A Young Woman's Heart

"Then sleep a little longer. Wait until I finish cleaning before you get up. The sun is so nice today, take the blankets out to air them."

"Okay~" The younger sister rolled over, holding her phone and turning it to the other side. "What are we having for lunch, sister?"

"I had barbecue yesterday, and I'm still a bit greasy today. How about I have hot and sour shredded potato rice for lunch? It's sweet and sour with a little spice."

"Okay." The younger sister scratched her right leg with her left foot. "Aren't we going out today?"

"Let's go to the night market in the evening."

"Yeah! Let's go to the night market near Xiaoyao's house, we can run into them there."

"That's a bit far."

"Sister~"

"it is good……"

I smiled helplessly and agreed to her little whim.

The weather is indeed quite warm today. The weather forecast said it would be 24 degrees Celsius. I was covered in sweat after cleaning, and my sister also got up and went to the bathroom to wash up.

I carried the bedding to the door and hung it on another clothesline.

This is a clothesline I built myself using bamboo. As long as it's sunny, it gets sun all day long, making it the perfect spot to dry bedding.

Of course, bedding and pillows need to be aired out...

"Sister~ Make lunch! I'll help."

"Okay, let's wash and peel the potatoes first." I patted the bedding hanging on the clothesline, bringing up a lot of fine dust.

Dust swirled in the sunlight, like a warm 'snow' falling.

A tiny, dark lump of coal emerged from the straw nest I had woven for it, welcoming the new day.

However, it seems to dislike sunlight, so it always stays in the shade.

That's the little black rabbit my sister wants to raise; we call it Dark Chocolate, or simply Dark Chocolate.

Most of the time, you don't need to feed it anything; it will run to the open space outside the yard and eat wild grass on its own.

Hmm... Is this what they mean by "a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow"?

Occasionally we feed it some dried food.

On the big rock over there, there was a basket with some radishes, green vegetables, and cabbages drying inside.

After drying, we cut it up and feed it to the animals. Sometimes we also take some to add to soup.

Dark Chocolate's arrival didn't make the place any more lively, because it was a quiet rabbit that would occasionally run away on its own. Luckily, it knew its way home... but the first few times it did make us worry for quite a while.

"Dark Chocolate, come here~" I squatted down and clapped my hands at it. It hopped over to me, sniffed at my palm, and I grabbed it and rubbed it hard.

It has gotten much fatter than when we first bought it; if it were fully stretched out, it would look like a big rabbit.

Although it doesn't interact with people like dogs and cats, my sister and I sometimes play with it for an afternoon. Its biggest advantage is that it doesn't run into the house on its own and doesn't make noise to disturb my sister and me's sleep.

That's why I agreed to let her keep rabbits.

After all, we don't get enough sleep to begin with, and if we're also kept awake by noise, life just won't be able to go on.

"Sister! The potatoes are peeled!"

"Here it comes~ I'll cut it."

"Okay, I'll go start the fire!"

In addition to using gas for cooking, this room can also be used to burn firewood.

In our spare time, my sister and I would go to the nearby mountains to collect firewood. The best thing about it is that it's free.

When I'm busy, I'll just buy some from the villagers nearby. It's basically half price, half free, and the price is very reasonable—much cheaper than gas, it's just a bit more troublesome.

……

Chapter 212 Under the Sun (Part 2)

Everyone has a first time.

I am a child who grew up in the city.

Actually, I had never really been in contact with a traditional earthen stove before.

Even before my parents passed away, I wasn't very good at cooking.

But the more you do it, the more skilled you become.

My younger sister, who couldn't start a fire before, is now surprisingly quick at it.

The earthen stove was added later, so it wasn't installed inside the container house, but rather a small awning was built outside and an earthen stove was constructed there.

This stove was made by Mr. Xue and Duanmu Ji as an experiment. After they finished making it, they found it to be quite good, so they kept it for use.

Mr. Xue often comes here to play. He says it's because it's quiet here. Sometimes he can be seen fiddling with a bunch of parts in the corner of the yard all day without feeling tired at all.

Looking at him now, it's as if you can see what he will be like in the future.

I think that when he grows up, he might become a scientist who is very passionate about scientific research.

At the very least, he should become an engineer...

"Whoosh—whoosh—" My sister blew a few breaths into the stove to make the fire burn brighter, then put in some dry branches that were easy to light, and finally put in one or two thick pieces of firewood that she had chopped up.

"Da da da—" The cleaver in my hand kept moving, quickly slicing the potatoes into shreds. I enjoyed the rhythm of chopping vegetables, and it felt like I was playing a drum.

