Apocalypse Mode: My Cheat Code Virtual Boyfriend - Chapter 33

A slightly lopsided but thankfully intact dumpling rested in Cheng Wei’s palm.

“Success! You’re amazing!” he exclaimed softly, as if he had accomplished a great feat.

Bai Xun felt a little embarrassed, it was just pinching dumplings together. A couple more tries and anyone could get the hang of it.

“It’s simple. Don’t overfill the wrapper, and pinching the pleats is easy. Try again.”

Following Bai Xun’s instructions, Cheng Wei slowly pinched one pleat after another, and soon a plump, tightly sealed dumpling was formed.

“Look.” Cheng Wei proudly showed his newly wrapped dumpling to Bai Xun.

“Great!” Bai Xun praised, and Cheng Wei’s tail tip curled up happily.

With everyone working together, they quickly filled three large trays with dumplings. Outside, they built a firewood pile to boil a pot of water. Once the water boiled, the dumplings could be cooked.

The water bubbled vigorously, and all three trays of dumplings were poured into the large pot.

Bai Guifang held a large ladle, gently pushing the dumplings along the edge of the pot to prevent sticking, then covered the lid and waited for the water to boil again.

After the water boiled, she added a ladle of cold water, repeating this step three times.

While the dumplings cooked, Bai Xun started another fire to roast pinecones.

The pinecones they had gathered from the pine forest were tossed into the blazing fire, crackling and sending small sparks flying.

Roasting pinecones gave off a unique pine fragrance, likely from the pine resin being heated.

Bai Xun used a long branch to turn the pinecones evenly. Once the surface turned charcoal black, he quickly pulled them out of the fire.

The pinecones, rolled out of the embers, were burnt like charcoal. Cheng Wei took a small hammer and cracked them open one by one, revealing the pine nuts hidden beneath the scales.

The cracked pinecones were left to cool for a while before being handled, as they could burn one’s fingers.

Once the dumplings were cooked, they were scooped out and placed in a large basin filled with hot water to keep warm. The pot was quickly rinsed, and then used to stir-fry porcini mushrooms.

Cooking mushrooms with lard made them more fragrant. A large spoonful of lard was added to the pot, melting into a pale yellow oil that released the savory aroma of animal fat.

Once the oil was hot, garlic slices and dried chili peppers were added to stir-fry until fragrant. When the pungent chili aroma filled the air, the sliced porcini mushrooms were added and stir-fried over high heat.

After about ten minutes, when the mushrooms had changed color, soy sauce and salt were added, stirred a few times, and the dish was ready to serve.

“Stop fiddling with those pinecones. Put out the fire and come inside to eat,” Bai Guifang called out, scooping the stir-fried porcini mushrooms into a large enamel bowl.

Bai Xun extinguished the fire, wiped his hands on his pants, and patted Cheng Wei’s shoulder. “Let’s go. Wash your hands and eat first. No need to clean up now, we’ll continue after the meal.”

“Okay.”

Cheng Wei had been about to gather the cracked pinecones, but upon hearing this, he set them down, clapped his hands clean, and stood up.

Dinner was laid out on the same counter where they had wrapped the dumplings. Bowls and chopsticks were brought out, and the meal began.

Depending on personal preference, several dipping sauce dishes were placed on the table, containing aged vinegar, soy sauce, and a small bowl of minced garlic.

Bai Xun served himself a bowl of dumplings, then added some minced garlic to vinegar, using it as a dipping sauce.

The dumplings had been kept warm in hot water after cooking, so they were still pleasantly hot when eaten.

Bai Xun took a bite of the shepherd’s purse and pork dumpling. The tender flavor of the shepherd’s purse, mixed with the scalding meat juices, made him open his mouth wide and blow out two quick breaths.

He waited until the dumpling in his mouth wasn’t so hot before continuing to chew.

Dumplings made with fresh shepherd’s purse tasted completely different from those made with frozen ones. Dipped in minced garlic and vinegar before being stuffed into his mouth, they gained an extra layer of tangy and spicy flavor.

