Chapter 10 Hair Root Starch
Jian Mo had never thought that he would be a family man so soon.
The flying beast is very greedy. Although the tribe is willing to bear half of its food, Jian Mo's pressure to support his family is still much greater.
When he went out to collect food the next day, he specially carried a backpack that was one size larger than usual.
Everyone looked at it and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Qing Kuang looked at Jian Mo's big backpack and raised his eyebrows: "Don't worry, you are a sub-beastman. The tribe can't really put the task of half of the flying beast's food on your shoulders. You just need to feed it a little."
Jian Mo: "Wu Jiong also said so. He will raise it with me. I'm just in better health now, so I can collect more things."
He is also a good young man over 1.8 meters tall, so he is not really that weak.
Seeing that he insisted, Qing Kuang stopped talking.
Today they also went to collect energy fruits.
Jian Mo, who was in good health, picked a large basket and carried it back to the tribe with the shells.
The hunters had not returned yet, so he wandered around the tribe, went out to the river to cut a large basket of tender grass, and found some not-so-fresh stems at home. After steaming them, he mixed them with animal oil and minced meat from fried fish, and fed them to the flying beast.
The flying beast didn't know whether it smelled the food or saw him, but it looked at him from a distance and started to chirp: "Chirp, chirp!"
Jian Mo saw it stand up directly on the spot, and the rope tied around its neck was straightened. He couldn't help but say, "Calm down." The
flying beast's eyes were sparkling, and it still shouted happily: "Chirp!"
Jian Mo put the food in front of it, and took its water basin to the river to wash it, and refilled it with fresh water.
The winged beast saw him coming over with water, buried its head in the basin, and gulped down several mouthfuls: "Chirp!"
Jian Mo had gotten used to the winged beast's enthusiasm. After preparing food and water for it, he took a newly-spliced broom and went to clean up its feces.
The winged beast could eat and poop, and the ash pile he had just changed in the morning was now full of feces.
This fellow looked cute, and the fact that he could be a glutton was also very tempting, but the workload of raising it was not small. It was estimated that shoveling its feces twice a day would be enough to persuade a lot of people to leave.
Jian Mo patiently shoveled its feces, and replaced it with new wood ash to give it a dry and clean environment.
As for the feces, Jian Mo shoveled them directly into a special wooden barrel, took them to a forest a little further away, covered them with weeds and started to make fertilizer.
After the fertilizers are fermented, he can fertilize the plants he has planted.
Jian Mo piled up the feces, thinking in his heart that he should reclaim more land and plant more crops.
Otherwise, the wood roots and herbs he is planting now cannot consume so much fertilizer.
What a waste.
On this day, Jian Mo left the main force and planned to go with Wu Jiong to dig up a kind of stem called "hairy root".
People in the tribe said that the hairy root grows relatively thick, but there are not many edible parts. There are a lot of residues in it, and you have to spit out the residue while eating. The texture and taste are also average.
No one likes this kind of stem, and generally they won't consider it unless there is no other food.
It is not very popular, so a large area of it grows at the foot of a distant mountain, and few people go to dig it.
Jian Mo has been having a headache about the food of the flying beast recently. After hearing about this, he took Wu Jiong with him without hesitation.
People think that there are too many residues when eating hair roots, but the flying beast certainly doesn't mind. It can eat grass roots, so hair roots are nothing.
If it really doesn't work, he can still wash out the starch and the like inside, and it is also a good choice to use it to make something else.
Wu Jiong was puzzled: "How to wash it?"
Jian Mo: "Just pound it until it rots, then soak it in water, and then filter and precipitate it, and you can get starch. Doesn't Qingkuang have cloth? We can change some and use it for filtering."
Wu Jiong thought for a while: "Let's try it tonight."
Jian Mo: "Then let's dig more."
The two rode the winged beast and flew in a straight line to the foot of the mountain where there were many hair roots.
The winged beast can fly in the sky, and its advantage is indeed very strong.
They flew to such a far mountain, and the time they took was actually shorter than the time it took Jian Mo to go to the nearby mountains to collect.
After getting off the winged beast, Jian Mo couldn't help but touch the wings of the winged beast.
With the winged beast, they can move around much more.
The winged beast folded its wings, blinked its big eyes and rubbed against Jian Mo, whose expression suddenly became much gentler: "Chirp?"
Jian Mo: "Take a rest and eat some grass nearby."
The winged beast: "Chirp."
The two tied the winged beast to the side of the tree, picked up the stone hoe and began to dig the hair roots.
The soil at the foot of the mountain was relatively soft and easy to dig. They rounded the hoe head and could dig out a large one in a few strokes.
