Chapter 12 Pig Blood Vermicelli

Having determined the heat and time for drying the mushrooms, Lu An took on the task himself. Moving firewood and burning charcoal were not easy tasks, and he habitually didn't let Zhao Xuan get involved.

Zhao Xuan also had his own things to do—the piles of winter bamboo shoots in the hall needed to be dried. Before drying, the bamboo shoots had to be peeled, washed, sliced, cooked, and drained before being put into the oven.

Most vegetables need to be cooked before they can be dried, such as cowpeas, peppers, and bottle gourds. Last winter, Zhao Xuan and Lu An preserved a large amount of vegetables this way after harvesting them. After cooking, they can be dried in the sun. If the weather is good, they can be dried in a few days.

Of course, radishes are not included.

Radishes that are plentiful and have a good taste can be cut into strips and soaked in water. Adding a few chili peppers, a few cloves of garlic, and some vinegar will make them even tastier.

But dried food has its own unique flavor, especially dried bamboo shoots, which are incredibly delicious when cooked with meat in winter.

Zhao Xuan moved a small stool over and sat in the yard. He picked up a kitchen knife and began peeling bamboo shoots.

I bought a winter bamboo shoot that weighed several pounds. After removing the outer skin and cutting off the tough, chewy root, I could only keep half. The stove in the kitchen was already lit, and hot water was boiling in a large pot.

After she finished chopping a bowl of bamboo shoots, she took it into the kitchen, poured it all into hot water, stirred it haphazardly with a spatula, and then sat back down on the stool in the yard to continue chopping bamboo shoots.

She wasn't very fast, but fortunately, bamboo shoots also take a long time to cook, so a balance was achieved between the two.

After the apocalypse, food could calm her down. Even though she was a very wary rabbit, she actually let down her guard when she saw food.

Large quantities of bamboo shoots must be boiled in a large pot, so in the sweltering daylight, she unusually lit a fire, and the smoke rose up the chimney and drifted leisurely into the distance.

Since they moved into the village, she hasn't seen any other humans besides Lu An, so it shouldn't be a problem to let her guard down occasionally.

After spending almost half a month drying the mushrooms and bamboo shoots they had picked, Lu An and Zhao Xuan decided to take a half-day break.

She packed the dried goods into large plastic bags, sealed them, and then put them into several kerosene tanks.

Foreign oil canisters are almost extinct in cities, but they are quite popular among the elderly in rural areas. She found many in this village alone; they were all roughly the same size and style, rectangular in shape with a round opening at the top. She would put dried goods into the canisters, tie the bags tightly, then cover the opening with a folded plastic sheet slightly larger than the canister's opening. Finally, she would screw the lid on, similar to sealing a wine jar, to prevent air and insects from entering, thus preserving the food inside for a longer period.

If you have too many boxes, you can stack them up and store them without taking up any space.

Zhao Xuan looked at the dozen or so boxes full of dried goods and was very satisfied. She even specially set aside some dried mushrooms and dried bamboo shoots and put them in a small jar in the living room so she could take them out whenever she wanted.

She and Lu An didn't give themselves much time to rest. Grain Rain had passed for a while, and they had to hurry up and plant the vegetables.

Although she and Lu An decided to rest, they still couldn't stay idle. Zhao Xuan sorted through the food left over from the winter, deciding to eat some of the older food as soon as possible. Lu An, on the other hand, rolled up a burlap sack, took a wood-chopping knife and a pot of water, and prepared to go into the mountains.

He was still thinking about the two animal traps in the mountains and wanted to go check them out, hoping to catch some wild rabbits.

When 460 saw that Lu An was about to go out, it excitedly followed. 460 was more familiar with the mountain roads in this area than the two of them, and with it leading the way, Lu An could save a lot of effort.

After exchanging greetings, the man and his dog went out.

Zhao Xuan spent the entire afternoon organizing her warehouse. In the evening, she took out a handful of vermicelli and a handful of dried vegetables, preparing to cook a pot of vermicelli soup.

The fans needed to be soaked in advance. After thinking for a moment, she took out a few dried shiitake mushrooms and soaked them together. Then she sat in front of her house, propping her chin up and waiting for Lu An to come back. Perhaps she was really lucky and he would catch a few chickens like last time, so she could stir-fry a plate of spicy chicken giblets.

But so far, Lu An's animal traps haven't caught any prey.

The sun slowly sank below the horizon.

Finally, in the fading light of the setting sun, she saw a figure slowly walking towards her.

