At five o'clock in the evening, the other people on the 20th floor gathered at Lu Mei's house waiting for Meng Yi and Chen Li to get off work.
Because everyone wanted to hear what it felt like for them on their first day out on patrol and whether they encountered anything special along the way.
Lu Mei and Grandma Qiao were already in the kitchen preparing dinner.
A strong flashlight brought by Su Keke was hung on the ceiling of the kitchen. The curtains here were blinds, so when the curtains were drawn, there was basically no light from outside.
In order to make it easier for Su Keke to hang the flashlight, Chen Da specially placed hooks in many places on the 20th floor.
Su Keke's high-intensity flashlight is solar-powered. There was no sun at the time of the flood, and Chen Da couldn't understand why the flashlight was so bright every day.
Is this flashlight really a treasure? Can it last forever just by being exposed to the sun?
In short, he thought Su Keke's flashlight was magical, so Chen Da borrowed it to study when it was not used during the day.
But no matter how you study it, this is just an ordinary solar flashlight.
However, although it is also solar energy, the solar lamp in Chen Da's home only emits a weak light during floods, and sometimes it cannot even be turned on.
In fact, Su Keke’s flashlight does not have unlimited battery life. It’s just that she puts the flashlight in the space every day to dry in the sun, and no one knows it.
They have collected a total of 30 eggs on the 20th floor these days. Today, Grandma Qiao said she wanted to cook tea eggs for everyone.
Su Keke and the other children all love to eat tea eggs. Lu Mei said that her husband, Mr. Chen, also likes to eat a few when he has nothing to do.
In the past, it was very common to eat tea eggs at home, but in the end times, when everyone is hungry, if your family can still eat tea eggs, that would be the envy of many people.
Now Lu Mei has washed and cooked the 30 eggs. Su Keke went to the kitchen and brought a large basin of eggs to the living room.
She and Shi Huan were roasting by the fire while cracking eggs on the corner of the coffee table, "Dong dong... Dong dong dong..."
Only when the egg shell is cracked into pieces can the tea egg be flavorful.
Grandma Qiao was preparing the marinade in the pot. Su Keke had stockpiled a lot of spices in the space before, and now they could finally come in handy.
Add a little bit of Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and some of Grandma Qiao’s own treasured tea, plus salt, cooking wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rock sugar, and drinking water.
Turn on the gas stove and cook on high heat for 15 minutes.
By the time all the ingredients in the pot were blended and emitted a lot of aroma, Su Keke and the others had cracked their eggs.
Grandma Qiao poured a large basin of eggs into a large pot, and the thick soup instantly wrapped the 30 eggs tightly.
Then turn down the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes, then turn off the heat. You can eat it after one or two hours. If you have the conditions and are not greedy, you can leave it overnight so that it will taste better the next day.
Anyway, the people on the 20th floor couldn’t wait until the next day to eat. They would probably start eating in less than an hour when Chen Li and Meng Yi came back.
The rice was already being cooked in a pressure cooker on another gas stove. After the power outage, the pressure cooker that Lu Mei had kept at the bottom of her box finally came in handy.
In the past when there was electricity, every household used electric rice cookers to cook rice. They were simple and convenient, and almost no one used pressure cookers to cook rice. Lu Mei bought this pressure cooker only to occasionally stew chicken.
In fact, when compared, rice cooked in a pressure cooker is more fragrant.
After the tea eggs were cooked, Lu Mei started to stir-fry bacon and mushrooms.
The smoked meat was made from the pork that Su Keke and his friends had brought back with great effort. At that time, there was a flood and no sun, so they could only marinate the leftover pork with soy sauce and then smoke it.
The pork must be smoked until it becomes hard so that it can be preserved for a long time.
The shiitake mushrooms are dried shiitake mushrooms that Su Keke took out from the space. When using them, just soak them in warm water and they will become very big.
