Chapter 14 – Sweet and Sour
Xia Lu Nong recalled that Liao Cheng’s beast form was a big yellow dog, and his expectations dwindled significantly.
When a person transforms into a beast, the form isn’t always a cool one; it could end up being something like Liao Cheng’s, a Chinese rural dog.
Xia Lu Nong quietly placed a hand on his chest, thinking better of it. His brother was a handsome white wolf; if he turned into a rural dog, it would be quite disheartening. Even turning into a Samoyed wouldn’t be good enough.
Liao Cheng kept chatting about hunting. “Speaking of which, when I first transformed, I wanted to go out hunting every day. Later, I realized it was simply impossible, so I let it go. Most people in the base who transform don’t have the skills to hunt either; even when they go out, they mainly focus on collecting.”
Xia Lu Nong wasn’t fully attentive, only half-listening, and casually asked, “Aren’t there hunting dogs?”
Liao Cheng sighed, “There are also martial arts experts among humans, how can a dog be the same as a dog.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Xia Lu Nong scratched his head. “I’m sorry, Brother Liao Cheng.”
“It’s fine; everyone goes through this. Even if you can’t hunt, it’s not a big deal. Like you today, you’re the one who collected the most supplies, aren’t you?”
Liao Cheng didn’t have much faith in Xia Lu Nong’s transformation abilities.
He was too weak and hadn’t experienced the most difficult times at the beginning of the Great Disaster. Without that resilience, even if he transformed, it was unlikely he could become a fierce beast, let alone rely on hunting for survival.
Xia Lu Nong, unaware of what was on his mind, smiled. “A lot of the supplies were found by you guys first. You left them for me on purpose.”
He wasn’t dumb; he could easily see that his brothers were intentionally giving him an advantage.
Liao Cheng said, “Even if we found them first, it still means you found them at the same time and noticed our little tricks. We can all transform into beasts, which has greatly enhanced our hearing and sight, but you, who can’t transform yet, can still keep up with us. Doesn’t that mean you’re naturally talented?”
Xia Lu Nong could only smile helplessly.
Liao Cheng looked around. “Hey, there’s a plastic bucket over there. Let’s use it to fetch water.”
Xia Lu Nong took a good look and finally saw the large half of a blue plastic bucket hidden in the weeds.
They went over to pick it up. After pressing it a few times, they found that the plastic still had good flexibility and hadn’t become brittle with age.
It had only been two years since the great disaster, and many supplies were still in decent condition.
Xia Lu Nong carried the plastic bucket, and the two of them reached the well as they chatted.
This well seemed to have some history. The walls were made of stone, with weeds growing between the cracks. All that was visible was the dark well opening, and they couldn’t see what was at the bottom.
To draw water, they needed to clear the weeds first.
Liao Cheng sniffed the air hard, then told Xia Lu Nong, “There’s no strange smell, so there shouldn’t be any snake-beasts. Step back a little and watch out for bugs.”
Xia Lu Nong quickly nodded and took two steps back.
Liao Cheng gripped his knife handle and bent over to hack at the weeds, chopping away a bunch near the well opening and tossing them aside.
Xia Lu Nong, sharp-eyed, quickly noticed large black ants crawling near the well’s edge and warned, “Careful, there are ants!”
“It’s fine,” Liao Cheng said, glancing at them without changing expression. He casually swept the ants away with the weeds in his hand, then bent down to chop more grass.
Some spots were harder to reach, so he chopped off a tree branch nearby and tied it to the handle of his machete with rope, making a temporary long-handled blade to continue chopping.
Soon, he had cleared a large enough area around the well that they could lower the bucket down.
Xia Lu Nong peered at the small patch of sky reflected in the well water and suddenly said, “Liao Cheng, look, is there something in the well? It looks like… fish? I smell a fishy odor.”
Liao Cheng bent down to sniff and could faintly detect the fishy scent.
He quickly figured it out. “The villagers probably kept fish in the well. People used to raise one or two carp in wells to detect poison.”
“There seem to be more than just one or two,” Xia Lu Nong said, surprised. “I can see dark shadows moving down there.”
“Let me throw the bucket in and scoop some water up. We’ll find out.”
Xia Lu Nong quickly stepped aside.
Liao Cheng tied a rope to the bucket, tossed it into the well, and soon hoisted a bucketful of water.
Even when the water was still a meter or two below the surface, Xia Lu Nong could already see what was inside. “There are fish, real fish!”
Liao Cheng saw them too. “Whoa, four fish!”
