WS - Chapter 65
Chapter 65
Before eating, it was agreed: the first round of flatbread and grilled beef brisket would fill everyone's stomachs; then those who needed to shower could shower, those who needed to continue drying meat slices could do so, and once everyone was about done and the beef soup was ready, they'd gather again for the second round.
But with only five skewers of meat and two flatbreads, soon all they could do was lick their fingers and savor the memory.
Zhuang Jiachuan and the other two naturally deferred, letting Ning Chuyang shower first, and took over the task of grilling meat to dry.
Song Shiyue, who had already sliced all the meat, wasn't idle either; she stood up to head over to the pile of leftovers from the slicing.
But just as Song Shiyue straightened up to rise, Yu Nianbing beside her nudged her with an elbow.
"Help me eat this." Yu Nianbing averted her gaze, avoiding Song Shiyue's somewhat confused look, and added quickly and softly, "Today I'm a little too tired; I'll just have some soup later."
That sounded quite reasonable, even logical.
Song Shiyue didn't think much of it for the moment and just instinctively asked, "Are you feeling unwell? Should we call the doctor to take a look? Or do you want to go rest in the cabin, and I'll call you when the soup is ready?"
Bombarded with a string of questions, Yu Nianbing merely glanced at Song Shiyue, shook her head, and quickly shoved the flatbread into Song Shiyue's hand. Then she swiftly stood up and stepped back several paces. Only then did a smile appear on her face.
Because Yu Nianbing had spoken first, Song Shiyue instinctively caught the flatbread thrust at her.
But the moment the flatbread was in her hand, Song Shiyue sensed something off.
Earlier, everyone had wolfed down the skewers at top speed. Even Song Shiyue had divided the last meat skewer between two small flatbreads and gulped it down in a few bites.
But now, this palm-sized flatbread was stuffed full of meat. If Song Shiyue hadn't caught it quickly, the meat would have squeezed out.
The meat was what Song Shiyue had skewered and grilled. She hadn't noticed when Yu Nianbing mentioned it earlier, but now that she held it, she realized it contained at least three skewers' worth.
"You..." Song Shiyue began with a helpless smile.
But Yu Nianbing, already standing a few steps away, cut her off with a hint of pride: "Eat it quickly, it won't taste as good cold. I'll go tidy up the room and be back soon."
With that, she didn't wait for Song Shiyue to say another word; she just sauntered off briskly with her hands behind her back.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but Song Shiyue felt that the departing steps were excessively lighthearted—add a pair of rabbit ears and she'd be hopping. It really didn't match Yu Nianbing's usual composure.
For a moment, the usually exasperated Yu Nianbing and the inexplicably smug Song Shiyue seemed to have swapped roles.
Over the past two days, Yu Nianbing had come to understand Song Shiyue's persistence fairly well. And Song Shiyue had likewise seen some of Yu Nianbing's stubbornness.
This flatbread—while it was still in her hands, everything was negotiable; but once she'd shoved it over, Yu Nianbing definitely wouldn't take it back.
It must be that her earlier appetite... had scared her.
Song Shiyue held the flatbread and took a big bite.
The thin flatbread, packed with still-hot meat—one bite filled her mouth with rich fragrance.
As expected of normal beef: grilled, it was infinitely more delicious than those strange mutant beast meats.
And perhaps because this flatbread held a little secret known to both of them, enfolding Yu Nianbing's wordless consideration, it tasted even better than Song Shiyue's own portion earlier.
Yu Nianbing had found an excuse to slip away, not giving Song Shiyue a chance to decline. But she did actually head toward the small wooden cabins.
Three cabins: one for washing, two for sleeping.
The one near the washing cabin had originally held pots, bowls, and seasonings; they had gone in and out of it multiple times before.
Yu Nianbing stood at the door and glanced into both rooms. The layout inside was similar: just a bed and a table, very simple. The first to choose should be polite, so Yu Nianbing picked the one near the washroom, the one that had previously held supplies.
The cabin interior was barely over ten square meters. The bed took up a big chunk, and the remaining space had originally held a table and two chairs.
Now the table seemed to have been tidied away and borrowed by the production team; the chairs were also moved out, so the space was freed up.
Only...
The cabin floor was also nailed with wooden planks, so it was naturally cleaner than the dirt outside.
But there was still quite a bit of dust on it, and the planks had been rough-planed, not even waxed...
On one side, a 1.2-meter single bed; on the other, a dusty plank floor. Yu Nianbing stood at the door, sinking into deep thought.
While Yu Nianbing was still pondering, viewers on StarNet were lining up to make the decision for her.
