Chapter 191 - Volume 3 Chapter 1 Out at Sea
This was already their third day out at sea. Originally, Shao Qing was prepared to make a small boat by herself and slowly drift towards the island country. However, she didn’t expect to take a look at the seaside to see that there were a lot of fishing boats, cruise ships and so on.
But just having a boat was useless, they needed someone to drive it. Shao Qing originally wanted to find a base nearby. There must be fishermen in a base near the sea and the fishermen could drive the boat.
As for whether the fisherman would be willing to go so far as to cross the sea to the island country, although crystal nucleus are not some miracle item, it should be useful in this regard.
Maybe Shao Qing was really lucky, when they were looking for the boat, they also found a man. The young boy looked like he was 20 years old and had healthy wheat-colored skin approaching a copper bronze tone.
He was entangled with an octopus and was being dragged into the sea.
The ocean must be the most dangerous place during the end of the world. There was too much marine life in the ocean. Most of the marine life, after mutation, had high attack power. Not to mention, the ocean is unfathomable. No one knows what lives at the bottom of the ocean.
This octopus probably came up to the edge for predation or it may have been washed up by the high tide. The teenager was doing something when he was treated as prey.
Shao Qing stared at the huge octopus, her eyes shone bright for a long while. Then she asked Yan Qiyue: “Do you want to eat grilled octopus tentacles?”
Yan Qiyue looked at her. Her eyes were shining, she was the one who probably really wanted to eat it. Yan Qiyue’s mouth twitched and then said: “It’s better to save him. Who knows, maybe he can drive a boat and we don’t have to look around everywhere. If not, he should know someone who can drive a boat?”
Shao Qing, who found another friend, happily bundled the octopus that was the height of a person.
The teenager had already given hope and closed his eyes waiting for death. But abruptly, his body suddenly jolted up. He opened his eyes and found that he was suspended in the air. He was still wrapped by the octopus tentacles, but the octopus was suddenly in midair.
The octopus was suspended by green vines and hung upside down. Just in front of the teenager, a woman stood. She pulled a knife out and sliced down hard. The teenager fell down on the beach head first.
Shao Qing also picked up the tentacles that bound the young boy. The tentacles were still wriggling and fresh.
She squeezed the soft and slippery octopus tentacles and said to Yan Qiyue seriously: “Let ’s eat octopus today at noon. The octopus tentacles can be cooked teppanyaki style. We have a grill. The grilled octopus will definitely be very good. The rest can be cut into shreds and stewed with eggs. Unfortunately, there are no leeks, otherwise the octopus could be sautéed with leeks.”
“You can keep it and fry it when you have leeks.” Yan Qiyue touched his chin. When he said that Shao Qing was very happy about it: “You’re right, we can go to the neighborhood area to see if there are any vegetables that I didn’t bring and collect some more.”
Listening to the two people discussing how to cook this octopus, the teenager looked stunned: ...
After the negotiation, Shao Qing asked the young boy: “Can you sail a boat?”
The teenager froze for a long time, then nodded.
“That’s great!” Shao Qing felt that she had done a great job of saving the person. She could kill two birds with one stone. It really couldn’t be better.
Shao Qing bent down and patted the boy’s shoulder: “Boy, can I discuss something with you?”
The boy was still blank: “What’s the matter ...”
“It’s like this, I’m going to go to the island country, but I don’t know how to sail a boat. So I want to hire you to sail. As for the remuneration, it could be crystal nucleus or grain, up to you.” Shao Qing spoke very seriously.
She had already made some preparations. If the teenager did not agree, she would tie him directly to the boat. By then, once he’s stuck on the boat, he could only continue forward.
The teenager stared at Shao Qing for a long time and then whispered, “Is food okay?”
Shao Qing waved her hand: “No problem. Since you are hired, it is natural for you to make the conditions. As long as it is not too excessive, I will satisfy your demands.”
The teenager knew that once he was on the sea, there was a high possibility of dying. There were too many unpredictable dangers: mutated marine creatures, especially large marine creatures that can be called sea monsters, various tornado winds and tsunamis, underwater volcano eruptions, reefs, etc., all kinds of dangers. As long as one made contact with any of them, it was enough to make sure they never came back.
However, the conditions given by Shao Qing were too generous. He was reluctant to give it up. It can be seen that Shao Qing was a powerful person and there must be no shortage of food in her hands.
If he can rely on this exchange, he can let his brothers and sisters live a good life for a while.
This time, he was attacked by the octopus when he was out to find food. Every time during the high tide and low tide on the beach, there would be a lot of oysters, sea shells, small fish and the like. He had just wanted to come over and pick up some of these to go back and eat it with his brothers and sisters.
During the apocalypse, not everyone was as well off as Shao Qing. Most were like this teenager. They would not be full for their three meals and struggled most of the time.
