Farming for Three Meals a Day [Farming Life] 80

Chapter 80

Lin Jiangshan always supported his husband. In their family of two, he took care of half of the responsibilities, and the other half was all thanks to his husband: tending the vegetable garden, selling vegetables, and embroidering handkerchiefs. Ye Xi’s efforts had brought in a good income, otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to afford the land and the cow so quickly.

After the spring tea harvest, Ye Xi went to the manager and bought a sack of tea leaves for fifty wen. These older leaves weren’t worth much to the tea plantation, so they might as well sell them directly to Ye Xi.

Back home, Ye Xi carefully washed the tea leaves and spread them out on bamboo trays to dry.

Lin Jiangshan had said before leaving that he would come back early today to help with stir-frying the tea leaves.

Ye Xi naturally listened to him. His husband cared about him, so he should accept his kindness and not be stubborn, lest he hurt his husband’s feelings and appear unappreciative.

In the days leading up to the Dragon Boat Festival, Ye Xi stored the goat milk in a bucket, immersed in a jar of ice-cold melted snow water.

He took out the duck eggs he bought earlier, blue-shelled duck eggs, each one large and perfect for making salted duck eggs, which would be oily and sandy.

After washing the duck eggs, he boiled a pot of water, added two handfuls of wild peppercorns they dried themselves, and half a jar of salt, dissolved and stirred it, then set the brine aside to cool.

While waiting, Ye Xi wiped each duck egg dry with a cloth.

There were two methods for pickling salted duck eggs in the mountains: one was to coat them in mud, which would also result in oily and salty duck eggs, and the other was Ye Xi’s method, soaking them in brine.

Ye Xi preferred using brine, it was more convenient and cleaner, he didn’t like the mud coating.

He took out a ceramic jar, carefully placed the duck eggs inside, and filled the jar with the cooled brine, submerging the eggs.

Finally, he added some white wine, sealed the jar, and waited for the Dragon Boat Festival.

After storing the jar of duck eggs in the kitchen, Lin Jiangshan returned.

“You’re back,” Ye Xi greeted him with a smile.

Lin Jiangshan agreed. “While plowing the fields today, I also dug an irrigation channel for the owner, so it would be more convenient for them to water their crops later. The owner was pleased with my work and gave me an extra five wen as a tip.”

Ye Xi took the small string of cash, about sixty wen. “That’s a generous owner.”

Lin Jiangshan said, “Before I left, he asked if I would be free during Summer Solstice to help with the wheat harvest, offering thirty wen a day, and also asked if I would be available for the autumn harvest.”

This was a fair offer. During the busy farming seasons, villagers would work as hired laborers, earning about twenty wen a day, and those who weren’t strong enough wouldn’t even be hired, and not everyone could find work.

Ye Xi praised him, “My husband is so capable, you went to plow fields and even secured future jobs, we won’t go hungry with you around.”

Lin Jiangshan, embarrassed by his husband’s praise, scratched his head and went to the courtyard to stir-fry the tea leaves.

He used a brick stove, heated a wok, and added the tea leaves, constantly stirring and rubbing them to dry them completely.

His calloused hands were resistant to heat, if Ye Xi did this, he would surely get burned.

The sack of tea leaves weighed about twenty catties, and it took him from afternoon until nightfall, burning a whole basket of firewood, to stir-fry them. He was sweating profusely, his shirt soaked.

He had only produced about five catties of dried tea leaves, which still needed to be further dried before grinding them into powder.

Ye Xi wiped the sweat from Lin Jiangshan’s forehead and gave him a bowl of tea. They worked under the oil lamp, stir-frying the tea leaves.

When the leaves could be easily crushed between his fingertips, they were finally ready.

“There’s still work tomorrow, let them dry overnight, and we’ll finish tomorrow.”

They had been working all day, their bodies tired and aching. After washing up and soaking their feet in hot water, they turned off the lights and went to bed.

The next day, Ye Xi started grinding the tea leaves into powder. He had to finish it quickly, he still needed to make zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings).

He put the dried tea leaves in a mortar and pounded them with a pestle until they turned into powder, then sifted it twice through a fine sieve.

After taking the cow out to graze and cutting grass for the rabbits and feeding the chickens and ducks, Lin Jiangshan came back and took over, grinding the tea leaves for Ye Xi.

The ground tea leaves were fragrant, even more so than brewed tea. Ye Xi made a cup with hot water for Lin Jiangshan, and it was fragrant, slightly sweet, and refreshing.

“This would be even better with goat milk,” Ye Xi said with a smile.

They had saved quite a bit of goat milk these past few days, so he boiled a pot of goat milk, stirring gently.

After the milk boiled, he skimmed off the foam, added the tea powder, stirred it evenly, and continued simmering. The goat milk turned from milky white to a light green, the aroma of milk blending with the fragrance of tea.

