Wen Qian leveled the land outside her tidy home, trying to slope the ground for better drainage in the future.
She dug drainage ditches around the house, using bricks and stones to create channels sloping away from the house on both sides. When she built the wall earlier, she had left enough holes as well.
Wen Qian mixed the relatively fertile soil from her Space with the sand she had stored before in proper proportions, spreading the mixture on the ground.
Then she laid bricks and grass paving bricks on top, all collected from various places as salvaged materials.
Near the house, she used anti-slip square bricks for the main walking areas.
As for the grass paving bricks, she didn't expect them to grow into a lawn, but rather hoped to grow vegetables through the round holes.
This way, she wouldn't have to worry about being overrun by weeds, while still being able to care for the vegetables better.
This was a method she had seen online before, and now that she thought about it, it seemed quite suitable for the courtyard.
It wouldn't make a mess of mud everywhere, and each plot was divided up, with small paths paved with bricks, looking very tidy.
So she paved the land inside the wall with various bricks.
She looked forward to spring, when she could plant neat rows of vegetables.
It would be a pleasing sight then.
With the house and its surroundings more or less ready, Wen Qian could finally lie down at ease. The heated brick bed was still warm, and when she felt the wall next to it, it was also hot.
But away from the bed, closer to the doors and windows, the temperature dropped despite the plastic covering the windows.
So Wen Qian added fuel to the stove to raise the temperature, then sat at the table to plan for the coming year.
In October, snow finally fell at Wen Qian's place.
But she stayed inside, happily eating fish caught from some river that year, watching the snow outside.
With the cold weather, yesterday's fish became frozen fish today. For breakfast, she brought out the leftover dishes to eat.
Since it was snowing, Wen Qian planned to have dumplings for lunch, intending to take out the ones she had made earlier.
Besides that, she took down the hung cured chicken, chopped it into small pieces, and soaked them in warm water on the stove, planning to stew them for dinner.
In the kitchen cabinet, she arranged her own bowls and plates, just the right amount for one person.
She also placed more jars and bottles that she had taken out from her Space.
For example, she would clean out empty fruit cans to refill with her homemade blueberry jam.
Apart from blueberries, she had encountered some other small wild fruits which she had collected, unsure if they were edible.
After consulting books, she found that most of them were actually edible, but she couldn't fully remember their names, only recognizing blueberries and sandfruit.
If she encountered them again, she would know they were edible.
On her journey, she had also come across fruit orchards planted along the roads, with some trees surviving the harsh winter, sprouting leaves and blooming.
Unfortunately, in many places Wen Qian visited, the trees had only just blossomed and hadn't borne fruit yet.
Then, when she passed through the desert and grasslands, she could hardly find any fruit at all.
Therefore, Wen Qian hadn't collected much fruit that year, only hoping that as it warmed up, she might be able to grow some or collect enough wild fruit locally.
Fortunately, her Space didn't lack fruit, and with just herself, her reserves wouldn't be depleted too quickly.
At the very least, she could still eat watermelon on the heated bed, as watermelons, apples, oranges, peaches, and pears had all been relatively inexpensive back then.
That year, Wen Qian was still getting used to sleeping on the heated brick bed and learning how to heat it up.
She kept the indoor temperature well controlled, and during that winter, she started to learn about local knowledge and make plans for the next year.
The snow here just kept coming down endlessly. She would clear the roof one day, and by the next morning, more snow had piled up again.
But after so many years, Wen Qian was used to clearing snow in winter, so it wasn't too troublesome.
Only, she had replaced her old step ladder with a scaffold now.
This was safer for her, as a lone older woman needed to be extra careful to avoid accidents.
She was quite satisfied with her first winter here, and felt her face had grown rounder when she looked in the mirror, a sign of eating well.
Looking at the distant mountain forests, some had already shed all their leaves in the autumn winds, leaving only bare branches.
While others remained evergreen, their verdant hues undiminished by the wind and snow.
After two straight days of snowfall, Wen Qian could hear the cracking sounds of branches breaking under the weight of the snow.
Instead of sitting on the heated bed, Wen Qian stood at the kitchen stove, using some warm water to clean the small fish and shrimp she had caught earlier in her net traps.
Since she had been on the move all year, and had to repair her house after settling down, many of the fish and birds previously stored in her Space hadn't been processed.
So she had to do it slowly now, but processing food didn't feel bad at all. In fact, it gave her a sense of security.
In winter, with enough warmth and food, what could be more satisfying?
Some of those small dried fish were too tiny to process efficiently, but she didn't let any go to waste.
After cleaning them, she salted them to cure, then placed them on the kitchen stove to dry using the residual heat. Later, she would coat them in batter and deep fry them for a tasty snack.
She also needed to clean the wild onions and chives she had dug up on her journey.
These had only had their roots roughly cut off before being stored in her Space, but they were still fresh when taken out now, perfect for stir-fries or as fillings for pancakes.
The various birds she had trapped with small snares earlier were also being plucked and skinned with boiling water in the kitchen.
Though birds didn't have much meat, they still made a decent dish, sometimes just simmered in a small clay pot for a stew.
Before she knew it, the horizontal beams in her storage room were hung with all sorts of things.
Whenever she came in to grab something and looked up at the display of her harvests, she felt immensely satisfied.
Worried about mice getting into the house, she was always especially vigilant in inspecting her food supplies.
So far, so good. If there were mice, she also had traps and cages ready.
Wen Qian spread a thin layer of fine sand on the ground, so that any spilled blood or oil would be easier to clean up later.
After preparing this, she started making pastries. With the cold weather outside, she placed a rack by the window.
She put the pastries she had made on the rack, and they quickly froze solid.
At mealtime, she could take them back into the Space and eat them whenever she wanted, saving her from having to cook three meals a day.
In the winter, if she wanted to make steamed buns, she would let the dough rise on the heated brick bed.
The steamed buns that came out were also very good, and she was getting more and more skilled at it.
Although she had bought a lot of yeast, Wen Qian also tried preserving old dough herself, and succeeded.
Cooking just one meal a day gave her leisure time. If she had to cook three meals a day, just the cooking alone would make her depressed.
