Picnic

Zhao Danshi had long decided that this video would be about a picnic, but the traditional method for Beggar's Chicken made him hesitate.

The ancient method of making Beggar's Chicken involved snapping the chicken's neck directly, without bleeding or plucking it. Even though the innards would be removed, Zhao Danshi still found it hard to accept. It was far too unhygienic.

After some thought, he decided to make an improved version instead.

"Watcher, do you have any similar recipes?"

"I do, actually. Crystal Chicken, Aspic Chicken, Lotus-Leaf Dry-Fragrant Chicken, Sea-of-Flowers Chicken... Which one do you want?"

"Which one is suitable for a picnic and uses seasonings I can gather?"

After dealing with Watcher for so long, Zhao Danshi had discovered that its recipes were good in every way: detailed procedures and outstanding quality. There was only one problem—the seasonings were hard to find. Many of them were not even native to Earth.

Zhao Danshi had once opened the Marketplace with his pitiful few hundred points of Bio-Energy, only to discover how expensive those seasonings were. After working himself to the bone for so long, he had only earned a little Bio-Energy, not even enough to buy seasonings for a few meals. Since then, he had paid extra attention to seasonings when cooking. If he could not get them, he could only change the dish.

"Wasn't your original plan to make Beggar's Chicken? Change it to Lotus-Leaf Dry-Fragrant Chicken."

Zhao Danshi extracted the recipe for Lotus-Leaf Dry-Fragrant Chicken and had Watcher play it before his eyes several times. Only after confirming that he had learned it did he begin slaughtering the chicken.

Slaughtering chickens was the old man's specialty. From cutting the throat and draining the blood to plucking every feather clean, he did not even need five minutes. His skills were as sharp as ever.

The process was too bloody to film, so Zhao Danshi did not need to get involved. He only had to stand to one side and cheer the old man on.

Seeing Zhao Danshi's raised thumb, the old man smiled. "It's nothing. When I was young, we never had enough to eat. I used to carry timber to sell with Gou Shi and the others from the village. We'd carry it from here all the way to Lunhe City in the neighboring province, a journey of two days. Other than rice, a pot, and salt, we brought nothing. If we saw wild chickens on the road, we'd shoot them with bows. We shot wild birds too, and set snares."

"Bird skin is thin, so you had to be extremely careful when scalding them. Otherwise, you'd accidentally scald off a layer of skin, and the whole bird would be ruined. I was skilled back then, so everyone always handed me the bird-killing work. I could pluck a one-pound bird in three minutes."

"You were that amazing?"

"It was nothing. You just got good after doing it enough."

Remembering those days, the old man suddenly did not feel like saying more. Listlessly, he handed the chicken to Zhao Danshi. "The chicken's cleaned. You can cut it open yourself."

Zhao Danshi took the basin holding the chicken and turned to deal with it.

The giblets could not be wasted. Stir-fried chicken giblets with pickled vegetables were a famous local dish. After all the innards were removed, cleaned, and washed, they could be stir-fried at home with pickled vegetables. People who liked the dish could eat three bowls of rice in one go with its heavy flavors.

He also discarded the chicken head, feet, and rump. They would be too troublesome to deal with outdoors.

Zhao Danshi kept only the washed chicken body. He carefully marinated it in a sauce mixed with salt, oil, cooking wine, chili sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and other seasonings, then wrapped it carefully in lotus leaves and tied it with cotton string.

When they went on the picnic, he would only need to coat the outside of the lotus leaves with prepared yellow mud.

Their picnic destination was a little far from home, so they had to drive there. That made it convenient to bring things along. Once they arrived, they would first film a segment, then carry Dou Dou up with them.

The destination was called Oxhead Mountain. From afar, it resembled an enormous ox head. The mountain was planted full of peach trees. It was far from the county town, had little reputation, and was private property belonging to someone else, so no one came to admire the blossoms.

When Zhao Danshi and Li Ping arrived, the place was quiet, without a single person in sight. The only sounds around them were birds chirping, insects singing, and water murmuring.

A gentle breeze blew, and peach blossoms fell from the branches in sheets, like snow and rain. They spun slowly through the air before drifting to the ground.

Filmed as a video, the scene alone was enough to make people unable to look away.

Bringing Dou Dou along made filming rather difficult. After every segment, they had to pause for a while to make sure Dou Dou's basket never left their sight. Tired as they were, neither regretted it. They were usually busy with farm work and rarely took Dou Dou out to play.

This was Dou Dou's first spring in the world, and probably his first time seeing peach blossoms. Zhao Danshi did not want him to miss it.

Seeing the mountains full of pink, Dou Dou was indeed thrilled. He kept waving his tiny arms and legs, trying to grab at them.

Thus, this video shoot became Dou Dou's outing, and there was not much actual video content. They would have to rely on editing to make up for it afterward.

The footage they shot that day was extremely beautiful, and there was almost nothing that needed to be discarded or reshot.

Once they were tired from filming, Li Ping turned off the camera and sat with Zhao Danshi on the picnic cloth Zhao Danshi had spread beneath a tree. The two continued eating the freshly made Lotus-Leaf Dry-Fragrant Chicken.

It was a free-range chicken, rich with chicken flavor. All the juices had been locked inside, making the meat fragrant and tender with a hint of spice. Even the bones had been braised soft, and every bite was bursting with flavor.

Zhao Danshi and Li Ping finished the entire chicken between the two of them, while Dou Dou sat nearby greedily gulping down milk.

"This place is so beautiful. If we aren't too busy, I'd like to plant a whole patch of peach blossoms on the back mountain too. Then we won't have to go elsewhere to see them."

