Chapter 45 Pickled Fresh Peppers
Birds are better at finding food than many other animals.
Early in the morning, the meat hanging on the rooftop attracted a large number of small birds, chirping and pecking at small pieces of meat when no one was looking. They were quite picky, pecking only at the salty, savory, and fatty parts of the meat, which made Zhao Xuan yell in anger.
These past few days, Zhao Xuan has been exercising a lot, running to the rooftop whenever he has free time. Later, he couldn't keep it up anymore, so he had to move the loads of meat back to the yard, which contains 460 kilograms of meat.
When 460, who had just returned home, saw the yard full of cured meat, it felt like its world had changed. Its little black eyes darted around, and it was about to bark wildly at its owner to show its extreme sorrow at missing out on so many delicious foods. Zhao Xuan then threw it the big bone that had been left over from yesterday.
460 grinned and carried away with the big bone in its mouth, gnawing on it in the yard while keeping an eye out for birds that might try to steal its food.
After drying for a while, the Yao family came to our door to discuss making smoked meat together.
Smoked meat needs to be smoked for more than ten days. Two families work in two shifts to save time and also burn some charcoal along the way.
The amount of charcoal needed in winter is much greater than in other seasons. The weather is still a bit cold now, but in a few days, we will need to burn charcoal for heating.
The two families agreed to burn charcoal together in a tobacco curing barn that was about the same distance from each other.
These tobacco curing barns, made of yellow mud, are ubiquitous in the rural areas of this southern mountain region. They are usually built on the edge of the village, in rows of three or five, but most of them are already quite dilapidated, with collapsed walls and only a few broken walls remaining. They found two tobacco curing barns side by side, repaired them, and decided to use them for smoking meat.
The interior of the tobacco curing barn is very tall, resembling a matchbox that is not very airtight on any side. There are many wooden poles extending from the roof, which at first glance look like clotheslines. The harvested tobacco leaves are usually strung together with bamboo skewers and placed on these wooden poles to dry.
Zhao Xuan had seen flue-cured tobacco when he was a child. The green tobacco leaves were similar to mustard leaves, large and thick. After being roasted for several days without rest, they were dried out and dehydrated. At this point, the tobacco leaves could be cut into thin strips for smoking. However, most people waited for someone to come and collect them, and the price varied depending on the quality of the flue-cured tobacco.
These fire-resistant tobacco curing barns are perfect for smoking meat. The meat is hung in rows on wooden poles. Smoking meat requires cedar branches and leaves; burning the branches and leaves produces a lot of smoke. You can also add some grapefruit peel to enhance the aroma. Zhao Xuan didn't have grapefruit peel, but she dried a lot of orange peel, which she placed on the cedar leaves instead. After lighting the fire, she could relax in the adjacent rest room. The rest room was actually a small, dilapidated mud house; one corner was missing and covered with a thick plastic sheet to block the wind. A small window in the rest room connected to the tobacco curing barn, allowing them to monitor the fire at any time.
The two tobacco curing barns, placed side by side, were used for smoking meat and burning charcoal. The two families agreed to take turns, so that both the smoking and charcoal-burning could continue without sleep.
Zhao Xuan glanced at the perpetual calendar; the New Year was just over half a month away.
After the apocalypse, she and Lu An had never celebrated the New Year again. Firstly, they often didn't know the exact time and date; secondly, they lacked the abundant food to celebrate; and thirdly, all their relatives and friends had passed away, making the New Year a time for family reunion seem meaningless. But this year, Zhao Xuan and Lu An discussed it and decided to celebrate the New Year properly.
Because they made new friends this year.
Counting the days, once the meat is smoked, it will be almost Chinese New Year.
The weather is getting colder and colder. Zhao Xuan has put on a thick down comforter and added a blanket on top. At night, he needs to fill a hot water bottle with hot water. It is a copper kettle with a good seal. It is used to keep warm by hiding it under the quilt, but a thick cloth bag needs to be put over it, otherwise his feet will easily get burned if they come into direct contact with the hot water bottle.
