Ch113 Shen Que, Let's Play a Game
"Shen Que, the rabbit is so cute. How could you kill it?"
Meng Ci placed the dumplings on the table and walked to the balcony to watch Shen Que awkwardly slaughter the rabbit.
A movie line suddenly popped into his head, and he spoke with a smile.
Shen Que glanced up at Meng Ci, his hands still moving.
"Rabbits are only cute on the outside. There's hardly any meat on them."
Meng Ci crouched beside Shen Que, examining the rabbit with half its skin peeled off. Beyond the bones, there really wasn't much meat.
Mainly because this rabbit was so small-it hadn't even been alive for two months.
As for the female and male rabbits in the cage, Meng Ci certainly wouldn't eat them.
These were breeding rabbits; they couldn't be consumed lightly.
"Poor rabbit," Meng Ci shook his head.
But what could he do? He'd raised it to eat it In the apocalypse, keeping pets was too extravagant.
Bunny, don't blame me for being heartless!
Spotting Eggplant crouched nearby, eyes fixed on the rabbit in Shen Que's hands, Meng Ci immediately grew wary.
"You're not allowed to steal any," Meng Ci threatened, patting Eggplant on the head.
"If you dare to steal any, I'll throw you out."
Eggplant let out a whimper.
If he couldn't eat it, couldn't he at least watch?
While Shen Que handled the rabbit here, Meng Ci went to prepare the meal.
He pulled a fish from his storage space, planning to braise it later.
He sliced a piece of pork belly, minced it finely, then mixed in light soy sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese five-spice powder, an egg, cornstarch, minced scallions and ginger, salt, and chicken bouillon. He stirred everything together until well combined.
He formed the mixture into balls, fried them in hot oil until golden brown, then scooped them out and set them aside.
Meng Ci fried a whole bowl of meatballs, reserving six for braised lion's head later. The rest he set aside for easy access when hungry.
He retrieved a bag of chicken wings from his storage space, scored them with a knife, then blanched them in water with ginger, cooking wine, and scallions before draining and setting them aside.
Meng Ci poured a glass from a 500ml bottle of cola and gulped it down, his back turned to Shen Que.
He set the remaining cola aside, planning to use it for cola-glazed chicken wings.
He retrieved a portion of stir-fried lotus root, a serving of pickled eggplant with chili peppers, and a bowl of steamed pork with rice flour from the storage space.
Next, Meng Ci plucked some greens, sliced two sausages, and stir-fried them into another dish.
As for the rabbit, it hadn't been prepared yet, so they'd have to wait until tomorrow to eat it.
With the meal ready, Meng Ci called Shen Que to eat.
Meng Ci pulled out a tablet, found a collection of New Year comedy sketches, placed it in the center, and turned up the volume. The festive atmosphere instantly filled the room.
The two men and one wolf spent a warm and cozy New Year.
"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year!"
Meng Ci and Shen Que each grabbed a can of beer, clinked them together, and took big gulps.
Refreshing!
Though they'd prepared six dishes and had plenty of leftovers, it didn't matter-Eggplant was always handy.
He mixed the rice with the remaining dishes, and the eggplant tasted delicious.
Recalling Ruan Qing's dumplings, Meng Ci, having some free time, decided to make extra. Storing them in his spatial pocket would make them convenient to cook later in the apocalypse.
Upon learning that Meng Ci planned to make dumplings, Shen Que retrieved half a pork leg, a dozen cabbages, scallions, ginger, garlic, and various seasonings from his spatial pocket.
Meng Ci didn't hesitate, cutting off the portion of meat he needed.
Shen Que had mentioned earlier that his storage space could only hold items-it lacked any preservation capabilities. That's why he stockpiled things with long shelf lives.
Once the meat was prepped, it went into the blender. One press and it was minced. Meng Ci tossed all the vegetables into the blender too and gave it a whirl.
He poured everything into a large bowl.
Adding oil, salt, and various seasonings, Meng Ci mixed it all together while wearing disposable gloves.
Shen Que had now mastered kneading dough. With his considerable strength, he quickly kneaded two bowls of dough until they gleamed.
The two of them watched a sketch on the tablet while wrapping dumplings.
Their harmonious scene felt like they'd been together for years.
Once the dumplings were wrapped, they placed them on the balcony to freeze.
Dinner was a large pot of boiled dumplings. Meng Ci and Shen Que each scooped their share, leaving the rest for Eggplant.
Shen Que also pulled out two large bags of pickled pepper chicken feet from his storage space.
Meng Ci poured himself half a glass of cold cola and downed it in one gulp.
"Burp!"
"So refreshing!"
Meng Ci rubbed his belly contentedly.
Shen Que took Meng Ci's glass and poured him another full glass of cola.
This time, however, the cola was hot.
Meng Ci sighed inwardly.
Cold Coke is great, cold Coke is awesome, cold Coke is just so darn refreshing.
Too bad it's not so great in this freezing cold.
Drinking too much really isn't good for you. If it weren't for the New Year, Shen Que probably wouldn't have agreed to let him have cold Coke at all.
After dinner, Meng Ci and Shen Que curled up on the sofa and started playing a game.
It was the sandbox game Minecraft. No internet was needed-just turning on Bluetooth allowed them to play together.
Shen Que had never played before, so Meng Ci told him to start by chopping down trees!
As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, start by chopping trees.
Shen Que obediently chopped trees barehanded for half an hour.
Had Meng Ci not glanced over, Shen Que might have chopped trees like that forever.
Meng Ci tossed Shen Que two stone axes he'd crafted, telling him to use them.
"This is definitely much faster," Shen Que remarked.
Then Meng Ci took this newbie, Shen Que, on an adventure through Minecraft.
When night fell, they dug a hole, buried themselves inside, and waited for dawn.
Shearing sheep, building houses, crafting beds...
The game was simple to operate, yet incredibly fun to play.
Once their tools were mostly ready, Meng Ci led Shen Que into the mine shaft to begin their exploration.
To make Shen Que aware of this world's dangers, Meng Ci had set the game to Survival mode.
Death meant dropping everything you carried. You had to pick it up quickly, or it would vanish.
"Holy crap!"
Shen Que controlled his in-game character, moving slowly forward.
The surroundings were dim. Before he could plant the torch in his hand, Shen Que was startled by a zombie suddenly appearing right before his eyes.
Rarely seeing Shen Que scared, Meng Ci patted his back to calm him while teasing him about his cowardice.
Shen Que protested, defending himself.
Meng Ci knew full well-sometimes the game really did shove a zombie right in your face for a jump scare.
But Meng Ci wouldn't tell Shen Que that he'd been startled by it himself.
After dying repeatedly in survival mode, Meng Ci angrily restarted the map.
This time, he chose Creative Mode, where they could fly freely throughout the game world with every material imaginable at their disposal.
Finding an open plot, Meng Ci set about building a house.
After roughly listening to Meng Ci's explanation, Shen Que also began constructing his own dwelling.
On New Year's Eve, gaming became their way to stay up late into the night.
The two switched back and forth between Creative and Survival modes.
The tablet on the table still played the skit.
Sometimes came Meng Ci's grumbling that Shen Que's house was better than his, sometimes the sound of Meng Ci switching modes.
Spring filled the room, and the hours passed peacefully.