Chapter 84 White Sweet Potato
Before heading to Taiping Town, Zhao Xuan and Zhang Xiaohe needed to harvest the rice first.
Harvesting rice in late autumn is much easier than in the height of summer. The weather is cool, and you just need to wrap your hands and feet to avoid being scratched by the sharp, dry rice leaves.
Zhao Xuan completed the rice harvest on her own. During the few days of free time while the harvested rice was drying, she still carried a basket on her back and wandered through the wasteland, collecting wild crops or snails. Because she often went out on a whim, she didn't prepare much. She would just put a machete in her basket and go out. Sometimes she would also bring some fruit to eat on the way. At first, she brought oranges, but later she found that eating oranges when she was hungry made her stomach feel more uncomfortable, so she gave up bringing oranges and brought a white sweet potato instead.
After washing the white sweet potatoes, I threw them into a basket and left. When I wanted to eat them, I would find a tree stump to sit on, peel them, and bite into them. They tasted a bit like water chestnuts, but milder. They were very juicy and high in starch. Each small sweet potato was about the size of a fist, and they were both thirst-quenching and filling.
Zhao Xuan loved eating white sweet potatoes. They were convenient, stored well, and tasted good raw or cooked. Winters in the province weren't too cold, so they were plentiful during the winter. When she and Lu Anchu first came here, they were fed with white sweet potatoes and taro.
However, white sweet potatoes were one of the few foods that Lu An didn't like. Although they were juicy, they left a mouthful of fibrous bits after chewing them, which Lu An found difficult to swallow. Zhao Xuan didn't understand. Who eats white sweet potatoes just to suck out the juice? Everyone, like her, bites and swallows them at the same time. She never found white sweet potatoes astringent; on the contrary, she liked their slightly sweet taste, which was much better than taro, which was bad for her stomach.
So strictly speaking, when they first arrived here, it was the white sweet potatoes that sustained Zhao Xuan, the taro that sustained Lu An, and the endless supply of pumpkins in the village that sustained them for half a year.
Later, when the Yao family came here, they called the white sweet potato "liangshu" (凉薯), and Zhao Xuan realized that the name "white sweet potato" might be a local term.
Later, when everyone was able to eat their fill, they ate rice, potatoes, and cornmeal in rotation. White sweet potatoes were removed from Zhao Xuan's main diet and became a fruit, especially when fruit was scarce, it became Zhao Xuan's favorite.
460 also likes to eat white sweet potatoes and cabbage. However, while cabbage is easy to eat, the skin of white sweet potatoes is difficult to peel. Therefore, 460 waits for Zhao Xuan to eat them. Zhao Xuan usually can't finish one, so 460 eats the rest.
It is Zhao Xuan's most considerate trash can.
That day, Zhao Xuan caught a basket of snails. When she got tired, she found a rock to sit on and took out a washed white sweet potato from her pocket. She peeled it while it was drying in the sun. 460 sat next to her, his dark eyes fixed on the white sweet potato in her hand.
The white sweet potato was huge, so heavy that Zhao Xuan's pants kept falling down when he put it in his pocket. He had to pull his pants up many times along the way. Eventually, he got so annoyed that he simply took it out and ate it.
She peeled off half of the skin, revealing the glistening white flesh inside. Taking a bite, she felt a cool, sweet sensation, but at the same time, Zhao Xuan felt a burning heat coming from the other side. Turning her head, she saw 460's eager gaze.
Zhao Xuan took a big bite of the white sweet potato, and with a "plop," he launched it out of his mouth. The 460 dog head left an afterimage as it caught the imported food in one go.
After enjoying a large piece of white sweet potato with his dog, Zhao Xuan picked up his basket again and continued walking deeper into the mountains.
...
After a busy week, the two families had finished drying their grain. This autumn was very kind to them, with long periods of sunny weather, giving them enough time to dry their winter grain. Just as they finished drying their grain, the temperature dropped again, and their two-piece suits became thin sweaters.
It had been drizzling for two days in a row. Zhang Xiaohe figured that the rain wouldn't stop anytime soon, but it wouldn't get any heavier either. She decided to take Zhao Xuan to Taiping Town anyway.
This was probably the last time they went to Taiping Town.
The two of them set off wearing raincoats, with two days' worth of food in the back of the tricycle, covered with a waterproof film. 460 also took shelter under it from the rain. Compared to the last time she and Zhao Xuan set off alone in winter, the weather was not unbearably cold. 460 comfortably hid in the back of the tricycle, sticking her nose out to smell the damp air.
Leaving aside the brief details of the journey, even Zhao Xuan, who wasn't good at remembering routes, had memorized the roads to and from Taiping Town thoroughly, and was even quite familiar with Taiping Town itself.
Welcome to Taiping Town!
The tattered sign remained, and the entire town was vast and quiet, like the long-dead corpse of a giant.
Zhao Xuan and Zhang Xiaohe entered through a side path, winding their way forward. With the help of street signs and their own memories, they finally found the town library.
The so-called library is not a well-designed building as one might imagine, but rather two floors of a complex.
