Suffocating Maneuvers

On his way home, Liu Chang'an passed through a small park. The park, though small, was surprisingly well-arranged with mountains, water, trees, and rocks. In the pond, there were emerald green lotus leaves, about the size of a three-compartment soup bowl, and several double-petaled lotus flowers of varying shades were in bloom. A small golden tortoise poked its head out, wagging its short legs as it swam back and forth among the lotus leaves, which was quite amusing.

After watching the turtles and the grass carp darting among the water plants for a while, I concluded that the fish here were probably edible, but I didn't go into the water to catch them. By the time I got home, it was already dark.

Liu Chang'an bought a large pig's head at the market. The pig had been slaughtered that afternoon and seemed quite fresh. He didn't ask the vendor to help him process it; he took it home, cleaned it, peeled off the skin, and took out the brain.

Although the pig's head was large, its brain was not. Liu Chang'an held it in his hand and carefully picked out all the blood with a toothpick. It was smooth and soft like cheese, slightly fishy than spinal cord, with a similar nutritional composition. However, it lacked the rich flavor of bone.

There are many ways to cook pig brains: braised, stir-fried, steamed, and even, in some unconventional ways, used to make cakes. Have you ever tried a pig brain cake?

Liu Chang'an naturally chose the freshest and most delicious roasted pig brains. He cut them in half, greased the inside of the foil, and slowly started roasting them over low heat. This kind of thing can't be rushed at all.

While waiting for the aroma to develop, Liu Chang'an some soy sauce and sesame oil into the mixture. Zhou Dongdong came downstairs carrying a large insulated container, saying, "Brother Chang'an, Mom made chilled crayfish for you!"

"Thanks, put it here... be careful."

"What is this?" Zhou Dongdong looked at the contents of the foil bowl with curiosity and a hint of fear.

Roasted pig brains.

Is it tofu pudding?

"Brain."

"Naiko!"

"Brain! The brain here!" Liu Chang'an tapped Zhou Dongdong's forehead.

"Roast a child's brain!" Zhou Dongdong exclaimed in shock.

"I can't communicate with you."

But it smells so good! Looking at the thing that looked like a roasted child's brain, Zhou Dongdong cleverly figured that Brother Chang'an couldn't be a monster and couldn't possibly eat children, otherwise Zhou Dongdong would have been eaten long ago.

So this must be something else delicious.

"Would you like some?" Liu Chang'an some MSG and chopped green onions, scooped some out and put it in a small bowl.

Zhou Dongdong shook her head vigorously, eyeing the small bowl Liu Chang'an had placed in front of her warily.

Liu Chang'an ignored her and ate his own food. After a while, Zhou Dongdong couldn't hold on any longer. This must not be a child's brain. He decided to just have a small bite!

I couldn't taste anything in the first bite; I need to try again!

It's starting to taste a little bit; you can try it again!

Zhou Dongdong licked the bowl clean, but unfortunately there weren't three bowls left to eat.

After eating pig brains, you can follow up with chilled crayfish. This is not a mainstream way of eating, but it is more suitable for summer. It is also more leisurely to eat, unlike other times when you are sweating profusely.

"Who is this pretty auntie?" Zhou Dongdong asked, peeling a shrimp by its tail. As a child, Zhou Dongdong's best skill, besides eating, was peeling lobsters. He ate while looking at Liu Chang'an's lit-up phone screen.

"Only those around the same age as Mom can be called 'Auntie,' this is my older sister! If you call her 'Auntie,' she'll..." An Nuan was wearing a cheongsam, making her look more mature and confusing Zhou Dongdong's ability to judge age. Liu Chang'an flicked her forehead.

"She's going to eat my brain!" Zhou Dongdong said, touching his forehead in fear.

"No, you're brainless."

"I have!"

"Stupid children are stupid because their brains have been eaten."

"So, did I originally not exist, or was I eaten...?"

How would I know?