He breathed in through his nose and cried, “I’ll sail for you, can you give me two bags of food?”
“OK.” Shao Qing said generously. Before leaving, she had emptied quite a few granaries. The majority was brought back to Jiangcheng by her friends. The remaining 20 bags of rice were taken by her. There were also a few bags of ground flour, some red beans and green beans for cooking porridge.
The teenager was a little surprised, his cheeks flushed. He whispered, “Can you let me go back and settle down, then go with you?”
“Yes, we just need to buy something. Where do you live? Let’s go back together!” Shao Qing glanced at the octopus struggling. Expressionlessly, she sliced it with the sword throwing away the internal organs of the cartilage and ink sac, leaving the delicious octopus tentacles and flesh which she threw into the space.
The youngster surprised by Shao Qing’s savageness: QAQ
The youngster lived at a small base close to the beach. This base was not large. The base may only have a total of two or three hundred people. There were no mercenary regiments.
Reportedly, the origin of this seaside base was the fisherman. They were probably local people from before the apocalypse, thus it was quite peaceful.
The youngster led them to the base. Because the youngster led them, they went straight in without being checked.
As soon as they returned to the teenager’s home, there were many children who came out under the leadership of a young girl to greet the teenager.
The children tweeting were about four or five years old, while the older ones were seven or eight years old.
The teenager said: “I’ll introduce you...” It was only then that he remembered that he hadn’t introduced himself yet, so he was a little shy: “My name is Feng Lan, this is my older sister Feng Yue. My sister is a kindergarten teacher. The children are the survivors from our village and now live with us.”
Shao Qing also briefly introduced herself and Yan Qiyue to them. After entering the house, she started to move the food around.
She gave them fifteen bags of rice and left five bags to eat on the road. Three bags of flour, some of the vegetables, and dried meat she would store it away. The older sister was stunned.
“This is what we said was the compensation.” Shao Qing said lightly: “I don’t know if it is enough, but this is all I can give you at present.”
“Enough ... Enough ...” Feng Lan murmured. He originally thought that Shao Qing would give him three or five bags of food and that would be already very good. Who would have thought Shao Qing would just pull out dozens of bags.
Feng Yue seemed to catch on and looked at Feng Lan doubtfully. Feng Lan bit his lip and explained: “I’m going to accompany Qing Jie to go to sea and I will come back soon. You take care of Er Bao and the rest at home ...”
Feng Yue was trembling. She knew the danger of the sea, especially going to the sea during the end of the world. Saying one would have a narrow escape for their lives was being hopeful.
Yet, she couldn’t help it. There were several children in the family to support. The two of them could not afford it. If they had these foods, they would not have to worry about the children having nothing to eat for at least a year and a half.
“Come back soon...” Feng Yue trembled.
Shao Qing wasn’t comfortable looking at this pair who seemed to be doing their last farewells and patted Feng Yue’s shoulder: “As long as I’m alive, I will not let your brother get into an accident. Rest assure, we will get back safely.”
After appeasing the two siblings, Yan Qiyue was sent out by Shao Qing to buy vegetables. She carefully placed Er Dai down to allow him to rest. Then, she went to the kitchen.
The octopus was very long and cut into pieces by Shao Qing. Whether it was to be grilled or fried on an iron plate, it will do.
As for the other parts, Shao Qing cut them into rings and strips of meat. Partly for grilling, partly for soup and stir-fry.
At noon today, a group of them ate this octopus.
Yan Qiyue soon bought some vegetables similar to seaweed, kelp, and some leeks grown in the base.
This was because he still remembered Shao Qing said she wanted to eat leek fried octopus.
Charcoal was readily available and so were the grills. Shao Qing had half using an iron plate while the other half was for tools for roasting kebabs.
This way, she can grill the octopus directly on the teppanyaki and barbecue it.
When Yan Qiyue came back, he saw the children surrounding Shao Qing. They were all staring at her grilling the octopus tentacles on the iron plate.
Pouring a little oil, the tender octopus was sizzling on the iron plate. The scent began to spread. She also cut some onion and sprinkled it on top with some sesame oil and chili. Once it roasts a little more, she just needed to sprinkle a little bit of cumin, then it would be ready to eat.
Considering it may be a problem for the children, she didn’t put too much chili. The children ate until their mouths were covered with grease and looked at Shao Qing, eyes full of admiration.
Shao Qing had already given them an illusion that she had become a chef.
On the other side, the barbecue part was more diversified. Roasted leeks, roasted potato, sliced meat, and the most important part, the octopus.
After feeding everyone, Shao Qing patted her stomach, satisfied. Then she set off with Brother Feng Lan.
Feng Yue took the children and sent them away reluctantly.
Shao Qing led the three of them and picked a small, but not too small ship that could be controlled by one person. It should be able to resist the wind and rain and could sail long distances.
Thus they departed.
