The World Turned into Zombies, So I Went Back to the Countryside to Farm 41p1

Chapter 41p1: New Year’s Eve

After Jiang Zao had washed and dried her hair, Wen Zhao applied eye drops to her eyes again and then gently wrapped them with a bandage.

Jiang Zao gently touched the cloth strip on her eyes, still a little unaccustomed to it.

Wen Zhao took her hand down.

“Don’t move. Don’t rub your eyes until they’re better.”

Jiang Zao nodded. In this state, she was countless times more obedient than her usual feisty self.

Wen Zhao’s lips couldn’t help but curve into a smile. She put a black metal case into her hand.

“I picked up your sports camera for you, but the outer casing is a little melted from the high temperature.”

Jiang Zao reached out and touched it. The edge of the camera had a bumpy, granular feel. She touched the power button, and the familiar system sound came on. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

“It’s okay. It can still be turned on.”

“You…”

“You…”

The two of them spoke at the same time. Wen Zhao seemed to have something to ask but stopped. “You go first.”

Jiang Zao’s fingers caressed the damaged outer casing of the sports camera.

“Why did you think of picking this up for me too?”

“I thought… for an outdoor blogger, the lens is her weapon, and the things in the camera are her past.”

When Li Mi was helping her wash her hair just now, she had also roughly told her how Wen Zhao had rushed into the sea of fire to save her.

The room was full of smoke, and the rafters had fallen. Wen Zhao had first tried to enter from the side of the window, but she didn’t expect the window frame to have melted from the high temperature. She was also unable to save herself because of a claustrophobia attack. When Jiang Wuni was crying in anxiety.

Wen Zhao had shattered the wooden door with her body, stepped on the fire, and carried her out in the midst of the flying wood chips and smoke.

“Are… are you injured?”

Wen Zhao hid her right arm behind her back. Her arm from her wrist to her shoulder was wrapped in a bandage. It was the mark of being burned by the flames.

She remembered that Jiang Zao couldn’t see now and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

As soon as Wen Zhao finished speaking, Jiang Zao’s body leaned forward. Fearing that she would fall from the chair, Wen Zhao opened her arms, but she didn’t expect her to reach out and tentatively touch her cheek.

From her forehead to her brow, then to her nose, and finally to her lips, Jiang Zao only lingered for a moment before sliding down her chin. The places her fingertips had touched seemed to have caught fire. Wen Zhao swallowed, and her breathing hitched.

Just as her fingers were about to slide to her collarbone, Wen Zhao grabbed her hand, her voice slightly hoarse.

“Alright, I’m really fine.”

Jiang Zao was startled by her sudden movement. Just then, Jiang Wuni was calling for help in the kitchen. Wen Zhao let go of her hand and helped her sit down in the chair.

“I’ll go help with the cooking. You just sit here and don’t move.”

As she got up to leave, her sleeve was pulled again.

Jiang Zao raised her head. Even though her eyes were wrapped in a cloth strip, Wen Zhao could still imagine the innocence in those clear pupils.

“Is there anything I can help with? I don’t want to just sit here alone.”

Wen Zhao had no choice but to move the chair to the kitchen door for her.

Jiang Wuni was very dissatisfied with her sitting in the only entrance and exit of the kitchen. “Your eyes are already like that, and you still want to join in the fun. With such a big person sitting there, how can anyone else walk!”

Although she said this, she threw a handful of garlic into the small basin in front of Jiang Zao. “Since you’re here, don’t be idle! Peel the garlic!”

Jiang Zao fumbled to peel the garlic skin while bickering with her as usual. “I’m the biggest contributor today. I can sit wherever I want. Even if I sit on the Bodhisattva’s head and eat, it’s what I deserve.”

This sentence made everyone in the kitchen laugh. Jiang Wuni stomped the cutting board with a thunderous noise.

“You brat, you’re so stubborn!”

In previous years, Jiang Zao actually didn’t like to celebrate the New Year. For most people, the New Year meant reunion, but for a person who was wandering alone, the days of family reunion would only make her feel more lonely.

Not to mention the soaring air ticket prices and the train tickets that were always impossible to get before the New Year, which were a considerable burden for her.

She would rather hide in the company and work overtime than watch Jiang Wuni walk for several hours in the snow to the town to wait for her to come home.

After she started to transition to being a social media blogger, holidays were even more of a peak traffic period. Videos and news were both time-sensitive.

She would often go hiking a few days in advance, record the material, edit the video, and then, on New Year’s Eve, find a homestay or a villager’s house with internet at the foot of the mountain to post it.

