Over the next few days, the pair spent almost all their time inside the spatial dimension—training, savoring various delicacies, working the fields, and trekking across the two mountains to collect the eggs scattered everywhere.
The mountains were now teeming with animals; their rate of reproduction was astonishing. Lin Qing realized he would have to start culling a portion of the livestock soon, then process them into preserved, ready-to-eat meals. The couple’s daily food intake was now three or four times what it had been; they had grown sturdier, and their faces were clearly filling out with healthy weight. Every day, they could feel subtle changes in their bodies, though they found themselves ravenously hungry after their training sessions. Thankfully, the dimension provided everything they needed—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to feed themselves.
“Ah Qing, ever since yesterday, I’ve felt a warmth in my abdomen. When I practice, a current of energy seems to slowly converge there, and my body feels lighter. Do you feel it, too? Do you think this is what they call ‘internal energy’?” Qiao Xin looked at Lin Qing with shining eyes, waiting for his answer.
Lin Qing smiled and replied instantly, “I feel it too. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but my gut tells me it’s a good thing. Let’s keep training; we’ll figure it out in time. Besides, I suspect that your average martial artist is no longer a match for us. In these chaotic times, we’ve finally gained the ability to protect ourselves.”
“Hahaha, Comrade Lin, don’t get cocky! Keep training hard so we can eventually sweep through the world invincible,” she joked.
“Yes, Comrade Qiao! Task accepted!”
They burst into laughter, chasing each other around playfully before picking up their tools to head back to the fields. After all, they had to work hard to feed themselves before they could worry about conquering the world.
Seven days passed in a fulfilling and joyful blur. They were constantly busy. During this time, they made two trips up the mountainside, successfully catching three pheasants and accidentally discovering two Sichuan pepper trees. They transplanted them into the dimension—an eye-opening discovery that prompted them to start keeping an eye out for spice trees or medicinal herbs whenever they were out, building their collection bit by bit.
The wheat, corn, and rice in the dimension had all been harvested. Each mu of land produced over four thousand catties. Their haphazard cultivation method hadn’t hindered the yield at all; in fact, it was significantly higher than standard modern yields. Both were overjoyed; with harvests like these, they wouldn’t have to toil endlessly at farming. As they slowly perfected their routine, they could look forward to a very easy life.
They harvested five thousand catties each of sweet potatoes and potatoes, which tasted far better than anything from the outside. The moment they were harvested, Qiao Xin had buried a few in the bonfire; they had eaten them in blissful silence, burying more as they ate, making the roast potatoes their dinner that night.
Once the work in the dimension was finished, Lin Qing was in the courtyard cleaning a duck, pondering the idea of building an iron stove so he could roast chickens and ducks in the future. Qiao Xin was in the kitchen, kneading dough with the new flour. The home-sized flour mill she had bought wasn’t fast, but with plenty of time in the dimension, she could grind a good amount daily. She planned to steam a batch of buns and rolls.
“Busy, are we, Young Lin?”
A jarring voice interrupted their cozy domestic life.
Lin Qing looked up to see the village chief approaching. He set the duck aside and stood up to greet him. “Uncle Chief, what brings you here? Come on in and sit.”
The village chief, upon seeing that Lin Qing’s family actually had chicken and duck to eat at a time like this, felt a surge of resentment. Fatherless and motherless children really don’t know their manners, he thought, never thinking of sending a few to their village chief. He forced a look of awkwardness onto his face before speaking. “Young Lin, you know how things are right now. Half the village is struggling to survive. This morning, another one of our wells ran dry. I saw that your family’s well still has water. We’re all in the same village; we should help each other out. Let everyone come to your place to draw some water. Don’t worry, the village won’t forget your kindness—we’ll make sure your family gets to draw water first every day.”
Inside the house, Qiao Xin heard every word and was so angry she laughed. The audacity! He sounded so righteous, as if they should be thanking the village for the “privilege” of letting them draw their own water first. When the well was being dug, the village hadn’t contributed a single copper, and when Lin Qing was sick to the point of death, this so-called village chief was nowhere to be found. He truly had a face only a mother could love, and a imagination that ran wild.
Before Qiao Xin could storm out, Lin Qing mimicked the village chief’s hesitant expression and sighed. “Uncle Chief, it’s not that I don’t want to help the village, but our well is drying up, too. I only managed to pull up one bucket of water today, and it was full of mud that needs to settle. I’m afraid I’m simply powerless to help.”
Lin Qing wasn’t exactly lying; he just played down their actual water supply. Their well was indeed running low, and even if it weren’t, he had no intention of sharing water with a village full of people who only looked for opportunities to take advantage of others.
The village chief glanced at the clear water sitting in the basin nearby. He clearly thought Lin Qing was just being stingy, and his tone darkened. “Young Lin, think carefully. If you aren’t willing to give even a drop of water to the village, don’t expect the village to help you when you’re in trouble.”
“Uncle Chief, I’m telling you the truth. You’re welcome to go check the well yourself. There really isn’t much water left; it’s barely enough for our own use.” Lin Qing ignored the threat, remaining firm.
The village chief shot Lin Qing with a malicious glare. He didn’t bother going to the well to check, simply turning around and stomping off with a face as dark as thunder.
Qiao Xin stepped out of the house. “Ah Qing, judging by his expression, he’s not going to let this go. He’s definitely cooking up something nasty.”
“Let him. If people don’t cross me, I won’t cross them. But if they insist on crossing me, then I won’t be polite.” He went back to cleaning the poultry. Qiao Xin helped by fetching water, and they finished the chore quickly. Qiao Xin tucked the cleaned birds into the dimension for later.
The weather was sweltering, and the dough they had set to rise earlier was ready. They had two large basins of it, and they worked until the dough was smooth and supple. Qiao Xin had prepared the fillings: one basin of pork and scallion, and another of tofu, vermicelli, and chives. Lin Qing rolled out the wrappers while Qiao Xin filled the buns. They were a perfectly synchronized team, and with their multi-layered, sixty-centimeter-wide bamboo steamers, they could cook the entire batch at once.
Six layers of buns and four layers of steamed rolls went into the steamer.
Qiao Xin then retrieved the chicken and duck Lin Qing had just cleaned. She didn’t bother with any fancy culinary techniques; she made a simple home-style braised dish. She sautéed aromatics until fragrant, added hot pot base and bean paste, threw in the chicken chunks to stir-fry, and then simmered them with water for half an hour. She finished by adding potato chunks, wide glass noodles, and a few leaves of Napa cabbage, covering the pot for another thirty minutes so everything could soak up the rich, savory broth. Finally, a dash of chicken essence and a sprinkle of chopped scallions—a mouth-watering home-cooked stew was ready.
Paired with the fresh-from-the-steamer buns and rolls, the two of them polished off two large bowls of food. Afterward, they sat there rubbing their bellies, both smiling with silly, contented grins.
The chickens had been raised in the dimension, and despite the humble cooking method, the taste surpassed even that of five-star restaurant chefs. Both of them had completely fallen in love with the flavor; they figured they would rarely touch the food they had hoarded earlier.
Once they cleaned up the mess, they continued braising the rest of the chickens, ducks, and geese. They had already tucked the extra buns into the dimension while they were still hot. Now, working with two stoves, they braised two birds at a time, making the process much faster. By mid-afternoon, they had finished processing and cooking all twenty-plus birds.