tkworld #585 - Try the food from the Hidden Mist Village again
#585 - Try the food from the Hidden Mist Village again
Zhou Zhengxiong put down the camera, a kind smile appearing on his face as he looked at Xia Hui with gentle eyes. "This child always acts tough. Thanks to you, you've been a great help."
Xia Hui pouted, organizing the photos in the camera while complaining, "Seriously, you're only one cycle older than me, don't act like my dad!" Her tone, tinged with a bit of coquetry, lightened the atmosphere in the cafeteria.
"Ahahaha..." Tang Yin chuckled dryly, inwardly observing. As expected, this Zhou Zhengxiong, beneath his seemingly easygoing exterior, seemed to hide an unknown side.
In any case, the accommodation problem was settled for the time being. Tang Yin pondered in his mind that the next step was to properly integrate into the life of Mist Hidden Village. After all, he was now a person with a proper job, and the morning's work hadn't even started yet. He had to finish the cafeteria work in the afternoon.
But...
"..." Tang Yin was thinking when suddenly a strange odor entered his nostrils, causing him to frown involuntarily.
Madam Chen Xiang seemed to notice his strangeness and brought over a steaming bowl with a smile. "Anyway, fill your stomach before you start working."
When Tang Yin received the bowl, he noticed that the smile on Madam Chen Xiang's face was somewhat unnatural, even distorted. A strong odor assaulted him, less of a stench and more of a suffocating miasma.
"...Um, are you angry?" Tang Yin asked cautiously. He worried if his absence in the morning had angered this seemingly amiable auntie.
"Hey, no, what's wrong?" Madam Chen Xiang's tone and expression were normal, showing no signs of anger. But would she really give a newcomer something so strange to eat?
Seeing Tang Yin's conflicted expression, Madam Chen Xiang suddenly laughed. "Ah, this smell? This is pickled beast meat, an old meat preservation technique."
"...I-Is that so." Tang Yin suppressed the shocking smell, finally understanding that this was the legendary fermented beast meat.
Pickling, in fact, meant aging, an ancient process of achieving a special flavor in food through long-term fermentation. Although he theoretically understood the process, why did the final product emit such a terrifying smell? Was it like those aged dried fish, pickled with a special sauce?
Seeming to see Tang Yin's confusion, Madam Chen Xiang continued to explain, "A long time ago, they used to eat the beef raw, but that was quite dangerous. Now it's cooked or used for soup."
A mysterious smile appeared on her face. "This is a Mist Hidden Village festival dish. I saved a portion for you when I made it for the reporter, consider it a welcoming gift."
"..." Tang Yin looked at the dark chunks of meat in the bowl, emitting a strange odor, and swallowed hard. Great, it seemed he had to bite the bullet and eat it. His hands trembled slightly, his chopsticks moving as if undertaking a life-or-death challenge.
The pickled beast meat in the bowl glowed with a dim luster, the surface congealed with a layer of oily sauce, the intense, suffocating smell constantly rising, as if silently taunting Tang Yin. This was no welcoming gift, but a cruel test for the newcomer.
Recalling the strange and wonderful foods he had tasted, from fermented stinky fish to dazzling foreign delicacies, it seemed nothing could stump him. Eat it, who's afraid?
However, at that moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang in his mind, Wang Lina's slightly sorrowful words from the last cycle: "Because I grew up eating the food of Mist Hidden Village, I can't leave here..."
A chill crawled up his spine. Could it be that eating this would turn him into a zombie? Tang Yin shook his head, mocking himself for thinking too much. Don't be ridiculous, how could that happen?
"--I'll dig in." Tang Yin took a deep breath, picked up the bowl and chopsticks in front of him, and began to enjoy this special lunch.
The bowl in front of him was filled with distinct grains of brown rice, piled with a mountain of meat slices. The soup looked light, similar to what he had eaten at Baifeng Village, but the color of the meat made him frown—the surface was covered with a strange, shiny green film.
Even worse, a strong stench rushed towards him with the heat, as if to permeate his internal organs. Tang Yin gritted his teeth, gripped his chopsticks, and decided to make a quick decision. He quickly stirred the food in the bowl, and in one breath sent the soup, rice, and meat into his mouth.