Yu Nianbing, don't hesitate! You've already given away more than half your dinner—what's half a bed?
"What 'more than half'? Wasn't it agreed that this is only the first half? Besides, if you've given your dinner away, can't you at least keep your bed?"
"Look at lunch. Even if there's a second half, I bet Yu Nianbing will still fish all the meat from her bowl into Song Shiyue's!"
"Come to think of it, I find this meal distribution system a bit unreasonable. Whether by appetite or contribution, our Song Shiyue should get a little more—from a person speaking up for justice."
"That makes sense. But maybe they don't have our all-around view and haven't realized Song Shiyue needs to eat more. Speaking of that big plate of chicken... Song Shiyue really can eat a lot."
"What's all this about 'all-around'? It's all about heart! Hold up our Little Ice Block's thumping little red heart~~~"
"Hahaha, little red heart! You mean little heart of love, right?"
"I want to say to the classmate who said, 'if you gave your dinner away, at least keep your bed': what Yu Nianbing should keep isn't the bed, but her heart~~~ Haha~"
"Haha, so true—if you can't keep your heart, you can't keep anything!"
"Wait, I suspect someone up ahead is driving, but I have no evidence..."
"How about we stop overthinking and order takeout—from a trembling Little Ice Bucket"
"Are we already eating driving candy this soon? Then won't the next ten-odd days just be sweet enough to knock us out?—from an equally trembling Little Mooncake"
"Hahaha, I can't take it anymore, 'trembling' is going to be worn out by you guys!"
"Want to fund a pressure cooker for the beef soup..."
"Why not fund a pot of already stewed soup so they can just drink it and sleep!"
"Hahaha, report! Someone here is crowdfunding to build cars!"
Probably, Yu Nianbing never imagined that the option she was hesitating over was being anticipated to this extent.
Meanwhile, Captain Yang, just two cabins away, had finally made up his mind and picked up his bowl.
Then he reached his chopsticks toward another bowl, where cabbage was wrapped around shredded potato and lettuce was tucked into tomato.
When Captain Yang had arrived earlier and stood here, he could roughly see the situation behind the cabins with the production team. These dishes had been set aside before eating; he knew that.
But the sight of these mixed-together dishes was truly unpleasant—a sense of disrespect, of not being treated properly. That was what Captain Yang, already having had a failed day, found hard to accept.
The food itself wasn't the problem. The energy was necessary to take in.
In the past, when leading team-building expeditions, he'd even eaten bugs and such. Not to mention, just this afternoon, he'd eaten too.
That lunchbox that had been gnawed by the dog—hadn't he eaten that too?
What else couldn't he eat! For survival, what couldn't he eat!
Thus Captain Yang warned himself repeatedly not to care about the dignity and respect in this meal, but simply to consume the food itself.
After a long while, he finally took the first bite.
You know, the boxed meals prepared by the production team actually tasted quite good.
The famished Captain Yang soon pushed those self-manufactured derivative meanings to the back of his mind and focused on shoveling the food into his mouth.
Soon, both bowls were growing shallow.
But because of his current loathing of Director Zhang, he steadfastly took one bite of dish and one bite of rice, refusing to mix them as Director Zhang had suggested.
Precisely because of that, when he reached the bottom, Captain Yang found a chopstick-full of green pepper and shredded potato beneath the plain rice.
Captain Yang found it hard to describe his feelings at that moment.
He clearly knew it was probably just that the first person hadn't separated the dishes from the rice.
Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that it was like finishing a whole basin of rice only to discover that the basin had previously held shredded potatoes and, after being emptied, hadn't been washed before being filled with rice.
This unpleasant train of thought was a continuation of earlier circumstances. Captain Yang felt his just-full stomach begin to clench and churn.
And this was something that Director Zhang—who had been driven away by Captain Yang's anger earlier—would never have imagined.
The gap in thinking between people can sometimes be as vast as a galaxy.
Just as Director Zhang, who liked mixed rice, never thought there was anything wrong with the dishes being tossed a couple of times with clean chopsticks.
While Captain Yang, having failed all day, was so sensitive that he associated the dishes with swill...
Gaps in thinking can be bridged through communication.
If there's no communication, then only misunderstandings remain...
After a cursory glance at the room, Yu Nianbing turned and headed back to the campfire. She had no idea that just a short distance away, someone was being suffocated by their own overactive imagination.
By the campfire, Song Shiyue was already squatting by the pile of cow hair, horns, and other odd leftovers from slicing the beef, tinkering with something.
Seeing Yu Nianbing approach, Song Shiyue immediately raised her head and grinned: "I've finished eating—thanks a lot, Teacher Yu!"
