15
Seeing He Tian come out, Dahuang was overjoyed. He let go of the clothes he’d been holding in his mouth, lifted his head, and gave two excited yips at He Tian, his tail swishing back and forth as if asking for praise.
He Tian: “…”
She reached out and gave Dahuang a firm smack on the head.
Finding a wild boar cub outside was one thing, at least it could be raised, eaten, or sold for money. But bringing back a person? That would only mean sharing her food. This was a losing deal!
Dahuang didn’t understand. His big, clear eyes were full of confusion, his tail stopped wagging, and he stared blankly at He Tian.
What’s wrong?
Why wasn’t she praising him?
He brought something home again!
He Tian ignored him, crouched down, and examined the person.
After looking, her expression grew even worse.
Breathing was weak, and his left leg was broken. This wasn’t just a losing deal; whoever found this guy was simply cursed with bad luck.
If he died, there could be legal trouble.
If he lived—he’d need medical treatment, costing energy and money, and consuming food.
Although he didn’t know what he’d done wrong, Dahuang, sensing He Tian’s mood, came over and rubbed against her leg, trying to be cute.
Afraid that neighbors might hear the commotion and come out to check, He Tian tapped Dahuang on the head and whispered sternly, “You can’t just pick up everything and bring it home!”
If he’d brought back a healthy person, that might be okay, at least they could help with some work, not be a total drain.
But bringing back someone half-dead with a broken leg? Stupid tiger!
“Oww~” Dahuang whined softly.
What sense could you reason with a silly little tiger cub?
He Tian ignored him and turned her attention back to the boy.
His face was very pale, a bloodless white. Even with his eyes closed, you could tell he had a delicate bone structure; he was a beautiful youth. He didn’t look like a local, but where he was from had nothing to do with her.
Her gaze moved down, past his collarbone, then to his slightly rising and falling chest. As she was about to continue downward, He Tian’s eyes suddenly stopped.
His clothes were left-over-right?
He Tian thought she might be mistaken and looked again carefully. After confirming it was indeed left-over-right, her gaze returned to the boy’s face, and a hint of hesitation and seriousness crept into her expression.
Although she lived in the post-apocalyptic era, books hadn’t disappeared. She had once read in a general history book that, throughout a very long history, left-over-right clothing was worn by the deceased.
He was alive, yet he was wearing clothes of the dead.
Either he had stolen them, or someone thought he was dead.
Neither option was good.
She wasn’t afraid of trouble, but this person had nothing to do with her. It was all because Dahuang, this stupid tiger, had foolishly brought back something useless. If she indulged him this time, who knows what he might drag home next?
The night was dark, and the villagers were all fast asleep. Taking advantage of no one being around, He Tian wrapped one arm around the boy’s waist and lifted him as easily as if he were a weightless ragdoll.
Dahuang, still confused, saw her pick up the boy and started wagging his tail excitedly again. He Tian gently nudged him with her toe. “Where did you find him? Lead the way.”
Dahuang’s bright, round eyes held a look of pure foolishness. He tilted his head, and his ears twitched.
He Tian nudged him again. “Where did you find him? Hurry up and lead the way. I’m taking him back.” While the night was deep and everyone was asleep and unaware.
Dahuang hesitantly took a few steps forward. When he looked back, he saw He Tian following him. He perked up immediately and trotted ahead.
The night was windless, the moon bright, and the stars sparse. The village dirt road shimmered silver under the moonlight. A tiger and a person—oh, no, it was a tiger and two people—moved silently like shadows toward the edge of the village.
Dahuang ran all the way to the small river at the village edge.
He then ran upstream along the river for a stretch before stopping.
The river flowed quietly, its surface shimmering with ripples. He Tian looked around and, feeling a surge of kindness, found an old locust tree and placed the person under it.
This old locust tree was oddly shaped, with a natural hollow that allowed someone to lean against it and provided some shelter from the wind.
“Let’s go.” Having set the person down, He Tian stood up, dusted off her hands, and called to Dahuang, who was playing by the water. “Time to go home.”
Dahuang ran over excitedly, a piece of water grass in his mouth.
One person and one tiger retraced their steps back.
The flowing river stirred the air, and a wind picked up.
The boy in the hollow of the old locust tree trembled slightly, then trembled again. As another gust of wind, laden with moisture, swept over him, he opened his eyes.
