Ye Qingyun tasted it too, and thought it would taste rather good diluted.
She ladled out a bit for the two children and the two old folks.
Jiang Si took a sip, and her eyes visibly lit up. “Auntie, what is this? How is it so, so… as delicious as what Xiao Uncle gave me last time!”
This was the second time Jiang Si had ever tasted something sweet.
The flavor of that one piece of candy back then had nearly melted her with happiness, and to think she now had another chance to taste it, it was like a whole new world opening up.
Jiang Sui eagerly tried to prove he’d tasted sweetness before. “Sisi, I told you, this is sweet.”
“Mm-hmm, sweet, so sweet, really delicious!”
Even Grandma Jiang said, “I thought I’d never get to taste sweetness again in this life.”
“Haha, we’ve got Ah Zhi’s good fortune to thank for it.”
Ye Qingyun gauged the amount of syrup in the pot, a potful of cotton aphids could be boiled down to half a pot of syrup, the yield was quite respectable. “Dad, do you know how the base sells its sugar blocks?”
Everyone present was sharp, one listen and they knew what Ye Qingyun was thinking.
Grandpa Jiang said, “To get Ah Hai some extra nutrition before, I bought a few fifty-gram blocks of sugar. I remember it was fifteen points a block, absurdly expensive.”
Ye Qingyun was taken aback. “How’s it pricier than oil?”
Fifteen points for fifty grams, five hundred grams would be a hundred and fifty points.
Even pricier than meat.
Grandpa Jiang said helplessly, “There’s no helping it. The base cultivates rapeseed, so oil isn’t all that rare, output is fairly stable at present, so the supply of rapeseed oil is relatively steady.”
Sugar blocks, in times like these, already counted as a luxury.
Meat could at least be had on holidays, but sugar wasn’t to be found just anytime.
Hearing this, Ye Qingyun decided on the spot to put these cotton aphids through a second round of processing.
Half a jin of cotton aphids could only sell for fifty points.
But half a jin of cotton aphids could yield more than a jin of syrup, and made into sugar blocks, that too would be more than half a jin.
This business beat plain meat-selling any way you looked at it.
“Dad, Mom, what do you think, should we process these cotton aphids into sugar first?”
Grandma Jiang hesitated. “It’s doable, but this syrup can’t be stored too long. If it doesn’t sell—” then they’d be stuck holding it.
Ye Qingyun smiled. “Mom, don’t worry. We’ll just make the syrup into sugar blocks, which keep for ten days or half a month.”
Jiang Shu was surprised. “Mom, you know how to make it?”
Ye Qingyun said, “It’s nothing hard, just uses up a lot of firewood.”
In the old days, the previous generation hadn’t had it easy, so they’d make all sorts of time-consuming handmade things.
Boiling down sugar blocks—Ye Qingyun had done plenty of it in the past.
You just had to heat the syrup, letting the water in it keep evaporating, once the concentration of the sugar rose, the syrup would crystallize and form a solid.
Generally, this kind of sugar block was very sweet, a small piece could steep a whole pot of sweet water, so the value for money was high.
If they really could make it, surely many people in the base would be willing to buy.
Jiang Shu was a little excited. “Mom, then let’s hurry and try. Whether I can become a rich second-generation kid is all riding on you!”
Ye Qingyun was tickled. “You brat!”
She pushed the bowl of boiled cotton aphids toward Jiang Shu. “I’ll boil down the syrup, you all grill these yourselves.”
Unable to eat his mom’s special grilled fare, Jiang Shu pursed his lips in regret. “Fine, I’ll grill them myself. Mom, then hand over the seasoning.”
Ye Qingyun gave him a cool look. “I’ll sprinkle it on once you’ve grilled them.”
There was only so much seasoning at home, hand it over to this brat and however much there was wouldn’t be enough to squander.
Jiang Shu cried, “Mom! You’re way too stingy!”
Ye Qingyun pretended not to hear.
She and Grandma Jiang took out the whole small sack of dead cotton aphids and washed them all.
They planned to boil them pot by pot.
Once boiled, they’d be scooped out and dried, and then handed to Jiang Shu to grill.
Looking at the single pot, Grandma Jiang fretted. “We really don’t have enough pots. If only we had one more big pot.”
Before the catastrophe the Jiang family had never split households, and this pot was the big one they’d used to cook for the whole family back then, it wasn’t small.
But with all the cotton aphids on hand now, one big pot clearly wasn’t enough.
Borrowing risked rousing suspicion in busybodies, buying wasn’t worth it.
Ye Qingyun said, “Mom, once we’ve made a batch and seen the yield, if it’s high we’ll sell only sugar blocks, and then buy a couple more pots.”
Grandma Jiang mulled it over and didn’t immediately agree. “Let’s wait and see what the situation is once Dashan and the others come back from asking around.”
