After my stepmother was shot, I took my brothers to the countryside

Aunt Li quickly thought about it in her mind. She thought about going back to find her sister-in-law Aunt Li, and they would go to the mountains to collect firewood together. It would be safer to have someone to accompany her.

Aunt Li hurried home, but without entering her own house, she went directly to the next door to find Aunt Li.

As soon as I entered the yard, I saw Aunt Li drying vegetables in the yard. Aunt Li walked over and asked with a smile.

"Second sister-in-law, are you turning over the vegetables?"

Aunt Li looked up and saw Aunt Li, and nodded: "Well, sister-in-law, you're back. I didn't realize there's still sunshine these days, so I thought I'd quickly dry some more vegetables to eat in the winter."

Aunt Li nodded. "Yes, it would be a good idea to dry some vegetables now to eat in the winter. Second sister-in-law, guess who I saw by the river today?"

When Aunt Li heard this, she looked at Aunt Li curiously: "Who is it?"

Aunt Li looked mysterious. "I saw Shen Zhiqing coming back with firewood on her back. She must have gone to the mountains to collect firewood."

"Shen Zhiqing went up the mountain to collect firewood? How is that possible? Where is there any firewood on the mountain now?" Aunt Li looked surprised.

Aunt Li smiled mysteriously and said, "Hey, don't disbelieve me. She told me today that there's plenty of firewood on the mountain and you can pick it up everywhere."

Aunt Li now understood that Aunt Li was talking about the deep mountains. "This educated young woman Shen is really brave. One moment she's hunting wild boars! The next moment she's catching thieves! And now she's even going to the mountains to collect firewood. Isn't she afraid that the wild animals in the mountains will eat her?"

Aunt Li couldn't help but speak when she recalled the commotion Shen Zhiqing had caused in the village before, which was always earth-shattering.

"This Shen Zhiqing is such a troublemaker. He never gives me peace of mind all day long. He's always making trouble."

Aunt Li didn't think that Shen Zhiqing was a troublemaker. He didn't ask her to clean up the mess when he caused it. She just thought that Shen Zhiqing was really lucky.

"Sister-in-law, how come Shen Zhiqing, a city educated youth, has such good luck? Not only did she catch a wild boar last time, but I also saw her catch fish in our brigade's river a while ago."

Aunt Li said with some envy, then her eyes lit up and she looked at Aunt Li and told her the purpose of her visit.

"Second sister-in-law, how about we go to the mountains tomorrow? If we can pick up some firewood, we can keep the kang warm in the winter and we don't have to save it."

Aunt Li was a little hesitant. She was worried that there might be danger in the mountains and the wild beasts there were very ferocious.

"Sister-in-law, aren't there wild animals in that mountain? Didn't Erqiang and his friends encounter a black bear in that mountain last time?"

Aunt Li was stunned for a moment. She was now overwhelmed by Shen Nian's gains and curled her lips in disdain.

"What are you afraid of? Shen Zhiqing, a woman from outside the family, can collect firewood in these mountains. How can we be worse than her?"

"Besides, our luck may not be that bad. We just happened to encounter the beast!" Aunt Li continued to persuade.

Aunt Li was also moved by what Aunt Li said, but she was still a little hesitant. She valued her life and was afraid of encountering wild beasts.

"Sister-in-law, why don't we find some more people to go with us?"

"No, sister-in-law! It's enough for just the two of us to go. It will be more troublesome if there are too many people." Aunt Li said quickly.

"What if we encounter a wild beast?" Aunt Li was still a little worried.

"That's why it's less likely to attract wild animals when there are fewer people! We just need to be careful. Besides, we still have hatchets, right?" Aunt Li comforted.

After hearing this, Aunt Li also felt that there was some truth to it. If there were too many people collecting firewood, it would not be their turn. Even if the two of them went, no one would share the firewood with them. Thinking of this, Aunt Li did not say anything more.

"So when are we going tomorrow?"

"Let's go in the morning. The sun isn't that strong yet. If we go early, we might be able to pick up a lot of firewood. If we're lucky, we might even catch a rabbit or a pheasant." Aunt Li said excitedly.

When Aunt Li heard about pheasants and rabbits, her look changed and she nodded quickly to Aunt Li.

"Okay, sister-in-law, let's go tomorrow morning."

