Chapter 54 Taro Buns
The Yao family eventually found out that Zhao Xuan had run away to Taiping Town—the toys and oil pastels the dog brought back were so conspicuous that only a blind person could not see the truth.
So Zhang Xiaohe went to Zhao Xuan's house and scolded her. After that, Zhang Xiaohe would visit Zhao Xuan every few days, afraid that she would cause trouble again.
Zhao Xuan was very disappointed that the dog had revealed its journey to Taiping Town, but she couldn't harshly condemn the dog—she had forgotten the small mirror with her self-portrait that the dog had given her in Taiping Town.
Zhao Xuan felt that the two of them were even, and that their grudges should be wiped clean.
So, in the days that followed without Lu An, Zhao Xuan lived a much more peaceful life on his own.
The supplies she brought back from Taiping Town gave her a great sense of satisfaction. She happily packed them away and even went to sleep with a smile on her face.
She also brought back more than ten kilograms of salt, enough to last her for several years if she didn't need to marinate meat or vegetables for a while.
The red and blue device that was brought back could be charged unexpectedly, but Zhao Xuan didn't play with it during this time. Instead, he charged it up, confirmed that it was usable, and then carefully put it away.
The household oil press works, but the grinder doesn't respond when plugged in, and I don't know what's wrong with it.
Spring is here, and she needs to start preparing the fields for this year's spring planting.
Zhao Xuan was alone this time, so she started preparing the paddy fields very early. The paddy fields needed weeding and leveling. The levelness of the paddy field was very important; it meant that when water was poured in, every rice stalk would be evenly submerged, preventing some from drying out and others from being soaked and damaged.
Before leaving, Lao Dao had asked Zhao Xuan to help cultivate four acres of paddy fields, and she hadn't forgotten that. She chose several abandoned fields near her own paddy fields.
Clearing land is hard work. Zhao Xuan, wearing rain boots and carrying a hoe, stepped into the field. It was overgrown with weeds and all sorts of things. Some fields were so dry that they had become shallow shoals. She needed to clear the drains first, drain the water, and then slowly clean up the things inside.
The drained fields were undoubtedly fertile, filled with thick layers of black mud. Zhao Xuan cleared away the weeds growing there one by one. Some of the weeds had extensive root systems and required deep hoeing to remove them. However, wild grasses are resilient, and within a few days of being dug up, tender green shoots could be found in the same spot again.
After clearing away the stones and weeds from the wasteland, the land was leveled, and the ridges were compacted and straightened. As for the dry fields on the hillside, the soil was loosened and weeds were removed. Zhao Xuan usually went to work on the fields in the afternoon; in the morning, she needed to feed the pigs and tend to the vegetable garden.
After several days of light rain, the weather, which had been warming up, turned gloomy again. If Zhao Xuan got up early, he would carry a basket on his back to the woods outside the village to look for mushrooms.
The pine mushrooms have already sprouted. These are mushrooms that thrive in damp, cold environments, usually growing under pine trees or even fir trees. They're often found in large patches. Zhao Xuan can't eat many by himself, so he usually just picks a few to stir-fry. These mushrooms are brownish-yellow, cool and slippery to the touch, and can be stir-fried with ginger and chili peppers. However, after eating them for two days in a row, Zhao Xuan started getting diarrhea. These mushrooms are cooling in nature and not suitable for continuous consumption.
So Zhao Xuan decided not to eat mushrooms anymore. During this period, farm work became more demanding, and hoeing the fields every day made her back ache. She didn't want to cook at all. Later, she squeezed out half a day to make two bowls of meatballs and taro buns to serve as meals.
The outer skin of taro dumplings is made from steamed taro and sweet potato flour. After filling with meat, it's shaped into small balls and can be steamed or boiled. Making these is quite complicated because it involves kneading the dough. Zhao Xuan isn't good at kneading dough, so the outer skin she made at first was hard and thick. She steamed and wrapped them simultaneously. The taro dumplings come in various shapes; some are shaped like dumplings, some like teardrops, and the simplest are round balls.
Zhao Xuan wraps the taro into round balls, fills them with meat filling, and then arranges these ping-pong ball-sized taro balls in a steamer to steam. After steaming, the outer skin changes from pinkish-white to a light purplish-red, just like frosted glass balls.
Zhao Xuan made two kinds of fillings: one was mushroom and minced meat, and the other was mustard greens and egg. The two fillings were different colors. As Zhao Xuan became more skilled, the taro buns she made became very delicate and cute.
Zhao Xuan steamed all the thick-skinned taro buns she made when she was still a beginner. The outer skin was made of taro and sweet potato starch, and could be eaten as a staple food. After steaming, the taro buns were frozen in the freezer. When she wanted to eat them, she would take them out and steam them again. They could be eaten with vinegar or chili. As for the later batch of thin-skinned, generously filled taro buns she made after she became more skilled, Zhao Xuan decided to freeze them as well, to use later to cook with vermicelli. All she needed was a stove, a few taro buns, a small handful of vermicelli, and a few leafy greens to make a meal, saving her the tedious process of starting a fire every day.
