Traveling through the mountains and farming

When everyone was happily queuing up to get their meals and waiting to eat meat.

Another search team led by Luo Dashan is back.

Seeing this lively scene, they realized that Zheng Xiaohu had been found, and everyone was happily waiting to eat wild boar meat.

Lin Wan was helping the two siblings get their meals when she turned around and saw Luo Dashan and the others coming back, looking exhausted.

Only then did she realize that she had forgotten to ask someone to notify Uncle Dashan and the others to come back.

At this time, other people also saw them and reacted. Everyone's attention was attracted by the wild boar and they forgot about Luo Dashan and his men who were still outside looking for people.

Uncle Li hurried over and said sorry with a smile.

Luo Dashan wiped his sweat and said, "It's okay, as long as we can find Xiaohu safely."

Then, they were quickly seated, their meals were thoughtfully prepared, and chopsticks were attentively handed to them as an expression of apology.

From this meal on, they no longer had to find a place to squat and eat.

Because they had tables, four long tables.

This was made today by Old Man Wang and his two sons.

After everyone was seated, they began to feast.

Each table had stewed wild boar meat and two bowls of vegetarian dishes, and the fried pig offal could only be served in similar quantities to each table.

As for the dishes, you can only watch the random distribution of the lady, there are stir-fried pork liver, stir-fried kidney, wild onion pork belly shreds, etc.

This was truly more sumptuous than any other family in their village would eat during the New Year.

Before cooking, several ladies specifically sought advice from Lin Wan, and all these dishes were prepared under Lin Wan's guidance.

Seeing everyone enjoying the meal so much, the ladies felt a sense of satisfaction.

So much so that for a long time afterwards, whenever they harvested new ingredients, they would think of coming to Lin Wan first to discuss how to make them delicious.

However, Lin Wan felt that it was not that her cooking skills were too good, but that they had a lot of room for improvement.

After the meal, under the chairmanship of Uncle Li, the captains of each team summarized the progress of the task.

Lin Wan took the opportunity to make a suggestion: "I think we should send someone to find out the situation outside. In case there is any new situation, we can make some preparations in advance."

Because Zheng Xiaohu ran away today, she felt that she should give her child some reassurance, in case there was any trouble again someday.

And they really need to know what's happening outside so they can respond in a timely manner.

Finally, they decided to send people down the mountain every once in a while to gather information and purchase some daily necessities. They have discovered that many families’ salt reserves are insufficient.

After hearing this, many wives were thinking about asking people who were away from home to help inquire about the situation in their parents' home.

They received news of the forced conscription the day before yesterday, and the police raided the village yesterday.

At that time, we only had time to pass on the message and had no way to make comprehensive arrangements. We also didn't know whether my mother's family members were as lucky as them to escape.

After hearing the news, Zheng Xiaohu immediately found Uncle Li and wanted to know who would be sent out for the first gathering of information in seven days. He wanted someone to help him find out about his grandparents' current situation.

He finally felt relieved after getting the assurance from Uncle Li that he would ask someone who was out to help find out.

~

Seven days passed quickly in the busyness.

Today is the eighth day since Lin Wanlai began living in seclusion in the cave.

As usual, she woke up at dawn. Looking at the two siblings who were still sleeping, she got up quietly and went outside the cave to wash.

When I walked to the pond, I met Aunt Li and her friends who were washing rice for breakfast.

"Wan'er, after you have breakfast, you can pack up and move into the new house."

Lin Wan then realized that her house had been built yesterday, but she was busy with the final reclamation of the land on the cliff and did not move in time.

"Yes, we will help you move it." Aunt Luo said.

Now all their home construction tasks are left to build a few houses, and many women are free.

Lin Wan smiled and expressed her gratitude, then took the water and squatted beside to wash.

After she finished washing up, she returned to the cave and woke up the two siblings.

When the two siblings heard that they were going to move soon, they jumped up from the floor, looked forward to moving into their new home, and quickly ran to wash up.

After having breakfast together, they began to pack up and prepare to move.

Lin Wan was in charge of cleaning the new house. While cleaning, she praised Li Changyi for his skillful craftsmanship.

All the requirements she had raised before were met, and attention was also paid to the issues of lighting and ventilation.

A small courtyard behind the house is also equipped with tables and chairs, and a place for oil lamps or torches is carved out on the wall connecting to the backyard.

The kitchen stove had been built, and they also helped to install Lin Wan's iron pot, and even prepared some firewood.

After Lin Wan finished cleaning, the two siblings also packed up their things, and called on free aunties and grandmas to help carry the things over.

The only thing that has not been moved in is the food. I will wait for Li Changyi and the others to finish their work and then help move it in the evening.

Soon, the new home began to feel the breath of life.

The bedding was laid out on the bed, the tables and chairs were neatly placed, and the pots and pans in the kitchen were in their places.

After finishing all this, Lin Wan lay down on the recliner in the living room to relax.

She closed her eyes slightly, feeling the moment's relaxation.

