Chapter 83 Sorghum rice tastes best when it's cooked this way...
Xituo and Muyao were on their way here, extremely panicked, having made the worst-case scenario plans.
Seeing Yu Yan so calm now, they felt more at ease.
Both of them agreed to listen to Yu Yan and cooperate with whatever she wanted to do.
Yu Yan's serious expression melted away with a gentle smile, and she said softly, "You can stay at the clinic and rest well. I'll make you something to eat. Especially Mu Yao, your body is severely depleted, you need to replenish it first so that you can withstand the effects of the medicine later."
Xituo said worriedly, "But when we were in the tribe, Muyao already couldn't eat anything at all..."
Yu Yan: "Don't worry, I have a way."
Hope ignited in their eyes. After exchanging a glance, Xituo stood up and said gratefully, "I can cook too. Let me help you out."
Yu Yan thought for a moment and nodded: "That works too. If I don't have time later, you can do it for him yourself."
"Uh-huh."
Ruki Haruka rested here, and the two walked out of the clinic.
Lan Xiu waited outside the door frame the whole time, and he heard Yu Yan and the others' conversation.
"I'll go get some firewood and start a fire," Lanxiu said.
Yu Yan: "Okay, then I'll go get the ingredients. Xi Tuo, the water tank is over there, can you fetch some water?"
Xituo: "Okay!"
Yu Yan rummaged through the kitchen and found half a bag of flour, intending to make some stomach-soothing porridge for Mu Yao.
After starting the fire, he didn't put any oil in the pot, but patiently simmered it over a low flame.
After Xituo arrived, he studied diligently for a while and then took over the task of cooking the porridge.
Steam rose from the pot, and the aroma of noodles wafted far and wide, making Xituo feel hungry.
"What kind of food is this? It looks ordinary, but it smells so good when it's cooked."
Yu Yan replied, "It's flour made from a type of seed called wheat."
He described the appearance and characteristics of wheat to Xituo, saying, "If your tribe has it, be sure to collect it. I'll take as much as you send. If you want to eat it, I can also teach you how to husk and grind it."
Xi Tuo nodded, his eyes shining.
While making the batter, Yu Yan also steamed some easily digestible stem pieces.
Once the batter was cooked thoroughly, he instructed Xituo to skim off the oily essence from the top, then mixed it with a little bit of mashed stems and other ingredients.
Xi Tuo, carrying the food, returned to the clinic with Yu Yan.
He helped Mu Yao up, scooped up some food with a wooden spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and then fed it to him.
Mu Yao's Adam's apple bobbed as she swallowed her food and waited anxiously with Xi Tuo.
In the past, he would have vomited immediately.
This time, after waiting a while, his complexion was normal.
"How are you feeling?" Xituo asked nervously.
Mu Yao showed her first genuine smile in days: "It's delicious."
Xituo laughed along with him, but as he laughed, his eyes welled up with tears again.
"Come on, have some more."
...
Yu Yan silently withdrew.
Later, when Xituo brought over the clean dishes, he was especially happy and said to Yu Yan, "Mu Yao finished all of it and didn't throw up! That's wonderful!"
Yu Yan smiled and said, "Yes, let him rest like this for a few days until he feels better, then he can take the medicine. You and he should both try to keep a good mood and believe that I will help you overcome the parasites."
Xi Tuo's overall spirit was much better than when he first arrived. He looked at Yu Yan trustingly and said with high morale:
"Okay! Dr. Yu Yan, thank you so much!"
Yu Yan took the bowl and chopsticks. "Alright, go keep Mu Yao company."
Xi Tuo nodded, turned and left.
Yu Yan walked back to her bedroom, opened a blank notebook, and drew pictures of insect-repelling herbs such as torreya nuts and Quisqualis indica on the paper. She drew many pictures.
Afterwards, he took the papers and went to find Lanxiu.
“Lanxiu, this is a torreya nut, its characteristic is… this is a quisqualis indica, its characteristic is…” he introduced them one by one.
"Of course, other tribes probably wouldn't call it by these names," for example, the name "Quisqualis indica" is in honor of an ancient physician named Guo Shijun, who discovered that this plant had insect-repelling properties. "Anyway, that's what it is."
Lan Xiu carefully wrote it down and asked, "When we were in the Caiyun tribe, did you mention these seeds to them?"
Yu Yan: "Yes, but both Torreya grandis and Quisqualis indica ripen in late autumn, so I asked them to keep an eye out for them."
"Now? What do you need me to do?"
"Help me pass these papers to the tribes to the south. If anyone has these medicinal herbs, please send them to our tribe."
