The whole mountain is my hunting ground

From Yongxing Brigade to Yong'an Tun, it is one hundred and twenty miles. When Jie Chen drove, Zhao Jun and the others arrived in more than an hour.

But today Zhao Youcai took Wang Dalong with him. The two of them walked back and forth, and Zhao Youcai had to carry Wang Dalong on his back from time to time. Fortunately, they hit the sledge twice on the way and rushed back to the village at this time.

Otherwise, with Wang Dalong's condition, he would never be able to spend the night outside.

As soon as they approached the village entrance, Little Bear, Xiaohua, Qinglong, and Black Dragon, who had also been tired for the whole day, suddenly became energetic, left Zhao Youcai behind and ran home.

At this time, Zhao Youcai supported Wang Dalong, who was holding a stick in his other hand, and said to him, "Okay, I'll send you home."

"Uncle." Wang Dalong's dry and cracked lips slightly opened, and he whispered: "You have to cover me up when you get home, or my wife will divorce me."

Zhao Youcai twitched the corner of his mouth, sighed helplessly, and said, "Okay, let's go."

With that said, Zhao Youcai helped Wang Dalong enter the village and walked to Wang Dalong's house first.

At the same time, Zhao Jun's family was filled with laughter and women and children gathered together happily.

Although the Zhao family and his son are not at home, Wang Meilan and her two daughters are living a happy life.

At this moment, in the east room of Zhao Jun's house, the old lady Jiang Liu is sitting on the kang. On her left is Zhao Hong and on her right is Zhao Na.

Zhao Hong went to the left, followed by Xiao Lingdang and Yang Yufeng, while Zhao Na went to the right, followed by Li Xiaoqiao and Jin Xiaomei.

In the center of the Kang table is an abandoned basswood cutting board, which Wang Meilan brought back from the back garden. They used this cutting board when they were chopping cabbage in the fall.

This large basswood cutting board would definitely be a good thing if placed in an ordinary home.

But can Wang Meilan’s family lack this? At this time, she placed the cutting board on the table to hold the brazier.

I saw a brazier on the cutting board. The brazier was made of mud, with a triangular mouth and a concave notch on each side.

The brazier is filled with charcoal from the stove pit. On the mouth of the brazier sat a flat casserole.

In the casserole, there is pork belly and cabbage!

The heat from the brazier made the faces of the people around them turn red. They were all wearing single clothes, but they all had sweat on their foreheads.

"Here we come!" Suddenly, Wang Meilan called out, and she came in from the outhouse carrying an enamel basin.

Wang Meilan quickly came to the kang, put the basin in her hand on the edge of the kang, took out the soaked vermicelli and put it into the open casserole.

Jin Xiaomei and Yang Yufeng on the side saw this and hurriedly picked up their chopsticks and reached into the pot, pressing the ridged vermicelli into the soup.

Wang Meilan sat sideways next to Yang Yufeng, looked at the vegetable soup slowly bubbling in the pot, and showed a satisfied smile on her face.

Then, Wang Meilan stretched out her hand to pull the iron basin on the edge of the kang, and said with a smile: "Let's eat big pancakes and boil cabbage first, and then we'll bake two potatoes when we're done!"

As soon as the potatoes were roasted in the brazier, everyone from the old lady to little Zhao Na's eyes lit up.

"Auntie!" Li Xiaoqiao looked at Wang Meilan longingly and said, "I don't want to eat big pancakes, I just want to eat baked potatoes now."

"You'll have to wait a while." As soon as Li Xiaoqiao finished speaking, he was pulled away by Jin Xiaomei. Jin Xiaomei said, "This is a stew, how about roasting potatoes?"

"Xiaomei!" Seeing this, Wang Meilan quickly raised her hand to stop Jin Xiaomei and said: "Don't talk about the child, what are you eating is not eating?"

As she said that, Wang Meilan pointed to the kang and said, "We have so many braziers. Let's set up another pot next to it to bake potatoes for these children."