If they made everything into sugar blocks and then nobody could afford it, that would be a big loss.
Ye Qingyun nodded, and added an instruction for Jiang Zhi. “Ah Zhi, in a bit weigh the cotton aphids we’ve scooped out again and see how much they’ve shrunk.”
Jiang Zhi answered, “Okay.”
Off to the side, Jiang Shu had already eagerly readied his grilling tools.
Before the catastrophe, Jiang Shu had been a fun-loving sort, and a skill like grilling came easily to him.
He took the grilling rack out of the camping toolbox and propped it up using two blocks of elm wood as supports.
Then, from Ye Qingyun’s stash, he picked out a big handful of cotton aphids for the experiment, skewered them, and laid them on. Finally he set out a few folding cloth chairs and beckoned to the two children watching eagerly. “Come, Suisui, Sisi, help Xiao Uncle turn them. Remember: once one side turns yellow you can flip, and once the edges go a little golden-brown you can take them off.”
The two little ones nodded happily and sat down obediently before the rack.
The shrunken cotton aphids were only the size of a child’s pinky, the secreted syrup coating their surface. Grilled over the fire, they soon gave off a sweet, scorched aroma.
Jiang Shu sucked in a few breaths and said contentedly to Jiang Zhi, “Ah Zhi, isn’t this just like those caramel madeleines we used to eat? Do you remember? We bought them all the time.”
Madeleines were a small, shell-shaped cake, the caramel on top was especially fragrant and sweet, one of the siblings’ favorite snacks back then.
Jiang Zhi nodded. “It is a bit similar.”
Jiang Shu couldn’t wait to take a bite, and his face went green on the spot.
If not for the fear of wasting food, he definitely couldn’t have swallowed it.
Jiang Zhi’s hand, reaching for a skewer, instantly drew back.
Jiang Shu didn’t dare chew much. Once he finally choked it down, he rushed over to the water vat and frantically gulped several ladles before sticking out his tongue and saying, “No, no, too sweet. It nearly cloyed me to death.”
A burst of juice in the mouth, and what burst out was cloyingly sweet juice.
It was like eating high-concentration honey straight.
Even the cotton aphid’s flesh was still springy, as if it hadn’t been fully cooked.
That flavor was, frankly, hard to describe.
Ye Qingyun frowned. “Could it be the sugar in these cotton aphids hasn’t fully drawn out?”
Jiang Shu was certain. “Definitely not. Take them and boil them more.”
Ye Qingyun eyed the skewer in his hand with distaste. “Use our family’s little pot and boil them yourself. You’ve already eaten off it, no shame in you at all.”
The little pot Ye Qingyun meant was the portable camping pot their family of four had used in the past.
Jiang Shu had no choice but to keep at it. “Fine.”
He turned solemnly to comfort Jiang Sui and Jiang Si. “Suisui, little Sisi, listen to Xiao Uncle, no rush, we’ll boil them a bit more.”
Jiang Sui: …Why did he make it sound like they were the impatient ones.
Jiang Si leaned over to Jiang Sui’s ear and whispered, “Brother, is Xiao Uncle’s head not quite right?”
Jiang Sui kept a straight face. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I’m not in any rush at all, but he says I’m in a big rush…”
Jiang Sui shushed her. “Don’t go saying things like that.”
But Jiang Si misunderstood, nodding her little head hard. “Mm-hmm, I won’t go blabbing it around.”
Jiang Sui: …He couldn’t shake the feeling his little sister had misunderstood something.
Jiang Shu narrowed his eyes. “What are you two talking about?”
The two little ones shook their heads like rattle-drums and said in unison, “Nothing!”
Jiang Shu pinched a cheek of each, grinning. “Be good now, and Xiao Uncle will fix you something tasty in a bit.”
This time the two children answered even louder. “Okay!”
Humming a tune, Jiang Shu boiled the cotton aphids in the little pot for another twenty minutes, and still a great deal of honey liquid drew out of them.
Before long his patience ran dry. “These bugs have been boiling over an hour and still aren’t done. It’s too labor-intensive.”
Ye Qingyun snorted a laugh. “You brat. With patience like yours, you still want something good to eat?”
Jiang Shu muttered, “I’m just stating a fact.”
But what Jiang Shu said was true. Looking at the potful of cotton aphids she’d already boiled for half an hour, the syrup in the pot had thickened to no end.
Boiled any longer, the syrup in the pot would soon be too stiff to stir.
Ye Qingyun was a little worried too. “Boiling them like this, how much firewood will it take…”
Right now their family’s firewood was still the elm branches Jiang Zhi and her brother had brought back yesterday.
Jiang Zhi had originally wanted to fence the tent’s perimeter with them, but now that the Jiang elders had been brought back, the elm branches weren’t enough to go around, so Ye Qingyun simply used them all for firewood.
