Durian
When Sangye woke up, she was the only one left in Xi Xiaolou. Du Yuan had left her breakfast in the kitchen, and she and Wu Jianing went out to walk the cats and dogs.
Sangye took a bite of the steamed bun and then fried some dough sticks for himself.
I think there's something to it about Ms. Du Yuan's ability to "pick up children." Now it's Wu Jianing, and later there are twins. She has children to play with all the time.
Lin Changli placed two cans of goat milk powder in every part of the house: in the kitchen cabinet, on the living room table, in the two bedrooms upstairs, and in the four sisters' bedrooms... for fear that they might get hungry one day and she wouldn't be able to feed them in time.
Just after finishing breakfast, a sleepy-eyed Jiang Siwei walked in carrying several huge, spiky, strange creatures. Although the thorns were sharp, they were covered in cloth and were fine.
"What's this? It just arrived from Amori Island and was delivered to the base warehouse. I saw it, thought it was interesting, and brought it over." Jiang Siwei placed it on the central island counter. "It has a smell, and the more I smell it, the stranger it gets."
Sangye looked at it and laughed: "This is called durian."
"Durian? Food? Can you eat it?" Jiang Siwei fiddled with them, quite curious. "With so many thorns, how can you eat it? And the smell is so strong."
The mermaids of Amoli Island probably couldn't do anything about it, which is why they sent it over.
“This is a fruit, and it’s edible. It does smell quite ‘stinky,’ so some people can’t stand the smell.” Kuwano handed the dining table to the robot and walked to the central island counter.
These durians are large; they are a variety transplanted from Sangye during the winter. The natural environment of Amoy Island is very suitable for tropical fruits like durians, so Sangye casually planted some last time, but he didn't expect them to bear fruit so quickly.
Kuwano brought over a knife.
A ripe durian will have a crack at the bottom, but it's not obvious and you need to look carefully. Once you find the crack, you can use scissors or a kitchen knife to cut open the hard outer shell of the durian along the crack. After exposing the inside, you can peel the durian open to reveal the bright yellow, soft flesh inside.
The smell of durian burst forth instantly, filling their nostrils.
"Ugh—" Jiang Siwei couldn't help but let out a groan and immediately ran far away. "What's this smell? Is this really edible?"
Sangye didn't think it was that exaggerated. To her, the smell of durian was a bit peculiar, but not particularly foul. As for peculiar smells, most fruits produced in the South China Sea region actually have some.
There's another fruit called jackfruit, which also has a spiky exterior and a hard shell. It's larger than a durian, and its thorns are smaller but more densely packed. Initially, it has a light, refreshing aroma, but after eating a few, if you smell your fingers, you'll find the smell has transformed into a foul, saliva-like odor.
Geographical and natural factors have led to a rich diversity of life in the South China Sea, which has also caused fruits to evolve ways to protect themselves.
But humans are an insurmountable "natural enemy," and they can find ways to eat any food.
Konjac is poisonous, yet humans can still make konjac flour from it.
Not to mention these fruits that are all show and no substance.
The durian in Sangye's hand, after being peeled open, revealed two huge chambers of flesh bulging inside the shell, even looking a bit crowded. Now, this "little house" is no longer enough for them to live in.
After removing the fruit pulp from both chambers, Jiang Siwei watched as Sangye picked up the knife again and continued to cut the outer shell.
She didn't understand what he meant.
But soon, the outer shell was cut open again, and another compartment of flesh was revealed, equally plump, soft, and yellow.
Next, Sangye did the same thing until the durian shell was almost completely chopped up and the whole durian was completely "divided up". The flesh that it had been protecting was piled up on two plates, emitting an enticing aroma - which, for some people, made Jiang Siwei want to stay away from it.
Kuwano even scooped out the undeveloped "durian candy" parts, leaving nothing behind.
She quickly cut open the remaining durians, but the flesh of the later ones was not as good as the first one, and some even had empty cavities.
Sangye used to enjoy "betting" with her senior and junior sisters on durians, seeing who could extract the most fruit.
There have even been cases where a durian, so big it could be hugged to the chest, turned out to be nothing but "durian candy," infuriating the person who opened it.
Opening a durian is like gambling, so Shifangwu Restaurant never sells whole durians to avoid being attacked.
Sangye cut off a small piece and threw it directly into his mouth; the peculiar taste instantly swept over his entire palate.
Different people can taste different flavors in durian. Some people find it like onions and garlic, some find it as sweet as longan, and some find it has a milky flavor...
Sangye thinks it's like a natural cream cake, getting sweeter the more you eat. Sangye especially loves the "dry bun," which has a dry exterior but a soft, chewy interior, a sweet flavor, and a hint of alcohol. She doesn't like the "wet bun" as much as the dry bun because it's sticky, but she loves all durians.
Jiang Siwei walked over, pinching her nose. She found it smelly, but was also very curious about what it would taste like.
Sangye grabbed a handful of fruit pulp and handed it to her, encouraging her to try it.
Jiang Siwei put down his hand, took the durian flesh, and wanted to take a deep breath to encourage himself, but unexpectedly inhaled the full smell of durian.
She decided to go all in and took a bite—
After just one bite, Jiang Siwei felt that she would fall in love with durian.
The taste and smell are completely different. The fruit that smells so bad has a burst of milky aroma when you eat it, just like a fruit cake with a thick layer of cream, and it also has a faint fruity fragrance.