Looking in the direction of Wang Meilan's finger, there were thirteen braziers placed under the window.

These braziers have both triangular and round mouths. They are the result of a busy day's work by Wang Meilan and the others!

This morning, just after Wang Meilan and her two daughters finished eating, Yang Yufeng came with a little bell. After the three masters of the Li family went to work, Jin Xiaomei led Li Xiaoqiao over the wall and came to Zhao's house.

Then, Xiao Lingdang went to school with her three aunts, while Wang Meilan took her right-hand man to knead the mud in the yard.

They spread the large piece of plastic sheet on the ground so that the four corners were pressed down by the bricks. Then, on the ground aside, they mixed the loess and dried wheat straw sections evenly, then added water and mixed it into mud.

After gathering the mud onto the plastic sheet, the three people stepped on it wearing boots.

This is to step out all the air bubbles in the mud to stimulate the stickiness of the yellow mud. This process is very time-consuming and labor-intensive. The three women stepped on it for a full two hours. And when the boots step into the mud and then pull them out, it is quite difficult.

While the three of them were busy, the old lady came with a small basket.

Zhao Jun was not at home recently, and no one provided Wang Meilan with roe deer, wild boars, etc. Wang Meilan did not set up a table. The old lady took advantage of her free time and worked at home for a few days, and finally embroidered the pillows and pillowcases she wanted to give to Zhao Jun. .

But as soon as she entered the hospital and saw Wang Meilan's operation, the old lady clicked her eyes twice and said to Wang Meilan: "My dear, you want to build a shed? There is no man here to stay at home, can you three do it?"

It’s not the fault of the old lady’s lack of vision. Wang Meilan’s pile of mud was not enough to build a house, but if she wanted to build a shed or build a few wooden kennels, that would definitely be enough!

"We're not going to build a shed." Wang Meilan threw her hand and said, "We're not going to do anything else, just make a few braziers. I'll take you back in the evening and get one for you, and you can put it on the kang to warm up."

Then, Wang Meilan told the old lady that yesterday Wang Qiang hunted a wild boar in the mountains. Seeing that there was still a little pork belly on the old sow's belly, Wang Qiang cut off a piece of pork belly, a small loin and a hind leg and sent them to Wang Meilan. .

Seeing the piece of pork belly, Wang Meilan suddenly wanted to eat pork belly and cabbage.

Moreover, the pork belly and cabbage that Wang Meilan wanted to eat was not cooked in the ordinary way. It had to be cooked in a casserole, and the soup had to bubble constantly to make it delicious.

As a result, the large stoves in rural areas will no longer work. There was no stove in Zhao Jun's house, so Wang Meilan wanted to light a brazier.

"Ah, this... this is okay." The old lady took another look at the pile of mud that the three women had to step on together. She couldn't help but think that with the older mud, ten braziers would be enough. This girl can't Are you going to sell it?

No matter what she was thinking, when she saw Wang Meilan and the others preparing to make the blank, the old lady still stopped her and said to Wang Meilan: "My dear, you can't leave it here!"

"Huh?" Wang Meilan was startled when she heard this, but the old lady said: "To make the blank, you have to go to a sunny place, otherwise it will become damp when it is cloudy and rainy."

"Really?" Wang Meilan asked in surprise, "What about this?"

"No!" Seeing that the three juniors were looking at her, the old lady straightened her back, walked over with a small basket in her arms, and pointed out: "If the hair is not cured, it will still have to grow hair!"

As the saying goes: If you don't listen to the old man's words, you will suffer the consequences in front of you.

Wang Meilan hurriedly asked Jin Xiaomei and Yang Yufeng to move the table out of the warehouse, and then put the table in the sun.

In this way, Zhao Jun's family set up three tables. There were yellow clay balls on the three tables. Wang Meilan, Jin Xiaomei, and Yang Yufeng each stood in front of a table, beating the clay balls with big sticks.

