Chapter 100

There was quite a bit of noise when they came back. Although they had the key and didn't need Jian Chu and the others to open the door, they still woke up, opened the door and popped their heads out to take a look. Although he was a little curious about whether they had a smooth past two days, since they had just returned and must have been very tired from the journey, he didn't ask much and decided to wait until they had rested enough before asking.

The next day, when Jian Chu saw Xu Ming getting up, he quickly asked, "How was it? Did it go well? I saw you didn't bring anything back, did you not hunt anything?"

Xu Ming smiled and said, "We were lucky, but I don't think we'll be this lucky again. We found a herd of deer and hunted four deer, sika deer. The military asked about the route we took and where we found the herd. I think they'll be looking for us soon. If they can find them, they'll try to catch them alive and raise them."

Jian Chu was shocked: "Deer herd! What kind of luck is this!"

Xu Ming said, "There are also rabbits and snakes. We brought back a rabbit, it's not small, it's half the size of Niuniu, and it weighs at least 15 to 20 pounds. We left it with Qin Huai and the others, and they said we'd have a rabbit hotpot together tonight."

Jian Chu couldn't help but exclaimed: "That's amazing, how do you spend the night outside?"

Xu Ming: "We met two very nice elderly people who took us in."

Xu Ming and Jian Chu ate together, and the stove was always burning. Although they could cook separately, it would be troublesome and time-consuming. Anyway, Xu Ming would put some rice and flour on the stove as food expenses, so Jian Chu would cook for one more person. The grown men were not too picky, and they got along well. Jian Chu cooked noodles early in the morning, threw in a few slices of bacon that he had exchanged at the exchange point, and some pickled cabbage that he had dug out from the ruins. While eating, Xu Ming told him about the situation along the way. Although he might not be as lucky as this time next time, he would definitely go out again. The next time he went out, it would probably be Jian Chu and his friends, so it was necessary to pass on his experience.

While they were having breakfast, Mu Nan and the others had not gotten up yet. They went to bed late at night, but maybe because they had something to eat before going to bed, they felt hungrier in the morning. Mu Nan was so sleepy that he couldn't open his eyes, but he was very hungry. He was so hungry that he had a little heartburn, so he couldn't help but sit up and try to suppress the surging feeling.

Qin Huai patted his back gently: "What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable in your stomach?"

Mu Nan shook his head: "I'm so hungry and so sleepy."

Qin Huai said: "Then eat something before going to sleep."

Mu Nan rubbed his eyes and yawned: "What to eat? Porridge?"

Qin Huai shook his head: "No more porridge. White porridge makes my heart burn. Let's eat some rolls and drink some soy milk. Don't drink milk either. If you don't want to eat rolls, steamed buns and flower rolls will do."

Mu Nan ate half a steamed bun and drank half a cup of soy milk, and when his stomach felt better, he fell back to bed. Qin Huai saw that he fell asleep again after a while, which showed that he was really sleepy. He gathered the quilt for him, touched his hands and feet in the quilt, and found that they were warm. Then he got up to deal with things.

The vegetable basin upstairs needs to be watered, the floor needs to be cleaned a little, the dirty clothes that the two of them took off yesterday need to be washed, and the rabbit also needs to be thawed and skinned. The rabbit was bitten to death by Niu Niu, so there are only two holes on the neck. The whole rabbit is quite big. Let's peel off the fur, clean it and save it. If you have enough in the future, you can make scarves or waistcoats.

After Qin Huai had processed the rabbit meat, there was almost nothing to throw away. There were some inedible offal, which he would ask Song Jia to cook for Niu Niu. For example, the rabbit head, which he couldn't cook, could also be given to Niu Niu. There was too little meat now, and Gou Zi could only eat rice and noodles, and occasionally eat some animal offal as a treat.

Qinhuai first rinsed the cut rabbit meat with water to boil off some of the blood foam, so it would be much cleaner when put into the pot. The wild rabbit needs to be cooked for a little longer so that it is safe and tasty when cooked thoroughly. Therefore, the rabbit was already cooked in the pot in the afternoon.

Mu Nan woke up to the smell of meat and stretched comfortably. Qin Huai heard the noise, opened the curtain and looked at the person who was still rolling around lazily on the bed. He walked forward with a smile: "If you sleep any longer, it will be night."