She devoured an entire room full of durians in just a few bites.
After she finished eating, the durian smell that filled the kitchen was no longer so unbearable; in fact, it became increasingly addictive as she smelled it.
“Eeya—” Wu Jianing appeared at the kitchen doorway, drawing out a long sound.
She covered her nose with both hands, surrounded by cats and dogs; the five little ones were blocking the kitchen doorway and refused to come in.
"Who pooped in the kitchen!" the little girl angrily accused, her voice muffled.
Cats and dogs have a more sensitive nose. After circling the kitchen door twice, they abandoned Wu Jia Ning and fled back to their den under the osmanthus tree.
Du Yuan handed the robot the shoulder and rope to be cleaned, then carried Wu Jia Ning into the kitchen from behind: "Take a bite and you'll know."
"What are you going to eat?!" The little girl looked terrified, unable to believe what she had just heard.
The three adults laughed at her childish words.
"It's durian, silly girl." Du Yuan affectionately touched her face, shooed Sangye away, and let Wu Jianing sit on the high chair in front of the island.
Looking at the durian flesh in front of her, Wu Jia Ning finally understood where that stench came from.
She took a piece of meat, and with some skepticism, put it in her mouth. Soon, she, like Jiang Siwei, was captivated by durian.
“I must say, this tastes amazing,” Du Yuan said as she ate. “It’s a good thing you weren’t planted in the back garden, or I would have thrown you and the tree away together.”
Sangye smiled. Of course, she couldn't possibly plant this kind of fruit tree in her own home. The ventilation wasn't as good as on Amori Island, which was also not conducive to the growth of such a group of plants: "Durians grown outdoors have a much lower yield of flesh than those in my cave. This is even a variety improved by my senior sister, and it doesn't perform very well in nature."
That senior's lab is a "large-scale crop grafting research laboratory," where she can even hybridize tomatoes and mangoes to make the tomatoes sweeter.
However, when the topic turned to the disappearance of their sect members, both Du Yuan and Sangye showed varying degrees of sadness.
Jiang Siwei's gaze swept over them: "Where is she?"
Kuwano replied, "We got separated and are now nowhere to be found."
Jiang Siwei nodded. In the vast and boundless interstellar space, this kind of thing was all too common: "Then I'll help you find it? My family has shipping routes that cover many planets. Keep an eye out when you're trading."
Actually, Kuwano didn't have high hopes, but having more methods was better.
After Wu Jia Ning finished eating the two durians, Sangye repackaged the remaining ones and had the robots deliver them to various locations within the base.
The Chaohai tribe sent all the durians they harvested to the base, but they haven't figured out how to eat them.
When the peeled durians are presented to them, the Chaohai people don't even need to use knives; their sharp claws are the best weapons.
For a time, the smell of durian permeated the hospital and base. As Kuwano had expected, those who loved it loved it, while those who hated it turned the ventilation up to the maximum.
The smell of durian lingered in the kitchen, so Sangye decided to fight fire with fire and make snail rice noodles for lunch today.
Upon hearing this, both Jiang Siwei and Wu Jianing showed varying degrees of confusion, bewilderment, and bewilderment about the current situation.
Du Yuan brought out the jar of pickled bamboo shoots—the essence of snail rice noodles—and when he opened the jar, the sour and pungent smell quickly spread and permeated the air, even briefly masking the smell of durian.
The two fled the kitchen and squeezed under the osmanthus tree with the cats and dogs.
It's not actually that exaggerated; it's just that interstellar people are unfamiliar with such things. Pickled bamboo shoots are made by pickling bamboo shoots with spring water, salt, and chili peppers, and almost all the flavor comes from the natural fermentation of the bamboo shoots themselves.
Different pickling methods will result in different flavors of bamboo shoots. Du Yuan is used to making the ingredients "rich and flavorful", so the smell is a little stronger.
Kuwano chuckled and took the jar.
A voice approached from afar: "Sister, let me tell you, her cooking is amazing... Yes, even better than instant noodles and rice balls on the capital planet! You can't find this taste on the capital planet. I only realized what 'perfectly cooked food' truly meant after I tasted it; it's just like the descriptions in the books—"
The sound stopped abruptly the moment they stepped into the courtyard.
Melusin stopped at the door with a tall woman.
Melusin sniffed incredulously, her delicate nose twitching in disbelief, a look of astonishment on her face.
Her gaze met that of the two people squatting next to the cat and dog kennel.
Several kittens and puppies huddled together in the violet's nest, all covering their noses with their front paws in unison.
"Melushin, you're here?" Sangye came out carrying a jar of pickled bamboo shoots. She was going to wash the pickled bamboo shoots in the pool outside.
The strong smell hit her face, and Melusin just wanted to turn around and run away.
Just as I turned around, a robot carrying a plate of freshly peeled, large, yellow "food" came towards me, emitting a peculiar smell.
Melusin, caught between a rock and a hard place, threw herself into the arms of the tall woman beside her, crying out, "Sister, save me!"
But her sister, Bertha Cyren, the botanist whom Melusin mentioned who was about to conduct herbal research, sniffed and uttered a statement that filled Melusin with despair: "It doesn't smell like anything. It smells quite nice to me."
Melusin looked up in horror.
She suddenly missed her mother, and Vera Seren would unconditionally agree with everything Melusin said.
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Author's Note: There will be another update later. [doge emoji with rose in hand]
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