Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Things didn't go as planned, and they almost lost their lives instead. Now, no one mentions going to town anymore. On the eve of the New Year, over thirty families arrived in the village, all with their families in tow. When the cars rolled into the village, many villagers came out to watch the spectacle. These newcomers really didn't understand what it meant to be low-key; they all drove Hummers and Land Rovers, clearly wanting everyone to know they were wealthy. Unfortunately, they overestimated the villagers' awareness; to them, a Jeep Commander was less impressive than a BMW.
The newcomers brought plenty of supplies, with vehicles coming and going for several days. Everyone in the village was worried except for Zhang Zhong; with so many outsiders around, could safety still be guaranteed?
Li Ming and Yu Tian went to check out the commotion every day and occasionally returned to report on developments. Li Xiaoming was almost becoming a problem child; fortunately, those newcomers acted quickly, and by New Year's Eve, everything had finally settled down.
Zhang Zhong spent his days bustling around the homes of the New Households, likely benefiting from it; his mouth was practically splitting from grinning so much. Zhang Liang watched this unfold with frustration but felt powerless since his reputation wasn't great enough to challenge the village head. However, as long as Zhang Zhong had meat to eat, at least he could enjoy some soup too, so he followed Zhang Zhong around like a messenger. Tian Guifang, as the village head's wife, had shed her previous low profile and strolled around the village confidently. She often followed Zhang Zhong closely, showing off their affection.
On New Year's Eve, every household tried to prepare a sumptuous feast. The newcomers were particularly active in exchanging visits, seemingly trying to build relationships. Of course, this had nothing to do with the Li Family; their doors were shut tight as they enjoyed delicacies they usually couldn't afford.
Li Yan's family slaughtered a sheep and a few chickens and even killed two rabbits. Their storage held some salted ham and dried goods. At this moment, there was no need to worry about being discovered; they could eat whatever they wanted.
After a year of practice, Yu Tian had truly mastered cooking. He made a lamb bone hot pot with bamboo shoots, soaked pig skin, and a few vacuum-packed quail eggs. He also used some radishes from the yard; these white radishes were sweet and juicy even when eaten raw.
The rabbit meat was golden after frying; sprinkled with cumin powder, black pepper, and chili powder before being stir-fried with ginger and garlic along with oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. Finally, chopped green onions were added to complete a plate of stir-fried rabbit meat.
Fish was a must for the New Year; sweet and sour fish was a family favorite. He added some shiitake mushrooms as a base and included oyster sauce and bean paste. The aroma filled the air as soon as it was ready. As for chicken, he made beer-braised chicken by tossing various seasonings along with green peppers, potatoes, and onions into the stir-fried chicken before adding beer to simmer until the sauce thickened.
Li Ming had a challenging task ahead of him as he rummaged through their supplies for New Year treats. He found jelly he liked, plum candy he enjoyed, lollipops he loved, chips he favored, Teddy Bear Cookies, and his favorite Wang Wang milk. Li Yan was thrilled and went with Zhou Miao to gather plenty of pistachios, pecans, and beef jerky from their storage. They had planted peanuts and sunflower seeds in their space; Yu Tian had roasted them all—this counted as this year's only fresh dried goods.
While searching for treats, Li Yan spotted a radio in the small cabin and remembered he had bought three of them at once; with so much stock now available, he had forgotten about them. He took out two radios so everyone could listen while staying indoors—this would help pass the time.
They had bought plenty of batteries back then so they could listen for a long time without interruption. There weren't many radio stations available during the New Year celebrations; they didn't want to hear anything depressing. After some effort, they found a station playing music featuring Teresa Teng's "Sweet Honey." Such songs sung by older generations carried charm that today's post-90s youth lacked.
The female host on air had a pleasant voice that was soft yet clean-sounding. Yu Tian thought she sounded somewhat weak—perhaps due to poor signal reception? The female host shared many auspicious messages and reminisced about what families used to eat during past New Year celebrations; perhaps because no one used mobile phones anymore now that there were no platforms like before.
The female host shared the story of dumplings and their fillings, talked about the local customs from various places, and mentioned how her mother would always make her rice balls at the beginning of each year. This was a local delicacy symbolizing reunion. She also played many festive songs, including Andy Lau's "Congratulations and Prosperity," Teresa Teng's "Eternal Red," Zhuo Yiting's "Happy New Year," and Song Zuying's songs... one after another. Li Ming picked up his chopsticks and eagerly grabbed chicken and fish, while Li Yan served lamb soup to the children, warming them up from the inside.
As the meal was coming to an end, a crying sound suddenly came from the radio. At first, they thought they had misheard. Then the female announcer seemed to be in deep distress, and soon there was silence. The radio continued playing Song Zuying's "Spicy Girl," but they never heard that female announcer's voice again; everyone knew why...
The crying sound dampened the mood for the Li family, who lost their appetite. The only ones unaffected were likely Wonton and Dumpling. After finishing their meal with no television to watch, the four of them gathered around to play cards. In Li Yan's room, they played cards and snacked while Wonton and Dumpling napped nearby.
After an hour, everyone felt something was off. They were betting on pecans, and after an hour, eighty percent of the pecans were in Li Xiaoming's pile. If it were anyone else, it wouldn't matter, but when did this little buddy become so skilled?
