The weather turned cold, with snow falling heavily outside.
Wen Qian felt like having hotpot, so she started preparing the ingredients for lunch at the appropriate time.
She took out a block of tofu that she had made previously, cut it into small pieces, and placed them outside the window to freeze into frozen tofu.
Then, she cooked a small hotpot for herself in the kitchen using a hotpot seasoning packet, and froze the most tender meats from her previous hunts outside. When it was time to eat, she could slice them into thin pieces and add them to the hotpot.
The meatballs and fishballs she had prepared earlier were also arranged.
She also prepared other side dishes, such as spinach, bok choy hearts, potato slices, and bean sprouts.
With a combination of meat and vegetable dishes, having a hotpot in the winter was a cozy experience.
However, Wen Qian couldn't handle too much spice, so she added less of the hotpot seasoning packet.
While others might use half a packet for one hotpot, she might only use a quarter, which also saved on the seasoning.
Of course, hotpot cannot be complete without dipping sauces, which she also made herself from her collection of various condiments.
These condiments were limited, so she planned to grow some spices that could be cultivated in this region in the future.
In the past, to save money, she often made hotpot at home. After the volcanic winter ended, she continued doing so, even though she now lived alone.
The only difference was that instead of using a small electric pot like before, she now used firewood and charcoal.
Estimating that it was around noon, she started cooking and eating the hotpot.
After the volcanic winter, opportunities to eat junk food became increasingly rare, even if it had been years since the food expired.
If Wen Qian hadn't bought some cheap junk food in the Space back then, her diet now would probably be very healthy.
Even with the junk food, she cherished it and still had some left.
Aside from this, her daily routine had been regular for many years, and her other food and drink were all green and healthy, much better than the various additives she used to consume.
Sometimes, when she saw the two children, she actually wanted to give them a lollipop or two, but she was afraid that others would ask where they came from, so she had to stop.
After all, no matter the color or aroma, they were the additives from the food of the past, which couldn't be replicated now.
Edible fragrances and edible colorants were almost extinct nowadays.
She lived here to avoid such occurrences, so she only gave them things that were available in the vicinity.
Moreover, the other party had sent gifts first, and Wen Qian's gifts were in return – she wasn't just giving without receiving.
The parents of the other party had taught their children well; they never took things for granted and always expressed gratitude and reciprocated, which Wen Qian appreciated in well-mannered children.
Generally, people didn't dislike children, but they disliked unruly children and their parents behind them.
But things were different now. Aside from some larger settlements that prohibited fighting and killing within the city, it was hard to say what happened in other places.
Bullying the weak with strength and settling disputes with fists were not uncommon.
Fighting and killing lurked in every corner. After transitioning from that stable society to the present, whose hands were not stained with blood?
This was not something that could be avoided by loving peace and reasoning. Most people, without the constraints of law, would choose to resolve conflicts through force.
Fortunately, although Wen Qian had considered such situations, she had left the crowds early on, effectively avoiding such incidents.
Of course, except for the occasional bad person stumbling upon her guns.
Since they were children, Wen Qian had also heard many stories from them about their experiences coming from the south.
Good and bad, the stories seemed more realistic and chilling coming from children's mouths, as they couldn't add much emotion or bias.
In fact, the children had seen and heard much more than Wen Qian had experienced.
After finishing the hotpot, Wen Qian opened the kitchen door, letting in a gust of cold air that quickly dispersed the warmth and aroma of the hotpot inside.
Wen Qian then went into the bedroom, opened the door that had been kept closed, and then closed it again, trapping the warmth inside.
Generally, after eating hotpot, it was a day for washing hair and bathing, otherwise the strong aroma of the hotpot would linger for a long time.
On the table, her notebook listed the things she planned to do in the second year, such as going out to find fruit trees to transplant near her home and building an oven in the courtyard.
Regarding what grains to plant when spring came, this time it wouldn't just be soybeans, but other staple foods as well.
In addition to the regular radishes and cabbages she needed to plant, she also needed to try growing some leafy greens she hadn't grown before.
And she had to plan the quantities of seeds in advance, as well as the order of seedling cultivation, and so on.
Wen Qian had even thought about building a few small houses and dividing their functions more specifically, as well as the remote hunting cabin she had put off for a year.
If she didn't write it down in her notebook, she wouldn't be able to think of it at a glance or prioritize the tasks. But once written down, everything became clear, and she realized she still had so many things left to do.
Although she occasionally allowed herself a day or two of leisure, most of the time, aside from her daily chores, she was completing some key projects, so she wasn't actually that idle.
For non-urgent tasks, she would do them whenever she had spare time, but for the important ones, she had to set a definite time and start immediately, such as planting seasons.
The oven could be built in seasons other than winter, but planting crops could only be done in spring.
The winter here was not suitable for crops to grow, based on the current temperatures.
Previously, on her way here, she had seen apple trees and persimmon trees that were cultivated in this area. Now, she thought that if she had the time in the future, it would be good to dig them up and transplant them around her own home.
However, if she dug them up with the roots, she wouldn't be able to fit them in the Space, so she would have to see if she could transport some smaller trees back on her tricycle.
She really wanted to plant all kinds of edible things around her home.
In the past, she had only planted two grapevines at her front door and a few more along the riverbank, and they had all survived.
Now, thinking about it, since she had extra cuttings for propagation, why didn't she plant some in the nearby and distant mountains?
She just wouldn't apply too much fertilizer manually; if they could grow freely, she would just go and harvest the fruits later.
With this idea in mind, she eventually expanded her intended planting range to the entire hunting area.
She planned to bring one or two plants with her whenever she went out, and whenever she traveled farther, she would find a suitable spot to plant them, leaving the rest to nature's will.
Would there be a possibility that after several years, she could find food all over her hunting grounds?
This thought also seemed appealing, so she added her little idea to her notebook.
Of course, apart from these practical things, there were also some ornamental things.
For instance, when she initially purchased vegetable seeds, she also randomly bought a batch of flower and grass seeds.
There were too many things to do during the previous spring, so those unnecessary things were not done.
After this winter passes, she plans to scatter a circle of flower seeds outside the wall. If the seeds she bought were not fake,
Besides being self-sufficient in material terms, she felt that cultivating flowers and singing songs were behaviors that could maintain her mental well-being.
In Wen Qian's Space, there were also many empty pots that she had collected from various places. The pots were quite large.
When she initially took them away, she had also thought about growing flowers, grass, and fruits in the future.
Now she felt that perennials would be better planted in the ground, while annuals would be more suitable for pots.
It's still winter now, but she has already begun to imagine what her home would look like with flowers in bloom.