“…Don’t just pick up random things and bring them home, understand?”
“Bringing home a little wild boar cub, that’s good. But you can’t pick up people.”
“Did you get that, you silly tiger? No picking up random things!”
Faint sounds of scolding came on the wind. The boy moved his fingers, struggling to raise a hand toward his right shoulder. His gaze fell upon the river’s surface, shimmering with silver light, his eyes deep and cold.
Back home, He Tian looked at Dahuang, whose head and ears drooped from her scolding. She didn’t try to comfort him, only gently closed the door and motioned for him to be quiet, not to wake Liu Erniang.
Moving softly, she returned to the room and closed the main door securely—to prevent this silly tiger from running out again in the middle of the night.
Moonlight streamed through the window. Seeing Dahuang curled up feeling wronged in his corner nest, He Tian, already back in bed: “…”
She initially wanted to ignore him, but after hesitating for a moment, she finally beckoned to him.
Dahuang’s ears immediately perked up, his eyes brightened, and he trotted over to rub against He Tian’s palm.
“Go to sleep now,” He Tian said, ruffling his furry head. “Be good from now on, and I won’t scold you.”
Dahuang happily returned to his nest to sleep.
The next day dawned clear and bright again.
Well-rested and full of energy, He Tian had already put last night’s events out of her mind. She sat up, put on her newly bought cotton clothes, and cheerfully prepared to make breakfast.
Cooking was a very interesting and happy task.
She understood Yao Yao’s feelings more and more. If it were her, she would probably record things even more diligently than Yao Yao.
Liu Erniang was also awake. He Tian told her to rest a little longer; she would call her when breakfast was ready.
With nothing to do anyway, and not wanting to get in her daughter’s way, Liu Erniang continued to lie down.
Amidst the thin morning mist, He Tian first went behind the house to pick some wild chives she had discovered yesterday while digging for loess.
For breakfast, she planned to make scallion pancakes.
The dough for scallion pancakes required attention. For a softer texture, use half boiling water and half cold water to mix the dough. For a chewier texture, use only cold water.
Considering Liu Erniang’s condition, He Tian decided to use half hot-water dough and half regular dough.
She first boiled a pot of water. Adding salt to the flour, she slowly poured the boiling water into it, stirring with chopsticks to form loose flakes. For the other half of the flour, she added cold water and stirred it into flakes. Then she mixed both types of dough flakes together and kneaded them into a smooth dough, setting it aside to rest.
With scallion pancakes, you didn’t need to stir-fry additional dishes, but you needed some soup to go with them for a comfortable meal. He Tian decided to make egg drop soup.
The clay stove wasn’t dry yet, and she hadn’t bought another pot, so she still only had one pot to use. Fortunately, egg drop soup was easy to make. She’d make the soup first.
She added water to the pot and brought it to a boil over high heat. In a bowl, she put some flour, added a small amount of water, and stirred it into a thick batter. Once the batter was smooth with no lumps, she added more water and stirred it into a thin batter. She slowly poured this into the boiling pot, stirring with a ladle as she added the batter. Soon, the clear water transformed into a translucent, burnt yellow soup with a wheaty fragrance.
After the soup came to a boil again, she cracked two eggs into a bowl, beat them, and slowly poured them into the bubbling soup through the gaps of her chopsticks. The egg drop soup was done.
It was good for the spleen and stomach, nourished yin and tonified deficiency—simple yet nutritious.
She took a sip—smooth and rich, warming her entire being.
She ladled the soup into a pot and left it on the stove to keep warm. Then she scrubbed the pot clean. By then, the dough she had prepared earlier had finished resting.
First, finely chop the wild scallions and set them aside. After the dough has rested, its elasticity and chewiness will have improved. Knead it until smooth, then roll it out into a thin sheet. Mix oil and flour to make a roux-like oil paste, spread it evenly over the rolled-out dough, then sprinkle on the chopped scallions and a bit of salt. Starting from one side, roll it up into a tight log. Once it’s nicely compact, cut it into evenly sized portions, pinch the ends closed, and roll each piece out into medium-sized round pancakes.
When the oil was about 60-70% hot, it was time to start frying.
The wok was quite large, so He Tian could fry three pancakes at a time. Making pancakes depended on both the dough and the heat.