He seemed to be struggling, the sack he was carrying on his back was bulging.

"Lu An!" Zhao Xuan stood up, waved to him, and then ran towards him.

460 thought its owner had come to greet it and happily rushed over.

Zhao Xuan stopped 460's head from bulging up, and then immediately saw his bulging sack. It seemed to contain something alive, kicking every now and then.

Zhao Xuan's heart skipped a beat. She wondered what kind of rabbit hole Lu An had jumped into to catch such a full bag of rabbits?! Just as she was about to ask, she heard a "whoosh" from inside the bag. The question caught in her throat, and her brow furrowed. That sound was all too familiar; back then, almost every household in the countryside made that sound.

"Pig?!" she asked, earning a serious nod from Lu An.

Lu An's animal trap caught a pig?!

Zhao Xuan screamed, "How is this possible! That thing can actually catch pigs, besides breaking people's legs?! How many?!"

Lu An held up four fingers, but then immediately added another.

Five pigs?!

Zhao Xuan was so excited that he felt a long train whistle sound above his head.

"Weren't some pig droppings found in that area before the New Year? Wild boars must have been passing through. Catching one is a matter of probability." Engineering students always give such calm and logical answers.

In fact, Lu An didn't have high hopes for the two animal traps. First, he had never used such things before, and second, it was springtime, and the flowers and fruits on the mountain were starting to grow, so wild boars shouldn't appear in places with human presence. But after waiting for two seasons, the animal trap that Zhao Xuan had looked down on gave them a great gift.

It was a sow with four piglets; late spring was indeed the season for piglets to be born. The sow was probably heading to the fields at the foot of the mountain to dig for some wild grains. Animals have fixed ranges, and in some places, they would trample the weeds into shallow paths. If you set a trap on these paths, there's a chance you'll catch prey.

As Lu An staggered closer to the animal trap, he saw the sow whose legs were caught. The sow had been trapped for several days and was on the verge of death. Her four piglets were nestled in their mother's arms, grunting and pushing against her large belly, also on the verge of death.

To be honest, Lu An felt a little sorry for the scene. He used to feel compassion when watching animal documentaries, but with 460's cries, he felt somewhat ridiculous. He had eaten so much meat—pork, mutton, rabbit, even rat meat—many of which he had slaughtered himself. He didn't feel anything when slaughtering pheasants and ducks, but the larger the creature, the more spiritual it seemed to be. He could sense a human-like attachment and warmth in them.

Zhao Xuan is thoughtful, but she is more open-minded than Lu An in this regard. She said that since these things cannot be avoided, then we should respect the food, not kill it, and not waste it.

The baby boars were easy to catch because they refused to leave their mothers even at the cost of their lives. Lu An easily caught them, tied their limbs with vines, and put them in a sack. The boars weren't heavy, so he carried them on his shoulder and returned home in a little longer than usual.

When they were dumped out all at once and found themselves in an unfamiliar environment, they struggled together, then huddled together in a corner, letting out pig-like screams.

They are plump and round all over, like little cushions. Their brown fur has a series of dark plum blossom-shaped patterns that extend from their heads to their curly little tails.

The wild boars had short snouts and weren't particularly thin, seeming somewhat different from the wild boars Zhao Xuan knew. Perhaps they were a breed resulting from the crossbreeding of escaped domestic pigs and wild boars for generations? Or perhaps they were the kind of wild boars raised by humans that were popular before the apocalypse? Because of the preference for all-natural food, wild boar meat, after artificial selection and being free-range, was quite popular.

There were many pigsties in the village, but they were all empty. She did not find a single animal carcass in the village. She guessed that perhaps before the outbreak of the major disease, the last person who left the village had a change of heart and released all the livestock. The livestock did not go far and multiplied in this area, which is why the people who came later had chickens, and then pigs.

Just then, Zhao Xuan saw that Lu An had already taken a coil of rope and two flashlights and was about to go out again.

She quickly asked him where he was going.

Lu An hopped on his tricycle: "There's another big one up on the mountain."

That big pig probably won't survive the night. He needs to hurry and bring it back. The weather is hot now, and it's not good for it to be pecked at by other animals or left to rot overnight.

The mountain road was too far, so he decided to ride his tricycle to the foot of the mountain first, drag the wild boar down, and then ride back. This would save him some energy; otherwise, he would never be able to carry the three or four hundred-pound wild boar.

They were powered on for too short a time and didn't have time to make other preparations. Otherwise, it would have been much easier to find a small, rechargeable cargo ship and use it to carry the goods.

