WS - Chapter 158
Chapter 158
As soon as Song Shiyue finished dealing with the rabbits and came out, Zhuang Jiachuan stopped Dog, who was still foolishly trying to go inside and look, and went in to scrub the washroom several times. After airing it out for a while, the washroom was now completely clean, without even a trace of the bloody smell.
While waiting for Song Shiyue to cook the rabbits, the three of them went around finding a lot of firewood, replenishing the dwindling pile. It must be said, the ancients didn't deceive me: many hands make light work. With three people working together, the firewood pile was soon about to need a second pile.
Even Dog, after watching the three people's actions so many times, knew to pick up a thin stick and follow them back.
Already half-starved, coming back to put away the firewood they had to smell the meat aroma. Although no one said anything, it was obvious that everyone was barely holding on. Especially during the latter half, when they returned to camp and put away the firewood, it was truly both pleasure and torture; they wanted to take a deep breath, but felt that holding their breath as they passed by was kinder to their stomachs.
After much difficulty, the meat in the two pots was tender and the soup thick, and the roasted rabbits by the fire had turned a slightly golden-brown color.
Although it was still daylight, for people who had been restraining their hunger for days, it was already a good time to eat.
A warm fire, pots bubbling with steam, and sizzling roasted meat.
It had only been a few days since they last experienced such a civilized and cozy meal, but for the few of them, it felt like a century had passed.
"Warm the stomach with soup, warm the stomach with soup..." Ning Chuyang, after burning her lip on a roasted rabbit leg, tried to cover her embarrassment by reaching for the rabbit meat soup in front of her.
But her outstretched hand was pressed down by Feng Qianqian, who had just been carried out and set down by Zhuang Jiachuan.
"Soup scalds the stomach. This soup is even hotter than that roasted rabbit in your hand." Feng Qianqian was merciless, hitting the nail on the head, with a face full of exasperation at a fool.
"Can't I blow on it before drinking?" Ning Chuyang stiffened her neck and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Feng Qianqian: "So would you?"
"Alright..." Her bluff called, Ning Chuyang stopped pretending to be sensible, withdrew her hand, and obediently began blowing on the roasted rabbit leg in her hand.
Compared to the people enduring hunger and cravings, carefully blowing on roasted rabbit and soup, Dog was obviously much happier.
Considering that Dog couldn't eat seasoning, Song Shiyue had ladled out Dog's bowl of food after the rabbit was cooked but before adding any seasoning.
The rabbit in the soup pot had been cut into small pieces. Afraid that Dog was too silly and might directly swallow a small bone and get stuck, Song Shiyue didn't give him any.
Now in Dog's food bowl were five split-open rabbit heads, a big spoonful of rabbit innards without the blood tofu, some unseasoned rabbit soup, and an entire... roasted rabbit hind leg that hadn't been marinated in salt water from the start.
It could be said that to repay Dog for the jerky he had brought, Song Shiyue had put real thought into it, specifically carving a different pattern of cuts into that unsalted rabbit leg to prevent it from being mixed up during roasting.
Because Dog's food had all been prepared early as soon as it was cooked, Dog had been craving it earlier, it cooled earlier, and he got to eat earlier as well.
So here, while the people were still huffing and puffing, Dog was already beside them eating with slurps and crunches.
Ning Chuyang, after carefully blowing for a long time, could only tear off a tiny piece to eat.
The roasted rabbit meat was so delicious: the outside had that unique charred aroma of meat fat seared by fire, and the inside was properly seasoned, tender and juicy rabbit. Chewing it was miles ahead of that tough, tasteless jerky from a few days ago—no, light-years ahead!
Unfortunately, the only downside was that it was really, really, really hot!
If not for her poor little teeth, Ning Chuyang really couldn't help but want to take a huge bite!
Ning Chuyang herself was blowing until her cheeks could barely hold back her drool, yet she could only carefully test the edges, risking being burned each time, trying to bite off the largest possible shred of meat. Then she looked at Dog beside her, whose face was buried in his bowl...
Wow, with one bite, a huge chunk of that roasted rabbit leg was gone.
Really, really huge!
Ning Chuyang felt that she would need to bite four or five times just to get that much.
Suddenly, she felt so envious that her nose stung a little...
