Chapter 10: Dining (Part 2)

  The bright moonlight shone on Ming's body, as if slowly melting his loneliness. Those joys and sorrows that had pierced his heart were forgotten in the daze, leaving only the shadows of two people under the moon.

  How romantic! Maya's little face couldn't help but blush and leaned in closer to Xu Ming.

  Xu Ming turned his head and took a glance at Maya, suddenly as if he had been moved to sigh, with deep emotions said: "If time hadn't flown by like water, what kind of feelings should I use to cherish your warm yet sorrowful face? If the vast ocean hadn't become mulberry fields, what kind of expression should I use to mourn your tragic and desperate past?"

  Maya was stunned, and tears flowed uncontrollably down her face.

  He understands me, he is talking about me, he can read my past. When was it that my past wasn't so miserable and full of despair?

  Dad and mom are dead, relatives are all dead, they all abandoned me, I was desperate once again...

  I don't cry, can't cry...

  Although she thought so in her heart, Maya still rushed into Xu Ming's arms and couldn't help sobbing.

  Xu Ming was taken aback, he had just been speaking from the heart, using a phrase from the internet to express his longing for his parents, but unexpectedly, it touched Maya's sore spot.

  This made Xu Ming feel embarrassed, accidentally making Maya cry, and he had to comfort her. Thinking of this, Xu Ming wanted to gently stroke Maya's back and say some comforting words.

  Who knew that Maya, because of the distance from Xu Ming, leaned sideways and plunged into Xu Ming's arms. Xu Ming's hand didn't land on Maya's back, but instead touched a soft touch.

  Xu Ming suddenly withdrew his right hand, and his old face turned red, while Maya's small face was even redder, like an apple. Fortunately, the darkness of night covered up the embarrassment of the two people.

  Heavens! Good earth! I really didn't mean to, although I'm not as virtuous as Liu Xiahui who remained calm in the face of temptation, at least I'm not like Ximen Qing who took advantage of others' misfortunes...

  "Ahem." Xu Ming coughed lightly twice, covering up the awkwardness in his heart, but his hands dared not move randomly anymore. He forced himself to speak as if nothing was wrong: "Didn't I say I'd tell you a story just now?"

  Maya had stopped sobbing and was hiding in Xu Ming's arms, making a soft humming sound.

  "It's like that." Xu Ming fell into a trance, saying softly: "In the past, when I was young, I was particularly naughty and didn't love reading books. I liked those strange things all day long. It wasn't until I grew up that I knew what it was called - curiosity."

  "My family is from the countryside, where we have a lot of land, about over 20 mu. With land comes grain, and every winter, our house would be infested with mice, there were many rats in our home, coming to steal food."

  "Don't you have a cat at home?" Maya was indeed attracted by this topic and couldn't help but say.

  Xu Ming smiled and thought to himself, "You're a city boy, after all." But he said, "It's okay, there are two cats. However, the amount of food they eat is very small, and they're also very lazy. In one night, they can catch at most three or four mice, and then they'll be full. Once they're full, they'll find a place to sleep on their own and won't bother with anything else."

  "Ah?" Maya's face was full of surprise, she really didn't know this common sense.

  "At that time, if you wanted to deal with mice, you had to think of a way yourself." Xu Ming said with a slightly proud expression: "My father is the most famous mouse catcher in the village. He knows more than 30 kinds of mouse-catching skills and has a high reputation in the village."

  Maya nodded as if she understood, but she didn't know how mouse catching was related to Weiwang, and yet it seemed very impressive.

  It's not her fault, only rural people know that mice are more harmful than bandits. At that time, most rural homes were made of earth and stone, and the mice that were good at digging holes could be said to be all-pervasive. To protect a year's harvest from damage, one had to engage in fierce and prolonged struggles with the mice.

  Anyone who has a skillful mouse-catching technique will be respected by the locals, that's the guardian of food.

  "At that time, I especially liked to follow my dad and watch him set traps. My dad was very clever and often used local materials, just a few chopsticks and a piece of wood could be designed into a very powerful mousetrap. He would pat my head and say, 'Kid, if you don't study hard in the future, learn this skill, at least you won't starve to death.'"

  "Then you'll learn." Maya blinked her pale blue big eyes, twinkling like stars in the sky. "You won't just learn half of it, will you?"

  "Of course not..."

  A loud "thud" interrupted Xu Ming's words, and he stood up after patting the mud on his buttocks. He said to Maya, "Come on, let's go take a look at our spoils of war."

