Traveling through the mountains and farming

At the beginning of the afternoon (around 3 p.m.), the invited guests began to arrive at Lin Wan's house one after another.

As soon as they stepped into the yard, they were attracted by the aroma wafting from the kitchen.

Then, he was pulled by the children in the yard to explain all the dishes one by one in vivid detail.

The children were talking at once, and the scene was truly lively and full of joy.

"You only mentioned seven dishes, what about the last one?"

"The last dish is beggar's chicken, which is made by wrapping the marinated chicken in mud and then roasting it in an earthen kiln. It tastes fresh and juicy, and melts in your mouth. It is really unforgettable."

As Li Chongle spoke, he was savoring the wonderful taste of beggar's chicken when he first tasted it.

At this time, Lin Wan had already taken out two roasted beggar chickens from the bread oven and was carrying them to the front yard on a wooden tray.

She placed the wooden tray on the table, then picked up the wooden stick she had prepared and knocked off the dirt covering the outside.

Suddenly, an extremely rich fragrance spread instantly.

Everyone was immediately attracted by the aroma and turned around to watch, wanting to know what kind of dish could be so fragrant.

When Li Ke smelled the fragrance, he immediately realized, "Wow, it's Beggar's Chicken. This is Beggar's Chicken. My brother was right, wasn't he? Isn't it fragrant?"

Under the knocked-open soil, the lotus leaves wrapped in the beggar's chicken were revealed. The lotus leaves had been roasted to a slightly yellow color.

Lin Wan carefully uncovered the lotus leaves, and two golden, shiny beggar chickens appeared before everyone. The aroma of the chicken mixed with the fragrance of the lotus leaves was mouth-watering.

The children's eyes were wide open and their mouths were slightly open, as if they were captivated by this delicacy.

Li Chongping, who was squatting at the front, couldn't help but shout, "Wow, this smells so good! What Xiaole said is right."

Others nodded in agreement.

Lin Wan smiled and placed the beggar's chicken in a large bowl. She then cut the chicken into small pieces with a knife and placed them on the table. She turned around to return the knife to the kitchen when she saw a group of drooling children following her.

So she asked everyone to come to the table and prepare to eat.

When the children heard that dinner was about to start, they hurriedly pulled their parents over to sit down.

They are all so smart!

When they saw that this was a super big table made up of two tables, they all agreed that they would sit next to their parents so that it would be convenient for the adults to help them get the food.

Everyone looked at the sumptuous meal in front of them and sighed inwardly that this was the best feast they had ever seen in the village. They really had to admire Lin Wan's intelligence and ability.

After Lin Wan came to the table and gave a speech of thanks, everyone started to eat.

Uncle Li picked up a piece of braised pork in front of him and put it into his mouth, smacking his lips with satisfaction: "Well, this meat is really soft and tasty, fat but not greasy!"

He thought the braised pork made by Lin Wan was the best, but this time it seemed to have more fragrance and tasted better. He always missed the braised pork she sent him several times when he was renovating the house.

Li Changyi, who was standing next to him, also picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs with his chopsticks and nodded as he ate: "This sweet and sour pork ribs is really sweet and sour, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, so delicious!"

Seeing their elders already eating and enjoying the food with gusto, the children couldn't wait to start eating too.

Li Chongping quickly picked up a piece of beggar's chicken and said happily, "Wow, this chicken smells so good! It's just as Brother Xiaole said."

It turned out that he had just heard Brother Xiaole's introduction to the Beggar's Chicken, and when he saw his cousin's wife serving the fragrant Beggar's Chicken, he immediately decided to eat this Beggar's Chicken first. After tasting it, it was really delicious.

Li Tao, who was standing next to her, thought all the dishes were delicious. Even the cabbage, which she usually didn’t like, was fried by her cousin’s wife to make it sweet and sour.

What the children liked most was the cake and milk tea that Lin Wan brought over.

These were new desserts and unique drinks that they had never seen before, and the taste was so delicious that it was hard to describe in words.

They felt that today was extremely happy, and this happiness even made them happier and more joyful than the Chinese New Year.

