Joe's Farming

When Gu Feng entered the bed, Qiao Yu pretended to be asleep with her eyes tightly closed.

But Gu Feng was not a fool. He knew Qiao Yu was not asleep by listening to his breathing.

Gu Feng quietly held her husband's hand, Qiao Yu held back from making a sound, and then neither of them spoke a word, and they fell asleep holding hands.

-

Qiao Yu was awakened by his biological clock early in the morning. The lump on the back of his head had disappeared by more than half.

Gu Feng was no longer in bed, probably because he had gone out to work. Qiao Yu got up and stretched, feeling that there was nothing wrong with her body except that she was a little weak.

I got out of bed quickly and put on new clothes, and took off the hair that I had tied up before going to bed yesterday.

I couldn't find a mirror in the room at the moment, so I just combed my hair and tied it up with a hairband.

When I went out, I found that the two children were also wearing new clothes, and their faces were clean, and it was obvious that they had just washed up.

Even her hair is still tied up in a bun as usual, and it's obvious that it's Gu Feng's work.

Gu Feng was making breakfast in the kitchen. The medicine had already been boiled and was cooling, so he was waiting for Qiao Yu to get up and take it.

Seeing that Qiao Yu had gotten up, he brought her some hot water to wash her face.

In his hand, he also held a bamboo cup and willow salt. Qiao Yu had never enjoyed such treatment before, so he quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth.

Brushing your teeth with bitten willow twigs is not very comfortable, but at least it is better than nothing. Qiao Yu silently added making a toothbrush and toothpaste to her to-do list.

After washing up, Gu Feng brought out breakfast and medicine, a few freshly baked pancakes, a bowl of porridge, and a small bowl of sugar that could be put into the porridge.

Qiao Yu didn't like adding sugar to her porridge, so she said to Gu Feng, "Wait a minute, I'll go mix some cold dishes. You guys eat first."

"I'll go light the fire." Gu Xiaoxue volunteered to help in the kitchen, leaving Gu Feng and Gu Xiaoyan staring at each other.

"I'll wait for mom to come before eating." Gu Xiaoyan whispered to his father.

Gu Feng nodded, but he also knew that his cooking skills were average, and his husband must be dissatisfied and asked for more dishes.

Qiao Yu arrived at the kitchen and found that the cabbage prepared yesterday was still quite fresh, so he asked Xiaoxue to boil water and blanch the cabbage.

Then cut the dried chili into shreds, chop the garlic into a paste and put them in a small bowl, heat some oil and pour it on top, add some soy sauce and salt to season, then mix it with the shredded cabbage and serve.

Gu Feng waited for Qiao Yu to finish, gave him a cake and a bowl of porridge, and then started to eat his own.

There is no need to worry about the two children, they can do it on their own.

"Is it delicious? I didn't put too much chili in it because I thought it would be too spicy." Qiao Yu asked Gu Feng.

"It's delicious. Not spicy." Gu Feng answered concisely.

Qiao Yu was very happy and felt that he was not just eating for free.

I remembered that there were some spices that I didn't have at home, so I asked, "I see that there are some spices that I don't have at home, where can I buy them?"

"If you want to buy it, I'll take you to town later."

Gu Feng thought that the furniture he had ordered this afternoon would be delivered, so he just had to come back before 3 p.m.

Qiao Yu shook her head: "Don't worry, I saw that the autumn pears in the backyard were ripe yesterday. Can you help me pick some later?"

Gu Feng actually planned to pick the pears and sell them in the town. The pear tree was dug down from the mountain when he first moved here, and he specially picked the sweetest one.

So he agreed, "Well, I might as well pick some and sell them in town."

"How much is one pound?" Qiao Yu was curious.

"About four or five cents. This pear is sweet. Some people pick pears from the mountains and sell them, but they are not as sweet as this."

Qiao Yu actually didn't know much about the prices in the Great Yan Dynasty. She only knew that her betrothal gift was five taels, which was very high considering that most guys in Shangtian Village only had three taels at most.

But because the original owner had always stayed in the village and had never been to the town, the villagers had to grow whatever they wanted to eat or exchange it with other families.

So the original owner had no idea about prices.

