The campfire gathering was attended by the Xia clan from the forest.
After finishing her work in the fields, Jiang Yunlan finally had some free time to take stock of the items that the timber-collecting team had brought back.
Feng Hong and her team brought back a lot of things. She went straight to the pile of bamboo, picked up a piece of green bamboo and examined it over and over, occasionally tapping and striking it.
022, familiar with her reaction, calmly said before she could ask, "You can use it like bamboo."
She could tell from the touch that this green bamboo was very useful and wanted to use it to make tools. Now, with 022's assurance, she felt even more confident.
A reclining chair, bamboo curtains, a carrying pole, a bamboo basket… Jiang Yunlan thought of a whole range of practical items, and her spirits soared. Ramie could be used to make paper, and she could pluck some hair from the animals to make bamboo pens. With paper and pens, all she needed was ink, and then she could teach the beastmen to write calligraphy.
But considering that even the orcs couldn't write well with twigs, let them write on paper with charcoal pencils first.
Seeing Lan's happy reaction, Feng Hong also became happy, and said cheerfully like a big dog seeking affection, "We brought back a whole cart full of bamboo! Lan said before that she wanted a lot of bamboo, is this enough? If not, I'll cut down another cart next time!"
"If the bamboo forest is very large, then cut down another cartload and bring it back," Jiang Yunlan said with a smile, praising the beastmen who had gone out.
“Lan, the food under the bamboo,” Heitu pointed to the bamboo shoots next to the bamboo pile, his face expressionless but his eyes slightly bright. “Dig it up, it’s delicious.”
The lemming beastman clan lived in the bamboo forest. She remembered the day her mother took her to the bamboo forest, when she saw Mo Rong digging up this food by the roots, and she remembered what it looked like.
At that time, Mo Rong filled the hole with food, turned around and found her, so she shared a piece with her.
Mo Rong originally had many cubs in her clan, and she often heard them crying out for food. Mo Rong herself often went hungry as well. Occasionally, Mo Rong would avoid the adult beastmen and go out to dig up this food. She followed Mo Rong out, and after eating a few now and then, her stomach felt less uncomfortable.
Although they are always covered with a thick skin that is difficult to dig out, they are crispy and delicious.
Jiang Yunlan put down the green bamboo, picked up the bamboo shoots, weighed them in her hand, and decided after seeing the number of bamboo shoots: "Let's add another dish to tonight's bonfire party!"
Finally, two more dishes were served at the gathering: stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork and bamboo shoot soup with rolled chrysanthemum leaves.
Red flames ignited the night, and bright light illuminated the faces of the orcs.
The working orcs and the orcs of the Xia clan had come together for the gathering and were now sitting around a wooden campfire. The aroma of food wafted from the pots, attracting the orcs' frequent glances.
The logging team brought back a lot of food, and tonight's working orcs, like the orcs of the Xia clan, will have their meals provided by the Xia clan.
The grassland fox-beasts, drawn to the opportunity to work, held the steaming food in their hands, almost shedding tears of joy. This was food that didn't require wages; it was food that would fill them to their hearts' content.
Chew, chew, chew.
"If I had known that working for the Xia clan would be so wonderful, I would have come sooner." The fox-beastman clan had been observing the Xia clan for a long time before finally joining the working clan a few days ago.
Clearly, their timing was poor, arriving right during harvest season, leaving them exhausted and nearly breaking their claws. However, the daily rewards were too tempting for the beastmen to bear; they simply couldn't bear to leave.
“But we’re not too late,” a fox-beastman chuckled to his fellow beastmen. “The other beastmen who are observing the Xia clan won’t get to eat this meal.”
Chew, chew, chew.
"Yes, yes, thank goodness I came. This fried meat is really to the liking of beastmen." The fox-beastman wagged her tail, her face full of smugness. She had completely forgotten the scene of her being dragged here by her own kind while crawling on the grass in front of the Xia clan's gate.
Another voracious fox-beastman joined the conversation, "Lan said that the wages we earn belong to us. I'm going to eat lots and lots of meat before I go back. I don't care if it's mealtime or not; if I get hungry, I'll use my wages to buy meat. Xia's dried meat strips are delicious too!"
"But... the chieftain said we have to take this much food back during our days off." The fox-beastman, who had been chuckling, stopped laughing, gestured to show the amount of food he needed to take back, and said hesitantly.
"Are you stupid? If we do a little more work, we don't have to take our share of the wages back to the clan, and that means we can eat meat."
The fox-beastmen suddenly realized what was going on.
“Then let’s do more work. We’ll have meat to eat and we can take food back with us.”
Feeling inexplicably guilty, the fox-beasts remained silent, only devouring their meat.
Jiang Yunlan didn't hear the conversation between the fox-beastmen. Her seat was already surrounded by beastmen, including those from the Xia clan and other races.
She sat on the ground, with a low table in front of her. The wide low table had only one plate, one bowl, and one pair of chopsticks.
Every beastman who has ever gone hungry dislikes wasting food, and she was no exception. Worried that the beastmen would give her too much food and she wouldn't be able to finish it, she only accepted a small amount from each beastman, placing it on her plate.
The beastmen are very obedient; they will take their favorite food and put it on a plate for Lan to try. If there is no space on the plate, they will not put any food on it.
Jiang Yunlan held chopsticks and occasionally took food from the plate and put it into her bowl.
The food was lifted from the plate, its color barely visible for two seconds, before the orc placed the steaming hot food back on. Satisfied with his successful feeding, the orc wandered over to the earthenware pot to get himself some dinner.