The heat couldn’t be too high. If it was too high, the surface would burn quickly while the inside remained undercooked. Slow frying over low heat was best.
The aroma of scallions mixed with the fragrance of flour soon filled the entire kitchen. Fried pancakes needed plenty of oil to be fragrant. Although the family’s financial situation wasn’t great, He Tian followed Yao Yao’s recipe and was quite generous with the oil.
In her view, the extra oil would be consumed by her and Liu Erniang anyway; it wasn’t wasted. There was no point in being stingy with such things.
If money ran out, she would find a way to earn more. But her stomach absolutely couldn’t be shortchanged. Only good food and beautiful scenery were not to be missed.
When the surface turned golden brown, she flipped them to fry the other side. Once both sides were done, they were ready to come out of the pan.
Golden and crispy, they looked delicious.
He Tian took one pancake and ate it. The outer layer was crispy, the inside soft and fluffy, fragrant with scallions and flour. It was so good she couldn’t stop eating.
She regretted not mixing more dough and frying more pancakes.
After finishing one pancake and starting to fry more, she comforted herself, thinking it didn’t matter. Whenever she wanted to eat them again, she could just make more. She had bought quite a bit of flour in the county town yesterday, enough for several more meals.
As the aroma grew richer and pot after pot of scallion pancakes were fried, He Tian finally called Liu Erniang to eat.
Perhaps because she was in a good mood, or because the medicine Doctor Qi prescribed was effective, or maybe because today’s scallion pancakes and soup were delicious and suited her taste, Liu Erniang ate a bit more than in the previous two days.
Even so, she only managed two scallion pancakes and a bowl of egg drop soup before she was full and stopped eating.
As in previous days, He Tian finished off the remaining pancakes and soup.
She tore off a piece of crispy, fragrant scallion pancake, dipped it in the soup, and ate it. It was both crispy and soft, a different kind of delicious from eating the pancake plain.
“I slept well last night,” He Tian said to Liu Erniang after cleaning up the breakfast dishes. “I’m going to the back mountain to dig up more loess, so I can build the pigsty before winter sets in.”
Once winter came, with snow and freezing temperatures, building a pigsty would be difficult.
Besides, the piglet would grow a lot over the winter; it couldn’t stay in the house forever.
This time, Liu Erniang didn’t stop her.
Seeing her getting ready to go out, Dahuang quickly finished the bits of meat in his bowl and trotted over, tugging at her pant leg, wanting to come along.
The moment he tugged her pant leg, He Tian was reminded of him randomly dragging a person home in the middle of the night.
She wondered if that boy had left yet. If she left Dahuang at home, what if he acted foolish again and dragged someone back?
It was safer to take him up the mountain.
The little wild boar cub also snorted and chased after them.
Dahuang was bigger now and didn’t need to be carried; he even had some fighting ability. But the little wild boar cub was tiny, so small that taking him along would just be a nuisance.
“You go back,” He Tian said, gently nudging his head to turn him around. “Stay home and play with the little gray rabbit.”
The wild boar cub turned in a circle and chased after her again.
He Tian: “…”
Fine.
So, she ended up taking the little wild boar cub up the mountain with them—maybe he didn’t like the pigweed she had cut for him. After all, the little gray rabbit chose its own food; she might as well let the cub go up the mountain and pick out his own favorite food too.
The loess was dug at the foot of the mountain, so she didn’t need to go deep into the woods. It was just a bit troublesome, having to carry it home trip after trip with her backpack.
The amount of earth needed to build a pigsty was incomparable to making a clay stove. After two or three trips carrying it on her back, He Tian gave up on the backpack and went to borrow a cart from Aunt Qiao next door.
One cartload equaled six or seven backpack loads, greatly improving the efficiency of digging and transporting earth.
This level of labor was like a tickle to He Tian now. She didn’t rest in between, just kept transporting load after load. The neighbors all saw her working tirelessly like a little pony, and some even called out for her to take a break and not overwork herself.
He Tian agreed verbally but kept right on working.
While digging the seventh cartload, He Tian got a bit hungry. She sat on a large rock, drinking water and eating roasted chestnuts.
Dahuang and the wild boar cub were playing together somewhere; she wasn’t sure what they were up to. She glanced over—the two cubs weren’t running far, and Dahuang was keeping an eye on things, so she didn’t pay them much mind.