Fortunately these elm branches were hard and very fire-resistant, they’d been burning for over an hour and two-thirds still remained.
Grandma Jiang found it curious too. “Who’d have thought, these cotton aphids are so small yet hold so much. I tell you, this stuff has mutated in the oddest way. If not for worrying it’s unclean, I’d want to squeeze them by hand.”
Grandma Jiang’s words sparked a flash of inspiration in Jiang Zhi.
She ran back into the room and rummaged around, fishing out a few grilling tongs.
“Grandma, will these work?”
One look and Grandma Jiang couldn’t help slapping her thigh. “Why wouldn’t they! These things look downright practical.”
There were four of them, medium-sized grilling tongs, somewhat like the serving tongs from old buffet restaurants.
The old woman had never used such a thing before, but using them now to pinch the cotton aphids and squeeze the syrup out, she found them very handy.
One squeeze and a cotton aphid spurted out a great deal of syrup.
Working together, the few of them squeezed the sugar out of the cotton aphids, and in no time the pot was full of syrup.
Ye Qingyun was delighted. “This method’s great. It speeds things up, doesn’t lose any, and saves firewood too.”
She scooped the cotton aphids out of the pot and was pleased to find that no matter how much syrup was drawn out, the cotton aphids had only shrunk by half, but their springiness had dropped considerably, the texture under her fingers like chewy raw squid.
This time they’d put in half a sack of dead cotton aphids, around twenty-some jin, and drawn out a full pot of liquid that, over a high flame, thickened sticky as malt sugar.
Grandma Jiang said, “This yield’s incredible! If we can sell it all, our family might have these few months’ grain accounted for.”
And that was after deducting the points for the debt and the house-building.
Over on his end, Jiang Shu had long since used this method to draw out most of the syrup and was now grilling.
Over the smoking rack, the cotton aphids sizzled, and for a while the aroma drifted everywhere.
Different from the caramel scent earlier.
This time the cotton aphids’ flavor was rich and mellow, without even drawing near, one could smell that domineering, savory protein fragrance. Skewer after skewer of cotton aphids took on a tantalizing golden, lightly charred color, lined up neatly by Jiang Shu on the rack, giving off faint “crackle-pop” bursts as the charcoal fire licked at them.
The two little ones, sitting close, couldn’t help leaning in, arching their backs toward it.
Seeing the heat was about right, Jiang Shu picked up a skewer. “Same as always, this time I’ll be the one to taste it for you first.”
With that, Jiang Shu opened wide.
His teeth first met the slightly crisp outer skin, crunch, biting through the ginger-yellow, crackling-crisp surface.
Next came the tender, springy texture within. Without much chewing, the remaining clean-sweet syrup melted gently on the tip of his tongue.
These cotton aphids had both the richness of meat and the faint clean sweetness of sugarcane, the two flavors complementing each other, weaving and twining across the taste buds.
Savoring closely, one could even sense the rich layering this tiny cotton aphid held.
After the initial savory fragrance came a faint, elusive note of char, and on the aftertaste, the distinctive smoky “fire-and-flame” quality of the charcoal.
This mouthful—Jiang Shu had craved it far too long.
The one flaw was the lack of seasoning.
No one needed to ask, one look at his expression and they knew how good it was. That blissful look had everyone itching to try.
Ye Qingyun: “Are these processed cotton aphids still sweet?”
Jiang Shu swallowed, smacking his lips with relish. “Sweet, but very faintly. If you added a bit of savory seasoning, it’d be perfect.”
Generally, when you add a little salt to something sweet, it sets off the sweetness even more.
Just imagining it, Jiang Shu found it delicious.
Ye Qingyun rolled her eyes at him.
You brat. Quite the gourmet.
“Hurry up and keep grilling. Your grandparents haven’t eaten yet.”
“As you command!” Jiang Shu gave a rakish military salute and got busy again.
Soon the dozen-odd skewers of cotton aphids in his hands were done.
Jiang Shu called to Ye Qingyun, “Mom, they’re done! Where’s the seasoning?”
Ye Qingyun was exasperated. “Can’t you wait till they’re all grilled before yelling?”
Jiang Shu said righteously, “No! Suisui and Sisi can’t wait any longer!”
The two little ones, dragged into it, shook their heads frantically in fright. “No! I didn’t!”
Jiang Shu grinned and threw an arm around both their shoulders. “Aiya, I saw you wiping your drool. Suisui, little Sisi, a person should be honest, you know?”
Watching him bully the two children, Ye Qingyun was both annoyed and amused. “A grown man, still using two kids as a shield. You’re really something!”
Even so, she took out a bottle of seasoning and handed it over. “Use it sparingly, or your dad and the others won’t get any.”
This bottle of seasoning was Ye Qingyun’s own special mix.
