mtlumby2d Chapter 237
Chapter 237
"We don't have the equipment to test whether this egg is any different from the previous ones." Zhong Tiyun was happy for a moment, but then she became worried and said, "It's just my feeling, which is not accurate after all."
Qi Mingyu said, "There should be equipment over there in the service hall. Let's take a few eggs and ask Director Wu to send them over for testing."
"Yes, let's do it."
Qi Mingyu and Zhou Shuwan made a special trip and put the eggs in the pockets inside their air-conditioned suits and brought them to the underground base.
Director Wu took this very seriously. He talked with them for a while and then immediately went to find the base leaders with a few eggs.
Qi Mingyu and Zhou Shuwan went to visit their second uncle and third aunt's homes.
Now both families have jobs, responsible for growing cacti and hydroponic vegetables. The monthly salary is enough for two people to eat and drink, and their lives are much better than those of other people in the base.
Chunchun has also gained a little weight, with more flesh on his little face. He looks much better than when I saw him more than two months ago.
Zhou Shuwan's space was filled with milk powder and other nutritional supplements for Chunchun. This time, she specially brought two buckets of milk powder and twenty small eggs, all of which were recently laid and very fresh.
Qianqian thanked him repeatedly, her face beaming. "There's still a bucket of milk powder left from the last time I brought him. Chunchun now has milk powder and eggs every day, and we also give him the vacuum-packed beef we had in stock. He's already getting his nutritional supplements."
Another reason is that I have gradually adapted to the current temperature and living conditions.
If a child wants to be thin, he will lose weight quickly, but if he wants to be fat, he will gain weight quickly as well.
Aunt Zhong felt embarrassed to take the Zhou family's supplies for free. Life was not easy for everyone after the apocalypse, so she forced a bag on Zhou Shuwan, which contained several bags of instant noodles and a few small breads.
It’s a return gift from the little egg.
In the end times, instant noodles have become a very precious commodity. They taste good and are easy to fill you up.
Zhou Shuwan couldn't refuse and had to accept it.
Aunt Zhong handed her another bag mysteriously, leaning over and whispering, "Wanwan, these are two pieces of cactus, freshly picked. Take them home and try them with your family to see how they taste."
Zhou Shuwan was surprised: "Mature so quickly?"
"Some of the cacti we sent were fully mature, and they grew very quickly after being grafted. These past few days, Director Wu asked us to cut down a few of the mature ones and taste them, and he also sent a few up there."
Aunt Zhong whispered, "We've divided a few among our families these past few days. We just got some today and haven't eaten them yet. Take some back and let Xiaoyu and her family taste them."
If you take care of the plantation, you will get some benefits before others.
"Okay, thank you, Third Aunt." Zhou Shuwan smiled.
Aunt Zhong San also told her how to eat it. After returning home, Zhong Tiyun washed and peeled the cactus according to what Zhou Shuwan told her.
The center of other fruits is the core, but the center of the cactus is juice wrapped in a thin film. When you cut it open, you can pour out the juice, which is transparent green and slightly sticky.
All six people from both families tried it.
Grandma Pang smacked her lips. "It's a little bitter, but it tastes a lot like our aloe vera. It's drinkable."
Mu Mu grinned slightly.
Zhou Jianghai also nodded: "It really quenches my thirst."
Zhou Shuwan said, "My third aunt said that the juice and pulp of this cactus can be used to stop bleeding, reduce swelling and kill bacteria. It's just that it didn't grow in China before, otherwise it must be a medicinal herb used in traditional Chinese medicine."
"Bitter plants can kill bacteria and reduce swelling." Zhou Jianghai said experiencedly.
“How do you eat this pulp?”
"Eat it raw, stir-fry it, or stew it. It's all good."
Zhong Tiyun said, "Then let's try them all."
Grandma Pang cut the cactus flesh into shreds, heated oil in a pan, added peppercorns and green onions to cook until fragrant, then put the cactus in the pan and stir-fried it. When it looked almost done, she added various seasonings and served it.
Everyone tasted a few and their expressions were indescribable.
Zhou Jianghai chewed it for a long time before swallowing it with difficulty: "It's okay, similar to bitter melon."
In fact, it tastes even worse than bitter melon.
Bitter melon tastes refreshing, but cactus has a lot of mucus, which makes it slippery and soft, but also very bitter. It doesn’t feel very good in the mouth.
Grandma Pang is old, and her ability to accept things is very strong: "I can eat."
Indeed, the only word to describe it is edible.
When they were just shredding, Zhou Shuwan tasted a raw one, compared it, and said, "Just eat it as fruit. It tastes better raw than fried."
Mu Mu had already taken a big sip of water, his brows furrowed so tightly that he could kill a fly.
Everyone was amused by his little expression.
When Qi Mingyu was a special forces soldier, he went deep into countless uninhabited places, so eating cactus was a small matter.
He took another bite of the shredded meat without changing his expression, and said, "You can try stewing it again. This soft and fluffy taste should be suitable for cooking."
While I was cooking here, the food in the rice cooker over there had already started steaming.
It doesn’t take long, just like stewing pumpkin, put a bowl in the steamer of the rice cooker and steam it for fifteen minutes.
This time the cactus was cut into dice. I picked up a piece and tasted it, and it tasted pretty good.
Although it is a bit bitter, it is soft and smooth, a bit like a combination of jelly, pumpkin and bitter melon. The taste is not good, but it is better than stir-frying.
"This is a bit of a stretch as a staple food, and it doesn't give you much feeling of fullness," said Zhong Tiyun.
"If the government hadn't been distributing relief supplies every three days, many families wouldn't be able to make it. So, as long as we can eat, we don't care about anything else."
"Yes!"
I originally thought that I would have to wait for half a year before I could get cactus seedlings, but I didn't expect that just a few days later, J City would start exchanging supplies for cacti. Someone in charge would wrap up the cut cactus roots and then teach me how to plant them.
In order to obtain more seedlings, the people in the plantation cut the cacti into small pieces and transplanted them. Two months later, with diligent care, they grew very fast. Now most of them have grown to 20 centimeters tall, and one branch will branch out into two or three pieces as they grow. After a while, the branches will branch out into new pieces, and the yield is very high.
Therefore, the plantations have the confidence to exchange them.
A 20-centimeter cactus needs to be exchanged for 6 compressed biscuits.
A half-meter-tall cactus costs 30 yuan.
The price is not cheap, but exchanging the cactus to the survivors sooner will give them more hope of survival.
The Zhou and Qi families discussed it and decided to exchange 30 cacti about 20 centimeters in length and move them to the Zhou family's balcony to grow.
A total of 180 compressed biscuits were spent, but because of the relationship between Director Wu and Uncle Zhong, ten compressed biscuits were saved.
170 compressed biscuits can be used to get 30 cacti.
Uncle Zhong whispered to Zhong Tiyun, "They may look expensive now, but these cacti are already alive. In two months, they'll grow to over half a meter tall, and each cactus will sprout more than 20 branches. We can cut them off and transplant them, and we can eat and drink them. It's a good deal. Your third sister's family and I are also planning to exchange some."