A Farm Girl Traveling Through Time: Raising a Stunning Husband

For fear of wasting time, Shen Wu started working non-stop as soon as he got home.

First, cut all the tofu into cubes, mix a small part of it with shepherd's purse, and fry the rest with lard.

Until the white and tender tofu is slightly burnt, add the double pepper powder and the scallion rings cut by Gu Zhou. Salt is also indispensable. In order to have the flavor of soy sauce, Shen Wu also adds a lot of light soy sauce.

"How about you try it?" Shen Wu put the mixed tofu filling into a large bowl. There was some left in the pot because he cut a lot. But there was no rush. He could wrap some more and put it into the bowl later.

"It has the spicy aroma of pepper powder, and... wow, it's delicious." It was the first time for Gu Zhou to try buns with this flavor. He thought it tasted good just by eating the filling, and it felt novel.

He had unknowingly eaten up all the stuffing she had scooped out, because it contained powdered Sichuan and Sichuan peppercorns, paired with the soft and fragrant tofu, and he was still not satisfied.

"Let me try it." Shen Wu picked up one with chopsticks, pinched it with his hands and put it into his mouth: "Why do I feel it's a bit salty?"

"No?" Gu Zhou recalled the taste and didn't think it was salty.

Shen Wu immediately found the reason. The filling would definitely be too salty if eaten alone, but it would be just right after it was wrapped.

In fact, there is another reason, which is that she has always liked to eat light food and will not cook it too salty.

“Now let’s open the package.”

The two of them started wrapping shepherd's purse and tofu at a very fast speed, because the stuffing was ready at the beginning, and it would be difficult to make it if they didn't wrap it first and waited later.

The amount of shepherd's purse and tofu filling is only enough for two pots, it depends on the tofu filling.

First, take out the tofu filling from the pot and use it to steam the buns. Shen Wu took out half of the hot water from the other stove and started steaming in two pots at the same time, putting all the firewood in them and turning the heat to high. Since the filling is vegetarian, it can be steamed in about fifteen minutes.

Gu Zhou took some more dough from the basin and rolled it into pancakes. After Shen Wu steamed the buns, he hurried back to start wrapping the tofu filling.

It couldn’t be easier to wrap the tofu filling. Put a piece of pancake on the palm of your hand, press three or four spoons of tofu filling in the middle, and then pinch the edges for a few seconds to make a bun.

Making dumplings is a skilled job. The two of them quickly wrapped all the tofu dumplings and placed them in all possible places.

Shen Wu went to get the steamed buns out of the pot, and Gu Zhou went to the main room to get some rice and grind it. He needed to save some rice porridge for his younger brothers and sisters to drink in the morning.

Gu Zhou came back when the first pot of tofu buns were steaming in the pot. He had learned Shen Wu's cooking habits over the past few days. He would wash the rice first and then grind it. This way, the rice grains would not jump out and the rice would be clean.

In fact, Shen Wu sometimes forgets to wash the rice, but she will definitely wash it. It’s just that sometimes she doesn’t know whether she washes it before or after grinding it.

"Take a break. This is the second pot. They're all tofu buns. I estimate we'll need three pots. It will be enough to cook a meal for the two kids later."

This was the first time that Shen Wu felt more and more tired after traveling for such a long time. She sat down on the firewood beside her and gasped for breath. Seeing this, Gu Zhou quickly put down the mortar and poured her a bowl of water.

"Thank...thank you." Shen Wu finished drinking it in one breath and felt a little better. Anyway, he would have to wait for the buns to be cooked, so he sat on the ground and watched the flames dancing in the stove.

"You take a break and I'll watch over you." Gu Zhou had almost finished grinding the rice and wanted to take over for her.

Shen Wu waved his hand without looking back, changed his posture, and sat cross-legged: "We should sell our tofu buns at the same price as shepherd's purse. We are not afraid if no one buys them. Just try them before you buy. The taste is definitely good, but we are afraid that we can't sell them."

In fact, there is no need for her to be afraid of this. There are people coming and going in the morning market, and most of those who come to her are manual laborers. Her buns are only six cents each, and the pancakes on the street are about the same price.

She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to sell all of them, and people were even more afraid that they wouldn't be able to buy them. The buns were bigger than an adult's hand, and they were full of stuffing. They felt heavy in the hand, and anyone who bought them would feel that they were getting a bargain.

"I think it will sell well." Gu Zhou recalled the taste of the stuffing he had eaten. Based on his experience of living in the town for so many years, he knew it would definitely be popular.

"Thanks for your good wishes." Shen Wu smiled. Although he was a little worried, he was more worried about other things.

There is always endless work to do every day. Winter is almost here and she still has to make the bedding. She is also thinking about building a toilet.

Thinking of this, she patted the wooden stool beside her and motioned Gu Zhou to sit over. Anyway, all the buns had been wrapped, and now all they had to do was wait for them to be cooked and then steamed. There would be no problem in chatting.

"Have you ever seen a kiln?"

When she said this, Gu Zhou, who was sitting on the stool, trembled in fear. What was she going to do?

"What...what are you going to do?" This might be comparable to the shock she felt when she confessed herself.

"Ah? Why are you reacting so strongly?" Shen Wu was a little confused, but still told him the plan: "I want to build a toilet before winter comes. It will be fine with stone slabs, but if there are no stone slabs, I can only burn pottery slabs. What do you think?"

"So...so that's how it is." Gu Zhou felt much relieved after hearing her explanation.

But I was a little worried when I thought that there was only one private kiln in the town. That kiln made pottery jars and the like, and the price was not cheap. It was not certain whether they would take small jobs. They usually supplied large quantities to shops.

"But it doesn't necessarily have to be burned. It mainly depends on whether there are durable stone slabs or something like that. If you want to build a toilet nowadays, you can only build a dry toilet, and you have to get some stone mortar or something like that, and dig a big pit to store the feces."

She became more and more excited as she spoke, and continued to Gu Zhou with a bright look: "Originally I wanted to make yellow mud bricks, but I didn't find any yellow mud here. Where would we get the mud to build a house? We don't have enough straw at home, so I thought... I might as well use bamboo."

After listening to her, Gu Zhou roughly understood what she meant. There were also dry toilets in the village, but the smell was not very good in the summer. In fact, their home also had one, but it collapsed and then other accidents happened, so they never repaired it. Now they go to the ditch behind the yard and carry a hoe with them at all times to dig a hole to solve the problem.

"What do you need me to do?" Gu Zhou had wanted to dig for a long time, but he had not been able to do it because of too many things to do.

"Do you believe me?" Shen Wu asked him.

"I believe it." Gu Zhou's eyes were particularly firm.

"OK, well, I'll give you a rough description of what it's like and what I can do."

Shen Wu picked up a stick and drew a picture on the ground: "I want to build the toilet at the foot of the wall on the left side of the entrance. We can use the corner to build two fewer walls, and then dig a rectangle that slopes upwards and lay stone slabs or pottery pieces inside."

She paused and said, "Actually, if I have yellow mud, I can make a thick flat plate that can be used after drying."

"As for the pit for storing manure, dig it a foot away from the wall. This way it is easy to collect manure and it will not be a hindrance at home."