Apocalypse: Last Traveler-Chapter 371 - 350: Grinding, Eating, Squatting, Lounging—A Spectacular Sight
Lu Xi’an heard Luo Ping’s words and his first reaction was that it was great, as it meant better nutritional supplements.
So he didn’t refuse and agreed, "Then thank you very much."
Luo Ping laughed and said, "Brother, that’s not right. Do you need to thank us? You’ve helped us way more than we’ve helped you."
Lu Xi’an didn’t say much after that.
Luo Ping added, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, brother. On our way back, we ran into three wild boars, one male, one female, and a little one.
"We didn’t eat them, brought them all back. Shu took a look and said they could be raised, but it’ll take some time to breed.
"Otherwise, we could have given you and your wife some pork."
Lu Xi’an said, "No need for that, there’s also pork on East Island, and we’ve had pork soup there.
"I was originally planning to see if I could get you two pigs, but now it seems unnecessary. You’ve solved it yourselves."
Shu’s voice immediately sounded, cheerfully saying, "You two are really good to us, always thinking of us."
Luo Ping complained, "Why am I not good?"
Shu said, "That’s different!"
Luo Ping: "How is it different?"
Shu hesitated for a long time and said, "It’s just different!"
The two started arguing while Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei listened for a while until the signal was lost.
This cold weather lasted quite a while before it stopped, so when the tides returned, Luo Ping and the others couldn’t come and had to wait until next time.
This time when the tide came in, Hu Xiaodong and his son came to the island but didn’t bring any supplies.
"Sorry, Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao. It’s been too cold, the ground’s frozen, crops can’t grow well, so we’ll have to pause on supplies for now, next time then."
After landing on the island, Hu Xiaodong spoke to Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei apologetically.
Lu Xi’an waved it off, not minding a bit, "It’s fine, if there aren’t any, there aren’t any. We have plenty in storage, enough to eat."
Hu Xiaodong and his son were relieved to hear Lu Xi’an say that.
Then Hu Xiaodong looked around and asked, "Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao, where are your friends? Why didn’t they come?"
Lu Xi’an replied, "They were blocked by the weather too. It was snowing heavily there, they can’t come for a while, will have to wait until next time."
"I see."
Hu Xiaodong sighed, seeming quite regretful.
His son Hu Dong felt the same.
Seeing the father and son like this, it seemed they were very much looking forward to meeting Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei’s friends.
After greeting the Hu father and son, and helping them fill their water buckets, Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei returned to the hilltop to continue their small life.
Without materials this time, there was no need to keep going down to find Hu Xiaodong and his son, so they could comfortably spend the next month or so up on the hilltop.
Thus, besides their daily exercise, eating, and other essentials, they found other things to do.
They walked around the forest, found some suitable stones, and brought them to the hilltop for grinding, then cut suitable trees into appropriately sized and shaped sticks and treated them with resin to increase their strength.
— Naturally, they were preparing to make a stone millstone.
Processing and treating the sticks was quick, but grinding the stone took quite a bit of effort – it was a meticulous task, not something that could be done with just brute force.
Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei spent several days finishing the grindstone, then assembled and tested it.
After washing and drying the final millstone, they tried it out, placing barley grains on it, grinding, and delicate powder came out.
"Success, smooth as can be!"
Lu Xi’an pinched some barley flour, felt it, and smiled at Yao Wei, "Look at this, much better than doing it by hand, right?"
In fact, compared to doing it by hand, this flour was still somewhat coarse, after all, it’s barley, not wheat, so there’s naturally a difference.
But still, it’s much better than pinching it by hand.
Their fingers, after all, have skin and flesh, relatively soft, no matter how strong, cannot compare to a millstone. Even using some hard tools to press and grind later was not quite the same as using a millstone.
Yao Wei also pinched some flour to feel, nodded, and said, "Yeah."
"How about some cornmeal next?"
After grinding all the barley down, Lu Xi’an suggested.
Yao Wei immediately nodded and said, "Sure."
Compared to barley, she actually preferred cornmeal. The cornmeal noodles made back then were crude, but to her, they were an extremely rare delicacy, memorable to this day.
So when Lu Xi’an mentioned cornmeal, Yao Wei agreed without hesitation, quickly got up, went to the car to get corn, and shelled the kernels into the mill.
Continuing to grind, the flour came out, then they filled a bucket with it.
After finishing this, they immediately mixed water with the flour to make noodles.
This job fell to Yao Wei, while Lu Xi’an went to chop and stir-fry vegetables, making sauce for the noodles.
He glanced at Yao Wei midway, saw her kneading dough with a pot, and suddenly thought of something, saying, "Do you think we need a pottery bowl?"
"Ah."
Yao Wei looked at the dough in the pot, understood, and said, "Yeah, too bad we didn’t get one before."