Mu Nan took out his phone and checked the time. It was only one in the afternoon. He spoke in a hoarse voice, "What are you having for lunch?"

Qin Huai pulled him up from the bed and helped him put on his clothes one by one: "I made beef brisket with tomatoes, which should be cooked by now. I'll also make a plate of stir-fried pork with green peppers. If you want to eat any vegetables, take some out and stir-fry them. The rice is also ready, waiting for you to get up and eat."

Now that the weather is cold, there is no need for a refrigerator. Just put it somewhere far away from the stove, and the vegetables and meat will be frozen directly. For example, frozen vegetables will not taste good, so Mu Nan did not put the vegetables outside, and take them out from the space when he wants to eat. But for some meat, Mu Nan put some directly outside. Maybe cooking can make life more down-to-earth, so even if there are ready-made ones in the space, as long as conditions permit, Qin Huai would rather spend time on three meals a day, unless they are some things that are not suitable to be cooked outside, such as barbecue.

Mu Nan slowly got up from the bed, holding a small basin and squatting beside the stove to wash up. Beef brisket can be stewed all the time, and the more it stews, the softer it becomes, but shredded pork with green peppers tastes better when it is just out of the pot. Mu Nan squatted by the stove to brush his teeth and wash his face, while Qin Huai cooked vegetables at the stove. The smell of life soon filled the room. Finally, the stir-fried vegetables were served on the small dining table on the kang, and Mu Nan washed his face and climbed into bed.

When Qin Huai was holding the bowl to serve rice, Mu Nan said, "Eat less. I want to save some space for dinner tonight." He didn't crave meat, but it was more fun to eat when there were many people around. Now that he was full, he wouldn't be able to eat much in the evening, and the dinner party would lose its fun.

Qin Huai served him a bowl of rice in a small bowl. Mu Nan tasted the beef brisket and found it had been stewed until it was soft and melted in the mouth. It was probably cooked in a pressure cooker, otherwise it would not have been possible to stew the beef so thoroughly in just one morning. The taste was excellent and particularly tasty, so he poured the soup directly on the rice, which tasted amazing. The green vegetables were stir-fried with lettuce leaves, which Mu Nan quite liked, and paired with a mouthful of shredded pork mixed with green peppers, it went really well with rice.

Although he said he wanted to save space for dinner, his eyes were still on the beef brisket. Qin Huai smiled and said, "Another bowl?"

Mu Nan shook his head: "No, I want to eat rabbit meat tonight."

Mu Nan is not craving for meat, but his neighbors are craving for it so much that they want to eat at Qin Huai's place. The main reason is that Qin Huai's people have more seasonings, such as the big spices, which are only available at Qin Huai's place. These spices were not sold at the previous exchange points. Qin Huai is responsible for killing the rabbits, making the spices, and doing the work, so the rabbit skin naturally belongs to them. However, Qin Huai is willing to go through all this not for the skin, but purely because Mu Nan likes what he cooks.

The dining area was still next to the stove, with a fire burning on it, bright and warm. Even before dinnertime, the neighbors who were craving for meat had already come early. Mu Nan had already cleaned up the first floor. Things that shouldn't be outside, such as batteries and various snacks and drinks, were all put into the space. Jian Chulai also brought his homemade playing cards, made of cardboard of various colors, thick and thin, cut into the same size, and then drawn with a pen. Other things could be tolerated, but the cards were of different thicknesses, and he couldn't even hold them in his hands at one point.

Mu Nan sighed, then went to the cabinet and took out a deck of cards.

Jian Chu was dumbfounded when he saw a new box of cards: "Where did you get these?"

Mu Nan said, "I brought it from home. I kept it in my bag all the time. I thought I could play with it when I got bored during a break on the road. But we were hiking all the way, and when we stopped, we just wanted to sleep, so I never took it out."

Jian Chu looked at him in confusion, then looked at his own crudely crafted work.

Mu Nan laughed: "I wanted to say I did, but I saw that you were very enthusiastic about it and didn't want to discourage you. Who knew that you would end up like this? This deck of cards is so thick that I can't even hold it in one hand."