Yu Nianbing slowly swallowed the warm meat soup with a hint of pepper flavor, watched Ning Chuyang who was staring at Dog's food bowl, and couldn't help but speak: "Ning Chuyang, everything in that dog bowl is unsalted..."
Ning Chuyang looked up, puzzled, at Yu Nianbing. When she saw Yu Nianbing's hesitant expression, she couldn't quite believe it: "Teacher Yu, you can't be suggesting I want to eat Dog's share, right...?"
Yu Nianbing: "..."
No, I didn't say that.
But that's what I thought.
Acting is something that you can choose not to show.
Yu Nianbing was completely open, everything she thought was written on her face, and everyone understood.
Song Shiyue, who was scooping rabbit innards for Zhuang Jiachuan, who was eager to try something new, was amused by Yu Nianbing's not-so-innocent innocent look and her hand trembled, making most of the heaped-up spoonful of innards fall off.
Zhuang Jiachuan was also amused by Yu Nianbing and the others, but he cared more that the rabbit blood tofu he most wanted to try had all been shaken off Song Shiyue's spoon! What to do! He held his bowl and waited! Really anxious!
"Teacher Yu, I really wasn't thinking about snatching it just because Dog's food has cooled down!" Ning Chuyang showed her utmost sincerity, pure and unscripted.
Yu Nianbing nodded to show she understood, then continued blowing on her soup.
Mm, it's really a bit hot. If only I could drink it faster.
Ning Chuyang: "..." So had her image been redeemed or not?
"Drink, drink, drink." Feng Qianqian nudged the somewhat perplexed Ning Chuyang with her elbow and handed her a soup bowl.
In the soup bowl was half a bowl of rabbit soup, which Feng Qianqian had already blown on to make it less hot.
Feng Qianqian was also exasperated with Ning Chuyang. If you want to eat quickly, when Song Shiyue filled the bowl, you should have asked for a little less.
Look at herself, look at Yu Nianbing: they'd filled half a bowl, blown on it a while, and then could drink it slowly.
A whole bowl like that, when would it ever cool down... Feng Qianqian shook her head and moved Ning Chuyang's full bowl of rabbit soup in front of herself.
If not for the fact that this person had been trying every day to make her rekindle her hope in life, Feng Qianqian really...
Dog, who was eating so enthusiastically that his whole body was about to fall into the big bowl, was completely unaware of how much harm his joy had caused a certain person.
After Song Shiyue finished laughing, Zhuang Jiachuan finally got his big spoonful of rabbit innards. That's right—Song Shiyue had re-scooped it, heaping, with several pieces of rabbit blood tofu!
Zhuang Jiachuan actually quite liked duck blood vermicelli. Although rabbit innards were a bit exotic, perhaps because he was sitting close to the innards pot, he always felt... it smelled incredibly good, even more fragrant than the rabbit soup in his bowl.
There happened to be an empty clean small plate, so he decided to give it a try.
Zhuang Jiachuan carefully blew on a tiny piece of rabbit blood tofu until it cooled, tasted it, and his eyes narrowed...
The taste of civilization!
Not inferior to duck blood at all!
If you didn't dwell on it being rabbit blood, it even had a unique flavor, quite interesting to eat.
Apart from Ning Chuyang, everyone had a bit of soup first.
These days they were truly weak, their bodies weak and stomachs even weaker. A bowl of hot soup down the belly, and one really felt entirely better.
Soup nourishes a person, and once a person's spirits are nourished, it was time for the most coveted roasted rabbit.
Song Shiyue's meat-roasting skills were still so good that it made people unwilling to stop eating.
Ning Chuyang, who after drinking half a bowl of rabbit soup from Feng Qianqian had forgotten about her previous image crisis, became lively again, even bluntly stating that with many trendy products on StarNet calling themselves things like "Slap-in-the-Face Wontons" or "Slap-in-the-Face Fried Rice," Song Shiyue's roasted rabbit could definitely be called "Slap-in-the-Face Roasted Rabbit"!
Whether it deserved a slap in the face couldn't exactly be tested.
But the three roasted rabbits were quickly divided among everyone.
Because Song Shiyue had given Dog a hind leg from her own share, she had only eaten a few bites of roasted rabbit, meaning the four of them had consumed two and a half rabbits.