The plate of stir-fried porcini mushrooms had a tender and crisp texture, carrying a unique savory aroma from the sauce. The combination of garlic and dried chili peppers elevated the flavor of the mushrooms to another level.

After dinner, it was time to wash the dishes. The water used for washing still came from the water storage tank on the ark.

That afternoon, Bai Xun and the others had ventured out and discovered a small river about a kilometer away from the lumber mill. In the future, they could try diverting water from there for daily use.

The pinecones left outside were gathered again. After cracking open this large batch of roasted pinecones, the scales inside revealed kernels of pine nuts.

The pine nuts peeled out this way were still raw and needed to be roasted before they could be eaten.

Since they had nothing better to do anyway, they decided to roast some pine nuts that evening.

To make the shells easier to crack, the pine nuts needed to be soaked in water for an hour before roasting.

After soaking, they couldn’t be roasted directly, they still needed to be steamed in a pot for half an hour.

Once steamed, the pine nuts were scooped out and left to dry. The weather was cold and dry, and the chilly night wind blew as they occasionally flipped the pine nuts to ensure even drying. Once dried, they were placed in a pot for roasting.

The pile of firewood used to boil water for the dumplings during dinner hadn’t been fully burned yet. Bai Xun took a shovel and gathered the firewood from roasting the pinecones together with it.

The pine nuts extracted from the pinecones could fill two large iron pots. Worried about controlling the heat poorly and burning them, they decided to roast them in four separate batches.

Cheng Wei rolled up his sleeves a bit to make it easier to work. Once the bottom of the pot was dry and hot, he poured in the dried pine nuts and began stir-frying them.

The pine nuts needed constant stirring in the hot pot. Wielding a large spatula to flip them made his entire arm ache. A single pot of pine nuts required continuous stirring for over ten minutes to roast them until fragrant and fully cooked.

The aroma of the pine nut kernels wafted from the hot pot, a dry, nutty fragrance. Soft crackling sounds echoed both inside the pot and beneath it, the sound of pine nut shells bursting open and sparks jumping.

The faint crackling in the pot came one after another, and when the sounds grew more frequent, it signaled that the pine nuts were fully roasted.

“So fragrant!” Bai Xun sniffed deeply, taking in the rich, nutty aroma of the pine nuts.

“They’re ready to come out of the pot, they’re fully roasted,” Cheng Wei said, flipping over most of the pine nuts with a single scoop of the spatula. They had all cracked open.

“Coming, I’ll help,” Bai Xun quickly put on gloves and came over to grab the two handles of the iron pot.

The pot, along with the pine nuts, was heavy. He hadn’t anticipated the weight of the dried goods, and his hands dipped slightly as the pot pulled downward.

“Little sister, Jiaoshuang, come help shell the pine nuts. We’ll make some pine nut candy later,” Bai Xun steadied himself and called out loudly for help.

“Coming, coming!” Bai Yu was the first to come out of the house.

Bai Xun spread the full pot of pine nuts evenly on an iron tray, waiting for them to cool down enough to handle.

Lu Jiaoshuang came out after Bai Yu. Though only two people had been called, Yu Feibai followed closely behind them.

“Feibai, we have enough hands. Why don’t you go watch a movie? You’re not fully recovered yet,” Bai Xun said.

“I’m too bored. I’ll just help a little slowly,” Yu Feibai waved his hand dismissively.

His fractured hand needed a month and a half to heal. Twenty days had passed, and the bone had just begun to knit together, so it still wasn’t advisable to move it too much.

But since he insisted, Bai Xun didn’t stop him anymore. “Alright, take it easy. Rest when your hand gets sore.”

As he spoke, he poured the uncooked pine nuts into the large wok and carried it back to set over the fire.

“You rest for a bit. I’ll stir-fry them.” Bai Xun put down the wok and took the spatula from Cheng Wei’s hand.

“I’ll go get some water.” Cheng Wei loosened the zipper of his jacket. Stir-frying the pine nuts over the firewood had made him thirsty.