Jian Chu discarded the finished product of his hard work without hesitation, and contributed all the cardboard directly to the stove in Mu Nan's house, then pulled Song Jia and the other two to play Landlord. Qin Huai made tea for Yu Zibai and the others. The tea was brought back from the office when he was at work. Originally, he wanted to make milk tea for Mu Nan, but Mu Nan liked black tea and didn't like this Pu'er tea. He didn't like drinking tea either, so it was just right to use it to entertain others.

The rabbit meat was still stewing in the pot, and tomato soup was cooking in a small pot on the other side. All the neighbors knew that they had tomatoes, but the fruit production was not enough now, so they had to be covered for a few days before they could be eaten. The green peppers were growing well, and might be a little more hardy than tomatoes. They were not so demanding on soil and temperature, and they produced quite a few fruits, so after the rabbit meat was stewed, I would make a tiger-skin green pepper.

As for whether some people don’t like green peppers, I don’t think that’s a problem. After not eating green things for so long, those who didn’t like them will start to like them.

Mu Nan and his friends were playing cards, while Yu Zibai and his friends were discussing their next trip. Xu Ming said, "If you want to go, it's best to go every few days, when the snow and wind aren't so strong. The temperature is getting lower and lower now. If it keeps dropping, we won't even be able to leave the house."

Jian Chu, who was playing cards, asked, "What's the temperature now?" There was no internet after the power outage, and now he only takes his temperature once a week. He has no idea what the temperature is outside, but it's very cold anyway.

Qin Huai said: "It may have exceeded minus fifty degrees."

Jian Chu: "Fuck, so brutal. I've experienced temperatures as high as 50 or 60 degrees Celsius in my life. Do I have to experience temperatures as low as -50 or 60 degrees Celsius again?"

Song Jia asked curiously, "What were the temperatures at the South Pole and the North Pole before?"

Wu Zheng said: "About minus fifty degrees."

Song Jia said: "That's OK, at least it's still within the range where humans can survive, so there's no need to worry about freezing to death."

Mu Nan smiled and said, "Where humans live, the lowest temperature is minus seventy degrees Celsius. I wonder if it will be that cold." He felt that the first winter in his previous life should not be that cold. If it really dropped to that low a temperature, he would freeze to death even if he had the space. After all, he had not prepared anything. There was only some food and a down jacket in the space.

Yu Zibai looked at Xu Ming: "Will you go hunting next time?" If it was just him and Jian Chu, he thought it would be better not to take any risks.

Before Xu Ming could say anything, Song Jia raised his hand and said, "I want to go again!" Although he knew that the results might not be as good as his first luck, he had tasted the sweetness and with Niuniu as his help, he couldn't help but want to try again.

Wu Zheng looked at Song Jia and did not stop him. Song Jia was actually much more independent than he thought. It was just that in the past, no matter what happened, he had to take care of it, which made Song Jia seem very dependent on him. In fact, even without him, Song Jia could take care of herself. It was after this incident that he realized that the child who once ran away from home with a schoolbag and came to him and asked him if he was his brother had grown up.

Qin Huai said, "We won't go. We still have one pot of oil left from last time. You don't have to buy extra oil this time. You can use the points to rent for an extra day or two."

Xu Ming said: "I'll go. I'll be fine if I stay at home. I'll go out for a walk. If I have something to do, I'll be more energetic."

Yu Zibai said, "Next time I come to take your temperature, I'll ask about renting a car. During the two days you were away, we could hear the sound of cars driving out of the yard at least three times. It felt like they were all hunting. I'm afraid we have to book a car in advance."

Jian Chu said to Mu Nan, "That's perfect. You guys stay at home this time. I'll leave the garage door open. Remember to help us add some firewood when you're home."

Mu Nan: "Don't worry, I will definitely not let your furnace get cold."

Qin Huai opened the pot of rabbit meat and put some star anise and dried chili peppers in it. Although there was nothing else as a base, it was just a pot of pure rabbit meat, but the sight of such a full pot of meat still made them drool and they even stopped playing cards.

Jian Chu smelled the fragrance and said softly, "There is so much meat from a rabbit?"

