Traveling through the mountains and farming

Turning around and going to the cupboard, Lin Wan dug out the ceramic mold she had made before. She had originally planned to use it to make moon cakes or biscuits in the future, but she didn't expect it to come in handy at this moment.

"Sister-in-law, you made so many strange-shaped pottery. It turns out that they are all used for making food."

Li Ke saw the molds, rolling pin and chopping board that Lin Wan had arranged, and asked curiously.

"Yes, all those pottery you helped to make before are useful." Lin Wan responded with a smile.

After the dough has relaxed, Lin Wan divides it into small pieces, rolls it thin with a rolling pin, then puts it into a mold and presses it into shape. Flower-shaped dough pieces are freshly baked.

Lin Wan put the noodles in two large bowls, and after the water in the pot boiled, poured the noodles into the pot. When the noodles floated up, she took them out and put them into six bowls respectively.

"Xiao Ke, Xiao Jing, take these noodles to the main room. We'll add them to the chicken soup later."

Li Ke and Lin Jing responded and hurriedly picked up the bowls and walked towards the main room, with Xiaobai also jumping back and forth.

Li Chongle in the backyard heard it and shouted, "Sister-in-law, the chicken soup is ready. I've added salt."

"Okay, you bring the chicken soup to the table, and I'll cook two more dishes." Lin Wan said.

Then Lin Wan quickly cut the side dishes, heated the oil in a pan, and skillfully stir-fried the chicken pieces.

When Lin Wan brought the last bowl of vegetables to the table, Lin Jing had already invited Doctor Zhong over.

Seeing the six bowls of beautiful noodles on the table, Dr. Zhong asked, "Is this the new food you mentioned at noon?"

"Don't worry, there is still one last step."

Lin Wan opened the clay pot of chicken soup on the table and ladled the hot soup into everyone's bowl.

"Try it, freshly baked plum blossom soup cake."

The three kids had already sat down, staring at the delicious food in their bowls, waiting for Lin Wan to pick up her chopsticks first.

Xiaobai under the table was also whining and spinning around in anxiety.

Lin Wan quickly brought its portion to its exclusive dining table.

When she came back and saw that the three little ones hadn't started eating yet, she knew they were waiting for her, so she took a bite and said, "Eat quickly, it tastes good."

"Well, it's quite good. It has the fragrance of plum blossoms, and the chicken broth enhances the flavor. It's delicious and tasty." Doctor Zhong has already started eating.

The three little ones also quickly picked up their chopsticks and ate with a look of satisfaction.

"Sister-in-law, this plum blossom soup cake will look better if you use red and blue grass to color it."

"Well, Xiaoke is really smart. Let's try it next time."

It gets dark early at this time of year, so they light candles when eating.

After dinner, Lin Wan lit the candles in the kitchen. The two siblings helped to clean up and wash the dishes. Lin Wan prepared to start making plum wine.

Just now when she was eating, she had already steamed about two pounds of glutinous rice that had been soaked earlier in the steamer. Now she put the plum blossoms that Li Ke had washed earlier in a large bowl in the steamer and continued to steam them for one or two minutes.

After steaming, she poured the glutinous rice into a water- and oil-free ceramic basin, then poured in the steamed plum blossoms, stirred it thoroughly with chopsticks, then added two small bowls of boiled water and mixed it again.

He turned around and took out the koji that He Lizheng had given him from the cupboard, took out half a piece, put it in a bowl and crushed it into powder with a rolling pin.

After a quarter of an hour, sprinkle the koji evenly in the ceramic basin and stir it thoroughly again.

Then press it firmly, make a hole in the middle with a rolling pin, and sprinkle some remaining plum blossoms on the surface.

Finally, cover it with gauze and seal it with the ceramic pot lid.

"Sister-in-law, is this all right?" Li Ke came over when Lin Wan was sprinkling the wine yeast, and watched quietly from the side.

"Ferment it for two or three days, then add cold boiled water and ferment it for another day." Lin Wan explained.

