After everyone had finished scrambling for food, Wang An took a bamboo basket, filled it with a dozen or so roasted squirrels and a few skewers of roasted sparrows, and handed them to Huang Zhong, saying
"Take these grey-dogs and sparrows to your sister and sister-in-law's room. Let them have a taste, and while you're at it, call Xiaomei and Xiaoli out to eat meat."
Before Huang Zhong could leave with the basin, Wang An put another dozen roasted squirrels and a few skewers of sparrows into the basket and spoke to Huang Zhong again
"Right, your uncle and aunt, and Sister Shen and Sister Zhao are all working in the greenhouse. Take some over to them too."
"Aye, I got it, Big Brother."
Huang Zhong gave an affirmative shout and ran toward the house carrying the basket.
Meanwhile, Wang An found a fork and walked toward the pit where the Beggar's Chicken was buried. It had been buried in the charcoal fire for nearly two hours; this Beggar's Corn-fed Chicken should be cooked by now.
Pushing aside the charcoal, Wang An used the fork to pick out the Beggar's Chicken, which had been roasted into a hard ball of earth.
Truth be told, the black mud after being fire-roasted was truly hard! Rock hard, incredibly hard. Wang An lifted the mud ball with the fork and slammed it onto the ground, thinking it would be easier to just smash it open, but the mud ball didn't break.
Looking at the mud ball on the ground without a single scratch, Wang An was momentarily stunned.
Blinking his eyes, Wang An couldn't help but mutter
"Holy crap, this thing is so sturdy."
The others, who were chewing on sparrows, saw Wang An's actions and all put down their food to gather around.
He Liang looked at his watch and said
"It's only been about two hours, can it be cooked through?"
Wang An nodded, then looked at He Liang with a grin
"Since you've spoken up, why don't you have a taste of it raw or cooked, just to keep warm? Hehehehe."
Truth be told, Wang An's attitude while saying this was truly obnoxious.
He Liang was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh. He had just used those same words on Wang An a moment ago; he hadn't expected Wang An to pay him back so quickly.
Unable to smash the earth ball at once, Wang An looked around and picked up the hammer he had used to dig the pit.
Fearing that too much force would flatten the chicken, Wang An began to tap at it with the hammer.
However, after several hits, the earth ball showed no mercy at all, remaining as stubborn as a rock, with only a few crumbs of dirt falling off.
Wang An put down the hammer and said, somewhat bewildered
"This thing... it's fucking intentionally trying to stop us from eating, damn it."
Seeing Wang An muttering, the impatient Zhang Shuya couldn't help but snatch the hammer from his hand, saying to him
"Come here, give it to me. You can't even break a thing like this; tell me, what *can* you actually do?"
After grabbing the hammer, Zhang Shuya swung it down toward the earth ball. Seeing this, Wang An hurriedly shouted
"Easy, easy! Don't smash the dirt into the meat!"
With Wang An's strength, smashing an earth ball would naturally be no problem, but if one blow drove shards of dirt into the chicken meat, it would definitely feel gritty and unpleasant to eat.
Mainly, besides the thick mud, the only things wrapping the corn-fed chicken were two layers of cabbage leaves and a layer of straw paper; those two things could absolutely not withstand the impact of a hammer.
Unfortunately, although Wang An shouted quickly, he wasn't faster than the hammer in Zhang Shuya's hand.
With one strike, Zhang Shuya smashed the mud ball open—no, to be precise, she smashed the mud ball in half.
However, the mud ball didn't split vertically like a watermelon; it split horizontally.
Consequently, this mud ball could no longer be called a "ball," but rather a "pancake."
Yes, it was a pancake—a dirt pancake, and one with a hammer stuck right in the middle of it.
One had to admit, this woman Zhang Shuya was indeed a powerhouse with a great deal of strength!
The onlookers, who had watched this unfold, saw their expressions shift from eager anticipation to shock, blankness, and a hint of disbelief in an instant.
Of course, Zhang Shuya also fell into a state of blankness, staring straight at the dirt pancake on the ground, at a loss.
After a while, Zhang Shuya said with some guilt
"Oops, I used too much strength."
Wang An looked at Zhang Shuya, blinked, and said with a grin
"My Big Sister is indeed the strongest. One hammer blow and she turned this mud ball into a mud pancake."
Wang An's words instantly triggered a burst of laughter from the crowd.
Zhang Shuya's face flushed red as she gave Wang An a glare, though her feeling of guilt diminished significantly.
As he spoke, Wang An squatted down, moved the hammer aside, and picked away the broken chunks of earth one by one, wanting to see if the flattened Beggar's Chicken was still edible.
To his surprise, after he cleared away the top layer of dirt, although the straw paper wrapping the Napa cabbage leaves had been torn, the cabbage leaves themselves had not ripped.
Wang An guessed that the reason the cabbage leaves had become so strong and resilient was likely because they had been blanched in water and then subjected to high temperatures against the oil.
Of course, the hemp twine wrapped around the leaves played a huge role as well. As is well known, dried hemp, once soaked in hot water, can be used as rope; in the North, hemp is used as the string for wrapping zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Looking at the Beggar's Chicken—which, although flattened, was perfectly edible—Wang An couldn't help but say happily
"Great, great, really great! My Big Sister's hammer blow wasn't for nothing. This meat must have been smashed until it's tender as porridge! It saves us the trouble of chewing; we can just toss the meat in our mouths and swallow it with a few smacks of the lips, hahahaha!"
Hearing this, the laughter that had just subsided immediately erupted again.
Zhang Shuya could no longer tolerate Wang An's teasing. She raised her hand and smacked him on the back twice, saying "fiercely"
"If you dare keep talking nonsense, I'll smash you flat too."
It would have been better if Zhang Shuya had stayed quiet; her words combined with the action of hitting Wang An only made the crowd laugh harder.
Throwing away the straw paper along with the dirt, Wang An grabbed the hemp twine and placed the flattened piece of chicken onto a steamer tray.
Cutting the twine and peeling back the cabbage leaves that had stuck together, the unique aroma of Beggar's Chicken instantly began to permeate the air.
Everyone subconsciously exclaimed
"Oh my god, this thing smells amazing!"
It must be said that Wang An had never smelled a fragrance like this before.
Ignoring the heat, Wang An quickly tore off a chicken leg along with a large piece of meat and ran outside the circle of people.
This piece of meat weighed nearly a pound and a half.
Taking a hurried bite, Wang An's only feeling was that the taste of this Beggar's Chicken was simply invincible!
Immediately after, he placed the piece of chicken into a small bamboo basket.
At that moment, the others finally snapped out of it. Regardless of whether their hands were clean, they all reached toward the Beggar's Chicken on the steamer tray.
And so, the six of them descended into chaos once again.
(End of Chapter)