Who knows! As soon as I returned to the mountains to farm, I encountered a natural disaster.

Smoked chicken has a rich flavor, and the texture of the meat is not like that of fresh chicken. The red meat is slightly textured, and the more you chew, the more fragrant it becomes.

Green vegetables blanched in chicken soup float on the surface of the soup pot. When picked up, the surface is coated with a layer of yellow chicken fat. The texture is crispy and refreshing with the aroma of chicken.

The cooked kudzu root is not as sweet and crisp as eating it raw. The wild kudzu root becomes pink and waxy after being stewed, like eating yam or eating pink lotus root from Hubei Province.

There was a lot of kudzu root boiled in the pot, which was delicious and filling. Each of them had a small bowl of rice. After finishing a pot of kudzu root and chicken, their bellies were full.

The dog next to him drooled all over the floor.

Zhao Yeqing mixed the uneaten soup with rice, took out the chicken cooked for them in the pot, chopped it into pieces with a knife and distributed them evenly before putting it into their bowls.

The aroma lingered in the room and drifted out through the cracks in the windows.

Mu Xi was just putting away the bowls when he spotted the red figure flashing past outside the yard under the moonlight.

Talking to Zhao Yeqing, she stopped petting the dog.

"Is this fox dependent on our family?"

But the chicken coop is well closed, and the two of them are not worried about the safety of the chickens.

Early in the morning, Mu Xi went to feed the animals at home and found that there were no fox footprints around the chicken coop.

Its footprints are almost concentrated around the kitchen.

The two of them carefully closed the kitchen doors and windows before going to bed.

It was obvious that the footprints were the most messy under the kitchen window sill. He probably lingered here for a long time and left only after he couldn't get in.

Zhao Yeqing got up to wash up, spit out the foam in his mouth and said, "My cooking must be too fragrant, and the foxes have taken the bait."

Mu Xi nodded in agreement.

The two of them had breakfast, and Mu Xi scooped out the water soaked in kudzu powder. The kudzu powder underneath was very thick and snow-white, without a trace of color.

Zhao Yeqing took out the largest gauze at home, nailed a cross with bamboo strips, and hung the rope on the beam, hanging the cross vertically.

The four corners of the gauze were tied to the four corners of the cross.

It was fixed on top of the water tank filled with kudzu powder.

Mu Xi took out the wet kudzu powder with a large ladle and put it on a hanging gauze cloth to filter the water.

After taking care of things at home, Zhao Yeqing took Xiao Hong out, and the two of them took their tools and set off to chop wood in the woods.

We went to the pine forest to find a pine tree to make a kiln of pine charcoal.

If it wasn't a landslide, it would be more appropriate to use the green wood in that forest.

When he was cutting firewood before, Mu Xi had cut down a few pine trees in advance, sawed them into small sections and put them here. Now he only needs to cut them into small pieces and let Xiaohong drag them home.

When they arrived at the gentle slope near their home, Mu Xi unloaded the firewood and prepared to dig a brick kiln. Zhao Yeqing took Xiaohong home first.

Xiaohong was obviously very unhappy when she got home and resisted Zhao Yeqing's move to lock her back in the stable.

The look in her eyes seemed to be reprimanding her for agreeing to take it out to play yesterday, but she didn't expect to go out for a while and then come back.

She couldn't drag it in no matter how hard she tried, so she finally gave up and led Xiaohong back to the gentle slope.

Mu Xi had already dug a hole on the gentle slope. When he saw her coming back with the horse, he guessed what was going on.

"Let it play around by itself first."

Zhao Yeqing nodded and took a hoe to help dig the hole.

The two dug a hole half a man's height into the soil slope in front of them, and then opened two small holes on both sides of the hole. The small holes were about the size of an open hand.

Mu Xi picked up the shovel and opened a hole directly above the hole.

The two small holes at the bottom are the air inlets, and the small hole at the top is the smoke exhaust port.

After the hole was dug, Mu Xi piled all the firewood into it.

The firewood used to dry in the sun when the weather was nice, but now it naturally gets wet when it snows.

However, for making charcoal, wet firewood is better than dry firewood.

If the dry firewood is not well controlled, it will easily burn into ashes before it turns into charcoal. The advantage is that it burns very quickly, and a small kiln can be fired in more than a day.

The fault tolerance rate of wet firewood is relatively high, and the charcoal yield rate is also high. It is necessary to control the fire to continue burning inside and ensure that it does not go out.

It's just more time-consuming, it takes three or four days.

Zhao Yeqing handed Mu Xi the dried pine needles and pine cones he had picked up to start a fire.

Wet firewood was difficult to ignite, so a circle of dry firewood had to be added outside. When the dry firewood started to burn, the two of them quickly blew air and fans. When the fire gradually ignited the wet firewood, they then covered the entrance of the cave with a large stone slab that Mu Xi had selected in advance.

The stone slabs were surrounded by wet mud mixed with water.

Thick smoke drifted out from the cracks. The two used the smoke to check for defects and repair leaks. Except for the top hole, they used mud to plug the places where smoke was coming from underneath.

It is not considered an initial success until there is no more smoke coming out of the big hole.

in the following time.

Mu Xi, apart from preparing wood for making bathtubs at home, would also watch the fire in the charcoal kiln every day.

When there was too much smoke, I quickly blocked the air inlet at the bottom. When the smoke gradually became smaller, I blocked the upper hole as well.

At this point, the firewood will slowly carbonize in the hole.

Three days later, I felt that the temperature of the charcoal kiln had gradually dropped, and it was time to start the kiln.

After digging out the mud and moving the heavy stone slabs, the pile of firewood inside had disappeared.

Only a pile of black charcoal was left at the bottom of the cave.

Mu Xi took one and broke it off with his hands. The charcoal was well carbonized and the color was jet black without any color. When two pieces of charcoal were struck, they made a crisp metallic sound.

Zhao Yeqing brought over the large bamboo basket that had been prepared in advance, and the two of them filled it with all the charcoal in the hole.

It weighs about thirty kilograms.

This is the first time for the two of them to make charcoal. The charcoal kiln is not big and does not burn much. I don’t know how long it will last if it only supplies chicken coops and sheep pens.

I have to burn another kiln if I find time.

I took the charcoal home and placed it in the original owner's house, which happened to be filled with grain and dry goods. The charcoal was placed inside to dehumidify and prevent moisture.

In these three days, not only the charcoal was burned, but also the kudzu powder that was dried and filtered was also prepared.

A big lump of kudzu powder was inside the gauze, and after drying it formed into a ball the size of a basketball.

Mu Xi took a clean and dry basin, and Zhao Yeqing took out the big lump of kudzu powder.

The knot was very hard, so she took a clean kitchen knife and used it to peel off the arrowroot powder bit by bit like cutting potato slices.

After peeling it, it had to be ground finely. Mu Xi washed the stone pound and dried it by the fire. He put the peeled kudzu powder into the stone pound and ground it with the rough inner wall of the stone pound.

Wait until all the lumps are broken up, then sift the powder until fine.

Zhao Yeqing took a large jar and put all the kudzu root powder in it. Zhao Yeqing filled two bowls out before closing the lid.

The kudzu powder in the bowl is first diluted with cold water, then poured with hot water. After a few quick stirs with a spoon, the kudzu powder in the bowl turns translucent pink.

The refreshing fragrance exuded made her a little impatient.