Apocalypse: Last Traveler-Chapter 366 - 345: Pork Broth and Seasonings

"Alright!"

Old Hao, the owner, immediately agreed, then asked, "Do you want some pancake to go with it? Dipping the pancake in the pig soup is also very tasty."

Lu Xi’an, in a sudden burst of enthusiasm, said, "Yes!"

"Alright!"

Old Hao responded again, and in no time, brought out the pancakes along with three bowls of pig soup.

The soup was milky white, mostly filled with pig offal with just a tiny bit of meat. The steam wafting from the soup carried a fragrance that made one’s mouth water.

Lu Xi’an immediately used a ceramic spoon to scoop up a mouthful, sending the soup mingled with offal into his mouth. The fresh taste, slightly spicy, spread across his palate. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The offal had a complex texture, offering a unique taste as he chewed.

Yet no taste could surpass the distinctive aromatic spiciness spreading in his mouth.

No fishy scent.

Lu Xi’an suddenly realized, "Is there pepper in this?"

He turned to look at Yao Wei, who had already started gulping it down.

For Yao Wei, this slight spiciness was no problem at all; instead, it was delicious enough to whet the appetite. She ate the meat, drank the soup, her eyes brightening involuntarily.

Hu Xiaodong couldn’t bear to drink like Yao Wei. He was carefully sipping a small mouthful of soup when he suddenly heard Lu Xi’an’s question, instinctively swallowing quickly, and accidentally choking.

"Cough! Cough cough! Cough cough cough!"

Hu Xiaodong was choked to the point of a coughing fit, tears welling up. He quickly wiped them away with his sleeve and answered Lu Xi’an, "Yes, I heard that without pepper, the pig soup tastes a bit fishy and doesn’t taste good.

"That’s why the pig soup from Old Hao’s place always has pepper. Pepper is quite expensive, and most people here can’t afford to buy it.

"I never thought that Mr. Lu and Mr. Yao had also tasted pepper."

Yao Wei had naturally never tasted it before; she was still eating and thinking, so this flavor was pepper.

However, she did not refute Hu Xiaodong, feeling that refuting him wouldn’t serve any purpose.

And Lu Xi’an didn’t dwell on such trivial matters either. He asked Hu Xiaodong, "Where can pepper be bought? Why do you still have pepper from a long time ago here?"

Hu Xiaodong said, "You just have to look for Old Hao, Mr. Lu; his family has some. But they’re not leftovers from before, they have pepper seeds that were allegedly fetched from overseas a long time ago.

"A long time ago, Old Hao’s great-grandfather sneaked overseas and brought back this stuff. Because there was no report, he had to give a lot of pepper seeds to the committee member in charge of reporting to smooth things over.

"So now, only Old Hao and the Yuan family on the mountaintop have it—though they’re not the same family as Yuan Laotie’s, they share the same surname.

"Back then, the mountaintop Yuan family were the committee members in charge of reporting."

"I see."

Lu Xi’an understood and immediately called out, "Boss!"

Old Hao came trotting out of the house, asking, "Do you want anything else?"

By then, Yao Wei had just finished a bowl, so Lu Xi’an pushed his bowl to her and said to Old Hao, "Another bowl."

Yao Wei naturally didn’t stand on ceremony with Lu Xi’an and continued eating directly.

"Alright."

Old Hao agreed and was about to turn back inside.

But Lu Xi’an called out, "Wait a moment."

Old Hao stopped and turned his head.

Lu Xi’an asked, "Do you have pepper in your house? Can you sell me a bit?"

Old Hao said, "I can sell it, but it’s not cheap. To be honest, the pepper powder I have here is all used for making soup, not usually for sale."

Lu Xi’an took out a cigarette and asked, "Is this enough?"

Old Hao slightly widened his eyes but soon shook his head with a sheepish smile.

Lu Xi’an took out another cigarette.

Old Hao’s sheepish smile froze on his face.

And when Lu Xi’an took out the third one, Old Hao finally said, "Wait a moment, I’ll give you a can."

However, Lu Xi’an stopped him again, "Wait."

"Do...do you want more?! One can isn’t enough? How much more do you want?"

Old Hao asked in surprise, unsure how many cigarettes Lu Xi’an still had.

Lu Xi’an never thought there’d be a day he could enjoy the thrill of spending extravagantly with found cigarettes.

Since he wanted this thrill, he wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. He continued, "Besides pepper powder, can I also get some seeds?"

"Well..."

Old Hao was somewhat reluctant, trying to think of what to say, when he saw Lu Xi’an grab a handful of cigarettes and place them on the table. They spread out instantly, and no one could tell how many there were at a glance.

Old Hao’s eyes widened, his mouth opened wide, but no words came out.

Not only him, but Hu Xiaodong also had the same expression, so fixated that he even forgot to drink his soup. His spoon hovered in mid-air, a bit dazed.

Nearby people noticed the situation, and some, interested in watching the scene, gathered around, whispering among themselves.

Lu Xi’an felt as if he had become Guo Jing, who had just walked out from the desert in "Legend of the Condor Heroes", showing off wealth at Huang Rong’s request, attracting attention.

