Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 351 Grinding, eating, squatting, lying down—a truly magnificent sight.
When Lu Xi'an heard Luo Ping's words, his first reaction was that it was great, and his nutritional supplements would be able to keep up.

So he didn't refuse and replied, "Thank you very much."

Luo Ping laughed and said, "Brother, you're wrong. Do you need to thank us? You've helped us far more than we've helped you."

Lu Xi'an didn't say anything more.

Luo Ping added, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, brother, on our way back this time, we encountered three wild boars, a male, a female, and a baby."

"We didn't eat any; we brought it all back. The old tree looked at it and said it could be raised. But it will take a little longer for it to produce offspring."

"Otherwise, I could have gotten some pork for you brothers and sisters this time."

Lu Xi'an said, "No need for that. There's pork on the East Island too. We even went up there to drink pork soup."

"I was originally planning to see if I could get you a couple of pigs, but it seems there's no need for that now; you've already taken care of it yourselves."

Old Tree's voice rang out, cheerfully saying, "Brothers and sisters, you're the best! You always think of us."

Luo Ping said with dissatisfaction, "Why am I not good enough?"

The old tree said, "That's different!"

Luo Ping: "How come it's different?"

The old tree hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Anyway, it's just different!"

The two started arguing, and Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei listened to the commotion for a while before the signal was cut off.

The cold weather lasted for quite some time before it stopped, so when the tide came in again, Luo Ping and the others were unable to come over and had to wait until next time.

When the tide came in this time, Hu Xiaodong and his son came to the island, but they did not bring any supplies.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao. It's been too cold lately, the soil has frozen, and the crops aren't growing well, so the supplies have to be suspended for now. We'll talk about it next time."

After landing on the island, Hu Xiaodong said to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei with shame.

Lu Xi'an waved his hand dismissively, saying, "It's alright, if we don't have any, we don't have any. We still have plenty of stock here, enough to eat."

Hu Xiaodong and his son were relieved to hear Lu Xi'an's words.

Then Hu Xiaodong looked around and asked, "Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao, where are your friends? Why aren't they here?"

Lu Xi'an said, "They were also stopped by the weather. There's heavy snow on their side, so they can't get over for a while. They'll have to wait until next time."

"That's it."

Hu Xiaodong sighed, and judging from his expression, he seemed to feel quite sorry for him.

His son, Hu Dong, was the same.

Judging from the way the father and son are acting, they seem to be very much looking forward to receiving Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's friends.

After greeting Hu Xiaodong and his son, and helping them fill their buckets with water and bringing them down, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei returned to the mountaintop to continue their quiet life.

Since there weren't many supplies this time, they didn't need to keep going down to look for Hu Xiaodong and the others. They could just spend the next month peacefully on the mountaintop.

So, in addition to their daily exercise, eating, drinking, and toileting, the two found other things to do.

They walked around the mountains and found suitable stones, brought them to the top of the mountain, polished them, then cut down suitable trees, shaped them into sticks of appropriate size and shape, and then treated them with resin and other special materials to increase their strength.

These things were naturally in preparation for making a stone millstone.

The preparation and processing of the wooden sticks were quick, but polishing the stone disc took a lot of effort—it was a delicate task that couldn't be done by brute force.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei spent several days polishing the stone disc, then assembled it properly and tried to use it.

The two cleaned and dried the finished millstone, then tried it out. They put barley grains on it, ground them, and fine powder came out.

"It was a success! Everything went smoothly!"

Lu Xi'an picked up a handful of barley flour, felt it, and said to Yao Wei with a smile, "Look at this, it's much better than what we make by hand. What do you think?"

Actually, compared to wheat flour, this flour is still somewhat coarse, since it is made from barley, not wheat, so there is naturally a difference.

But no matter what, this is still much better than them rubbing it by hand.

Their fingers, after all, have skin and flesh, and are relatively soft; no matter how strong they are, they can't do what a millstone can do. Even later, when they used some hard tools to press and grind, it was still far inferior to a millstone.

Yao Wei also picked up a little flour to feel it, nodded, and said, "Hmm."

"How about some more cornmeal?"

After grinding all the barley that had been taken out, Lu Xi'an said again.

Yao Wei immediately nodded and said, "Okay."

She actually prefers cornmeal to barley. Although the noodles made with cornmeal were rough, they were an extremely rare delicacy for her, and she still cherishes them to this day.

Therefore, when Lu Xi'an mentioned corn flour, Yao Wei agreed without hesitation. She even got up quickly, went to the car to get corn, and put the kernels into the millstone.

Continue grinding until the flour is produced, then empty the bucket with water.

After doing all that, the two immediately poured water and kneaded the dough to make noodles.

This task was handed over to Yao Wei, while Lu Xi'an went to chop and stir-fry vegetables and make the sauce for the noodles.

He glanced at Yao Wei midway through, and seeing her holding a pot and kneading dough, he suddenly thought of something and said, "Do you think we need a ceramic pot?"

"what."

Yao Wei looked at the dough in the pot, understood, and said, "Hmm, it's a pity I didn't buy it before."

Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "It's alright, I'll have Hu Xiaodong and his son bring it over later."

"It's normal to forget these things unless it's absolutely necessary. Besides, we had so much stuff when we came back; adding a ceramic basin would have made it impossible to carry everything."

"Ah."

Yao Wei knew that Lu Xi'an's words were meant to comfort her, but they were also true, so she nodded.

Whether made from cornmeal or barley flour, the noodles lack fineness and elasticity, so in the end, they are simply kneaded, rolled, cut into strips, and cooked without being stretched.

Even so, Yao Wei made some barley noodles and some corn noodles. After cooking them, she and Lu Xi'an ate them with the meat sauce, and they still found them very delicious, much better than before.

The noodles have a much smoother and more even texture than before.

After they finished eating, the two of them cleaned up the dishes together. Lu Xi'an said, "Let's go down the mountain and find Hu Xiaodong and his son. Let's ask them to bring a ceramic basin next time. We can also take a walk to digest our food."

"Ah."

Yao Wei had no objections and went to the east coast with Lu Xi'an.

At that time, Hu Xiaodong and his son happened to be on the east coast, which was also a coincidence.

They've been coming less often lately, and I wonder if it's because Lu Xi'an has been giving them more things, making their families more well-off, and thus they've become lax in their sweet water business.

Although few come, they happen to be here at this time. It was also a matter of luck.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei explained their intentions on the east coast, and Hu Xiaodong and his son immediately nodded in agreement, setting off back to Dongdao Island.

The next day, they brought Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei a total of six ceramic basins and a ceramic jar, leaving Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei both amused and exasperated.

"You've brought so much, how can we possibly use it all?!"

Lu Xi'an said helplessly.

Hu Xiaodong laughed and said, "If you can't use them, you can keep them. Mr. Lu, these ceramic pots are quite easy to break. They can easily break if you're not careful. It's good to keep a few as spares."

“I specifically took six, because six is ​​auspicious and sounds lucky.”

This guy even knows idioms; he's much more cultured than the people at the 923 Institute.

However, to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's surprise, these many ceramic pots actually came in handy later.

Another round of low tide followed, and before the cold front arrived, about eight or nine days later, Luo Ping and his group drove up the mountain.

This time, Luo Ping, Lao Shu, Liu Hua, Tang Er, and Chai Xin came. Lao Shu rarely went out, so he was very happy. He was even more excited to see Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

Then he saw the millstone that Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had made, and he was both surprised and excited. He asked, "Brother and sister, where did this come from?!"

Lu Xi'an said, "We did it."

The old tree exclaimed incredulously, "Brother and sister, you can even make this?!"

Lu Xi'an said, "It's alright. We learned how to use it because we have it on the island."

"It's perfect that you're here. Let's make noodles and eat together."

So they ground the flour, kneaded it, and boiled water...

A series of procedures were assigned to everyone, and everyone got to work together.

They made so much dough this time that one earthenware basin couldn't hold it all, so they simply used six earthenware basins at once.

Lao Shu, Luo Ping, Liu Hua, Tang Er, Chai Xin, and Yao Wei lined up, squatted on the ground, each with a ceramic basin in front of them, and kneaded dough together, creating a spectacular scene.

As for Lu Xi'an, he was still in charge of making the meat sauce.

He was originally going to knead a bowl of dough too, but Chai Xin insisted on joining in, so Lu Xi'an had no choice but to give it to Chai Xin and let the girl try. Unexpectedly, Chai Xin picked it up very quickly and kneaded it quite well, so he gave the job to Chai Xin.

After preparing the noodles, everyone cleared out a ceramic pot to put in the meat sauce, then took a pot and a wok, filled it with water, and put it on the fire to cook the noodles.

After cooking, Lu Xi'an scooped the noodles into a ceramic basin and poured the sauce over each one in a separate bowl.

The seven people split into four groups. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei shared a ceramic pot, Liu Hua and Tang Er shared another, Luo Ping and Lao Shu shared a third, and Chai Xin, with his bowl clinking, sat on the edge of the cliff, enjoying his meal immensely.

The seven people, three basins, and one bowl were lined up in a row on the edge of the cliff, which was also a spectacular sight.

“It’s so delicious!”

Luo Ping couldn't help but admire it.

"okokokok."

"Uh-huh!"

Everyone was so engrossed in eating that they didn't have time to speak, but they all agreed wholeheartedly, making sounds from their throats.

At this moment, the only one speaking was the old tree.

"Don't talk while you're eating, or you'll spit into the bowl."

The old tree said disdainfully.

Luo Ping also complained, "Stop talking about me, the tree root on your head has fallen in too!"

Although they complained about each other, they were eating incredibly fast, as if in a competition, with their heads almost buried in the bowls.

"Comfortable!"

After finishing his meal, the old tree couldn't help but slump to the ground, rubbing his stomach and praising the food.

Luo Ping did the same, turning his head and saying, "This thing is good. Could you teach us how to make it? We want to make one when we get back."

(End of this chapter)