The four fish weren’t large—the smallest was only as wide as three fingers, and the biggest probably weighed just over a pound. They had likely grown up in the well without many predators and were easily scooped out.
Liao Cheng bent down to examine them. “These fish are fine. They haven’t mutated too badly. They’re edible.”
Xia Lu Nong looked at them. Most of the fish just had a few extra fins. Since fish already have a lot of fins, they couldn’t tell which ones were normal and which had grown due to mutation. The most mutated fish had an extra pair of eyes beneath its original ones, which looked creepy but wasn’t as bad as growing an extra head or something.
After inspecting each fish, Liao Cheng was pleased. “They’re all good to eat. Lu Nong, you keep an eye on the fish while I scoop a few more.”
Xia Lu Nong nodded and cut a piece of vine nearby, threading it through the fish’s gills to string them together.
Liao Cheng, humming to himself, threw the bucket down again to fetch more water.
This time, he wasn’t as lucky and only caught one fish.
He continued fishing while Xia Lu Nong squatted beside the well, waiting.
After who knows how long, they heard Xia Huo Qu’s voice in the distance. Liao Cheng raised his head and shouted back, “We’re over here—”
Xia Lu Nong also heard and called out, “We’re catching fish—”
Following the sound and scent, Xia Huo Qu soon arrived. Seeing the seven or eight fish strung up on the ground, he looked surprised. “That many fish?”
“Yeah, all from the well. Too bad they’re carp—lots of bones, and the meat’s a bit coarse,” Liao Cheng said, though his face was full of joy.
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “That’s still pretty good. Yan Xi Nian and I each caught two chickens with only one mutation. We can go back and have lunch now.”
Hearing this, Liao Cheng stopped his fishing.
The three of them used their machetes to gut, clean, and scale the seven fish, then seasoned them with salt and five-spice powder, wrapping them in leaves.
Liao Cheng also fetched an extra bucket of water, but this was only for washing pots and vegetables, as they carried their drinking water in their backpacks.
When they returned to their temporary base, Yan Xi Nian had already prepared the four chickens, discarding the heads, tails, feet, skin, and internal organs, keeping only the cleaned chickens.
Xia Lu Nong glanced at the chickens and saw that they were also slightly mutated—some had extra legs or wings, but none were completely normal.
According to his brother, as long as the mutations didn’t exceed one feature, they were safe to eat. Instead of being grossed out, he found himself getting hungry.
Yan Xi Nian smiled when he saw the fish they brought back. “I was thinking we’d eat two chickens, but now it looks like one will be enough.”
Xia Huo Qu suggested, “Let’s wrap up the other three chickens to take back. You two can each have one, and we’ll share the last one.”
Neither Yan Xi Nian nor Liao Cheng objected or tried to decline the offer.
The group divided up the tasks and quickly chopped the chicken and prepared the garlic sprouts and other ingredients.
The garlic sprouts were also found in the village. They were a bit old, but had a strong garlic flavor.
Liao Cheng lit the fire, while Xia Huo Qu took the freshly cleaned wooden stick to start cooking.
Xia Lu Nong quickly said, “Brother, let me do it.”
Liao Cheng raised his eyebrows in surprise, “You can cook?”
Xia Lu Nong smiled and nodded.
Their mother had passed away when they were very young, leaving just their father and the two brothers. Their father was a scholar and didn’t know how to cook, and the dishes he made were barely edible, like pig feed.
So, the brothers learned to cook at an early age, each developing their own style. Both of them made tasty dishes.
Xia Huo Qu handed him the stick that was being used as a spatula, then he and Yan Xi Nian sat down to rest.
Xia Lu Nong, well-experienced, started by putting the chicken fat into the pot. The firewood they had collected was very dry, making the fire burn hot. As soon as the chicken fat hit the pot, it rendered quickly, releasing a rich aroma mixed with the smoke.
Liao Cheng sniffed the air, and his stomach started growling, his mouth almost watering.
He asked, “Should I turn down the fire?”
“No need” Xia Lu Nong said, skillfully flipping the food without even looking up. After the light-yellow chicken fat quickly melted into oil, he picked up the fish from the nearby leaves, placing them one by one into the hot oil for a quick fry.
The chicken fat sizzled loudly in the pot.
After a short while, the fish started to firm up, releasing a delicious aroma.
Liao Cheng swallowed hard, his eyes glued to the fish, almost as if his eyes would pop out and fall into the pot.
Seeing him like this, Xia Lu Nong asked, “Brother Liao Cheng, what kind of flavor do you want for the fish?”
