Two people with little experience in gardening, in a room with almost no natural light and only artificial lighting, finally managed to grow enough vegetables to stir-fry a dish.
Holding a small basket of bok choy picked from the soil, Qin Huai looked at Mu Nan, who was still rummaging through the pots for ripe vegetables. "You don't like bok choy. Why are you growing this?"
Mu Nan replied, "It grows quickly. I wanted to see how long it takes to harvest a batch with this method."
Qin Huai smiled. "It grows fast from seedlings. If you start from seeds, it wouldn't be as quick."
After making sure there were no missed vegetables, Mu Nan stood up from the pile of pots and placed the two handfuls of bok choy into the basket Qin Huai handed him. "We're just experimenting. We don't have anyone from the village or anyone experienced in gardening to ask. We have to rely on ourselves. Besides this, I can't think of how we would survive in the future before social order is restored. You work with software, I paint. With people struggling for basic necessities, who will care about spiritual nourishment?"
Mu Nan continued, "We don't rely on this to live. It's just a superficial way to make a living. If it actually works out, it could be a source of income."
Qin Huai asked, "Did the country quickly start reconstruction work after the earthquake?"
Mu Nan thought for a moment. "It wasn't very fast. I dreamt that after the earthquake, many people were scavenging in the ruins for food, useful items, and valuables. Many people searched but no one managed the situation. There were some rescue teams, but most were self-rescue. For a while, it was very chaotic. Later, base camps started appearing."
At that time, private bases began to emerge. These private bases weren't charitable; to live in areas with water and electricity, people had to provide the necessary supplies. Money had lost its value after the earthquake, so gold, silver, and food became the currency for exchange. These items were scavenged from the ruins.
Of course, Mu Nan also joined the scavenging for a while. It would have been abnormal for him to stay indoors and still have food and drink. Those days were tough, with hot weather and many collapsed buildings. Moving heavy stones and being careful not to dislodge others beneath one's feet was challenging. Many people fell into pits and died because they accidentally dislodged unstable stones. Not to mention, uncovering a stone often revealed decaying corpses or severed limbs.
Those days were a critical turning point for Mu Nan in facing the apocalypse and experiencing the cruelty of death firsthand. He remembered that even though he had plenty of food in his space, he became emaciated because he couldn't eat. He looked as haggard as anyone else. As he adapted to the harsh reality of the apocalypse, he became more frugal with the food stored in his space.
Being alone and skinny made him appear easy to bully. Perhaps even if he hadn't given that child the corn cake, he might not have avoided being robbed. He might have been targeted all along.
Hearing Mu Nan's sigh, Qin Huai thought he was worried about the future. "Worrying about this now won't change anything. Don't be anxious. If it comes to that, I'll carry bricks to support you. Rebuilding the base will need a lot of labor."
Mu Nan glanced at him. "Let me grow vegetables to support you instead. It's easier work than manual labor."
Qin Huai smiled and handed the vegetables to Mu Nan. "Take these. We can stir-fry them later. I'll go check on the chicken coop."
The balcony at Qin Huai's house was open. Initially, Mu Nan kept a few chickens outside because he was worried about chicken droppings making the house smell. By keeping them on the balcony, he could wash the area with a hose to prevent the house from getting dirty, and since fungal viruses didn't seem to reside on animals, Mu Nan felt comfortable keeping the chickens outside.
When Qin Huai came back, he put the chickens inside the room where the vegetables were growing. He also set up a nest for them because each time he fed the chickens or cleaned the balcony, he had to deal with the smog, which was too dangerous. The chickens Mu Nan bought included both roosters and hens mixed together, so Qin Huai occasionally checked for eggs, leaving the fertilized ones to be incubated by the hens and storing the unfertilized ones in Mu Nan's space.
After Mu Nan finished washing the bok choy, he heard the clucking of chickens. Qin Huai entered, carrying a chicken in one hand and two eggs in the other. He said to Mu Nan, "Get a piece of rope. I'm going to tie this one up first."
Mu Nan quickly searched the drawer for rope. He had rope in his space, but it was rescue rope, which was too long for tying up chickens. Fortunately, he found some old packing rope and handed it to Qin Huai. "Why do you need to tie it up? Are you planning to eat chicken?"
Qin Huai replied, "We only need to keep one hen and one rooster. Out of the three roosters you bought, they were small before and didn't have much meat. Now that they're grown, we need to eat them soon. Roosters are aggressive, eat a lot, and crow loudly. I've seen people asking in the group about who has chickens because they're being woken up every morning by rooster crows."
Mu Nan was surprised. "Do roosters need to be castrated too?" In his understanding, only pigs needed to be castrated.