Because Zhao Xuan wasn't good at controlling the amount of meat, and there was some leftover minced meat, she simply rolled it into meatballs. Calculating the time, she figured she could alternate between meatball and vermicelli soup and steamed taro dumplings, which would last her until Lu An returned.
The dog still comes to help every day. Although Zhao Xuan has refused many times, the boy is stubborn and Zhao Xuan can't persuade him anymore, so she often makes him snacks. After making taro dumplings, she packed some raw ones in a lunchbox for the dog to take back, and cooked another bowl for him to try.
In the early spring in the south, when the dog arrived at Zhao Xuan's house early in the morning, still feeling the chill, nothing could be more comforting than a bowl of hot taro dumplings.
Zhao Xuan recalled the winters before the apocalypse, when her favorite breakfast was a bowl of piping hot fish ball soup. This southern coastal province had many such ball-shaped foods; besides the beautiful taro dumplings, there were various fish balls and fish cakes, all delicious whether steamed or boiled. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to make most of the fish balls and fish cakes. She had seen people make the most basic stuffed fish balls, but she couldn't remember whether the outer skin was made with fish paste and flour, or some other kind of powder.
Life after returning home was uneventful. Zhao Xuan would feed the pigs and chickens in the morning, wash and dry clothes, and tidy up the vegetable garden. In the afternoon, she would tend to the fields. She would always be home before sunset, lock all the doors and windows, and go to bed early, repeating the same routine day after day.
She spent most of the day alone. Although 460 was always with her, she always felt a little lonely. Zhao Xuan felt something was strange. Before Lu An was here, she and Lu An didn't talk much. When they first came here, there was too much farm work to do, so they couldn't be together every day. Therefore, except for eating and sleeping, they mostly worked in silence. Later, they even started to work in different areas.
Even though they spoke the same little, she felt very lonely. She had no expectations for going home every day, because without Lu An, the house that belonged to them on the high ground of the village was just a cold, empty house, and could not be called her home.
As Lu An's return date drew near, Zhao Xuan had several nightmares. These weren't dreams of Lu An meeting with misfortune, but rather of the most helpless period after the apocalypse. Some events and people in the dreams were even more distorted and illogical. Sometimes Zhao Xuan would wake up crying, sometimes screaming and sitting up abruptly. At those times, she would instinctively reach out to hug the person next to her, but the coldness beside her instantly reminded her that Lu An wasn't there.
At this point, Zhao Xuan would also think about what would happen if Lu An didn't come back, but he would try his best to shake off this pointless thought whenever he thought of it.
When Zhao Xuan felt down during the day, he would go to work, and when he was tired, he wouldn't overthink things.
She finally finished preparing the dozen or so acres of land all by herself. Next, Zhao Xuan started fertilizing, which was a crucial step. The rice seeds they had saved were from their own planting last year. The yield of these self-saved seeds was definitely not as stable as commercial seeds, so fertilization and pest control became extremely important. If these two things were done well, every little bit of increase in yield would be significant.
Lu An usually does this job.
The fertilizer was made from fermented pig and chicken manure. Because it was naturally fermented, it inevitably had a smell. Zhao Xuan wasn't very good at using a carrying pole, so she carried the fertilizer to the ridge of the field, swaying all the way. Then she used a long ladle to spread the fertilizer, gagging as she did so.
Her shoulders couldn't bear heavy loads, which meant she couldn't carry much fertilizer at a time, so she had to make more trips. By now, long walks were nothing to Zhao Xuan, but the fertilizer application was purely psychological. During the few days she applied the fertilizer, she felt like she was being pickled, her clothes, shoes, and socks all smelled like feces, and even just thinking about the smell made her want to vomit.
It was only then that Zhao Xuan truly admired Lu An; he applied fertilizer with such effortless ease.
After the arduous fertilization process, the next step was to spread wood ash on the dry land. Sweet potatoes and potatoes would grow very well with the wood ash. The wood ash was made from burning corn stalks and rice straw, and a considerable amount had been stored up over the winter. Zhao Xuan only needed to carry the wood ash to the dry fields and spread it, like an ant carrying food.
Meanwhile, the Yao family also started tilling the fields. They planned to plant a second crop of rice this year. Yao Yuan was the only able-bodied man in the family to farm, but he usually spent a whole day tilling the fields. Overall, although the Yao family started later, they were much faster than Zhao Xuan. During this time, Yao Yuan asked Zhao Xuan if she needed help, but Zhao Xuan naturally refused. She was truly useless; she needed help even to grow her own food. Besides, the dog came to gather pig feed for her every day, and Zhang Xiaohe brought her food from time to time. It would be too shameless of her to ask Yao Yuan to till the fields for her again.
Despite the numerous difficulties, Zhao Xuan managed to complete a series of tasks, including land reclamation, field preparation, and fertilization. After finishing all this, she didn't stop; next, she needed to prepare for rice seedling cultivation.
Zhao Xuan had made up her mind. Even if Lu An couldn't come back on time, she couldn't let the farming season be delayed, no matter how hard or tiring it was for her alone. She could take care of their house, livestock, and farmland all by herself.
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