Chapter 106: Field Training Chicken For Dinner Tonight
Seeing that everyone was basically carrying four chickens in their hands, Mandy directly waved her hand——We’re heading back!
Thus, Class Eight’s Patrol Group set off toward the camp in this way, with each person holding two chickens in each hand, singing and dancing, while not forgetting to clean up the nearby traces left from catching chickens as they walked. After all, they had just set up some scouting traps ahead, and it would really be bad if they gave it away here.
They were now at the boundary between the Northern Area and the Central Area. A slight move south would enter the Central Region where the four classes were located. Out of caution, Mandy did not continue deeper but chose to set up scouting traps at the boundary. Once someone entered and triggered a trap, the signal device on the trap would immediately notify the four Class Cadres.
According to the Class President’s idea, staying put for now was the best. As long as they ensured that the news of Class Two and Class Ten in the Northern Area being completely captured did not leak out, the other classes would prioritize dealing with the other classes in the same area as themselves, rather than prioritizing the easy to defend, difficult to attack Northern Area. This way, their Class Eight could enjoy days of eating chicken and drinking fish soup.
The Class Eight Students, unaware of this strategy, chose to follow blindly. Anyway, following the Class President and Xiang Chuan meant there would be meat to eat. Those who noticed the Class President’s idea wouldn’t raise objections either, since no one would object to ready-made fresh gourmet food.
When the Patrol Group returned to the camp, for a moment they suspected if they had gone to the wrong camp.
The center of the camp now had three low tables arranged in a triangle, each with a one-meter-long heating plate on it. Two heating plates had iron pots on them, with the pot lids bubbling away, boiling the hot water that Xiang Chuan had instructed at noon. The remaining heating plate was directly covered with a pot lid, sizzling inside. Xiang Chuan, sitting in front of the heating plate, was holding a square meal box and fiddling with something.
Compared to the scene at noon that required burning firewood, the change was enormous.
“Mandy, everyone, you’ve worked hard.” The Class President walked over with a beaming smile, looking quite pleased.
“Are these the supplies all delivered?” Mandy went up to meet her, not forgetting before leaving to have the Patrol Group take these chickens to ask Xiang Chuan how to handle them.
“Yeah, they were delivered before Xiang Chuan came back: flour, seasoning, pot, heating plate… To be honest, I’m still not confident about this.” When saying the second half, the Class President lowered her voice.
“Who cares? Even if we lose to other classes due to lack of supplies, we’ve enjoyed several days of freshly made food.” Mandy smiled and pointed toward Xiang Chuan’s direction. “Do other classes have this treatment? Besides, everyone wasn’t very interested in the confrontation match to begin with. If it weren’t for Xiang Chuan bringing out that ‘Thirty-Six Stratagems’ on the first day and stimulating everyone’s desire to challenge, our class’s people would probably still be lying around in the camp doing nothing right now.”
Mandy patted her own Class President’s shoulder, telling her not to overthink things, then went to help Xiang Chuan kill chicken.
When Xiang Chuan saw nearly twenty people each with four chickens, she was stunned: “No need for so many! Hurry and build a chicken coop. This many is enough for us until the confrontation match ends.”
Thus, the Patrol Group hurriedly started constructing a chicken coop in another corner close to the mountain wall. So-called chicken coop, it was already almost like the animal sheds occasionally seen in elementary schools in big cities of the 21st century. Nearly seventy chickens were clucking inside, very lively.
Xiang Chuan and others carried ten chickens to the riverside. By then, the Stalwart Group’s members were already waiting by the river. The Stalwart Group’s harvest in the afternoon was quite good; they caught six big fish, which had already been processed. They were chatting by the river when they saw Xiang Chuan and the Patrol Group carrying chickens behind her approaching, and immediately understood that the chicken killing work was about to start.
The kitchen knife from the supplies application was ready, large meal boxes and medium meal boxes ready, two pots of hot water ready.
