WS - Chapter 64

Chapter 64

The three campfires lit up this small patch of ground brightly. The flatbreads and grilled meat sizzled, accompanied by the sound of Dog gnawing on a cow hoof nearby, making the onlookers' eyes gleam with barely concealed anticipation.

Meanwhile, the production team members who had finished setting up their tents one after another made hand signals, calling each other to retreat behind the small wooden house to collect tonight's boxed meals from Feng Qianqian.

The boxed meals included braised prawns, braised Lion's Head meatball, tomato scrambled eggs, sliced celtuce with meat, vinegar-braised cabbage, shredded potato with green pepper, stir-fried two kinds of mushrooms with wood ear fungus, plus a serving of chicken soup and a small bowl of assorted fruit—just as generous as the midday portions.

"Good thing there's boxed meals; otherwise I'd really be drooled to death by the beef aroma from over there," Wang Daming said as he glanced at Director Zhang who had already started eating. Satisfied with the dishes, he smiled and reached for the stack of boxed meals on a table Feng Qianqian had somehow dragged over.

But his eager hand was stopped by Feng Qianqian.

Having been tantalized by the beef aroma for a while and now seeing Director Zhang's food, Wang Daming, who was so hungry he kept swallowing saliva, looked utterly confused.

"Some of the evening boxed meals need to be set aside for Captain Yang," Feng Qianqian said, gesturing with her chin toward the bowls beside the boxed meal stack. "Everyone should set aside a portion before eating, to make a combined serving for him."

"Oh, alright, no problem." Wang Daming picked up a boxed meal. This time he wasn't stopped, but when he saw the two bowls next to the boxed meals—bowls he wouldn't have noticed if Feng Qianqian hadn't pointed them out—he was a bit surprised. "Did Director Zhang give those?"

Feng Qianqian nodded a little awkwardly.

Wang Daming looked around; aside from Director Zhang who had already started eating, he was actually the first to come get a meal.

He really had asked one too many questions...

It was all because of those two bowls: one was empty, the other held only a large lump of plain rice. Anyone would be surprised, Wang Daming thought to himself.

But Director Zhang, who was munching on a prawn nearby, didn't miss the commotion. He looked up with a cold laugh: "I gave it. What's the problem? You only see the plain rice, but can't you see the dishes pressed underneath? If everyone sets aside this much, Captain Yang won't be able to finish it all. Hurry up, and tell the others to hurry too, or it'll get cold—how's he supposed to eat it then?"

With that, Director Zhang ignored the now somewhat stunned Wang Daming, snorted coldly, and grabbed another prawn to eat.

"Director Zhang put dishes in there? Why didn't you remind me?" Wang Daming said to Feng Qianqian in a lowered voice.

Feng Qianqian, facing a colleague who was sometimes fawning and sometimes jumpy, truly didn't know what to say. She sighed inwardly before speaking: "You just spoke too quickly. Don't say more; hurry up and give the dishes, the next person is already here."

Wang Daming turned and saw Ni Jinghe standing just two steps behind him.

"Fine, fine, fine, I'll do it." Wang Daming said as he deftly broke apart his chopsticks. But before setting aside dishes, he cleverly flipped over the lump of rice Director Zhang had given.

The plain rice portion was not small; it was about a third of what was in one boxed meal.

But what did that matter? A boxed meal already had six or seven liang of rice, so even if a third was given, the rest would likely be more than Director Zhang could eat.

Of course, what Wang Daming wanted to see wasn't the amount of rice.

But when he actually saw the dishes hidden under the rice, he regretted it a little.

This time, however, he managed to control his impulse to exclaim, but he still couldn't help shooting Feng Qianqian a look that said, "You didn't remind me earlier."

But Feng Qianqian, who was explaining the sharing process to Ni Jinghe, didn't notice such an insignificant glance.

Wang Daming thought for a moment, drew three roughly even lines on his rice, but when it came time to actually set it aside, his rumbling stomach made him tilt his chopsticks, leaving only a little less than a third.

Even though it was only about a quarter of the rice, Wang Daming still felt a bit pained.

After all, he wasn't Director Zhang; he had nearly finished his noon boxed meal.

Besides, there were still several people after him—why was he giving away so much... Wang Daming looked at the rice already in the bowl and felt an urge to scoop some back.

But that impulse was at least dispelled by Ni Jinghe, who came over with her boxed meal.

Wang Daming still had his dignity, so he could only sigh wistfully at his food and pick up his chopsticks, moving them toward his dishes.

Because the portions were large and plentiful, the boxed meals were divided into three compartments.

The first layer had rice and one main meat dish; the second layer had another main meat dish and two smaller meat dishes; the third layer had three vegetable dishes; the soup and fruit were packed in separate little bowls.