...What is this feeling?
His taste buds were stimulated by an unprecedented taste, his teeth and tongue felt a special sensation. An intense sour and salty taste exploded in his mouth, accompanied by the unique umami of animal protein. However, all this deliciousness was masked by the lingering stench. If he wasn't constantly telling himself "this is delicious", Tang Yin would have rushed outside to vomit.
He suppressed his body's instinctive revulsion, used his willpower to suppress the urge to vomit, and forced himself to swallow this bite of food. Fortunately, the aftertaste was lighter than expected, but when the stench gradually dissipated, it was replaced by a strong wild animal smell.
Looking at the remaining food in the bowl, Tang Yin was thoughtful. In a sense, the taste of this pickled beast meat was indeed full of passion and surprise, like a never-ending taste adventure.
"Oh, you eat so heartily." Madam Chen Xiang looked at him with a smile, her eyes showing some appreciation.
Tang Yin put down his chopsticks and said casually, "You just have to get used to it."
"Mm, mm, I understand," Madam Chen Xiang nodded meaningfully, "I thought so too when I first came to Mist Hidden Village, but now, don't you want to eat a little more?" Her tone was mysterious, as if hinting at something.
Tang Yin looked at the remaining green film at the bottom of the bowl, and a sense of indescribable unease rose in his heart. The secret of this Mist Hidden Village might be hidden in this seemingly ordinary food.
Sure enough, once you can swallow the first bite, the rest is easier. Tang Yin ate, feeling the warmth of the pickled beast meat spreading in his body. Although the taste was definitely not delicious, he had to admit that this thing did have an unspeakable nourishing effect, like some kind of mysterious wild tonic.
"So, so..." Tang Yin muttered like chanting scriptures, as if this could dispel the lingering strange taste in his mouth. Finally, after some difficult efforts, he managed to clear the bowl.
"嗝——" A sudden burp broke the silence.
"I'm full." Tang Yin put down his chopsticks and wiped the corner of his mouth.
Madam Chen Xiang took away the empty bowl and said faintly, "Simple food."
In this way, Tang Yin officially ate the food of Mist Hidden Village. This simple act meant that he had become a veritable Mist Hidden Village person—or, to be more precise, a Huangquan person.
However, Tang Yin didn't care too much about this. Whatever, he could always start over even if he was out of the game, as long as there was a road, he could keep moving forward. This thought made him feel inexplicably relieved.
The rhythmic sound of chopping vegetables soon rang out in the kitchen, Madam Chen Xiang was preparing dinner. She arranged a simple job for Tang Yin: repairing damaged tableware.
When Tang Yin saw the pile of tableware that needed to be repaired, he was stunned. The scarcity of resources in Mist Hidden Village far exceeded his imagination, even the tableware was repeatedly used by recycling waste products from Baifeng Village.
"...This is too much, isn't it?" He couldn't help but mutter.
Tang Yin carefully took out the tableware fragments wrapped in old newspapers and began to sort them like arranging a precise puzzle. Although this work was quite interesting, the workload was really not small. There were several cardboard boxes in front of him, all filled with damaged tableware waiting to be repaired.
"Can they really all be used?" Tang Yin wondered while working, and finally could only comfort himself that it was better to be prepared.
He noticed that the bonding agent used for repairing was an all-purpose glue bought from a one-yuan store, presumably purchased from a nearby town.
"A yuan can buy a tube of all-purpose glue, which is more cost-effective than buying a bowl." Madam Chen Xiang walked to his side at some point and said with a smile.
Tang Yin felt a pang of sadness in his heart, this level of frugality was too miserable. Modern cheap goods and pre-modern poverty were perfectly integrated here, making Mist Hidden Village appear even more mysterious and contradictory.
Just as he was concentrating on repairing, he suddenly noticed an interesting detail—most of the tableware was engraved with a familiar, peculiar pattern.
"What is this mark?" Tang Yin turned to look at Madam Chen Xiang's back, who was busy behind the counter.