Liao Cheng immediately asked, “What kinds of flavors are there?”
Xia Lu Nong thought for a moment about the ingredients at hand. “I could make a simplified version of sweet and sour, braised, or pan-fried…”
“Sweet and sour, sweet and sour, sweet and sour!” Liao Cheng shouted in one breath, then turned to ask Xia Huo Qu and Yan Xi Nian, “What about you two?”
Yan Xi Nian laughed, glancing at Xia Huo Qu to hear his response first.
Xia Huo Qu looked at him and said, “Let’s go with sweet and sour. It’s been a while since I had sweet and sour fish.”
As bachelors, they didn’t often cook for themselves, and ordering stir-fried dishes from the canteen wasn’t frequent either.
Xia Huo Qu and Liao Cheng rarely indulged, and Yan Xi Nian was always too busy to care much about his appetite.
The canteen would serve fish occasionally during festivals, but for convenience, it was usually stewed fish chunks, where you could only get a vague taste of fish.
Liao Cheng, watching them make their decision, happily said, “Since they don’t mind, let’s do sweet and sour fish.”
“No problem.” Xia Lu Nong plated the fried fish on a large leaf.
Today, they hadn’t brought any plates, but giant plants were everywhere outside now. They easily found a few non-toxic leaves to use as makeshift plates.
The fish was golden and crispy on both sides, the meat flaked like garlic cloves, and the tail was so crispy it broke off easily.
A strong fish aroma filled the air.
Xia Lu Nong swallowed and turned his attention back to the pot.
He poured out most of the chicken oil, leaving just a bit to stir-fry sugar and vinegar, adding a little water to make a thick sweet-and-sour sauce. Once the sauce was ready, he poured it over the fish.
The hot sauce sizzled as it hit the fish, the combined scent of fish and sweet-and-sour sauce filling the air. Even Xia Huo Qu, who was usually calm, couldn’t help but swallow.
Liao Cheng eagerly asked, “Can we eat now?”
“Yes, eat while it’s hot!” Xia Lu Nong smiled as he quickly cleaned the pot, added the remaining chicken oil, and tossed in chili peppers and garlic sprouts. “I’ll stir-fry the chicken next.”
Liao Cheng offered to help, “No way, we can’t start eating without the chef.”
Yan Xi Nian chimed in, “The chicken just needs a quick stir-fry on high heat for the best texture.”
Xia Lu Nong smiled, “Got it.”
The chicken was stir-fried quickly on high heat, drizzled with yellow wine and soy sauce. The oily, golden sauce sizzled, while the fragrance of dried chili and chicken filled the air, making everyone’s stomachs growl.
The chicken had been marinated earlier, so it was tender without being tough.
Xia Lu Nong grabbed a pair of makeshift chopsticks and picked out a small piece of chicken, offering it to his brother, “Brother, try the seasoning.”
Xia Huo Qu took a bite, the chicken was tender and juicy, seasoned just right, with a hint of spice.
Xia Lu Nong eagerly asked, “How is it, brother?”
Liao Cheng and Yan Xi Nian also looked over.
Xia Huo Qu gave a thumbs-up, “It’s perfectly cooked, the seasoning is just right.”
Xia Lu Nong smiled, threw in a handful of fresh green garlic sprouts, and quickly stir-fried them before serving the dish.
Dinner was ready.
The four sat on the ground, using their wooden chopsticks to grab food.
Liao Cheng had been craving sweet-and-sour fish for a long time, so his first bite was of the fish.
The crispy, golden-fried fish, coated in a sweet and tangy sauce, burst with flavor in his mouth. Even before the disaster, he hadn’t eaten such delicious sweet-and-sour fish very often.
The thick, sweet, and sour sauce was perfectly balanced—a flavor few could get just right.
The fish itself was delicious, lightly salted before frying, and the high heat had sealed in all the flavors, leaving no trace of fishiness, only a rich aroma that made him feel like he could eat the whole fish.
Liao Cheng squinted in delight, the fish bones were so crispy from frying that he could chew right through them. He had good teeth, so he didn’t even need to spit out the bones, just chewed them up.
After his first bite, Liao Cheng couldn’t help but give Xia Lu Nong a thumbs-up, “Your cooking is amazing!”
Xia Lu Nong smiled, “It’s thanks to you for keeping the fire going so well.”
The authentic flavor from cooking over an open fire in an iron pot was intense, sealing in the freshness. It would’ve been hard to mess up the dish.
