Chapter 47 Yong Tau Foo

The three of them ate their New Year's Eve dinner very late, and everyone's face was flushed, perhaps because they were slightly short of breath, or perhaps because they were genuinely happy.

460's food was prepared early, and as it grew darker, 460 finished eating long ago. At first, it wagged its tail excitedly and circled under the table, but later, unable to resist the drowsiness, it climbed down the stairs to its own large sofa, covered itself well with its small blanket, and fell into a deep sleep.

The meal lasted until after 10 p.m. In fact, the three of them had already eaten their fill, but they were still chatting while sitting at the table. They were so full that their high blood sugar made them energetic, and they chatted about all sorts of things, laughing out loud every now and then.

The three of them only got up lazily and started cleaning up the mess on the table when the bone broth in the small pot had almost boiled away.

Old Dao grabbed a flashlight and went next door to check the pigsty and chicken coop. He locked the doors, then slowly walked around his yard, checking the doors and windows of the house from the outside. This was his usual habit; since moving in, the task of locking the doors had basically fallen to him, and he always checked them very carefully.

Lu An and Zhao Xuan went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. The water in the pot had long since cooled down, so they had no choice but to start the fire again. While Zhao Xuan washed the dishes, Lu An wiped down the stove and table and swept the yard as well.

After washing the dishes, Zhao Xuan would wipe off the water stains with a clean cloth before putting them in the cupboard to prevent insects and rodents from contaminating them. After doing this, she poured water from the thermos into a hot water bottle, intending to use it to sleep with that night. They had several thermoses, which they usually filled with boiling water early in the morning, convenient for drinking or mixing with cold water to wash their hands and faces. She filled the hot water bottle, and the remaining water was just enough for the three of them to wash up.

After washing her face carefully, she was about to call Lu An to come and wash his face when she heard Lu An calling her from the yard. Zhao Xuan came out of the kitchen and saw Lu An standing in the yard, tall and thin, holding a sizzling warm light in his hands.

Oh, that's not warm light, it's just a tiny firework.

Lu An was holding a sparkler and waving it foolishly at Zhao Xuan.

"Happy New Year!" he said solemnly.

When they returned in the afternoon, he and Lao Dao had actually brought several boxes of fireworks with them. They had discovered these fireworks a few months earlier. The fireworks were hidden in a farmer's tool shed, covered by a pile of rusty farm tools. After finding them, the two of them picked out a few intact boxes. However, given the high humidity in the south, even intact boxes might not be able to be lit.

Lu An certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to light those sky-high fireworks. He picked out all the sparklers; there were many kinds of small, non-sky-reaching fireworks: besides the handheld sparklers, there were pagoda-shaped "fire trees and silver flowers," which, when lit in the yard, would produce a plume of fire as tall as a person, the unfolding flames resembling a shimmering little tree. There was also a small, round, disc-shaped firework; when lit and thrown, it would spin on the ground, the spreading sparks like ripples on water, sparkling and beautiful.

Too many fireworks got damp, and several of them failed to light. When Lao Dao returned from his inspection, he saw the two young men laughing and setting off fireworks in the yard.

Zhao Xuan, wearing a crooked fur hat, and Lu An, both with their butts sticking out, huddled together to light fireworks. There were too many duds, and they often had to go through several before they could light one. Zhao Xuan was so happy that he danced around, yelling like a monkey at the age of primal instinct.

Old Dao shook his head helplessly. He suddenly thought that if he weren't seriously ill, his daughter Zhuzhu would grow into a beautiful young woman like Zhao Xuan in a few years, right? Girls always grow up so fast. But he immediately dismissed the thought. Zhuzhu had always been tall; she definitely wouldn't grow up to be like Zhao Xuan, that short little monkey. She would be a tall, beautiful little monkey. Thinking of this, he suddenly laughed, but the next second his eyes reddened.

Old Dao, a middle-aged man, didn't seem very interested in fireworks. He told Zhao Xuan and the others to lock the door and then went back to sleep. Zhao Xuan and Lu An didn't know how long they set off fireworks, until a whole box of fireworks was used up. Only then did Zhao Xuan reluctantly go back to sleep, holding the now-cool hot water bottle.