In the next few days, Lin Wan received plum blossoms from the girls living in seclusion in the cave. She spent half a day every day making plum blossom hydrosol, and also made several bottles of plum blossom perfume through repeated distillation.

She even worried that all the early-blooming plum blossoms would be plucked by these girls.

Fortunately, after everyone took a bottle of plum blossom hydrosol, no more flowers were sent.

Lin Wan's plum blossom wine was fermented again after adding boiled water for the second time.

To use Li Ke's words to describe it, it has a floral scent and is a bit sweet, but it burns her mouth a little.

At that time, Li Ke looked at the light pink plum wine and thought it was beautiful and wanted to try it. Lin Wan let her take a small sip, considering that the alcohol content of the sweet wine was not high.

Lin Wan felt that compared with the sweet wine she had drunk at home before, it had a hint of plum blossom fragrance. She had sealed it with white wax, so it should be able to be stored for a long time.

In a blink of an eye, it was time to start the charcoal kiln.

The kiln was fired for three days and three nights, and then sealed for four days and four nights. The kiln should have been opened yesterday evening.

Considering that he had to take the charcoal home after opening the kiln, Li Chongwu decided to open the kiln after breakfast today.

Everyone also knew that the kiln would be opened today to check the results, so they decided that the main personnel responsible for firing the kiln would go together.

Everyone came to the kiln with anticipation. Lin Wan found the location of the kiln door, and Li Chongwu came up to help dig it open.

A wave of hot air blew in their faces, and everyone couldn't help but take a few steps back.

"Hold your breath, there is carbon ash." Lin Wan quickly covered her mouth and nose.

When the heat dissipated, everyone gathered around and saw the charcoal at the entrance of the kiln was neatly arranged and shiny black.

Uncle Li quickly squeezed to the front, picked up the outermost piece of charcoal and looked at it carefully.

"It really worked, Lin Wan, your method is really good. This charcoal feels like it belongs to the upper-middle quality."

Hearing Uncle Li's praise, Lin Wan responded with a smile: "It is thanks to my cousin Chongwu who has been watching over this kiln carefully that such good charcoal can be burned."

"Lin Wan's method of making charcoal in an earthen kiln is the best." Li Chongwu said with a silly smile.

"Don't be so modest to each other. With this method of burning charcoal, we don't have to worry about the cold winter." Aunt Li interrupted with a smile.

"Yeah, I feel that the weather this year is a little different from previous years. I don't know if it will be particularly cold." Li Changyi continued worriedly.

Uncle Li waved his hand and said, "Now that we have this method, we don't have to worry even if the weather is worse than in previous years."

"Yes, let's quickly help Lin Wan and Li Chongwu carry the charcoal back home, and then let them teach us how to make charcoal in the earthen kiln, and then we should quickly make some," someone suggested.

"All these have been moved to Lin Wan's house. I will work with you later to fire another kiln for my family." Li Chongwu said immediately.

"Brother Chongwu, how can this be so embarrassing? You've been busy these past few days."

Lin Wan was embarrassed to keep it all for herself, so she immediately rejected his proposal.

"Don't make excuses. This method was provided by you. This kind of skill is generally not passed on to outsiders, but you generously taught it to everyone. Normally, everyone should be paid for learning this method. We will take care of all your charcoal in the future." Li Changli said sincerely.

"Yes, we will help burn Chongwu's charcoal, so you can just take it without worry." Li Chonghai also agreed.

Seeing that everyone was so enthusiastic and sincere, Lin Wan stopped refusing and said, "Then I would like to thank you all."

Everyone helped to take the charcoal out of the cave. In addition to the charcoal, there was also a lot of charcoal ash that fell off when the charcoal was burned.

Lin Wan smiled and said, "We should also pack this charcoal ash and take it back. It is more durable than charcoal when used for making fire."

She used this charcoal ash to make fire at her grandmother's house. Charcoal ash was called "kiln ash" in her grandmother's house.