Chapter One Hundred: Knocking at the Door

A hand slapped hard against the leg, and the swarm of words was struck dead. He had been watching that mosquito for quite a while now as it darted this way and that, determined to find just the right place to drink blood.

In this day and age, were mosquitoes really so particular about how they fed?

At last, he caught his chance and killed it with one blow.

“There are more and more mosquitoes. Hurry, light the mosquito incense,” he muttered.

Unable to bear the mosquitoes outside any longer, the two of them went back into the house to make supper.

“What are we eating?” Shao Hong asked after lighting the mosquito incense.

“How about stir-fried green radish with pork? I think the green radishes in the garden are ready.”

“Fine. Green radish with pork it is.” The two of them happily settled it.

They were only making an ordinary home-cooked meal, and both were tired, so something simple would do.

Green radishes grew quickly to begin with, and with proper care and the right planting time, they grew even faster.

Under normal circumstances, a green radish would swell its roots in about a month; some faster varieties could reach marketable size in forty-five days.

The larger ones now were only just fit to eat, still a little short of being ready for sale.

Knock, knock.

Just as they were about to go pull up the radishes, they suddenly heard a faint sound.

“Is the fox spirit here for the eggs?” Zhong Di muttered.

But very soon, he felt that something was off. Setting aside the fact that once the fox spirit knew the way it made no sound at all, even before this, it had never sounded like this.

Before, it had been more like bumping into something by accident, but now it sounded more like—

Knock, knock.

“Damn it!” Zhong Di stumbled back, then patted Shao Hong. “What is going on?” He pointed at the door.

This was no mere tapping. It was clearly knocking on their door, all right? That was a little terrifying!

Fox spirit, stop messing around! We’ve set out the eggs for you properly. Why not just go get them? Do you really have to come scare us first?

“Exactly, what is going on? You go take a look,” Shao Hong said, also backing away in a panic.

“Let’s go together.”

The knocking kept going, and Zhong Di’s heart grew weaker by the second.

Human fear comes from fear of the unknown. It is not that one is truly afraid of something, but that the thing is unknown, and instinctively it inspires dread. That, too, is a major reason humanity has managed to survive to this day.

“All right, I’m done teasing you. It’s a manul. It wants to trade rabbit meat for eggs,” Shao Hong said, as though some hidden satisfaction had been fulfilled by Zhong Di’s reaction.

“A manul?” Zhong Di looked at him. Shao Hong clearly knew something.

“You weren’t here last night, so can you imagine how I felt? It just kept knocking, knocking, knocking, and in the end I summoned the courage to open the door, only to find it was a manul,” Shao Hong said as he took a few eggs from the side and went to open the door.

Zhong Di did not move forward. He only stood quietly inside the house.

When the door opened, he caught a glimpse through the crack of three manuls standing outside, one of them still carrying a rabbit in its mouth.

The rabbit was not exactly small, though it wasn’t huge either. Seeing it like that was far more shocking than a cat carrying a big rat in its mouth.

“Here, eggs.” Shao Hong set the eggs down in front of the manuls.

The manul lifted its two forepaws, sat down on the ground like a giant cat, and even bowed once.

Woof!

Yu Sheng hurried out, carried the rabbit inside, and even greeted the manuls before coming in.

Zhong Di felt miserable, but he could not say a word.

What in the world had he gotten himself into? Just as he was thinking that, he saw the fox spirit. After leaving behind a rabbit, it grabbed the eggs and ran off.

“Good thing I’m an atheist, or I’d definitely be burning incense every day.”

Shao Hong took the rabbit left by the fox spirit and went into the house.

Smack!

Zhong Di slapped another mosquito to death.

“Close the door quickly. There are too many mosquitoes. Tomorrow I’m going to buy a few door curtains. I never felt there were this many mosquitoes before, but they suddenly multiplied these past few days.”

The matter of the manuls knocking on the door for eggs passed like a little interlude, and neither of them discussed it.

To be fair, Zhong Di was shocked, but he could only keep himself together. In truth, he did feel a little shaken. Whether it was the manuls, the fox spirit, or even his dog son, their intelligence all seemed to be infinitely close to that of a six- or seven-year-old child.

A manul actually knew to trade a rabbit for eggs. This kind of barter arrangement was simply chilling.

As for Shao Hong, he had slowly grown used to it. The first time one saw it, one might still be astonished, but now it was nothing much.

“All right, since we have a rabbit already, why bother with radish and pork? Let’s just roast the rabbit. I happened to buy some flatbread today too. Roast a flatbread, eat roasted rabbit.”

“Fine, roasted rabbit. I’ll start the fire. You clean up the rabbit.”

After discussing the details a little more, the two of them got to work.

Out in the fields at night, it was wonderfully pleasant. Not only was it cool, but there was also a strange, refreshing ease to it.

Zhong Di only knew that in summer, when everyone else still needed air conditioning, he needed a blanket.

Soon, he had the fire going. The fire pit had been set up earlier for the very purpose of giving customers a place to roast things.

The best fire for roasting food was one that burned steadily but not too fiercely. Just right.

By the time Zhong Di had the fire ready, Shao Hong had already finished preparing the rabbit and had roughly dealt with the offal and head as well.

Those odds and ends were for Yu Sheng to eat. Yu Sheng, that dog son of theirs, seemed to have awakened some spirit intelligence; he refused to eat raw meat and insisted on cooked.

Which Chinese village dog did not eat raw meat? Zhong Di had never seen one.

After the rabbit was prepared, Shao Hong did not immediately put it over the fire. Instead, he first parboiled it with star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, cooking wine, and other seasonings. Shao Hong said this would make the roasted rabbit more flavorful.

His method was completely different from Zhong Di’s. Whether someone was an expert or not could be seen at a glance.

“Quick, brush on the chili oil,” Shao Hong said, staring intently at the rabbit as a golden crust began to appear on the surface.

The rabbit should be roasted first, and this was the ideal stage. Brushing on oil now would help resist the flames and use the oil to conduct heat, drawing out the moisture without burning the rabbit.

Very soon, a fragrance drifted out. The sesame seeds mixed into the chili oil had been roasted to a golden crisp, carrying with them a faint, clean aroma of sesame.

“You keep roasting. I’ll go make some dipping sauce.”

Zhong Di thought that eating it plain like this all the time was not ideal. With some dipping sauce, the flavor would absolutely be explosive.

The sauce was the most ordinary kind, with no secret recipe at all.

Just coriander and scallions from the garden, mixed with bird’s eye chilies and garlic bought from the market, a squeeze of lemon juice, some aged vinegar, light soy sauce, and a little sugar and salt. The taste was exquisite.

Looking at the lemons, Zhong Di thought of Sun Miaomiao’s lemon tree that day. Once the greenhouse was built, he would definitely plant some lemons.

By the time Zhong Di finished mixing the dipping sauce, Shao Hong had already roasted the flatbreads.

Hmm? These flatbreads were delicious.

Shao Hong had not added any seasoning at all; he had merely warmed them over the fire.

That meant they tasted completely natural, crisp and fragrant when chewed. They were far more satisfying than eating steamed buns every day.