  Xu Ming lit the torch and fixed it in place on the wall, then went to the wooden board and stomped his foot twice.

  A pained "creak" came from under the wooden board.

  When I lifted up the board, there were seven or eight big fat rats lying underneath.

  "It seems that the mouse's life is quite good, we have a good fortune." Xu Ming smiled and said to Maya: "Maya, find something to start a fire."

  After finishing speaking, Xu Ming went to rummage through that pile of miscellaneous items again. The warehouse originally had a lot of miscellaneous items, cloth strips, wooden and flammable things were everywhere, Maya easily gathered a big heap.

  Xu Ming then rummaged through a pile of miscellaneous items and pulled out two thin iron rods, had Maya start a fire, and then skewered the rats onto the rods.

  "We're really going to eat... mice..." Maya looked at Xu Ming, who was busy with something, and couldn't help but say it again. It seemed that she was absolutely terrified of mice.

  Xu Ming hehe smiled, putting the skewered mouse on the fire and saying: "This might look unappetizing now, but wait a while and you'll be drooling. When we were kids, our favorite thing to do was roast field mice."

  "Did you eat mice when you were young?" Maya heard that Xu Ming had also eaten them, and she was no longer so afraid.

  "Right." Xu Ming skillfully tore off the burnt mouse head with force, taking the mouse skin and tail along with it, leaving only the bare mouse meat.

  "It's still delicious."

  Each mouse actually has a lot of meat on its body, it's just distributed very thinly. The mouse meat is also very tender and in less than a minute, the whole mouse was roasted to a golden yellow color, filling the entire warehouse with a savory aroma.

  Even the upper officer standing at the door couldn't help but glance inside, a hint of crystal clear moisture flashing in the corner of his mouth.

  "Hmm..." Xu Ming had already roasted a mouse, habitually took a bite, and savored the flavor, saying: "Not bad, just lacks salt and pepper, otherwise it would definitely taste even better."

  Handed over the roasted mouse to Maya.

  Maya's little face couldn't help but turn even redder, he took a bite of it for me, wasn't that an indirect kiss...

  Because of this move, plus she was really starving, and the last bit of psychological burden was gone, she hugged the mouse meat and took a bite.

  Xu Ming's technique of roasting mouse meat is still quite good, the mouse meat is extremely fragrant when entering the mouth, and it's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Maya wolfed down a scalding hot mouse in an instant, not even sparing some small bones that could be chewed into pieces.

  Xu Ming hehe smiled, two thin iron rods rolled simultaneously, and in Maya's strong desire, another golden mouse flashed with oil light out of the oven.

  Hand it over to Maya. Maya hesitated for a moment, staring at the mouse meat and swallowing her saliva, saying: "You haven't eaten yet."

  "You go ahead and eat." Xu Ming smiled slightly and said: "I'll be fine in a moment."

  Maya nodded cleverly, because after having the first mouse as a base, eating the second one became much more elegant, until Xu Ming's third roasted mouse was done, Maya had only eaten half.

  Xu Ming saw that Maya hadn't finished eating, so he ate the rest himself. He was actually hungry too. The golden mouse meat looked appetizing and made his mouth water, much better than those moldy breads.

  Before long, the two of them had eaten all seven big rats and let out a satisfied belch at the same time.

  There was one last one, Xu Ming took a glance and kept staring at the upper officer who was eating mouse meat. Although Xu Ming didn't have a good impression of these soldiers who were as cruel as weeds, in order to survive, he might still have to rely on them.

  "Mr. Shang Shi, we've already eaten our fill; if you don't mind having a midnight snack, why not come and try some too?"

  Shang Shi swallowed his saliva, wanting to refuse, but the lingering fragrance was too enticing to resist. Don't look at him as a senior officer, but his days weren't much better than Xu Ming's.

  "Ah, I was just thinking of trying some too..."

  The superior man did not know what to say, and snatched up the mouse meat, chewing it with a big mouth without any gentlemanly demeanor.

  "The life of mice in the base is still pretty good, you see how fat they are, right, Sergeant?" Xu Ming said seemingly without a care.

  Upper officer swallowed mouse meat, vaguely said: "The one who takes care of the warehouse should be shot, and actually raised the mouse so fat..."

  "Hehe, you gentlemen must have a way." Xu Ming said with a smile.

  "Hmm...there's...I heard they..." The senior soldier suddenly stopped talking, swallowed the last piece of rat meat with bones and all, and said seriously: "Young fellow, we should head to the camp now."