“Go ahead. There’s a jar of blueberry jam on the counter. Mix it with water and drink it.” Bai Xun still remembered Cheng Wei’s fondness for blueberry jam.

“Alright.” Cheng Wei’s ears twitched slightly, and he curled his tail as he headed back inside.

Bai Xun focused on the wok of pine nuts in front of him.

Watching Cheng Wei stir-fry them had seemed easy, but when it was his turn, he realized how difficult it was to evenly stir-fry such a large batch of pine nuts.

Even if his arm grew sore, he couldn’t stop. If he slowed down even a little, the pine nut shells would heat unevenly, and the overcooked ones would turn bitter and unpleasant to eat.

As he tirelessly stirred the pine nuts, Bai Xun tried to find some amusement in the task, imagining himself as a blender, plugged in and stirring continuously without expending any effort.

After playing the role of a blender for over ten minutes, his arm grew unbearably sore, and he desperately wished for a massage.

The pine nut peeling group worked quickly. In just over ten minutes, more than half of the previously stir-fried batch had been shelled.

The first batch of pine nuts would be enough for making pine nut candy. Making too much would leave them unable to finish it all, so the remaining three batches were stored in jars to be enjoyed as snacks later.

By the time all the pine nuts were stir-fried, it was already ten o’clock at night. In the pre-apocalyptic days, nightlife would have just been starting.

But in the post-apocalyptic world, with few activities to occupy them, they usually washed up by nine and were fast asleep by nine-thirty. Staying up this late had everyone yawning repeatedly.

Bai Guifang took over the cooking duties. She instructed Bai Xun to remove a few pieces of firewood from under the wok, as making sugar syrup didn’t require too high a heat, too much fire would easily burn the sugar.

Making pine nut candy was simple: just melt white sugar into syrup, then mix in the pine nuts.

But while it sounded easy, the step of melting the sugar alone was enough to discourage many people.

Bai Guifang held her hand over the bottom of the wok to test the temperature. Satisfied that it was just right, she added a little water and poured in several packets of white sugar.

Holding a large ladle, she stirred slowly, waiting for the low heat to turn the white sugar into a light yellow syrup. If left to cook a little longer, the syrup would take on a caramel hue.

Once small bubbles began to form, she knew she couldn’t cook it any longer, any more and the sugar would burn and turn bitter.

Quickly, she poured the shelled pine nuts into the syrup, stirring evenly to coat every nut and bind them together.

While the pine nut candy was still hot and hadn’t solidified in the wok, she poured it into a large metal tray lined with baking paper. Using a rolling pin, she pressed it down lightly, then hurriedly cut it into pieces while the sugar was still warm.

And just like that, the sweet but not cloying, crispy pine nut candy was ready.

The cut pieces of pine nut candy were also stored in jars, ready to be enjoyed whenever they pleased.

After using a shovel to smother the firewood and washing the tools used to make the pine nut candy, they headed to bed.

The bed was simply made today by synthesizing leftover wooden boards from the furniture catalog. The quilt and wool blanket were brought along, so the sleeping area on the second floor only had the bed and four cement walls.

Truly, nothing but bare walls.

The only advantage was that everyone could have their own bed, so no two people had to squeeze onto one.

For safety reasons, the men slept in one room and the women in another, with everyone’s beds placed in the same large room. Staying together was always safer than being separated.

Originally, Bai Xun, Cheng Wei, and Yu Feibai were supposed to share a room, but Yu Feibai didn’t like sharing a space with others, so he opted to sleep alone in a small partitioned area in the hallway.

Only Bai Xun and Cheng Wei’s beds were placed in the large room, which sometimes made it convenient for Bai Xun to pet the snow leopard before bed.

He still felt too embarrassed to touch Cheng Wei all over in front of everyone. Private preferences like that were better kept behind closed doors.

“Want to sleep together tonight? The temperature has dropped, and I feel really cold.” Cheng Wei shook out the quilt and extended an invitation to Bai Xun to share the bed.