After discussing with Aunt Li, Aunt Li's heart was as happy as a little bird, and she went home happily to cook dinner.

Shen Nian returned home, put the firewood in place, and prepared to enter the space to see how the smoked bacon he had smoked with firewood in the space yesterday was doing.

As soon as he entered the space, a strong smoky aroma hit his nose. This aroma was more tempting than bacon. Shen Nian followed the aroma and came to the place where the bacon was smoked yesterday.

The scene before her made her very satisfied. She had hung the bacon on a drying rack in a corner of the pasture, with a firewood fire still burning underneath.

After a night of smoking, the meat has completely changed color. The originally fresh pork has now turned dark brown and exudes an enticing aroma.

Shen Nian couldn't help but smile. She walked closer to the meat, gently cut off a small piece of bacon, put it in her mouth and chewed it slowly.

The meat was tender, smoky, salty, and delicious...all the flavors blended together perfectly. It was a familiar taste to her, and the taste of bacon she had missed for a long time.

Shen Nian nodded with satisfaction. Her craftsmanship was indeed still as good as before, which made her feel very gratified.

She took a piece of bacon off and took it back to the kitchen, deciding to cook it tonight.

First, she cleaned the bacon and cut it into thin slices; then she cut some garlic sprouts and dried chilies for later use.

Shen Nian beat a few more eggs, preparing to scramble eggs with green onions and make some cabbage soup.

Soon, a dish and a soup were neatly placed on the stove. One was scrambled eggs with green onions, and the other was a bowl of cabbage soup.

Shen Nian started frying bacon. At the same time, Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle came back from the cowshed. As soon as they entered the yard, they smelled the aroma of bacon.

"Wow! It smells so good! Sister, what delicious food did you make today?" Shen Nianle excitedly rushed into the kitchen and asked Shen Nian.

Shen Nian smiled and replied, "Today I made you some stir-fried bacon with garlic sprouts."

Shen Nian'an and Shen Nianle's eyes lit up when they heard this. Although they didn't know what bacon was, they knew that his sister's cooking must be delicious.

"Wow! That's great! I'll take the dishes to the main room." Shen Nianle said as he was about to serve the dishes.

"Xiao Le, don't be anxious. My dishes are not ready yet. Let's go wash our hands first." Shen Nian'an held his brother and turned to fetch a basin of water from the yard.

Shen Nianle chuckled and put his hands into the basin, rubbing them back and forth, then wiped them on his clothes.

Soon Shen Nian cooked the two dishes and a soup, which looked very sumptuous.

Shen Nianle couldn't wait to bring the dishes to the main room, and he and Shen Nian'an were already sitting at the table waiting for Shen Nian to come in and start eating.

Both of them had happy smiles on their faces and kept moving closer to the food, wanting to absorb more of the aroma of the bacon.

Shen Nianle saw Shen Nian'an swallow his saliva and chuckled, "Brother, does this smell super good? I can't wait to eat it!"

"Hmm! It smells really good." Shen Nian'an nodded.

Soon Shen Nian came in and sat at the dining table. Seeing the two brothers staring at her, she smiled helplessly and put a piece of egg in her mouth.

"Alright! Let's get started."

She didn't know when the two of them started to set this rule for themselves: if she didn't start eating, neither of them would start eating either.

Seeing that his sister had already started eating, Shen Nianle picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of bacon, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Wow! This bacon is so delicious! Sister, how did you make it? It's so delicious!" Shen Nianle praised it endlessly.

Shen Nian'an also picked up a piece of bacon and ate it slowly, then nodded: "Well, this bacon really tastes delicious."

Shen Nian watched them eat with gusto, a smile on his face, and explained to the two of them.

"I bought the meat in town. I've been going to the mountains a lot these days to smoke bacon. This bacon is smoked with firewood from the mountains."

"Sister, can we make more bacon and put it in the cellar that Uncle Gu and his men just dug? Then we can eat it in winter!" Shen Nianle looked at Shen Nian with anticipation.

This was what Shen Nian had originally planned, and she nodded.

"Yes, that's what I planned. I'll go to town in a couple of days to buy more meat! I'll make more."

Shen Nian and her two siblings were planning how to store food for the winter, while there was a lot of cursing going on in the Youth League Institute.