Ch110 Xiao Ci, I Can Train Eggplant
It was only a little past three, so Meng Ci wasn't in a rush to cook.
In this post-apocalyptic world, breakfast wasn't eaten until eleven or twelve, and the next meal wouldn't be until around five.
Besides, they hadn't done any physical labor today, so hunger hadn't set in yet.
Meng Ci entered the storage space first and planted the Eggplant seedlings he'd exchanged yesterday.
The greens he'd planted earlier were already ready. He found a plastic bag and picked a large bunch, stuffing them inside.
After tidying up the plot, he scattered some more vegetable seeds.
Inside the space, Meng Ci hadn't managed to buy watermelons earlier, so now he could plant more. He'd save them for the hottest days.
The thought of ice-cold watermelon sent a wave of coolness through Meng Ci's mind.
So he dug up some soil nearby, cleared another patch of land, and planted a packet of watermelon seeds.
After over an hour of hard work, Meng Ci finally emerged from the space.
He didn't come out empty-handed. Besides carrying a large bag of greens, he also brought three dishes and a soup.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp, Potato Beef Brisket, Spinach Glass Noodles, and a bowl of Lotus Seed Soup.
These were all ready-made dishes that Meng Ci had ordered from the hotel earlier. There were still plenty left in the space.
Over the past few days, Meng Ci had pondered deeply. Since Shen Que had already told him about Meng Ci's rebirth and the existence of the spatial pocket,
Meng Ci was now considering whether to reveal his own story of being transported into a book and the spatial pocket to Shen Que.
However, fearing Shen Que might struggle to accept it all at once, he decided to proceed gradually.
Thus, over the past few days, Meng Ci had intermittently added coal to the coal sack and taken out instant noodles, ham sausages, and other food items.
The supplies only seemed to be used, never diminishing.
Given Shen Que's cautious nature, he might have already noticed something amiss.
Yet Shen Que had never asked about it.
Meng Ci wasn't afraid that Shen Que would harm him if he found out.
After all, his spatial pocket held
grenades with a wide blast radius. If Shen Que showed any signs of trouble, he could just blow him to bits.
Meng Ci didn't believe Shen Que could outrun a grenade explosion.
Grabbing the walkie-talkie, Meng Ci called Shen Que over for a meal
Shortly after, the man and his wolf approached.
Upon seeing the food on the table, Shen Que showed no reaction, wisely choosing not to ask questions he shouldn't.
For Eggplant, Meng Ci poured some rice, two ham sausages, a fish, and some blanched greens.
He also shared some pepper-salted shrimp and potato beef brisket with Eggplant.
If others in this post-apocalyptic world saw a wolf eating so well, their jealousy would likely be beyond words.
The two humans and one wolf ate until they were satisfied.
As night fell, Shen Que went to stoke the stove. Meng Ci stayed here, petting Eggplant and soaking his feet, waiting for Shen Que to call him over to sleep.
As for Meng Ci's earlier idea of breaking through a wall to connect the two homes, Shen Que examined the structure and declared it a load-bearing wall-impossible to dismantle.
Meng Ci had no choice but to abandon the plan.
Fortunately, the two dwellings were close together, so the cold only lasted a short while each day.
The bitter cold had plunged temperatures to minus fifty degrees Celsius. With ample food and warmth, the two gradually stopped venturing outside.
Meng Ci sparred with Shen Que for an hour each day, while the rest of the time was spent by Shen Que training Eggplant.
On the balcony, Meng Ci persisted in freezing ice cubes.
No container for the ice? No problem. Meng Ci simply stored the frozen blocks directly in his spatial pocket.
When the extreme heat arrived, if air conditioners proved useless, he could pull out the ice and place it nearby.
The female rabbit was nearing her due date, so Meng Ci had to check on her several times daily.
Sometimes, Eggplant would press its face against the fence, drooling uncontrollably at the rabbits inside.
But Meng Ci knew this guy wouldn't dare go in to eat them, so he'd just let it lounge there before.
Now that the doe was about to give birth, he feared Eggplant's drool might be toxic and harm the baby rabbits.
So these past few days, every time Eggplant tried to climb over, Meng Ci gave him a good whack.
That finally broke the bad habit.
Early in the morning, Meng Ci brought out a large bag of mung beans that had been soaking for several hours.
With nothing else to do, he picked a big pot, set it on the stove, and planned to boil mung bean soup.
Once the soup was ready, he tossed in a handful of rock sugar and stirred it until dissolved.
He opened a disposable lunchbox, poured the soup
inside, and placed it on the balcony to chill for just two minutes before quickly stowing it away in his storage space.
If left too long, it would freeze solid into lumps, making it troublesome to eat later.
He mixed milk and glutinous rice flour, poured it into the pot with the simmering mung bean paste, and stirred until thick and sticky.
Then he used disposable cups, inserted a disposable chopstick in the center of each, and froze them on the balcony a bit longer -mung bean ice pops were ready.
Pears, white fungus, and goji berries were simmered into rock sugar pear syrup. After chilling. slightly, it was also stashed in the storage space.
Strawberries were diced, tossed Into yogurt, and blended into a milkshake.
Around disposable cups, she arranged slices of strawberries, apples, blueberries, and other fruits before pouring in the milkshake.
Leave it on the balcony to freeze for a bit, and you'll have a strawberry yogurt ice pop.
Mangoes, peaches, blueberries, green grapes, bananas....
Meng Ci took a third of every fruit available in the space and patiently turned them all into ice pops.
Thankfully, he'd stocked up on various dairy products earlier-otherwise, he might not have had enough to splurge like this.
Meng Ci remembered the extreme heat would last over half a year, with temperatures soaring past seventy degrees Celsius. He'd been constantly worried that the ice in his space wouldn't last..
When he was busy, time flew by.
Meng Ci spent his days crafting fruit ice pops and his nights fooling around with Shen Que.
Shen Que spent his days training Eggplant and his nights keeping Meng Ci company in his antics.
Before they knew it, the New Year arrived.
"Attention all residents, attention all residents."
"Tomorrow is the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The government will distribute one pound of rice, two packets of instant noodles, one pound of potatoes, and two cans of meat to each person at the distribution point."
"Residents in need should line up at the distribution point tomorrow morning at eight o'clock."
"Residents in need should line up at the distribution point tomorrow morning at eight o'clock."
Only after the loudspeaker announcement faded did Meng Ci suddenly realize: the New Year was almost upon them.
Today was the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month-merely February 13th in the solar calendar.
The extreme cold had begun on December 28th last year and would persist until July.
Though the extreme cold had only lasted a little over a month, to Meng Ci, it felt like centuries had passed.
"We're going out tomorrow to take a look. Should we bring back anything?" Shen Que asked.
Meng Ci nodded. The cold-resistant eggplant seedlings developed by the government were remarkable-they had bloomed in less than fifteen days in the storage space. If they could sell more of these, they wouldn't have to worry about running out of vegetables in the future.
After breakfast, Shen Que continued training Eggplant.
Meng Ci, meanwhile, brought out various fruits: yogurt, bananas, blueberries, raspberries, and
more.
First, she froze the items on the balcony for a few minutes, then brought them back to blend and puree in a food processor.
After letting the mixture soften slightly, he poured it into disposable cups, creating individual ice cream servings.
Before storing them in the spatial pocket, Meng Ci briefly froze them on the balcony again.
This was to prevent the ice cream from melting instantly upon