Fu Chen’an watched as his wife tied the casing’s open end and then used twine to tie the sausage into individual links. Afterward, she popped the air bubbles trapped inside with a needle. He watched for a mont and copied her.
The two of them worked in silence and finally finished filling all the casings before sunset. Yao Zhi put the sausages into a large basin and cleaned the surface with warm water. Afterward, she brushed them with Baijiu.
She handed the sausages to her husband and said, "Husband, help dry them with a clean cloth."
Fu Chen’an nodded and started working. When they were done, Yao Zhi finally stood up and stretched her sore body. She pointed at the kitchen and said, "Now, we only need to let them dry for ten to fifteen days."
Hearing this, Fu Chen’an asked, "Wife, where should we dry them?"
Typically, sausages should be dried in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated area away from direct sunlight. The ideal temperature was around 20 degrees Celsius.
But with the current weather, the average temperature was above 30 degrees. Fortunately, she added spiritual spring water, so the sausages wouldn’t spoil.
She thought for a mont and said, "Let’s dry them in the kitchen."
"Okay."
Fu Chen’an brought the sausages to the kitchen and hung them on the beam, far from the stove. When he was done, he boiled so water for them to wash up.
After a tiring day, both of them were too tired to cook dinner. They heated up the leftovers from lunch and ate them before they took a quick bath and went to sleep.
The mont their heads touched the pillow, both of them drifted to sleep.
Early the next morning, Fu Chen’an woke up before dawn. No matter how tired he was, his biological clock was always precise thanks to years of training in the military barracks.
When he opened his eyes, he noticed sothing weighing on his body.
Lowering his gaze, he saw that his wife’s soft body was clinging closely to him. Her hand was placed on his chest, her leg intertwined with his. Even her knee was almost touching his private area.
Feeling her warm, soft body pressed against him, Fu Chen’an felt his blood rush to his lower abdon. In an instant, his throat tightened, and his mouth went dry.
He closed his eyes and silently chanted the three thousand classics he had been learning. When he finally cald down, he gently moved his wife’s hand and leg away from his body.
During this ti, he did not dare to breathe too loudly, afraid he might disturb her sleep. A few minutes later, he finally left the bed. Bending down, he covered his wife’s smooth calf with a thin blanket.
Fearing that he might do sothing beastly to her, Fu Chen’an quickly dressed and fled to the backyard. Standing near the kitchen, he took a deep breath to calm his rapidly beating heart.
He stared at the dark sky and prayed for his wife’s recovery. The faster she recovered, the sooner he would be freed from this sweet torture.
Walking to the water vat, he opened the bamboo box and saw a pair of small, delicate brushes. His wife had told him that this brush was used to clean his teeth and that she had bought it from a border rchant.
He was a rough man and worried that his wife might dislike him. So, he diligently brushed his teeth after waking up and before going to sleep. After cleaning his teeth, he used a strange, cream-like paste to wash his face.
When he was done, ten minutes had passed. He let out a sigh and thought that only at ho could he enjoy such treatnt. In the military barracks, let alone brushing his teeth and washing his face, it was already good if he could bathe once every few days.
While Fu Chen’an was thinking about how to take care of himself, Yao Zhi was awakened by a nightmare.
Her eyes snapped open as she suddenly sat up. Due to the abrupt movent, she felt dizzy, and her vision darkened. It took her a mont to recover. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she muttered, "It’s just a dream. Nothing will happen."
After a while, she finally cald down and tried to recall it. She had forgotten most of the dream and only rembered a swarm of locusts covering the sky. Everywhere they passed beca barren, leaving nothing behind except for the cries of people.
With the prolonged drought, the granaries were empty, and everyone was waiting for the sumr harvest. If her dream was prophetic, then once the locust disaster struck, the entire kingdom would surely face famine.
Thinking about the short dramas she had watched in her previous life, droughts, floods, locust disasters, and famine were unavoidable in ancient tis.
In better cases, they caused unrest and political instability. In worse cases, these disasters beca the trigger for dynastic change.
Thinking about the possibility of escaping famine, Yao Zhi shuddered.
While others might be able to flee, her husband was a soldier. He could not leave the army without permission, or he would be branded a deserter. Desertion was punishable by death, even implicating his nine generations.
"No, I must check the situation and make preparations," she muttered.
It was only the 6th month, and there were still two more months before the harvest. If the locust disaster arrived early, they would lose all the crops.
If there is rainfall in the next few days, the possibility of locusts laying eggs and forming a swarm would be high. Humid areas were the most suitable for them to reproduce.
Reaching this conclusion, Yao Zhi took a deep breath to calm herself. As long as there was no rain, her dream would not co true.
After calming down, she changed her clothes and tidied her hair. When she walked out, she saw her husband washing clothes by the well.
User Comments
0 comments from readers