Everyone was eating and chatting, and the atmosphere was warm and cheerful.

Someone talked about some interesting things that happened in the village recently, which made everyone laugh.

Some people shared their life experiences and everyone listened attentively.

Finally, we talked about the upcoming autumn harvest. Uncle Li said that everyone would not go to the county town to sell ice jelly during the week of autumn harvest.

When Lin Wan heard about the autumn harvest, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Granduncle, do we have to pay the autumn tax right after the autumn harvest?"

"Yes, usually in early September, when the government will send officials to the village to collect the tax." Uncle Li responded.

Lin Wan asked thoughtfully, "After paying taxes, is there usually a lot of grain left?"

"In fact, the land in our county is relatively fertile. In the past, we could have enough to eat after paying taxes. But in recent years, taxes have become heavier every year, and we can barely make ends meet. I don't know if the autumn taxes will increase this time." Uncle Li sighed and said helplessly.

Lin Wan frowned and said, "Granduncle, I heard something important in the county. The county has started to limit the purchase of grain. It is said that the supply of grain has become very tight. So I think you must not sell the grain after the autumn harvest this time. Instead, you should find a way to buy some grain and store it in case of emergency."

When Uncle Li heard this, he said nonchalantly, "I heard Wang come back and tell me about this yesterday. The autumn harvest is coming soon. We thought that when the grain in the fields is harvested, we will have food at home, so we are not considering buying grain for the time being."

Lin Wan said anxiously, "Granduncle, you can't think like that. Although you will have new grain after the autumn harvest, what if the grain purchase restrictions become more and more serious? What if your new grain is not enough by then? And if you don't buy it now, you may not be able to buy it in the future."

The others also looked worried and started talking.

Afterwards, Li Chonghai said: "What Lin Wan said makes sense. We can't just look at this point."

Li Changli echoed, "Yes, if we really run out of food, that would be terrible."

Uncle Li frowned and thought for a while, then slowly said, "In that case, we still have to sell the ice jelly, and at the same time buy some food every day. If the autumn harvest is good, we won't sell it, but store it."

Lin Wan added, “Yes, don’t sell your grain just because the price is high. Maybe this grain will be your life-saving food in the future.”

The Luo and Wang families also said that they would go for the public inspection tomorrow and would go to the county town to buy grain every day recently.

They had lunch early this afternoon, and when they finished eating and were about to leave, it was the time when everyone in the village finished their farm work and went home.

After everyone else left, Lin Wan kept Uncle Li and the others and asked, "Granduncle, how is the cloth dyeing going?"

She was anxious to learn about the progress of dyeing the cloth so that she could remind them to cash in as soon as possible and use the money to buy food.

Uncle Li looked at Li Changli, and Li Changli said quickly:

"Li Chongzheng and I took the dyed cloth samples and talked to several cloth shops in the county and cloth merchants who had come to the village to buy cloth before. After evaluation, we chose to cooperate with a cloth shop in the county. We have signed a long-term supply contract and the supply price is 200 wen per piece."

When Lin Wan heard this, she felt that the progress was not bad, and she breathed a sigh of relief and continued:

"That's great. I suggest you dye your own linen first and sell it. Then, buy the original linen from other families in the village, dye it and sell it. Don't buy too much at one time. You need to set aside some money to buy food. Do it in batches every two days."

Uncle Li nodded in agreement and said, "Lin Wan is right. The cloth at home has almost been dyed in the past few days. Changli, then we should quickly arrange to purchase the original color linen cloth in the village."

Li Changli replied, "Don't worry, Dad. I will go talk to the people in the village who have cloth tomorrow and hurry up to collect and dye the cloth. Even though it's almost autumn harvest time now, I don't think we will have enough manpower."

Uncle Li went on to say, "The autumn harvest is the most important. Regarding the dyeing of cloth, let's see if we can cooperate with a few other families. We will be responsible for preparing the dyeing liquid, and let them help with the dyeing, and we can negotiate the profit sharing."

"I understand. I'll discuss it with them when I get back."

At this time, Lin Wan didn't know that a farce was about to happen in her house.