In the depths of winter in the South, bedding is always damp and chilly. Even with a thick mattress, you'll still feel a shiver when you first lie down. Zhao Xuan and Lu An share two down comforters; sharing one comforter is drafty, and Zhao Xuan is more sensitive to the cold. She found a mink coat in Taiping Town, disassembled it, and made it into a blanket for her, which she then placed on top of her own down comforter.

The room temperature was the same as the outside temperature. The wind picked up outside the window and pounded against the glass. Windy weather is always cold. The room temperature was probably around zero degrees Celsius. Lu An pulled back a corner of the curtain and looked at the hazy sky outside. He said that it was good that the wind was blowing. The wind would blow away the dark clouds, and tomorrow would definitely be a sunny day.

Zhao Xuan had many preparations before going to bed. First, she folded the four corners of the quilt inwards and pressed them down firmly to prevent cold air from getting in. Then she put a hot water bottle inside to warm her feet. Finally, she carefully lay down, making sure that the mink quilt on top of the blanket didn't shift. When Lu An locked the door and turned around, he saw Zhao Xuan wrapped up like a chestnut, with only her head showing.

Lu An smiled and leaned over to kiss her little head.

Zhao Xuan fell asleep with a strong sense of security, while downstairs, Lao Dao lay in his warm bed. He turned on his flashlight, stroked the photos of his wife and children in his wallet, and after a long time, he covered the photos to his chest before turning off the light and going to sleep.

A strong wind howled all night.

Just as Lu An had predicted, the next day the sky cleared up. A slight breeze was still blowing, but the thick clouds from the previous day had been blown away, and the sky looked as if it had been washed. This is how winter is in the southern mountains: when it's raining continuously, the temperature can drop to around zero degrees Celsius, but once the sun comes out, the temperature will rise back to the teens as long as you're in the sun.

Zhao Xuan got up very late. When she looked at the calendar, it was already past nine o'clock. Winter is a season with nothing to do anyway. When the weather gets cold, people are lazy and even less willing to get out of bed. She shuffled downstairs in her slippers, put on her cotton coat, and went to get some water. There was a small earthenware pot in the kitchen that was warming porridge. It had been sitting for too long and the porridge had turned into a snow-white paste. There was also a large cup on the stove with tea in it. The stove had obviously been turned off not long ago and was still hot. The enamel cup on top was just right to keep it warm.

Old Dao and Lu An were nowhere to be seen, presumably they had gone to find pig feed. So Zhao Xuan slowly finished washing up, picked up a bowl of porridge, a plate of pickled vegetables, and a salted egg, and ate it slowly.

She liked to eat thick porridge, especially the kind that turned into a paste after boiling and sitting for a while. When you scooped it out with a spoon, it wasn't liquid, but a soft, creamy porridge. The flavor was richer than rice porridge. After eating a big bowl of porridge with spicy pickled vegetables, Zhao Xuan patted her stomach and started preparing lunch.

That's life in winter: after breakfast you think about what to eat for lunch, and after dinner you think about what to eat tomorrow.

Taking out the leftover fried tofu and a piece of meat from the refrigerator, Zhao Xuan prepared to make a bowl of stuffed tofu. Returning to the kitchen, she discovered she was out of salt, so she had to go back to the storage room on the second floor to find some.

We're almost out of salt.

Zhao Xuan had some salt on hand, but it was almost gone after making meat, vegetables, and various other foods this winter. She shook out the remaining salt, which was about 200-300 pounds. If they were just eating normally and not making any food, it would be enough for them for a long time. However, Zhao Xuan also planned to make soy sauce with the Yao family, and she would have to contribute half of the soybeans and salt.

After taking the salt out and putting it into the salt jar, Zhao Xuan felt it was necessary to talk to Lu An that they needed to go out and find more salt.