Just as she was peeling chestnuts, she saw Dahuang suddenly running excitedly toward her, whimpering as he ran.
He Tian looked over and saw Dahuang carrying the wild boar cub in his mouth. She found it a bit funny. “What are you playing at, carrying him around like that? If you bully him like that, you’ll have no friends.”
They had already learned to coexist peacefully and stopped biting their little friend’s neck. Why were they starting again?
When Dahuang excitedly ran up to her, He Tian realized that what he had in his mouth wasn’t her little wild boar cub.
“You found another wild boar cub?” He Tian was genuinely a bit surprised.
Dahuang’s ability to generate income was quite impressive.
Dahuang put down the wild boar cub in his mouth, didn’t beg for praise, and immediately turned and ran off. In no time, he came back carrying another one.
He Tian watched as he brought back one, then another, then another, then another—four in total.
These four were a little smaller and hadn’t yet gone through Da Huang’s “welcoming ceremony,” so they were completely terrified. The four little cubs huddled together in a tight ball, trembling as they clung to each other for warmth.
“Hey?” He Tian looked at Dahuang, who was wagging his tail and begging for praise, and looked around in confusion. “Where’s the little wild boar cub from home?”
He hadn’t gone and lost the original one while picking up these five, had he?
“Oink! Oink oink oink——”
From not far away came the urgent and excited snorts of a wild boar cub, as if calling for something.
He Tian’s first thought was that he was calling her over.
Was he trapped somewhere and couldn’t get out?
He Tian quickly followed the sound to find him.
He wasn’t trapped at all. He was desperately rooting at the soil beneath his feet with his nose, which hadn’t yet developed a hard outer layer, snorting anxiously as he did so.
When he saw He Tian approaching, he kept rooting and grunting at her.
He Tian: “?”
Was there something underground he wanted to eat?
He Tian hesitated for a moment, then jumped down and used her machete to dig into the ground. After a few strikes, she unearthed a tuber fruit.
The little wild boar cub grunted happily.
He Tian dug out the tuber and offered it to the cub. “Is this what you want to eat?”
The little wild boar cub didn’t eat it, instead, he ran off.
He Tian was puzzled. She looked carefully at the tuber in her hand, and suddenly thought of something.
This was wild yam.
Pigs didn’t eat this stuff, but wild yam was a very nutritious and delicious ingredient.
Thinking of the various ways to cook wild yam recorded in Yao Yao’s journal, He Tian’s eyes sparkled. She brought over her digging tools and backpack and started digging up the wild yam.
This spot was hidden in a mountain hollow, not easily visible if you didn’t look carefully. This patch of wild yam seemed to have grown for quite a few years. He Tian dug up a whole backpack full.
Looking at the bountiful harvest filling her backpack, He Tian patted the little wild boar cub’s head and praised him generously. “You’re very capable too.”
Given this cleverness, she would temporarily set aside the idea of fattening him up for meat.
Remembering Yao Yao had once said that wild yam stewed with chicken was the most delicious, but she only had cured meat and wolf meat at home. For the first time, He Tian, who had been busy going into the mountains, had the thought of actively hunting.
She had Dahuang keep an eye on the several wild boar cubs. He Tian closed her eyes and sensed her surroundings for a moment. Then, she quickly dashed southeast.
In no time, she returned with two wild chickens.
“It’s almost noon,” He Tian said cheerfully, holding the two wild chickens and carrying her backpack. She placed the four newly found tiny wild boar cubs onto the cart and then headed back with Dahuang and the original cub. “Time to go home and eat.”
The villagers had already grown numb watching He Tian transport earth load after load. No one came out to gawk, but some people were heading down the mountain to cook lunch. When they saw the pile of wild boar cubs on He Tian’s cart, with a tiger cub and a piglet following at her feet, it was hard for them not to look surprised.
Especially when they heard He Tian say she had just found this litter of wild boar cubs, one villager’s mouth could practically fit an egg.
Found again?
And a litter of four?
He had been hunting in the mountains for so many years—how come he had never found any?
What kind of enviable, jealousy-inducing luck was this!
Could there be some trick to it? Should he ask He Tian for advice?
After all, if you raised wild boar cubs to adulthood, they produced a lot of meat and could sell for a good amount of money…
While he was hesitating, He Tian had already pulled her cart full of cubs and gone home.