Mu Nan gestured at him and said, "This one is so big, it's not comparable to those pet rabbits. I've never seen a wild rabbit before, and I thought it was a mutated animal. But my brother said that some wild rabbits are really big. I don't know what they eat now. The green plants outside are all dead in the sun. It's quite amazing that it can still grow this big and survive until now."

Jian Chu smiled and said, "I hope that in the future there will be an overabundance of animals, so that at least we won't have to worry about food. If the environment is really bad and even animals starve to death, I can't even imagine how we'll live then."

Qin Huai served all the rabbit meat and fried a plate of tiger peppers. He didn't cook much rice, thinking that everyone would eat the meat. When the dishes were served, Jian Chu directly put one of the two rabbit legs into each of Mu Nan and Song Jia's bowls: "In order to stop you from pushing each other around, the younger ones should eat first."

There were only two rabbit legs, and it would not be good for so many people to eat them all, so Qin Huai chopped the rabbit legs into small pieces. However, the two rabbit leg bones still had a little meat on them, so Song Jia and Mu Nan only gnawed on the little meat on the bones.

Mu Nan looked at Song Jia: "Can Niuniu eat this bone?"

Song Jia nodded: "Yes, you can suck the taste off the bones. It's a bit spicy. Suck it clean before giving it to him."

Niu Niu on the side had been licking her tongue and waiting. When she heard someone mention it, she knew that it was going to be fed, and the whole dog couldn't wait to move forward, wagging its tail.

While eating, Xu Ming was calculating the points he could exchange for this time, and said, "I want to exchange for some rice and coal this time to stock up. Yesterday I asked if they had any coal, and they said they did, but the quantity was not much. One point is worth ten kilograms of honeycomb coal, and one honeycomb coal weighs two kilograms. One point can only be exchanged for five."

Jian Chu calculated in his mind for a long time but couldn't figure it out: "How long can one coal burn?"

Xu Ming said: "When cooking with a big fire, one coal will only burn for one or two hours. If you cover the stove lid at night to keep the bed warm, you may only need two or three coals a night. For the stove we built, this is the ratio when burning with firewood. But we can save at least half of the firewood we have now. If we keep two coals in the stove at night, we don't need to get up at night to add firewood."

Jian Chu said, "If you think about it this way, it's not so bad. Winter supplies are in short supply right now. One point can be exchanged for five coals. Being able to keep warm right now is life-saving. If you have some, buy more. I'm afraid it will get harder as time goes by."

The whole pot of rabbit meat was eaten up without a single drop left. As a man with a big appetite, even with rice as a base, he hadn't eaten meat for such a long time, so it was inevitable that he indulged himself. Jian Chu touched his stomach and sighed, "I can't wait to go out."

Mu Nan looked at Wu Zheng and the others: "We need to accumulate some weapons." They didn't find many arrows that they shot along the way, but they made those arrows themselves later. Although they were made of wood, they were quite lethal. The main person making them was Wu Zheng. He can walk and take care of himself now, but he was frozen so badly before, and it would take a long time for him to recover. With nothing to do and no desire to lie down all day, he just made arrows. So now they are discussing improvements. With experience, they will know how to save materials and increase lethality.

Anyway, Mu Nan couldn't understand what they were saying, what angles and ranges were, and Jian Chu didn't understand either. He just needed to take the finished products they made and follow their instructions.

Song Jia held Niuniu and sat by the stove, looking at Mu Nan and said, "For some reason, I feel like we are a big family."

Jian Chu smiled and said, "If they were really a big family, they might not get along so well." No matter how familiar they were with each other now, they were just friends after all. There should always be a proper social distance between friends. If they were really relatives, they might not be as harmonious as they are now.

Speaking of the big family, Jian Chu said, "During the two days when you were away, the Qi family was in a big commotion."

Mu Nan immediately gossiped, "What's the fuss?"

Jian Chu said, "Qi Kangmin's nephew is dead, right? His sister suddenly took a knife and tried to kill her brother the night before yesterday."

Mu Nan and Song Jia were immediately shocked: "Did he really chop it off?"

Jian Chu nodded, "They really did, but she was a woman after all, so she must have panicked when she did it. Anyway, she didn't die, but her arm was cut with a deep wound. They knew there was a doctor in our yard, so they knocked on the door in the middle of the night for help, but Xu Ming was not there, so they had no choice but to let Qi Kangmin's father ride his bike to Building 1 to ask for help so late at night. He fell on the way and broke his arm."