She’d ground up the last few packets of instant-noodle seasoning together with salt and powder from river-clam shells, and the flavor turned out surprisingly good.
Once Jiang Shu sprinkled it on, the savoriness leapt right up.
Jiang Shu handed everyone a skewer.
The two old folks took the grilled cotton aphids, and one bite reawakened their long-dormant taste buds.
Grandpa Jiang didn’t chew, just as Jiang Shu had said, the salt drew out the cotton aphids’ clean sweetness to the fullest.
How many years had it been since he’d tasted such a delicacy?
Grandpa Jiang held it slowly in his mouth, reluctant to chew, reluctant to swallow.
After eating a skewer, Jiang Zhi noticed him like this and asked, “Grandpa, why aren’t you eating? Is the flavor off?”
Grandpa Jiang shook his head. “I always used to think this post-catastrophe world held no meaning worth living for, the world turned out like this, where even a full meal is hard to come by. But now, eating this one bite, I feel that holding on until now was worth it after all.”
Jiang Zhi didn’t expect that Grandpa Jiang, who stayed unmoved even as a mountain crumbled before him, could harbor such bleak thoughts.
She pressed her lips together. “Grandpa, don’t worry. We’ll get to taste even more good things in the days to come.”
Grandpa Jiang nodded with a smile, swallowed the cotton aphid in his mouth, finished the rest in his hand, and only then said, “Ah Zhi girl, if you say so, then Grandpa believes it!”
Just then Jiang Shu came out from delivering skewers to Jiang Hai’s family, and overheard. “Grandpa, what do you believe?”
Grandpa Jiang said with a smile, “I believe you can still land yourself a wife.”
Jiang Shu stumbled. “Grandpa, forget it. Aren’t you afraid I’ll marry a wife with a big appetite who’ll eat us into the ground?”
Squeezing cotton aphids as she spoke, Ye Qingyun snorted, “As long as you can land one, your mom will provide, however big her appetite.”
Jiang Shu brazenly brought a skewer up to his mom’s lips to change the subject. “Mom, honestly. The work’s never finished, come on, come on, eat something good first.”
The aroma had already drifted to the tip of her nose, how could Ye Qingyun refuse? One bite and, pure bliss.
Jiang Zhi glanced into the tent at her uncle’s family and asked Grandpa Jiang between bites, “Grandpa, how long does Uncle’s body still need to recover?”
She was mulling over whether to keep feeding Jiang Hai more tooth powder.
As if seeing through her thoughts, Grandpa Jiang said, “That medicine powder of yours, keep it for emergencies. I’ve taken your uncle’s pulse, though there’s still some depletion, it can be slowly nursed back.”
Jiang Zhi thought about it. “If Uncle took low-toxin food, would he recover faster?”
Grandpa Jiang nodded.
“Low-toxin food doesn’t just neutralize the radiation toxin in our bodies, eaten regularly, it’s good for the body too.”
Jiang Zhi’s heart stirred. They’d caught several jin of low-toxin cotton aphids today, they just hadn’t told the elders yet.
She was about to speak when she heard Ye Qingyun say, “Ah Zhi, that Niu Dali and his wife came by again today. We happened to be busy at the time, so we sent them home.”
“That couple’s honest folk too. We told them to go back, and they still filled our water vat and dug up a good bit of ground for us before they left.”
Jiang Zhi nodded to show she understood.
It seemed Niu Dali and his wife knew how to repay a kindness.
Grandma Jiang said too, “I see that young fellow’s awfully strong. Ah Zhi, is he an Evolver?”
Jiang Zhi said, “Grandma, I don’t know either.”
Actually, at first Jiang Zhi had thought Niu Dali was an Evolver too.
Base residents were collectively tested once every three months, if someone was an Evolver, the base would register them.
Then they’d offer ample conditions to get all the Evolvers to join the official ranks.
But given how badly off Liu Xu had been earlier, and Niu Dali still hadn’t sought help from the authorities, he was probably just naturally strong.
While everyone was chatting, Jiang Shan and Jiang He and his wife all returned.
Ye Qingyun quickly set down her work. “Dashan, Second Brother, how’d it go?”
Jiang Shan found a low stool and sat down. “Chen Li’s a bit hesitant. No one in the base has eaten cotton aphids before, so he’s afraid of someone getting sick from them, but he’s willing to buy twenty or thirty jin to try. He can give us roughly this price.”
Jiang Shan made a “seven” with his fingers.
Ye Qingyun was a little disappointed, but it was within her expectations. “Twenty or thirty jin is still too few.”
Jiang Shan said, “It’s not so little, actually. If he eats them and likes them, he’ll surely buy more later. Don’t forget, he’s got Captain Luo behind him.”
Ye Qingyun neither agreed nor disagreed. “Second Brother, Second Sister-in-law, how about your end?”
