Chapter 66: Busy Farming in the Last Days

Jul 07 2023

For Ji Cha, crayfish is something from a distant past. The last time he ate it was probably more than a decade ago, when he and Wang Qin hanged out at a night market stall.

But despite the long time that has passed, the refreshing taste of crayfish in the summer is still fresh in Ji Cha’s memory. When he heard that there were crayfish ahead, it piqued his curiosity. He not only wanted to explore the possibility of eating it, but also wanted to see if this creature, which was not particularly gentle before the apocalypse, would undergo any more ferocious changes in the post-apocalyptic world.

Imaginations of the two large claws becoming even larger, able to crush a person’s hand, and the like kept wandering through Ji Cha’s mind. This made him stunned when he arrived at the destination.

Well, crayfish had hardly undergone any physical changes, at least it was exactly the same as Ji Cha remembered.

But…

Ji Cha stared in amazement at the crayfish in the pond. Aren’t there way too many? They were so numerous that there was almost no grass growing around the pond. The crayfish were crawling all over the ground, almost eating up all the green vegetation on the surface.

When Ji Cha was a child, he used to fish for crayfish with his childhood playmates. He vaguely remembered that there were people breeding crayfish here, but he didn’t know that crayfish could grow so tenacious and strong after leaving the human breeding environment. They could almost survive by eating dirt.

Liang Jincheng squatted on the side and observed the crayfish for a while, then picked one up.

“Hey,” Ji Cha was about to warn him to be careful, but Liang Jincheng quickly dismantled the crayfish, and with a turn of his hand, the white, shiny flesh inside was revealed, which was very tempting.

Ji Cha seemed to recall the fragrant, spicy, and tender taste of the crayfish in the night market. Liang Jincheng smelled the crayfish and immediately gave a positive response, “It’s edible.”

How amazing is the human nose?

Ji Cha looked at Liang Jincheng with some skepticism, but immediately felt happy inside.

There were so many crayfish in the pond that it was unclear how many pounds there were. Just by looking at those on the shore, they didn’t know how many meals they could have.

Two young boys followed behind Ji Cha and were also happy to hear that they could eat the crayfish. “Can we take some back to eat?”

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Ji Cha turned his head, “Of course, you can take some if you want. These crayfish are not mine, but I can’t guarantee the safety issues behind it.”

He had originally come to catch fish today and had brought several snake skin bags with him. Now, he took out one bag and filled it with about five pounds of crayfish.

The boys looked uneasy because they hadn’t brought anything to carry the crayfish with.

Ji Cha stopped them from taking off their clothes to carry the crayfish. Jokingly, with this weather, they would freeze to death. “I’ll take some more back, and you can come to the processing plant at the base to pick it up later.”

The boys visibly breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Ji Cha repeatedly.

In the end, they brought back three fish and eight pounds of crayfish. They gave three pounds to the boys at the factory entrance and reminded them to wait a day before eating it. “If you come back here tomorrow, I can tell you if it’s poisonous.” Ji Cha said.

He certainly wouldn’t risk eating the crayfish immediately. After all, Liang Jincheng was not a virus detector. He planned to pick a little chick to test the poison first before deciding whether it was safe to eat.

So the crayfish had to be kept alive during the night.

Thinking of the crayfish’s starving state during the day, Ji Cha fetched some green grass from the chicken-raising area for them to eat.

The green grass was grown in a small greenhouse by himself, and Ji Cha occasionally let the chicks roam there naturally, which was considered a small part of free-range farming.

The next morning, Ji Cha walked over to the bucket, yawning, to see if the crayfish were still alive. But once again, the crayfish overturned his beliefs.

Not only did none of the crayfish die, but they also ate all the green grass by the bucket and many of them even wanted to escape. If the bucket wasn’t too high, they might have successfully escaped.

He had never seen such a rough form of aquaculture, where the crayfish could be raised so plump and healthy.

“Can we eat them?” Xiao Chao, holding a steamed bun, walked over from behind and wobbled in front of Ji Cha to take a look.

He is small and wrapped in winter clothes like a round little ball, looking cute.

Ji Cha rubbed his head and said, “It should work, but I still need to try.”

Ji Cha took out two small crayfish, dissected and crushed them, and then fed the pieces to two separate chicks, letting them eat.

Ji Cha went to check in the evening; the chicks had not had any problems and were still lively and energetic. When they saw Ji Cha, they even chirped and asked him for food.

Ji Cha was still not completely at ease, and it wasn’t until the next morning when he saw the chicks were still fine that he felt relieved and planned to eat the crayfish that night. Luckily, there were still plenty of spices in the house.

After hearing about the crayfish, Zhang Qinqin volunteered to be the chef. She had already cooked the spicy grilled fish the night before, and even Xiao Chao had eaten half a bowl of rice more than usual.

When they heard that there were crayfish to eat tonight, even Wang Qinxue laughed and poked Ji Cha’s chest with his elbow, “Hey, do you remember when we had skewers together in the middle of the night? The barbecue near Xiaonanmen was pretty good, right?”

“Yeah, it was pretty good.” Ji Cha also laughed.

Liang Jincheng sat on the sofa on the side, looking as if he was watching TV with Grandma Ji.

Now, Grandma Ji liked Liang Jincheng very much and even said in front of Ji Cha that Liang Jincheng was her second grandson. This was thanks to Liang Jincheng’s sweet talk and good manners, which he showed every day. Even in front of Zhang Qinqin, Ji Cha’s cousin, he was gentle and warm. He knew how to flatter people.

Grandma Ji and Zhang Qinqin were both very happy about this and seemed not to have realized the principle of “flattery without any intentions is tantamount to deceit.”

Wang Qinxue reminisced about the past and kept talking, “Do you remember when you liked the girl in the next class? Hahaha, she got a boyfriend before you could confess. We went out at night to comfort you, the heartbroken person.”

He was speaking entirely in jest, and the other people in the room couldn’t help but smile or laugh along with him. Only Liang Jincheng turned his head to look at Ji Cha with an unclear expression and said, “Is that so?”

Ji Cha immediately got goosebumps all over his body.

“Exactly!” Wang Qinxue was oblivious and even laughed as he whispered to Liang Jincheng, “Ji Cha likes long legs and a perky butt.”

“Oh,” Liang Jincheng also laughed, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. He glanced at Ji Cha and then turned his head as if nothing had happened.

Only that night did Ji Cha know that when Liang Jincheng pinned him to the bed and ate him clean. Then he repeatedly asked, “Are my legs long enough? Is my butt perky enough?”

Ji Cha: “Yes, yes, yes, all your legs are long. Please have mercy.”