They had set up another stove outside yesterday to boil peanuts, both because they were worried the stove inside wasn't enough and also because they feared that using the large stove would generate too much heat. In this weather, keeping the brick bed too warm would make the house uninhabitable.
Lian Manman walked over to the edge of the brick bed, stretched out her hand, and lifted the bed mat. Underneath it, on top of the earthen brick bed, covered with a large piece of paper, lay neatly arranged rows of bright red pointy chilies. These chilies, when picked, were still full of moisture. Lian Shouxin loved eating chili sauce and complained that drying the chilies outside was too slow, so he placed them here to dry over the warm brick bed.
"Dad, you put these chilies here yesterday, didn't you? They're dry now and can be ground up to make chili sauce," Lian Manman said as she picked up a red chili pepper.