Xiang Chuan looked up, glancing meaningfully at the expectant Stalwart Group and the curious Patrol Group, grabbed a chicken by the neck, raised the knife and slit it. Fresh red blood flowed into the empty meal box. The bloody smell different from the fishy smell made many Patrol Group members’ faces turn pale. The chicken whose neck was slit struggled at first but gradually went still. After confirming it wouldn’t move anymore, Xiang Chuan directly threw the chicken into the hot water pot to scald, then looked up at the Patrol Group who had turned away to vomit and the Stalwart Group whose faces looked a bit off but eager to try, and said: “This is the first step. Alright, come try it.”
An hour later, the pale-faced Patrol Group members carried a large meal box neatly arranged with raw chicken meat that had been defeathered back to the camp center. As for the Stalwart Group, they were desperately scrubbing the pots used to scald chicken feathers by the river. When they heard Xiang Chuan say these pots would be used to simmer soup later, even the Stalwart Group, who had tempered steel hearts from killing fish and chickens, couldn’t help but volunteer to wash the pots.
——Of course they had to wash the pots! When scalding chicken feathers, the chicken’s big feces and everything were boiled together for over twenty minutes. If not washed, the soup later would taste like chicken shit—who could stand that!
The mildly germophobic Class Eight people now completely changed their usual lazy attitude. When it came to food, they exploded with unprecedented action power, cleaning the two pots at a speed that left the Class Two and Class Ten students watching from the captives’ tent dumbfounded. After washing, they even took them to Ouyang Yating and Ainuo, who were sorting flour nearby, to smell and confirm no odd smell before daring to return them to Xiang Chuan.
The final step had some physical demands for 21st century people but no technical content for modern people—chopping chicken.
The reason it had no technical content was because when Xiang Chuan rummaged through the kitchenware from the supplies and couldn’t find the large cleaver written on the application form, and went to ask the Class President, under the Class President’s helpless gaze of looking at a little fool, she got the answer: For cutting tendons and bones, wouldn’t using the compressed laser cutter do?
Then Xiang Chuan was educated by the Class President about the compressed laser cutter: A kitchen tool used by kitchen AI or servants in modern kitchens to handle ingredients with medium to large bones. Laser appears only when contacting meat without life features, allowing it to cut bones like cutting gel.
Xiang Chuan now held this thing in her hand, thinking, is this really that easy to use? Then with one cut, she wouldn’t know if she didn’t try—she got a shock. Why? Because it was so smooth that there was no sensation of cutting. If the chicken on the thick wooden cutting board in front of her hadn’t been cleanly severed sideways, with the blood-red bone visible from the cut surface, she would really think she was cutting tofu instead of chopping chicken.
But the surprise was only temporary. In less than two minutes, she processed the whole chicken. The cleaned internal organs were placed aside, inedible parts cleaned out and put into a separate medium meal box with some shredded ginger mixed in, ready to be thrown into the pot together when simmering soup later.
The two pots were refilled with two-thirds water, firewood pile ready, iron plate oiled, A Bite of China Club members and Chou Manman each stationed at the kitchenware. Everything ready, Xiang Chuan took a deep breath and shouted: “Into the pot!”
Six chickens and cleaned halved shiitake mushrooms were put into the soup pot. Two chickens cut into pieces were skewered and smoked by the fire pile. Another two similarly cut chickens and shiitake mushrooms were poured onto the iron plate, personally stir-fried by Xiang Chuan, sprinkled with salt and oil, repeatedly flipped.
While stir-frying the chicken, Xiang Chuan watched the two pots’ situation, directing Ouyang Yating and Ainuo to skim off the surface foam every five minutes.
On the periphery, Stalwart Group students were making fish soup and grilled fish using the midday method. The other Patrol Group students weren’t idle either, busily preparing serving plates and drinking water.
Until five-thirty, when the sun on the horizon had sunk halfway, pots of fragrant and delicious fish and chicken were finally done.
Xiang Chuan, who had stir-fried chicken for nearly half an hour, was exhausted almost to collapse, but seeing her classmates’ excited gazes, she rallied her spirits, raised the roasted chicken leg in her hand, and loudly called: “Dinner time!”
“Woo————!!”
In an instant, the entire Northern Area echoed with the cheers of Class Eight students eating delicious chicken and fish.
Originally planned to hold off on the shiitake mushrooms, but I personally couldn’t stand stir-fried chicken without shiitake mushrooms, so I let the shiitake mushrooms appear early.
