Sisters in the Deep Forest Valley: Many Fun Things

As the weather grew colder, sisters Lin Chunyi and Lin Lanshan took thick quilts from the closet and spread them on the bed.

She changed her clothes into a warm cotton-padded jacket.

They stopped going out and planned to prepare more cooked food and store it in their room before the heavy snow arrived.

By the end of December, light snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

On the first day of snowfall, Lin Chunyi unusually stayed in bed. This was because Lin Lanshan woke up, got out of bed, and opened a window.

The biting wind, carrying snowflakes, crept into the bedroom and landed on Lin Chunyi's head, which was sticking out from under the covers.

So, because she was afraid of the cold, she didn't want to get out of bed.

"My God, how can it be so cold in winter? I can't, I can't get up, it's too cold."

Lin Lanshan, already dressed in a thick coat, stood by the bed and said to her sister:

"It's only the first light snow, and you already don't want to get out of bed. What will you do when it snows heavily, lying in bed until spring?"

"It's not that serious. Let me get used to being in bed for a bit. Just a little while, I'll definitely get up."

Lin Lanshan crossed her arms and looked at her sister, whose head was buried under the covers, and said helplessly:

"Then hurry up, I'll go make breakfast first. If you're not up before practice, I'll come and drag you out of bed."

After hearing her sister reply "Okay" from under the covers, she went to the kitchen.

Half an hour later, Lin Chunyi reluctantly left her warm bed.

She went to the kitchen, where Lin Lanshan had already cooked rice porridge and was ladling it into a bowl.

The aroma of rice filled the entire kitchen.

"You're up? If you don't get up, I'm going to bring the porridge to your bedside and feed you." Then he put away the firewood.

Lin Chunyi scratched the back of her head and laughed, "When it gets cold, I really don't want to move. I just want to stay in bed..."

He sighed again:

"Sigh, there's no way around it, I still have to get up and work. If I don't work now, it'll get even colder and I won't be able to work anymore."

After breakfast, the two began preparing food for hibernation.

Lin Chunyi asked her younger sister to go to the outer courtyard and pick a few long radishes, while she took out the bone from her spatial storage and chopped it into several pieces with a cleaver.

Throw them into a basin of water and let them soak in the blood.

Lin Lanshan was in the outer courtyard. She turned over each radish to take a look before picking out four slightly larger ones.

What to do with these radish greens... I'll just leave them here for now.

So they cut off the tops and threw them on the ground, then went to the well and washed the radish clean.

"Sis, these radishes aren't fully grown yet...they're so small."

Lin Lanshan walked over carrying several white radishes that were only slightly longer than her palm.

Lin Chunyi glanced at it and said:

"There's nothing we can do. These four were just unlucky to die young. As for the others, we'll eat them when they're older."

There's no need to peel such tender radishes; just cut them into large chunks and set them aside.

Blanch a few pieces of pork bones to remove any unpleasant odor. Then, add salt, ginger, and Sichuan peppercorns to a pan of oil and stir-fry until the edges of the bones turn golden brown.

Pour in freshly boiled water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once the soup turns a thick, white color, add the white radish and simmer over low heat.

Simmer for two hours, add some salt, and a pot of radish and pork bone soup is ready.

Next up are cabbage and pork lard buns.

Lin Chunyi poured warm water into a bowl containing two pieces of old dough and kneaded it until it dissolved.

Then pour the old dough water into a large bowl of wheat flour and knead it into a dough.

Place it in the warmest spot in the kitchen, near the stove where the fire is burning, and let the dough slowly ferment.

Now let's prepare the filling for the steamed buns.

Lin Lanshan chopped the cabbage, and Lin Chunyi chopped the pork cracklings. Then they poured them into a bowl, added minced ginger, salt, soy sauce, plum vinegar, and some chopped dogwood.

Mix well, and the filling for the buns is ready.

More than two hours have passed, and the dough in the basin has doubled in size, revealing a distinct honeycomb structure when broken open.

Take out four pieces and set them aside as starter.

Then place the dough on a cutting board, add an appropriate amount of alkaline water and dry flour, and knead it.

Roll the kneaded dough into a long strip and cut it into small pieces.

Lin Lanshan placed the three-tiered steamer on the pot and started boiling water.

I came over and made steamed buns with my sister.

Lin Chunyi took out a rolling pin and rolled each dough ball into a palm-sized sheet, thicker in the middle and thinner at the outer edge.

Lin Lanshan held the dough in her left hand and used her right hand to put a generous amount of filling on it with a spoon, then pinched out pleats.

A plump, white steamed bun is now ready.

Fill three steamer baskets with buns, let them ferment for a while, and then start steaming once the water boils.

I tidied up until sunset, and all 226 steamed buns were steamed and put into the space.

The two were so tired that their backs ached. They scooped up two bowls of leftover white porridge from the morning, along with six steamed buns, and ate their dinner.

One bite, and you're greeted by the rich aroma of pork cracklings, paired with crisp and refreshing cabbage and soft dough.

It smells amazing!

"Sis, let's make cabbage and pork lard filling buns again next time, they're so delicious. I can eat three today. Two hundred buns won't last us more than a few days."

She thought for a moment and said:

"How about we render the remaining wild boar fat into cracklings and make steamed buns?"

Lin Chunyi took a sip of porridge and said:

"Let's wait until we make the dried chili powder, and then buy some star anise, cinnamon, and other spices before simmering it. Ordinary seasonings simply can't mask the gamey smell of wild boar."

"Okay. By the way, sis, I left the radish greens in the vegetable garden. Are they edible?"

"Oh? Of course it can, it's leafy greens after all. Never mind, let's leave it there for now and clean it up tomorrow."

The next day, they washed the radish greens from the field and chopped them up.

Then I used the remaining ten eggs to make a plate of vegetable and egg fried rice.

I also made a big jar of mushroom meat sauce.

Now their space is filled with a large pot of radish and pork bone soup, more than two hundred steamed buns, a pot of egg fried rice, and a large jar of mushroom meat sauce.

The woodshed was full of dry firewood. The bedroom had a brazier, a stove, and a small pot.

"Sister, let's fill two buckets with water and put them in the room next door. That way, we won't have to run to get water when we don't want to."

Their family has a well in the outer courtyard, near the back of the house.

Lin Lanshan suddenly thought of another question, "Will wells freeze in the coldest part of winter?"

this……

Lin Chunyi was silent for a moment, then said:

"It can't be, the well is so deep..."

"But let's still fetch more water and put it inside."

They filled the kitchen water tank with water and then took out two large buckets filled with water and put them into the main room.

With these things, the two of them could prepare for hibernation in peace.

Heavy snow fell, covering the entire Youxian Mountain overnight.

Thousands of miles are frozen, and thousands of miles are snow drifting.

Time seemed to stand still here, leaving behind only a pure white, tranquil world.

When Lin Lanshan opened her door in the morning, the sight in the courtyard stung her eyes.

She closed her eyes, turned her head, and called out:

"Sis, come out quickly, it's snowing heavily. Everything outside is white, you can't see anything."

Lin Chunyi wrapped her coat tighter around herself and came out; her younger sister had already stepped into the snow.

"Wow, such heavy snow!" Lin Chunyi exclaimed in surprise.