Jiang Wuni said as she was rolling out the dumpling wrappers, “Zao’er hasn’t spent New Year’s Eve at home for several years, has she?”

“I… I was busy before.”

Jiang Zao lowered her head and explained, kneading the dough in her hand.

Jiang Wuni snatched it from her hand.

“Alright, alright, go and play. Don’t be a nuisance here.”

Wen Zhao brought over the chopped filling.

“Grandma, the filling is chopped.”

The dumpling filling had to be a mix of fat and lean to be delicious, but now they only had rabbit meat at home. The deer meat they had hunted last time had all been made into cured meat. The fat content of rabbits was not high, so Jiang Wuni had to add some cooking oil to the filling to make it look more oily. Then she sprinkled in salt, MSG, Sichuan peppercorn powder, pepper powder, and thirteen-spice powder and mixed them together. It smelled very fragrant.

Li Mi had also dug up some wild scallions from the slope behind the house. Thanks to the strong vitality of these wild scallions, they had not yet been frozen to death by the weather, but the tips of the scallions were a little yellow.

But it was not a big problem. They could still be eaten after being washed. The main thing was to add some flavor. Fearing that it would be gamey, Jiang Wuni also cut in a handful of minced ginger.

Jiang Zao loved to eat dumplings with shiitake mushroom filling. Now that there were no fresh shiitake mushrooms, she had to use the dried shiitake mushrooms from last year, soaked and then chopped, and mixed with the rabbit meat to add a different flavor.

As soon as the dumplings were cooked and served, Jiang Zao smelled the fragrance. “It smells so good. Is it shiitake mushroom filling?”

Jiang Wuni had been a little worried that the rabbit meat dumplings would not be delicious, but she didn’t expect to receive unanimous praise.

Even Kele, under the table, had eaten all the dumplings in its bowl in a few bites.

Wen Zhao remembered the wine that was left over from when they were collecting supplies and also took it out. “Want some?”

Jiang Zao remembered that the beer bottles had all been used to make Molotov cocktails, and only some white wine was left.

“This… won’t the alcohol content be too high?”

While she was still hesitating, Jiang Wuni had already taken out the wine glasses. “Yes, yes. Little Zhao, fill me up, fill me up.”

Jiang Zao’s jaw almost dropped.

How come I remember that Jiang Wuni doesn’t drink at all!

Jiang Wuni took a sip of the white wine in her glass, her expression greatly satisfied, and then leaned over and said mysteriously:

“Actually, I can drink much more than your grandfather. I went out to work when I was fifteen, building roads for people. It was so cold in the winter. At night, I could only sleep in a shed. I relied on liquor to keep warm…”

“Then why didn’t I see you drink when I was a child?”

“How can a person who is taking care of a child drink?”

Jiang Zao was stunned for a moment, and her nose inexplicably felt a little sore. Jiang Wuni had already turned her face to drink and play finger-guessing games with Wen Zhao. She quickly reached out to stop her.

“Just a little is enough. How old are you!”

“Big sister, I want to drink too!”

Li Mi looked at the glass in front of her and couldn’t help but lower her head and take a small sip. Then she was choked until her face was red, and she kept clicking her tongue.

“So spicy, so spicy!”

The few people at the table couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Seeing them laughing happily, Kele stood up, put its two paws on the edge of the table, and wanted to reach for the wine glass on the table.

Li Mi quickly picked it up. “Kele, you can’t drink this.”

Kele was not convinced and barked loudly, licking her face.

The person and the dog were in a mess.

Just as Jiang Zao picked up her wine glass, it was taken from her hand, and then a glass bottle was stuffed into her hand.

“You’re injured. Drink this, and Little Mi too.”

Wen Zhao stood up and handed another bottle of soda to Li Mi.

“Big sister, how do you still have some?!!”

Li Mi was greatly shocked. Weren’t all the soda bottles used to make Molotov cocktails?!

Wen Zhao glanced at Jiang Zao and smiled slightly.

“Your Big Sister Jiang is like a child. She just loves to drink these carbonated drinks. Of course, I have to save a couple of bottles for her.”

“Wen Zhao!” Jiang Zao gritted her teeth and was about to hit her.

But Wen Zhao picked up her wine glass again and said seriously.

“Alright, alright. Today is a good day. Not only is it New Year’s Eve, but it’s also the victory day of our defeat of all the zombies in the village.”

Jiang Wuni also raised her wine glass.

“That’s right. We should have a good drink.”

Jiang Zao raised her soda bottle and smiled slightly.

“Don’t think about the endless things outside of yourself, just enjoy the cup of wine in front of you. Happy New Year.” [1]

The few glasses clinked together, making a crisp sound.

“Happy New Year!”