"Youyou, put the rice on to cook."

"Okay!" My sister quickly ran into the house and poured the rice into the rice cooker.

The stove is a single unit, so you still have to use a rice cooker to cook rice.

Also, cooking rice in a rice cooker is definitely much more convenient than using a stove.

This is incomparable to the convenience of cooking with gas.

"Dark Chocolate! Come here!" Seeing that the fire in the stove was fully lit, the younger sister looked somewhat lazily at the little black rabbit washing its face with its fluffy little paws in the shadows. "Come here, come here~ I'll feed you some dried carrots~"

The little black rabbit remained unmoved, which angered the younger sister so much that she picked it up, placed it in her arms, and sat down again in front of the stove.

"Sister, let's use gas in the summer. The stove is definitely better in winter. It's already getting a bit hot now."

“Okay.” I nodded with a smile. “We can stock up on more firewood in the summer so we can use it in the winter.”

"Mmm! Hehe..." The younger sister placed the struggling Dark Chocolate on her lap. Once it was no longer suspended in the air, the latter quieted down and began licking its back with its tongue, cleaning itself. "Sister~ Dark Chocolate's paws are so furry."

"It would be perfect for making pickled rabbit feet," I said with a sly smile.

"Did you hear me, Dark Chocolate? If you don't behave, I'll eat you up!"

As if it understood, Dark Chocolate started struggling again.

"Pfft, you understand?" The younger sister gently stroked the mustache around Dark Chocolate's mouth. "Then don't mess around—Dark Chocolate!! You've soiled myself again!"

"Little coal ball" is just rabbit droppings; my sister just likes to call it that because she thinks it sounds more polite.

She picked up the dark chocolate, then slapped the 'little coal ball' off her to the ground, while the latter looked completely innocent.

"Didn't you yourself say that its little lumps of coal were just grass balls and not dirty at all?"

"Hmph." The younger sister rubbed her little black tummy hard. "Sister, why do rabbits have straight intestines?"

"Hmm...you'd have to ask the ancestors of rabbits about that." I chuckled softly, heated the oil in the pan, then smashed the garlic cloves I'd broken off with a knife and tossed them into the pan along with the dried chilies. Next, I added the shredded potatoes, and while stir-frying, I added the seasonings...

Finally, simply divide the hot and sour shredded potatoes into two portions, place them on top of the rice, and then drizzle with the sauce.

With such beautiful sunshine, of course we had to eat in the sun. At first, the warm sunshine just started to feel hot.

There is a sense of leisurely and tranquil comfort.

After we finished eating, I went to wash the dishes, while my younger sister ran into the house.

"Youyou, can you make me a cup of tea? It's the tea leaves we picked from the mountain last time."

I picked them secretly, and not many, um...

Because I don't know how to roast tea leaves, I just dry them in the sun. When I want to drink tea, I just brew them directly, so they taste rather bitter, but they have a more natural flavor.

"Want some tea? Or maybe we can have some wine after dinner!" my sister exclaimed excitedly, bringing out a bottle of red wine with a cork still on from inside the house.

This was a gift that Gao Yuan secretly left at home. We didn't notice it for a whole month until we found it later in a hidden compartment next to the sofa cabinet.

When we asked Gao Yuan, he was surprised that it took us a month to find it.

Then it just sat on the wine cabinet and was never touched.

After all, there's only one bottle of wine on the cabinet. If we finish that, there won't be any left.

You can't just put an empty wine bottle there as decoration, can you?

However, since my sister wants to drink it, let her drink it.

Although neither of us is a big drinker.

"Drink if you want."

"Alright! I've got it out! By the way, I don't think I have a wine opener at home!"

"If you can't open it, you won't drink it." I smiled as I washed the foam off the bowl. "This is a test for you."

"Hmph... there must be a way... let me think—"

As a result, after I finished washing the dishes, I found that my sister had taken out half of the cork, while the other half was broken inside. When she saw me, she started scratching her head and laughing awkwardly.

I gave her a disgruntled look, found a small fruit knife, and slowly pried the cork out.

The wine bottle has been opened, but the cork is mostly broken. In that case, it must be consumed immediately, otherwise the alcohol will evaporate completely within a few days.

We don't have wine glasses at home, so we have to use regular glasses, which looks a bit old-fashioned.

"The red wine that Gao Yuan gave us, it must be one of the more expensive kinds, right?"

"Hmm... I guess so." I don't know much about alcohol, so I couldn't answer my sister's question. I just put it to my lips and took a small sip. "...It tastes better than baijiu."