aircannonsinc Chapter 8 Eating Mice, Small White Stones
Chapter 8 Eating Mice, Small White Stones
balcony.
Pour the planks out and pile them in the corner.
"I need to poop."
Li Hao clutched his stomach and went into the bathroom.
I froze as soon as I opened the toilet seat.
The toilet has run out of water, and the water supply is now cut off.
It's obviously not appropriate to defecate in the toilet anymore.
"Looks like we'll have to make do in the basement for now."
Nowadays, most people stay indoors, so the basement is considered an ideal place to defecate.
He pulled up some paper, folded it, put it in his pocket, and then went downstairs with the axe and the bag.
The basement has a skylight, so it's still somewhat bright during the day.
Due to the power outage, most areas remain dark.
Li Hao found a secluded, dark corner, took off his pants, and squatted down.
After finishing, I walked towards the garbage heap.
As he passed a corner, he vaguely heard a sound coming from the darkness and turned to look.
In the corner, two women squatted on the ground, each covering the other's mouth.
In their line of sight, Li Hao stood in the light, looking at them.
"Pfft~"
A soft farting sound came from the darkness.
Upon hearing the sound, Li Hao suppressed a smile.
He knew the other person must have come to the basement to take a dump, just like him.
With the water and electricity outages now, and possibly never to be restored in the future, he can already imagine the basement floor being covered in piles of excrement.
Wow, I can't even imagine what that scene would be like.
He glanced into the darkness again and went to the garbage dump.
After picking up a few planks of wood, a plump woman wearing a property management uniform walked over.
"What are you going to do with these planks?"
"For burning firewood for cooking in the future."
"Where do you cook with firewood?"
"balcony."
"That won't do, it will catch fire."
Just then, another woman walked over.
"Oh, you're the owner of unit 905." The person who came was the building manager, who recognized Li Hao at a glance.
"Okay." Li Hao nodded to the building manager.
The fat woman said to the building manager, "He said he wanted to collect these pieces of wood so he could cook on the balcony. That would be very easy for it to catch fire, and if he's not careful, he could burn down the whole building. It's so dangerous."
The building manager looked at Li Hao and said, "I remember your name is Li Hao, right?"
"Yes, that's right." Li Hao nodded.
The building manager glanced at the bag in Li Hao's hand, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Sister Liu is right. Cooking over a fire on the balcony is too dangerous; it's easy for a fire to start."
"In the past, people in the countryside cooked at home. The balconies were all made of bricks, so it was fine if you were careful," Li Hao explained before continuing to collect the planks.
The two women glanced at the garbage heap and at Li Hao, who was bending down to pick up wood.
The building manager suddenly said to the fat woman, "Yes, Sister Liu, as long as you pay attention to safety, cooking on the balcony should be fine."
"With the power outage, we'll probably have to cook on the balcony from now on."
Sister Liu hesitated, then said, "Then...should we pick some up too?"
Two women also joined in gathering firewood.
The three of them chatted as they picked up the items.
Li Hao learned that the fat woman was the property manager, named Liu Xueqin.
Upon learning that Li Hao had not yet joined any faction, the two immediately extended a warm invitation to her to join the property management company.
"Many young women have joined here. I'll introduce one to each of you two brothers later."
"No, thank you." Li Hao shook his head with a smile.
He didn't want two more mouths to feed at this critical juncture.
"Oh dear, you won't have to worry anymore if you follow the older sisters." Liu Xueqin said enthusiastically, putting the wooden board she was holding into Li Hao's bag.
Li Hao ignored him.
He filled the bags, carried the wooden planks and several plastic pipes on his back, went up to the ninth floor, and placed them on the balcony.
"Let's get started!"
Cement, sand, and water are mixed in the correct proportions and stirred with a wooden board.
The bricks are arranged in a circle, about half a meter high, with a small opening at the back, connected by bricks and plastic pipes, leading to the outside of the balcony.
A traditional earthen stove is now complete.
"Hmm, not bad, just waiting for it to air dry."
He clapped his hands, put the mouse in the basin, took the cleaver and cutting board, and went downstairs to the sink.
They cut open the abdomen, peeled off the skin, and removed the internal organs.
"This fur is really stiff." It took some effort to peel off the entire pelt, which he then casually tossed onto the grass.
The rat's head was smashed and was already in pieces, but now a small horn had fallen out.
"Huh, what's this?"
He picked up the mouse's horn and found a small white stone attached to the bottom of the horn.
It's about the size of a little fingernail, like a small white egg.
After being washed clean, it is very smooth, like jade.
"Stone?"
He used to find small pebbles in the heads of fish he ate.
Do all the rats in this world have these little pebbles in their heads?
Or is it related to this little corner?
He touched the mouse's little horn; it was very sharp, like a knife.
"It doesn't look like a stone."
He touched it with a kitchen knife, but there was no sound like stones colliding.
"Chop, chop, chop!"
He chopped down, one stroke at a time.
"Such hard bones."
The rat was chopped into pieces.
Carrying the cleaned rat meat and the little white egg, they went upstairs.
He used the remaining bricks to make a simple enclosure, placed firewood underneath, and put a pressure cooker on top.