The two siblings came over quietly, stood beside Lin Wan, and said softly:

"Sister-in-law, our new home is really nice. Except for not being able to use the toilet or take a shower, everything else is as good as our previous home."

Lin Wan opened her eyes and looked at them with a smile.

Now the two little ones can’t get used to other people’s toilets.

Li Ke took Lin Wan's hand, shook it, and said coquettishly:

"Sister-in-law, I want Sister Tao and the others to sleep at our house tonight, is that okay?"

"Yeah, I also want brothers Chongping and Chongan to come and sleep with me." Li Chongle also agreed.

Lin Wan agreed with a smile: "No problem, you can go and invite them later."

In fact, Lin Wan had originally planned to discuss with everyone later and let the children and pregnant woman Fang Yun come to sleep in the new home.

After getting the consent of their eldest sister-in-law, the two siblings smiled happily.

Li Chongle continued to ask: "Will we still have dinner together with everyone in the future?"

"After everyone's house is built, we will start cooking separately. But this afternoon, we will make some new food for everyone's dinner as a thank you gift for moving into our new home."

After hearing this, the two siblings clapped their hands happily: "That's great."

"Sister-in-law, what delicious food should we make?" Li Ke asked, blinking his big eyes.

Lin Wan thought for a moment and said, "How about we make some glutinous rice cakes and sweet pastries? And then some ice jelly."

"Okay, but what are glutinous rice dumplings?"

"A new food. I'll make the new food later, and you guys make the sweet pastry and ice jelly."

When she was packing up her things, she found that after grinding glutinous rice flour at her great-aunt's house, she had been busy picking fruits in the mountains, and then preparing to escape, and had forgotten about the glutinous rice flour.

"Then we have to build a bread kiln," Li Chongle suggested.

After saying that, the brother and sister took their tools and went outside to collect soil.

It just so happened that everything they needed to build a house was available there, and they didn't need much, so they just had to say hello to Li Changyi and the others.

After they finished making the bread oven, they went out for lunch and then started making snacks as a thank you gift in the evening in the afternoon.

The two siblings were responsible for making ice jelly and sweet pastry. They planned to make the ice jelly first, just enough time for it to solidify, and then start working together to make the sweet pastry.

Li Ke is not only a foodie, but also very talented in cooking. Once Lin Wan teaches her once, she can replicate it perfectly the second time.

So Lin Wan doesn’t have to worry about the two little ones not doing well.

She started making glutinous rice balls and prepared to use the sweet sauce (sea buckthorn sauce) as the filling.

Lin Wan first poured the glutinous rice flour into a large bowl, added appropriate amount of white sugar and warm water, stirred it into a paste with chopsticks, and then steamed it in boiling water for more than a quarter of an hour.

She had made this glutinous rice ball many times before in parent-child study classes, so she had a pretty accurate control over the ingredients.

Then, she divided the steamed glutinous rice flour into small even balls, took a small ball, flattened it with her hands, put a spoonful of sea buckthorn sauce in the middle, wrapped the filling like a dumpling, pinched the opening tightly, and rolled it into a ball shape.

Then, she sprinkled some glutinous rice flour on the chopping board and rolled the prepared glutinous rice balls on it.

Just like that, one after another, in a short while, the chopping board was filled with plump white glutinous rice balls.

After Lin Wan arranged all the glutinous rice balls on the wooden plate, she went to the backyard to see the progress of the two siblings.

At this time, they only had one plate left to bake.

Seeing that no one needed help, Lin Wan helped with the finishing work.

When Li Ke saw his sister-in-law coming over, he knew that the glutinous rice balls were ready and ran quickly to the kitchen.

When I saw several plates of plump white dumplings, I immediately picked one up and put it in my mouth.

"Wow, it's soft, sticky, sour and sweet, so delicious."

My sister-in-law’s cooking skills are always so good!

When Lin Wan saw the girl running to the kitchen, she knew that she was going to eat glutinous rice balls. She shook her head and smiled helplessly, and let Li Chongle try the new food. She would take out the last plate of sweet cakes later.

Although Li Chongle wanted to wait until the sweet pastry was ready before leaving, he had already heard his younger sister's exclamations of praise coming from the kitchen.

Unable to resist the temptation of delicious food, I listened to my sister-in-law and went in to eat glutinous rice balls.

Before dinner started, Lin Wan took the two siblings to pack the food and placed it on each table.

When everyone sat down at the table to eat, they found that there were three new foods today.

After asking, I found out that this was a small token of appreciation from Lin Wan and her family for moving into their new home.

Everyone who has eaten at Lin Wan's banquet knows that her dim sum is not only novel but also delicious. They immediately praise it to the people around them, and then everyone can't wait to taste it.

After that, there was laughter and joy at the table. Everyone chatted while eating and praised the delicious snacks.

Lin Wan saw that everyone was enjoying the meal, but she was worried about the people who were out. She didn't know whether Luo Dashan, Li Changli and the others had successfully reached the village to inquire about the news.