They had considered using electric blankets before, but the ones they could find hadn't been used in five years. There was a risk of short circuits, and they were worried about injuring people or damaging the circuit. Electrical maintenance is too difficult these days, so they were trying to minimize their electricity usage.
However, they haven't been sleeping at home these past few days. Instead, they've taken sleeping bags and are sleeping next to the tobacco curing barn, where they stay with the Yao family every day.
The sleeping area was very warm because it was right next to the tobacco curing shed. She would lay out her sleeping bag and watch over the daytime, while Lu An would watch over the nighttime. Dinner was usually eaten there. The tobacco curing shed, which burned charcoal, was very hot. They would fill an earthenware pot with rice and water, add some salted meat, and throw it into the fire. The cooked rice had a wonderful aroma of charcoal, and they could eat it with a little soy sauce.
Old Dao helped them deliver firewood and cedar branches back and forth, and ate his meals with them next to the tobacco curing barn. However, he still went home to sleep, saying that he had to leave someone behind to guard the house and the livestock next to it.
Zhao Xuan also changed Lao Dao's quilt to a thicker one, and added an extra layer to the mattress. The small curtain used as a partition was too thin, so two thick blankets were nailed on. Once the blankets were put down, they blocked out the cold air, making it warm to sleep inside.
460 slept in the small room next to the tobacco curing barn with Zhao Xuan and the others. It was warm there, and the dog curled up into a black disc next to its owner, always snoring loudly.
Zhao Xuan and Lu An used chess to pass the time, but they didn't actually play much because they worked separately day and night.
During the day, Lu An slept next to Zhao Xuan, who would sew clothes by herself. She didn't actually know how to sew; she relied on her childhood memories of watching her grandmother mend clothes to do the work. In the past, she didn't need to do heavy work in the city, and her clothes were almost never damaged. Now, she and Lu An carried, carried, and lifted heavy objects, and their clothes quickly developed holes.
Zhao Xuan collected quite a few clothes, but Lu An was the kind of person who only wore a few clothes once he got used to them. In his words, his soul had been reshaped into the shape of the clothes, and if he wore new clothes, his soul would have to be re-adjusted.
Therefore, Zhao Xuan would check Lu An's usual clothes from time to time, and mend them if they were torn, even though his stitches were very clumsy.
Besides sewing, she would occasionally leave the tobacco curing barn for a while. When the fires in the two barns were burning brightly, she would pick some vegetables from the garden, wash them, and bring them back to cook. When she cooked, in addition to preparing Old Dao's portion, she would also make an extra portion for Lu An to eat at night. It was usually meat soup and rice, accompanied by a jar of pickled green peppers or pickled garlic sprouts. If Lu An got hungry in the middle of the night, he would pour the rice into the fragrant meat soup, cover it, and throw the earthenware pot containing the soup into the fire. Once the soup boiled, the rice inside would become soft and tender, and with the sour and spicy pickled green peppers, it was just right to eat on a cold night.
—It's just too dry staying here.
With the tobacco curing barns on both sides burning, the small rest room next to them was no longer cold. However, the fire evaporated the moisture in the air, which had become increasingly dry since the onset of winter. Sleeping between two fires only exacerbated this problem. After just one day of sleeping, Zhao Xuan's voice became hoarse, and large patches of dead skin appeared on the corners of her mouth. She drank a large pot of cold tea to recover. Later, she brought a large basin, filled it with water, and slept next to it that night, which helped a little.
When she feels dry during the day, she peels some water chestnuts to eat by herself. The water chestnuts she dug up in late autumn are now a bit wrinkled, but that doesn't affect their cooling and dryness-relieving properties at all. In addition to water chestnuts, Zhao Xuan also likes various cold pickled vegetables such as pickled fresh peppers.
Leave the stems on freshly picked green peppers. Make a few vertical cuts at the bottom to resemble a small flower. Then, salt them to draw out water. Finally, soak them in a sauce containing ginger, garlic, balsamic vinegar, star anise, and other spices. Refrigerate until it's ready. If you can handle spice, you don't need to remove the seeds. If you can't, you can add sugar to the sauce. Besides green peppers, cucumbers and radishes are also fine, but there aren't any cucumbers available now. Zhao Xuan has eaten too many radishes this winter, so pickled fresh peppers are still his favorite.