"..." Yu Nianbing halted, paused a moment, then curved her lips and said quietly, "What's there to thank? I just couldn't finish and asked you to help."
Song Shiyue didn't argue, just smiled and blinked, wearing a knowing look.
Those eyes were so bright, like stars fallen into a deep pool. Wherever she was, their radiance couldn't be concealed.
They were just like...
Yu Nianbing couldn't help but glance at the dog who had finished gnawing two beef hooves and was sniffing the cow hair nearby.
The latter seemed to sense someone's gaze, looked up, stuck out its tongue, bared its teeth in a happy grin, and wagged its tail furiously.
Yep, just like this one.
A faint smile spread across Yu Nianbing's features—the satisfaction of feeding someone else, more delightful than eating herself.
Yu Nianbing's gaze shifted from the dog to Song Shiyue's hands, which were fiddling with something.
Those hands, which had just been cleaned to eat the flatbread, were now covered in blood and grime again.
"Aren't these pretty much useless now? What are you trying to make?" Yu Nianbing couldn't quite figure out Song Shiyue's actions.
"When I sliced the meat, I left two relatively intact beef tendons. I want to see if I can process them to make a bowstring." Song Shiyue shook the two white strips still attached with bits of meat, and added, "And the cowhide—I want to see if I can make some temporary rope from it. I asked Wang Daming earlier, and he said the safety rope we used for tree climbing outside can't be taken with us."
Listening to Song Shiyue, Yu Nianbing had the illusion that they weren't here to film a ten-odd-day show and then leave, but were about to start living like primitive people.
Perhaps sensing Yu Nianbing's concealed surprise, Song Shiyue smiled again: "I'm just killing time. If it works out, great; if not, it doesn't cost anything but a bit of time."
"You can make it," Yu Nianbing said with absolute certainty, then added, "You can do it. Take your time, don't rush."
Such trust made Song Shiyue pause in surprise.
During the apocalypse, as a Strength-Type Ability User, Song Shiyue had indeed handled many mutant beasts, but there was a big difference between normal animals and mutant ones, so she wasn't very confident.
She really hadn't expected that in Yu Nianbing's eyes, she was this capable.
Song Shiyue immediately felt a surge of motivation.
Of course, if Song Shiyue had been a bit more attentive, she might have noticed that the emphasis of Yu Nianbing's words lay on "take your time, don't rush."
After all, the sight of tearing raw cowhide with bare hands was something Yu Nianbing truly dreaded seeing.
Beef is tough to stew. After Ning Chuyang, Mu Xingzhou and Guan Yongyi had also finished their showers, the beef soup was just about ready to eat.
Grilled brain on the stone slab, grilled beef tongue on the wire mesh—another sizzling, delicious meal.
Here, one had to praise the thermal storage box: the brains were extremely fresh; with a little seasoning they had no gaminess at all, and the melt-in-the-mouth tenderness was truly enjoyable.
Except for Yu Nianbing, who didn't dare eat and gave her portion to Song Shiyue, the others all ate with smacking tongues, almost unable to resist scraping clean even the grooves of the stone slab.
"So delicious! But I feel like it lacked a bit of garlic. Brains need some garlic to be even more fragrant," Guan Yongyi said with feeling after licking the last bit of brain from his plate.
If Captain Yang had been fortunate enough to hear that, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold back a happy laugh. After all, it was the one successful thing in his otherwise failed day. Too bad he couldn't hear it—this was also destined to be a day of failure.
The beef tongue, sliced paper-thin by Song Shiyue and marinated, was also wildly popular. Paired with the ladled beef soup, one mouthful of meat and one of soup soon stuffed everyone full. Whether it was the ingredients or the current dining atmosphere, it was all novel enough that even though Song Shiyue's culinary skills were merely average, the flavors they tasted were elevated two levels. For a time, they were so immersed in this beef feast that they didn't even lift their heads to eat.
Recalling Yu Nianbing's words when she gave away the flatbread, Song Shiyue didn't care whether it was an excuse or Yu Nianbing's true feelings. When ladling soup for her, she deliberately stirred and scooped, shoveling out quite a bit of meat from the cow head.
When Yu Nianbing reached to take the bowl, she almost failed to catch it the first time. After Song Shiyue brought it over and she glanced inside, she couldn't help pressing a hand to her forehead.
This was beef soup?
Just a layer of soup, and more than half a bowl of meat...
Who had ever seen beef soup like this?
If a shop sold it like this, it would've gone out of business long ago!
Yu Nianbing strongly suspected that all the meat on that cow head had been scraped off by Song Shiyue...
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