In order to accommodate people's routines, even the power supply time has been adjusted to the evening, providing electricity from 8 p.m. to midnight. Water supply is from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. This schedule aligns perfectly with Su Nian's schedule, allowing her to take a shower upon waking up and then prepare dinner.
Although people have become accustomed to being active at night and shops are open during the night, there are hardly any restaurants. It's not that no one wants to open one, but the weather is too hot, and without electricity, various ingredients cannot be properly stored, especially meat. In this weather, without electricity, fresh meat can spoil in less than two hours. Under such circumstances, who dares to open a business? If someone gets food poisoning, they would have to pay for medical expenses, which would worsen the financial situation of already struggling families.
Su Nian has a solar-powered battery, allowing her household appliances to function, enabling her to cook meat openly. In fact, Su Nian's refrigerator has long been without power, and she has placed all its contents into her storage space. The storage space serves as the best safe, eliminating the need to waste electricity on a refrigerator. Although the refrigerator is turned off, the ice maker is still operational. Su Nian still makes a lot of ice every day, as the three air conditioners alone consume a considerable amount of ice cubes daily. Occasionally, when Su Nian makes things like ice drinks, she powers up the refrigerator. However, today Su Nian doesn't plan on making ice drinks; instead, she prepares to stew meat.
As the environment worsens, the opportunity to openly stew meat diminishes. Su Nian decides to take advantage of the current opportunity to make more. She cuts the good pork belly into large chunks, blanches them first to remove blood and impurities, and then transfers them to a pressure cooker. She adds soy sauce, dark soy sauce, cooking wine, rock sugar, salt, along with scallions, ginger, garlic, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon, bay leaves, fennel seeds, and other spices. Finally, she adds water, enough to cover the meat. Then she covers the lid, brings the pot to a boil, and simmers over low heat.
Su Nian intentionally bought the largest household pot so that she could stew dozens of catties of pork belly in one pot. Since pork belly has a strong flavor, Su Nian also decides to stew a pot of beef, a pot of yam pork rib soup, and a pot of corn pork rib soup while she's at it. Su Nian has many pots and gas canisters with gas stoves, allowing her to cook simultaneously without wasting time. However, as a result, Su Nian's apartment is filled with various meat aromas, even with the doors and windows tightly closed, the aroma still seeps out.
In no time, someone in the community chat group notices the smell of stewed meat and asks whose home is cooking meat. However, no one replies to him. Just a month ago, eating meat was commonplace, but now, even having a meal with meat is not easy, and people prefer not to let others know, fearing unwanted attention and trouble.
Two hours later, all the meat is stewed. Su Nian takes out some braised pork belly, ladles a bowl of yam pork rib soup, and stores the rest in her storage space, placing them on the shelves. Through Su Nian's unremitting efforts over the past month, the ten shelves originally reserved for her own cooking are now filled with seven.
Su Nian takes out a small bowl of rice and a bowl of stir-fried water spinach. She spreads a large bamboo mat on the bedroom floor and places a round table on it. Every day during mealtime, Su Nian sits here. At this moment, on the round table, there are a small bowl of braised pork belly, a bowl of yam pork rib soup, a bowl of stir-fried water spinach, and a small bowl of rice.
Su Nian doesn't rush to eat; instead, she takes out her tablet and continues watching "The Legendary Swordsman," picking up from where she left off last time. Su Nian has watched this sitcom countless times, and she knows the lines by heart. Yet, Su Nian still feels that it's a great show to accompany meals. Listening to the lively dialogue in the show, Su Nian doesn't feel lonely eating alone.
After the meal, Su Nian cleans the dishes, changes into shorts and a T-shirt, puts on sneakers, and goes out. This time Su Nian doesn't have anything to buy, so she walks outside slowly instead of driving.
As she walks, Su Nian notices a lively scene not far ahead. Upon approaching, she sees people setting up stalls. A bedsheet is spread on the ground, displaying various brand-name bags. Two girls are selling the bags, vigorously promoting them, claiming that all their bags are authentic and are now being sold at a huge discount. They also mention that their company is currently on break, and they don't know when they will resume work. Without income, they can't even afford meals. Listening to their words, Su Nian feels sympathetic.
Su Nian knows that many women like bags, and there's a saying that bags can cure all ailments. While she herself doesn't fancy buying designer bags, her bags are all practical. After her rebirth, Su Nian also bought some bags, but they were all hiking bags, sturdy and durable.
After watching for a while, Su Nian turns and leaves. These bags are of no use to her. Even if she had money, she couldn't afford to buy them at this time. If she did, she would be seen as someone with too much money but little sense, which would bring her no benefit.
Su Nian leaves and walks further ahead, where she sees several more stalls. There are men and women of all ages selling various flashy but impractical items such as designer bags, jewelry, clothes, shoes, limited edition figurines, and models. The variety and styles are dazzling.
Finally, when she reaches a relatively deserted booth, Su Nian sees something interesting. On the ground are various weapons: long knives, short blades, and even more obscure weapons like three-edged spears. It's clear that this is a lover of cold weapons. Curious, Su Nian looks towards the vendor sitting in the corner.
While other stalls are set up under streetlights, this one is farther away. In the dim light, Su Nian can vaguely see a handsome man. The faint light falls on his profile, revealing his handsome nose, firm jawline, slender eyebrows, and moderately thick lips. His lips are slightly pursed, and his brows are furrowed, as if in distress. Just by looking at his deserted booth, Su Nian can guess what's troubling him. No business means trouble!
Squatting down, Su Nian casually picks up a dagger. However, the moment the dagger is unsheathed, Su Nian is shocked. The cold light gleams, and the blade hums. Su Nian immediately closes the dagger and looks at the man, "You're selling such good stuff?"