Chapter 45: Paper and Pen
Zhou Qian stood at the camp entrance, watching the thin and delicate girl carefully get onto her bicycle with a basket on her back. Only after she steadied herself did she start pedaling away slowly. He couldn’t help but smile.
As soon as she left, a few people nearby couldn’t resist gathering around:
“Captain Zhou, what good stuff did the little girl give you this time? Share it with us!”
“Get lost, all of you!”
Zhou Qian waved the plastic bag around: “Last time you guys ate so many of my dates, and I didn’t even complain! Do you even know how expensive flour is nowadays?”
Although he was scowling, no one there was actually afraid.
Even the logistics team squeezed over: “Oh come on, don’t be so stingy! If it wasn’t for me being quick, would you have been able to exchange stuff so smoothly?”
“Exactly! I even ran errands for you!”
“Hey, is this fried flour? I heard that more than a hundred years ago, soldiers used to eat this during marches. Back then things were way tougher — one bite of fried flour, one bite of snow…”
“Let’s try it! We’re not eating it raw. I have a bottle of purified water; we can boil it and mix it into a paste…”
“Oh wow, you’re hiding treasures too! How much is that purified water worth?”
“Do you even need to ask? It’s purified water — the value is 4.5! It’s sweet!”
Zhou Qian, caught between them, was soon half-pushed and half-coaxed into bringing the fried flour back with everyone.
At the testing room, the plastic bag was opened, and a rich wheat fragrance immediately filled the air. Everyone sniffed and started placing bets.
“My guess is below 8.”
“Too conservative! I say 7! I’ve eaten a 9 before, and it was definitely better than this.”
Zhou Qian sniffed too, then firmly said, “6! Definitely 6! I remember the best on the market right now is 11, right?”
“Yeah, even our special internal supply is just 9!”
Everyone watched eagerly as the tester was switched on, and the green number on the screen flashed brightly—
[3]
“…Damn.”
Someone muttered: “Why is it 3 again? I remember the pine nuts we turned in at the beginning were 3 too.”
“Hahahahaha! Zhou Qian, you still think that little girl is just a pitiful thing? I bet she’s from some big family being trained!”
“Pfft! Come on, even if they were training her, they wouldn’t send her into the Rose Corridor… I remember the first time she went out, she hid in an underground tunnel.”
Zhou Qian just snorted: “Even a broken ship has three pounds of nails! Who says she can’t have impressive relatives? She’s riding a bicycle already, and you guys are still worried about where her stuff comes from?”
He paused and sighed again: “Why do we always end up getting good stuff from her?”
This time, he had thought he was helping her out, but a mutation value of 3 for the fried flour…
Forget it!
Zhou Qian thought of Huai Yu’s soft “gege” (big brother) and with a wave of his hand declared: “Where’s the purified water? Hurry up and boil it — let’s taste this fried flour! Oh, do you guys want sugar or salt added?”
“Neither, right? Sugar and salt are both polluted!”
“I think we should add a little, otherwise the paste will taste like nothing, such a waste…”
Everyone chattered noisily, full of excitement.
Meanwhile, Huai Yu had already pushed her bike back to the treehouse.
It was rare to return while it was still early, so she happily started organizing her things. First, she placed the solar lamp by her bed next to the rose — even though there wasn’t much sunlight now, just having the lamp there made her feel light would soon come.
The three stainless steel bowls were placed next to the knife and cutting board.
The rope was put into the storage bag for later.
The paper and pen were placed at the bedside — she would carry them with her from now on. Wait!
She opened the notebook and immediately wrote down a shopping list:
[Duvet cover] [Small satchel]
For small things like paper and pen, carrying a satchel would definitely be more convenient. She couldn’t just throw everything into her basket.
Next was the “defective” thermos. It was indeed defective — after inspecting it closely, she finally found a scratch on the bottom.
Thinking of Zhou Qian, Huai Yu couldn’t help but smile.
The lighter was stored away for backup, and the umbrella was placed by the door.
Then she hung the clothes rack and clothes onto the vines… Wow! The once empty treehouse now looked pretty cozy.
Huai Yu admired her room for a while. Seeing the fire in the brazier hadn’t completely gone out, she added some dry grass and twigs, and soon the fire blazed again.
Even though the door curtain was lifted, the temperature inside rose quickly. She poured about a pound of soybeans into water to soak.
Even though she kept the fire going every day, it was hard for the damp ground temperature to rise quickly. Just like last time, growing bean sprouts to a good weight would still take five or six days.
For the next five or six days, Huai Yu didn’t plan to go back to the trading market. She stood at the door, gazing at Mount Sanqing in the distance—
Now that she had lard, if it didn’t rain tomorrow, she’d go into the mountains to pick wild vegetables!
As for this afternoon…
She would first try to scald some flour with hot water and make herself a soft, sweet pancake!
Since eating the slightly oily fried flour didn’t upset her stomach, after half a month of living off nutrient solution, one pancake shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Just as she was thinking this, the sound of rain pattering down came again. Huai Yu sighed, then quickly carried the two new buckets outside.
Thinking about it, the old red bucket didn’t have much water left either. She poured that water into a basin and went to fill it up again.
After all, who knew how long the rain would last? The pond water was now muddy and would take days to clear up. It was better to store more water while she could.
The rain wasn’t heavy; it plopped into the buckets lightly. Huai Yu decided to leave it be, took out the new basins, washed them, and carefully grabbed a handful of flour.
She paused, grabbed another handful.
Clapping her hands clean, she pulled out the paper and pen again, seriously noting down:
[Spoon]
And also:
[Baking soda] [Yeast] [Eggs] [Rolling pin]…
How was the list getting longer and longer? As for eggs, she hadn’t even seen any for sale at the market — she would have to ask Boss Tang about them next time.
After thinking it over and deciding there was nothing more to add for now, she went to wash her hands.
The kettle on the stove began heating up slowly. Huai Yu had no special ingredients, so she just added a bit of sugar to the flour. Estimating that the water was hot enough, she lifted the kettle and started scalding the flour.
As she poured the water, she felt a bit dazed — it had been so long, she was a little rusty.
Fortunately, muscle memory kicked in. She stirred quickly with chopsticks and soon a basin of flour crumbs was ready.
Perfect!
She tossed down the chopsticks, shook her reddened fingers, and began kneading.
The hot water brought out the flour’s sweet fragrance, and with every knead, her anticipation for the soft, sweet pancake grew — and so did her drooling.
At this moment, even the endless rain outside couldn’t dampen her cheerful mood.