“We only ran to two base stores. The replies were about the same, they said they’d have to try them first before giving a price, but it wouldn’t exceed the price of ordinary meat.”
Ordinary meat was ninety points a jin, which still couldn’t compare to the price of sugar.
Jiang Shu sauntered over, a skewer dangling from his mouth. “Aiya, Mom, what are you fretting over? If they knew our cotton aphids can be made into sugar, forget seventy points a jin, they’d pay two hundred a jin!”
Jiang Shan blanked. “Made into sugar, what?”
Jiang Shu stuffed a skewer of grilled cotton aphids into Jiang Shan’s mouth.
The instant the flavor touched the tip of his tongue, Jiang Shan’s eyes went wide. “This, what is this?”
Jiang Shu smugly handed Jiang He and his wife two skewers as well. “Dad, Second Uncle, hurry and taste my handiwork. I guarantee you’ll want more after one bite.”
Ye Qingyun waved a hand. “Off with you, you brat. Stop holding up our serious talk.”
With that, Ye Qingyun told the few of them about the cotton aphids yielding syrup.
Jiang Shan looked at the big pot of thick syrup and, after a long while, said, “We’ve got the money to build the house.”
Jiang He was already too dumbstruck to speak.
As for Yuan Ying, she leaned curiously over the big pot, looking again and again.
“This is the syrup the cotton aphids gave off? It smells wonderful!”
Ye Qingyun nodded with a smile. “We just did an experiment. These cotton aphids, ten jin have to boil for two hours, and at the same time you have to manually squeeze the syrup out before they’re edible. Otherwise they’re cloyingly sweet and don’t cook through easily.”
Jiang Shan thought about it. “How many jin of sugar blocks can a pot of syrup make?”
Ye Qingyun said, “Roughly ten to fifteen jin.”
Sugar blocks were unlike syrup, they needed long boiling over high heat, becoming solid only once all the water had evaporated.
Ten jin of cotton aphids yielding ten to fifteen jin of sugar blocks was already a huge amount.
Said in the old days, anyone who heard it would call it unscientific.
Jiang He’s lips trembled, he knew the price of sugar. “This, this, this… this much… if it all sells…”
By the end, he’d gone into a daze.
How many points would that come to…
Jiang Shan pondered a moment. “Qingyun, you mean we won’t sell the cotton aphids, we’ll sell sugar blocks?”
Ye Qingyun nodded. “The cotton aphids probably won’t keep once boiled. Sugar blocks are the better option.”
Jiang Shan thought it sound, but he’d never done business and had no experience in this area, so he suggested, “Big Brother used to lead the villagers in selling things. How about we ask his thoughts?”
Everyone agreed unanimously.
Just then Wu Xiu came out supporting Jiang Hai.
Jiang Shan said, “Big Brother, why aren’t you resting more?”
Jiang Hai smiled. “I’ve been lying down a whole year. I don’t want to lie around anymore.”
“I heard what you all were just discussing.” The tent’s soundproofing wasn’t good enough, so he’d caught the gist of the whole thing. Jiang Hai said, “Sister-in-law’s idea is a good one, but there’s one thing, we still need to offload it fast. Otherwise, at the rate these cotton aphids give off syrup, it’s easy for someone to set their sights on us.”
Jiang Shan nodded.
When he’d come back just now, he’d caught the clean, sweet smell from several hundred meters off.
Nearly everyone nearby was sneaking glances, over time, trouble was bound to arise.
Hearing this, Ye Qingyun gritted her teeth. “In that case, I’ll go buy pots right now.”
Although she wanted to cut costs, she had a clear head about this kind of thing, now wasn’t the time to pinch pennies.
Jiang Hai said, “You’d best divide up the tasks. Have some people boil the syrup, and have Dashu stir-fry the cotton aphids that have been drained, that way, whether we eat them ourselves or sell them, it works.”
Hearing this, Jiang Shan said, “All right, the whole family will get moving and offload these goods as soon as possible.”
They’d made quite a stir today, once the people around caught on, they wouldn’t be able to fetch a good price.
The family settled on their plan and split up the work again.
Buying new pots, fetching sand and firewood, setting up stoves…
Fearing it would be too ostentatious, Ye Qingyun even deliberately placed the new pots in the tent’s tunnel.
Once the makeshift stoves were set up, two pots got going at once.
Ye Qingyun and her sister-in-law Wu Xiu boiled the syrup together. After fully squeezing the syrup from the cotton aphids’ bodies, they fished the bugs out and kept boiling the syrup down toward sugar blocks.
Grandma Jiang stir-fried the drained cotton aphids together with sand.
The sand raised the heat in the pot and kept the cotton aphids from all sticking together.
Yuan Ying and Xu Na, the mother- and daughter-in-law pair, were in charge of weighing and bagging.
