Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 1206 Finding a Solution
Kournikova has been very busy lately, as she has tidied up her home in the mountains, which is now her own.

They made everyday furniture, an eight-immortal table and chairs, and also several cabinets from this unique red pine wood—one for Grandpa's room, one for Da Shan's room, and one for his room. When Grandpa Li saw the kitchen cabinets, he shook his head and asked Kuwa, "Isn't this a bit wasteful?"

Kournikova ignored all that and started a vegetable garden behind the house. Da Shan would work in the garden whenever he had free time, and Kournikova would patiently accompany him into the mountains to identify various vegetables and mountain delicacies.

Kournikova kept asking Grandpa Li if there were any pigs, but Grandpa Li was completely baffled. Finally, Kournikova had no choice but to draw a pig. When Grandpa Li saw it, he looked disgusted and said, "There's a swamp downstream of the river full of these things. Everyone says they're unclean."

Kournikova's eyes lit up, and she asked, "Grandpa, do you believe me? This thing is a good thing, every part of it is valuable."

Grandpa Li was skeptical and asked, "Really?"

“Absolutely true,” Kournikova said.

"I'll take you to kill a few tomorrow," Grandpa Li said firmly.

Grandpa Li has been very happy lately, feeling that he really made a profit by adopting this grandson. His home has changed dramatically, the food is more varied and tastes better, and even the villagers say that the Li family is incredibly lucky.

Kova had heard about it, but didn't care. The village had been growing wood ear mushrooms and mushrooms lately, drying them and storing them. They had already been tested and found to be good food and easy to store.

In fact, the villagers were filled with regret. They had stayed here for so many years, but hadn't eaten any of the many edible things they had, and had gone hungry every year.

The next day, Grandpa Li went to the village chief and told him about Kova's plan. The village chief was also skeptical, but seeing Kova's recent performance, he decided to believe him this time. He gathered the villagers and assigned them tasks. Everyone was doing the same thing: killing two so-called pigs. It was nothing special.

After the pig was brought back, Kournikova and her three brothers began their performance, setting up four large iron pots.

Slaughtering pigs is Kournikova's job; he has to separate the various internal organs and different parts of the pork.

After noon, we first rendered lard, something Kournikova had been looking forward to for a long time. After all this time, we had been using rabbit fat, which didn't have much flavor.

After rendering the lard, a pile of cracklings came out, and a bunch of village children outside were drooling over the smell.

Kournikova directed the mountain to distribute the oil residue to the children, who scrambled for it, shouting "Delicious! So delicious!" as they ate.

Then Kova prepared to stew pork. The lack of sugar was a problem, but there was no other way, so she used various spices as substitutes. When the aroma of pork filled the village square, the villagers couldn't sit still and grabbed their own utensils, heading straight for the village square.

After everyone finished their whole pig feast, every household was discussing how to deal with the pigs downstream of the river.

Kova and Grandpa Li set up a small table in front of the house, on which Kova had prepared mixed pig ears and pig heart. The two drank tea and chatted, while Dashan was so full from eating that he couldn't get out of bed.

Grandpa Li said, "Kova, you are a capable person. It's a waste of your talents to work here."

"Don't say that, Grandpa. You saved me. I just wanted you and everyone else to have something good to eat." Kournikova took a sip of the bitter tea.

"Do you still remember what happened before?" Grandpa Li asked with concern.

Kournikova hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know if I can even remember, do we have any martial arts here?"

Grandpa Li was taken aback. He looked at Kova and said meaningfully, "It seems you remember some of it. This is a place to learn martial arts, but no one comes here, so there is no one to introduce you. If you want to learn, you have to cross Red Bull Mountain."

"Is it far, Grandpa?" Kournikova asked.

Grandpa Li said sadly, "The father of these three brothers was chosen together and sent to Red Bull Town. It's been ten years, and he hasn't come back. There's been no news of him at all." Kuva's heart tightened, and she quickly said, "I'm sorry, Grandpa, for bringing up such a sad thing."

Grandpa Li smiled and said, "It's alright. It seems you're not from around here. I'll tell you about things here today so you can be on your guard."

Grandpa Li reminisced as he spoke, “When I was a child, I was a native of the Wu Kingdom. My ancestors have lived here for generations. I heard my ancestor say that in the middle of the entire continent, why do I say the entire continent? It means that this continent is surrounded by sea on all sides, boundless and limitless. People who go out never come back; all that comes back are the wreckage of ships and the corpses of people.”

Grandpa Li took a sip of bitter tea and said, “There are six countries on the continent. Of course, the Wu Kingdom, where we are now, is the poorest. There are also the Wei, Zhao, Shen, Chen, and Yan Kingdoms. The Wei Kingdom is in the middle, and the others are on the periphery. Among these countries, we respect the Wei Kingdom the most. It is said that only there is a way to leave this continent.”

Kournikova thought of a teleportation array. Since they couldn't get out of the sea, the only way to get out of the middle was through a teleportation array.

Grandpa Li stopped when he saw Kova pause for a moment, and continued after Kova looked over: "Every year, the other five countries will hold the Five Academies Recruitment, recruiting the best disciples to study at the academies, and then selecting the top 100 to be sent to Wei. After competing with the top 100 in Wei, the top 100 will be qualified to go to another place. No one knows exactly where that place is except the King of Wei."

Kournikova then asked, "Were their fathers also chosen?"

"Yes, that was the last trial here. After that, the Wu Kingdom forgot about this mountain village." Grandpa Li said sadly.

Kournikova didn't know how to comfort him, but she said, "Grandpa, don't worry, with us here, I will turn this place into paradise and make it richer than the State of Wei."

Grandpa Li patted his head, smiled with satisfaction, and said, "I believe in you."

The next day, before dawn, village chief Wu Dayong came looking for him. Grandpa Li introduced him and privately told him that this was Li Dayong, and that he could only have the surname Guo to become village chief.

Kova warmly received the village chief and explained the key points of raising pigs to him. Wu Dayong benefited greatly from this and hurriedly went to gather the villagers.

Kournikova and her three sons had been exploring Red Bull Mountain. Before the winter solstice, they found sugarcane and bean pods. Kournikova then initiated a large-scale transplant, and the three sons, along with many other children, under the lure of the sugar, undertook a massive labor effort.

The Dashan family home has changed; new plants have been planted all around the house.

Kourva also built a brick kiln a little further away, which was intended for use after winter, but it is already on fire and warming up.

The house in the mountain family remained unchanged, but the furniture inside was redone by Kourva.

The village chief would often wander over to his house, so Kuwa had no choice but to make another set. During this time, he took Xiao Gatou as his apprentice and patiently and meticulously taught him carpentry skills. Xiao Gatou was very smart and could learn some things very quickly.

A month later, Xiao Gatou's woodworking shop opened and business was booming. Although it was all about bartering, Xiao Gatou was happy to do it.

Before winter, every household built a kang (heated brick bed), which they learned from Old Li's family. There were two large stoves connected to the outside, making cooking convenient. Every household stored a lot of dried goods, and the cellar also stored cabbage.

Everyone felt at ease and looked forward to the first Lunar New Year, the day they could slaughter the pig.

At this time, Kova was studying firecrackers. She knew that firecrackers were made of carbon, nitrate, and sulfur. She was thinking of changing the recipe to give the villagers and the mountains a surprise, especially the mountains.

When the first heavy snow arrived in January, Kournikova took out her soybean oil made from peas and sugar extracted from sugarcane.

Most importantly, Da Shan found a pile of sorghum rice deep in Hongniu Mountain, so there's no doubt that it must be brewed into wine.

(End of this chapter)