With Director Zhang setting an example earlier, Wang Daming, still feeling the pain of the rice, opened his boxed meal layer by layer on the table.

Recalling the little pinch of shredded potato with green pepper—mostly green pepper—hidden beneath the lump of rice he had flipped over earlier, Wang Daming couldn't help but applaud Director Zhang's righteous act. Someone who didn't know would have thought he had hidden a Lion's Head meatball under that rice...

Wang Daming's chopsticks hovered over the second and third layers for a moment before finally landing on the tomato scrambled eggs in the small meat dish compartment.

Two pieces of tomato, two pieces of egg, landed in the empty bowl.

Wang Daming hesitated, glanced at Ni Jinghe who was already standing beside him waiting for him to vacate the spot, hardened his heart, and added a small pinch of vinegar-braised cabbage. Then, not looking around anymore, he gathered his box and left.

Even with no one beside her, Ni Jinghe didn't go digging around like Wang Daming. She simply opened her boxed meal, scooped out half of the plain rice, and added three braised prawns, half of the sliced celtuce with meat, and half of the vinegar-braised cabbage into the bowl Wang Daming had started, then left.

Soon, Zhao Da and Zhao Er came to get their meals. They conferred briefly; from Zhao Da's bowl they gave a meatball, and from Zhao Er's they gave three prawns.

Worried that Director Zhang's shabby example would lead others to follow suit and make things look ugly, Feng Qianqian placed herself last in line.

Fortunately, aside from Wang Daming, everyone was rather generous.

Feng Qianqian calculated the portions everyone had given, added two prawns to make it the original serving of eight, and set aside some from the two small meat dishes and three vegetable dishes. All told, it wasn't much different from what their own boxed meals originally had.

Oh, and the chicken soup and fruit.

Feng Qianqian took out the two small sealed bowls from her own boxed meal, then looked at Director Zhang and asked, "Director Zhang, it's ready. Who's going to deliver it?"

"Wait a bit, I'll go after I finish eating," Director Zhang mumbled around a mouthful of Lion's Head meatball mixed with rice.

Fine.

Feng Qianqian gave a final glance at the two bowls piled full and the soup and fruit beside them, felt it was perfectly adequate, then carried her own remaining food off to eat.

Truthfully, Feng Qianqian looked down on Captain Yang's behavior along this journey—using his title as team leader to disregard the other members. But since Director Zhang had agreed to share food with him, Feng Qianqian didn't want the production team to look bad, so she kept an eye on matters. As for the rest, since Director Zhang said he'd deliver it, she wasn't going to be overly solicitous and offer to help.

Director Zhang had been picky at noon, but by evening he was truly hungry. He devoured one prawn after another, then mixed the remaining vegetables into his rice with great gusto. By the time he finished, he actually regretted giving away so much rice.

With two young women on the team, each giving half would have been enough for Captain Yang; he could have kept his own share. This Lion's Head meatball mixed with rice is really delicious... It's all Feng Qianqian's fault. All he'd asked was for her to let everyone know about sharing the food—why did she have to be so serious about it?

Director Zhang recalled that after he'd told Feng Qianqian about this, when he went to get a boxed meal, she had watched him set aside his share. He couldn't help but regret it a little—not that he'd asked Feng Qianqian to handle it, but rather that he'd been the first to take a boxed meal...

If he'd let them go first and set aside their shares, seeing how high the bowls were piled now, he could have just smiled and said, "That's enough, everyone is so generous," and kept a bit more rice to mix with the Lion's Head meatball...

The whole afternoon of heavy physical labor, plus having eaten little at noon, had sharply increased Director Zhang's craving for carbohydrates. He didn't put down his chopsticks until he had polished off every last grain of rice in the box, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

And by this time, Captain Yang had been waiting in the shadows beside the wooden house for a long, long time...

Because he was wary of not wanting to appear on camera with the production team, Captain Yang could only wait for Director Zhang to bring the food.

Originally, Captain Yang had been wandering around the camp waiting. After all, Director Zhang could see him through the camera central control, so he could receive the meal anywhere.

But!

It was just too fragrant.

At first, it was just the beef soup, with a relatively mild aroma, which was still bearable.

But when those slices of beef hit the grill, it became really hard to endure.

Especially when Captain Yang thought that if everything had gone smoothly, this entire cow should have been his to allocate! Which parts to discard, which parts to bring back, how to cook them—stew, roast, pan-fry, deep-fry—whether to eat the whole cow or just half first—all should have been up to him.

Not like now, where it had nothing to do with him.

Just as the ravenous Captain Yang could barely control his legs from veering toward the camp entrance, Song Shiyue and the others brought out the ultimate weapon: scallion pancakes...

The aroma of scallions and flour sizzling, mixed with the oily scent of grilled meat—that was not a simple one-plus-one-equals-two relationship.

