Chapter 206: Hard to Decline Such Kindness
A new era, new science, new beliefs.
Everyone was quite accepting of the idea of making offerings and quietly expressed that they’d bring good things over in the future.
Zhou Qian, recalling the long breaks for work in the woods, added, “If no one’s home, just leave it in the yard.”
He pointed at Huai Yu and said, “I’m digging her a vegetable garden, right next to the rose corridor—just a little distance away.”
So daring?!
Everyone was surprised, but not too shocked: “I heard from the team that when they built houses back then, they were also just a little distance from the rose corridor.”
What a pity, once the houses were finished, they had to leave. Otherwise, those swaying rose branches gave everyone the chills.
Now Zhou Qian was digging a garden nearby. Even with the help of their wood-element ability girl, wasn’t it still nerve-wracking?
Zhou Qian noticed their expressions and, thinking he had already laid the groundwork with them, felt quite satisfied.
He also thought: Good thing they’re all a bunch of rough guys and didn’t notice the big bunch of pink-and-white roses on my living room shelf—otherwise, no way we’d eat in peace tonight.
Amid their chatting and laughter, the rich smell of lard came from the kitchen. Everyone was still munching on fragrant salted peanuts but couldn’t help staring toward the kitchen:
Was the pork bought today really that good?
Then Huai Yu called from inside: “Brother Zhou Qian, come refine the lard! We’ll need it later for the carp.”
“I’ll cook braised pork with potatoes—can you guys handle this much fat?”
Of course we can!
The group slapped their stomachs like drums: “What haven’t we eaten before!”
But once Huai Yu started cooking, everyone tidying up the firewood exchanged glances and muttered, “True, we’ve eaten everything, but this fatty stuff… haven’t tasted it in five or six years, right?”
“Nonsense! Only five years! The first year we slaughtered plenty of mutated wild boars. Didn’t we all eat that meat?”
Their faces instantly soured: “Bah! That doesn’t count!”
Meat with a mutation value of 18—just the lard alone made you gag, let alone the meat! If they hadn’t still needed to go on missions and desperately needed nutrients, they really wouldn’t have been able to stomach it!
Even then, one batch of that meat knocked out 80% of the team. After that, no one dared hunt wild boars again. Soon after, the Defense Army rushed out special compressed rations and nutrient solutions, which saved their lives.
Otherwise, they might really have starved to death one by one.
In short, recalling those past experiences, everyone’s faces didn’t look too good.
And now the problem was—after not eating such fatty lard for five years, would they get diarrhea from suddenly eating it again?
It was a serious test.
They struggled for a long time, smelling the rich meat aroma in the air—could the mutation value have been mislabeled at purchase? Why did it smell so good!
Well then—
“Eat! Even if it gives us diarrhea, we’re eating it!”
Six years! Surely it’s okay to indulge just once, right? Even if they had to camp out in the bathroom, they had to eat this meal first!
Smelling the delicious aroma in the air, everyone worked even faster. Someone even dug out an axe from the utility shed and ran all the way up the distant hillside to chop down fresh wood.
By nightfall, when Zhou Qian’s yard lit up with its expensive lights, the firewood pile on one side of the yard had stacked up into a whole wall.
Zhou Qian couldn’t help but laugh: “I was just wondering what to do without firewood and thinking about buying some coal.”
“Buy coal for what!” everyone told him. “A coal stove is slow and boring for cooking. Besides, are you the type to patiently wait for coal to heat up?”
“We’re short on everything except trees right now—burn as much firewood as you want!”
Zhou Qian thought to himself that he probably wouldn’t even need all this firewood before winter came. Perfect—he could bring a basket over to Huai Yu’s place every day.
Meanwhile, Huai Yu peeked her head out of the kitchen, nervously glancing at the light overhead—electricity is expensive!
So she quickly said, “Come help bring out the dishes!”
As soon as she spoke, everyone jumped up and swarmed toward the kitchen, startling Huai Yu into taking two steps back:
“No need for so many people!”
It was only a few dishes in total—
Braised carp, braised pork with potatoes, cold cucumber salad, stir-fried baby bok choy, green peppers stuffed with meat, stewed long beans with eggplant, and old cucumber and yam stewed with pork ribs…
Plus steamed sweet potatoes, a big basin of rice, and the leftover salted peanuts and tomatoes.
The table was packed full with large bowls, so tight that the sweet potatoes and rice had to be placed on the ground beside the door plank table.
Zhou Qian didn’t need to say much—he just shouted: “Come on! Eat up!”
The crowd dove in like pigs at a trough, chopsticks flying in a frenzy! Their first target, without needing to discuss it, was the braised pork.
The smell of that pork stew had been making their mouths water all along, and now that they were eating it, it was truly divine!
Never mind the chef’s skills—just the meat alone must have had a mutation value no higher than 13!
My god… was this really that same big hunk of pork they had bought?
Huai Yu listened to their muffled praise, eyes curving like crescent moons, and finally modestly lifted her pinky to gesture slightly:
“I have a little secret technique to enhance the flavor.”
She hadn’t planned to use it, but when she saw everyone helping out—tidying up the firewood, cleaning the yard…
It felt so nice!
Zhou Qian had some good friends.
So she relaxed a bit, and it turned out like this!
But no one thought anything was strange about it. After all, back when they had to eat that mutated wild boar meat with a mutation value of 18, the chef had also used every trick in the book to make it edible.
So now, it was probably just more of the same cooking magic.
What was there to think about?
Seeing the big bowl of braised pork nearly empty, everyone glanced at the plate of stir-fried baby bok choy, then quickly dumped it into the bowl, using the crisp greens to soak up the rich, potato-thickened sauce, paired with rice—
Delicious!
After they scraped the bowl clean like it had been licked, their attention finally turned to the braised carp.
They had watched the fish being prepared earlier—scored with decorative cuts, fried in oil. They had assumed it would also have a high mutation value and that it would have that typical muddy fish smell, but surprisingly, it tasted just as good as the braised pork!
And it was so tender!
Well then, no need to hesitate—everyone’s chopsticks moved like lightning, each person fishing out a whole piece for themselves.
But a few pieces were still left in the basin—not enough for everyone to have seconds, but no one wanted to give up either. They ate from their bowls while eyeing the basin, facing what felt like the world’s hardest math problem.
Then, Zhou Qian slowly dragged the basin toward himself:
“Ah! My brothers are so good to me. They know I’m still recovering from serious injuries, barely escaped death, and went to buy fish and pork to nourish me…”
He dragged out his words: “It’s hard to decline such kindness!”
