Chapter 86 Crispy Rice Cake and Red Bean Porridge
Besides bringing back the goods they needed, Lu An and Yao Yuan also learned that the country had not truly perished.
The great disease struck with tremendous force. Although the country had made some preparations beforehand, it was unable to withstand this natural disaster. Society collapsed, and human civilization regressed by a century overnight. In order to avoid the recurrence of the great disease, both camps and reclusive individuals tried their best to avoid contact with strangers. The spread of information became difficult and lengthy again. The saltworks market had done a very good job in the exchange of goods and information.
According to people in the market, the saltworks camp has always maintained connections with the capital. In fact, there are many similar camps across the country. These camps possess advanced armed forces and protect a vast number of scientific achievements and talents. The emergence of these camps seems preordained, and their scale is unlike that of civilian-organized camps. Their influence, radiating outwards, is like a scattering of sparks across the map of China.
A single spark can start a prairie fire.
Each flame was using its maximum energy to benefit the surrounding survivors. For example, the saltworks camp adapted to local conditions: producing salt and developing market trade. A relatively orderly "safe zone" was established around the saltworks market.
Some people say that a nearby nuclear power plant seemed to have run into trouble last year. The nuclear power plant was safely shut down long before the social collapse. Over the years, it is unknown whether the equipment inside is aging or if it was sabotaged. In any case, the salt field camp sent several groups of technicians wearing radiation protection suits to go in. In this day and age, everyone is too busy to take care of themselves. It is hard for people to imagine what kind of people would be willing to go to that dangerous nuclear power plant at this time, just for the stability of this area.
So more and more people know that these powerful camps are the last guarantee left by the country for its people. As time goes by, the survivors have their own ways of survival. The chaotic human society has not been completely eradicated. After several years of silence, the remaining few humans once again showed great vitality. Under the jurisdiction of various camps, order was re-established and attracted more and more survivors to come. But this seems to be a very dangerous thing. Many camps were destroyed because the population grew too fast and the infection broke out again.
The saltworks camp learned from its failures and never indiscriminately recruited personnel. Only highly skilled researchers were allowed into the camp, and these researchers rarely left after entering. The camp provided them with a near-confinement-like protection, but this method allowed the saltworks camp to survive remarkably well. The market they established benefited many survivors within the province. Besides providing safe salt and trade protection, the camp also periodically provided survivors with information about other camps, such as the location of large camps in other provinces and the personnel they needed. Some outsiders stranded in the province who wanted to return home could try applying to these larger camps. There were also warnings of typhoons and other extreme weather events, although the weather forecasts were not as accurate as before the apocalypse.
Lu An and Yao Yuan only learned this information during their trip to the saltworks market. This was Lu An's second visit to the market, and he had become familiar with many people, which is how he learned this information. In addition, he learned that the capital government had not been destroyed; they had been struggling to survive. Everyone had a very difficult time when the apocalypse first arrived, and after several years, they could finally catch their breath. The capital, now restored to its former state, acted as a brain, connecting these scattered sparks and coordinating these forces in the hope of rebuilding China.
Furthermore, there are reports that a vaccine has been developed in the capital.
Today's survivors are almost all carriers of the virus. They are alive and healthy now because their own immunity and the virus have reached a delicate balance. However, this balance is too easily broken. There are too many things that can trigger the dormant virus in everyone's body. Everyone is a source of infection. As long as humanity is alive, the great disease will continue.
Now, however, there is news that it is possible to completely cure serious diseases.
“Lu An,” Zhao Xuan asked, “will all the survivors go to the capital?”
"Perhaps," Lu An said noncommittally.
Zhao Xuan and Lu An were carrying two winnowing baskets, gathering pig feed by the pond below the village. Lu An used a rake to scoop up water hyacinths and threw them into the basket, while Zhao Xuan pressed them down to make the basket hold more water hyacinths.
As winter approaches, the village becomes even more deserted. From time to time, the long calls of birds echo from the surrounding dense mountains, carrying a sense of loneliness. Each call enters the desolate village and then drifts away.
The surface of the pond ripples in the breeze. The taro by the pond has withered, and the small branches are covered with spiderwebs with holes, with a large, long-dead spider hanging on one of them.