Especially when you're feeling dry and craving something, having an icy-cold pickled pepper as a snack is as satisfying as eating an ice pop on a summer day.
When the Yao family came to relieve her, they would always arrive a little early. Zhang Xiaohe would bring food from their family, and sometimes even some snacks. Of course, these were all very simple snacks, such as candied chestnuts and boiled peanuts. She would generously share some with Zhao Xuan so that she could take some home to eat.
Zhang Xiaohe's cooking skills are exceptional; she cooks both chestnuts and peanuts until they are soft and tender, and very flavorful. Zhao Xuan could easily show off a whole bunch of them by himself.
The dog still takes on the responsibility of herding sheep. When it's the Yao family's turn to be on duty, the dog usually doesn't come along. He needs to herd sheep in the morning, and he will cut some hay while he's herding them. It's too cold in winter, and one of the sheep is pregnant, so it needs more hay. Occasionally, he will appear in the rest room next to the tobacco curing barn in the afternoon. Zhang Xiaohe will teach him to read or do arithmetic, but the dog will definitely go home when it gets late. The reason is the same as Lao Dao's: the house can't be left unattended.
On days when she wasn't watching the fire, Zhao Xuan would sometimes go to the tobacco curing barn to check on them. Sometimes, when she encountered the dog, she would ask, "Aren't you afraid to watch the house alone?"
The dog replied, "Yes, I am scared, but when I'm alone, I sleep in my parents' bed. I wrap myself up in the blanket, leaving only a small hole for breathing, and then I fall asleep quickly."
Zhao Xuan nodded: "I understand. This is a blanket barrier. As long as it's covered, demons and monsters won't be able to get in."
The dog asked, "What does 'barrier' mean?"
Zhao Xuan paused, considering that the dog was only four years old when society collapsed and probably hadn't been influenced by chuunibyou comics yet. She thought for a moment and said, "It's a defensive shield that you built with your mind. Let me tell you, all the demons and monsters you're afraid of have signed a contract that they can't hurt the person in the blanket."
"Sister Xuan, what is a contract?"
"...Do you have a dictionary? If not, I'll remember it for you when I go to search for supplies in the future, and I'll bring one back for you if I find one."
Zhang Xiaohe and Yao Yuan listened to their conversation and chuckled to themselves.
Sometimes when it was Zhao Xuan and Lu An's turn, Lu An would always stop them for the night shift. Their schedules weren't completely staggered; they would usually have breakfast and dinner together. Smoking meat wasn't a difficult task. Zhang Xiaohe was an expert at it; she could control the quality of the meat. On the contrary, burning charcoal was much more troublesome. They needed to check the fire frequently, and new charcoal needed to be transported away. When burning another batch, they needed to bring in wood and mud, arrange the wood, mix the mud, seal the fire, and finally light it. This cycle repeated. It didn't require much brainpower, but they had to constantly move around and check on the fire.
Lu An, who was catching up on sleep near dusk, would wake up and have dinner with Lao Dao (Zhao Xuan). Afterward, Lao Dao would go home by himself, taking the charcoal he had prepared with him. For the rest of the time, Zhao Xuan would snuggle up with Lu An in the warm lounge and chat for a while.
Winter days are short and dark. Before six o'clock, the light outside is already dim. The wind howls, making the plastic sheeting on the roof of the lounge rattle loudly. They placed a thick straw mat in the corner, on which their sleeping bags were placed. Zhao Xuan and Lu An would wrap themselves in a thick blanket on top of it. While drinking the cooled tea that had cooled down to room temperature, Zhao Xuan would tell Lu An about the interesting things that had happened during the day.
She didn't like going to bed too early; she liked the feeling of being together with Lu An, relying on each other for support.
