When the alarm rang, the sky was still pitch black.

It looked like it would not brighten any time soon.

Lin You stretched her hand out from the quilt and felt a piercing chill.

Today seemed even colder than yesterday.

It was really hard to imagine that it was supposed to be summer.

Lin You sat up from the bed, her eyes still sleepy, and rubbed her hair.

She then put on slippers and got out of bed, taking a long-sleeved sweatshirt from the wardrobe.

After washing up, she entered the kitchen, carried the ingredients and seasoning bottles she had brought back yesterday, and hurried out the door.

Since it was still early, the hallway was empty and quiet.

After walking for a while, a door-locking sound suddenly came from behind.

Lin You turned her head and saw that it was the middle-aged man from downstairs, who was probably getting ready to go to work.

Naturally, she greeted him, “Morning.”

The man paused, looked over, nodded, and replied, “Morning.”

Then, he lowered his eyes again, and the light in his gaze dimmed once more.

No one wanted to get up early and go to work when danger loomed everywhere.

People’s emotions were stretched tight like a fragile string that could snap at the slightest disturbance.

A zombie siege would be the worst possible outcome.

The neighboring cities had fallen one after another, and people’s confidence was gradually crumbling.

It was too fast, everything was happening too fast, leaving people no time to react.

Just a few days ago, mutant creatures were only appearing sporadically, but yesterday, crises had already erupted in many places.

There were so many related news reports that it was impossible to read them all.

People’s emotions sank to a freezing point, and despair slowly took over, while negative information spread across social media.

The gloomy atmosphere was contagious.

People gradually lost the heart to work, constantly refreshing news pages and searching for updates on forums and chat groups.

Every time they saw a new picture or video of mutant creatures being shared, their fear deepened.

Moreover, many people had failed to buy supplies during yesterday’s panic-buying frenzy.

The helplessness of not being able to buy anything even if you had money slowly gnawed away at the once-optimistic mindset, making people fear even more for their future.

Judging by the speed at which nearby cities were falling, it seemed the zombies would breach Ancheng within a few days.

Neighbors might end up saying goodbye without even realizing it was the last time.

Lin You and the man simply exchanged greetings, but countless thoughts flashed through their minds in an instant.

Everything was understood without words.

Thinking about it, it felt a bit regretful, as they had never properly spoken before.

Lin You gave the man a slight smile and continued down the stairs.

Opening the building door, she saw a few pedestrians already on the street, hurrying through the cold wind.

Lin You swept her gaze along both sides of the street.

She noticed that two nearby breakfast shops had already closed their doors, likely because they had failed to stock up on ingredients yesterday.

The streetlights were still on, casting a dim light on the ground.

Against the biting cold wind, Lin You opened the door to her breakfast shop.

It was still early, so she could start proofing the dough first.

Lin You did not use the mysteriously appearing ingredients in the shop, instead she took out the flour she had stored at home.

Alone in the shop, the place felt a bit lonely.

When she first opened the shop, she had thought that if business was good, she would hire someone to help.

But in the past few days, there had been very few customers, and she had given up on the idea, choosing to do everything herself.

Since she had not been able to buy eggs yesterday, the flavor of the pancakes would be affected.

Therefore, today Lin You decided not to make pancakes and removed them from the electronic menu outside.

Instead, she thought of making roujiamo^[1]Roujiamo (肉夹馍) is a popular Chinese street food, often referred to as a “Chinese hamburger.” It consists of a flat, round, and slightly thick bread (known as mo, 馍) filled with … Continue reading with sauce.

Back when Lin You lived near her family home, there was a roujiamo shop nearby.

The master there was an old man who had been making roujiamo for more than twenty years.

The bread was golden, the stewed meat was tender and flavorful, and a ladle of meat sauce poured into the bread…

Tsk, taking a bite would fill your mouth with fragrance.

It was truly unforgettable.

Lin You washed her hands and started preparing the ingredients.

She poured an appropriate amount of flour into a basin and began kneading the dough.

When kneading, one must first pour some flour into the basin and then slowly add water into the flour.

To get it right the first time, it was usually not about directly kneading flour and water into a ball.

Instead, the flour should be kneaded into a crumbly texture first, and then the crumbs pressed together into a dough.

Lin You kneaded slowly, gradually making the dough surface smooth and clean.

During this process, she added a small amount of sugar and yeast to help the fermentation.

After letting the dough rest for about half an hour, she began to prepare the pork belly.

If the meat was too lean, it would taste dry. If it was too fatty, it would be greasy.

The piece of pork belly she had selected had a perfect balance of fat and lean, making it ideal for roujiamo filling.

Lin You could almost imagine the taste of the meat soaked in sauce between the bread.

Her throat moved slightly at the thought, but she quickly snapped back to reality.

She picked up light soy sauce from the counter to marinate the pork belly.

She added salt, Sichuan peppercorns, bay leaves, dried tangerine peel, and mixed them thoroughly with the meat, then set it aside to marinate.

The meat needed to marinate for a while to fully absorb the flavors.

After doing all this, Lin You went to check the marinating pork belly again.

Seeing that the sauce had seeped into the meat, she turned on the gas stove and lit the fire.

She heated oil in the pan and poured the pork belly along with the sauce into it.

This step was to blanch the pork belly.

Adding hawthorn and green plum would help remove the meat’s gamey smell.

They worked similarly to cooking wine but could bring out a fresher fragrance in the broth.

Also, blanching the meat helped reduce the purine content in the broth.

