Jiang Miaomiao sat at the table, carefully recalling the details she had seen before and organized them into a few steps.
1. Knead the dough.
2. Chop the filling.
3. Wrap it all together.
Let’s start with the first step.
To plant vegetables, all the pots and containers in the house had been used up, leaving only water cups and a pot that could be used.
The water cups were too small, so she decided to use the pot and grabbed a few handfuls of flour into it, estimating that it should be enough for two people.
With everything in place, Jiang Miaomiao began to add water. Because it was her first time kneading the dough, she was unsure of the proportions, so she added water slowly, but it was still quite difficult.
Why was it so hard? Add some more water.
Why was it so watery? Add more flour.
After going back and forth, when she finally adjusted the dough to what she thought was the right consistency, it had become as big as a basketball.
Not to mention two people, it could make enough dumplings to feed ten people.
Jiang Miaomiao: … Well, I can always use the leftovers to make pancakes.
With the dough ready, the next step was to chop the filling. She had only a few ingredients to use for the filling, so she chose bean sprouts and preserved meat, having both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options.
She washed the bean sprouts and diced the preserved meat, then stir-fried them in the pot.
Next, she cut the dough into ping-pong ball-sized pieces. Jiang Miaomiao found a shampoo bottle, washed it clean, and used it to roll the dough.
This process turned out to be much harder than she had imagined. The dough didn’t cooperate at all. It either stuck to the bottle and tore apart or rolled into strange shapes that didn’t resemble circles.
After trying hard for a long time, she was exhausted and sweating profusely. She could only manage to roll out a dozen usable dumpling wrappers.
It’s fine if there are fewer; she only needed a taste.
Jiang Miaomiao wiped her sweat and officially started making dumplings, but she found that something was still not right.
She had watched others make dumplings before. They would hold the wrapper with one hand, stuff the filling with the other, and then pinch the dumpling delicately, creating a perfectly shaped dumpling.
However, when she tried it, the filling spilled everywhere, and the wrapper wouldn’t stay closed.
What to do?
She caught sight of some unused bean sprouts and had an idea. She went upstairs to find a hairpin, washed it clean, and used it to poke holes in the dumpling wrappers. It was like threading a needle, and she inserted the bean sprouts into the holes.
This way, the wrappers wouldn’t open, and even if she didn’t put much filling, it would stay inside and not scatter.
Having found a trick, Jiang Miaomiao gained more confidence. In no time, she used up all the dumpling wrappers and made fifteen complete dumplings.
She boiled water and put the dumplings in the pot.
She was exhausted and lay down to take a nap, but unexpectedly, she fell asleep directly.
After some time, someone grabbed her shoulder and shook her awake.
With sleepy eyes, she saw Lu Qiming’s face.
“Why are you sleeping in the living room? Drooling all over the table,” he said.
Really? Jiang Miaomiao quickly wiped her mouth but found nothing and glared at him.
Lu Qiming chuckled and wiped off the zombie blood from his face with two tissues, sniffed, then glanced at the pot on the stove.
“What are you cooking? It smells so good.”
She suddenly remembered her achievement and rushed over to check. She lifted the lid and took a look, only to feel desperate.
Lu Qiming leaned over to take a look, “Is this… dumpling skin soup?”
The dumplings were boiling in the boiling water, but the skin and the filling were all cooked to a pulp, like a chaotic dance of demons.
Jiang Miaomiao angrily retorted, “If you don’t understand, then don’t talk nonsense.”
Lu Qiming was even more puzzled, “What on earth is this?”
He saw the half-finished product in the trash can and burst into laughter.
“Is it supposed to be dumplings? Hahaha.”
Being mocked by him, Jiang Miaomiao felt angry and embarrassed. She slammed the pot lid shut and turned off the stove.
“Whatever it is, you’re not getting any.”
“Really?” Lu Qiming blinked his big eyes pitifully, “But I’ve been out for the whole morning, so hungry, I’m almost starving to death.”
“What does it have to do with me? Move aside.”
Jiang Miaomiao wanted to leave, but he somehow pulled something out of nowhere and waved it in front of her eyes.