Madam Chen Xiang's movements paused slightly, her tone carrying a trace of inexplicable emotion: "...Ah, this is the family crest of the family responsible for managing the water field."
The latest novel is first published on Liǔ.9.Shū.Bā! (Note: This sentence should not be translated as it is a reference to a specific website.)
As expected, it was the Qin family... Tang Yin thoughtfully stroked the pattern on the tableware, a premonition of unease flashed in his heart. Behind this family crest, there might be a more complex story than he imagined.
Tang Yin looked at the tableware in his hand and thought to himself that it was better not to mention the Qin family directly. After all, judging from Madam Chen Xiang's subtle tone just now, the Qin family was probably not a pleasant memory for her.
The sunlight shone in through the cafeteria's glass windows, casting mottled spots of light on the family crest on the surface of the tableware. Tang Yin gently traced the lines with his fingertips, lost in thought. Most family crests hide unknown secret information such as bloodline inheritance, but unfortunately he did not have the ability to interpret these mysterious symbols.
"Do other elder families also have family crests?" Tang Yin asked casually, but secretly observing Madam Chen Xiang's reaction.
Madam Chen Xiang, who was wiping the dishes, showed a rare smile: "Yes, I like the Qian family's, it's very cute."
Cute? Tang Yin was slightly stunned, and then remembered that Hualu had mentioned that the Qian family was the so-called Raven family. In that case, their family crest should be a pattern based on ravens.
His thoughts drifted away, and he sorted out the known information in his mind: Spider - Hua family, Raven - Qian family, Monkey - Qin family, Snake - Zhao family. The symbols of these families were not just decorations of the surface culture of Baifeng Village, but important settings closely related to the mysterious "Huangquan忌之宴".
The dust floated slowly in the sunlight, and Tang Yin recalled what Wang Lina had said—the guardian beast's blessing was written on the blessed person in the form of blood characters. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shiver. Waking up and finding himself covered in blood characters was completely like a scene from a horror novel.
Wait... Tang Yin suddenly thought of something. What about the Wolf camp and the dream pillow mentioned by Xiaomei? If the information was really conveyed in a dream, then he could only surrender. This supernatural phenomenon was far beyond his comprehension. However, why was the wolf's notification method different from others? This doubt must be confirmed when he has the chance.
"Where are the other family crests?" Tang Yin continued to inquire while sorting the fragments.
Madam Chen Xiang's hands didn't stop: "You should be able to see the Qian family's family crest at the Qian Group's office, others... ah, Hualu's pendant is the Hua family's family crest."
So that's it, no wonder the shape of that pendant was so special.
"I'll take a look next time. If I don't recognize the family crest, I might accidentally offend the elders, right?" Tang Yin said casually.
"That's true..." Madam Chen Xiang smiled gently, "If you find a family crest you don't recognize, just ask me."
"Yeah, thank you."
They worked and chatted, and the atmosphere in the cafeteria gradually became relaxed. Tang Yin noticed an old cathode-ray tube TV in the corner, which seemed to be able to receive satellite signals from public channels. This made him imagine the warm scene of everyone sitting together watching TV at dinner.
To his surprise, not only did the cafeteria have a TV, but each room in the dormitory was also equipped with one. Although Mist Hidden Village was short of resources, it invested so much money for the future of the children. This undoubtedly proved the special status of the student dormitory in Mist Hidden Village.
"My eldest son now lives in the dormitory," Madam Chen Xiang said while tidying up the kitchen utensils, "He told me the plot of yesterday's TV series. The TV here can only be turned on at night."
She said this with the kind of gentle smile that mothers have, as if talking about an ordinary household chore. But Tang Yin smelled something unusual, and behind this seemingly ordinary control measure, there might be a deeper secret hidden.
Giving priority to children watching TV is generally criticized as spoiling, but the situation in Mist Hidden Village is different.
Every child goes to school in Baifeng Village and goes straight home after school. Moreover, Baifeng Village is originally a very closed-off village.
Only through the TV screen can they learn about modern countries. For the people of Mist Hidden Village, TV is an irreplaceable learning tool.