Chapter 140: Rations and Unmarried Girls

“Where are we going back to?” Mao Shisan immediately became nervous. For the homesick sailors, returning to port was like going home, but for Mao Shisan, who regarded the Haitian as paradise, “going back” was an unknowable future.

“Probably back to Lingao. We’ve been out for too long,” Fu Ji said, tossing the washed radishes into a basket and shaking the water from his hands. “When you get back to Lingao, you’ll be waiting to enjoy life.” He started saying this again.

“Yeah,” Mao Shisan answered distractedly. A shadow was immediately cast over what had been a beautiful day.

Lunch was relatively simple. A “one-jin” package of “naval rations” was unwrapped from its wax paper and thrown into a large pot, with chopped vegetables added, and then everything was boiled together with water into a gray gruel. The cook would also add a little something from his small jars, like dried shrimp. When supplies were good, meat would also be added. In short, it was a hodgepodge of staple food and side dishes.

Although this hodgepodge didn’t look very appealing, it was quite palatable. But when they encountered rough seas during a voyage, this gray gruel would not be supplied. Instead, ready-to-eat military rations would be distributed directly to the soldiers. To help the soldiers swallow, hot sweetened black tea would also be supplied. After the tea was distributed to the soldiers, the tea leaves at the bottom of the tea bucket would not be wasted. They would be dried on the steam stove and mixed into the next meal of porridge or gruel as an extra. Tea leaves contain a lot of carotene, crude fiber, and other nutrients. It would be a pity to just throw them away, so the tea leaves were also listed as a food item.

Every time they saw that the supply was “bricks,” the soldiers would erupt in a chorus of complaints. Except for a few who would put it in their pockets as a snack to grind their teeth on when they were hungry, the others would take a couple of bites with a look of disgust and then throw it out the porthole. The non-commissioned officers pretended not to see.

“What a waste of heaven’s gifts,” the fat cook always liked to use an idiom. The fat cook was always very low-key, but from time to time he would blurt out some difficult words. According to Fu Ji, the fat cook was originally a scholar. Because of his tireless pursuit of all kinds of delicacies, he did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to taste them, and finally ended up with nothing and had to seek refuge with the Chiefs.

After Fu Ji and Mao Shisan understood the meaning of this idiom, they also shook their heads and sighed. Although the fat cook and Fu Ji sighed, they would not go and gnaw on that brick. For the people in the kitchen, it was easy to cook a little something for themselves. At the very least, they could boil this ration before eating it. Once, Mao Shisan threw a small piece of dry ration in front of the little cat, Oscar. It sniffed it and then walked away with a look of disgust. Mao Shisan still ate this ration that even the cat wouldn’t eat out of habit. For a person who had been in a state of chronic hunger for a long time, wasting food was truly heartbreaking. His stepfather had said that only the emperor ate only the heart of the cabbage and threw away the rest. If anyone else did that, they would be punished by heaven. So he used to deliberately collect it, and the soldiers would also casually throw their rations to him. In a few days, a pile of dry rations had accumulated in the corner where he slept, until it was discovered by Fu Ji.

“Oh my god!” Fu Ji was greatly alarmed. “If an officer sees this, they’ll think you’re stealing military supplies and hang you from the mast. Quick, throw it away, throw it away.”

Seeing Mao Shisan’s pained expression as he threw the rations into the sea, the fat cook, who was smoking, began to boast again, “Back in the day when we were docked in Shandong, two rations could be exchanged for an unmarried girl. Shisan, you’ve thrown a dozen wives into the sea.”

“You’re bragging again,” Fu Ji retorted. “How come I haven’t seen you exchange one for a cook’s wife?”

“There are rules. For this matter of the dick, dozens have already been punished, lost their medals, and been transferred to the White Horse Team and the Sword-Drawing Team… Fortunately, most of them were from the army…” the fat cook said without changing his expression. “Besides, we who run the ship all year round, can we be at ease leaving a wife at home? Aren’t we afraid of being cuckolded? Do you understand what a cuckold is, you little rascal?”

Mao Shisan huddled in the corner without saying a word, but his heart was filled with thoughts of the beggar-like sheds at Lüshun port, the abandoned dead infants by the roadside, the roadkill being fought over by wild dogs, and his stepfather whom he would have difficulty seeing again. For a moment, tears streamed down his face.

“What are you crying for? When you get back to Lingao, you’ll be waiting to enjoy life,” Fu Ji began to chant again.

After distributing lunch to everyone, the three people in the kitchen drank the “enhanced” version of the ration gruel together. This was one of the small perks of working in the kitchen.

“Let’s put in some extra effort for dinner tonight. The first mate said that this is both a welcome feast for Chief Huang and a reward/feast for the whole ship. Everyone has to eat well, and it has to be safe. There can’t be any problems,” the fat cook said, wiping his mouth with satisfaction after finishing his gruel.

He took out a thick paper-bound notepad from under his buttocks, flipped through it several times, and then gave instructions to the two helpers on what to do.

After lunch, the people in the kitchen began to get busy for the evening banquet. The two young men distributed rice into each lunch box according to the quota, and then neatly stacked them in the steaming cabinet. Steam would be piped in from the engine room later.