The meal was prepared as usual. The fried tofu was cut in half, the white core was removed, and the seasoned minced meat was stuffed inside. The minced meat was pressed down firmly, and then it was put into the oil again with the leftover fried food from yesterday. The second frying was to make the fried food crispy again, and the tofu was to prevent the minced meat from falling out of the tofu.

The tofu cores that are scooped out shouldn't be wasted either. They're crushed and mixed with the remaining minced meat to make tofu balls, which are then fried.

Since fried foods shouldn't be eaten in large quantities, stuffed tofu and tofu balls need to be placed in a clay pot, boiled with water, and made into a tofu stew.

After heating up the remaining braised eggs, slice them and arrange them on a plate. Stir-fry some greens, and a simple lunch for the first day of the Lunar New Year is ready.

Lu An and Lao Dao, who got up early, had already returned. The two went to cut pig feed, fed the pigs, and then chopped some firewood before rushing home.

The water in the tofu casserole had evaporated, so Zhao Xuan poured a bowl of cornstarch slurry over it to thicken it, and finally sprinkled on a handful of bright green celery leaves. The fried tofu and tofu balls had soaked up the broth and puffed up considerably. With each bite, the marbled meat filling was bursting with juice, glistening with oil.

When a few simple dishes were served, the two men even exclaimed "Wow!" in unison.

At the dinner table, Zhao Xuan brought up the fact that they had run out of salt at home.

Lu An didn't seem too panicked. He said, "We left some supplies when we went to Taiping Town, including salt. We'll prepare to transport the salt back. If we're still short, we'll search a few more places. There's no one left in that town, so we should have enough salt."

Old Knife asked, "What if people move into that town? Then you can't just take the salt as you please. Besides, after the apocalypse, there are people who specifically form teams to search for salt and then resell it to some camps."

Lu An remained silent for a while; he hadn't considered this possibility.

Old Dao glanced at him and asked, "How long do you two plan to stay in this village?"

This time, Zhao Xuan answered, "I haven't thought about it, but if the environment is suitable, we'll probably stay here."

Old Dao said, "I know a salt field where you can exchange hundreds of kilograms of salt in one go. Do you want to go?"

The salt field that Lao Dao mentioned is more than 400 kilometers away from the village where they live now.

The province they live in is a coastal province, but the village is far from the sea and is located in the hilly area to the northwest. The salt field that Lao Dao mentioned is located on the coast to the southeast of the province. One is in the northwest and the other in the southeast, forming a diagonal line that is more than 400 kilometers long.

However, the actual length of the 400 kilometers in the mountainous area is definitely more than 400 kilometers.

Take the journey from their village to Taiping Town as an example. It takes them half a day to ride the 20-kilometer distance, which is incredibly slow. The road is not straight. They have to carry their goods uphill and ride up and down the winding mountain road. The long stretch is actually just passing through a small mound. In order to avoid danger, they also have to bypass some villages along the way because they cannot be sure whether there are survivors in these scattered villages. At present, their biggest threat is still people.

The journey spans over 400 kilometers, requiring them to cross tunnels and viaducts, bypass numerous cities and villages, and find places to sleep and water along the way, which could take months.

Old Dao knew the route; he had ridden all the way from the salt field.

Before going to bed that night, Zhao Xuan climbed out of her own bed and crawled into Lu An's bed. Lu An wrapped her arms around her and held her tightly.

Zhao Xuan had no idea what Lu An was thinking; her mind was filled with what Lao Dao had said about the hundreds of kilograms of salt.

Old Dao, who has traveled all over the country, said that the salt field had long been occupied by a group of civilian armed forces. With the development of wind power generation by the sea, energy and food are readily available, so there are many camps gathered by the sea.

Sea salt isn't something you can just dry and eat. It needs to be washed and purified. To produce large quantities of clean sea salt, you need machinery. That's why they can exchange hundreds of kilograms of salt there at once.

Most importantly, there was an abundance of medicine there, which they could exchange for life-saving drugs.

Zhao Xuan silently calculated the distance needed for the round trip.

"Lu An, why don't you go with Lao Dao?" Zhao Xuan suddenly said.

