Last night, although she still slept beneath a tattered quilt that wasn't warm in the slightest, because she had plans and expectations, Li Menglan still slept beautifully through the night without a single dream.
The sky had just brightened when Li Menglan got up yawning, her eyes bleary with sleep: "Dad, Mom, Big Brother, Second Brother—morning!"
"Daughter, it's still early; why don't you sleep a little longer?" Li Dazhu said to his daughter cheerfully.
Zhang Yuniang, on the other hand, reminded her with some concern: "Daughter, the morning weather is cool; remember to put on more clothes, don't catch a cold again?" Zhang Yuniang wiped the water droplets from her hands on the apron at her waist, then touched Li Menglan's forehead and said lovingly.
"Got it, Mom." When her forehead was suddenly touched by Zhang Yuniang's icy hand, Li Menglan couldn't help but shiver; she reached out to rub her nose and nodded sheepishly.
"Little sister, come here." Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao, the two brothers, each held one of Li Menglan's hands and asked: "Little sister, you haven't said how exactly to make these dried persimmons?"
The method for making dried persimmons wasn't actually very complicated; it just required going through the process of pressing the persimmons three times, so it seemed rather troublesome. The peeled persimmons from yesterday had already dried out on the surface after a day of sun-drying.
Li Menglan reached out and picked one up, looked at it, and confirmed that it was ready for the first pressing: "Big Brother, Second Brother, if you want these dried persimmons to turn out delicious, they must go through the pressing process three times. Look... see how I'm pressing it like this."
Li Menglan carefully demonstrated for the two brothers, Li Zhiming and Li Zhihao: "Yes, Big Brother, you need to use a lighter touch." Li Menglan reminded her two brothers while demonstrating: "Big Brother, Second Brother, you can't use too much force. If you break the persimmon, then it'll be ruined."
"Little sister, Big Brother knows." Li Zhiming answered absentmindedly, his full attention on the persimmon in his hand.
Although Li Zhihao had a rather hyperactive personality, his hands were more nimble than Li Zhiming's, and he quickly finished pressing three dried persimmons: "Little sister, is this good enough?" Li Zhihao couldn't help but say to Li Menglan like he was showing off a treasure.
"Mm... if the sun is strong today, we'll need to press them once at noon too; tomorrow we'll press them one last time, then wait until these persimmons develop a sugar frost and they'll be about done." Li Menglan looked up at the weather outside, smiled lightly, her eyes curving into crescents.
Anyway, there was nothing much to do today, so Li Menglan planned to make the chopped chili peppers and chili sauce today; but for now? Li Menglan decided to go wash the pork offal first. If the pork offal wasn't cleaned, left like this it would really start to stink.
Although there was a well in their courtyard, Li Menglan didn't plan to wash it there; no matter how you looked at it, pork offal was very difficult to clean, and using well water it was really hard to wash clean.
Li Menglan carried a wooden basin and took some salt and flour, planning to take the large intestines, small intestines, and pig stomach to the banks of the Yun River to wash; saving herself from making the ground by the well greasy, not to mention the stench.
"Mom, I'm going to the Yun River!" Li Menglan called out loudly, planning to pick up the pork offal and leave.
"Daughter, why are you going to the Yun River so early in the morning?" Zhang Yuniang stuck her head out from the kitchen and asked.
"Mom, I have nothing else to do, so I'm going to wash the pork offal." Li Menglan frowned. Uh... this basket of pork offal—why couldn't she lift it? Fine sweat beaded on Li Menglan's forehead, and her slightly pale little face, after this bout of exertion, also took on a healthy flush.
"Daughter, Dad will send you to the Yun River." Li Dazhu saw Li Menglan's awkward state and couldn't help laughing.
"Oh." Li Menglan lowered her head sheepishly.
The Li family courtyard wasn't far from the Yun River. Exiting the courtyard, turning a corner, and walking down the river embankment, one could see the clear, sparkling waters of the Yun River. Beneath a weeping willow tree was a large bluestone slab—this was usually where the Li family washed things. It was already late autumn, and the willow tree only had bare branches standing alone by the Yun River.
"Dad, just put the pork offal down and I'll do it myself; you go back first! There's still lots to do at home, right?" As soon as Li Menglan saw they had arrived, she hurriedly urged Li Dazhu to go home.
Li Dazhu furrowed his brows and asked: "Daughter, are you sure you don't want Dad's help? Can you manage?"
"It's fine, Dad, you go back!" Li Menglan waved her hand and said.
"Then Dad's leaving!"
"Mm."
Li Menglan squatted down and took the pork offal out from the basket. Hoo... Li Menglan couldn't help sucking in a cold breath. Good heavens, no wonder it was so heavy that she couldn't lift it—there were actually two sets of pork offal inside the basket.
Li Menglan's eyes instantly curved into crescents, a faint smile hanging at the corner of her mouth. Hehe... what a huge profit. She never dreamed she had picked up such a big bargain for free. A suspicious wet gleam flickered at the corner of Li Menglan's mouth and vanished.
The river water in late autumn was already starting to get cold, but Li Menglan couldn't care less about the cold. Taking flour and salt, she put these things in the wooden basin and scrubbed them vigorously. After the intestines and stomachs in the wooden basin were scrubbed with salt and vinegar, the thick, greasy, sauce-colored wastewater turned sticky and looked extremely nauseating and disgusting.
Li Menglan didn't find it disgusting either—no matter how you put it, after these things were cleaned, they were all delicacies. Although this offal was picked up for free, washing it was rather troublesome. Fortunately, she had bought flour yesterday; otherwise, it really would have been difficult to wash clean.
After rinsing the pork offal in the Yun River like this, the sauce-colored wastewater flowed away with the river water; the Yun River water was still as clear as before.
Li Menglan felt that washing things by the Yun River was convenient. Whether washing clothes or vegetables, you just needed to wash them once in the river water and it was done, without needing a second rinse.
It's just that there was quite a lot of pork offal, and Li Menglan only nodded in satisfaction when her feet were numb and her hands were sore. Pig large intestines, pig small intestines, and pig stomach were all particularly dirty things. If they weren't washed clean or had an odd smell, then people really wouldn't be able to eat them.
Li Menglan remembered that in her previous life, a relatively close male friend had once said something like this: he said that when eating pig large intestines, they absolutely must retain that stinky pig manure flavor—only then would they taste truly delicious.
It was precisely this one sentence that once made Li Menglan shrink back at the sight of pig large intestines. Pig large intestines had once given Li Menglan nightmares for a whole month; it was simply turning pale at the mention of intestines.