The end of natural disasters: the daily life of child brides in ancient times

Grandma Qin was responsible for removing the loose threads on the quilt, while Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang were responsible for picking out impurities such as hair, dandruff, and rags from the old cotton.

Picking out hair and dandruff requires good eyesight. Grandma Qin started to have blurred vision a few years ago and can't see small things clearly.

Seeing the two children picking out the impurities, they began to unravel the threads of another quilt.

After a while, Qin Lang became restless, getting up to drink some water and then going to the toilet.

Lu Qingqing found it funny.

"Brother Qin Lang, do you want to compete with me? Let's each have a piece of old cotton and see who can pick it clean first."

When Qin Lang heard this, his back straightened up immediately.

"Daya, I'm definitely faster than you. Grandma said I'm an adult."

"Then let's have a competition. Whoever finishes picking the candies first gets a piece of candy."

After Lu Qingqing finished speaking, she looked at Grandma Qin. Grandma Qin looked at the two of them playing with a smile and nodded in agreement.

When Qin Lang heard that he could get candy if he won, he said no more and sat on a small stool to pick the candies quickly.

Qin Lang worked very carefully, picking out the cotton bit by bit. If he found a short thread in the cotton, he would turn the cotton over and pick it out carefully.

Lu Qingqing occasionally looked up and saw that Qin Lang was working seriously, so she continued with the work in her hands.

Near noon, Lu Qingqing finished her work. Seeing that Qin Lang was still short of a small piece, she deliberately left a hair on the cotton and got up to go to the bathroom.

When he came back, he saw Qin Lang standing up and happily showing off to Grandma Qin that he had finished it first.

There is a long hair on Daya’s cotton!

When Qin Lang got the candy, he insisted that Lu Qingqing take a bite first. After watching her take a bite, he took small bites of the rest of the candy.

At noon, Lu Qingqing took out the pickled radish and sour beans made by Grandma Qin from the cellar, and fried some edamame.

The three of them finished the hot whole-grain pancakes with crispy and refreshing pickles with great satisfaction.

After a break, the picked cotton needs to be fluffed up in the afternoon.

To fluff cotton here, you need a tool that looks like a cow tendon string for a large wooden bow.

By beating vigorously, the old cotton gradually becomes loose.

Lu Qingqing feels that this process is similar to a modern opening machine, but more primitive and manual.

Lu Qingqing and Grandma Qin were both exhausted and had to rest after working for a while.

Seeing this, Grandma Qin called out to Qin Lang, who was still picking cotton.

"Xiao Lang, this job of fluffing cotton requires a manly man. Daya and I don't have enough strength. Come and help us."

Qin Lang ran over to help when he heard this. He used the tendon string to hit the cotton vigorously, and soon the cotton became fluffy.

Lu Qingqing had noticed Qin Lang's great strength before and had asked Grandma Qin about it.

Grandma Qin said that the male members of the Qin family, starting from the generation of her great-grandfather, were very strong.

As a result, Grandpa Qin was noticed by the master of the local escort agency and learned martial arts from him.

After Qin Lang fluffed the old cotton, Lu Qingqing further sorted out the cotton wool.

Use a long stick to hit it to make it more uniform and fluffy. At this time, the old cotton is almost combed.

Lu Qingqing and Grandma Qin laid the combed cotton into a mesh structure according to the required size and shape, and then used thin ropes to fix the cotton in a criss-cross pattern.

After fixing the shape, it was exposed to the sun for a day.

The cotton after sun-drying carries the residual warmth of the sun and smells dry and fresh.

After taking apart and stuffing all the old quilts in the house, Grandma Qin and Lu Qingqing began to fill them with new cotton.

The previous quilt at home was made quite thick, and it was filled with new cotton after renovation this time.

Lu Qingqing tried it and found that the thick quilt was a bit oppressive. By the time all three beds were ready, the weather was getting colder.

Grandma Qin lived in the south when she was young. Although the winter in the south is wetter and colder, the temperature is still higher than that in the north.

Even though I've lived here for many years, I'm still very afraid of the cold.

The temperature started to drop early this year, and all three members of the family put on cotton clothes that morning.