While Lu An was gathering pig feed, Zhao Xuan, feeling bored, wandered around the area and chatted with Lu An.
They all thought it was good news that the capital had developed a vaccine, but she and Lu An probably wouldn't go to the capital; the journey was too far, and they couldn't afford to gamble.
The food they had stockpiled could last for two years. As long as no malicious strangers entered, they would most likely live out their lives here in the rolling mountains of this southern province. This was Zhao Xuan and Lu An's current thought. Perhaps their thoughts would change in the future, or perhaps one day they would prepare to go to the capital.
Who knows what the future holds?
The Yao family didn't seem to have any plans to leave. A few days ago, Yao Yuan and Lu An went to the hunting lodge in the mountains. The two families planned to hunt any large game they could, and as usual, smoke it and sell it at the salt field market.
The Yao family raises ducks quite well. Like the chickens raised by Zhao Xuan, their ducks are free-range. They are let out during the day to find their own food and put into a pen at night.
Yao Yuan said he has to wait for the ducks to grow up, and also for the dogs to grow up—until the dogs have fully grown into men, so he can decide for himself whether or not to leave this mountain area. As parents, we will stay here, raising lots of ducks and sheep, so that when our son gets tired, he will have a place to go. At that time, with sheep and ducks at home, he won't go hungry.
The two families tacitly decided to settle here.
Zhao Xuan thought it was fine this way. She liked this family of three, two villages and two families, so neither of them would be too lonely.
As she was thinking this, a gust of wind suddenly blew by, and Zhao Xuan shivered. She called out to Lu An across the pond, "Lu An, shall we cook red bean porridge today?"
Lu An had no objection and nodded: "Okay, let's bake some more rice cakes."
The two looked at each other and smiled, reaching a consensus.
"Then I'll go home and soak the beans!" Zhao Xuan said, turning to go home. She was standing by the pond where the weeds were thick when she almost tripped over something hard in the weeds. She used her foot to push aside the tangled grass, then squatted down as if she had discovered something. After a while, she waved and called out to Lu An, "Lu An, Lu An, come quick!"
Lu An dropped his rake and ran over, only to find Zhao Xuan squatting in front of a broken rock. Zhao Xuan pointed to the words carved on the rock, his tone slightly excited: "Look what's written on it!"
What was in front of them was not exactly a rock, but a fallen stone tablet. The tablet had been lying face up for a long time, and weeds had grown up and completely covered it.
The stone tablet had three characters engraved on it, which were somewhat blurred, but Lu An could still make out: Shangxi Village.
It turns out that this village really is called Shangxi Village.
Zhao Xuan remembered that the village where the Yao family lived was called Xiaxi Village, and further downstream along the stream, there was another village called Xiwei Village. Therefore, Lu An concluded that the village they lived in was called Shangxi Village.
Unexpectedly, Lu An's mistake turned out to be a lucky one; their home really was called Shangxi Village.
"How amazing! We've discovered the name of this village!" Zhao Xuan exclaimed.
They considered this place their true home, so the village accepted them and told them their real names.
Shangxi Village, an ordinary yet perfectly natural name.
Lu An said that when he wanted to eat rice cakes, he happened to discover the name of the village, which was a very fitting thing.
They now like to celebrate something with a meal: after planting rice seedlings, they eat; after harvesting, they eat; when spring comes, they eat; when autumn is about to end, they eat again.
They seem to have many reasons to have a meal.
After returning home, Zhao Xuan scooped out a bowl of red beans, rinsed them clean, and then poured them into a clay pot to cook.
This year, we planted some red beans and mung beans. Like soybeans, there are many such seeds in the village, so there is never a shortage of beans. Most of the soybeans are stored for making soy sauce, and occasionally they are used to make tofu and soy milk. So soybeans have always been a crop with a relatively large planting volume. As for the other beans, Zhao Xuan will sprout some mung beans and use red beans to make some sweet red bean paste. Apart from these, the consumption of red beans and mung beans is not much.
While the red beans were cooking, Zhao Xuan took out the rice cakes he had made a few days ago from the refrigerator. They were real rice cakes made by pounding glutinous rice, white and soft. There was a large bowl of them cut into pieces, and another large bowl of them rolled into balls. Zhao Xuan carefully put all of these into the refrigerator.
