After Xu Ning finished breakfast, she began making jerky. It required careful attention to heat; low and slow was the key. Therefore, she didn’t let anyone help her. She tended the fire and cooked the meat herself.

After a busy day, she had managed to make about ten pounds of jerky. Thinking that Lu Xiaotang would be leaving early the next morning, she planned to prepare a couple more dishes for dinner: spicy pork intestines, braised wild boar, stir-fried meat with mushrooms, rabbit stew with potatoes, and cold shredded radish. She also intended to make wild chicken and chestnut soup and brought out two bottles of wine.

That evening, Xu An and Lu Xiaotang went to the cattle barn together. Xu An mentioned that he would be eating over there, so he told Xu Ning not to wait for him to come back for dinner.

After dinner, Xu Ning mixed a bowl of dough and prepared some pepper salt by frying Sichuan pepper and salt, then grinding it into a powder. She planned to make pepper salt pancakes as snacks for Lu Xiaotang on his journey. With a five-day trip ahead, and needing ten pancakes a day, she would have to prepare fifty.

When Lu Xiaotang and Xu An returned, Xu Ning was still cooking pancakes, with Xu Mo helping her tend the fire.

Lu Xiaotang seemed to have had a bit to drink, his face slightly flushed, so Xu Ning suggested they go to bed.

After a while, Xu An came out and asked Xu Ning, “Sister, why are you making pancakes now?”

Xu Ning replied, “I’m preparing snacks for Big Brother Lu for the journey. Is he already asleep?”

“Yes, Big Brother Lu is already sleeping. He and Grandpa Qi had a great conversation today and drank a quite a bit. Sister, what should we send with Big Brother Lu tomorrow?” Xu An asked.

“I packed a bag of dried mushrooms and wild vegetables, and I’ve included some pine nuts and hazelnuts as well. There’s also ten pounds of jerky. A while back, I bought a goose from the city, and it’s almost dried now, so I’ll send that with him too.” Xu Ning pointed to the large bundle she had laid out on the ground for Xu An to see.

After finishing the pepper salt pancakes, Xu Ning chopped some pork to make filling, planning to prepare dumplings for Lu Xiaotang to eat before he left the next morning.

Early the next day, when Lu Xiaotang got up, he saw Xu Ning making dumplings.

“Big Brother Lu, you’re up! Wait a moment; the dumplings are ready. I’ll cook some for you before you go,” Xu Ning said, then began to light the fire to boil the dumplings.

Lu Xiaotang replied, “It’s so cold; why are you up so early? I could just eat something in the city.”

Just then, Xu An came out, dressed and ready for the day.

Xu Ning placed the dumplings on the table for Lu Xiaotang to eat quickly and brought over her water bottle, pouring the ginger and jujube tea she had prepared on the stove.

After finishing the dumplings, Lu Xiaotang noticed the large and small bags that Xu Ning had dragged out from her room and asked, “What’s this?”

“Big Brother Lu, the large bag contains dried wild vegetables and hazelnuts and pine nuts, as you can see. Our place is overflowing with them, and we can’t finish it all. Take some back for your comrades. The small bag is for your snacks on the road. It’s hard to carry vegetables, so you can buy some on the train to eat with the pancakes,” she explained.

Lu Xiaotang remained silent for a moment after hearing her words, until Xu Ning spoke up again. “Big Brother Lu, let’s go. I spoke with Grandpa Chen yesterday, and he’s waiting to take you to the city now.”

With that, she picked up the large bag and walked ahead. Xu An grabbed the smaller bag, while Lu Xiaotang followed behind the siblings, carrying his luggage. Watching the two small figures ahead, he felt an indescribable warmth in his heart.

Once they exited the small gate and reached the main road, they found Old Chen sitting on the ox cart, waiting. Xu Ning approached him, handing over a water bottle. “Grandpa Chen, thank you for taking my cousin today. This bottle has ginger and jujube tea in it; drink some to warm yourself. You don’t need to return the bottle separately; just bring it back when Er Dan comes to visit.”

Afterward, she lifted the large bag to put it on the cart, but Lu Xiaotang moved ahead of her and placed it alongside his luggage. He then led Xu Ning a few steps aside and said, “I’ve left some money and tickets in the cabinet. If you need anything, go buy it. I’ll be sending money every month. Along with the money, there’s an address for my uncle’s friend here; you can reach out to him if you need anything.”

“Big Brother Lu, I have money. Why do you need to leave me any?” Xu Ning replied quickly.

“Just take it. I’m leaving now. If anything comes up, write me a letter or send a telegram,” he said.

As he turned to get onto the cart, he noticed a few people standing by the barn door. He waved to them before climbing onto the ox cart. The siblings watched the cart slowly pull away, their spirits a bit low.

When they returned home, Xu Mo was already awake, sitting on the kang and getting dressed. Xu Ning went over to help him with his clothes and shoes before taking him outside to wash his face.

Xu An came out of his room carrying a stack of money and tickets, along with a piece of paper. The paper had the address of the county’s family quarters written on it. Xu Ning carefully tucked it away, counting the money: a total of two hundred yuan along with various tickets, including sugar tickets, cloth tickets, and industrial vouchers.

Xu Ning sighed as she placed them in her space and then headed to the kitchen to cook dumplings. The dumplings were filled with pork and green onions. Xu Ning and Xu An ate twenty each, while Xu Mo had ten. They all felt stuffed. Seeing the sun had come out, Xu Ning took the two younger ones out for a stroll.

However, they spent less than ten minutes outside before the cold drove them back home. Xu Ning looked at the large bowl of wild boar meat and thought about turning it into cured meat, which could be stored for a long time and would be easy to cut off when they wanted to eat.

She set aside two pieces to make a new batch of meat sauce in the afternoon, since the jar of meat sauce in the house had all been packed into cans for Lu Xiaotang.

She cut the remaining meat into one-pound pieces and planned to turn it all into cured meat. She intended to send some over to the cattle shed, knowing that when the heavy snow blocked the mountains, not many people would go there, allowing her mother and Aunt Lu to make whatever they wanted to eat.