Seeing Mu Nan's astonished expression, Qin Huai laughed. "The chicken meat you eat is mostly from castrated roosters. Castrated roosters grow faster and have more tender meat. Uncastrated roosters are less desirable in taste and take longer to grow meat. So, keeping just hens and one rooster is enough. If you want chicks, just keep one rooster."
Mu Nan had bought chickens because after the earthquake in his previous life, although there were tremors here, the houses were intact. He thought that if he raised chickens and grew vegetables at home, he could bring them to the government base once it was established. That's why he bought several roosters and hens, hoping to sell eggs or chicks for a living.
But now that Qin Huai said it wasn't necessary to keep so many, Mu Nan was ready to have them slaughtered. However, seeing the struggling chicken in Qin Huai's hands, Mu Nan wasn't sure how to start. "Do you know how to slaughter a chicken? Do we need to collect the blood like pig blood? Is it just about cutting off the head? I should check online."
Qin Huai tossed the tied-up chicken near the entrance and said, "You go heat up a pot of water. I'll look up how to do it."
Seeing Qin Huai calmly prepare to slaughter the chicken, Mu Nan thought he had experience, but it seemed he was also checking online for guidance.
During the process of heating the water, Qin Huai found a few videos online about slaughtering chickens. The technique of twisting the chicken's head and then cutting the neck seemed a bit complicated for a beginner. Afraid of getting pecked by the chicken, Qin Huai decided that cutting off the head directly would be simpler. He had Mu Nan fetch a clean bowl and then took the chicken and the bowl back to his side to avoid getting blood everywhere.
Mu Nan followed, trying to watch. Qin Huai, used to treating him like a child, said, "You stay by the pot and watch the water."
Qin Huai was concerned that Mu Nan might be disturbed by the sight of blood. Although it was just a chicken, someone who grew up in the city and might never have seen a chicken slaughtered before could be affected. Once the chicken was dead, Mu Nan could watch the process of cleaning the insides to get used to it gradually.
A person who had grown numb to the sight of corpses would not be frightened by the scene of slaughtering a chicken. Mu Nan took the knife from Qin Huai's hand and said, "You hold the bowl to catch the blood. I'll handle the head."
Before Qin Huai could refuse, Mu Nan pulled out a thick glove from his space, put it on, grabbed the chicken's head, and stretched its neck. "I'm going to cut it now. Hold the chicken steady."
Seeing that Mu Nan was serious, Qin Huai didn't say more and held the chicken firmly. "Go ahead."
As soon as Qin Huai finished speaking, Mu Nan's knife came down. Since he didn't know how hard a live chicken's neck would be, he swung the knife hard. The blade nearly cut into the cutting board, and the chicken's head fell off. As expected, blood spurted out. Qin Huai quickly used the bowl to catch it and lifted the chicken to let it drain.
Mu Nan picked up the chicken head, which still had some meat and a piece of neck attached. He didn't want to waste it, so he collected the head and squatted next to Qin Huai, who was letting the chicken bleed. "How do we eat the chicken blood? It should be edible, right? I've had pig's blood and duck's blood but never chicken blood."
Qin Huai was surprised by Mu Nan's boldness. After confirming that he was fine and mostly interested in eating, he said, "Chicken blood can be eaten, but let's not eat it."
Mu Nan asked, "Why? If it's edible, why not eat it?" Even though he hadn't experienced it himself, he felt guilty about wasting any edible food, having seen people boil tree bark and dig up roots.
Qin Huai explained, "Haven't you heard that overly excited people are said to be 'like they've been injected with chicken blood'? Chicken blood is likely to be quite stimulating. It's already hot in summer, and eating something so stimulating might make it worse. Especially since we're young and easily excitable, it might be a bit much."
Mu Nan didn't think too much about it. Hearing Qin Huai's explanation, he said, "If it's edible, that's fine. Let's prepare it and keep it in the space. We can eat it when the weather gets colder."
Boiling water to scald and pluck feathers, and cleaning the internal organs took up most of the afternoon. Qin Huai didn't stew the rooster, as the meat was already a bit tough, and stewing would make it worse. Instead, he used strong spices to make braised chicken. Once the chicken was tender, he added chopped potatoes, and when the potatoes were soft and creamy, the dish was ready.
As Mu Nan smelled the enticing aroma from the pot, he said, "It still tastes like it used to."
Qin Huai had started cooking when he was very young. After his grandmother's eyesight deteriorated, he and Qin Huai took over cooking to avoid any accidents. Although Mu Nan wanted to learn to help, Qin Huai never let him handle knives or the stove, so cooking was always left to Qin Huai.
In this life, being able to eat Qin Huai's cooking again, Mu Nan couldn't help but sigh each time. It was the same taste—the taste of home.