But Gu Feng's words also revealed that this price should be relatively good, but now a large number of autumn pears are on the market, how much better can it be?

"If it is boiled into autumn pear paste, how much can it be sold for?"

Qiao Yu thought that she could cook it and stockpile it, and then sell it when the season changes.

The seasons are bad and people are more likely to catch a cold during the change of seasons. Autumn pear paste can moisten the lungs, relieve cough and asthma, and it can be sold at a higher price than usual.

Gu Feng had never heard of Qiuli Paste. He frowned slightly and looked at his young husband: "What is Qiuli Paste?"

Qiao Yu realized that the medical knowledge of the Great Yan Dynasty might not be perfect enough. If he made good use of it, he might be able to improve the conditions at home.

I made up a story and said, "This is a recipe I heard from a wandering Taoist priest. When I was a child, I always coughed when it was cold, so the Taoist priest gave this recipe to my mother. Use autumn pears and honey to make autumn pear paste, dissolve it in warm water and drink it. It moistens the lungs and relieves coughs. It works very well."

When Gu Feng heard this, he thought this thing was a good thing, and made a decision immediately: "Then I will pick them all later, and Brother Qiao will make them into autumn pear paste and sell them."

"Okay. But the autumn pear paste needs to be stored well so it won't spoil easily. Brother Gu, can you buy some pottery jars? It would be better if they were smaller so that they can be packaged and sold more easily."

Qiao Yu felt embarrassed when he called him Brother Gu, but Gu Feng on the other side felt very happy about it.

"It's a small matter. I'll go find Uncle Dali. He used to work in the kiln factory and can help me ask."

Seeing that his husband had only eaten half of the pancake, Gu Feng did not complain and took it himself and ate it in three or two bites.

Then he asked Qiao Yu to drink the medicine and went to wash the dishes.

-

After breakfast, the four of them went to the backyard to pick pears.

Because Qiao Yu wanted to eat fresh pears, the pears could still hang on the tree for a while.

So Gu Feng didn't pick all the pears, but even so the pears filled two large bamboo baskets.

When picking pears, Qiao Yu stood under the tree to receive the fruits. She was so happy.

After picking the fruits, Qiao Yu took the two children to wash them in the yard while Gu Feng went out to take care of the pottery jars.

After cleaning, Qiao Yu placed the autumn pears in a clean large basket to drain the moisture from the surface.

In addition to autumn pear paste, Qiao Yu also wants to take advantage of the good weather to dry some autumn pears as snacks for her two children, and they can also be used to make tea.

The lighting in the kitchen was poor, so Qiao Yu moved the thick chopping board to the yard and sat at the stone table to cut slowly.

First, split the pear in half, remove the core, and then cut it into vertical pieces. The pieces should not be too thick or they will dry out easily, nor too thin or they will feel dry when chewed.

I cut about twenty pounds of meat and stopped when I thought it was enough for the children to eat for a while, then I put it in the pot to steam.

While steaming the pears, Qiao Yu bit into a fresh pear. It was very sweet, with the fresh fragrance of autumn pear.

After steaming for about half a quarter of an hour, Qiao Yu used clean chopsticks to neatly arrange the steamed pears on a flat bamboo dustpan and took them to the yard to dry.

If the weather is good, they can be dried in the afternoon of the next day.

The fire on the stove was not completely extinguished because autumn pear paste would be boiled later.

Next, Qiao Yu began to cut the remaining pears into strips and then into small pieces. This was a big project and Qiao Yu spent a full hour cutting.

Finally, pour all the chopped pears into a large iron pot without oil or water, and add some shredded ginger and honey.

Add firewood and cook for a while until the pear juice is cooked, then use gauze to squeeze out the pear juice from the paste in the pot.

Finally, pour the pear juice back into the iron pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until the liquid becomes thick.

Qiao Yu cooked about 150 kilograms of autumn pears this time, but in the end she boiled less than 15 kilograms. She put them all in a large basin and covered it with a wooden lid, waiting for Gu Feng to come back before packaging them.

Qiao Yu boiled a pot of water for the two children, and when it cooled down, he mixed it with a cup of autumn pear paste water for each of them to drink.

"Mom, it's sweet and delicious." Gu Xiaoyan said sweetly.

"Be good, it will taste better after a few days."