The hair roots looked like big taro, but the skin was covered with hairs, and it was piled up with mud and looked dirty.
Jian Mo thought about transporting it back later, or just transporting it directly to the river, scrubbing it clean and taking it home.
The hair roots were easy to dig, and before noon, they had dug out a lot of hair roots.
Jian Mo looked at the hair roots: "Why don't we go back today? I feel like if we continue digging, the winged beast may not be able to carry it."
Wu Jiong turned his head and took a look, and agreed with him: "Okay."
The two of them sorted out the hair roots, pulled the winged beast that was resting and foraging nearby over, and tied the baskets of hair roots to its back.
Jian Mo piled the hair roots on its back while observing its expression, fearing that the hair roots were too heavy and would crush it.
The winged beast looked at Jian Mo with sparkling eyes, and chirped from time to time, seemingly not caring about the weight on its back at all.
Jian Mo patted its neck with emotion. This guy eats a lot, but he is also very strong. As a winged beast, he is quite qualified.
After tying the hair roots, they also climbed onto the back of the winged beast and controlled the winged beast to fly to the tribe.
Today, they moved too fast.
After they arrived at the tribe, the sun was still high in the sky, and it was obvious that they still had a long time to go down the mountain.
The two went to the river to wash the hair roots.
When Jian Mo dug out the infested parts, he found that there was indeed a lot of fiber in the hairy root fruit. If he ate it as an ordinary stem, it would probably get stuck in his teeth.
He decided to wash the starch.
Jian Mo took the cut hairy root and said to Wu Jiong: "It's really not edible. How about we wash the starch directly later?"
Wu Jiong: "Okay, wash it and take it to the stone mortar to pound it."
Jian Mo was not very familiar with the tribe: "Where is the stone mortar? I don't think I've seen it."
Wu Jiong: "Under the big tree not far from Hong Qiu's house, sometimes the tribe will harvest fruits with particularly hard shells. It is difficult to peel them with a knife, so they will be pounded directly with a stone mortar, and then the kernels inside will be picked out."
After washing the hairy root, Wu Jiong took Jian Mo to see the stone mortar.
It was a large natural stone with a pit, right under the tree.
The tribesmen installed a wooden frame next to the stone, and a large stone hammer was tied to the frame.
As long as you step on the wooden handle of the large stone hammer, you can pass through the middle frame and let the large stone hammer fall into the stone pit one by one to pound the contents below.
Jian Mo did not expect that there were such advanced tools in the tribe, and he was deeply moved.
We really can't underestimate the wisdom of the working people. The materials in the tribe are not very rich, but there are really a lot of tools.
Wu Jiong didn't know what Jian Mo was thinking, so he picked up the large stone hammer and moved it to the side, and then poured the hair roots into the stone pit: "It will be more convenient for me to change back to the beast form. Don't get too close when I pound later."
Jian Mo nodded quickly.
Wu Jiong turned his back, turned into a huge white wolf, and walked over.
Jian Mo looked at the huge white wolf's flowing hair. As he walked towards him step by step, he had the urge to go up and rub it.
Jian Mo lowered his head, resisting the urge to look at him.
The giant wolf walked to the stone mortar, pushed the hair roots into the stone pit with his claws, and then turned to the wooden handle, stepping on the wooden handle again and again to pound the hair roots.
The originally huge stone hammer was like a toy under his claws, and he soon pounded the hair roots to pieces when he stepped on it.
Jian Mo stood by, pushing the hair roots down continuously, and then turning over the hair roots underneath with a long wooden stick.
The man and the wolf worked together very well.
After the hair roots were pounded, the giant wolf poked its head out to see. Jian Mo realized that he was about to change back to human form, and quickly said, "Wait, I'll do it!"
The giant wolf nodded, stepped on the big wooden handle with his claws, and moved the stone hammer aside: "Okay."
Jian Mo carried the big wooden barrel to the edge of the stone pit, half-knelt on the ground and scooped up the pounded hair roots.
After scooping out the hair roots at the bottom of the pit, Jian Mo pushed the new hair roots into the pit, and then lifted the big barrel of hair root mud aside.
The giant wolf stepped on the stone hammer again to pound the second batch of hair roots.
The stone mortar was very useful, and the two of them finished pounding the hair roots in a short while.
After pounding, they carried them home, washed them with water, and filtered the hair roots. It was not dark yet. Jian Mo looked at the filtered starch water in the big basin, and for the first time felt that the productivity of this world was not that low.
The huge beast shape of the orc is still very useful.
