Chapter 41 Salted Eggs
Zhao Xuan and Lu An suffered heavy losses in their second crop of rice, so the harvest was not very strenuous. With the last batch of rice dried and stored, it signified that this busy year was coming to an end, and Zhao Xuan and his family would have a whole winter of leisure.
There are already more than 20 chickens in the house, and their daily egg production is astonishing. Zhao Xuan tried letting a few chickens out to forage for food on their own. After they got used to it, the old hens would slowly waddle back to their coop in the evening.
Given Zhao Xuan's frugal nature, he had already saved dozens of eggs. These farm-raised eggs were small, with pale yellow shells. Because the hens ate millet and small insects, the yolks were orange-red, and they were especially fragrant when fried with a little oil. Zhao Xuan carefully placed the extra eggs into millet husks. As long as the chicken droppings weren't washed off, they could be stored for a long time in the soft, dry husks.
The number of eggs stored up seems to be increasing, but not increasing.
With Lao Dao joining them during this time, the family had no shortage of meat. Lao Dao said the wild ducks in the mountains hadn't seen people in a long time, and they were all acting silly. He said you could knock three of them unconscious with a single shovel. Zhao Xuan, of course, didn't believe him. The wild ducks she'd encountered in the fields flew by so fast she could only see their afterimages. But Lao Dao did bring back several wild ducks, each one plump and heavy, making the whole family, including 460, round up.
Compared to pork and mutton, Zhao Xuan prefers chicken and duck. Poultry meat has no gamey smell and tastes great whether stewed in soup or made into jerky.
So the eggs accumulated day by day. One day, Zhao Xuan had nothing to do, so she started organizing her supplies until she dragged out a whole box full of eggs.
Zhao Xuan's habit of taking stock of her belongings every now and then is just like old man Grandet counting his gold coins every night. Like old man Grandet, she gets great satisfaction just from counting them, even though she is extremely stingy with her food and clothing in real life.
Lu An said that every time she went into the storage room, she would come out looking much younger. Apart from the bedroom, the rest of the rooms in the house were basically storage rooms, so she could look several years younger after tidying up.
That day, Lao Dao and Lu An went out. They said they found an abandoned but well-preserved cabin in the mountains. They guessed it was left by a forest ranger. It had a stove and a bed, and it was sturdy. There was also a mountain spring nearby. They decided to repair it, fix the broken doors and windows, and store some food there.
Old Dao said that to hunt wild boar and muntjac, they had to go deeper into the mountains. The wild boar and several piglets they hunted at the beginning of the year were practically a bug sent from heaven. The wild boar probably wandered into human territory while trying to escape some wild beast, and happened to step on a road where a trap was set. Usually, those bright traps only trap a person's leg.
So for the past few days, the two men dismantled all the usable wooden doors and windows in the village, and hurriedly rode their tricycle towards the mountains. Since the tricycle couldn't go any further up the mountain, they had to carry the supplies up by hand. Therefore, their progress was slow, and they were often nowhere to be seen, with no one knowing what they and their dog were eating outside.
Their main conversation with Zhao Xuan revolved around what kind of food to store in that small house. Zhao Xuan was worried that the food would be eaten by wild animals or insects, and that the damp mountain air would cause things to mold if left for too long. Therefore, he didn't allow them to bring too much, only some rice, dried vegetables, and some salt. All of these items were kept in sealed jars.
With Lu An and Lao Dao not at home, Zhao Xuan's meals became quite casual. Sometimes it was a pot of rice with a few slices of cured meat on top, which he would steam on the stove and eat. Other times, he would stir-fry a pot of garlic sprouts and minced meat, freeze it, and spread some on top of the rice when he wanted to eat. If he was feeling lazy, he would roast some corn or potatoes over a fire and eat them with chili powder.
She's no longer that picky little girl who was picky about food; she enjoys all kinds of meals.
As usual, Lu An and Lao Dao were not home that day. The two of them carried a large wooden plank weighing several hundred pounds up the mountain. It was said that they had scavenged it from a farmer's house. Lao Dao, with his keen eye, immediately said that it must be the wood that the old man of the house had kept for making his coffin. This kind of wood is usually top-quality, hard, insect-resistant, and not easily deformed. It would be perfect to carry to the house on the mountain to use as a bed board.
Zhao Xuan watched their red-faced figures as they carried the heavy planks away, and wanted to say something, but ultimately kept quiet.
After a simple meal of minced meat and white rice, in the quiet afternoon, Zhao Xuan dragged out a large jar, washed it inside and out, and prepared to pickle eggs.
She has too many eggs to eat, so she plans to pickle them and make salted eggs, adding another breakfast option. If they taste good, she can also use the yolks to make zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) for the Dragon Boat Festival next year.
Zhao Xuan had seen salted duck eggs made before. Her mother had made them before. There was no yellow mud in the city, so they used a little bit of white wine and salt water to pickle them in a transparent jar. After waiting for a while, they could be eaten. This was one of the few foods that her mother made on a whim. Zhao's mother was very busy with work. At that time, Zhao's father did the cooking at home. Sometimes when her father was not at home, her mother would take her out to eat.
Zhao Ma's cooking skills are average, but her pickled duck eggs are especially delicious. Zhao Xuan often takes them out to eat before the time is up. The salted duck eggs that have been pickled for a short time are not actually very salty, so they are perfect as snacks.
Zhao Xuan has also eaten salted quail eggs and salted chicken eggs, but they don't taste as good as salted duck eggs. The best way to eat them, which our ancestors spent thousands of years selecting, is the best one.
She used the same pickling method as her mother: washing the eggs with white wine, arranging them one by one in a jar, pouring in boiled brine, and finally sealing the jar. Adding bay leaves while boiling the brine makes the pickled eggs taste better. They can be eaten after pickling for a month.
