PCJ – Chapter 595 The Taste of Childhood

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it! I’m the fastest!” Ji Jiaxin said eagerly, seeing Zhang Jiaohua dig up several fist-sized potatoes. She quickly volunteered and tried to snatch the small steel hoe from his hand.

People from Meizi’ao would always bring a machete and a small steel hoe when venturing into the mountains. With a machete, they could hack through underbrush and blaze trails. With a hoe, they wouldn’t miss anything buried in the soil. For example, if they found a wild ginseng root, they couldn’t just yank it out with their hands. Zhang Jiaohua’s small steel hoe, also called a “herb hoe,” was finely crafted—so attractive that even if you didn’t use it, it made your hands itch to try.

Zhang Jiaohua smiled and handed her the small hoe. “Be careful. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“I’m not that clumsy,” Ji Jiaxin replied with a grin.

Zhang Jiaohua chuckled and didn’t say more, though he almost reminded her not to damage the potatoes while digging. But judging by her technique, that might be asking too much.

Sure enough, the moment Ji Jiaxin brought the hoe down, there was a crisp thud. Zhang Jiaohua could tell she had smashed a potato. These potatoes were different from the ordinary kind—higher in water content, with golden-yellow flesh that smelled faintly of fruit. It was tempting to eat them raw.

“Zhang Jiaohua, you just dug up several without damaging a single one. How come I broke mine on the first try?” Ji Jiaxin asked in confusion.

“Didn’t you notice? I didn’t dig straight down. I loosened the soil from the side, then used the hoe after spotting the potato. But you—bam—just went straight down. Of course, the hoe won’t bend, and if there’s a potato underneath, it gets smashed,” Zhang Jiaohua explained with a smile.

“No wonder… Here, take it back. It’s such a waste to ruin a good potato like this,” Ji Jiaxin said, handing the hoe back and staring regretfully at the damaged one.

Zhang Jiaohua took the hoe. “It’s fine. If no one eats them, they’ll rot here anyway.”

As he spoke, he dug up a few more potatoes and stopped. Just enough for a meal—no need to waste more.

Looking around, Zhang Jiaohua also spotted celtuce, green beans, string beans, and even pepper plants covered with red chilies. There were no pests or plant diseases in this secret realm. The vegetables grew freely yet remained orderly—quite unexpected.

Ji Jiaxin suddenly asked a surprisingly deep question, “Zhang Jiaohua, why do people work so hard studying and getting promoted? Isn’t it enough to have food and clothes in this life? Why do adults tire themselves out so much? In the end, they live their whole lives without ever enjoying happiness. Look how nice it is here. Wouldn’t a family living together happily like this be just as fulfilling?”

Was this really something a seventeen or eighteen-year-old should be thinking about?

Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head, a bit puzzled himself. “There are many ways to measure the value of a person’s life. Sometimes, people don’t live just for themselves. Everyone has different goals, so their idea of happiness also differs. Maybe we’ll only understand these things when we grow up.”

“Maybe,” Ji Jiaxin nodded.

“Let’s not dwell on heavy stuff like that. Let’s enjoy dinner,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

He quietly brought out a lot of camping cooking gear. No one really knew what he kept in that bag of his, so when he started pulling out a bunch of cookware, no one was surprised.

Ji Jiaxin did ask curiously, “Zhang Jiaohua, did you bring your entire kitchen with you?”

“Not quite. I prepared all this for camping trips. It’s finally coming in handy. I brought more cookware, sure, but no need to carry food. These are all stainless steel, so they’re not heavy,” Zhang Jiaohua said as he arranged his equipment.

Zhang Yuanbao and Mute had already cleaned the snake and rat meat, sparing Ji Jiaxin the unpleasant prep process. Now looking at the bright red raw meat, it didn’t seem gross at all. In fact, the bamboo rat and snake meat looked even better than pork from the market.

Soon, a rich aroma wafted through the secret realm.

Zhang Jiaohua’s cooking skills were remarkable. Using only a few simple ingredients, he created a unique and irresistible flavor.

In the city, you could get ingredients from all over the world, yet their taste often lacked depth. The bamboo rat and snake meat Zhang Jiaohua cooked gave off a primal meaty fragrance—one that awakened the most basic hunger. It was the kind of scent you’d never find in the concrete jungle of a modern city.

Ji Jiaxin, raised in the city, rarely had a chance to taste truly wild meat. Just the smell made her mouth water.

“Is this really bamboo rat and snake meat? I thought both would smell bad, but this smells amazing!” Unable to resist, she grabbed a piece from the bowl and popped it into her mouth.

It wasn’t just her. Even Zhang Yuanbao and Mute, who grew up in Meizi’ao, hadn’t tasted such meat in a long time. As the village grew wealthier, fewer families raised their own animals. Most meat now came from the market—pork and poultry that no longer tasted like what they had as children.

“Mute, I smell the taste of our childhood. Do you smell it too?” Zhang Yuanbao inhaled deeply, savoring the scent in the air.

Mute nodded vigorously. “Yes. When we were kids, meat always smelled like this. Now, it doesn’t smell like anything at all.”

Zhang Jiaohua laughed. “When we get back, we should tell the villagers not to raise hybrid pigs or chickens. Just keep raising the native breeds. If those old breeds go extinct, we’ll never taste this again.”

“Exactly. The hybrid pigs grow fast and produce more lean meat, but they taste nowhere near as good as the native ones. I didn’t realize until you said it. Meizi’ao has improved our standard of living, but that doesn’t mean we should throw out everything from the past. We’ve got to preserve the good stuff too,” Zhang Yuanbao agreed.

“Why do I think even these roasted potatoes taste amazing?” he added, breaking open a freshly roasted potato. Its golden flesh released a sweet fragrance that mingled with the smell of roasted meat—completely mouthwatering.