Today had been a big harvest, and Song Shiyue, considering how hard everyone had been skimping these days, naturally made sure there was enough food.
However, she had overestimated a bit.
After finishing the roasted rabbit and having another bowl of rabbit soup, everyone was basically stuffed.
In summary, their mouths could keep eating until evening, even through the night, but their stomachs declared they could expand no more.
As for the rabbit innards pot, Zhuang Jiachuan drank a bowl and a half, and the rest was finished off by Song Shiyue.
At this point, there was still more than half a pot of rabbit soup, roughly one and a half rabbits' worth.
"Then let's keep these simmering on low heat, for a late-night snack or breakfast tomorrow? Oh, right, we have a thermal storage box now, so we don't need to keep it on low heat." Seeing everyone so full they were about to lie down, Song Shiyue got up, ready to clean up.
"Hey hey hey..."
"Wait..."
Ning Chuyang and Zhuang Jiachuan spoke almost simultaneously, then glanced at each other and, as if soulmates, laughed together.
Zhuang Jiachuan smiled and gestured to Ning Chuyang with a "ladies first, you go" sign.
Ning Chuyang didn't stand on ceremony; she directly reached out and pulled Song Shiyue: "What late-night snack or breakfast? We have so many rabbits, maybe tomorrow there'll be even more. Hurry up and eat this pot."
"Right, eat when you should eat. Teacher Song worked hard today and will work hard later. Some things we really can't help with, but we must at least let you eat your fill." Zhuang Jiachuan echoed.
Song Shiyue: "..."
Fine, it seemed that her midnight eating and her appetite were widely known...
Since the words had come to this, Song Shiyue didn't need to decline anymore. They were all sincere words, and truly, only by eating more could she do more. Finishing this pot of soup was a choice that fit the team's sustainable survival.
However, Song Shiyue didn't know what it was, but before sitting back down, she subconsciously glanced at Yu Nianbing.
Yu Nianbing: "..."
Why aren't you usually this sharp?
Now that the momentum was with you, what was with that pitiful, questioning look like a little wife?
"Sit down and eat," Yu Nianbing heard herself say.
Fine. She had clearly wanted to say, "Why are you looking at me!" But looking at those eyes, those eyes that always moved her, the words at the tip of her tongue changed on their own...
On Wilderness Planet, Song Shiyue's team ate the rabbit feast with great satisfaction. Even Dog, after eating his fill, had enough rabbit head snacks to leisurely gnaw on until evening, and could be said to be quite happy.
But some people elsewhere were not quite so happy.
On Beichen Planet, Ouyang Hui's bedroom door was knocked. Moments later, Ouyang Hui saw the rabbit three-ways dish in the housekeeper's hands and her face immediately darkened.
"Who told you to bring this!" Ouyang Hui's hand gripping the door frame tightened in anger.
The new kitchen-help housekeeper was frightened by the mistress's sudden change of expression, her heart tightening, and she stuttered: "D-didn't you say you wanted to eat the same as your friend Miss Yu in the livestream... a few days ago we even made jerky..."
"Take it away." Ouyang Hui seemed to remember the events of a few days ago, her voice dropping a notch, but her expression didn't ease. She slammed the door shut.
The housekeeper, carrying the tray, silently cursed "crazy" in her heart. Before she could finish cursing, the door suddenly opened again.
Seeing Ouyang Hui's still-irritable face again, the housekeeper almost thought the other could read minds, and was so frightened that the tray trembled and nearly fell.
"Also, she and I are not friends." As soon as Ouyang Hui finished speaking, she slammed the door shut heavily again.
The housekeeper, scared three times in a row: "..."
Who was it that watched the livestream all day, and whatever the people in it ate or drank, she had to follow along? Not just jerky, but specifically jerky made from roasted veal, demanding a one-to-one replication—who was that?
Today's livestream had rabbit, do you know how hard rabbits are to buy!
We were just afraid that if you couldn't eat the same kind of rabbit as in the livestream, you'd darken your face again and throw dishes, scaring the child into a fuss for the whole day.
If you don't want to eat, then don't! Who cares who you want to be friends with!
Postpartum depression shouldn't be this terrifying! The new housekeeper felt like resigning too...
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