Chapter 10

Fire jumps in the furnace under the glow of night. The pot is now covered and steaming with a meat aroma.

Kang Ya tries repeatedly to reach out and uncover the lid, but he is repeatedly hit hard by vet Hao with the back of knife. The old man has no authority but integrity, so everyone continues to wait with bowls and chopsticks broken from branches.

Kang Ya is sick of waiting and he has begun to grind his teeth. "Where's your guts? Fanla, beat him!"

Me, Yaoma and Bula, the three of us confront Li Wula outside an invisible warning circle, which is circular along with the pot. The timid platoon leader Li is indeed not a pleasing person for both officers and soldiers. As an officer, he has fallen to the point of holding a broken bowl and waiting in front of other people's pot with no dignity.

I am called very angry by Kang Ya, "Call me the right name! Fanliao — ending the troubles! It's not Fanla!"

Kang Ya, the master who keeps his mouth shut but never moves his buttocks, shouts fiercely, "Don't interrupt me! Gotta hardware? Beat him, Fanla!"

I have already got a piece of firewood in my hand, but I don't like this too direct violence. I just point it at Li Wula's nose and say, "Go away."

Li Wula, that's him, silent, blinking at you, and his arm is ready to block the punch in advance. I don't know what makes an officer carry such terror like rodent, and I don't care.

I shout again: "Piss off!"

Li Wula is still standing steadily, he's just like that. I stand at a stalemate with him. Li Wula, lost his soul, does not know why he is alive. He can die by instinct for Stewed Pork with Cabbage and Rice Noodles, but he does not have the courage to die. I'd better not think about how much better I am than him — I stop thinking.

The sound of Yaoma is really a lot more sullen than me, "Hurry up!"

Bula fans his hand from the inside out and says, "Hoo! Hoo!" — that's the posture that Hunan people only have when herding livestock.

Li Wula's reaction is to extend the bowl in his hand. If I am still concerned about the dignity of officers and Bula is still concerned about the authority of officers, Yaoma has been completely angry. This guy jumps up. The short man fights and turns himself into a blade. His two knees collide with Li Wula's chest and abdomen without any waste. Li Wula and his bowl fly away from us one meter away, and the bowl becomes fragmented. When Yaoma is about to stand on the ground, he then pulls out a posture of professional fighter, "Fuck it! You're also an officer?"

He makes a mistake. It's better not to use harsh words after beating someone crazy. Li Wula is so anxious that he gets up and pounces on us. He doesn't pounce on Yaoma, he pounces on the pot. He directly runs over Yaoma who is still playing his professional posture. Li Wula is pouncing on our pot, and it looks like he will definitely pounce on the pot.

A sharp thrust hit him from back, causing him to fall to the ground. Several soldiers drag the insensible Northeastern man away from our pot.

Yi stands there holding a piece of firewood, and we look at him dumbfounded. It's hard for you to believe that he did it, not even himself. Yaoma is lifted from the ground by Bula and Bean after Li Wula's strike. Li Wula is dragged away, and I look at Yi. This world of biting each other makes me want to be sharp and mean.

I warmly and harshly applaud, "Yi! That's great!" I am warmly responded to. Yi squeezes out a crying, flattered smile and attempts to return to the shadow that originally belongs to him. This is an attempted move, as another slapping sound interrupts me. The guy from the dark pats so hard that the air almost shakes.

Dragon, with an uncertain expression, stops when he crosses Li Wula, who is paralyzed on the ground. He takes a closer look at the guy who is often beaten by him and says, "You are so fool. The face of Northeast even gets lost in Yunnan by you."

Li Wula does not respond. He seems to have lost his ability to cry, and Dragon who crosses over him no longer cares about him, directly invading our small circle and heading towards the pot. We instinctively take a step back and begin to regret it again, but we dare not take a step forward. As if walking leisurely, Dragon plays with his unused watch, which belonged to Yi. Dragon, the invincible king throughout the entire shelter. No one can beat him down. He hits Li Wula, but we don't know how he thinks of us hitting Li Wula. It's like Yaoma beating Bean, but Yaoma doesn't like others beating Bean.

Dragon extends his head onto the pot and immerses his entire head in the steam emanating from the pot. He reaches out to Kang Ya, who is still stunned. Dragon reaches out and pulls away the branches that serve as chopsticks from Kang Ya's hand. Under his fierce gaze, everyone sits still. Then he reaches out and opens the lid of the pot that no one has opened until now.

Our hearts rose to our throats — Yaoma snatches the firewood from my hand, trying to protect our food once again. The chef Shepigu almost wants to cover his eyes.

But the expression of that damn Northeast guy softens in the sudden steam rising. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Suddenly, I feel that the face soaked in the steam belongs to a homesick child. He opens his eyes and looks into the pot, flipping it with branches, becoming angry again, as if he is about to beat someone hard at any time — then he publishes a long poem:

"Is this fucking stewed pork and noodles? That's not how it is cooked! A great meal had been ruined by you damn people! Why don't you put soy sauce? Soy sauce offends you? You have a grudge against cabbage? Such a big pot of cabbage? Noodles! My god! No potato noodles is fine. Fanla, the whole bundle of damn noodles had been put into? You potato head are born to be beaten? What about pork? Pork and soy sauce are all robbed by Japs? Get it back! God, how is the stewed pork and noodles in Northeast made like this? You made this dish fucking cabbage soup with noodles!"

We stare at him, startled, and cleverly choose to remain silent. Hunger indicates lethargy, indicating that none of us have ever had such a lengthy discourse, and such discourse actually comes from Dragon. We really want to tell Dragon that we bastards want to make Stewed Pork with Cabbage and Rice Noodles from Northeast China, but his eloquence scares us. Usually, he beats us to pieces in less than seven words. Now he seems to want to stir up our pot, and if he does, we will have to practice our ability to pick up noodles from the ground.

Dragon is still there, sighing fiercely: "In need of beating! I already found it! We're all in need of beating!"

He plans to hit us hard — takes out two military cans that are also extremely scarce on the black market from his pocket and pours them into the pot in a destructive posture. We think there must be something else inside, but before he opens it, the can is sealed and the meat poured out is really meat. One thing is immediately assured that he can't cook at all. He can't cook Stewed Pork with Cabbage and Rice Noodles in the northeast or southwest. He can only pour ingredients into the pot, even pour the can opener into the pot, and starts shouting:

"Yangdanzi! Get some more canned meat! Soy sauce! And lard! And a knife!"

Yangdanzi doesn't want to take them out, but he doesn't dare to take them less. He hugs the bottles and the cans, holding a knife in his mouth, and Dragon begins pouring in batches into the pot. The knife not only makes it convenient for him to open the cans and break the bottlenecks, but also can be used for stirring. As he stirring, he pours a whole bottle of soy sauce into the pot, accompanied by a bold declaration: "Let you guys know what a true Northeast Stewed Pork with Cabbage and Rice Noodles is."

Shepigu is now really covering his eyes, and he looks through his fingers. It is said that he is the one among us who still maintains a sense of taste — at least he believes he does.

Yangdanzi reminds Dragon without hesitation, "The can is beef." Dragon quickly stabs him with the hilt, causing Yangdanzi to squat next to him silently, covering his waist.

We stare blankly. We are all hungry to this point that when Dragon is bent on making stewed pork and noodles from his hometown, no one thinks that he has destroyed this hard-earned dinner. We just think: fuck, so much meat.