However, while others rely on a table full of fine dishes that most people have never even heard of, Lu Xi’an was using cigarettes, displayed on the table, which seemed far less impressive.

He noticed Yao Wei had eaten more than half of her second bowl of pork soup, and at this point, she stopped, frowned, seemed to dislike the atmosphere very much, and stood up saying, "Shall we talk somewhere else?"

Seeing this, Yao Wei quickly finished the remaining pork soup and bread dipped in pork soup and stood up with Lu Xi’an.

Old Hao and Hu Xiaodong were somewhat conflicted at the moment.

Old Hao was because he really didn’t want to sell the seeds, while Hu Xiaodong just couldn’t eat as fast as Yao Wei, and he felt it was a pity to leave so much pork soup, feeling heartbroken.

Lu Xi’an glanced at Hu Xiaodong and said, "You can drink slowly here; we’ll talk with the boss inside."

With that, he said to Old Hao, "Boss, anyway, let’s go inside first, and I’ll show you our sincerity, okay?"

Old Hao hesitated a little, but eventually nodded, agreeing. Lu Xi’an then picked up the wicker box and went inside with Yao Wei and Old Hao.

Inside the shop, there were also two tables with no customers seated.

But the three did not talk there; Old Hao directly led Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei through the kitchen to the backyard.

The backyard had a slightly fishy smell in the air, with pig innards soaking in pottery basins, and a fire stove with a pot simmering pig bone soup.

Lu Xi’an guessed that their pork soup was this pig bone soup with added pork, pig offal, and seasonings.

He wasn’t concerned with other seasonings, right now he just wanted to get some pepper powder and seeds.

Old Hao stood in the courtyard and said, "Both of you, the pepper here was stored from before; there’s some pepper seeds, but not many.

"Selling to you would leave me with less, and when the pepper powder runs out, I’d have to focus on growing pepper. I can’t plant many at once; I have to divide the planting, which wastes time."

Without a second thought, Lu Xi’an slightly lifted the wicker box lid, reached in, and took out two packs of cigarettes, saying, "Two packs of cigarettes, what do you think?"

Old Hao opened his mouth but couldn’t find any more reasons.

Lu Xi’an said, "And you can rest assured, I’m not planning to grow these on East Island. I don’t come to the island often; whatever I grow won’t concern you and won’t steal your business."

Old Hao hesitated.

Seeing this, Lu Xi’an decided not to say more, packed up the cigarettes, and turned to leave.

Anyway, Hu Xiaodong also mentioned that this isn’t the only place with pepper, so he could just find someone else.

Yao Wei followed afterward.

However, just as they reached the courtyard door, Old Hao suddenly called out: "Wait."

Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei stopped and turned back.

Old Hao was still hesitant, but after a moment of inner struggle, gritted his teeth and said, "I have no problem selling to you both. But once you leave this door, just say you didn’t buy from me.

"When my ancestors brought back pepper, most of the seeds were confiscated, and a policy was enforced on my family by the committee—

"Allowing us to plant a little for personal use but not to expand planting; selling some pepper is okay, but we can’t sell seeds to others."

So is that why pepper is monopolized on the island?

Earlier, Hu Xiaodong said Old Hao’s ancestors gave pepper seeds as gifts when preparing for their sea expedition, but Old Hao said they were confiscated. It’s hard to say which is true.

But either way, it doesn’t matter now.

It seems Old Hao’s family indeed doesn’t dare to plant much, while the Yuan family up on the mountain has turned pepper into a monopoly product.

That’s pretty unscrupulous.

Lu Xi’an agreed, "Okay, no problem."

Only then did Old Hao go back and bring out two small clay bottles, one filled with pepper powder and the other with pepper seeds.

Lu Xi’an carefully packed both items and said, "Keep these two packs of cigarettes; I’ll pay separately for the pepper powder and pork soup. You’re still short one bowl of pork soup from me; I’ll wait outside."

Old Hao cautiously accepted the cigarettes, nodding repeatedly, "Okay! Okay!"

Lu Xi’an returned to the outside where most people had already left, but some were still lingering around making idle chat with Hu Xiaodong, asking about the origins of Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei.

They’d already heard from Hu Xiaodong about how formidable these two new Neo-Humans were, and upon their emergence, the crowd quickly dispersed.

Thus, Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei could peacefully sit in the corner to drink pork soup.

When Old Hao brought a bowl, Lu Xi’an asked if Yao Wei wanted more, and she nodded.

Thus, Lu Xi’an shared half a bowl with Yao Wei and asked Old Hao to bring more, along with some bread.

The pork soup with added pepper powder quickly warmed them up, making them slightly sweat.

With the bread, it was quite delicious.

The bread was different from the kind made at Hu Xiaodong’s place; barley was ground into flour and used for this bread.

Though rough and hard due to material constraints, it was quite decent.

"Do you have a mill here?"

Lu Xi’an casually asked.

Hu Xiaodong nodded and replied, "Yes, it’s up there, a bit far from my place. Otherwise, my family would also make this bread."

Lu Xi’an said, "Then after we’re done looking around here, take us to see it."