July marks the start of the rainy season, though the temperatures remain warm despite the rainfall.
The river water begins to rise, prompting Wen Qian to gather up the nets and fish traps she had set up.
The courtyard, which is sloped, is paved with bricks and stones, and has multiple drainage holes, preventing water from accumulating despite the rain.
With the rain limiting her ability to venture out, Wen Qian takes out some long, dry grass she had previously cut, intending to weave simple grass curtains.
These will come in handy for early spring seedling cultivation or as floor mats to prevent slipping.
With no need to go out, she has ample firewood at home.
Last year, when she first arrived, she had chopped down quite a few trees from the mountains, leaving the main trunks while using up the smaller branches and twigs.
Wen Qian stores all these materials in a designated room.
Due to prior rainfall, she had also constructed a partial rain shelter over the enclosure surrounding the rabbit hutches.
She had previously cleared the drainage ditches in the fields, ensuring smooth water flow, so there is no need to check on them now.
With the increased rainfall, Wen Qian gives up on venturing out for hunting or other tasks.
The traps she dug are now filled with water, and she will have to wait for the rain to stop.
Wen Qian places a water barrel previously used for collecting rainwater at her old home near the steps.
This way, she can use the collected rainwater to water her vegetables.
For breakfast, Wen Qian fries a few bird eggs in a pot. Chicken eggs have a shelf life of about a month.
She still has some chicken eggs from a decade ago stored in her Space, though not many.
The eggs she fried today were gathered from the riverbank this spring, and while their normal storage life would have caused them to spoil or dry out, keeping them in the Space preserves their freshness.
After frying the eggs, she adds a ladle of water to the pot. Once the water boils, she adds noodles, and when the noodles are nearly cooked, she throws in a handful of leafy greens, along with salt and seasonings, completing her breakfast.
In another pot, she pours in previously soaked chunks of rabbit meat, sautéing them in oil before adding water and braising spices.
She transfers the mixture to a jar and lets it simmer slowly on the stove, a process that could take an hour or two, ensuring it will be ready for lunch.
With no signs of the rain letting up anytime soon, she begins weaving grass curtains after finishing breakfast.
This process doesn't require much careful attention, merely repeating the same motions.
When bored, she stands up to sweep the room or wash and eat some small fruits.
In general, she switches tasks whenever she gets tired of one.
The aroma of braised meat permeates the air as Wen Qian continues weaving the grass curtains.
Due to the dim lighting, she leaves the kitchen door open.
The sound of rain outside and the monotonous task at hand make her feel sleepy.
Nevertheless, she persists until completing a section before standing up to close the door and take a nap.
Unsure of how much time has passed when she wakes up, she can't gauge the time due to the rain.
She gets up and stir-fries some leafy greens, then transfers the braised rabbit meat, which has cooled down without the stove's heat, into another pot.
She lights a fire, adds diced potatoes, and lets everything simmer together.
She also takes out two warm buns from her Space.
This completes her lunch, with leftover rabbit meat.
The remaining meat will serve as dinner.
The fragrant braised rabbit and potatoes are a delightful combination of color, aroma, and flavor, making for a satisfying meal when paired with a bowl of greens, leaving her quite full after lunch.
Initially, Wen Qian had purchased a considerable amount of braising spices to create her own blend. However, after researching, she realized that certain spices like star anise and cinnamon cannot grow in the cold northern climate, so she uses them sparingly.
On the other hand, she can still grow Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers, ensuring she has access to seasonings.
Of the three meals each day, Wen Qian typically prepares one or two with care, leaving the third as a reheated leftover meal.
Expecting her to meticulously prepare all three meals with perfect color, aroma, and flavor would be too demanding.
At times, she feels lazy and might go several days without cooking a proper meal.
In those situations, she relies on the pre-portioned "boxed meals" she had stored in her Space, grateful for the ability to indulge in such laziness.
In the afternoon, as the rain eases slightly, Wen Qian forgoes weaving grass curtains and instead lights a lamp in her bedroom to work.
Having eaten and napped, she can't sleep anymore but doesn't feel like weaving curtains, so she finds another task for herself.
This task involves installing window screens using the mesh fabric she has on hand.
She measures the dimensions of the doors and windows, cuts the fabric to size, hems the edges, and secures it to the window frames using tacks.
This allows her to open the windows for ventilation while keeping mosquitoes out.
For the doors, she installs magnetic mosquito curtains that part as she passes through and seal shut behind her, providing convenience.
From construction to installation, Wen Qian spends the entire afternoon on this project, taking breaks to brew a cup of fruit tea when tired.
With the sewing machine already set up, she decides to make herself a few pairs of insole pads using shoe patterns, before putting the machine away.
The afternoon passes this way, and feeling hungry, Wen Qian brings a lamp to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
For dinner, she has potatoes, rabbit meat, and rice, taking the dishes and rice out of her Space while still hot, as they were stored in a hot state, allowing her to eat immediately.
Whenever this happens, Wen Qian appreciates how convenient the Space is, saving her the effort of cooking each meal from scratch and enhancing her dining experience.
After eating, as night falls, Wen Qian washes up in the bathroom and secures all the doors and windows in the house.
Back in her bedroom, she closes the door, draws the curtains, and hangs the lamp from a hook in the center of the room, providing even illumination.
From her Space, she retrieves two books: one a storybook, the other a reference book related to this area.
If she doesn't feel sleepy, she reads the storybook; if she does, she reads the reference book, hoping to uncover new insights through repeated readings.
With the lamp's oil supply limited, Wen Qian isn't worried about falling asleep and leaving it burning.
And so ends another ordinary day, seemingly mundane at first glance.
However, in the age of computers and smartphones, most people's leisure time involved similar activities.
Back then, people were guided by fleeting pleasures and interests, forgetting that their lives were inherently repetitive.
Now, without the internet, people still find ways to entertain themselves, differing only in form.
In the past, opera troupes made people addicted; later, television made people addicted; and after that, computers and phones made people addicted.
Xiao Hong believed that there must also be other forms of things that make people addicted now.
Wen Qian would find interesting things to do when she was bored, and she would even talk to herself, telling herself stories.
She was even interested in writing stories for herself sometimes.
After reading many stories, she would also want to write the stories she wanted to read herself, or rewrite the plots of stories she didn't like.
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