The poor girl from the 1970s was forced to kiss by the damp educated youth.

After Shi Xin left, Chen Zhi began cutting the pork into strips and marinating it. Then she started processing the pig's trotters and bones, chopping what needed to be chopped and marinating what needed to be marinated. Finally, she dealt with the offal. Cleaning the large intestine was a bit more troublesome; she scrubbed it several times with wood ash to remove some of the odor.

Chen Zhi wasn't in a hurry to sleep. First, she put the pork offal in a pot to braise. In addition to the spices Shi Xin had brought, she also added a spoonful of soy sauce she had bought from the market. This was a homemade soy sauce, with a rich color and a very fragrant aroma.

Chen Zhi cooked for about half an hour, then turned off the heat and went back to sleep.

The braised flavor was so strong that Chen Zhilian even dreamed of it.

The educated youth in the neighboring settlement, smelling this aroma, drooled all night.

The next morning, Yang Wenyu gave Zhao Jinbao a basin and said, "Go and get some braising liquid. We'll use it to cook vegetables and potatoes."

Zhao Jinbao yawned. "What's the difference between this and asking me to come to your door and pray?"

Zhu Yuan: "Put in two stalks of pickled cabbage, now we have a reason."

Zhao Yiqing: "We don't ask for much, just bring back some more braising liquid."

Zhao Jinbao put the basin down. "Wait a minute, let me brush my teeth and wash my face first."

Chen Zhi was slicing braised pork. She planned to cook some noodles later. Braised pork with noodles, plus some vegetables, would taste delicious.

When Zhao Jinbao came in, he saw that the kitchen ceiling was completely empty; not a single fish was left.

Thankfully, they took their fish, otherwise they would have had nothing.

Chen Zhi looked at Zhao Jinbao and said, "Good morning."

"Good morning." Zhao Jinbao put down the wooden basin. "What did you braise yesterday? It smelled delicious all night."

"Pork offal." Chen Zhi opened the lid of the iron pot, revealing a whole set of pork offal, along with pig ears and a pig tongue.

Gudong!

Zhao Jinbao swallowed hard. "Your braising liquid smells amazing. Can you send us some? We'll take it back to braise potatoes, radishes, and greens."

Chen Zhi: "Sure."

Zhao Jinbao: "This is the pickled cabbage we made. Here, have a taste."

"Perfect timing, I haven't had time to pickle the sauerkraut yet." Chen Zhi took out the sauerkraut, rinsed it in the wooden basin, and then added brine to the basin.

She added more than half a basin of braising liquid and cut half a pig's heart into it before returning the basin to Zhao Jinbao.

Zhao Jinbao accepted it, saying, "Thanks."

As Zhao Jinbao was carrying the wooden basin out the door, he bumped into Chen Da and Chen Peng and their three companions.

Zhao Jinbao was in a hurry to get back, so he just nodded and left.

Chen Da: "What smells so good?"

Chen Zhi looked at the pot of braising liquid, which was still half full, and instinctively knew it was doomed.

"I had a braised pork offal yesterday," Chen Zhi said.

Chen Da: "This smells amazing. I saw Zhao Jinbao take a whole bowl, but I don't want any more. Give me a bowl instead."

Chen Peng, Chen Xiaoshuai, and Chen Ergou said in unison, "We want some too."

Chen Zhi's lips twitched; just as she had expected.

Seeing that they were each carrying a tray, Chen Zhi asked, "Did you agree to deliver something to me together?"

Chen Da: "These are glutinous rice balls my mom made, with peanut and sesame filling. I brought them for you to try."

Chen Peng: "This is rice cake. I make it every year. There's no filling, just glutinous rice. When you roast it over a fire, it smells very good."

Chen Ergou: "My mom steamed pumpkin buns."

Chen Xiaoshuai: "My family makes the tofu ourselves."

Before the Lunar New Year, every household in the village was preparing delicious food. The four of them discussed and decided to give different gifts to each other.

Chen Zhi accepted them one by one, put them on her own plate, then scooped out the braised meat, cut it into four pieces, and put them on their plates.

Then they brought out four large, coarse earthenware bowls and filled them with four bowls of brine.

"I'm not in a hurry to use the bowls. You can bring them over when you have time. I won't be home for a while, so you can come tomorrow if you want."

Chen Da: "The day after tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, are you going out today?"

Chen Zhi nodded, "I'm going out today, but I won't go out tomorrow."

Chen Zhi went into the mountains again.

She went to the forest where she had found the demon. Several days passed, and the traces of her fight with the demon were still there, but the demon's body was gone.

Chen Zhi continued walking into the mountains. The temperature was high, the vegetation was lush, and the flowers were in full bloom. She saw many wild fruits along the way, but she didn't recognize them and dared not eat them.

Besides wild fruit, she also saw pheasants and rabbits, and she hunted two of each before continuing on her way.

She hadn't walked far when she encountered four deer, two large and two small.

Chen Zhi ignored it and continued forward. A few minutes later, she spotted a python coiled up in a tree.

In the dead of winter, this thing didn't hibernate.

Chen Zhi walked around them. Next, she saw various large insects and birds, which she couldn't name and avoided without disturbing them.

The animals here are much more abundant than those in their Sandong Village.

This is likely due to the fact that the area is sparsely populated.

Chen Zhi walked a short distance before turning back, fearing she might encounter something she couldn't handle.

She turned back the way she came and shot two more pheasants.

He put the prey in a bag and placed it on the bank near the cave, intending to retrieve it when she returned after catching the fish.

There were plenty of fish here, and Chen Zhi caught them effortlessly, easily filling several sacks.

When she went to retrieve her prey, she discovered a wild boar eating fruit that had fallen from a tree on the lawn not far away.