This kind of packaged dried mushrooms can be stored for a long time. Su Keke gave several bags to both Lu Mei and Shi Huan's families, because Grandma Qiao had stockpiled a lot of them before and they would expire if they were not eaten.
Shi Huan is easier to fool. As long as Su Keke finds a good reason, she will basically believe it.
Lu Mei was originally a businesswoman and was very shrewd in all aspects. She was somewhat suspicious of Su Keke and Grandma Qiao who provided them with supplies from time to time, but she would never break this window paper.
In the face of natural disasters, when everyone is short of food and clothing, how could people help you without asking for anything in return without any bad intentions?
As for why they have so many supplies, that is their business. Sometimes it is good for both you and others not to ask questions.
"We're back!"
At the security door, Meng Yi had just used the key to open the door and come in when Chen Li started shouting in the corridor.
"Ah! My Chen Li is back!"
Lu Mei asked Grandma Qiao to help watch the food in the pot, and she ran out to greet her eldest son who was eating public grain for the first time.
Shi Huan ran even faster in the living room. Su Keke didn't know if she was born cold-hearted.
Anyway, she couldn't understand it at all. They were already at the door and were about to come in, so why did she have to run out to greet them?
Sure enough, Su Keke’s emotional intelligence is only useful with Grandma Qiao.
"Wow! Tea eggs! Mom! Can I smell the fragrance of tea eggs?"
Chen Li had just taken a few steps when he smelled the rich aroma of tea eggs wafting from his own kitchen. This foodie really had a keen nose.
Now that everyone was there, it was almost time to eat. Grandma Qiao brought a large plate of fried mushrooms and bacon to the table.
Chen Li ran over impatiently, grabbed a piece of bacon and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Kid, you haven't washed your hands in a few days! Are they dirty?" Lu Mei hit Chen Li's arm hard from behind and blamed him.
"Mom, don't you know that eating dirty food won't make you sick? It's the end of the world, who would be willing to wash their hands with clean water?"
Chen Li made a face at his mother and showed the self-heating rice in his hand.
"Mom, look, the dinner we gave out today is pretty good, isn't it!"
Lu Mei quickly took it and said, "This government-run meal is delicious."
Seeing that the mother and son were chatting happily, Su Keke went into the kitchen to help Grandma Qiao take out half of the braised tea eggs, and leave the other half in the soup to slowly absorb the flavors.
"Everyone come and have dinner!" Chen Da shouted towards the living room holding bowls and chopsticks.
Before everyone arrived, he opened the pressure cooker and prepared bowls of fragrant rice.
"Aunt Lu! We had such a rich meal today!"
Meng Yi and Shi Huan had just been chatting in private at the door. As soon as they stepped into Lu Mei's living room, they saw tea eggs and fried bacon with mushrooms on the table.
He was so greedy that he swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva.
I had some steamed buns with pickles at the municipal office at noon today, and I'm already hungry now.
Each person only had two small buns. I went out on patrol with my team leader in the afternoon and was walking the whole time. Although nothing dangerous happened, it really hurt my feet!
"Xiao Meng, come and sit down. Everyone is happy today, so let's eat something good."
Chen Da smiled from ear to ear and asked everyone to sit down and eat. In his heart, the patrol officers now were no less than the civil servants before the natural disaster.
"This smoked meat smells so good!" Chen Li was the first to pick up his chopsticks, his mouth full of the delicious smoked meat.
Su Keke helped Grandma Qiao peel a tea egg, and then she had one for herself.
Several people gathered together, eating a hot dinner and listening to Meng Yi and Chen Li talk about what happened during the patrol.
The good thing is that in their group, they were the only two who were equipped with bows and arrows, while the others were only given batons.
"Then you two must work hard in the future!"
Chen Da smiled and put a freshly peeled tea egg in each of their bowls.
"Got it! Got it!"
As they talked, they rubbed the tea eggs in their bowls with chopsticks. They took a bite and their mouths were filled with the fragrance of the tea eggs.
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