The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Summer went and autumn came, and in the blink of an eye, this group of people had been in the valley for several months. Autumn came early in the valley, and the coolness had penetrated into the morning dew.

Xia Mianwan got up shivering and made a pot of hot milk tea.

The autumn is okay, but the winter in the mountains may not be that easy.

In order to prepare for the coming cold winter, Xiaowu organized everyone to go to the distant mountains to chop firewood. He was reluctant to chop wood nearby, because if the firewood was not enough, he could chop some wood nearby, so Xiaowu would take everyone to a distant place to chop firewood whenever possible.

In the past few months, the children have been practicing martial arts with Xiaowu every day. Although there has not been much progress in their skills, their physical fitness has improved a lot. This is not the first time that Xiaowu has taken everyone to chop wood, but this is the first time that everyone has gone out together.

"Mother, this is the first time we go to chop wood. Don't worry, I will protect you!" Chen Ge'er said, patting his chest.

Neither Zheng Xiaoyun nor she is short, so in this ancient time when people were generally short, Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er were already considered to be quite tall.

"Okay... With you here, mother is not afraid. Come, I have prepared hot milk tea, white flour buns and a can of homemade meat sauce. You have to do your own things. I sewed two small sheepskin schoolbags for you last night. You can put them away yourselves." Xia Mianwan said as she poured the milk tea into Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er's small kettles respectively.

After they were ready, they went to the gathering place in the valley.

The group of people set off in a mighty manner.

Xiaowu led everyone to the east of the settlement and walked for more than half an hour. The children had good perseverance and none of them complained of being tired, but Xia Mianwan was exhausted and out of breath.

I've definitely not exercised enough...

"Mianwan, are you okay?" Seeing that Xia Mianwan was a little out of breath, Mrs. Chen quickly walked to Xia Mianwan's side and supported her.

Xia Mianwan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "It's okay, I'm just not used to it."

"I told you not to come out. We can help you collect enough firewood from your home." said Mrs. Chen.

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "I also wanted to come out to see if there is any other food. You know winter is coming soon. This is the first winter and none of us have any experience. We don't know how cold it will be, how much firewood to prepare, and how much food to prepare. Our staple food will definitely be enough for the first year, but it would be good to have some new food."

When Mrs. Chen heard this, she nodded secretly: "Mian Wan, you are still thoughtful."

After walking for about another quarter of an hour, Xiaowu shouted for everyone to stop.

"There's a lot of open space here. I'll sprinkle some animal repellent powder and everyone can start collecting firewood according to the formation I arranged last night." Xiao Wu said as he opened the animal repellent powder and prepared to start drawing circles.

Xia Mianwan took out the kettle and drank a sip of water. After resting for a while, he began to walk around.

Chestnut!

When Xia Mian was walking around late at night, he suddenly stepped on something hard. When he lifted his foot, he saw that it was a chestnut.

"It's chestnuts!" Xia Mianwan said in surprise.

"Chestnut?" Zhou Chengze heard Xia Mianwan's voice and hurried over.

"Yes, Chestnut!"

Xia Mianwan picked up the chestnuts on the ground and said to Zhou Chengze, "Brother Zhou, tell everyone to pick up these things if they see them."

Zhou Chengze took the chestnuts and went to talk to everyone.

Xia Mianwan picked up some chestnuts from everywhere, probably about ten kilograms.

"Sister Xia, look, what is this? Is it edible?" Chen Susu came over and asked, holding a strange-shaped mushroom in her hand.

Xia Mianwan looked at it carefully, but couldn't tell what kind of mushroom it was. But what he was sure of was that he had seen this thing in an imported supermarket before he traveled through the book.

"I can't really say what it's called, but it's edible. Maybe once it's cooked, I'll know what it's called."

When Xia Mianwan said it was edible, Chen Susu became excited and hurried around to look for it again.

"Mother, there are a lot of firewood here. I'll take Yujie to collect it here." Chen Ge'er chose a place and started to collect firewood. Although Chen Ge'er practiced martial arts every day, it was unrealistic for him to chop firewood because of his age. Children of the same age as Chen Ge'er were just picking up dead branches around him.

Only when you are a little older can you chop wood with Xiaowu and Zhou Chengze.

This piece of open space was quite large, and Xiaowu led the men to chop wood for a long time. At noon, everyone sat down to rest and eat something, and then continued working in the afternoon.

When they returned, everyone took inventory and found that in addition to firewood, they also harvested a lot of chestnuts, mushrooms, wild yams, wild persimmons and some wild grapes.

"Sister Xia, how do you think we should distribute these things?" Xiao Wu asked.

Xia Mianwan thought for a moment and said, "We all found these things together, so we should all use them together. Let's put it this way. I will cook the mountain products that are difficult to preserve for everyone at noon. This will reduce the consumption of food. The ones that are easy to preserve will be stored in the cellar and distributed to everyone in early winter."

Everyone expressed no objection.

"Brother Xiaowu, are we still going tomorrow?" one of the children asked.

"Yes." Xiao Wu nodded.

The process of collecting food is full of wild fun, and the children all like it very much. After Xia Mianwan followed them to collect for a few days, they found that there was no food to collect nearby except firewood.

So, except for Xiaowu who went to the deeper woods with a few good hunters, the rest of them stayed at home, some studied and some farmed.

Xia Mianwan has been learning how to make wine these past two days. Wild grapes are sour and astringent, and you can't eat them directly, and they are not suitable for storage. If they are made into wine or grape starters, they are still edible.

Xia Mianwan remembered that wine was very expensive in ancient times, so he wondered if he could make some.

"Mother, does this wine need so much sugar?" Yu Jie'er stayed with Xia Mianwan today. Xia Mianwan would take Yu Jie'er with her no matter what she did and would not avoid her.

"Mother doesn't know either. She only remembers that sugar is needed..." Xia Mianwan said uncertainly.

Sister Yu: “…”

"Mother, where did you get so many jars?" Yu Jie'er asked when she saw Xia Mianwan holding several strange jars in her hands.

Xia Mianwan said: "I brought it before entering the mountain."

Finally, after sealing the last jar, Xia Mianwan smiled and patted Yu Jie'er on the head and said, "It's all done. Let's wait and see!"