"Next year or the year after. Once we have time, we can make plans. Hiring people to plant peach trees won't take much time."

Without realizing it, they had already planned out the next several years of their lives. Neither of them felt that they would ever part.

Zhao Danshi held Dou Dou and took quite a few photos in the peach grove. After he and Dou Dou were done, he directed Li Ping to hold Dou Dou so he could take a pile of photos of Li Ping and Dou Dou as well. Finally, the three of them set up the camera and took dozens of continuous shots of their family admiring the flowers.

When filming videos, only Zhao Danshi appeared on camera. Beautiful scenery, delicious food, and a beautiful man—the three beauties combined had an immensely powerful impact. Li Ping could practically imagine how stunning the finished video would be.

They played with Dou Dou while filming, and by the end of the day, both of them were exhausted.

Zhao Danshi lay in the back seat, squeezed snugly together with Dou Dou's safety basket, and fell asleep before long.

Li Ping slowly stopped the car and looked back at Zhao Danshi through the rearview mirror.

In the mirror, Zhao Danshi's eyelashes were long and thick, casting faint shadows over his smooth, jade-white face. They looked like newly sprouted branches, scratching at Li Ping's heart.

Beneath his beautifully shaped brows and eyes was a high, straight nose, and beneath that were pale pink lips. His slightly pouting lips had parted by the faintest gap in sleep. Li Ping seemed able to feel the warm breath escaping between his lips and teeth, soft and slow, yet impossible to ignore.

The back seat of the car was more than half of his world. After a while, Li Ping smiled and slowly started the car.

In the blink of an eye, another weekend arrived, along with the day Zhao Danshi had promised to hold the giveaway. Following Weibo's lottery method, he selected ten fans, then messaged them privately to ask whether they wanted raw or cooked river snails.

Without exception, all ten fans wanted stir-fried river snails.

Zhao Danshi arranged with the fans to send the river snails later. Once he had prepared them, he would privately message them again with the shipping date.

At the same time, Li Ping and Zhao Danshi uploaded this picnic video.

After this period of steady growth, they had reached 5,346 followers. Zhao Danshi now basically updated at eight every evening, and fans had already been waiting this time. The moment he uploaded the video and refreshed the page, comments, likes, and reposts appeared beneath it.

—I don't care, I don't care! I want to picnic there too and eat Lotus-Leaf Dry-Fragrant Chicken made by Brother Danshi himself!

—It looks so exhausting. Making videos isn't easy either. Brother Danshi, take good care of yourself.

—Already reposted it. Brother, your videos are fantastic. Keep it up~

—Brother Danshi, you've gained followers again. Seeing your fan count rise and rise makes me feel so gratified. P.S. I'm a mom fan. Covering-mouth laugh.JPG

—I actually want to ask: if we follow your recipe, can we really bring a chicken on a picnic?

—Male god, male god, look at me! Should we make a group chat?

—This place is far too beautiful. Where exactly is it? I've never heard of it before.

—Why do I feel like today's video is kind of strange? I just can't say what's strange about it.

Zhao Danshi replied to the comments one by one. When he refreshed again, many new comments had appeared. Since he could not answer them all, he stopped bothering with them.

He asked Watcher, "How much energy have we collected now?"

"Seventy-eight point eight six. Same old rule, half each. Your share is thirty-eight point four three. Not bad. Keep working hard."

"Alright, got it. After we shoot a few more videos, we'll buy trending searches. Gaining followers this way is too slow." Zhao Danshi stretched lazily. "I have sixty-seven Bio-Energy left in my account, right? Exchange all of it for Lower-grade Spirit Spring."

They used Spirit Spring for cooking, for preparing dishes, and for brewing tea. They consumed it quickly. After working themselves half to death, the points they earned were not even enough to buy drinking water every day.

Still, the effects of the Spirit Spring were indeed obvious. Dou Dou had grown strong and healthy, rarely getting sick. His little face was rosy and fair, so adorable it was unbearable. After drinking Spirit Spring, the old man also felt that his hearing and eyesight had improved. Just two days ago, he had said he was full of energy and wanted to follow them into the fields to do farm work.

The two of them could also clearly feel that their physical condition had improved. Even doing farm work no longer felt tiring.

For something this good, they would keep buying it no matter how expensive it was. But because of that, they were always short on Bio-Energy.

Zhao Danshi had plenty of money on hand now, so he did not mind exchanging money for Bio-Energy. However, the vegetables and fruits they could buy contained very little Bio-Energy. To exchange for Bio-Energy, they would need a huge quantity of produce.

If that much fruit and vegetables vanished into thin air, once or twice would be fine, but if it happened too often, it would easily attract outsiders' attention. If Watcher were exposed then, the loss would outweigh the gain.

Spirit Spring Water was good stuff, and Zhao Danshi drank it often at home. Sometimes, he thought of Li Ping's parents and his own. They were enjoying all these good things here, so they could not leave both sides of the family out. Thus, Zhao Danshi decided to send some to both families. He did not send Spirit Spring Water directly, but pastries made with Spirit Spring Water.

He sent the packages to his side under the old man's name, while Li Ping's parents received theirs under Li Ping's name. Although neither side sent any response, at least neither rejected the packages.

Once that small opening had been made, Zhao Danshi also began sending each set of parents some vegetables from time to time. There were not many, but they represented the couple's feelings.

They had grown all those vegetables themselves, using ample Spirit Fertilizer. They tasted exceptionally good, and it was impossible to buy such fine produce outside. All things considered, their gifts were not shabby at all.

The old man and Li Ping both knew that Zhao Danshi sent things to both families, but neither said anything.