The building was relatively new compared to other buildings in Taiping Town, probably constructed just before the apocalypse. Most of the windows were broken, and there wasn't much to loot inside, so the damage wasn't extensive, just a lot of dust. There were signs of human activity inside; some floors still had ashes from past campfires, and a faint, foul odor wafted from the walls. It must have been the smell of a corpse that had rotted away in some corner after all these years.
Zhang Xiaohe and Zhao Xuan did not search the entire building. Judging from the dusty stairwells, no one had been to the building for a long time.
The library is on the fourth and fifth floors. The fourth floor is the children's book area, which also has a large children's reading area. The other types of books on the fifth floor have a larger area than those on the fourth floor. Many bookshelves were overturned, and many books had been moved away, probably taken by the survivors to use as fuel. However, there were too many books in total, and many books were buried under the metal bookshelves. Zhao Xuan tried to move the bookshelves, but gave up after a few seconds.
Zhang Xiaohe went to the fourth floor to look for some supplementary textbooks, while Zhao Xuan carried an axe down to the fifth floor.
Many books were rotten. The rainy season in the province was long, and the books got moldy and stuck together. After several years of oxidation, they became as brittle as biscuits, cracking into several pieces with the slightest touch. Some were gnawed beyond recognition by insects and rats, and in some places, the windows were broken, letting in rainwater. Over the years, the waterlogged books turned into piles of black mud.
Zhao Xuan, her face covered, walked among the bookshelves that were either fallen or broken. She didn't even touch the books; just by looking at them, she knew they were already rotten inside.
In the post-apocalyptic world, electronic products are the most useless and paper is the most fragile. Books left unread for three to five years will get moldy, not to mention the vast collection of books that have been neglected for nearly a decade.
Books are easily damaged, and various types of toilet paper and facial tissues made from paper are hard to find. Although she still has a lot of well-preserved rolls and tissues at home, it's not enough for a lifetime. She heard from Lu An that homemade straw paper is also sold at the salt field market—large sheets of beige straw paper, very rough, and not cheap, but it's always in short supply. Once people solve their survival problems, they will improve their quality of life within limited resources; wiping one's bottom with rough straw paper is cleaner than using leaves.
Lu An told Zhao Xuan to prepare himself for having to use that kind of rough toilet paper to wipe his bottom in the future, which made Zhao Xuan very sad.
Zhao Xuan found a fairly sturdy chair and walked towards the bookshelves that hadn't fallen over—some of the books placed on higher shelves might still be usable.
Zhao Xuan stood on a stool, shining a flashlight as he searched for usable books. The county library was quite specialized, with many agricultural books, including those on how to grow mushrooms, how to raise pigs, the use and maintenance of various agricultural machinery, and some that went into more detail, such as the transformation of saline-alkali land and the management of tidal flats.
Zhao Xuan wasn't picky; she picked out any book that was still readable, no matter what kind it was.
While the two were quietly searching for books, 460 stood guard at the top of the stairs, lying on the ground to keep watch for them.
After a long time, Zhao Xuan heard footsteps approaching. It was Zhang Xiaohe. She found the still usable teaching materials, wrapped them in plastic wrap, put them in her backpack, and then planned to go upstairs to take a look.
Zhao Xuan found a stack of books she could read and told Zhang Xiaohe to look at them, saving her the trouble of finding new books.
The pile of books was still readable. Zhao Xuan didn't look at what kind of books they were, so Zhang Xiaohe could see that there were agricultural books, reference books, novels, and picture books, with a wide variety of contents.
The two of them piled up all the books they could read and then searched for the books they needed from that pile.
Although most of the books here are damaged, the library is so large that a careful search can still yield quite a few results.
Zhao Xuan picked out a lot of agricultural books and brought some plant guides. His biggest find was a national atlas, which was hidden under a pile of books and luckily escaped the gnaws of insects and rodents. Although it was a bit dirty, it should be usable after wiping it clean. It had detailed markings of the terrain and road distribution in various places, so he wouldn't be a headless fly when he went out to explore in the future.
The books with illustrations were large and thick. Zhao Xuan picked out a tall stack, tied it with a rope, and laboriously moved it aside.
The two women became more and more enthusiastic as they searched, feeling that they could take any book home. As a result, they bundled up more and more books, and soon it got dark, so they decided to spend the night there.
After dinner, Zhao Xuan and Zhang Xiaohe sat bored in front of the broken French window, looking at the blurry scenery outside.
Taiping Town is very quiet; at this moment, only the whistling wind embraces this lonely city.
Everything here was gray and had a slight putrid smell.
Zhao Xuan pointed to the first place in the distance and said, "That's the farmers' market over there, right? Lu An and I ran into that person the first time we went there. It was raining, and she skipped and hopped past me. I was terrified; I thought I'd encountered a ghost."
Zhao Xuan called the person a madman. After the Yu Laosan incident, everyone tacitly stopped mentioning it, but Zhao Xuan would think of that madman from time to time.
The connections between people are both shallow and deep. Zhang Xiaohe gave her a pancake, Zhao Xuan gave her a can of rice porridge, and she returned a truckload of supplies to Zhao Xuan and gave Zhang Xiaohe her life.
But they didn't even know each other's names or past.