Liu Erniang was also a bit surprised, but looking at the other three cubs running around the house, she felt it was only normal.
With the addition of four new cubs, the house immediately became incredibly lively.
“I’ll hurry up and build the pigsty this afternoon,” He Tian said to Liu Erniang while butchering a chicken. “With so many, we can’t keep them all in the house. It’s too noisy.”
She herself didn’t mind, but it would definitely disturb Liu Erniang.
Liu Erniang was still recovering from illness, and getting good rest was very important.
Liu Erniang hadn’t even thought about that. What she did think was that with so many piglets, a pigsty was essential. Rather than waiting until the weather turned cold, it was better to build it now while it wasn’t too cold, to avoid suffering later.
Someone who had never eaten wild yam could never imagine how delicious it was. This was a playful remark left in Yao Yao’s journal.
But now He Tian knew.
It really was delicious!
It was a deliciousness completely different from chestnut stewed chicken!
While the wild yam and chicken were stewing, she also made some dough and placed it as a lid on top. The dough pieces absorbed the freshness of the wild chicken and yam, becoming chewy and savory.
Another wonderfully satisfying meal.
After eating, He Tian sat contentedly in the sun, digesting her food.
How nice. She glanced at the newly added wild boar cubs, now playing with the other cubs in the house, her face full of satisfaction.
“You’ll be called Dahei from now on,” she said, patting the larger wild boar cub that had come up to her. “You’re in charge of managing those four little brothers.”
Then she pointed at the little gray rabbit. “You’ll be called Xiaohui from now on.”
As for the four wild boar cubs, He Tian hadn’t thought of names yet, so she’d leave them unnamed for now.
Building a pigsty wasn’t a highly technical job, just time-consuming and labor-intensive. He Tian had plenty of both. Since there were quite a few wild boar cubs now, she needed to build the pigsty sturdier and taller to prevent the four from getting up to mischief and knocking it down.
The loess she had dug in the morning was sufficient. That afternoon, He Tian stayed in the yard, never stepping outside, mixing mud with dry grass and building the pigsty.
By evening, the pigsty was finally finished.
The mud was still wet, so technically it wasn’t ready for use yet. But the wild boar cubs were still very small and didn’t have much strength. Putting them in the pen wouldn’t hurt, so He Tian first put the four from the morning into the pigsty and found a broken basin to serve as a temporary trough.
After finishing that, she had to hurry to make dinner, her favorite part of the day.
Time to make something delicious again!
For dinner, she’d have wild yam stewed chicken with the dough lid again!
With this whole backpack of wild yams, she could eat them for many days. When they were gone, she could take Dahei up the mountain to find more. Just thinking about having an endless supply of wild yam stewed chicken made it impossible for He Tian to suppress her smile.
After dinner, He Tian heated water and took a bath. Maybe it was because she had eaten two delicious meals in a row, but as soon as she lay down on the bed, she felt all the cells in her body open up, greedily absorbing the nutrients she had consumed and diligently repairing every part of her body.
There was a kind of lazy tiredness, not exactly fatigue, but rather a comfortable feeling. Soon, she fell asleep.
Before falling asleep, she suddenly remembered a way to eat wild yam that Yao Yao had mentioned—making wild yam tofu.
She thought, tomorrow she would try making this wild yam tofu.
Harboring the wonderful wish of eating wild yam tofu the next day, He Tian slept especially soundly.
She was in a dream, tasting one after another of the delicacies recorded in Yao Yao’s journal. Many she hadn’t even gotten a taste of yet when, in the middle of her deep sleep, He Tian was suddenly startled awake.
Hmm?
She keenly scanned the room, then turned her head to look at the main entrance.
The door was indeed open.
She quickly put on her clothes and got out of bed.
Just as she reached the doorway of the main room, He Tian’s pupils suddenly contracted.
That idiot Dahuang had gone and picked up another liability again.
Yesterday, he had only dragged him to the door. Today, he had actually dragged him all the way into the yard!
Looking at Dahuang, still with his butt in the air, claws digging into the ground, trying desperately to drag the person into the house, and at the motionless boy in his mouth, He Tian: “………………”
**
Dahuang: = The thing I picked up is super value for money ┗|｀O′|┛ ow~~
Wild boar cub: Ah, my piggy life is spared. Life is not easy, piggy sighs ε=(?ο｀*)))唉