"Okay." Lan Xiu carefully put the paper away, glanced in the direction of the clinic, and asked in a low voice, "Without these seeds, can Mu Yao's illness still be cured?"
Yu Yan told him the truth: "It can be cured. Garlic does have some insect-repelling effect, but whether it will cure the disease is hard to say. More herbs will give us a better chance of success. Don't let the two of them know about this yet."
"Okay, I understand. I'll be going now."
"Be careful on the road."
When Feng Gui and Rui Hua returned in the afternoon, they also heard about Xi Tuo and Mu Yao's situation.
Fearing the wind would spoil the food, each dish took much longer to cook than usual.
Mu Yao is still eating porridge, while Xi Tuo comes to eat with them.
He sat at the table somewhat reservedly, only picking up his chopsticks after Yu Yan served him some food.
Yu Yan was picking up wild vegetables, but the piece broke before she could even put them in her bowl.
He smiled helplessly and said, "Father, how come it's all cooked into vegetable puree?"
Feng Gui said, "Cook it more thoroughly to kill any impurities inside. This afternoon I heard many people in the tribe saying that they were glad they listened to you and cooked all the food thoroughly before eating it."
Mu Yao's large belly and sallow complexion frightened everyone.
He then looked at Xituo and said, "After you recover this time, you should stop eating raw meat."
Xi Tuo smiled bitterly: "We'll never dare to do it again."
Yu Yan stopped talking and silently picked up some meat to eat.
Xituo wanted to leave the meat for others, so he took the initiative to eat the overcooked wild vegetables.
He took a bite and froze.
Wow, this is delicious! How can ordinary wild vegetables be made so flavorful? It tastes like seafood!
I'd heard that Yu Yan was a great cook, but I didn't expect his family to be just as good!
Once Mu Yao recovers, she'll be able to eat such delicious food too!
Seeing that Xituo couldn't stop eating, Fenggui felt bad and said, "Xituo, eat some meat and stems, don't just eat wild vegetables."
Xi Tuo exclaimed, "These wild vegetables are so delicious! I love them so much! I've never eaten such delicious wild vegetables before!"
When Feng Gui returned to his room that night, he thought about this incident and said to Ruihua, "No wonder they wanted to eat raw meat. They probably don't know how to cook. Sigh, poor thing."
Ruihua couldn't help but chuckle: "Couldn't it be that I genuinely like your cooking? When I first came back, I also thought it was the best food in the entire Beast World."
“It’s not that exaggerated. You’ve been eating it for over ten years…” As he spoke, Feng Gui’s expression darkened.
Ruihua felt both heartache and self-blame.
If only he could remember what happened before.
He held Feng Gui's hand and said in a hoarse voice, "I'm sorry."
Feng Gui paused for a moment, then laughed, "Hey, why are you saying that... Go to sleep, go to sleep, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
For the next few days, Mu Yao continued to stay at the clinic to recuperate, with Xi Tuo taking care of him.
After his body recovered from the initial weakness, Yu Yan added some warm and nourishing foods to his diet, and gradually, his condition visibly improved.
Xi Tuo was in high spirits because of the happy occasion, and he was in the mood to help him visit Yu Yan's home.
The two of them were curious about everything about Yu Yan, including her house, furniture, utensils, and seasonings, and wanted to have the same things.
After looking around, my will to survive even strengthened.
On this side of the tribe, the unfinished houses were gradually being completed, and Yu Yan led the people to start repairing the road.
The furry creatures worked together efficiently, whether it was transporting materials, digging roads, or laying cement.
If they had enough cement, they could have finished repairing the tribe's main road in a single day.
Given the enormous size of the beast-like creatures, the tribe's roads were as wide as modern highways, with drainage ditches built on both sides.
The newly paved cement road surface is still soft and should not be stepped on.
Yu Yan had the sub-beastmen weave long straw mats in advance, lay them on the road, and arranged for people to sprinkle water on them every day for maintenance.
After a few rows of unfinished houses were renovated and a cement road was paved, it started to look like a modern village.
Not only the Peninsula tribe, but also people from Mingyuan and his tribes came to see it every day.
"A wide and long cement road is really great... When it rains, I don't have to worry about getting muddy."
"It must be really cool to run on this kind of road in beast form."
"I really hope the road dries up quickly."
"You tell me, if we paved cement roads between our tribes, how much faster would it be to travel back and forth?"
"Haha, how much cement would that require? I can't even imagine."
"And it would be very difficult to repair, with mountains and rivers in between."
“We bird-beast people can fly. Whether there are paved roads or not, we can get there quickly.”