Black soil dislikes bitter food. After taking a couple of bites of the bamboo shoots stewed in the soup, it hurriedly ran off to eat stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat.
"It doesn't seem too bitter," Jiang Yunlan said, picking up a piece of bamboo shoot stewed with chrysanthemum leaves left behind by the unknown orc and chewing it. The chrysanthemum leaves were slightly bitter, with a sweet aftertaste. The bamboo shoots were crisp and not bitter at all. Overall, it was a pretty good dish, at least to her.
Perhaps because she often ate wild vegetables when she was young, she was used to the bittersweet taste of vegetables and didn't find them bitter at all; on the contrary, she thought they were quite delicious.
Feng Hong has no dietary restrictions and loves all kinds of food. She wanders around the pots where various foods are cooking, her eyes fascinated by the food. "This meat is delicious, I'll have a bowl." "That egg is delicious, I'll have one." "The vegetables are delicious too, I'll have another plate!"
Jiang Yunlan refused the beastmen's attempts to feed her, and when she looked up after eating her fill, the atmosphere was just right.
The beastmen ate and drank, gathering in twos and threes to chat and laugh.
She suddenly felt that it would be a good time to play some music or have a dance. That would make the atmosphere more lively.
Unfortunately, although bamboo can be made into flutes, she can't play them. She's also not very good at dancing or singing.
In the end, she did nothing, simply sitting quietly in her seat, watching the orcs bicker and make a ruckus. Just like all the parties she had attended on Earth, she would finish eating and sit in a corner watching everyone play and joke around, never participating.
"Lan!"
She looked up.
"Is Lan full?" The beastmen looked at her empty bowl with expectant eyes.
She blinked and said doubtfully, "I'm full."
"Come play with us, Na Lan!" The beastmen laughed and pulled Jiang Yunlan out of her spot.
They pushed Lan around the fire, talking to her as they went. The conversation was a jumble of random things.
Jiang Yunlan listened and answered as she spoke, her gaze sweeping to the side where she saw two orcs arm wrestling on the ground. She remembered this; it was a method she had taught the other orcs when they were curious about Feng Hong's strength.
Feng Hong, the queen of arm wrestling, was still eating and hadn't come over. The orcs were fighting back and forth, and after watching for a few moments, she started walking forward.
The situation on Yan Duoyu's side was a bit more exciting; it was a real battle. She could tell that both sides were holding back. After watching for a while, she continued walking forward.
Not far away, a group of orcs were using chopsticks to pick up small stones, competing to see who could pick up the most. Mo Rong sat next to them, holding a twig as the referee.
“Lan will definitely be number one in this game!” the orc standing behind her said confidently.
Jiang Yunlan chuckled. She had no intention of going down to ravage the orcs, and strolled forward.
After walking around, she saw some orcs so bored that they were doing math problems and writing the Chinese names of the objects they saw. She couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"I really should have given you guys some games to play a long time ago. This is how you usually kill time." Only then did she realize that the beastmen's daily entertainment was very lacking.
It seems that cultural and recreational activities should be put on the agenda.
"Okay, let's play some big games first. Like hide-and-seek, tag."
She smiled and explained the rules of the game to the orcs, leading a group of orcs who wanted to play hide-and-seek to the residential area.
The residential area is lit by torches at night, so it's not too dark, and there are places to hide, which is perfect for playing tag.
“Alright, now according to the rules, I’ll go first. The game ends when the tenth orc, who is acting as the ghost, catches someone! The human side is allowed to quit or join midway through the game,” Jiang Yunlan said.
Even the orc with the worst math skills can count to ten, so using ten as the ending number is just right.
"One, two, three... the tenth ten. Hide well, I'm coming to catch you." She opened her eyes; the area around her was empty. 022 wasn't participating in the game; it was perched on her head.
After she finished counting, 022 said, "Go find them."
She nodded, looked around, and found Grey Honey hiding not far away.
"Got you." She poked her head out, smiled at Grey Honey hiding behind the door, and raised a hand.
Grey Honey emerged from behind the door, her tone neither surprised nor disappointed, displaying the demeanor of a fully grown orc: "Then it's my turn to capture people."
Looking down at Lan, she asked, "Lan, did playing the game make you feel any more relaxed?"
"...Why are you suddenly asking this?"
“Because Lan is always busy, even on her days off. It’s like,” Gray Honey thought for a moment and said, “being chased by wild beasts.”
"I wasn't chased by any wild beast..."
After Jiang Yunlan finished speaking, her expression froze, gradually turning sorrowful. Upon reflection, she realized that since becoming the clan leader, she had become even more of a corporate slave than James Bond.
She silently rubbed her forehead and complained, "I'm too busy, there's nothing I can do about it. It'll be fine once this busy period is over. Okay, now it's game time, I'm taking a break. It's your turn to be 'it,' you have to count to ten before you can open your eyes and catch people."
Jiang Yunlan urged Grey Honey to close her eyes and then hid.
Not long after, the tenth ghost also caught someone. The game ended, and the orcs walked together throughout the residential area, calling out the other orcs who were hiding.
The orcs had searched the entire residential area, wondering why they couldn't find Lan, when they saw Lan appear with 022. The orcs' eyes lit up, widening: "Where has Lan been hiding? We haven't been able to find you."
“This is something I’m good at. If I wanted to hide, I guarantee none of you would find me,” Jiang Yunlan said confidently.
Perhaps because she was very sensitive to sound, she always won when playing hide-and-seek with her friends in the village as a child. She was good at catching people, but even better at hiding from them.
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