CHAPTER 190: CHAPTER 186: THE WATER IS GONE

The chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits, they’re all smoked the same way to preserve them for a longer time.

Hanging them in the firewood shed is the only option.

Preserved meat is best hung in a dry and ventilated place. Hanging it in the firewood shed, surrounded by bundles of dry firewood, even with the door wide open, others can’t see it, and it can still ventilate.

"We definitely need to stew some meat. Aunt Yang helped make sauerkraut earlier, didn’t she? She said it can be used to stew meat. Shall we try it?"

Aunt Yang’s sauerkraut is different from theirs.

Their sauerkraut is made by blanching green vegetables and tightly placing them in a basin, cover it, and after a few days it’s ready, without sour taste, suitable for stir-frying or drying to make soup.

But Aunt Yang’s sauerkraut is made by pickling Chinese cabbage with salt, very sour and crisp, and can be preserved for a longer time.

Aunt Yang came by to fetch some meat and overheard Jiang Hu’s words.

"I checked this morning. The sauerkraut is ready now, but in stewing meat, don’t use too much, otherwise it’ll be too salty."

The preserved meat is already salty, and the sauerkraut is salty too; stewing them together wouldn’t it be even saltier?

Second Aunt: "How about using sauerkraut to make dumplings? Stew the preserved meat with radish, and wrap the sauerkraut with cabbage in dumplings?"

"That’s possible too; make dumplings, stir-fry fatty meat, stew ribs to cook fish, all are good options."

The folks inside the house were discussing tomorrow’s menu, while in the front study, Uncle Liu was teaching some children to read.

Uncle Liu had attended school in his early years, didn’t qualify as a Scholar, but passed as a student, thus teaching a few children to read posed no problem.

Besides the Jiang family’s children, there was Liu Hai, initially visiting to play with Jiang Yu, ended up being caught for reading, and was then sent over by Liu Yang every day.

Eating noodles at noon, when it’s mealtime Liu Hai would run off, he couldn’t be called back.

"This child is truly polite." Second Aunt came over helplessly, she tried to call Liu Hai for lunch but couldn’t catch up with him.

"His parents did educate him well; eating at someone’s home at such times indeed is inappropriate." Uncle Liu chuckled while stroking his beard.

Though things outside were in a mess, the Jiang household remained peaceful, Uncle Liu found joy daily in teaching kids to read, never feeling bored.

Second Aunt shook her head: "Actually, there’s no harm in eating once, the Liu family has indeed helped us a lot."

Uncle Liu didn’t respond, though Second Aunt found it nothing, from the Liu family’s perspective, food was already precious, letting someone read for free was one thing, but freeloading on meals was just too much.

Still, Uncle Liu didn’t explain much, primarily because Aunt Yang had called everyone for lunch.

For lunch, there was homemade hand-rolled noodles, Aunt Yang specially stir-fried half a head of sauerkraut, cooking it directly in the noodles for everyone to taste.

Little Mi was already eating: "Mom, Grandpa Liu, come quickly, the sauerkraut noodles are delicious!"

Sour, crisp, and refreshing, no need for extra condiments, it’s tastier than instant sauerkraut noodles!

"Only you are greedy, don’t eat too much." Second Aunt teased her with a smile.

Little Mi continued to devour: "I definitely won’t, only Iron Egg would eat to the point of discomfort."

"I won’t either, I’m grown up." Iron Egg stubbornly retorted.

Dad said I’m almost three years old, I’m a big kid now!

Big kids eat until full and stop, and won’t overeat!

Little Snow also brought over her bowl of noodles, ensuring to leave a place for Brother Ze.

Jiang Hu and Seven Happiness held large ocean bowls directly, squatting outside under the kitchen eaves, while eating, couldn’t help but praise the sauerkraut.

Aunt Yang was a bit embarrassed by the compliments, laughed and explained.

"It’s mostly because the vegetables at home are originally delicious, once the drought passes, I’ll teach Second Aunt to make it, we can add other spices, make it even tastier."

"Great, thank you so much, Aunt Yang."

This sauerkraut is delicious, everyone in the family loves it, if they could learn how to make it, they can have it often in the future.

Even though things outside weren’t optimistic, but during New Year’s Eve, everyone stayed home, preparing for the new year, Fu’an Village also enjoyed a rare moment of calm.

Today wasn’t just Fu’an Village people celebrating the new year, others were also home preparing their New Year feasts.

Thanks to the existence of the water pool, although crops in surrounding villages dried out, there was still some drinking water stored, not as bad as imagined.

Even because of the pool, the talk of Little Lucky Star spread throughout nearby villages within a hundred miles.

After all, it was Little Mi along with Jiang Hu who discovered the water pool, everyone unanimously believed that Heaven was favoring them through Little Lucky Star, protecting others.

Thus, without Little Mi knowing, the reputation spread further, exaggeratedly even, eventually morphing into the water pool being something Little Mi conjured!

Fortunately, Little Mi didn’t know, otherwise... well, even if she knew, she’d probably just roll her eyes.

On New Year’s Eve night, naturally one must stay up, even though firecrackers had risen in price, Jiang Hu still bought a string.

At midnight, as the firecrackers went off, everyone prayed in their hearts hoping for favorable weather in the new year.

However, the next day, before the Jiang family awakened from their slumber, loud door banging echoed from the front courtyard.

Jiang Hu just pushed the door open and heard the village chief’s urgent voice.

"Something’s wrong, the water from the pool is gone!"