After she saw it clearly, her eyes widened.
A dazzling diamond necklace.
Lu Qiming said, “I passed by a jewelry store on my way back and saw it. It’s so beautiful, but it can only be lying in the display case covered in dust. Do you like it?”
Jiang Miaomiao not only liked it, she loved it to death.
Her friends used to say that she was like a dragon. Whenever she saw shiny and beautiful things while shopping, she couldn’t walk away.
But now, in this post-apocalyptic world, being able to eat and drink was already a blessing. These small hobbies were long forgotten, and she didn’t think about them anymore.
Who would have thought that Lu Qiming would bring back a diamond necklace.
Jiang Miaomiao tried hard to restrain her desire and didn’t look at the necklace.
“I don’t like it.”
“Really? I don’t need it either, then I’ll just throw it away.”
Lu Qiming walked to the window and opened the glass, preparing to throw it away.
She quickly rushed over and snatched it from him, fuming, “Go eat it, eat until you’re stuffed.”
Lu Qiming got his wish and smiled happily.
“Shall I help you put it on?”
Jiang Miaomiao shook her head, holding the necklace in her hands to admire it.
Lu Qiming served himself a bowl of “dumpling skin soup” and sat at the table eating.
“It looks disgusting, but it tastes pretty good. Aren’t you eating?”
She gazed at the necklace in the sunlight, the diamond’s unique cut dividing the incoming light into countless rays, sparkling and translucent, exceptionally dazzling, capturing all her attention to the point where she had no time to pay attention to Lu Qiming.
Lu Qiming finished one bowl but was still hungry, so he had another.
“If you really like it that much, why not come with me to the jewelry store tomorrow and get all the ones you like?”
Jiang Miaomiao had finally seen enough and carefully put it into her pocket, shaking her head.
“At a time like this, wearing it, no one can appreciate it. Taking all of them back would just take up space.”
“Who says so? I can appreciate it.”
She hesitated for a moment but quickly snorted.
“You want to appreciate me? I’m not interested. What did you bring back after being out for so long?”
He pouted, “There, take a look for yourself.”
Behind the door, there were two new carts. Jiang Miaomiao walked over to check, expecting to find many new foods, but unexpectedly, they were all strange things.
Hammers, iron nails, wooden boards, steel plates, and even a large saw.
Jiang Miaomiao turned to look at Lu Qiming, “What are you going to do with these?”
“The zombie tide is coming soon, and these ordinary houses are not sturdy enough. We need to reinforce them.”
“Really?”
Jiang Miaomiao looked around and felt that the villa seemed quite solid. Otherwise, Xiaoming and the others would have broken in long ago with all their wandering around outside.
However, since he was so sure, she let him do as he pleased. After all, she was too lazy to do it herself.
Jiang Miaomiao took out the necklace and looked at it before going back to her room.
That night, Lu Qiming got to work, making a clanging noise with the hammer and saw.
At first, Jiang Miaomiao was worried that he would attract zombies, but after observing for a while, she found that the zombies didn’t have much reaction to the noise, so she stopped worrying and focused on her own things.
She used the solar-powered charger to charge her Kindle. When she downloaded e-books earlier, she didn’t have time to pick carefully, so she basically downloaded everything. If she remembered correctly, there were recipes and gardening manuals in it.
Jiang Miaomiao lay on the bed and leisurely flipped through the books, and indeed, she found a cookbook – “100 Easy and Delicious Lazy Dishes.”
Lazy dishes, it sounded perfect for her.
She eagerly opened it, and the first recipe was “Lazy Chicken Wings.”
Main ingredient: 500g chicken wings.
Seasonings: scallions, ginger (appropriate amount), cooking wine (appropriate amount), dark soy sauce (appropriate amount), honey (appropriate amount).
Steps:
1. Make two cuts in the chicken wings.
2. Marinate with seasonings.
3. Put them in the oven and bake at 180 degrees, both top and bottom, for ten minutes.
Jiang Miaomiao: … I don’t know if it’s a lazy dish, but the person who wrote this recipe is definitely lazy.