To save money, the two also had to double up on stitching cloth bags. The household didn’t have that much cloth, so they took apart clothes too worn to wear and made them into ten-by-ten little bags.
One jin per bag, just right whether for gifting or selling.
The sand-fried cotton aphids dried out faster, and once they hit the syrup they clumped into a mass.
Stitching her cloth bag, Xu Na asked Yuan Ying, “Mom, with sand stuck on, how do you eat that syrup?”
She’d worked at a textile shop before, so the household always kept needle and thread on hand.
Yuan Ying’s needlework didn’t pause. She smiled. “That’s the old lady’s wisdom for you. Although this syrup’s got sand on it, once we collect it all up at the end and reboil it with water, after diluting and a light strain you can separate them.”
Xu Na understood at last, this really was wringing the cotton aphids dry to the last drop.
Not only could all the syrup inside come out, but the stir-fried cotton aphids turned out especially crisp too.
Grandma Jiang, well on in years, was still nimble at the stir-frying. Hearing the two women’s exchange, she smiled. “That’s the truth of it, and this way we needn’t worry about the cotton aphids secreting more syrup as we fry.”
Listening from the side, Jiang Zhi couldn’t help but marvel at the wisdom of working people.
She walked over. “Grandma, let me do it.”
Grandma Jiang eyed her dubiously. “Ah Zhi, can you manage?”
Jiang Zhi’s mouth twitched. After all these years, her grandma still trusted her cooking as little as ever. “I just watched. No problem.”
Grandma Jiang said, “All right then, there’s no real skill to it. Just keep stir-frying without stop, eh, eh, you have to hold the spatula like this, or your hand will give out before long.”
Following Grandma Jiang’s directions, Jiang Zhi soon got the hang of it.
Jiang He was in charge of fetching water. The household had only one water vat, and at the current workload, he had to keep hauling water to keep up.
Jiang Shan wasn’t idle either, piling the fresh cotton aphids in a basin to wash.
This stuff still had to be kept secret, so Jiang Shan did the cleaning inside the tent.
He’d just washed two basins’ worth when he saw Jiang Jun crawling out of the room, using both hands and his remaining leg.
Jiang Shan hurried to help him. “Ah Jun, you’ve only just recovered, what are you coming out for?”
Once he’d steadied him, he heard Jiang Jun say with a smile, “Third Uncle, take me over there. I just can’t walk, my hands can still work. With the whole family at this work and only me resting inside, my conscience won’t allow it.”
Jiang Shan started to say something, but looking at his eldest nephew’s earnest eyes, the words wouldn’t come.
“All right. I can’t manage all this alone anyway. Come wash these bugs with me.”
Jiang Sui and Jiang Si came running in together. “Dad, we’ll help you!”
Jiang Jun stroked the two little ones’ heads. “Okay.”
Watching this scene from outside, Wu Xiu felt her heart ease.
Although her husband and son had both recovered, the leg Jiang Jun had lost could never come back.
She’d genuinely feared her son might not be able to come to terms with it.
Now, seeing this, half her heart settled.
She drew her gaze back, looked at the family’s dwindling firewood, and said to Ye Qingyun, “Tomorrow we’ll have to trade for some more, or it definitely won’t be enough.”
Ye Qingyun nodded. “The bags for the sugar blocks are running short too.”
Hearing this, Yuan Ying said, “Bags are easy to solve. We can trade for some fan-palm leaves and wrap them in those.”
Fan-palm leaves were once the raw material for palm-leaf fans, after mutating, many in the base used them to wrap up uneaten meat, as they had a certain preservative effect.
This stuff was plentiful around the base, so every household had some and it cost next to nothing.
Each problem solved one by one, the whole family threw themselves into the work and it went fast. The only worry was, there weren’t enough pots.
Boiling down one big pot of cotton aphids took three or four hours no matter what, and with only two pots, there was no rushing it.
Ye Qingyun could only send Jiang Shu to borrow one from old man Lin at the Lin house.
As for why the Lin house.
One, the Lin family had real strength, compared to others, the odds of them coveting the Jiang family’s goods were far lower.
Two, Grandpa Lin loved good food, so a bit of something tasty was enough to trade for it, no debt of gratitude incurred. Nothing could be more worthwhile.
So Jiang Shu, carrying seven or eight skewers of grilled cotton aphids and a small handful of stir-fried ones, scampered up to the Lin family’s door.
“Grandpa Lin, are you in?”
This time it didn’t take long before Grandpa Lin came ambling out of the house.
“Jiang boy, the meat’s done?”
The extra meat Grandpa Lin had given the other day was still hanging in his house.
Jiang Shu smiled awkwardly. “We had things going on at home today, so my mom didn’t have time to make it. This time I’ve come to borrow a pot from you.”
At that, Grandpa Lin’s face cooled a few degrees.