Sometimes Zhao Xuan would play a game of chess with Lu An, while eating the chestnuts and peanuts that Zhang Xiaohe had shared during the day. After playing a few games, she would get full and sleepy, and then crawl into her sleeping bag and fall into a deep sleep.
Before the apocalypse, she couldn't sleep after eating, feeling that the food in her stomach would press on her internal organs and make her feel suffocated. After the apocalypse, she realized that the most painful thing was to sleep on an empty stomach, because being hungry meant that she might die in her sleep.
After she fell asleep, Lu An would leave to work. Throughout the night, she would occasionally wake up in a daze and see a blurry figure coming and going. That was Lu An transporting timber and charcoal.
Overall, the charcoal-making and meat-smoking work was quite easy, mainly thanks to Lao Dao's help. Since the Yao family and others were busy, Lao Dao, who had nothing to do, often went to the nearby mixed wood forest to cut wood. As a result, when they produced a considerable amount of charcoal, the firewood stacked against the courtyard wall did not decrease at all; in fact, there seemed to be a lot more.
Smoked meat has a longer shelf life than salted meat; if stored properly, it can last until next year.
After half a month, Zhao Xuan had amassed dozens of kilograms of smoked meat and a lot of charcoal.
As the weather gets colder, I find a layer of ice on the surface of the water in the tank when I wake up in the morning. The ice is not very thick and breaks easily when pressed, falling back into the water.
In this kind of weather, Lu An covered all the vegetables in the garden with straw, and the three of them together covered the rows of vegetables with paper canopies. There are quite a few kinds of vegetables that can be eaten in the south during winter, such as radishes, rapeseed, and mustard greens, while scallions and garlic leaves grow all year round. Covering them with canopies can help the vegetables grow faster and prevent them from freezing to death overnight.
Now, most of their seeds are vegetable seeds they saved themselves, so Zhao Xuan really doesn't want any particular vegetable to fail to grow properly under his care.
Because the water was too cold, Zhao Xuan didn't want to cook too many dishes, as that would require washing the vegetables. So, she usually just took a piece of meat, sliced it thinly, and stir-fried it with the leafy greens. A big bowl of dishes with both meat and vegetables was simple and convenient. The dish she cooked most often was stir-fried cured pork with bok choy. The high-quality pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat was mixed with crisp and tender green bok choy slices. If they were feeling peckish, they could add some chili peppers to enrich the flavor. Lu An and Lao Dao both loved it.
Following Zhao Xuan's plan, Lu An and Lao Dao recently started making sweet potato noodles and potato noodles. The two of them would get up early every morning to grind the paste, make the noodles, cook the noodles, and then dry them. Making the noodles required a lot of water, so the two of them made the noodles in a kitchen near the well, which was only a few steps away and saved a lot of effort. So every day, Zhao Xuan would see them laughing and joking as they walked out of the house with their arms around each other's shoulders to go to work, and they would come back late. She felt like she was the one who was superfluous.
Life was carefree and easy, but the temperature kept dropping. Sometimes when I woke up in the morning, I would find a thin layer of white covering the vegetable garden floor – that was frost.
Zhao Xuan changed into a down jacket or windbreaker and thick pants, with an apron over it. Most of the time she would wear a woolen hat, and with her usual slow pace, she looked a bit like a little old lady.
The flour that Lao Dao and Lu An pressed together has been dried. Besides sweet potato noodles and potato noodles, they also pressed some rice flour. The sweet potato noodles are light gray, the potato noodles are gray with a nice pinkish tint, and the rice flour is pale yellow. Because they used a large sieve to press the flour, all the flour is a bit coarse, thinner than chopsticks. After drying it in the sun for a few days, it will be completely dry and ready to be stored in the kerosene tank.
Zhao Xuan's collection of kerosene cans was almost entirely filled with various dried goods, such as dried bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, and dried rice noodles. The colorful kerosene cans filled the storage room. Every now and then, she would carefully clean the room where the supplies were stored, check whether the seals were intact, wipe away the dust, and then replace them with new charcoal.
The perpetual calendar shows that the New Year is in three days.
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