Whose farming family has the male protagonist giving three piglets as a gift at the beginning?

Burn the straw and rice stalks into ashes, then mix the ash with water, stir evenly and filter out the residue. This step is the same as the alkaline water extraction step for making tofu. The last step is evaporation.

Su Ziling took an abandoned broken pottery jar and slowly boiled it over the fire. When the water was completely evaporated, solid alkali would be obtained.

Su's mother put the last dish on the table, glanced at her clay pot, and wiped her hands on her apron, "Are you ready? It's time to eat."

"Okay, it's done." Su Ziling used tongs to pick up the clay pot and put it where no one could touch it.

"What are you cooking? It's all dry." Su's mother held a vegetable steamed bun in one hand and a mint and egg soup in the other. She took a bite of the steamed bun and then sipped the soup.

"Purify the ash from the burned straw and use it to make soap tomorrow," Su Ziling picked up a piece of shredded radish with chopsticks. It was crispy and sweet, and with the addition of olive vinegar, it was very appetizing.

"By the way, big brother, isn't the weather getting hot recently? Let's take the soaked olives and test the water first."

Su Zizhong nodded. "Should we sell it directly? Or should we mix it?"

"Don't worry about that. I'll burn some chili peppers and prepare a bowl of dry sauce later. Then you can find a grinding stone, flatten the olives and sprinkle them on the dry sauce."

Su Ziling paused, then continued, "Let's soak the sour papaya for a while and sell it in May or June. It's a bit early now."

"Okay." Su Zizhong nodded in agreement.

My family members never say anything about what, how, or when to sell; they just do the hard work.

After dinner, everyone sat in the yard for a while. When it got completely dark, everyone washed up and went back to their rooms.

The next day, everyone got up at daybreak and went about their duties.

Seeing Su Ziling preparing breakfast, Su's father and mother went out with buckets on their shoulders, thinking of watering the bitter melons.

In this weather, who knows when it will rain. These melons were hard to come by, and I finally planted them. I hope they will be killed by the sun again.

After Su Zizhong and Ershi ground the peas, they went out, probably to exercise and take a walk in the mountains.

Seeing that she was too busy, Grandma Su helped her filter the pea milk. Grandpa Su took a piece of wood and measured it with an ink fountain.

"Grandpa, what are you doing?" Su Ziling came out to pour water and saw Grandpa Su gesturing there.

"I asked your grandma last night about the soap you made. Other people's soaps are square and have some shapes. I thought about chiseling two molds for you."

Old Master Su stopped what he was doing and looked at the wood. He really didn't know what to do.

Su Ziling's eyes brightened when she heard that. She had originally planned to cut down a bamboo, pour the soap directly into it, and then cut it when the time came. This was convenient, but it would probably take a lot longer to solidify.

It would be better if there was a mold. "It doesn't have to be too complicated. Just chisel it directly. It will be square. I just need to chisel a few more. I'll try it today. I don't know if it will work."

In fact, she wanted to make a few hair washes for the rest, and then go up the mountain to dig two Polygonum multiflorum and put them in.

Breakfast was simple. I cooked a pot of brown rice porridge and steamed a pot of mixed flour buns.

After dinner, Grandpa Su and his father took the cows to plow the fields, while his mother carried a hoe to dig furrows, and Su Zizhong and his friends set up their stall as usual.

Su Ziling was busy making her soap at home. She put the peeled soapberries in a pot and simmered them over low heat until the soup became less. She then moved them aside to cool for later use.

She didn't have time to buy fresh lard, but she had some cooked lard, so she directly brought out a jar of it.

Scoop out two spoonfuls of the soup and set it aside after dissolving it. Filter the soapberry soup with gauze and add two spoonfuls of soda ash.

When alkali comes into contact with water, the temperature will rise. At this time, you need to keep stirring until the alkali melts. After the temperature drops, add fifteen spoons of lard.

There was no small scale for Su Ziling to weigh, so she could only roughly estimate that the lard would need to be stirred continuously after it was added.

Until the saponification reaction occurs and the liquid becomes viscous and becomes a paste, then put all the paste into the mold, put it in the house, cover it with clothes to keep warm and saponify for two days.

Start demolding on the third day, and then place it in a cool place to continue saponification for more than a month. The soapberry soap is considered successful.

"Are you done? Are your hands sore?" Seeing that she had put everything away, Grandma Su dared to come forward.

Seeing that she was busy just now, Grandma Su didn't dare to come over to disturb her.

"That's almost it, but it still needs to sit for a month before it can be used," Su Ziling said, pouting, "It's so sore, I can't even lift it up."

Grandma Su looked distressed. She kneaded her arm and said, "How can it not be sore? I see you have been stirring for more than an hour without stopping. Take a break today. I estimate that you won't be able to lift your arm tomorrow."

"If I had known it would take so long, I should have waited until your eldest brother and his family were home to do it. It wouldn't be too tiring if we took turns."

Su Ziling turned around and threw himself into her arms, hugged her waist, and rubbed his face against hers, "Thank you, grandma. You still love me."

Grandma Su tapped her head gently and said, "Okay, go inside and rest. Your face is getting red from the sun."

Su Ziling shook his hands, stood up and went into the house.

After walking around the house, I couldn't keep idle, so I washed the edges of the kimchi jar in the kitchen and changed the water.

Standing at the kitchen door, looking at the mountain opposite, she was thoughtful, "Grandma, the bamboo shoots should have grown in the past two days, right?"

"It's almost done. The money should be distributed gradually. What's the matter? Do you want to eat fresh bamboo shoots?" Grandma Su sat under the eaves with her back to the sun, sewing clothes stitch by stitch.

"I'll go take a look. If I get some, I'll bring some back to make pickled bamboo shoots." She did what she said. She took two sacks and put them in her backpack, then picked up a hoe and was about to go out.

"Grandma, if any of my elder brothers come back early, please ask them to come pick me up and bring a shoulder pole."

"Hey, girl, didn't you say your hands were sore?" Before Grandma Su could react, Su Ziling had already gone out.

"I'm not sore anymore, grandma, remember to ask my brother to pick me up!"

Hearing Su Ziling's voice coming from outside the door, Grandma Su shook her head helplessly, her tone full of helplessness.

"This girl..."

I planted a lot of potatoes this year, so I can pickle more bamboo shoots, which I can then stir-fry with the potatoes to make potato porridge.

You can also chop it up and stir-fry it with red pepper, or chop the pepper and bamboo shoots together and use them to stir-fry meat. It has a sour and spicy taste and goes well with rice.

After a while, shiitake mushrooms will be available. Add some bamboo shoots and green peppers and stir-fry them together. It is also very delicious. It is a versatile sour bamboo shoots dish.

Thinking of the taste of sour bamboo shoots, Su Ziling quickened his pace.

Her target today is the bamboo shoots of the dragon bamboo. The dragon bamboo is relatively large, and digging out 10 to 20 of them is enough to make a jar.

Moreover, the pickled dragon bamboo shoots are crisper and whiter in color.