Lu An, who was half asleep, didn't hear clearly at first and asked, "What did you say?"

Zhao Xuan looked up from Lu An's arms, his light brown eyes sparkling: "You and Lao Dao go. He knows the way. After he shows you the way once, it will be easier for us to go by ourselves."

"It's just some salt, not worth the risk."

Zhao Xuan knew that Lu An was worried about leaving her alone in the village, so she added, "It's not just the salt, but also news and medicine... Lu An, we've been in this village for a year now, and we haven't received any news from the outside world. What if the disease has disappeared? Or what if a cure has been developed? Even if none of these things are available, we can still go there to exchange for some medicine, anti-inflammatory drugs, fever reducers. These things might save our lives in the future."

Medicine is the first commodity to be looted after the collapse of social order. Among the supplies Zhao Xuan and his group had stockpiled were a small amount of bandages, alcohol, Yunnan Baiyao (a traditional Chinese medicine), and some common cold and stomach medicines. The boxed cold and stomach medicines had expired, but they dared not throw them away. To be frank, the expired medicines only provided psychological comfort; now, when they were sick, they could only tough it out on their own.

She and Lu An might live in this deserted village for the rest of their lives, but they couldn't be confined here. They needed supplies and information from the outside world, so they had to build a road to the outside.

Having encountered so many camps and people along the way, Lao Dao has already verified which camps are relatively friendly and where trading is possible, and which routes are relatively safe and passable. Following Lao Dao to visit those coastal camps and exchange information and supplies is the best opportunity now.

If they shrink back from the risks that haven't yet occurred and refuse to go, then when Old Knife decides to leave one day, that opportunity will be lost forever.

Lu An was silent for a moment, then whispered "okay".

The plan was thus finalized.

The journey of over 400 kilometers can be reached in a few hours by car, and the train journey is just a matter of taking a nap or playing a few games. But for them, it is a major issue that needs careful discussion.

Because he was looking for pigs, Lao Dao always went to crowded places. He had visited almost all the camps along the coast. He said that very few people had guns. They usually just carried a musket to scare people. These were things that existed since the Qing Dynasty. While the musket was still being loaded, he would rush up and cut people down with a single blow. So the large camps with armed forces that Zhao Xuan and Lu An had imagined did not exist.

However, according to him, the larger the camp, the more disciplined they were. When he wandered alone, he didn't have to worry about his safety as long as he entered a large camp. On the contrary, the most dangerous people were those who huddled in small villages in groups of three or five. Those people basically made a living by robbing people on the road. Survivors who passed by had no chance of survival if they saw them. But Lao Dao wasn't afraid of these people. First of all, he had simple luggage and there was basically nothing to steal. Secondly, he could kill five of them by himself.

As he leisurely rode his beat-up bicycle through various cities and villages, he made many friends and learned which spots along the way would be frequented by road bullies who would vandalize vehicles.

He was a righteous man. He had been eating and drinking well at Zhao Xuan's place all winter and had even gained ten pounds. He should do something for them. If Lu An didn't want to walk this 400-kilometer road, fine. But if he was willing to walk it, he would be happy to accompany him on the round trip and introduce him to his friends along the way. In case the young couple didn't plan to stay in this village and went out into the world, they wouldn't be like headless flies running around aimlessly.

Of course, it would take him and Lu An about two months to travel this route, and during those two months, only Zhao Xuan would be there to look after the house.

The morning after deciding to go to the salt field by the sea, Lu An got on his tricycle and headed to the Yao family alone.

He wanted to ask the Yao family to check on Zhao Xuan from time to time.

Upon hearing the reason, the Yao family realized that Lu An and Lao Dao's trip to the seaside could also benefit them—as long as Lao Dao and Lu An went there once and found a relatively safe path, then even if Lao Dao left in the future, Yao Yuan could go to the salt field with Lu An to exchange for salt and medicines that they also desperately needed.

The Yao family said that until he returned, they would send the dog to check on Zhao Xuan every day and help her with some farm work.

