Returning home with the harvested seafood, she had at least three or four jin of Shrimp ready for cleaning. With that, she had her meal plan for noon.
After meticulously cleaning each shrimp and rinsing them in water, she poured them directly into the iron pot and sprinkled them with just a pinch of salt. She covered the pot, not even needing to add water to cook them.
Steamed in this way, the Shrimp had an incredibly firm and bouncy texture that chewed nicely, whereas boiling them resulted in a looser consistency and a different flavor. The steamed Shrimp were noticeably more delicious than the boiled ones.
If one desired sauce, a mixture of minced garlic and chili could be used, but she preferred to eat them plain, for it was only this way one could fully taste the essence of the sea.
Eating her fill of the three or four jin of shrimp, she then made a soup with Clams, simply boiling them, and adding minced scallion and coriander at the end, seasoned with some pepper and salt. The resulting soup was exceptionally tasty, with the Clam meat having a satisfying chew. Only five or six were needed to brew a decent broth.
After feasting to her heart’s content, she started sorting the remaining seafood. As she didn’t plan on eating seafood for dinner, she decided to sell all four buckets of her hard-earned catch, making 1,500 yuan, making the effort worthwhile.
After her noon meal, she took an axe and chopped thirty or forty jin of firewood. This was a necessity for cooking, as the frequent rainfall at sea made her rely on the bright midday sun to gather dry wood. After half a day’s sunbathing, the wood was adequately desiccated, but waiting any longer would mean chopping slightly moist timber.
Chopping wood was not an easy task, especially not for the woman she had been before, but with her enhanced strength, everything became easier.
In less than two hours, she had transported the hefty load of firewood home. She needed a variety, including small twigs and kindling as well as larger pieces; occasionally, she would shred some plant fibers to use as fire-starters, but dry leaves were the most efficient. The fallen leaves would return to their roots, repurposed without waste as the ash from her burnt wood would be used as fertilizer in the fields, along with chicken manure and farmyard manure. Her actions were the epitome of environmental conservation.
With summer’s arrival, she’d ensure to sun-dry seaweed, kelp, snail meat, and shellfish in a sun-soaked spot every day. These dried goods were essential reserves for when fresh food wasn’t available, and it was important to stock as much as possible. As for the grains grown in her fields, like wheat and rice, they required threshing. Although it was a hassle, she opted to rent a threshing machine because the flour produced was superior.
By September, her farm had successfully reached Level 3, and she planted corn. To advance from Level 3 to Level 4, she needed 800,000 Gold Coins and had an additional 300,000 coins.
Eager to grow more crops, she used the 100,000 coins remaining after the upgrade to cultivate another plot. Now, out of the 24 fields, she had opened six.
Her account balance in the space had grown to three million yuan. Chapters first released on novel~fire~net
Half a year had passed since Xiao Ze and the others left, and in all that time, not a trace of news had come from them. To say she wasn’t worried would be a lie.
She once headed out on a speedboat at dusk to check on their small fishing boat, only to find it overgrown with weeds. The village was empty except for traces of a large fire; not a soul was in sight. She didn’t find any bones in what used to be their home, though she saw human remains in other households. Because of this, she had no idea if her grandparents and parents were alive or dead.
She returned home, disappointed. The village had suffered an epidemic that wiped out its population, leaving the small fishing village sealed off and nearly untouched by another human. She didn’t bother to check the situation onshore and promptly departed.