Lu Xi’an laughed and said, "No worries, we’ll just have Hu Xiaodong and his dad bring it over for us next time.
"It’s normal not to think of these things until the moment you need them.
"Besides, when we came back, we already had so much stuff, adding a clay pot might have been too much to carry."
"Yeah."
Yao Wei knew Lu Xi’an was comforting her, but it was also true, so she nodded.
Whether it was cornmeal or barley flour, the noodles made from them lacked smoothness and elasticity, so in the end, they were just rolled, cut, and boiled without being pulled.
But even so, Yao Wei made some barley noodles and some cornmeal noodles. After cooking them, she and Lu Xi’an ate them with the sauce, and they still thought it was delicious, much better than before.
These noodles had a much smoother and more even texture than before.
After eating their fill, the two of them cleaned up the dishes and Lu Xi’an said, "Let’s go down the mountain, find Hu Xiaodong and his dad, and have them bring us a clay pot next time. We can take a walk to help digest the food."
"Okay."
Yao Wei had no objections and went with Lu Xi’an to the East Sea shore.
At that time, Hu Xiaodong and his dad happened to be there at the East Sea shore as well, which was a coincidence.
They had been visiting less frequently lately, perhaps because the things Lu Xi’an gave them had improved their household situation, so they were less focused on the sweet water business.
But despite coming less often, they happened to be there this time. It was a stroke of luck.
Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei explained their request by the East Sea shore, and Hu Xiaodong and his dad readily agreed, immediately setting off back to East Island.
The next day, they brought Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei six clay pots and an additional clay jar, leaving Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei with mixed feelings of amusement and helplessness.
"You brought so many; how can we possibly use them all?!"
Lu Xi’an said helplessly.
Hu Xiaodong laughed and said, "If you can’t use them, you can store them, Mr. Lu. These clay pots break easily, a little carelessness and they shatter, so it’s good to have a few spares.
"I specifically brought six, because six-six brings good fortune, it sounds auspicious."
This guy even knew idioms, much more cultured than the folks at the 923 Base.
But what surprised Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei was that all these clay pots ended up being useful later on.
After another round of low tide and before the cold current arrived, about eight or nine days later, Luo Ping and his group drove up the mountain.
This time it was Luo Ping, Shu, Liu Hua, Tang Er, and Chai Xin who came. Shu rarely went out, so he was very happy and was incredibly excited to see Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei.
Then he saw the millstone Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei made and was both surprised and excited, asking, "Where did you get this?!"
Lu Xi’an said, "We made it."
Shu was incredulous, "You two know how to make this?!"
Lu Xi’an replied, "Not too bad, there are some on the island, so we learned from them.
"Since you’re here, let’s make noodles and eat together."
So grinding, kneading, boiling water...
A series of tasks were divided among everyone, and they all worked together.
This time, they made a lot of noodles, one clay pot couldn’t hold it all, so they simply used all six clay pots.
Shu, Luo Ping, Liu Hua, Tang Er, Chai Xin, and Yao Wei lined up, squatting on the ground, each with a clay pot in front, kneading dough, creating a rather spectacular sight.
As for Lu Xi’an, he was still in charge of making the sauce.
He was initially going to knead some dough too, but Chai Xin insisted on joining in, so Lu Xi’an let her try, and surprisingly, she picked it up quickly, kneading with confidence. He then assigned the task to Chai Xin.
Once the noodles were ready, they emptied one clay pot to hold the sauce, then got a pot and a cooking spoon, filled with water, and set it on the fire to cook the noodles.
After cooking, Lu Xi’an placed the noodles in a clay pot, only using a separate bowl to ladle the sauce onto each serving.
The seven of them divided into four groups, Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei sharing one clay pot, Liu Hua and Tang Er shared another, Luo Ping and Shu shared another, while Chai Xin with a bowl sat on the cliffside, eating with great enjoyment.
Seven people with three pots and one bowl lined up along the cliffside, creating another magnificent scene.
"This is really tasty!"
Luo Ping couldn’t help but exclaim.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm."
"Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm!"
The others were so focused on eating that they couldn’t speak, but they all agreed, making noises in their throats.
At this moment, the only one speaking was Shu.
"Don’t talk while eating, you’re spitting into the pot."
Shu said disdainfully.
Luo Ping retorted with equal disdain, "Stop blaming me, your hair’s fallen into it!"
But despite their disdainful exchange, their chopsticks moved swiftly, eating as if in a competition, their heads almost buried in the pots.
"So satisfying!"
After eating, Shu couldn’t help but collapse halfway onto the ground, rubbing his stomach and sighing in satisfaction.
Luo Ping did the same, turning to say, "This is good stuff, can you two teach us how to make it? We want to try making it when we get back."