Captain Yang, who had already wandered near the camp gate, experienced nothing short of an olfactory explosion...

This is simply too much!

In the night, Captain Yang barely managed to suppress the resentment and anger rising in his heart once more, but in the end he couldn't control himself and skirted around the people at the camp entrance, slipping into the camp along the fence.

Fortunately, when he reached the wooden house, he saw several folding tables—probably dragged out along with the tents—piled high with boxed meals.

Amid the rich beef aroma, Captain Yang was immensely relieved that he had earlier convinced Director Zhang to share a portion with him.

At that moment, Captain Yang did feel a bit grateful. So he waited quite properly beside the wooden house.

But Captain Yang never imagined that after looking and waiting and waiting again, what would come were two bowls like this.

The bowl of rice wasn't much of a problem, but in the other bowl, the dishes were all mixed together, and not in neat sections. The various dishes were jumbled in a chaotic mess, looking almost like...

Swill.

But Director Zhang, utterly oblivious to Captain Yang's train of thought, said with a gratified, almost boastful tone: "I heard it was for Captain Yang; everyone was very enthusiastic. All this together is even more than one boxed meal. There's even a Lion's Head meatball inside—it's delicious mixed with rice. Captain Yang, eat more. Tomorrow you must work hard."

Captain Yang somewhat regretted that, at Director Zhang's hint a moment ago, he had turned on the privacy shield button.

After all, why would he turn on the privacy shield button just for a meal! It was the fake gratitude that had clouded his eyes!

Even though Director Zhang even considerately moved a table over for him now, Captain Yang still couldn't face that bowl of messy dishes, let alone utter a word of thanks.

Director Zhang, however, thought Captain Yang was bothered by his remark about "Tomorrow you must work hard," so his face cooled and he reminded him once more: "It was agreed: tonight is the last meal. From tomorrow, Captain Yang will have to sort out his own meals."

Captain Yang pulled his gaze from the bowl, his face even colder than Director Zhang's, and his words seemed to freeze in the air: "Understood."

Those few words were firm and telling; even the not particularly perceptive Director Zhang, just having eaten his fill, could hear the displeasure in them.

Tch, like I care. You give food and it still breeds resentment, Director Zhang thought as he came over with a smiling face and left with a dark one.

In truth, Captain Yang hadn't misdirected his anger.

After all, if Director Zhang hadn't wanted to see what everyone had contributed and stirred it around at the last minute, the dishes in that bowl wouldn't have been so messy and unappealing...

After he left, Captain Yang stared deeply at the two big bowls and two small bowls before him, not picking up his chopsticks for a long time.

Captain Yang's distress was something those at the campfire, who were just receiving their freshly grilled flatbreads and meat skewers, could hardly comprehend.

With the flour supply limited, each person only got two palm-sized scallion pancakes. The grilled beef brisket skewers, however, were five per person.

The scallion pancakes and meat skewers came off the heat at the same time, leaving people a bit at a loss about where to start.

It was Song Shiyue who spoke up, saying that these scallion pancakes were fried with less oil than usual, so after eating the skewers for a while, wrapping the remaining meat into the pancakes would be even better. That resolved the others' momentary dilemma.

But with only five skewers of meat, how long could you really eat them?

Especially those fingertip-sized chunks of meat, from the best marbled part. The outside was encased in a layer of crispness from the rendered beef fat, giving a satisfying crunch when bitten, while inside was a burst of tender juiciness that melted on the tongue. Even though they were simply seasoned with salt after removing the gamey smell, they had an irresistible appeal that made you keep eating despite the heat—truly remarkable.

Had it not been for Song Shiyue's earlier reminder, they might not have saved a single piece of grilled meat to meet the awaiting scallion pancakes.

Just as Song Shiyue had said, there wasn't much oil left on the stone slab, so the pancake's surface baked to a patchy golden brown.

Guan Yongyi even teased Song Shiyue with a laugh, saying she was planning to save all the beef fat for the road.

But when they started eating the meat-wrapped pancakes, that teasing stopped.

The grilled beef brisket, with its layer of fat, was crispy outside and tender inside, bursting with juices. After eating four skewers each, they began experimenting by wrapping the last skewer's meat in the pancakes.

Sure enough, after that first bite, they had an epiphany: meat truly needs to be paired with starch.

The pancake, not fried in abundant oil, had a crispness mixed with the chewiness of dough, paired with the glistening grilled beef brisket—one bite brought an indescribable satisfaction and emotion.

This subtlety could never be explained merely as saving beef fat.

Along with Song Shiyue, the five of them ate with greasy lips. However, nobody noticed that Yu Nianbing was eating very slowly; by the time they were nibbling their last meat-wrapped pancake, she still had one pancake and three skewers of grilled meat left in her hand.

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