Traveling through the mountains and farming

After returning home, Lin Wan prepared to start cooking lunch.

In her original memory, people here only had two meals a day, and she was ready to change this eating habit.

Because at present, the three of them have shown various signs of malnutrition such as dull complexion, dry and yellow hair, and thin body due to not having enough food for a long time.

Moreover, the two children look thinner and shorter than other children of the same age, so they need to be supplemented quickly to avoid affecting their growth and development.

Lin Wan thought to herself that there was still staple food at home and wild vegetables could still be found, but the only thing she lacked was meat and vegetables to supplement her nutrition.

I still have to find an opportunity to go into the mountains and try to see if I can catch some pheasants, rabbits, etc.

"Sister-in-law, are we going to cook now?" Li Chongle asked in confusion when he saw Lin Wan coming into the house with a clay pot to get rice to cook.

"Well, we will have three meals a day from now on, breakfast, noon and dinner. Let's make lunch now." Lin Wan nodded in response, and without stopping what she was doing, she grabbed two handfuls of rice.

"We only have half a bag of rice. If we eat this way, we'll run out of food in a few days." Seeing how his sister-in-law grabbed handfuls of rice, Li Chongle was panicked and said quickly.

"Sister-in-law, I eat very little, so there's no need to put so much rice. Let's save it." Li Ke next to him also agreed with his brother and asked sister-in-law to put less rice.

Lin Wan handed the clay pot to Li Chongle and said with a smile, "Go wash the rice. I'll wash and cut the kudzu and shrimp. Today we're having a new meal, kudzu and shrimp porridge. And only if we're full will we have the energy to clean up the yard in the afternoon."

"Xiao Ke, can you be responsible for lighting the fire? Don't worry, sister-in-law can think of a way to get food." Lin Wan did not forget to comfort the younger one, turned to Li Ke and said with a smile.

Li Chongle obediently went to the mountain spring outside the house to wash rice. Today his sister-in-law gave him many surprises. He felt that what his sister-in-law said, that she could get food, was credible!

Lin Wan washed the kudzu, peeled it, cut it into pieces, put it into a clay pot, put it on the stove and cooked it together with the rice, and finally added dried shrimps to enhance the flavor.

Li Ke was diligently working as a fireman, squatting beside the stove and keeping an eye on the temperature. Li Chongle next to him was stirring with a newly made bamboo spoon, and both of them were staring at the pot of porridge intently.

When it was almost cooked, the aroma of rice mixed with the fragrance of kudzu vine wafted out and went straight into people's nostrils. After smelling it, the two little ones couldn't help swallowing their saliva, like two greedy cats staring at fish, wishing they could get them into their mouths as soon as possible.

They would look up from time to time, blinking their bright eyes and asking, "Sister-in-law, is it cooked? Can we eat it now?"

"Okay, that's enough."

Finally, he got what he wanted to hear. Li Chongle immediately stood up and trotted out, brought back three bowls, and quickly packed three bowls of porridge.

He politely served the first bowl to Lin Wan first, the second bowl to his sister, and finally his own bowl.

Since the table and chairs had just been ordered, Lin Wan and her family came up with an idea. They went outside to pick up stones and used discarded wooden boards from the house to build a simple table.

At this time, the three of them sat cross-legged on straw pads, drinking porridge around the simple table. Lin Wan held the bowl and drank, while the two little ones leaned over and lowered their heads to blow on the kudzu in the spoon, wanting to quickly taste the new food they had dug up today.

As soon as Li Ke took a small bite, he smiled with his eyes curved, and said, "Brother, kudzu is really delicious! It's sweet and powdery, and it tastes better than white rice porridge."

Li Chongle next to him carefully put the kudzu in the spoon into his mouth, closed his mouth and chewed gently, then his eyes lit up, a satisfied smile spread across his face, and he agreed: "Hmm, delicious, it tastes better than meat."

In fact, he had almost forgotten the taste of meat. It had been about a year. The last time he ate meat was when his eldest brother secretly took them to eat roasted pheasant.

Thinking of his elder brother, Li Chongle's mood suddenly became depressed. He wished his elder brother could come back to eat the kudzu powder they dug.

"Eat quickly, there's still food in the pot. Everyone should eat their fill." Lin Wan didn't know why Li Chongle suddenly became depressed, and urged them to eat more.

After hearing his sister-in-law tell them to "eat enough", Li Chongle came back to his senses and continued eating.

After finishing a clay pot of kudzu porridge, the two siblings burped, smiled at each other, and then rushed to wash the dishes, saying that they wanted to digest the food.

~

In the room, Lin Wan looked at the two little ones sleeping soundly on the bed, and couldn't help but think of their sensible appearance. She felt relieved but sad at the same time.

After washing the dishes, the two kids took the broom and said they wanted to clean the yard. Lin Wan advised them to take a nap, but they were unwilling to do so.

Finally, they heard Lin Wan say that she was tired but embarrassed to rest alone and wanted them to accompany her, and only then did they agree.

At this moment, Lin Wan, who was lying on the bed, was resting with her eyes closed, thinking about her current situation:

It’s good for a newlywed widow to not have a strange husband to get along with;

Separate the family and live alone, no need to serve the parents-in-law, no family troubles, very good;

Living in a thatched hut, with no furniture, no bed, no bedding, no bathroom…, you have to get money to improve it;

With only half a bag of grain, I had to buy grain, vegetables, meat, and seasonings, so I still had to make money;

Conclusion: Making money is the most important thing!!

