into Chen Sanlin's mouth.

Really fragrant.

When the deer meat was almost cooked, Xu Wenyan changed the water in the pot and put the deer meat, radish and dried mushrooms into the pot to stew. There was no onion, ginger and garlic, so only some dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns could be added to enhance the flavor.

Xu Wenyan cleaned the only two rabbits and made them into dry-fried rabbit meat, and then stir-fried them with shredded potatoes. There were only so many kinds of dishes at home, so there was no choice.

The staple food was a bowl of rice and a sweet potato for each person. There was not much rice at home, so Xu Wenyan planned to eat it until spring.

Xu Wenyan picked up a few slightly larger sweet potatoes from the cellar and put them in the fireplace to roast. He covered the fireplace from the outside while roasting. Only in this way would the roasted sweet potatoes taste fragrant.

After a while, Wang Cuijuan and He Xianhua arrived. On New Year's Eve, women had to help with cooking first.

Wang Cuijuan was carrying a backpack containing four scarves she had made. It took two rabbit skins to make one scarf, and a dried chicken.

After the heavy snow, several chickens in the house died. The slightly older chicks had been eaten, and the larger ones had dried up.

The eldest wife of the Zhou family also took a dried chicken. It should be an agreement between the two families. After all, it was New Year's Day, so all previous grudges would be put aside.

"Aunt, please sit inside." Chen Sanlin was the only one in the yard. Xiaohu and a few children were eating potato balls in the main hall. Because the stove collapsed, Xu Wenyan could only cook by the fireplace.

"Where is Wen Yan?" Wang Cuijuan asked.

"in."

He Xianhua walked straight in. When the children saw her, they were a little scared and started to behave themselves while playing.

Xu Wenyan felt it was strange that there was no sound outside, so he poked his head out from the inner room and said, "Aunt, please come and sit down. I'm busy. Xiaohua, please bring two meatballs to Aunt."

He Xianhua was not polite and put it in her mouth right away: "Wow, these meatballs are made of potatoes, right? Why are they so delicious?"

"It's just a snack for the children." Xu Wenyan would not tell the recipe. He could use this secret recipe to set up a stall in the county in the future.

The two women helped Xu Wenyan cook. They saw Xu Wenyan adding ingredients literally, making everything taste salty and flavorful. It was unlike when they were at home, where they would just put a few grains of salt in the dishes.

There was also a table in the main hall that was moved from Xiaohu's family. The dishes were served only after everyone arrived.

Old lady Hua sat in the main seat, followed by several men. Among the children, only Zhou Dabao and Chen Dong sat at the top. This was the custom in the countryside; women were not allowed to sit at the table when eating with elders.

Even though He Xianhua was a naughty boy and would not dare to break the rules, Xu Wenyan did not care about that. After serving the food, he sat down next to Chen Dong.

He Xianhua, who was watching from the side, felt her heart twitch and thought that Xu Wenyan was really bold. She didn't dare to be so ostentatious even on New Year's Day. She had never sat at the table when eating with the elders. Wasn't Xu Wenyan afraid of being beaten by her nephew?

Old Lady Hua also frowned slightly and glanced at Xu Wenyan, but still said nothing.

"Xiao Liu, Xiao Hua, Rong Rong, come and sit down. You two aunts are welcome." Xiao Liu of course listened to Xu Wenyan and sat down next to him. As for Zhou Rong, Xu Wenyan had never had any contact with her, so there was no need to mention it specifically.

The two women were reluctant to take a seat and the situation was somewhat awkward.

"Okay, it's New Year's Day. Hua and Cuijuan, please take a seat first." After Old Lady Hua spoke, the two women sat down although they felt awkward.

"Grandma, the food at my cousin's house smells so good!" After two months of cold winter, Zhou Dabao is still so fat. It seems that the Zhou family has some background and they dote on this boy very much.

Seeing her grandson enjoying the meal, Mrs. Hua was also happy: "Then eat more, my dear grandson."

Almost all the dishes made by Xu Wenyan were eaten up in this meal. After all, not every family would be willing to cook like this.

After dinner, the two women from the second room went to wash the dishes with Zhou Rong. Old Mrs. Hua said some words of thanks for the charcoal that Xu Wenyan asked Chen Sanlin to deliver.

Xu Wenyan didn't want to listen to the old woman's nagging, so he found an excuse to go out, and then gave Chen Sanlin an encouraging look.