Zhang Xiaohe nodded and said, "She should be reunited with her family by now, right? That's good."
Zhao Xuan smiled, seemingly in agreement.
The two chatted idly in the afterglow of the setting sun until darkness completely enveloped the small town.
The night passed peacefully.
The next morning, the two got up and continued packing their books, loading all the necessary reference books into the car, leaving room for miscellaneous books. Zhao Xuan picked out several classics; ordinary popular novels would probably get boring after one reading, but these classics were always fresh and new, perfect for passing the time when bored in winter.
The books were heavy, and after being loaded onto the vehicle and covered with a waterproof film, they were much smaller in volume than the supplies she had taken on previous trips. But once she sat on the vehicle and started pedaling, she knew that the vehicle was practically glued to the ground. With a 460 added to the load, Zhao Xuan estimated that her legs would be shaking for days after this trip home.
The weather wasn't great these past few days, with a light drizzle. Zhao Xuan and Zhang Xiaohe put on their raincoats and set off. Zhao Xuan had Zhang Xiaohe ride in front, with only one hand on the handlebars so that if they slipped, Zhao Xuan could see it immediately.
They set off along the path again, but they couldn't see the big sign that read "Welcome to Taiping Town" in the direction of the path. Zhao Xuan was a little disappointed. This was her last time visiting Taiping Town, and she didn't even say goodbye to that familiar sign.
As the two people and the dog left Taiping Town, two heads appeared on the roof of a five-story building in the distance.
One of the small heads belonged to a little girl of about five or six years old. Despite being dressed very warmly, she still had a snotty nose hanging from her nose. She sniffed the snot that was about to drip to her mouth and said to the older little boy next to her, "Brother, have they left?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but the cautious little boy quickly covered her mouth. As he did so, snot dripped onto his hand. The boy roared silently, frantically wiping his nose against the railing.
The older brother was clearly a little angry. He whispered to the little girl, "Have you forgotten what you promised before we came out? You're going to be mute! You're not allowed to say a word the whole way. You'll do whatever I tell you to do."
The little girl said with a hint of grievance, "But they're so far away, and they can't hear me..."
"But who knows if there are other people here?!" The older brother was being overly cautious.
"Sigh..." The little girl sighed helplessly, then muttered even more softly, "No wonder my sister said you're crazy..."
"What did you say?" Her voice was too soft for her brother to hear.
...
The three siblings settled in the deep mountains a year ago. They lived in the forest ranger's house. There was a reservoir a mountain away from the house, where the fish were big and fat. With the help of those fish, the older sister, who was not yet fifteen years old, supported her ten-year-old brother and six-year-old sister.
They weren't biological siblings. The homeless older sister took in her orphaned younger brother on the road. Along the way, they met a kind couple; the woman was heavily pregnant and overflowing with maternal love. They adopted the orphans. Unfortunately, their happiness was short-lived. The mother died of a postpartum infection, and a few years later, the father also died of pneumonia. Without adults around, the three children dared not live in a conspicuous place. So, the older sister, along with her family, led her younger siblings into the deep mountains and forests, hoping to escape the adults' lives.
Over the past year, the three children have lived well in the deep mountains. The older sister fishes and farms to support her younger siblings, while the younger brother, being small and agile, goes out to search for supplies. Later, the younger sister was also able to help with the housework. She was born after the apocalypse and had never seen the scene before the apocalypse, so she was very optimistic and cheerful every day.
Because they have never seen the light, they can be free even in hell.
She envied her brother for being able to go out and see the world. This time, she begged for a long time before she secretly followed her brother out to search for supplies behind her sister's back.
The two children were extremely cautious, scurrying through the abandoned town like two little mice, scavenging scraps left behind by survivors from previous generations. They filled a cart with supplies and were very happy. Just as they were about to head back, they heard the creaking sound of a tricycle rolling over the ground. The older brother, like a startled bird, pulled his sister and hid. Only when they realized that the other party was also just a survivor passing by did they feel relieved. The two children hid on the roof of a dilapidated building, waiting for the other party to leave first.
Zhao Xuan and Zhang Xiaohe were completely unaware of the existence of the brother and sister, and the brother and sister would never know either. Their scent carried by the wind in the direction Zhao Xuan and Zhang Xiaohe had left. 460, lying in the back of the truck, smelled it and immediately became alert. However, it did not bark. From the moment it left the village until it left Taiping Town, 460 had not barked once. It knew that in many situations, its barking would bring greater danger, so it silently raised its head and, following the scent, locked its gaze on the small, dilapidated building in the distance.
It saw the two little heads on the rooftop.
460 let out a "hiss" sound, then lowered its head and rested it on its front paws, pretending to sleep.
It recognized the two little rascals. This was news brought by its good friend, Xiao Huang. It said that a new family had moved in near the reservoir. They were three little two-legged creatures. They posed no threat and were even more timid than bamboo rats in the mountains. The youngest sister even liked to secretly pick the cabbages planted by her older sister to feed them, the pack of wild dogs.
Sometimes Xiao Huang carries his sister's scent, which is why 460 recognized them today.
460 did not issue a warning, perhaps because it did not want to scare either party.
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