Well, if you don’t know, if you walk by and see this scene, you will think that this is some kind of farm workshop.

The three of them hammered for another hour, and when they saw that the mud was all sticky, Wang Meilan and the others divided the mud into several portions. Then they went into the house together and took out many pots.

Not only does it have a basin, but it also has three small stew pots.

Next, each of the three people took a portion of the clay and placed it on a plastic sheet, using a large round wooden stick to roll it into a mud cake. Then, holding the plastic sheet, spread the mud cake onto the outside of the pot and stew pot.

In the next step, even the old ladies got involved. They kept slapping the mud cakes in the paste pots and paste stew pots.

This is called becoming a blank!

Then, several people gathered the mud into a long strip and circled it around the bottom of the basin and the bottom of the stew pot. This became the bottom of the brazier.

At this time, the clay was formed. Wang Meilan and the others dipped their hands in water in the basin and kept wiping the outside of the clay. This touch makes the surface of the clay smooth.

The old lady did not participate in this step. But she was not idle either. She gathered firewood and lit two large stoves in Zhao Jun's courtyard.

For a moment, two wisps of green smoke drifted in the air with the wind. Then I saw Wang Meilan and the others carrying clay bricks one by one to the stove. Those who didn't know better thought they were burning the kiln!

After the mud is dried, the basin or small stew pot wrapped in it can be taken out, so that the brazier is roughly formed.

The last step is to seal the brazier. This step is also called the long edge. Wang Meilan made batches of braziers this time, mainly making two types of braziers. A kind of triangular mouth, on which a casserole or copper pot can sit. Wang Meilan said that this kind of pot is suitable for cooking sauerkraut, cabbage, or mutton.

The round-mouthed brazier is the most common brazier in the Northeast and is found in almost every household in rural areas. In winter, put it on the kang, pick up a shovel of charcoal from the stove pit and pour it into the brazier. It can keep warm and roast potatoes. But Wang Meilan said that with an iron mesh placed on top of this kind of brazier, you can barbecue!

It's just that her supply team leader is not at home, so Wang Meilan can only "deal with" it by being a boiled cabbage.

Cut the wild boar pork belly into thin slices, heat oil and green onions in a pan, then add the meat slices and stir-fry.

Such thin slices of meat will be cooked after just two stir-fries. At this time, I took the thermos and poured boiling water into it. As the water surface rises, wisps of oil float on the surface of the soup.

No other condiments are needed, just grab a handful of salty noodles and sprinkle them in. As soon as the fire started burning, the soup quickly started to bubble.

At this time, add the chopped cabbage into the soup. As soon as the hot soup boils, the fire that has just been put down will quickly start again.

Finally, as Wang Meilan put in the vermicelli that had been soaked for a day, the boiling soup was suppressed again. But when the soup is boiled again, the meal can be served.

At this time, Li Xiaoqiao shouted for roasted potatoes. Wang Meilan, who had always been spoiled with children, went down to the ground without saying a word and grabbed a round brazier, carried it to the kang, and placed the brazier on the kang.

At this time, the little lynx jumped down from Zhao Hong's legs and jumped in front of the brazier. It put a pair of front paws on the edge of the brazier, kicked off the kang with its two hind legs, and fell directly into the brazier.

When Wang Meilan came back, she was holding a shovel in her hand, holding a shovel of red-hot charcoal.

"Hey! Hey!" Wang Meilan looked at the little lynx with a smile. She shouted twice, but the little lynx couldn't move and Zhao Hong had to take it away.

Wang Meilan held the spade in her left hand and rubbed the little lynx's little head with her right hand. When she heard the little lynx cry out, Wang Meilan smiled and said, "You are too young for us to roast a meal."

Amidst the laughter of everyone, Wang Meilan poured the charcoal into the brazier. At this time, Xiao Lingdang took the enamel basin handed by Yang Yufeng, threw the potatoes in the basin directly into the charcoal, and used the stove hook given by Wang Meilan to stir the charcoal and bury the potatoes. .