Zhao Xuan said with some worry, "It's getting dark, what if there are wild animals..."

"No, there are dogs too."

460 stood to the side, chest puffed out, like a guard.

"I'll go with you!"

“You’ll be boiling water at home and settling these piglets. The big pig is coming back soon and we’ll be slaughtering it. If you and I go, who will boil the water?” As he spoke, he reached out and put his arm around Zhao Xuan, patting her back to comfort her. “It’s okay. It’s not like we haven’t walked at night before.”

460 seemed to understand and responded with a few barks.

"Then wait for me!" She turned and went upstairs, bringing out a thick coat and a pair of work gloves. Work gloves were a rare commodity; once a pair was used, there was one less. They usually didn't even use them when farming. Lu An wasn't walking in the brightly lit city at night, but in the pitch-black mountains. She was worried that he would cut his hands on the sharp leaves of the plants, so she insisted that he wear them.

Lu An put on gloves as instructed, then unexpectedly kissed Zhao Xuan on the cheek before getting on her bike and waving at her, signaling her to hurry home.

“If you come back too late, I’ll come find you!” Zhao Xuan said to him.

She watched the man and dog swagger away. When she returned, she glanced at the four piglets that were now huddled in the corner, thought for a moment, and then had an idea.

The house next door, the one where they keep a few chickens, also has a pigsty in the backyard, two rooms in total, just enough for two chickens per room. Next to the pigsty is a septic tank. The house Zhao Xuan currently lives in has a modern toilet, which is no longer usable after the apocalypse due to the lack of water and electricity; it's now used to store some odds and ends. The old house next door, however, still has a mud toilet, which is where she and Lu An use to relieve themselves.

Fermented manure becomes excellent fertilizer, and it shouldn't be wasted.

The initial reason for choosing that location for the chicken coop was that the chicken droppings could be easily shoveled into the septic tank. However, the amount of droppings produced by a few chickens and two people was quite limited. Perhaps if they raised pigs, they could have enough pig manure to use as fertilizer.

In the dead of night, Zhao Xuan, with a flashlight in his mouth, a bucket of water in one hand, and a mop brush in the other, went to the next room.

The chickens in the coop had already retreated to their nests, and the yard was unusually quiet.

The pigsty was next to the chicken coop, with a cement wall about half a person's height. Each pigsty had two small wooden doors that fit into grooves carved into the wall, designed for easy lifting and lowering. Above the pigsties, a few simple iron sheets were placed to provide shelter from the wind and rain.

This family must have left long before the apocalypse, perhaps building other new houses or moving to the city. The house was empty, and the pigsty and chicken coop were very clean, indicating that they hadn't raised livestock for a long time. This actually reduced the amount of work Zhao Xuan had to do.

First, she shone a light on the roof beams to make sure it was safe before entering the pigsty. The leak in the roof could only be repaired the next day. She first cleaned away the years of dust in the pigsty, and then carefully washed the stone feeding troughs in the pigsty. After that, she brought over planks and straw.

The wooden planks were taken from someone else's door; they were originally intended for firewood, but they hadn't had time to split them, so they were used. First, the planks were placed in a corner, and then a thick layer of straw was laid on top.

In her memory, this was how her grandmother arranged the pigsties. At that time, her grandmother raised two pigs—pigs had a huge appetite, eating three meals a day. It was already quite an achievement for her grandmother to raise two pigs.

After arranging everything, she carried the four little pigs into the pigsty.

Two female piglets and two male piglets were placed into two separate pigpens, one for males and one for females.

She put some water into the trough. The piglets had been hungry for a long time, and when they saw the water, they all moved to the edge of the trough and drank it down, their little tails curled up high, which was very cute.

Zhao Xuan lay by the pigpen watching them, feeling as if he were dreaming.

Having these pigs means they will have a stable source of meat and can also render lard. If a pig is raised well, the rendered lard can last for a whole year, which is much more convenient than pressing oil from rapeseed or peanuts.

They haven't eaten meat in a long time, except for eggs.

Zhao Xuan was already craving it as he thought about it.

The piglets had been hungry for several days and weren't getting enough water. Luckily, I picked a basket of wild sweet potato leaves today, which I was planning to use as food tomorrow, but I ended up making pig feed today.

The household where the pigsty was located also had a stove, so Zhao Xuan planned to cook the pig feed on the spot. After the water boiled, he put the basket of sweet potato leaves in, cooked them, took them out, and added a large spoonful of bran.