Feng Lan was the busiest because he was responsible for sailing. The second busiest was Shao Qing because she was responsible for cooking. Yan Qiyue and Er Dai stayed on the deck every day, very leisurely.
There are fishing nets and the like on the boat. When they stopped at night to rest, Feng Lan would cast a net to catch fish. These fresh sea fish will be picked at by Shao Qing. If they were too small they were thrown back. If they were not good, they were thrown back. Thus, they would be left with the delicious ones to enrich their three meals.
Sometimes Shao Qing also made fish fillet porridge or the like. In short, life was very leisurely.
When they were lucky, they could also get two hairy crabs. This big crab had a purple shell and was much better tasting than the average crab.
Shao Qing was addicted after eating it for the first time. Every day she hoped that Brother Feng Lan would be able to get two more. In addition to this, shrimp was also very popular. In short, there were many delicious things to eat.
It was more luxurious than food on land. Shao Qing cooked a variety of dishes for the three meals, at least four dishes and one soup a day.
Especially the soup, it was never the same.
Today could be fish soup. Tomorrow would be seaweed egg soup. The day after tomorrow would be kelp meat soup. When he first went to sea, Feng Lan was still thin. After a few days of work, he had gained a lot of weight and his face had grown a lot rounder.
“Let’s eat!” Instructed Yan Qiyue as he set the table on the deck. Then he passed the dishes one by one. Shao Qing reached out and shouted for Feng Lan to eat.
“Come on, eat more.” Shao Qing placed a lot of meat on Feng Lan’s plate. When Feng Lan just came out with them, he was particularly poor and thin. Shao Qing still remembered once when Feng Lan took a bath.
In fact, it was not a bath. They had just reached the sea and needed to treasure the freshwater resources, so they would just take a towel and dip it into water to wipe their bodies.
Shao Qing had walked into the wrong room when she was on the deck. Originally she felt embarrassed because she felt like a pervert that directly went into a room of another. But taking a look, she saw that Feng Lan was wearing pants and was so thin and pitiful.
It felt like there was only skin covering the bones. His ribs were protruding and his arms and calves were not like people in their twenties.
At that time, Brother Feng Lan was so ashamed that he stretched his hand to cover his chest. Shao Qing couldn’t help but say: “When we tell you to eat more during the day, you get so shy. But look how thin you are, it must be painful to touch.*”
* saying he’s pointy
Then she suddenly realized that her words sounded like teasing and she coughed: “I don’t mean I want to touch, I meant it looked like it will be painful for the hand... ” The more she explained, the more ambiguous it became, so she hurried away.
Yan Qiyue looked at Shao Qing picking food for Feng Lan and was a bit jealous. He hummed until Shao Qing also gave him a bunch to settle his jealousy.
Finally Shao Qing gave a bunch of food to everyone.
After finishing the meal, Feng Lan remembered something serious. He seriously stated: “There is a reef further ahead, which can’t be bypassed. After all, this route is known and the bypass route is unknown. Known danger is always safer than the unknown.”
“Little brother, go ahead boldly... ” Shao Qing, who almost sang it out, coughed in disguise. Then she said:” Since I have chosen you, I believe in you.”
Apparently this was Feng Lan’s first time going this far, moreover he was alone. There was no senior who was familiar with this route. It was certain that he was nervous.
But taking their money, he had to eliminate the disasters. Not only did he hold Shao Qing’s life in his hands but also his own. He had to drive carefully if he wanted to go back to see his sister alive.
After dinner, several people lay side by side on the deck watching the sun gradually set. Feng Lan found a safe place to stop the boat and drop the anchor to rest for the night.
When it was getting dark and the wind rose again, Shao Qing took back the iron plate and went back to bed.
Because of his injury, Er Dai was the most pitiful. He had to sleep on his own bed. But in order to observe Er Dai’s injuries, Er Dai still slept in Shao Qing’s room.
Only another bed was installed opposite to let Er Dai sleep. Shao Qing and Yan Qiyue slept on the other bed.
For this reason, Er Dai would constantly look at Shao Qing with his disgruntled eyes. He wanted to sleep with Shao Qing... He wanted to hug Shao Qing, waahhh
When Shao Qing and the two of them went to bed, he was no longer difficult. He would lie on the bed and look at the other two unsure how to sleep.
“Good night, baby.” Shao Qing squeezed Yan Qiyue’s chin and kissed the tip of his nose. Then ignoring the whimper from Er Dai, she turned to sleep.
Listening to the meaning of Feng Lan, when they enter the reef group, it will be very dangerous. They must be vigilant at all times and wouldn’t be able to sleep well, so before they reach the reef group, they had to make sure they sleep enough.
Yan Qiyue also moved up and kissed Shao Qing’s lips. He was particularly satisfied: “Good night, dear.”
Er Dai: QAQ
You abuse the wounded!