Zhao Xuan's happiness this year was largely affected by these rice cakes.
Rice cakes cut into chunks can be steamed until soft and then dipped in soybean powder, coated in egg and deep-fried, or grilled over charcoal until crispy and served with red bean porridge. No matter how you eat them, they're delicious.
After Lu An finished gathering the pig feed, he cooked the pig feed next door and fed the pigs before washing his hands and returning home.
Even before he entered the room, he could smell the sweet aroma of red bean porridge.
After simmering for more than an hour, the red beans have become soft and sticky like a paste. Before they are fully cooked, Zhao Xuan also puts the glutinous rice balls into the red bean porridge and cooks them. The snow-white balls float and sink in the red bean paste, and the glutinous rice flour makes the soup thicker.
Zhao Xuan took the red bean porridge away, leaving the stove empty. She put a grill on the stove and placed three palm-sized square rice cakes on the charcoal fire to grill.
A crispy, golden-brown crust appeared on the white rice cake. Turning it over with chopsticks, the evenly heated rice cake slowly expanded until the crust cracked open, revealing the delicate, sticky interior.
Seeing Lu An return, Zhao Xuan waved to him, her eyes crinkling with a smile. She then skewered a piece of baked rice cake with chopsticks and handed it to Lu An, saying, "Try it."
Lu An blew on the grilled rice cake, then took a bite. With a "crunch," he broke the crispy shell, revealing a sticky and sweet interior. He pulled out a long strip of it, which was very hot. Lu An ate it while breathing on it to warm it up.
How could it not be delicious? This is the food they harvested after a year of hard work; it's simply divine.
"I'll pack some red bean porridge and take it to Sister Xiaohe and the others this afternoon," Zhao Xuan said. She glanced at the fragrant rice cakes baking on the stove, then paused, "Never mind the rice cakes..."
She still couldn't bear to part with the rice cakes.
After scooping out half a pot of red bean porridge meant for the Yao family, Zhao Xuan planned to take the remaining half pot, along with some roasted crispy rice cakes, to the grave so that the couple's parents and Sister-in-law Dao could also have a taste.
Throughout the year, they would prepare delicious food and place a portion at the grave for their relatives to taste.
The food wouldn't be left out for long; they would take it with them when they left and eat it at home. There were more and more birds, and the offerings would soon be pecked up by the birds once they were away from people. They were clearly not wealthy enough to give up these offerings.
On her way back, Zhao Xuan carried a basket and looked at the small building opposite her house. She remembered that Lao Dao had once told her that if he decided to settle down in the village, he should move into that two-story building so that the two families could face each other and be neighbors.
Back in the courtyard, the two each held a bowl of sweet red bean porridge, with a large piece of crispy rice cake on the rim of each bowl. They placed a long bench in the courtyard, sat down together, and sipped their porridge while enjoying the sun.
The sweet and thick red bean porridge warmed me up completely.
Suddenly, Zhao Xuan said, "Lu An, let's tidy up that house across the street!"
Lu An crunched on a rice cake and asked casually, "What's wrong? You want to move?"
Zhao Xuan shook his head: "How could that be? I wanted to clean it up for my brother to live in."
Lu An then raised his head and looked at Zhao Xuan: "Are you sure he can come back this year?"
Zhao Xuan's eyes were firm: "I'm sure!"
Zhao Xuan didn't trust her intuition; she trusted logic. She believed that since Lao Dao had built his wife's cenotaph here, he would return as long as he was still alive.
In the post-apocalyptic world, human life is cheap. Dying is as simple as dying an ant. Lifespan is no longer measured in years, but in days. Sometimes, a separation of just a few days can become a final farewell. That's why Lao Dao can visit his wife without long intervals between visits.
Zhao Xuan didn't know what Lu An was thinking. Zhao Xuan felt that her ideas were always a bit far-fetched, just like their decision to stay in Shangxi Village for a long time was a sudden idea of hers. Today, she had another flash of inspiration and decided to repair the house across the street to welcome Lao Dao's return.
Lu An seemed to understand Zhao Xuan's personality well. Just like when Zhao Xuan readily agreed, Lu An, who was eating rice cakes, only paused slightly before quickly replying, "Okay!"
The orange sunlight shone on his face, and he wore a faint smile, like a bright morning sunflower.
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