The bran, being ground by a waterwheel, was quite coarse and was originally intended for fertilizer, but now it was perfect for feeding the piglets. Adding bran to a bucket of sweet potato leaf soup and stirring it thickened it; the bucket was divided in half and poured into two feeding troughs. In the darkness, she could hear the piglets grunting and squealing. They were eating heartily.

These piglets aren't as aggressive as wild boars. I wonder what their meat will taste like when they grow up. Wild boars, since they haven't been castrated, should taste a bit fishy.

But so what if it smells fishy? Why would you be picky when you have meat to eat?

Zhao Xuan felt that he shouldn't have such a critical mindset.

After returning home, she carried some firewood to the kitchen and started boiling water.

In the countryside, every household slaughters a pig before the Lunar New Year, and the butcher has to wait. At this time, the family will boil a large pot of hot water in advance to scald the pig hair and clean the internal organs. As the end of the year approaches, the pig slaughterer will be particularly busy, sometimes waiting from early morning to noon, and even adding water to the pot several times.

Now, as Zhao Xuan sits in front of the stove, watching the firewood crackle and pop, she suddenly feels like she's back in her childhood.

If only my parents and grandmother were still alive.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but as she was thinking, she fell asleep with her arms wrapped around her.

She was awakened by a noise.

She had experienced this familiar feeling of being startled awake countless times since the apocalypse, and being easily frightened, her heart would pound wildly the moment she woke up.

She clutched her chest, forcing herself to calm down. She heard the 460 call coming from the yard. It wasn't those malicious strangers who came, but her family, the ones who gave her the greatest sense of security.

Lu An had been back for who knows how long. He glanced at the perpetual calendar in the living room; it was 4:12 a.m.

— Her journey home, after a long and arduous night, was perhaps the most important achievement of the year.

A thin blanket was placed over Zhao Xuan. The firewood had burned out, leaving only a few embers to warm her.

The pot lid was lifted, and half of the boiling water inside was scooped out.

She walked into the yard, her eyes still blurry. The yard light was on, and the pig had already been processed by Lu An; its internal organs were placed in a basin. The pigskin had been scalded with hot water, making the pig hair easy to scrape off. Beside his feet was a large basin of pig's blood.

Add hot water and salt to a basin, then put the pig's blood in. After a while, the blood will coagulate. Zhao Xuan taught Lu An this method when he was killing chickens.

Even before killing the chicken, Lu An roughly knew how to preserve blood. On the rare occasions when they lived in the camp, someone would catch a few cows or sheep, and Lu An would help them slaughter the sheep in exchange for some meat.

Slaughtering a sheep and killing a pig are not much different. As long as you can be ruthless, it's not difficult. Besides, the pig he brought back was on the verge of death.

But he didn't want Zhao Xuan to see any of this. He couldn't explain why; perhaps he didn't want Zhao Xuan to see the animals die, or perhaps he didn't want her to see him slaughtering the animals.

Fortunately, she was already asleep when I got back.

When Zhao Xuan woke up, he was already holding a knife and slicing up a pig.

Wild animals are never as tender as domesticated ones; they have less fat, are mostly firm meat, and even their skin is thicker. Finding a butcher's knife in the village was easy, and Zhao Xuan carefully collected all the usable everyday items.

A sharp knife slices through the gaps in the bone to cut off a whole strip of rib meat. A cleaver is used to cut off the bone connected to the spine. Lu An puts the cut meat into a large plastic basin.

"You're awake," Lu An said, her face showing the fatigue of a night's journey, but she still smiled at Zhao Xuan. "Take a look at these meats, see which ones need to be frozen and which ones need to be marinated."

Zhao Xuan craned his neck to take a look. The wild boar meat was redder than that of domestic pigs, and the whole yard smelled faintly of meat.

There were two large basins at Lu An's feet. The basins were big enough to bathe a child, and they were now full of pork. Lu An carefully sorted them, putting pure meat in one basin and meat with bones in another.

After glancing at the meat, Zhao Xuan silently made a plan in his mind.

Meat that needs to be cured cannot come into contact with raw water, otherwise it will spoil before it's fully cured. Zhao Xuan first went to the second-floor warehouse and got more than ten kilograms of salt and several bottles of white wine. After washing the meat with the wine, she rubbed it with salt. The refrigerator was already plugged in, so she first filled the freezer compartment with the unsalted meat, and then put the salted meat into another large stainless steel basin. Some of this meat could be made into salted meat, which could be stored for about a month, and the rest could be made into smoked meat, enough to last until this winter.

