Li Yu watched them, their faces brimming with hope under the glow of the setting sun.
Having gone through this experience, most people had gained new insights into survival.
Zhu Xiao approached Li Yu and said, "Director Li, it’s good that you’re here; we plan on returning tomorrow."
For Zhu Xiao, having held off zombies together on the wall last ti, the als in those days had been too good. He was eager to join Big Camphor Tree Base as soon as possible.
So he wanted to head out quickly, taking advantage of the zombies’ withdrawal to collect so valuable resources from farther places. Then they could be admitted into the base sooner.
Li Yu felt quite fond of this robust man who was over a dozen centiters taller than himself.
He said with a smile, "Why the rush? What’s the hurry to head out?"
Zhu Xiao, an honest man, directly expressed his inner thoughts.
Li Yu heard that he wanted to enter the base quickly just to enjoy good food.
And he couldn’t help but laugh.
So he said to him, "To thank everyone for their contributions and efforts this ti, Big Camphor Tree Base will treat everyone to a al tomorrow noon!"
Zhu Xiao was stunned and asked straightforwardly, "Really?"
"Really."
A look of surprise imdiately spread across Zhu Xiao’s face.
Others who heard this news also couldn’t help but get excited.
"Thank you, Director Li, you’re aweso!!"
"Wow! What a nice surprise! So generous!!"
"Hahaha, I can’t believe we’re getting a al before we head out."
"I think this al, with Big Camphor Tree Base’s generosity, will definitely be extraordinary. Looking forward to it!"
"Being able to eat is already good enough, what’s there to expect..."
"You don’t get it, haven’t you seen the Underground Plantation? So many vegetables inside. To tell you the truth, it’s been a long ti since I last had vegetables..."
"Vegetables, tsk tsk, do you think there will be at?"
"at? I think that might be difficult; with so many people, over a thousand, it’s not very likely we’ll get at. Honestly, if they can manage to give over a thousand people so porridge, I’d think that’s already quite generous."
"When you put it that way, it does make sense, considering the number of people."
"But, we can save a al again, and I’m going to make sure I eat my fill this ti. One good al can last three or four days!"
"Don’t get your hopes too high, it might be a rationed supply, just a little bit of porridge for everyone."
"Even that’s not bad, it’s better than nothing, right?"
......
There was a buzz of discussion, each person having different expectations for the al the following noon.
But nobody really expected the al to be that grand, considering the number of people.
Simply providing such a large amount of food for everyone was already quite a luxury.
After announcing this news to everyone, Li Yu also took two manual generators and moved them to First Outer City, handing them over to Zhou Ran, He Bing, and others for modification.
......
The next morning.
Within the Inner City.
The morning sunlight bathed the earth.
A faint mist rose from the ground.
"Oink oink oink—"
A few pig cries rang out.
But after a few seconds, it quickly returned to silence.
Zhou Xiui, Ding Jiu, Zhou Weiguo, and others were slaughtering pigs.
Song Min and her group were also helping, preparing vegetables and steam-baking sweet potatoes, corn, rice, and other staples.
Preparing als for nearly 2000 people was a big job.
Besides Mrs. Li, Zhou Xiui, Song Min, Teacher Liu, Li Haoran, and others, there were a total of 40 people.
Li Yu also went over to help out.
Potatoes were the most abundant, so they were convenient for making shredded potatoes or potato slices.
Additionally, two pigs were slaughtered, weighing a total of 830 pounds.
Bone broth for soup, hind legs for stewing at; the entire pig was cooked using the simplest thods.
Traditional, old-fashioned braised pork.
The chunks of pork were cut very large, the fatty and greasy kind.
In this post-apocalyptic world, it’s much like the era many years before, when clothing and food were scarce.
People didn’t like to eat lean at; they were accustod to eating fatty at.
Fatty at has grease; people who had always lacked fats and oils were extrely yearning for such food.
Large, neatly cut pieces of pork were fried in oil, then green onions, ginger, and garlic were added and stir-fried for aroma.
Rice wine and salt were then added.
No other ingredients were used; the at was simply braised for an hour or two.
As a result, the pork wasn’t fried for too long, so it remained fatty and greasy.
Pork with eight parts fat and two parts lean was the most popular.
So people preferred all fat, but when the pork was cut, invariably there was so lean mixed in.
The rich aroma wafted throughout the entire base.
In the Second Outer City, many people stretched their necks greedily, sniffing the scent of the at.
"Uncle, didn’t you say it was impossible for us to have at? This scent, you dare to say it’s not at??? It slls too good."
He swallowed his saliva, speaking to an older man beside him.
"This is definitely at, but do you think they will give us any? Why else would there be a ranking system? If you ask , the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointnt. It’s good enough to have a bowl of hot porridge."
"No way, I really want to eat at..." the young man wailed.
The older man remained relatively calm; there was no hardship he hadn’t experienced before.
Aside from them, others around were also discussing animatedly.
So people even searched for a direction where the wind was blowing from their side and stood there greedily sniffing the aty breeze.
It was as if by just slling the scent of the at, they also felt satisfied.
.....
Besides pork, there were also so of the latest vegetables from the Underground Plantation.
This was indeed a bit luxurious.
Previously, over ten tons of Chengzi were harvested from two mountain forests, and last ti, one was distributed to each of them, and this ti, one was distributed again to everyone in the base.
Ti slowly passed, and as it did, the aroma of at in the air grew stronger and stronger.
This sll of at lured out the gluttonous worms in everyone’s stomachs.
Not just the people of the Second Outer City, but those in the First Outer City were restless too, truly too hungry.
The sense of hunger engulfed them like a tide.
Finally, the ti reached noon at twelve o’clock.
Almost all of the large iron pots in the base were used.
As the lids were opened, the aroma was tantalizing.
Zhou Xiui asked Li Haoran and others to use large iron spoons to scoop out the braised pork and place it into large iron buckets.
The pale red color, shiny with oil, was appetizing at first sight.
This ti, many sweet potatoes and corn were cooked, and so rice as well.
Li Yu had Li Tie and others push these foods to the First and Second Outer Cities in small carts.
Dozens of buckets, filled with vegetables, sweet potatoes, rice, and braised pork, were slowly pushed into the Outer Cities.
...
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