After the meal, with Pangpang finally asleep, the couple started their individual tasks. Li Hongjun went out to the yard and used an axe to chop the branches he had brought back that day into pieces. He then stacked them beside the stove in the main room, where the daily heat from cooking would dry them out. In a couple days, they would be ready to use for the fire.
Shen Yunfang, on the other hand, fetched beans from the storage room in a basin. She planned to sprout green beans first. Yellow beans didn't need to grow long sprouts, so she decided that starting them on Wednesday or Thursday would suffice.
Sprouting beans was simple. She put the beans in the basin and scalded them twice with hot water from the stove. Then, she soaked them in warm water, and they would begin to sprout the next day.
