Instead, they opened the windows and washed out the dirt from the vegetables tirelessly under the pouring rain.
After that, they would rinse the vegetables again with the clean water from the vat. Finally, the vegetables were ready for cooking.
When An Jiuyue returned, she saw how red their hands were from the cold. She was so furious that her eyes turned red, but she was reluctant to scold them.
She knew that they washed the vegetables with the rainwater because they did not want her to travel so far to fetch water too frequently.
She immediately began preparing to cook lunch, and hurried them to sit by the stove to warm themselves up so that they would not catch a cold.
Since An Jiuyue had some time in the afternoon, she brought them downstairs to let them play freely.
The large tree, where their treehouse was built on, sheltered them from the rain. As her children were still young, her father had also previously laid out a large stone block below the tree for them to play on without getting their pants wet.
Meanwhile, An Jiuyue washed the three sets of pig intestines she purchased with the rainwater collected in a vat. After washing it five times, she brought it to the spring to wash it two more times.
With that, the three sets of pig intestines were cleaned thoroughly. She returned home and rendered ten kilograms of pork fat and stewed the pig intestines after.
While stewing pig intestines, she retrieved some ready-made spices from her space and used them in her dish. During her previous life, she was afraid that she would not have enough food to eat in the forest. Hence, she had purchased many spices so that she could have grilled meat in the forest.
Just then, it occurred to An Jiuyue that she had also purchased salt during her previous life when she was afraid that she would not have enough food in the forest. In fact, she had purchased several boxes of salt.
Every box contained 40 packets of fine salt, each weighing half a kilogram.
Why did I spend five hundred copper coins on yellowish, low-quality salt? I want to slap myself.
But what’s done is done. There’s no point mulling over this anymore. I’ll just store them first. There’s bound to be some use for it in the future.
“Mother, this smells so good.”
Zheng’er and Rong’er caught a whiff of the fragrance of the pig intestines and approached their mother.
“Smells good, doesn’t it?”
An Jiuyue smiled and gestured with her hands.
“Wait over there. I’m rendering the pork fat and the oil may splash onto you. When the pig intestines are ready, I will give you a small bowl each.”
“Okay!”
Rong’er clapped happily.
Although Zheng’er was more reserved, he swallowed his saliva and thought to himself, This fragrance is heavenly!
After rendering the pork fat and stewing the pig intestines, An Jiuyue kept her promise and gave the two little ones a small bowl each. Then, she stored everything else in her space.
Zheng’er and Rong’er had exclaimed that the dish smelt so good that it could attract wild animals if they placed it outside.
The children wolfed down the pig intestines, almost licking the bowl clean. Once they finished eating, they lifted their heads to look at their mother and noticed that she still had some in her bowl.
“Do you want more? I can share some of mine with you,” An Jiuyue asked.
“I’m full.”
Zheng’er replied immediately.