Chapter 1786 969: Human Nature, Human Hearts

Deep in the mountains, dense forests, a torrential rainstorm.

Silver snakes were dancing wildly in the howling wind and rain; this cabin on the mountaintop stood here somewhat abruptly.

Inside the cabin.

An Sheng and Zhuo Jun moved the Iron Wolf Dustpan and some pieces of wood inside, as the rain outside was too heavy, soaking the wood and Iron Wolf Dustpan completely.

Tui Zi also cleaned the black pork thoroughly, washing away the white coat with water, but he had to scrape the charred layer with a knife for several minutes before it was barely clean.

Zhuo Jun and An Sheng huddled by the firepit, shivering from head to toe. They were soaked through; it was October after all, and the temperature was dropping fast, especially with a storm here on the mountain, making it even colder.

Chen Delong sat on the bed for a while, feeling much better, and began hanging all their belongings from the luggage to dry.

"Brother Chen, wasn't this bag supposed to be waterproof? Why is it such poor quality, not waterproof at all, our blankets are completely soaked," An Sheng muttered, rubbing his hands and shivering.

Chen Delong glanced at him and said, "The rain was too heavy, and we opened the bag... Hurry up and take off your clothes and hang them on the branches to dry by the fire. Otherwise, you won't be able to sleep well later."

An Sheng nodded and then he and Zhuo Jun took off their clothes, stripping down to only shorts.

Even without clothes, it was better than wearing wet garments.

Plus, with a fire nearby, he felt much more comfortable.

At this moment, Tui Zi came in carrying the black pork, looking a bit excited, and said to everyone, "Finally got it cleaned up, come... I'll cook porridge."

Noticing the three of them had all taken off their clothes, he also felt the chill in his wet clothes and stripped completely, hanging his clothes by the fire.

He even took his socks outside, washed them in the rain, and hung them on a nail on the wall by the door.

Quickly.

They took out four dried sweet potato strips, chopped them up with a dagger, grabbed a small handful of rice from a burlap sack, filled a steel pot with some rainwater from outside, and rushed back in to place the pot over the fire.

In the firelight, none of them stopped. Many of their belongings were soaked and needed to be dried as quickly as possible.

Just under the bed, they found a rusty packet of nails and hung all the wet things on the four walls, using the heat from the fire to dry their clothes.

Zhuo Jun, holding the axe, squatted down and started chopping the wet wood they had just collected, seemingly making two beds.

In this rainy weather, if they slept directly on the ground, they'd surely catch a cold by morning.

They couldn't afford to catch a cold or get sick now.

Zhuo Jun's technique was very skilled, suggesting he had done this quite a bit before.

Tui Zi was both cooking porridge and took another iron basin outside, filling it in less than twenty seconds.

He placed the basin by the fire, then reached into the clothes hanging on the wall and pulled out a handful of green leaves.

"Tui Zi, what is this?" An Sheng asked, puzzled.

Tui Zi chuckled and said, "I saw this by the road, wild tea leaves, it's a good thing, can supplement us with Vitamin and trace elements. Makes a fragrant tea."

An Sheng looked at the handful of tea leaves in his hand, nodded silently, and continued sorting his belongings.

After taking out the tea leaves, Tui Zi rinsed them in the rainwater outside, then tossed them all into the iron basin.

"Tui Zi, where's the piece of meat you just took out? Did you forget to put it in the porridge?" Chen Delong stirred the pot with a dagger and asked Tui Zi.

Tui Zi slapped his forehead, searched around, and found the piece of cleaned meat on a wet piece of wood. After washing it, he laid it down to strip off, and forgot about it.

"I'll cut it in right away." Tui Zi quickly picked up the black pork, found a leftover piece of wood from Zhuo Jun, brushed off the sawdust, and took out the dagger to cut the pork.

This smoke-cured black pork from eight or nine years ago was quite hardy, so Tui Zi had to slice it hard, piece by piece.

The black pork was sliced very thin, the meat congealed together, shiny, looking very appetizing.

Tui Zi looked at An Sheng and said, "Looks good, right? Didn't I tell you?"

An Sheng, smelling the faint aroma of meat, swallowed and said, "Tui Zi, you're amazing."

He hadn't had pork in who knew how long, his stomach starved of fat, and as he watched the glistening oil on the black pork, he kept swallowing.

Soon, Tui Zi cut the meat and tossed it all into the pot.

Having just handled the wild boar meat, some fat stuck to his fingers, so Tui Zi sucked them clean, as he stared intently at the pot.

And not just him, the three others around were so hungry that their stomachs were stuck to their backs.

"Brother Chen, the porridge should be ready, right?" Tui Zi peeked at the pot and asked.

Chen Delong opened the pot; the porridge was already boiling.

Seeing the others being unable to endure their hunger, he said, "It should be ready."

Then he used a branch to move the pot to the ground, and ladled out a scoop for each person, each scoop filled to the brim, evenly distributed.