After finishing the lobster, Zhou Dongdong occupied Liu Chang'an's recliner. Liu Chang'an listened to the radio, washed his hands, and replied to An Nuan's messages, always making Liu Chang'an guess what she was doing, or asking Liu Chang'an what he was doing.

They chatted until very late, and Zhou Dongdong went back to sleep. An Nuan suddenly slowed down her sending and replying to messages, then told him that Han Zhizhi had come to visit her and that she had said goodnight to Liu Chang'an.

Liu Chang'an looked at the sky on the other side of the city and thought to himself that if people in ancient times had such means of communication, perhaps not so many timeless verses describing the joys and sorrows of reunion and separation would have been born.

Look at An Nuan's messages, all meaningless! If Hermit Yi'an Li Qingzhao) had a cell phone, maybe "A Spray of Plum Blossoms" would be like this: Message sent, still no reply. This cold-hearted person makes my heart so sad. Gently stroking the phone screen, I wait alone for a reply. I looked up at the Wi-Fi signal, full bars, why no message? Then, with a "ding," a message finally arrived, the phone's light illuminating my face and the bed.

It probably won't be that bad, but in any case, it definitely lacks the charm of "just as the frown fades from the brow, it rises to the heart."

"You haven't liked my Weibo posts in a long time; I just checked."

Starting with a question is a common tactic used by women when they abandon their reserve and speak to someone with a hesitant demeanor.

While I was idling, I saw a message from another cute girl. It seems that the anger I felt after telling her she was fat has finally dissipated.

That's more like it. We were having a great chat, and after talking for so long, to start a cold war over a single wrong word is really going too far.

While chatting, Liu Chang'an pondered the various conveniences brought about by the birth of mobile phones and their impact on the world, as well as their influence on literature. He wondered whether the decline of modern classical poetry was really related to mobile phones, or to the changing times in aesthetic taste.

Or perhaps we should wait a hundred or two hundred years and then see what people's conclusions and opinions are about these literary phenomena. Living in this era, unable to break free, our thinking becomes more limited. Just like the qigong craze of the 80s and 90s, which seems absurd now, it had its roots back then. Liu Chang'an also practiced qigong when he was bored and even became a qigong master... He just didn't have the mystique of qigong increasing production or launching satellites, but it was still a real skill.

Waiting another one or two hundred years... Waiting another one or two hundred years to understand a trivial question is nothing to Liu Chang'an, but not everyone can wait one or two hundred years so easily. Liu Chang'an's heart finally began to stir with spring fever again. Could the example of the Shangguan Family's young lady be replicated?

After the coffin was struck by lightning, when he first touched it, he didn't remember many things. He only recalled fragmented scenes from his time as Liu He, which seemed chaotic and incoherent. At the time, he wondered why touching Zhao Jianzi's artifacts reminded him of Zhao Jianzi, but touching the coffin reminded him of his own experiences.

Actually, what he was thinking about at the time was the young lady from the Shangguan Family. However, because Liu He appeared with her in those scenes, his focus when recalling them was on himself, and he didn't notice her in the scenes.

It was a bit absurd back then, even though the subjects of the experiments were all his own concubines. Unfortunately, no one was found to have copied his abilities. It wasn't until more than two thousand years later that a success was confirmed.

At that time, the little girl was the Empress Dowager.

Liu Chang'an was certain that without his own involvement, the Shangguan Family's youngest daughter wouldn't have survived to this day, relying solely on this coffin. Just as Li Hongfang said, Lady Xin Zhui was also Living Coffin, but in reality, Lady Xin Zhui ultimately died after being unearthed.

What kind of operation was performed at the time? It seems impossible to say that it was entirely his fault.

It's truly suffocating. Liu Chang'an patted his face... Forget it, I won't think about it anymore. It happened more than two thousand years ago. From a woman's perspective, it's understandable that she would attribute some things to others harming her, according to their logic.

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