Suddenly, Lin Wan straightened up and thought: "Is this era safe and stable?"

In her original memory, the farthest she had been was the market and she had never been to the county town. She had no idea about the environment of this world, so she didn’t know if there were any unknown risks, such as war?

When the family was divided up before, I heard that taxes had increased, causing every household to suffer from food shortages.

It seems that we need to find an opportunity to understand whether this social environment is stable.

~

After lunch, Lin Wan cut bamboo in the yard to make clothes poles.

She had already cut six bamboos for support on both sides and was now cutting the final long bamboo pole to be placed horizontally for hanging clothes.

"Sister-in-law, these flowers are for you." Li Ke ran over and said happily.

"Xiao Ke, where did you pick this flower?" Lin Wan took the flower, looked at it, and asked a little excitedly.

"It's just behind the house. I think this little flower is very beautiful and I want you to see it too." Li Ke said and pointed in the direction behind the house.

"Take my sister-in-law over quickly." Lin Wan said anxiously.

Li Ke led Lin Wan around the house and came to a cluster of small white flowers in the southeast corner of the backyard. There was a larger patch of flowers next to it.

After seeing this, Lin Wan bent down, reached out and pinched a small piece of leaf and put it into her mouth. She chewed it and it felt like eating a mouthful of fragrant white sugar. Her face immediately showed joy. She excitedly picked up Li Ke and then kissed her twice on both sides of her face.

"Xiao Ke, you've found a treasure. These are stevia." Lin Wan said happily, and then picked a few more leaves.

"Is this grass a treasure?" Li Ke asked puzzledly, covering her face with her hands. She was confused by her sister-in-law's laughing and kissing behavior.

"Let's go boil some hot water and we'll know soon." Lin Wan took the freshly picked stevia and led Li Ke to the kitchen.

Lin Wan was also very confused at this time. If she remembered correctly, stevia was an alien species.

In the modern world, because her father had high blood sugar and could not consume sucrose, she searched the Internet for alternative sugars.

Finally, we found stevia, which is three hundred times sweeter than sucrose and has only one three hundredth of the calories of sucrose. It is a pure, high-sweetness, low-calorie natural sweetener.

Finally she bought one and kept it at home, which allowed her to recognize it at a glance.

She didn't expect that this other world actually existed, and she discovered it in her backyard. Is this God's compensation to her?

Is God having a change of heart and wanting to add some sweetness to her miserable life?

"Xiao Ke, have you seen this grass in other places in the village?" Lin Wan and Li Ke asked while boiling water.

Li Ke thought for a moment and replied, "No, I haven't seen it before and I thought it was special, so I picked it for my sister-in-law."

It seems that stevia does not grow commonly in this world, so she has to hide it well. As far as she knows, sugar was extremely precious in ancient times and could be considered a top luxury item.

Seeing that the water was boiling, Lin Wan put a few leaves she had just picked into the earthenware jar, stirred them, waited for a few minutes, and then put the water into three wooden bowls.

Lin Wan tasted it first to confirm that it was the right flavor, then called the two children over to drink the sugar water.

"Sister-in-law, is the water boiled with this grass really drinkable?" Li Chongle, who was called in, looked confused and asked doubtfully while holding the bowl.

Lin Wan nodded to indicate that she could drink it.

Li Ke next to him took a sip and immediately exclaimed, "Sweet, little brother, this is very sweet."

He then asked, "Sister-in-law, how did you know that the water boiled from this grass is drinkable and sweet?"

"I saw it in a book before." Lin Wan answered, hiding her emotions.

"Did you see the word kudzu from a book? I must study hard in the future, so that I can know about many delicious foods." Li Chongle did not notice Lin Wan's unnaturalness, and secretly resolved in his heart that he must study hard in the future.

After Lin Wan said that she had read all this in a book, she was about to share the remaining syrup between the two little ones. At this time, Li Chongle asked tentatively:

"Sister-in-law, can we give this syrup and kudzu to my great-aunt and her family? And Grandma Luo."

He still remembered the porridge he had at his great-aunt's house in the morning, and the life-saving grace that Grandma Luo had given to his eldest sister-in-law.

Lin Wan smiled and replied, "Of course, we can make kudzu syrup and give it to them, but we have to keep it a secret about where the syrup and kudzu come from, because the syrup is too expensive. If others know about it, it will bring disaster. In addition, kudzu syrup is our reserve food, so we have to keep it secret."

The two siblings quickly nodded and promised to keep the secret, and suggested that they would prepare the kudzu nut syrup themselves.

Lin Wan smiled and replied, "Come, I'll teach you how to make kudzu syrup. Then you can cook it in the kitchen, and I'll make a few large bamboo tubes. When you're done, let them cool before putting them in."

After Lin Wan gave instructions to the two siblings, she turned around and went out to continue chopping bamboo.

She planned to cut the bamboo needed to collect spring water according to the desired size today, and then build it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

She wanted to make the best use of everything and finish as much of the work or improvement that would require the machete as possible today.