"Look how smug you are!"
Although the roads to the villages are not yet fully repaired, everyone still smiles with hope as they imagine the scene of all the villages being connected by paved roads.
When Zhu Yu, the chieftain of the Caiyun tribe, arrived with his people, Mu Yao's body had already been adjusted to a state where she could take medicine.
The two tribes were far apart, and Caiyun had sent only bird-beastmen this time, including Bailang.
The peacocks are beautiful. When they fly in flocks from the horizon, their magnificent tail feathers stretch and tremble in the air, more dazzling than the sunset.
Yu Yan received the message and led her people to greet them outside the tribe.
Many of the little ones were stunned, looking up in amazement and exclaiming, "Wow! Their beast forms are so beautiful!"
Bai Lang surged forward, letting out two excited cries, and shouted, "Yu Yan! We've brought sorghum!"
Yu Yan waved to them with a bright smile: "I've finally waited for you all!!"
Everyone landed, unloaded their loads, and transformed into human form.
With his black hair and purple eyes, the incomparably handsome Zhu Yu strode ahead.
Yu Yan asked with a smile, "How was the journey? Was it smooth?"
Zhu Yu: "It went very smoothly! We were delayed for a few days because we had to dry and thresh the sorghum, otherwise it would have arrived much earlier."
Yu Yan: "It's not too late now. Come on, let our tribesmen carry the things. I'll take you to rest."
On their way back, the people of the Caiyun tribe were stunned by the houses and roads of the Peninsula tribe.
Zhu Yu stared wide-eyed and asked, "Yu Yan, is this the house you were talking about before? Built with... cement?"
"Yes. The largest one is the weaving workshop, you've heard about that, haven't you?"
"I heard! I heard! Many of our tribe's sub-orcs are coming!"
Bai Lang, following behind, clicked his tongue in amazement: "Beast God, the house is so beautiful..."
He flew to Ruihua's side and asked enviously, "How have you been living in the peninsula tribe lately?"
Ruihua: "It's fine."
"Isn't the house very comfortable?"
"Yes."
"I regret it so much! We should have sent you to the Peninsula Tribe!"
"It's not too late for you to come now."
Upon arriving at Yu Yan's courtyard, the group happily landed, transformed into human form, tidied their clothes, and went inside.
The lively noise attracted Xituo and Muyao.
The people of the Caiyun tribe noticed Mu Yao's swollen belly and initially thought he was pregnant. However, they later realized something was wrong when they saw that his complexion was yellow and his body was thin.
Zhu Yu thought of something and said to Yu Yan, "I'm sorry, Yu Yan, we couldn't find the herbs you wanted. We only managed to collect one kind of flower."
He took out a few dried flowers and showed them to Yu Yan.
Yu Yan recognized it immediately; it was the flower of the Rangoon creeper.
"Once the flowers fall and the fruit ripens, that will be the Rangoon creeper I need. When you go back, help me collect them."
"Okay, definitely."
Xi Tuo realized something, his face paled, and he asked, "Yu Yan, who are they?"
Yu Yan introduced everyone to each other.
After exchanging greetings, Xituo asked nervously, "Are the herbs you asked them to find for Mu Yao's treatment?"
Yu Yan: "Mm."
"Then, if we can't find it, is Mu Yao...?" Xi Tuo's heart sank into an abyss.
Yu Yan raised her hand: "If we can't find those other ingredients, we'll use others. Even if the medicine isn't effective enough, Mu Yao's condition has stabilized now, and she can hold on until the Quisqualis indica matures."
Xi Tuo finally breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good, that's good..."
Yu Yan: "Clan Chief Zhu Yu, please wait for me. Xi Tuo, help Mu Yao in."
"good."
Yu Yan examined Mu Yao's body and said, "It's almost time. Take the medicine tomorrow morning. Starting tonight, don't eat or drink anything. Take the medicine on an empty stomach tomorrow morning."
The couple nodded at the same time: "Okay, okay."
"After taking the medicine, you will experience severe abdominal pain. I will be by your side tomorrow, so don't be afraid."
Mu Yao said firmly, "As long as I can get rid of the bugs, I'm not afraid of any pain."
Xi Tuo: "Dr. Yu Yan, may we ask what kind of medicine you are taking?"
"Have you ever heard of fruit with many seeds? I call it pomegranate. Pomegranate peel is the main ingredient in this insecticide treatment."
"Never heard of it... Well then we'll just wait to take the medicine."
Yu Yan nodded encouragingly and turned to leave.
After Feng Gui and the others brought back the pomegranates, Yu Yan collected the peels after eating them, intending to make medicine to stop diarrhea and bleeding.