"Come on!" Wang Meilan sat sideways on the edge of the kang and called to everyone, "Let's eat first."

After saying that, Wang Meilan raised her head and asked Jin Xiaomei, who was sitting opposite her, "Don't we have to wait for Dayong and Baoyu?"

Li Ruhai is on duty today. He will stay in the mail room at night, but Li Dayong and Li Baoyu have to come back.

"Wait for them!" Jin Xiaomei looked back at the wall and said, "It will take another hour for the two of them to get home, and by then the vermicelli noodles will be lumpy. Let's eat ours and wait for them to come back. I’ll go home and give them some noodles.”

These days, it’s considered a good thing to store dried noodles in other people’s homes. After hearing what Jin Xiaomei said, everyone stopped being polite and started picking up vegetables with their chopsticks, including the big pancakes and garlic cloves. They ate deliciously.

But at this moment, the dog in Zhao’s courtyard barked!

Zhao Jun took away five dogs at home, and Zhao Youcai took away three. Now there are still Hualong and Huanglong in Zhao Jun's yard.

Let’s not say whether these two dogs can hunt, but they will definitely be fine for guarding the house. At this time, they screamed, and Wang Meilan frowned, feeling that something was wrong.

Immediately afterwards, the barking of the dog became fierce. Wang Meilan hurriedly put down the big cake and chopsticks, and walked out from the kang.

"Daughter!" At this time, the old lady called to her: "Tie it on your baby, wear a hat, don't sweat."

Eating around a brazier and eating soup is so hot! At this time, Wang Meilan was sweating on her temples. Wouldn't it be easy to catch a cold if she went out like this?

There was no man at home, so Jin Xiaomei and Yang Yufeng both put down their chopsticks and walked out with Wang Meilan.

The three of them were startled when they went out. Through the light coming from the house, they could see four dogs confronting Huang Long and Hua Long.

To be precise, the green dragon and the black dragon were fighting with the yellow dragon and the flower dragon, while the little bear and the little flower stood aside and watched the fun.

But when they saw Wang Meilan coming out, Little Bear, Qinglong, and Black Dragon came straight towards her. As for Xiaohua, she ran towards Jin Xiaomei.

"Oh!" Wang Meilan also loves dogs. She hasn't looked at these dogs for several days, and she sometimes misses them. Especially the little bear, who was still pregnant with her cub. Although Zhao Youcai said it was fine, Wang Meilan was still very concerned about him.

Wang Meilan knelt down and hugged the dog for a while. Then she suddenly remembered something and turned to Jin Xiaomei, who was holding Xiaohua next to her, and said, "Is your eldest brother back?"

"The dogs are home, and so are the people!" After Jin Xiaomei finished speaking, she took Xiaohua home. But after she tied the little flowers, she returned to Zhao's house and prepared to continue eating.

After Wang Meilan settled the three dogs, she took Jin Xiaomei and Yang Yufeng into the house. As soon as she heard that Zhao Youcai was back, the old lady put down her chopsticks. No matter how Wang Meilan tried to persuade her, the old lady, Jin Xiaomei, and Yang Yufeng would wait for Zhao Youcai to come back and eat together.

This was necessary, because this was Zhao Youcai's family after all, and they were guests. Zhao Youcai will be home soon, and they have to wait for Zhao Youcai to come back.

But they kept waiting, and Zhao Youcai didn't come back!

Half an hour passed, and as I watched the vermicelli in the casserole soaked up the soup, Zhao Youcai didn't come back.

Wang Meilan couldn't help but frown and muttered: "What did this wicked person do?"

At this time, at Wang Dalong's house, Wang Dalong, who had a bruised nose and swollen face, was lying on the kang like a dead dog. His wife, Wei Xiaojuan, was sitting on the edge of the kang, wiping her tears.

Zhao Youcai, on the other hand, stood aside and rubbed his hands. At this time, Zhao Youcai couldn't stand or sit; he couldn't walk or stay!