“Borrow a pot, eh…”
Jiang Shu quickly said, “We won’t borrow it for nothing, Grandpa Lin. Look, we made a little something to eat…”
Grandpa Lin lifted an eyelid and glanced at him.
“What is it?”
Jiang Shu grinned and held it out. “Guaranteed you’ll like it! These skewers are my own handiwork.”
The moment the food came near, a scorched fragrance wafted out, carrying a thread of sugarcane’s clean sweetness.
Grandpa Lin twitched his nose. “What’s this thing? Why’s it so black?”
Jiang Shu smiled mysteriously. “Give it a taste and see if you can guess what it is.”
Grandpa Lin took the food and picked out a stir-fried cotton aphid to toss in his mouth, crisp and crunchy.
Yet the flesh inside was fresh-sweet and remarkably springy. He couldn’t tell what seasoning had been used, but the sweet-savory taste had a flavor all its own.
Grandpa Lin rarely gave praise, but he managed one. “Not bad. Like silkworm pupae, but it can’t be silkworm pupae, this thing’s got a sweet base note.”
Truth be told, the flavor really was no worse than silkworm pupae.
Jiang Shu gave a thumbs-up. “As expected of you, Grandpa Lin. You even tasted that out.”
Grandpa Lin knew Jiang Shu was buttering him up, but he found it quite agreeable all the same.
“Fine. For the sake of these things, I’ll lend you the pot for one night.”
Getting the pot, Jiang Shu beamed. “Great, thanks, Grandpa Lin. Next time our family’s got something good, we’ll bring you more.”
Grandpa Lin snorted a laugh.
The Lin house had only two people, but the pot was no small thing, Jiang Shu suspected it had to do with old man Lin’s grandson.
If he didn’t put away three to five bowls a meal, he’d be a disgrace to that imposing presence and physique.
By the time he’d borrowed the pot and gotten back, Jiang Wen had returned too.
Seeing the pot in Jiang Shu’s hands: “This pot is…”
Jiang Shu, embellishing freely, told him all about the cotton aphids again.
Jiang Wen listened with mounting delight.
His head even spun a little, as though he’d suddenly been hit by a gold brick.
—Maybe this time, not only could the family live well, but a good brother could earn a tidy sum too.
The person Jiang Wen had gone out to find this time was none other than Tan Lei, a childhood friend who worked as a middleman.
The man had connections, and could help them find buyers.
If they handed the sugar blocks over for him to help sell, it would be a win-win all around.
Soon, the thick, sweet smell of sugar carried to the surroundings for several hundred meters.
“Is someone boiling sugar? Whose house is that coming from? How is it so fragrant?”
“Looks like it’s drifting over from that newly arrived family.”
“Them again? Who are these people? How are they eating and drinking so well every single day?”
…
Those living nearby craned their necks toward that direction one after another.
All trying to make out what was going on.
Just then, a medium truck drove in from the other end.
One look and everyone knew it was the vanguard team’s vehicle.
They all ducked back.
When they peeked out again, they found the vehicle had stopped in front of that outsider family’s place.
Hearing the engine, Jiang Zhi looked out and saw it was Hu Yang, the one who’d helped them settle the land purchase before.
She called out, “Mom! Brother Hu Yang’s here.”
Seeing it was an acquaintance, Ye Qingyun immediately set down her work and went to wash her hands.
“Xiao Hu’s here? Back so late today? Did you run into any trouble?”
Hu Yang hauled two big sacks of clay down from the truck and said with a smile, “Auntie Ye, today went pretty smoothly. I brought back more clay than yesterday too.”
Ye Qingyun was overjoyed. “Xiao Hu, I don’t even know how to thank you.”
That single sack of clay looked to weigh two or three hundred jin, two big sacks, once diluted, could build a whole room.
And it was free, it would save them no small number of points.
Hu Yang glanced at the old and young standing outside the tent. He didn’t ask why the Jiang family had suddenly gained several more people, just smiled. “Nothing special came up today. There happened to be a patch of marshland near where the mission was, so I brought back a bit extra.”
At that point the Evolver in the driver’s seat gave a light cough.
So Hu Yang said, “Auntie Ye, I’ve still got things to do, so I won’t keep you.”
“Wait—Xiao Hu, don’t rush off. Auntie’s got something for you.”
With that, Ye Qingyun wiped her damp hands dry on herself and quickly went back into the tent.
“Quick, quick, give me four bags of the stir-fried cotton aphids. I want to give them away.”
Hearing this, Yuan Ying quickly handed them over.
Ye Qingyun brought them to Hu Yang. “Xiao Hu, we don’t have anything good, but these few bags of snacks are for you and your colleagues. Thank you all for your hard work.”
Hu Yang looked a little embarrassed. “Auntie Ye, this is what I promised to bring you before, how can I take your things again?”
