The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

"Whenever Chengze mentions Chen Ge'er, he says that he has great talent. Although Chen Ge'er is still young, he is not rigid in his studies and can often apply what he has learned to other situations. It's just that there are no other teachers in the mountains now. If Chen Ge'er could be brought to see his teacher, the teacher would be ecstatic. So it's a pity." Madam Zhou said with a smile.

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "What's the pity? There are good things in the mountains and good things outside. Chengze taught very well. Reading can make you wise, but many ways of dealing with people and political acumen cannot be learned by reading alone."

"It seems I am possessed..." Madam Zhou murmured.

Xia Mianwan knew that Madam Zhou was worried about Zhou Chengze's future, so she said this to comfort him. Now that she had finished speaking, Xia Mianwan didn't say anything more and just focused on the matter at hand.

After a while, Madam Zhou patted Xia Mianwan's shoulder heavily and said, "Thanks to you, otherwise I would have been thinking in the wrong direction!"

Xia Mianwan said cheerfully: "Then how is Sister Zhou going to thank me?"

"You can thank me however you want!" said Madam Zhou.

Xia Mianwan thought for a moment and said, "I still have a piece of cloth. I'd like to trouble you to make me a set of spring clothes. You know I'm not good at it."

Madam Zhou said nonchalantly, "What's so difficult about this? It's worth your saying so."

……

It was five days later when Xiaowu and his group came back, and this time they had a great harvest!

There were three wild boars, two wild sheep, more than forty pheasants and more than thirty rabbits hunted.

These things have been processed outside and are already meat when they are brought back.

It's snowing now, so the meat is frozen solid and won't go bad at all.

After Chen Dasao and Chen Susu left, everyone decided to go back to the previous habit of having a big pot for lunch. However, because Madam Zhou also had to teach embroidery, she called Xiaojiu and Xiaoshi to help Xia Mianwan with the cooking.

All the meat was harvested by Xiaowu's family, but Xiaowu's family was large, so Xia Mianwan and Zhou Niangzi didn't ask for much. Each family got 15 kilograms of pork, 2 kilograms of mutton, a pheasant and a rabbit.

The rest, except for the lunch that was left at Xia Mianwan's house, was brought back home by Xiaowu.

After that, Xiaowu and his companions went out several more times, and each time they returned with a full load.

During this period, Xia Mianwan went fishing a few times. Although he did catch a few fish, it was too cold, so he gave up in the end.

And just like that...the New Year has arrived.

Since it was the New Year, there had to be some atmosphere, so the three families decided to celebrate the New Year together. Xia Mianwan and Zhou Niangzi took Xiaojiu and Xiaoshi to be the main chefs, and the rest of the children helped with odd jobs.

Xiaowu and Zhou Chengze were responsible for catching some more fish in the river, which would serve as an extra dish for the New Year's Eve dinner.

On the day before the Chinese New Year, Xia Mianwan went to Zhou Niangzi's house with a pen, and the two of them wrote down and made additions and subtractions to decide on the menu for tomorrow.

"I have some pickled cabbage that can be used to stir-fry the meat. A batch of greens and spinach in the greenhouse should be ripe, as well as bean sprouts." Madam Zhou said.

Xia Mianwan thought for a while and said, "I made a lot of fish balls with the fish I caught last time. There are still a lot of fish balls left that I haven't eaten yet. I'm freezing them here. I can use the spinach to make spinach fish ball soup."

"Roast the lamb?"

"Let's grill it. We have an oven, so we can marinate it and grill it in the oven." Xia Mianwan has not tried grilling lamb chops in his own oven, so he might as well give it a try.

"For pheasants, can we roast a few and use the rest to make a pot, adding some pickled vegetables and chili peppers?" Madam Zhou asked uncertainly.

Xia Mianwan nodded quickly, "That's fine!"

"Sister Zhou, we have to make lard anyway, so let's make a few plates of lard residue for the children as snacks. We also made honey cakes and honey cookies a few days ago, and these can also be used as snacks."

"By the way, Mianwan, there are two spores in the wild animals this time!" said Madam Zhou.

Xia Mianwan shook her head in resistance, and said with an embarrassed expression: "Sister Zhou, I really can't get this spore meat, you can do it..."

Even if they have a choice, they are still reluctant to eat the meat.

Madam Zhou wasn’t really good at cooking, but thinking that most meats were the same, she nodded in agreement.

The two of them worked hard for most of the day before deciding on the menu for the New Year. After deciding on the menu, they began to prepare the dishes. There were many people in the valley, so Xia Mianwan and Zhou Niangzi decided to prepare the dishes a day in advance to avoid being in a hurry tomorrow.

……

The next morning, Xia Mianwan got up early.

Xia Mianwan glanced at the hourglass and it was probably still a quarter past the morning. The sky in the valley was still gray and there was not a trace of light.

After Xia Mianwan got dressed, she went to the kitchen carrying a lantern.

The honey cakes, honey biscuits and milk tea can be made now, so you only need to prepare hot dishes in the afternoon.

Xia Mianwan had just started the oven and was about to prepare the cake base when Madam Zhou and a few children who were helping came over.

"I thought you slept late, so I went to call you later, but I didn't expect you to get up so early." Madam Zhou joked with a smile.

"Although I go to bed late, I never miss anything. How about we just eat wontons? I've got them all out." Xia Mianwan replied with a smile.

Madam Zhou saw the wontons on the table and nodded, "I'll cook the wontons on the stove, and we can finish them together after we finish eating."

"it is good!"

This busy work lasted the whole day. It was a cold day and everyone in the kitchen was sweating.

Only Xiaowu's family could prepare dinner for so many people, so the dishes were served and the half-grown boys were all actively responsible for serving the dishes. After all, they had practiced kung fu for half a year, and each of them had considerable arm strength.

Finally, the last grilled lamb chop was out of the oven. Xia Mianwan wiped the sweat off his face and felt exhausted.

Madam Zhou also knew that Xia Mianwan was exhausted, so she patted Xia Mianwan on the shoulder and said, "Take Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er over first, and I'll take the lamb chops."

Xia Mianwan said, "It only takes a moment. Let Brother Chen and Sister Yu take it together. You have been busy all day. Let's take a break."

Madam Zhou said with some concern: "They are still so small, can they be lifted?"

"How can they be small? The children of Xiaowu's family are not as old as Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er, but they have also started to work!" Xia Mianwan smiled and called Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er to come over to help with the lamb chops.

Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er agreed crisply, and happily went to Xiaowu's house carrying a basket of roasted lamb chops.