Li Xiaoming looked at the pile of pecans in front of him, grinning so wide that his eyes nearly closed. He grandly picked out the smallest one from the pile and tossed it to Wonton and Dumpling. "Here you go, a gift from grandpa."
"Isn't that your wife?" Zhou Miao wondered if he was just too tired and hallucinating.
Li Yan smiled slightly, popped a candy into his mouth, and said, "Yu Tian, how much have you translated from the words on the Jade Bottle?" Ever since he and Mingming were injured by spiritual energy last time, he noticed changes in Mingming. He didn't know the exact reason; even if Mingming could no longer function like a normal person, he was still grateful for this space and for the Jade Bottle. He even felt fortunate for Li Jingfeng's arrival.
Zhou Miao nodded knowingly and looked up at a 45-degree angle. "Heavenly Father is indeed treating you well."
"I've completed most of it; actually, these characters are just some mnemonic phrases. I tried reading them a few times and felt like my body is better than before," Yu Tian said as he ran to his room to bring back his notebook filled with explanations and some illustrations of people meditating. "The bottom of that Jade Bottle has these images; they're all methods for meditation."
Li Yan and Zhou Miao read through what Yu Tian had translated several times before following the methods described to meditate. After about an hour, they indeed felt a subtle energy moving within their bodies. However, it was very faint; Li Yan felt slightly better than Zhou Miao but still slow.
Then they entered the space again to meditate once more; this time, their speed was noticeably doubled compared to outside. Li Yan felt an energy lingering around his lower abdomen area; according to the Jade Bottle's records, that place was called Dantian. He had actually tested it before; now he could jump nearly two meters without issue—he wondered how much further he could progress with continued practice.
"Actually, there are methods for making elixirs here too, but those require a cauldron, and we don't have any spiritual herbs here, so that won't be useful," Yu Tian said with a look of regret.
"Alright then, whether it's elixirs or not depends on our opportunities. Yu Tian and Mingming need to cultivate too, you know?" Li Yan announced before all four returned to reality.
Yu Tian appeared very happy. Ever since the last time Li Yan talked to him, he had been somewhat afraid of being alone with Li Yan. He also knew that his personality, if put nicely, could be described as kind; if put bluntly, he was just a pushover.
He understood that things were different now compared to before. Even before the apocalypse, being a good person and doing good deeds wasn't something one could do casually. There were plenty of examples of people who did good deeds but received no reward in return. He had a classmate who kindly saved an elderly woman who had been hit by a car, only for the woman to falsely accuse him of being the one who hit her.
After that day when Li Yan spoke to him, Zhou Miao also had a conversation with him. It was because of that heartfelt discussion that Zhou Miao analyzed his situation and considered his feelings so thoroughly that Yu Tian finally let go of his worries and was willing to fully accept this man.
Now that Li Yan was actively speaking to him, Yu Tian felt happy and more confident about the future. As long as their family worked hard together, they would surely have a good life.
Originally, Li Ming and Yu Tian had agreed to stay up late together, but around two or three o'clock, both of them were drowsily carried back to their rooms by their respective partners. Time was precious; there was still plenty of time for sleep.
Just as they lay down, the sounds of Wonton and Dumpling outside immediately woke them up. Soon after, several neighbors also got up to check what was happening. In the past, the people of Zhangjia Village had tried various ways to get rid of these two dogs. It wasn't until a thief broke into the village that the barking of Dumpling and Wonton helped prevent any losses. Since then, whenever Wonton and Dumpling barked at night, the neighbors would rush out faster than anything else. Especially for those families close to Li Yan's house, they could sleep soundly at night.
Li Yan caught a whiff of blood in the air and immediately stepped out of the room with caution. Yu Tian went into Li Ming's room to keep him company while Li Yan and Zhou Miao each grabbed a stick and opened the courtyard door. Outside, it was snowing, and the chaotic sounds were coming from the east side of the village. Soon after, the sound of a gong echoed through the village; this sound indicated that something serious had happened.
Li Yan and Zhou Miao rushed toward the source of the gong sound, where the smell of blood grew stronger. The men in the village stood at the entrance of Dong Village with kitchen knives and wooden sticks in hand; that was the only main road leading into the village. Two groups faced off against each other: one side comprised villagers while the other consisted of a group of burly robbers who looked like desperate criminals wielding one-meter-long sabers. Several people lay on the ground; it was too dark to see whether they were villagers or robbers. The leading robber had only one eye; a scar ran across his entire left cheek, revealing yellow teeth as he spoke with a northeastern accent. "Now I'm going to rob you! Do you understand robbery? Just hand over your food supplies!"
The others behind him began to cheer him on; their wolf-like gazes did not seem like mere threats. Although they looked disheveled and dirty, they did not resemble starving refugees at all; it seemed they had committed many acts of robbery along their way. Having killed many people left them with an aura of menace.
The villagers were just ordinary folks; they could handle minor scuffles with petty thieves or refugees but would immediately lose their resolve when faced with real danger. Li Yan looked around; none of the New Households' owners had come out—only original villagers remained here.
Almost every household among those New Households had hired some muscle for protection, likely for their own safety, yet none were willing to step forward to defend the village now. If villagers truly died here, did they think those robbers would spare them? Moreover, these robbers clearly knew how to gather information before arriving; if they were truly reckless fools, they wouldn't have survived this long.
Comment 0 Comment Count