The temperature dropped sharply. Lu Qingqing looked around and saw that the water jars in the yard were frozen. The temperature had already dropped below zero.

The cabbages in the field were almost grown, so he didn't delay any longer and went to the field with Qin Lang to harvest the cabbages.

In the field, the outermost leaves of the cabbage were a little frozen, but the inner leaves were still green.

Without further delay, Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang took sickles to cut off the roots of the cabbages and piled them up.

After a busy day, I finally brought home all the cabbages from the field.

I kept some for pickling sauerkraut, and the rest were neatly stacked and stored in the cellar.

The cellar is now full of grain and cabbage, and on the corner shelf are some pickled vegetables, bacon and other foods made by Grandma Qin herself.

Looking at the full cellar, Lu Qingqing couldn't help but think of stocking up on food so she can survive the winter.

Today we started cooking at the stove in the house. The stove is connected to the kang in the bedroom, so the kang is warm after cooking in the evening.

At night, the cold wind was blowing outside. The three of them set up the table next to the stove. For dinner, they had cabbage, bacon, stewed rice noodles, and white flour pancakes stuck to the edge of the pot.

The aroma of white flour pancakes, the glutinous rice noodles, the unique fragrance of bacon mixed with the taste of fresh cabbage made the three of them very satisfied after eating.

After eating, Lu Qingqing felt warm all over.

When he returned to the room, he remembered that the stove was connected to the kang in his room and Grandma Qin's room, and the room where Qin Lang slept now did not have a kang.

As soon as I opened the door, I saw the grandparents and grandchildren standing at the door of Grandma Qin's house.

Qin Lang held his bedding, looking unhappy, and refused to go into Grandma Qin's room, shouting that he wanted to share a room with Daya.

Grandma Qin coaxed Qin Lang in a low voice, and then saw Qin Lang pouting as he walked into Grandma Qin's room.

Grandma Qin looked up and saw Lu Qingqing there, and gently asked her to go back and rest.

The next morning, after Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang finished their exercise, they saw that Grandma Qin had already prepared breakfast.

After the three of them finished eating, they started to divide the work and get busy. Today they were going to pickle sauerkraut that would last them the whole winter.

Grandma Qin was processing the cabbage. She picked off the old leaves on the outside of the cabbage, cut off the roots, and picked out the rotten cabbage.

Lu Qingqing called out to Qin Lang,

"Brother Qin Lang, do you want to help me clean the big urn in the cellar?"

Qin Lang nodded happily. Grandma Qin often needed his help with housework before.

The two of them went to the cellar together to clean the large jars for pickling sauerkraut.

There are three large jars in the house. Thinking that we will plant a lot of cabbages this year, we plan to use all three jars.

The temperature was too low now, so Lu Qingqing walked quickly to the cellar with the boiled water. Qin Lang was already waiting at the entrance of the cellar with the things in hand.

"Daya, please go slowly. It's a bit steep here. Let me bring you some water."

Lu Qingqing thought the water was a little hot, so she didn't give it to him and just asked him to help open the cellar lid.

When Lu Qingqing went down, she found that the temperature inside the cellar was obviously much warmer than outside. After going down, the air did not circulate and she felt a little stuffy.

A gap was left in the cellar lid for ventilation.

The large jar had been cleaned after use, so it was simply scrubbed. After drying it, Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang went up to find Grandma Qin.

Part of the cabbage had been picked, and Lu Qingqing took a knife and cut the cabbage into four pieces.

After cutting, the two people carried the cabbage down, first spread a layer of coarse salt on the bottom of the big pot, and then began to put the cabbage in.

Qin Lang worked carefully, placing the cabbages layer by layer. He sprinkled a layer of salt on each layer and pressed it down with his hands to allow the salt to fully penetrate into the leaves.

Finally, when the jar is full of cabbage, place a large stone on the top to ensure that the leaves do not float up during the pickling process.

Take out the thick cloth used in previous years, seal the mouth of the jar, and then tie it tightly with a rope to prevent air leakage.

After finishing their work, the two clapped their hands. Next, they patiently waited for the fermentation process. The cabbage in the jar would slowly ferment and transform into sour and delicious sauerkraut.

The three of them worked until the evening before they finished processing all the cabbages.