She continued flipping, and her mind only remembered the words “appropriate amount.” Then she inadvertently flipped to a photo of fried chicken.
Due to the limitations of the device, the photo appeared in black and white. But when she saw the outline of the fried chicken, her tongue automatically recalled the wonderful taste of crispy, fragrant, and juicy fried chicken.
Fried chicken was not feasible, so she thought about trying to fry two oil pancakes tomorrow?
As she hesitated, Lu Qiming knocked on the door.
“Can I come in?”
“What for?”
“To seal the windows.”
What?
Jiang Miaomiao opened the door and looked outside, only to see that all the windows of the villa were sealed with wooden boards, making it as dark as a prison.
“Why did you do this?”
“This is the first step. After sealing all of them, we will use paint and cling film to fill the gaps in the wooden boards, to prevent the zombies from smelling us when the zombie tide arrives.”
“Aren’t the zombies always wandering around outside? There shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Right now, the weather is still relatively cool. After the temperature rises, the zombies’ aggressiveness will increase, and their sensitivity will be higher.”
These settings were exactly the same as in the original text, making Jiang Miaomiao doubt whether the other person, like her, was not a character in the book, but had crossed over after reading it.
Lu Qiming continued, “Of course, I’m just guessing. But for safety’s sake, we should be more cautious, don’t you think?”
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t argue with him, but the thought of not seeing sunlight in the future made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
Besides, without sunlight, how could she continue gardening and drying clothes?
After some discussion, Lu Qiming made a concession – he would seal the other areas first and come back to seal her room last.
To save time, he started working at eight in the morning the next day.
As the weather got hotter and hotter, he started sweating after working for a short while.
Lu Qiming rolled up his short sleeves to his shoulders, revealing his strong biceps. Just as he was about to continue working, he caught sight of someone walking down the stairs.
The girl was wearing a white dress, with long, black, and fluffy hair cascading over her shoulders. Her exposed hands and feet were slender, and her waist was slim and graceful.
The diamond necklace on her collarbone shimmered faintly, and her skin, which hadn’t seen sunlight for too long, was almost translucently white.
“You…” Lu Qiming initially wanted to compliment her on her beauty, but whether it was due to embarrassment or something else, she spoke first:
“What are you looking at? Haven’t you seen such a beautiful girl before?”
“…I haven’t seen anyone so self-absorbed.” He quickly changed his tone, “Didn’t you say no one would appreciate it? Why did you put on the necklace?”
“Well, since no one appreciates it, I decided to appreciate myself.”
If she was going to die eventually, it was better to die beautifully than disheveled and dirty.
Jiang Miaomiao opened the cupboard and pulled out a basin to check on the plant seeds.
The results were delightful; many seeds had already sprouted, with tender white shoots full of vitality.
Which ones were tomatoes, and which ones were cucumbers again?
No matter, she would take whatever she got.
Jiang Miaomiao put down the basin and walked over to Lu Qiming, pushing his shoulder.
“Help me out.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Can you give a bit more blood? Could you get some soil from the yard for me?”
Lu Qiming smirked, “Why don’t you do it yourself?”
Jin Ban Tui had already been bled several times and was too weak to even speak. She could handle it on her own.
Jiang Miaomiao hesitated, “The smell is too bad; I had to wash off a layer of skin to clean it. Please help me, dig some soil, and leave the gardening to me. Once the vegetables are grown, we’ll share them, how about that?”
Lu Qiming coldly refused, “Even if the zombie tide is over, I still have to leave. I won’t have the chance to eat your vegetables, so I won’t go.”
“Are you really so heartless?”
He raised an eyebrow.
Jiang Miaomiao huffed, “Forget it, I won’t count on you. I’ll figure it out myself.”
The cement floor of the basement was covered with soil underneath. She didn’t believe she couldn’t dig it out.
Jiang Miaomiao, dressed in a brand-new white dress, carried a shovel and a hammer and walked into the dark basement. Soon, the sound of knocking and tapping echoed through the basement.
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