The fat cook and Fu Ji went ashore with a full set of tools to butcher the beef and prepare the ingredients for the evening meal. In the afternoon, the weather was warm, and the frozen beef quickly thawed in the sun. Even so, the two of them spent a great deal of effort. Not only did they do it themselves, but they also called over two strong sailors to help with the heavy lifting.

The beef tallow and bones were set aside separately. Fu Ji set up a large pot on the river beach, threw the various beef fats into it, and lit a fire to render the oil. The pot sizzled, and the smell filled the air over the river.

Mao Shisan helped with the fire, watching Fu Ji stir the oil pot from time to time. The beef tallow in it was constantly bubbling. He had never seen so much oil in his life.

“What, are you envious?” Fu Ji saw that his eyes were about to drool and couldn’t help but tease him. “You can’t eat this stuff. We’ll take it back to the factory to use…”

Beef tallow has a high melting point. If eaten directly, the stomach and intestines basically cannot absorb it. In catering, it is only used to enhance the flavor.

Mao Shisan could not accept the strange argument that good oil could not be eaten, but he had no say in what he could and could not eat. Including the reward/feast in the evening, he did not dare to have any extravagant hopes. He would be satisfied if he could get some soup dregs in the end.

One cow seemed like a lot, but for seventy or eighty big eaters who rarely ate meat, it was just a small dish. After careful consideration, the fat cook, in order to ensure that everyone could eat meat, decided to simply make a stew. Except for some good meat reserved for the Chief and the sick, all the other meat was cut into small pieces and stewed with potatoes, radishes, cabbage, and onions.

While the stew was cooking, steam puffed out from the edge of the lid, and the whole kitchen was filled with the overwhelming aroma of meat and vegetables. It wafted out from the vents on the deck, causing the off-duty soldiers to come and watch, all of them drooling.

Mao Shisan, who was fanning the bellows, his throat gurgling, felt like he was being tortured for the second time. It was even worse than when the oil was being rendered. When the oil was being rendered, there was a foul smell in addition to the aroma, and oil could not be eaten directly. Now, a whole pot of meat was tumbling in the soup. You know, freshly cooked meat was not something that could be eaten often even in paradise.

The fat cook lifted the lid, picked up a piece of beef, and tasted it with a satisfied smile. He cut off a small piece and threw it to Oscar, who had been circling his feet. The rest of the meat went into Mao Shisan’s mouth.

At that moment, Mao Shisan felt as if his soul had left his body and gone to heaven.

“Shisan, close the air vent. We’re having a gathering for today’s mission completion. I’m going to make some side dishes for the drinks,” the fat cook said, wiping his hands.

Before dinner was even ready, Chief Huang, who had gone to the Tartar capital, had already returned. Mao Shisan happened to be on the deck dumping the ash, and he saw the procession coming from the direction of Zhenjiang Fortress. Several hundred Tartar cavalrymen and servants surrounded Chief Huang’s palanquin, looking very majestic.

To be an official, you have to be as grand as a Chief, Mao Shisan thought.

“Shisan! Quick, go to the island and boil water!” Fu Ji called him in a panic.

The large pot of boiling water on Duozhi Island was for the “preliminary purification” of the newly arrived servants. Mao Shisan also helped. While these new people were all stripped naked and driven into the steam bathroom to be steamed, he used a long wooden fork to pick up their clothes one by one and throw them into the boiling pot to be washed. The quality of these clothes was too poor. The boiling and washing were mainly to get rid of insects and disinfect them. Afterwards, they would be recycled as paper pulp raw materials.

“Come on, time for a haircut!” The barber on the Haitian stood at the entrance of the bathroom with a shiny razor, one foot on a long stool. When a person came out, he would have them sit down, grab their queue, and cut it off with a single stroke. Then, with a few more strokes, the head, which originally had a little hair, would be completely bald, leaving only a greenish scalp. Seeing this scene, Mao Shisan felt a chill on his own scalp. He had already grown a little hair back.

Mao Shisan was busy boiling water, delivering water, running back and forth, so busy that his bones and muscles were sore. In the end, he didn’t even have the strength to carry firewood. It was only after everything was done that he finally returned to the kitchen in paradise.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, he collapsed on the floor, unable to move.

“What are you playing dead for? Get up and work!” The fat cook kicked him unceremoniously. “Dinner is about to be served. You ate my meat, and you’re not going to work?”

Mao Shisan staggered to his feet and helped Fu Ji prepare the wine to be distributed in the evening.

Rum was distributed on the ship according to a certain quota every day. Unlike the Europeans who originally distributed rum mainly to cover up the stench of the drinking water, the Haitian had good water purification equipment and disinfectants, and the problem of smelly fresh water was easily solved. The alcohol was mainly for the soldiers’ recreation at sea and to keep warm in high-latitude areas. Of course, drinking was not allowed on duty.

The sailors were already queuing up outside the kitchen. The news of the reward/feast had spread long ago, and the soldiers had already smelled the aroma of the stew. At this moment, they were all waiting with their appetites wide open to feast.