A man with food in his mouth grows soft, the Jiang family had just arrived and needed every point. Besides, the windproof lighter Ye Qingyun had given before had earned him no small amount of face on the team, even the captain had taken note of him because of it…
Ye Qingyun had already given plenty, Hu Yang didn’t want to take further advantage.
Ye Qingyun said, “Aiya, it’s nothing precious, just take it. Besides, it’s not only you working hard. Your colleague hauled it all this way to help out, so I want to thank him too.”
Ye Qingyun’s voice carried just right. The Evolver in the driver’s seat heard it, and felt warmed.
Hu Yang still wanted to refuse, but his colleague in the driver’s seat coughed again.
Hu Yang paused, then accepted them. “Thank you then, Auntie Ye.”
Ye Qingyun waved with a smile. “We’re like family, no need to be polite. If anyone should be thanking, it’s us.”
Only once the vanguard team’s vehicle had left the self-built district did Hu Yang open the bag that had been giving off that fragrance all along.
The rich, scorched aroma instantly filled the whole cabin.
Wu Bing, sitting beside Hu Yang, shot a glance over. “What’s this stuff? Why’s it so fragrant?”
He was the team’s old hand, currently in charge of training the newcomers, and today happened to be his turn with Hu Yang.
Back in front of the Jiang family’s tent, Wu Bing had wanted to ask, just parking there a moment, the vehicle had picked up a good deal of that sweet aroma.
At the time he hadn’t wanted to lose face by gawking, but his appetite had been thoroughly roused.
Hu Yang said, “No idea.”
He took one out and put it in his mouth, and was instantly conquered by the crisp, savory-sweet flavor.
His eyes brightened, he couldn’t help popping in another, then a second, a third…
Wu Bing was displeased. “Hey, hey, hey, remember to leave me two bags. I heard it loud and clear back there, I’ve got a share too!”
Hu Yang simply picked one out and tossed it into his mouth.
Wu Bing was instantly stunned.
“Holy crap, what is this? Meat? No, it doesn’t have the texture of meat. Man, the taste of this thing is incredible!” The more Wu Bing chewed, the more fragrant he found it. “This is the first damn time I’ve ever had something both salty and sweet like this. Mm… why do I taste a hint of sugarcane?”
A single one was nowhere near enough to satisfy him, Wu Bing couldn’t help reaching over and grabbing a small handful to stuff in his mouth.
“So good. Crispy, fragrant stuff like this really is best eaten by the handful.”
Hu Yang’s mouth twitched, that handful’s mine!
He quickly sealed the bag shut.
Hu Yang wasn’t willing to eat it all, he wanted to bring some home for the elders to try too.
Bugs like these were always rich in protein, flavor aside, they were good for nutrition.
Wu Bing, after they rounded a bend, eyed the two bags with lingering longing.
“Their whole place smelled like this. Are they planning to sell food?”
Wu Bing knew of the Jiang family.
Their captain had bought the new team vehicle from this very family.
He’d assumed the family was just lucky, never thinking they could actually produce something like this.
Bugs they might be, but they were still meat, if sold, they’d fetch no small number of points.
Hu Yang said, “I don’t know either.”
“Aiya, ask them next time, will you? If they’re selling, remember to tell me, I want to buy some too.”
While the two chatted, the vehicle was soon back in District B.
Several teammates, spotting the vehicle, walked straight over.
“Why are you two dawdling? You’re holding up our maintenance time.”
The two opened the doors, and the distinctive aroma of stir-fried cotton aphids drifted out.
One of them twitched his nose. “Where’d you two go to eat something good?”
Hu Yang really wanted to speak up, but Wu Bing beat him to it. “What good thing? I think you’ve just got food on the brain.”
“No way! There’s definitely something good.” With that, the man climbed straight onto the vehicle to search.
Wu Bing got anxious at once. “Hey, hey, hey, you, where’s your code of honor?”
The man had sharp eyes and immediately spotted the two bags beside the driver’s seat, snatching them up.
Wu Bing tried to grab them back but was too late.
“Whoa, Brother Wu, that’s not very loyal of you. Good stuff and you don’t even share it with your brothers.”
“You all wait, I haven’t had my fill of this yet…”
Who waits for good stuff?
Those few each grabbed a handful and started eating.
“This is way too fragrant! Brother Wu, where’d you get it?”
“What’s going on? Once you start, you can’t stop.”
“Eh, Brother Wu, quit snatching, what’s wrong with us having a little? We’re brothers who’ve been through life and death together—”
Wu Bing didn’t waste a single word of nonsense. He dumped the rest of the cotton aphids into his own mouth and crunched away.
—As if. Life-and-death brothers means you get to snatch my food? Dream on!
Hu Yang quietly moved away from the lot of them.
Good thing he’d had the foresight when getting out of the vehicle to tuck his own two bags into his pack.