Wu Jiong looked at the yellow starch water: "Is this what you want to eat?"
Jian Mo waved his hand: "No, no, no, it's the starch that settles from the bottom. You will know tomorrow morning."
Wu Jiong looked at the basin with some suspicion.
Jian Mo smiled: "I took these hair roots to feed Jiujiu."
Although most of the hair roots filtered out are fibers, they also contain a certain amount of starch, which is better than grass. It is a good choice to feed the flying beast.
Jian Mo also took some cooked meat and cut some grass and brought them to the flying beast.
The flying beast was indeed very satisfied with the food and kept chirping.
Wu Jiong was always thinking about the yellow starch water.
When Jian Mo got up the next day, he saw him bending over and looking.
When he heard Jian Mo coming downstairs, Wu Jiong turned to look at him: "It has settled and the water has become clear."
Jian Mo perked up and said, "Let me take a look."
Jian Mo walked over quickly.
The fruits in the big wooden basin had turned clear. He asked Wu Jiong to lift the wooden basin and carefully poured out the water in the upper layer, leaving only the precipitated starch at the bottom.
Jian Mo reached in and pinched it.
The starch under my hands is fine and powdery, with a very weak graininess.
This quality of starch is already quite good.
Jian Mo had a happy look on his face.
Wu Jiong also asked, "I've never seen this thing before, how do I eat it?"
Jian Mo: "Eat the pancakes!"
Jian Mo said, scooping out a piece of starch.
Their large stone slabs are the perfect pancake artifact.
Jian Mo added some water, made the starch into a paste, beat an egg into it, mixed the paste, heated the stone slab, brushed it with animal oil and started to bake pancakes.
Wu Jiong watched from the side, with a little surprise in his eyes.
The starch paste slowly solidified on the stone slab into the pancakes that Jian Mo was familiar with.
He brushed a layer of egg liquid on it, and the yellow-brown pancakes slowly turned golden and exuded an amazing fragrance.
Jian Mo looked at the baked pancakes and tears were about to fall.
How many days have passed? He saw the familiar food again.
Wu Jiong watched from the sidelines as the unsightly starch paste slowly turned into a fragrant pancake, which was shoveled into a plate by Jian Mo. He asked, "Is this all right?"
"It's all right. I'll give you a small piece to try first," Jian Mo said happily. "Wait for me to prepare some side dishes, and we'll roll it up and eat it."
As he spoke, Jian Mo cut off a small piece with a shovel and handed it to Wu Jiong: "Try it."
Wu Jiong pinched it with his hands and threw it into his mouth.
Jian Mo observed his expression.
After tasting it carefully, Wu Jiong said, "It's delicious."
"Really?" Jian Mo was even happier. "It tastes better with meat."
Jian Mo not only specially grilled the meat strips, but also carefully fried a small plate of his pickled vegetables.
The two of them sat in front of a large stone slab, wrapping meat strips and pickled vegetables in pancakes.
The pancakes were fragrant, the meat strips were tender, and the pickles were sour and salty. Three foods with completely different textures and flavors rolled together created a unique flavor.
Jian Mo took a bite, and the unique aroma of starch swirled on the tip of his tongue. He was so happy that he almost burst into tears.
After swallowing the roll, he held it up to look at it: "It's delicious. It would be nice if I could find some green onions and chili peppers."
Wu Jiong ate one roll quickly and started eating the second one: "What is that?"
Jian Mo bit the roll and said vaguely: "It's a bit hard to describe. You can think of it as two strange seasonings. We often use them in our place."
Wu Jiong: "Isn't there any near the tribe?"
Jian Mo shook his head: "I haven't seen it yet. Maybe it's the wrong season."
Wu Jiong said: "Let's see in other seasons. If there is no near the tribe, we will look for it in other tribes and ask the orc caravans."
After the two finished breakfast, Jian Mo took the meat-wrapped roll to feed the flying beast.
Forget about the small pickled vegetables. The flying beast may not be able to accept such a strange-tasting side dish.
The winged beast had already had breakfast. When it saw Jian Mo take out the roll, it sniffed it carefully with its nose twitching.
The aroma of starch and meat fully stimulated the winged beast's sense of smell. After just one sniff, its saliva "swish" fell from the corners of its mouth on both sides, like two small waterfalls.
The speed was so fast that Jian Mo could not react at all.
Jian Mo patted it: "It smells good, right? You have contributed a lot to this roll."
As he said, Jian Mo put the roll in front of the winged beast's mouth.
The winged beast opened its mouth wide, took the roll in one bite, and said very loudly: "Chi!!!"
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