Zhao Xuan pickled two jars of eggs, placing them on the bottom shelf of the storage unit in the living room. Only then did she suddenly realize something, slapping her forehead in exasperation. She'd been so careless! All fifty-odd eggs had been pickled into salted eggs; she should have saved half to make preserved eggs!
She let out a long sigh.
It took Lao Dao and Lu An more than half a month to finally repair the cabin in the mountains. Of course, Zhao Xuan only knew what the cabin was like initially and what it looked like now from Lu An's description.
As the weather grew colder, Zhao Xuan changed into down comforters for himself and Lao Dao, and put on a thin cotton-padded jacket. Wearing too thick clothes made it difficult to work, as the sleeves couldn't be rolled up and the front of the jacket would easily touch the stove. Since putting on the thick clothes, Zhao Xuan hadn't taken off the apron he was wearing.
As deep winter approaches, the village gradually quiets down.
The chaotic chirping of insects and birds in summer, like the sky, is becoming increasingly distant from people. The days are shortening and the nights are lengthening. Sometimes, when Zhao Xuan goes to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables early in the morning, all around is silent except for the crunching sound of his own feet on the soil.
The vegetables in the garden have been replanted. Perhaps it's because of the cold weather, or perhaps because the burned fields have fewer pests, but the vegetables that have grown this time are lush and green, with hardly any pests.
The variety of vegetables available in autumn and winter is not as diverse as in spring and summer. In spring and summer, they can eat tomatoes, eggplants, long beans, and all kinds of leafy green vegetables. In autumn and winter, they can only grow a few kinds of vegetables. Right now, there are only some garlic leaves, bok choy, and mustard greens growing in the fields.
The weather isn't cold enough yet, so there's no need to set up a shed.
Spring and autumn in the southern mountains are very brief. A few days ago it was so hot that you could wear short sleeves, but a few days later it rained and the weather suddenly turned cold, so you had to put on a thick sweater. Before you could even wear the thick sweater for a few days, you had to put on a thin cotton-padded jacket. Autumn seems to be particularly short if you divide it by temperature. If Zhao Xuan hadn't actually harvested a lot of grain in autumn, she would have thought that summer had directly transitioned into winter.
Early winter is a very comfortable time for them. They don't need to wear heavy clothes; a thin cotton coat and thick trousers are enough. The water isn't cold enough to chill them to the bone, so washing vegetables and laundry is fashionable and bearable.
Everyone seemed to have their own things to do. Lu An and Lao Dao first chopped enough firewood for the winter, repaired the small house deep in the mountains, and then prepared to repair the stream used for generating electricity. The water flow of the stream had been stable, and they needed to remove the excess silt from the stream and repair the waterwheel house where the generator was located, which was in terrible condition.
Zhao Xuan was still busy making various dried vegetables and pickled foods. As the sun's power waned, her production cycle grew longer and longer. The only one who was idle was 460. As before, it still liked to run outside for a day or two at a time. When it came back, it loved to curl up in its own sofa, squinting its eyes, wrapped in a blanket, enjoying the warmth of the moment.
The group didn't seem to see each other much; Lao Dao and Lu An sometimes didn't even go home for meals. Surprisingly, 460 spent the most time with Zhao Xuan during this period.
Then one day, Lu An suddenly invited Zhao Xuan to visit the small house in the mountains.
“You guys go take a look! I won’t go! Zhao Xuan has never been there before, so he’ll probably walk slowly. You’ll have to stay there for the night before coming back. There’s only one bed there. Should I sleep in the middle of you or next to you?” Old Dao said, adding, “Don’t worry! I’ll feed the pigs and chickens well.”
So Zhao Xuan began preparing for going up the mountain the next day.
They carried backpacks as usual, and there was no need to prepare water, because Lu An said there was a spring not far from the house. They only needed to prepare some food.
Zhao Xuan took a few pickled eggs. The eggs had been pickled for half a month. Chicken eggs are saltier than duck eggs, so half a month of pickling was just right. Then she chopped half a wild duck. The wild duck had been caught by Lao Dao and Lu An the day before. Zhao Xuan didn't dry it, thinking she would eat it fresh. She took half of it and left the other half for Lao Dao, the middle-aged man who stayed behind.
Old Knife's cooking skills are also quite good. In fact, after the apocalypse, anyone who can survive can make some food. Whether it tastes good or not is another matter, as long as it is cooked, there is absolutely no problem.
In addition, Zhao Xuan brought some pickled radishes, pickled vegetables, rice, and some seasonings. She didn't bring any green vegetables, as they usually consume a lot of fresh vegetables, so missing a day wouldn't be a problem. After thinking for a moment, she also brought a few oranges and a bag of water chestnuts.
The oranges were picked in late autumn, and had already changed from their unpalatable dark green color at the beginning of autumn to a bright orange-red. They tasted pretty good, but had a lot of seeds. Zhao Xuan and Lu An had picked all the oranges in the village by then. If stored properly, oranges can last all winter. When you crave fruit, you can take one out and eat it; it's cool and refreshing. However, stale oranges have a wood cabinet smell.
Zhao Xuan didn't prepare much, just enough food for two people for one day, and if she was lucky, she could pick a few mushrooms to eat along the way. So she packed all of this into her backpack.
Lu An carried much heavier loads, including a shovel, axe, rope, and other tools, as well as a set of clothes for each of them. Getting clothes wet in the winter wilderness is a major concern, so spare clothes were essential. They also carried rain boots and raincoats. Therefore, his backpack was bulging, like a small mountain.
Zhao Xuan changed into non-slip shoes, put on a woolen hat, and slung a backpack over his shoulder, preparing to set off with Lu An early in the morning.
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