Xi Tuo brought Mu Yao with him this time, remembering that pomegranate peels could also repel insects.
After comparing the medicinal materials on hand, I finally decided to use pomegranate peel as the main ingredient.
Whether it will work or not, we'll see tomorrow.
Yu Yan went to find Zhu Yu and the others and checked the sorghum they brought. It was all threshed but not hulled.
He peeled one open, and the grain of rice inside was large and plump.
The joy of a bountiful harvest filled his entire being. He thought to himself with delight that so much sorghum was enough to cook sorghum rice, brew wine, or save seeds.
Zhu Yu said from the side, "We easily removed the grains using the method you taught us, and we also sieved the impurities several times."
"Hmm, I can see that, it's very clean. Come on, let's go husk the sorghum! We'll cook sorghum rice for dinner tonight!"
"good!!"
When they first started hulling the wheat, Yu Yan and her team used a stone mortar and pestle due to the limited tools available.
Later, Yu Yan asked Cang Feng to carve out a stone roller from a large rock.
A millstone has a disc and rollers. By manually pushing the millstone to rotate, a large amount of grain can be husked.
Yu Yan led everyone toward the tribe's new site, saying along the way, "Our communal stone roller has been moved to the mill, and next to it is a drying ground paved with cement."
Zhu Yu pointed to the cement road and asked, "Why don't we go walk on it?"
"It's not fully healed yet."
"So that's how it is." Zhu Yu has learned a lot along the way.
Yu Yan's patient explanation also deeply moved him.
They originally planned to stay overnight in the peninsula tribe and return the next day.
Now he asked, "Yu Yan, can we stay in your tribe for a few more days? We'd like to see more of your houses, paved roads, and tools."
"Okay. Someone will tell you later which places you can go and which places you can't go."
"Okay, sure." Zhu Yu and the others were overjoyed.
Upon arriving at the mill, seeing the stone rollers, millstones, and mortars, the people of the Caiyun tribe swarmed around.
"Is this a stone mortar? It even has a foot pedal!"
"The stone mills, big and small, are all so exquisite!"
"I want to try the stone mill!"
Yu Yan said with a smile, "The mill is big enough that you can work even in your animal forms."
For half an afternoon, everyone was busy grinding sorghum in the mill.
The milled, pounded, and sifted sorghum was cooked into fragrant sorghum rice by Yu Yan.
Sorghum rice has a rough texture and doesn't taste as fragrant as regular rice, but Yu Yan really likes it.
This is all-natural, low-fat, and low-sugar healthy whole grain!
Well, mainly it's because he hasn't eaten rice in a long time, so he's grateful to have anything to eat.
To accompany this dish, he took a bowl of preserved eggs, washed them, boiled them, peeled them, and cut them open for later use.
I steamed eggplant strips, fried green peppers, chopped garlic and chili peppers, and made a sauce.
Finally, he poured the preserved egg, eggplant, green pepper, and sauce together, then picked up a rolling pin and started mashing it.
Hearing the "bang bang bang" sound, Feng Gui asked, "Yu Yan, what are you doing?"
Yu Yan kept eating and said, "This is called pounded pepper eggplant and preserved egg, it's a dish that goes well with rice."
"Why didn't you chop the ingredients and mix them?"
"Then it loses its soul! It has to be cooked like this to taste good."
Feng Gui shook his head and let him go.
Many people eat at home in the evening, so they set up several tables in the yard.
When there weren't enough stools, Ruihua borrowed some from the tribe.
Zhu Yu and the others sat on the stools, saying with envy, "These tables and stools are really nice. When our tribe has a meal together, we always stand or sit on the ground to eat."
Yu Yan brought over the dishes: "Our tribe used to be like that too, thanks to the advent of metal tools."
Zhu Yu and the others said quietly: It's all thanks to you.
Yu Yan's dish of pounded pepper eggplant and preserved egg overshadowed everything else and became the most popular dish of the meal.
With this dish, everyone ate at least two bowls of sorghum rice.
Mu Yao couldn't eat spicy food. The aroma and the sight of others enjoying their meals made her eyes water with envy.
He drank the rice oil boiled from sorghum stalks, his heart burning with anxiety: "Let's hurry until tomorrow morning!"
Friends who hadn't seen each other for a while were filled with laughter and joy at the dinner table, creating a lively atmosphere.
After finishing their meal, everyone from the Caiyun tribe washed the dishes and cleaned the yard before saying goodbye to Yu Yan and going to rest.
Seeing that there was still plenty of time, Yu Yan decided to improve some of the yeast starter.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