Chen Zhi: She looks very plump and delicious. If we don't hunt her, she probably won't be able to sleep when she gets back.

That night, the domineering aroma of braised food wafted from Chen Zhi's house once again.

Yang Wenyu: "What is Chen Zhi braising again?"

Zhao Jinbao remained silent; he wanted to know too.

Zhou Zhengping: "The braised radishes and potatoes are delicious today, Xiaobao, do you understand? Should we go again—"

"No, I have my pride too," Zhao Jinbao said.

Yang Wenyu: "Didn't your family mail you some things? Take some and give them to Chen Zhi. Also, mention that her braised dishes are very good."

Zhao Jinbao was persuaded, but he didn't agree immediately. "Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'm going to sleep."

Tonight, Chen Zhilu had even more food: a whole pig's head, four pig's trotters, and a whole set of pig offal.

This wild boar was enormous, weighing over 500 jin (250 kg). Its head and four trotters almost filled the entire large iron pot, and with the offal, it was completely full, leaving no gaps.

While the braised pork was cooking, Chen Zhi began to process the wild boar meat.

Chen Zhi plans to smoke as much of the several hundred kilograms of wild boar meat as possible, leaving only a few kilograms of fresh meat.

We won't smoke the pheasants and rabbits. We'll stir-fry the pheasants and make soup with them, and we'll braise the rabbits tomorrow and the day after.

We also brought back some fish; we kept a few fresh ones to eat during the Lunar New Year, and smoked the rest.

This year, she had meat and fish, just as well as others.

Yesterday, after processing the wild boar and the fish, Chen Zhi was busy until dawn before she went back to sleep. Unsurprisingly, she woke up late, at noon.

She ate noodles with braised pork and vegetables for lunch.

While she was eating noodles, Zhao Jinbao came and brought her two boxes of cookies.

Zhao Jinbao: "It was mailed from my home. I brought it here for you to try."

Chen Zhi swallowed the noodles, said thank you, and then asked, "Have you eaten? Would you like some noodles?"

Zhao Jinbao: "I've already eaten. But, do you still have any of that braised soup?"

After saying that, Zhao Jinbao blushed.

Chen Zhi paused for two seconds, then asked, "Have you used up all of yesterday's supplies?"

Zhao Jinbao covered his face, "The braising liquid smelled so good that they used it to mix with their rice after they finished eating their vegetables."

Chen Zhi understood. "There's more. I'll go pack some for you right away."

Chen Zhi took her own basin, filled it to the brim, and even cut up most of a pig's lung and put it in.

Zhao Jinbao looked embarrassed and thanked him repeatedly.

Chen Zhi: "You're welcome, it's nothing valuable."

Anyway, she added a little more water and boiled it again, and it still smelled delicious.

As a result, Zhao Jinbao ran into Chen Peng and Chen Da, along with three others, as soon as he stepped out the door.

The scene was exactly the same as yesterday, and everyone fell silent.

Chen Zhi also fell silent. Her things were being coveted by someone, and not just one person.

This time, Chen Peng brought homemade stuffed tofu, Chen Da brought savory glutinous rice balls, Chen Ergou brought tofu skin, and Chen Xiaoshuai brought fish balls.

Chen Zhi raised her eyelids to look at them, "Isn't giving a gift only once?"

All four of them were thick-skinned and didn't feel embarrassed at all.

Chen Da: "It's normal to deliver more often to people you're closer to."

Chen Peng was more honest, "The braised pork was so fragrant yesterday, and the braised vegetables were so delicious, my family forced me to come. Of course, I wanted to eat it myself too."

Chen Ergou: "If Zhao Jinbao can come and ask for it, why can't we?"

Chen Xiaoshuai: "Tomorrow is Lunar New Year's Eve, today is the last time."

What could Chen Zhi say? She could only get up and cut braised meat for them.

Besides cutting up pork offal, she also gave each of them a bowl of pork head meat, picking out the fatty parts for them and keeping the lean parts for herself.

Anyway, they like to eat fatty foods.

The four of them carried away a full plate of meat and a ceramic basin of braised water.

Chen Zhi felt mentally exhausted.

She had just sat down at the table when someone else arrived.

Chen Zhi thought it was Chen Peng and his three companions who had returned, but it turned out to be Shi Xin and his wife.

Chen Zhi was pleasantly surprised, "Why are you all here?"

Sister-in-law Shi: "I've come to give you a New Year's gift."

The two men each pushed a bicycle, with things hanging all over the front and back of the bicycles.

Chen Zhi helped them take their things down, and when she sat back down at the table, the noodles were already cold, with a layer of white grease on top.

Chen Zhi: "I'm eating noodles, would you like some?"

Shi Xin and his wife both smiled and said they wanted to try her cooking.

Chen Zhi thought that the braised dishes were readily available, so it wouldn't take much of her skill.

While the couple sorted through the gifts, Chen Zhi also cooked the noodles, which were served in ceramic basins. Each person had a large basin full of noodles, covered with braised meat on top and vegetables and noodles underneath.

"It smells so good," Sister Shi exclaimed.

Shi Xin: "It smells really good. I didn't expect your braised dishes to smell so good."

Chen Zhi: "Then you should eat more. I have a lot of braised meat in the pot; you can take some back with you later."

Shi Xin: "How many could there be? It's not just a pair of pig offal, a pig's ear, and a pig's tongue."

Chen Zhi shook her head, "I hunted a wild boar yesterday, I'll show you in a bit."

The noodles smelled delicious, and the braised pork smelled delicious too. The three of them ate all the meat, noodles, and vegetables in the ceramic bowl, and even drank the soup. Not a single thing was left.