He threw a whole rat into a pressure cooker and poured in mineral water.
"Add star anise, codonopsis, and goji berries."
He put a little bit of seasoning into the pressure cooker.
He rubbed the small white jade egg between his fingers, hesitated for a moment, and then threw it into the pressure cooker, "Let's see what happens when it's cooked."
"Clatter".
Light the paper with a lighter, then quickly place the cardboard box into the wooden board, which gradually ignites.
Wisps of smoke drifted and lingered on the balcony, then drifted outside on the wind.
"Add more fire! Add more fire!"
Li Hao used a large wooden board to fan the flames, continuously adding firewood, making the fire burn even brighter.
"Bang bang bang." Just then, someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Li Hao looked through the peephole and saw a man outside.
"I'm from upstairs. It looks like your balcony is on fire; it's smoking."
"I was the one cooking with firewood."
"Be careful, bro, don't get burned."
After the man finished speaking, he left through the door.
Li Hao returned to add more firewood.
The fire burned brighter and brighter.
The pressure cooker spewed out hot steam and kept spinning with a hissing sound.
A rich aroma filled the balcony.
After the steam had been escaping for a few minutes, Li Hao took the pressure cooker into the kitchen and poured water on it.
"Sizzle~"
The pressure cooker suddenly released pressure, and the stopper fell off.
Open the pressure cooker, and a steaming aroma wafts out.
"Brother, what are you making? It smells so good."
Li Wen walked in, rubbing his eyes.
Li Hao smiled and ladled out a bowl of soup, handing it to Li Wen. "Come on, it's just made, have a taste."
"Be careful, it'll burn you."
"Brother, what is this?" Li Wen scooped up a spoonful, blew on it gently, and put it in his mouth.
He gulped it down, and his eyes lit up immediately. "It tastes great!" He scooped up another spoonful and put it in his mouth.
"It's rat soup."
"Pfft!" Li Wen spat out the soup in his mouth, staring wide-eyed at the bowl in his hand, "A rat!"
He looked bewildered. "Brother, are we so poor that we have to eat rats?"
The thought of the dark, filthy sewers and the rats inside made him feel nauseous.
Looking down, the soup in the bowl suddenly lost its aroma.
Li Hao also served himself a bowl, adding a few pieces of meat, and said, "Don't worry, these are rats from this world. They don't have technology or ruthless methods, so they taste great."
These words relieved Li Wen. "The rats in this world, uh... they're not so disgusting after all."
His nose twitched, and he smelled the delicious aroma, which made his mouth water.
"Here, have some meat."
Li Hao scooped out a few pieces of meat and put them into Li Wen's bowl.
He then scooped around in it again and put the small white jade-colored egg into his own bowl.
I scooped it up with a spoon, glanced at it, and couldn't tell the difference between cooked and uncooked.
It looks just like real jade.
After hesitating for a moment, he put the small egg in his mouth and took a small bite.
It has a gel-like elasticity, even more chewy than beef tendon.
Then he bit down hard again.
With a "plop," like a capsule being bitten open, a stream of liquid spurted out, and the outer gelatinous substance melted instantly, sliding down the throat.
Before it even reached my stomach, a wave of heat began to spread.
Once it reached my stomach, it felt like a ball of fire exploded in my body, instantly filling every part of my limbs and reaching all the way to the top of my head.
Li Hao's face immediately turned red.
"Wow!"
The heat made my breathing quicken.
It felt like I'd downed a huge gulp of baijiu (Chinese liquor).
He could clearly feel the heat flowing through his body.
The whole body felt warm, all fatigue vanished, and one felt energized.
This is so nourishing!
His heart skipped a beat.
Could it be some kind of hormone?
He clenched his fist, and his body seemed to swell up.
It felt like I had been training intensely for a month straight.
I just don't know if this feeling of expansion and power will subside tomorrow.
"Brother, what's wrong?" Li Wen asked when he saw Li Hao breathing heavily.
"It's okay, you'll find out later." Li Hao smiled mysteriously.
He was already certain that this jade-like object not only had no harmful effects on the human body, but also had some other benefits.
However, just to be on the safe side, we should continue to observe the situation.
"Brother, this rat meat tastes amazing!"
Li Wen wolfed down his food, chewing it greedily.
"It really tastes great."
Li Hao took a few bites and felt that the taste was somewhat similar to rabbit meat, but the texture was much better.
It's neither too soft nor too hard, with a perfect texture, and most importantly, it has a flavor that's hard to describe.
This flavor is addictive.
A large rat, weighing over four pounds, was eaten in half by the two of them.
"Brother, I feel like I'm completely cured. My body feels warm now."
"This big rat is very nutritious." Li Wen shrugged, twisted his neck, and looked energetic.
"Yes, it's very nourishing." Li Hao nodded. He also felt his body getting warm, although not as quickly as when he ate the previous thing, but this warmth was long-lasting.
After dinner, Li Hao took Li Wen to the balcony.
When Li Wen saw an earthen stove and a pile of wooden planks, he immediately exclaimed excitedly.
"Wow, bro, you're amazing! You're so awesome!"
I never expected that while I was just taking a nap, Li Hao had quietly finished setting up the stove!
This efficiency is truly phenomenal.