Nowadays, many cases of gout are caused by excessive purine.

Thus, blanching meat was the best method during cooking.

During blanching, the meat should be placed into cold water and gradually heated up.

As the water boiled, white foam would float on the surface of the broth.

It was necessary to scoop out the foam with a spoon.

Once the pork belly was about thirty percent cooked, it could be removed from the pot.

Lin You took the pork belly out of the pot and washed it thoroughly in a basin.

She rinsed it until all the blood and impurities were completely washed away before changing the water in the pot and putting the pork belly back in.

This time, she added sections of green onion, slices of ginger, bay leaves, and Sichuan peppercorns.

She poured in top-quality brewed soy sauce and threw in a few pieces of rock sugar.

The pot was filled with water until it covered the alternating layers of fat and lean pork belly.

After increasing the heat, she covered the pot and continued simmering.

This time, it needed to be cooked until fully tender so that it could be easily pierced and lifted with chopsticks.

Once the dough was ready, it was time to start making the flatbreads.

Lin You pinched the dough into small pieces, rolled them each to about the size of a palm, then flattened them with her palm.

In this way, the shape of the flatbread for the roujiamo was formed.

The griddle had already been heated and Lin You placed the flattened dough pieces one by one onto the griddle.

Actually, if the flatbreads could be baked in a special oven, it would be even better.

That oven had a pit in the middle where a fire burned and the flatbreads were placed around the pit, avoiding the flames, and then covered with a metal lid.

In such an extremely dry environment, the baked flatbreads would become even more crispy and delicious.

But given the limited conditions here, she could only use the griddle.

Lin You placed more than ten pieces of dough on the griddle and covered it with a lid.

While the flatbreads were cooking, the pork belly continued to simmer.

Once both were ready, she could quickly cook the noodles and serve both the sauced roujiamo and the oil-splashed noodles while still hot.

After about another fifteen minutes.

Lin You lifted the lid of the pot where the pork belly was stewing.

The sauce had reduced even further, becoming thick and richly colored.

With a poke of the chopsticks, the pork belly in the middle of the pot was already tender and falling apart.

The rich aroma of the braised meat filled the entire kitchen and she could not help but sniff the air.

Back when Lin You designed the kitchen, she had considered the need to balance cooking and attending to customers.

Therefore, she deliberately installed the kitchen along the wall close to the street.

With an open and visible setup, passersby could see inside.

Now, the fragrant steam drifted directly out through the small kitchen window, creating a white mist at the window.

Passersby who caught the scent would stop in their tracks.

To stay warm, they kept their hands tucked in their pockets while leaning toward the window to peer inside.

Someone already called out, “Boss, when will the roujiamo be ready?”

Lin You scooped the pork out of the pot onto a plate and replied with a smile, “It will be ready very soon, just wait a little longer.”

While speaking, she poured the sauce from the pot over the pork.

For roujiamo, the most essential thing was this sauce.

When the sauce and perfectly balanced pork fat and lean meat were tucked into the bread, that was when the aroma truly bloomed.

Lin You removed the cooked flatbreads from the griddle.

The breads were mostly white, with both sides lightly golden, appearing fluffy and soft.

She picked up a flatbread.

She made a cut down the middle of the bread, creating the pocket for the roujiamo.

With the flatbread ready, only the meat was needed.

Since the pork belly was still in large chunks, Lin You chopped it into smaller pieces.

She mixed equal portions of fat and lean meat and filled the center of the flatbread.

Finally, she spooned a bit of sauce over the meat in the middle of the bread.

The sauce flowed along the meat and seeped into the inner side of the bread, staining it with a rich color.

She folded the bread over and placed it onto a plate.

The aroma of meat and the rich sauce was so enticing that just one glance made people hungry.

Lin You placed the finished roujiamo into a paper bag she had prepared in advance and handed it out through the window.

The customer eagerly grabbed the bread and quickly scanned to pay.

As soon as she withdrew her gaze, a familiar voice called out from outside, “Boss, I will have one too.”

Lin You lifted her eyes to look.

It was the man who had asked last night whether she was opening the shop.

He directly paid and looked at the roujiamo in Lin You’s hand with emotion, saying,

“How come I never noticed before that there was such a breakfast shop right at my doorstep? It smells amazing.”

Lin You smiled and explained, “I only opened this shop recently.”

The man took the roujiamo with both hands and was instantly enveloped by a wave of warmth.

He stood still on the spot and took a bite.

The crispy bread and the rich meat sauce filled his mouth together.

It was enough to make a person forget all their troubles.

The warm feeling spread through his stomach and for a moment he felt overwhelmed by happiness.

The man lifted his head and sincerely said, “I hope your shop can stay open for a long time.”

It truly was the most beautiful blessing one could receive at such a time.

Lin You thought for a moment and poured a cup of the red bean soy milk she had prepared with the automatic soy milk machine and handed it to him, saying,

“Take it and warm your stomach, the weather is getting colder.”

The man pulled out his phone and was about to pay.

Lin You shook her head and said, “This is the first cup of the day. It is on the house. The soy milk is already made and not many people have come for breakfast. It would be a waste to let it sit. You might as well drink it while it is hot.”

Seeing Lin You’s earnest gaze, the man found it hard to refuse and said, “Alright, I will come often in the future.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his phone rang.

He froze for a moment, then freed a hand to pull the phone out of his pocket.

It was a familiar number.

He habitually tapped to answer, but to his shock, a sharp screech burst from the earpiece.