Lin Jiangshan’s mouth watered at the smell, his husband was always making new and delicious things, spoiling his taste buds.

Ye Xi served him a bowl of tea-infused goat milk. “I added a spoonful of honey, it’s delicious.”

Lin Jiangshan drank most of it in one gulp, it was truly good. “Are you going to sell this tea-infused goat milk, husband?”

Ye Xi smiled. “If we just sell goat milk, we won’t get a good price, the dessert shops in town also sell good milk drinks. I’m thinking of making a kind of su (a type of flaky pastry) to sell, something new and interesting, although it’s more work.”

“Su?” Lin Jiangshan didn’t understand these things, he had rarely been to a pastry shop.

Ye Xi stirred the tea-infused goat milk in the pot with a wooden spoon and smiled. “It’s made with the milk solids. When I was young, my mother would boil goat milk for me, and I loved the milk skin on top. If you keep stirring, it solidifies, and it’s crispy, sweet, and melts in your mouth.”

Lin Jiangshan vaguely understood, he would just listen to his husband.

The green tangerines in the mountains had started growing, their small green skins inedible, even the children in the village wouldn’t eat them, too sour.

But Ye Xi took a basket and went with Lin Jiangshan to pick a basketful, and after peeling them, the strong citrusy aroma filled the air, making their mouths water.

He put the peeled fruit into a mortar and crushed them, extracting the juice. After crushing a whole basket of green tangerines, he had a bowl of juice.

Ye Xi, mischievously, dipped his finger in the juice and offered it to Lin Jiangshan, the overwhelming sourness making him frown, and he reached out to grab Ye Xi, wanting to kiss him and make him taste it too.

The goat and fawn watched them play, their eyes innocent and clear, wondering why they were being so silly.

After their playful banter, Ye Xi poured the juice into the pot and continued stirring with the wooden spoon. The tea-infused goat milk gradually thickened, and milk solids started to form.

When the pot was filled with milk solids, he lined a basket with cheesecloth, filtered the solids, squeezed them into a ball, pressed them with a stone to remove excess water, and then used a bamboo whisk to beat the milk solids in a basin until smooth and creamy.

This was tiring work, and Ye Xi’s arms were sore, so Lin Jiangshan took over, the two taking turns until they had two basins of the mixture.

Ye Xi mixed flour and glutinous rice flour with the milk solids, added honey and some crushed rose petals, and the resulting pastry was beautiful and fragrant.

He tasted a small piece, the rich milk flavor melting in his mouth, with a hint of tea, and the lingering sweetness of green tangerines and honey, a delicious combination.

Lin Jiangshan also tried a piece and found it delicious. If he liked it, then the children and women would definitely like it too!

Ye Xi hadn’t expected his first attempt to be so successful.

To make it sound more appealing, he named it “Tea-infused Honey Milk Pastry.”

He would also bring some zongzi to sell at the market tomorrow. Selling just one kind of snack might not attract enough attention.

To diversify their offerings, he cooked red bean paste and made red bean zongzi, then used dates and malt sugar to make candied date zongzi.

Lin Jiangshan liked sweet yellow rice zongzi, so Ye Xi also made a few for him.

Ye Xi had always been the one making zongzi at home. People in Nanchuan Prefecture preferred savory zongzi, especially those filled with cured meat and salted egg yolks.

So, he also cut a piece of cured meat and made over twenty zongzi, smiling as he wrapped them. “The pig we slaughtered during the New Year was fat, and the cured meat is especially oily, the three-layered pork belly oozing with fat, delicious in zongzi.”

Lin Jiangshan, bundling firewood in the courtyard, heard him and smiled. “I love the stir-fried bamboo shoots with cured meat you make, I haven’t had it in a while, I’m craving it, let’s have it tomorrow.”

Ye Xi replied, “The spring bamboo shoots in the mountains are in season now, I’ll make it for you, husband.”

After preparing everything for the market tomorrow, they went back to the house and rested. Lin Jiangshan, strong and full of energy after a day of rest at home, wanted to be intimate with Ye Xi.

Ye Xi, his eyes pleading, said, “We have to get up early for the market tomorrow, husband, let’s rest tonight.”

Lin Jiangshan wasn’t one to force himself on his husband, and since he refused, he obediently lay down and held him in his arms, falling asleep.

Early in the morning, while it was still dark, they both got up. It was brighter now than in winter, and they could see clearly in the dim light.

Ye Xi made a few pancakes for breakfast on the road.

Lin Jiangshan hitched the ox to the cart in the courtyard and loaded the charcoal and the snacks Ye Xi was selling.

Ye Xi locked the main room and came out. “I brought the pancakes, we can eat them on the road.”

Lin Jiangshan thoughtfully placed a cushion on the cart for Ye Xi, he didn’t want his husband to be jostled around on the bumpy road.

After packing everything, they set off for town in the ox cart.