In addition, Lu An specially removed several dozen kilograms of pork fat, which were placed in a small basin and can be rendered into oil tomorrow.

Lu An set the pig's head, trotters, and offal aside; these would need to be thoroughly cleaned later. After thinking for a moment, Zhao Xuan picked up the pig liver, rubbed it with salt, and tossed it into the basin to be marinated. She didn't eat much pig liver or intestines, finding their taste strange. Intestines could be masked with spices, while pig liver tasted better after being air-dried. She remembered her grandmother stuffing salted egg yolks into pig liver, then simmering it with salt before air-drying it. When she wanted to eat it, she would cut off a piece; the outside was wrapped in spicy pig liver, and inside was a round, orange-yellow egg yolk—perfect for pairing with alcohol. However, Zhao Xuan didn't have any salted duck eggs on hand right now.

The bones and ribs are salted to enhance their flavor, while some red and white pork belly is reserved for smoking. Compared to simply salting, smoking meat requires the addition of spices such as Sichuan peppercorns to the salt.

Zhao Xuan treasured spices like Sichuan peppercorns and cumin, just like gloves and rain boots. These things were used up and then gone. The area they were in was not a production area for these spices, and they couldn't even find seeds to grow them.

Zhao Xuan crushed some spices in a small stone mortar and pestle, then mixed the spices with salt and rubbed it onto the pork. After waiting overnight, he hung it in a ventilated place and patiently left it for a few days before putting it in the oven to smoke it until it turned a glossy brown-red. At that time, the flavor of the spices would permeate the meat, which would not only preserve it for longer but also make it more fragrant.

Lu An cut the meat into pieces and categorized them into several large basins, while Zhao Xuan took them and rubbed salt on each piece. The two worked in perfect harmony, without saying a word. After rubbing the salted meat, they covered it with a plastic basin to keep out the dust. After a busy night, the pork not only filled the freezer, but also left three large basins of cured meat—one for salted meat, two for smoked meat, and a number of pig trotters and offal.

After finishing her work, Zhao Xuan straightened up and gave her back a quick pat. Only then did she realize that she and Lu An hadn't even eaten dinner and had been working all night on empty stomachs.

The cleanup of the yard was left to Lu An, while Zhao Xuan took the bowl of pig's blood into the kitchen.

The pig's blood had already congealed. She boiled water, cut the pig's blood into small pieces, and blanched it in the water. The bright red pig's blood turned reddish-brown after being cooked. The glass noodles that had been soaked yesterday were still on the stove. She put away the dried vegetables and prepared to cook a pot of pig's blood and glass noodles.

First, add a handful of diced shiitake mushrooms to the boiling water to enhance the flavor. After boiling for a while, you can add the glass noodles and pig's blood. These two ingredients cook very easily. When the soup boils again, and the snow-white glass noodles and brownish-red cubes of pig's blood are vying to rise to the surface, add a few drops of vinegar and sesame oil. If you don't have pepper, you can use chili powder instead. Just sprinkle some on top. With just a few very simple steps, a pot of warm pig's blood and glass noodle soup is ready.

She specially placed two large bowls on the table, filling each person's bowl with a generous amount of vermicelli soup, and finally sprinkling a large handful of tender celery on top.

The sun had already risen, and the hall, gradually brightening, seemed much dimmer as the lamplight flickered. Zhao Xuan turned his head, his gaze passing through the hall door and the surrounding wall, looking at the golden morning clouds outside.

She and Lu An had stayed up all night like this before after the apocalypse, but back then it was out of necessity for safety. Tonight's sleepless night, however, was filled with boundless anticipation.

The pig's blood was piping hot and tender, like tofu. Zhao Xuan fanned her mouth with the hot air as she tried to swallow it, tears welling up in her eyes, but she still scooped up another mouthful without stopping.

The vermicelli must be sour and spicy to be truly flavorful. When you bite into the chewy vermicelli, you should drink it along with the soup. It can instantly dispel the chill of the night. Then, bite into a piece of pig's blood, and your mouth will be filled with bursting joy.

How many years has it been since I last ate this?! Pig's blood, tofu, fish balls, crab sticks... these foods seem like they belong to a past life, right? It's a sin, in my past life I hated processed foods because I was trying to lose weight.

Zhao Xuan cursed under his breath.

Seeing this, Lu An, sitting opposite her, picked out a few more pieces of pig's blood from his own bowl and put them into hers. Zhao Xuan didn't refuse and grinned at him.

A loud rooster crowed from next door, and the sky brightened.