Song Jia was full of curiosity: "Just why? If you really hate him so much, wouldn't you hate him most when your son just died? It's been about ten days or half a month."

Jian Chu said, "His sister's husband's name seems to be Yu You. That man has only one grandmother. His grandmother is old and has bad teeth. She doesn't have many teeth left. She usually doesn't eat much. That day, his grandmother didn't eat a single bite of the meat because she couldn't chew it. So it's okay. In the end, this great-grandson is gone. It's a huge blow to the old lady."

Song Jia said: "The old man is gone too?"

Jian Chu waved her hand, "She's still alive, but Qi Kangmin's sister seemed to have fallen ill not long after giving birth to her son. It was quite serious, and she had to have her uterus removed to save her life. As a result, she lost the son she had raised so much, and she couldn't have children herself. Yu You seemed to not want her anymore, and said something about the Yu family's incense must not be cut off. Anyway, he took his grandmother with him. A grown man should not be unable to support an old person. Anyway, she's gone."

Mu Nan and Song Jia looked at each other in bewilderment. Is there a throne to inherit? Natural disasters and man-made disasters, people are dying, and there is no tomorrow. Why do you want to keep the incense burning? If you don't like it, just say so. What's the point of talking about incense burning?

Mu Nan: "So what's the situation at their home now?"

Jian Chu shrugged, "I don't know. I didn't hear anything today. Now the Qi family has a father who broke his hand, a son whose hand was chopped, and a sister who might chop people with a knife at any time. There are only three left in the family of eleven. I'm afraid they will move out soon, otherwise they won't be able to pay the rent."

Mu Nan sighed: "Life is so difficult, and so many things have happened. After experiencing such terrible disasters, I didn't even learn to cherish the people in front of me."

Jian Chu also sighed: "Isn't it true? After such a terrible earthquake, it is not easy to have such a complete family, but we don't know how to cherish it."

After chatting about gossip and eating and drinking, everyone went home. On the third day, the person who came to take the temperature came and brought the news that they could exchange deer for points. Three adult deer, a rabbit and two snakes, on average each family could exchange for 900 points. The fawn weighed only more than 110 kilograms, and the edible internal organs were divided up, and the inedible parts were left for Niu Niu because they were sure dogs could eat them. Each family got more than 30 kilograms of meat and bones. Although Jian Chu and his family did not go, they were still given a deer bone and five kilograms of meat. The remaining three families could divide it equally, so there was no possibility that one family would get more and another would get less.

Mu Nan looked at the large bowl full of meat and couldn't help but say, "Oh my, I suddenly feel so rich!"

Qin Huai cleaned the deer bones a little bit, and put some large bones that were difficult to chew directly into the big pot on the stove. Fortunately, the pot was big enough, so those bones that had only been slightly processed by the soldiers could be put in.

Mu Nan helped Qin Huai pour water into the pot: "How long will it take us to finish such a big pot of soup?"

Qin Huai said, "There's not much cooked out. Just drink a little. You can also use the soup to cook noodles for breakfast in the morning. It will be finished quickly. If you want to eat hot pot, you can use the deer bone soup as the base. If you want spicy food, I'll add some chili. This base is not as strong as beef oil pot, but it tastes good too."

Mu Nan said with a sigh, "I have never eaten venison or drunk venison bone soup in my life."

Qin Huai smiled. He had eaten it before, and it tasted just like other meats. "Deer meat tastes pretty good, and is quite nutritious."

After pouring the water, Mu Nan covered the pot with the lid: "What do you want to nourish? To nourish the kidneys?"

Qin Huai smiled meaningfully: "It nourishes the spleen and replenishes Qi, warms the kidneys and strengthens Yang."

Mu Nan uttered an "oh" and looked at Qin Huai, deliberately lengthening his tone: "Oh..."

Qin Huai picked up Mu Nan and threw him onto the kang. Mu Nan couldn't help laughing. He let down the curtain, lifted the quilt, and the deer bone soup in the pot was bubbling. The couple was playing and laughing on the kang.