The next step was to determine the travel time. Lu An and Lao Dao had to return within two months because the rice seedlings at home would be ready for planting then.

Old Dao told Zhao Xuan to choose another four mu of land next to his own paddy field, saying that he wanted to plant it himself.

He discussed this with Zhao Xuan, saying, "You should grow more rice seedlings this year, consider it a loan from me. Once my few acres of land have yielded rice, I'll pay you back half of it. Is that alright?"

Zhao Xuan nodded: "Then it's settled. I won't help you plant those four acres of rice. You'll have to plant them yourself, and you'll have to pay me back half of them after you're done."

Old Dao said, "Little sister, you're a capitalist, a pure one."

Next, they discussed what goods to bring. There was nothing else at home except for various dried goods that Zhao Xuan had dried. Dried vegetables were available everywhere, but there was an unusually large amount of dried bamboo shoots and dried mushrooms.

Lu An knew Zhao Xuan's character well. He knew that Zhao Xuan had stockpiled a lot of dried goods that they could not possibly finish, but he really did not expect that she had stockpiled so much!

As Zhao Xuan carried out the kerosene boxes filled with dried goods one by one, not only Lao Dao, but even Lu An had deep doubts about Zhao Xuan—she was probably a hamster reincarnated.

Zhao Xuan not only had a lot of dried goods, but she also carefully categorized them. For example, she made a pile of dried bamboo shoot slices and another pile of dried bamboo shoot shreds, as well as various kinds of mushrooms that she picked. The variety of the products really opened the eyes of the two men present.

Old Dao unscrewed a kerosene tank, shook out the mushrooms inside, and exclaimed, "These red mushrooms are valuable!"

Zhao Xuan was very generous, and with a wave of his hand, he said, "Take them all!"

So the three of them started packing the goods. Since the seaside was not as rich in mushrooms as the mountains, Zhao Xuan brought out all the mushrooms from his home, along with some dried bamboo shoots. These were the goods they needed to exchange for the goods.

Lu An repaired two large and sturdy tricycles, leaving Zhao Xuan's small tricycle, which she used for transportation, to her.

Dried mushrooms and bamboo shoots were taken out of the kerosene tank, tightly bound with thick plastic film to isolate them from the air, then tied to the back of the tricycle, and finally covered with a thick tarpaulin. The goods in the back of the tricycle were piled up into a small mountain, which looked intimidating, but the dried goods were actually light, so riding them wasn't too tiring.

The remaining empty compartment was for the two people to put their daily necessities for the journey. Zhao Xuan was very familiar with packing these: sleeping bags and tents for the two of them, cooking utensils such as pots, flint and steel, raincoats and water bottles, and some clothes that needed to be washed.

The two men said that the further south they went, the warmer the weather would become, especially by the sea, so they wouldn't need heavy cotton coats to change into. Each of them could just wear a windproof and warm rain jacket as an outer layer. If they got hot, they could just take off the fleece lining. It could also be used as a raincoat when it rained. If they weren't too picky, one rain jacket could last them two months.

Zhao Xuan sighed and took out her coat, but she had prepared several sets of underwear and two pairs of shoes. She prepared two bars of soap for them, one for washing clothes and one for washing herself. Then, after thinking for a moment, she took the little alcohol and bandages she had left at home with them.

Lu An frowned, not wanting to bring along this precious alcohol.

Zhao Xuan said, "Take it. You don't know what you'll encounter on the way. It's more useful to you than to me. If you die..." She pouted, "If I encounter any bad guys on my own, I definitely won't survive."

Lu An pinched Zhao Xuan's cheek hard: "Stop talking nonsense."

Then there are the weapons. Lao Dao always carries a kukri and an axe, which are tied to his tricycle so he can grab them easily. Lu An also carries an axe and a dagger, as well as some rope, wrenches, and other tools. Lu An is worried that the vehicle might break down on the way, so he has to bring simple repair tools.

All the daily necessities and tools were loaded onto the vehicle. The other two also carried bags containing some basic necessities. If the vehicle was lost, they could walk back using the supplies in their backpacks.