Chapter 11 Shell Knife
The morning sun rose, slowly dispersing the mist in the forest.
Jian Mo sat under the sun, spinning the thread slowly with a spinning hammer in his hand, and listening to the chatter of people around him.
They gathered here and would go to collect later.
Just when Jian Mo was drowsy, Zhou Fu beside him said angrily about the shell knife: "I broke three shell knives this morning, and I almost couldn't have breakfast."
"Why did it break so easily? Did you put the shell knife by the fire?"
"No, it was well stored on the shelf, and I didn't touch it much. Who knew that it looked good, but it broke when I used it."
Everyone said that several of their own shell knives had also broken.
Jian Mo couldn't help but nodded in agreement. He had broken quite a few shell knives during this period. Some of them suddenly broke when he was cutting things, and some of them were fine the last time he used them, but the next time he picked them up and wanted to use them, he found that they were broken into pieces.
Qing Kuang listened to everyone's complaints and said, "The shell knives collected in the last batch are almost used up. Let's take
some time to collect new ones in the next two days." Zhou Fu gritted his teeth and said, "I must collect more this time!"
Jian Mo was curious: "Where should we collect shell knives? In the river?"
Zhou Fu shook his head repeatedly: "The shells in the river are not big enough, nor hard enough. You need shells in the lake. You will know when you see them."
The curiosity in Jian Mo's eyes became stronger. Seeing him like this, Zhou Fu said, "Why don't we go collect them tomorrow? Jian Mo has never seen them before, so take him to see them."
Qing Kuang turned his head and looked at Jian Mo, and agreed: "Okay, I'll tell the beastmen later."
Almost everyone has arrived, so everyone set out to collect.
Today we are going to collect a nut called Hougou Fruit. Jian Mo searched his memory, but couldn't remember what kind of nut it was.
When they got there, Jian Mo discovered that the hou gou berries looked a bit like enlarged peaches, except that the flesh was inedible.
There were a lot of hou gou berries on the tree, but Jian Mo was not good at climbing trees, so he mainly picked them from under the trees.
Everyone took care of him and shook the hou gou berries down one after another.
Jian Mo had a good harvest just by picking the fruits under the trees.
At night, Jian Mo and Wu Jiong sat by the fire and used the firelight to remove the flesh of the hou gou berries, leaving only the nuts inside.
These nuts can be dried in the sun and can be stored for several years, making them a high-quality winter food.
Jian Mo talked about shell knives: "Qing Kuang said we will go to collect shell knives tomorrow."
Wu Jiong: "He told us to set out early tomorrow."
Jian Mo: "Then I will marinate the meat for tomorrow's meal, and we can eat it after we wake up and light a fire."
Wu Jiong took the hougou fruit from his hand: "Go early, I will deal with these hougou fruits."
Everyone agreed to set out early the next morning.
Therefore, most people in the tribe woke up before dawn.
Jian Mo yawned, brushed his teeth and washed his face, and then sat by the fire to make breakfast.
After a simple breakfast, he followed Wu Jiong to the open space to gather.
It was rare for orcs and sub-orcs to act together today. Jian Mo took a look and found that everyone came in pairs.
Qing Kuang and his partner Di Ya, Zhou Fu and his partner Jiu Yin, Xi Lu and his future partner Xuan Yin... In total, only Jian Mo and Wu Jiong were single.
Jian Mo looked at the couples and wanted to withdraw his steps.
Zhou Fu sat on the back of his partner who had transformed into a giant beast - it was a reddish-brown giant fox, and greeted Jian Mo warmly: "Jian Mo, you came so early too, are you particularly curious about the shell knife, haha?"
Jian Mo nodded: "Yes."
Zhou Fu: "Then you go to the tribe leader quickly, we are ready to set off."
Wu Jiong had transformed into a giant wolf, and was waiting for him silently behind him.
Jian Mo did not pretend, and climbed from Wu Jiong's front legs to his back.
There were more than a dozen teams today.
Qing Kuang's partner Di Ya led the way - it was also a huge white wolf, and it was Wu Jiong's cousin.
But compared to the cool and handsome Wu Jiong, Jian Mo always felt that this white wolf with a smile on his face was like a friendly Samoyed, and looked quite kind. The
orcs ran against the wind, and the Asian orcs grabbed the orcs' hair tightly and leaned slightly on their backs.
The lake where shell knives are produced is very far away from the tribe. They walked through the canyon, over the ridge, and across the plateau. It took them a whole morning to reach the relatively flat alpine meadow. It
is colder here than at the foot of the mountain. Jian Mo wrapped himself tightly in his fur robe and looked around.
This place may have been eroded by glaciers.
Except for the path they took, there were table-sized rocks everywhere on both sides.
In the cracks between the rocks grew all kinds of bare bushes, their colors were fiery red, like burning torches. If you looked closely, you could see that the bushes were covered with dense spikes.
The orcs were very agile, none of them bumped into the bushes, and none of them sprained their ankles on the rocks.
They ran all the way.
Blowing through the rocky ground like the wind.
As they got closer to their destination, Jian Mo saw various lakes of different sizes, which were probably lakes formed by meltwater from snowy mountains.
The lakes were blue-green, and should be rich in copper ions.
Jian Mo looked at the lakes, perhaps there were metal deposits nearby, and they could pay attention to them when they had time.
The orcs did not stop on the road at all, and they arrived at their destination when the sun was hanging in the middle.
——It was an endless lake with blue water.
The lake was surrounded by tall snow-capped mountains, and dense coniferous forests spread from the foot of the mountain to the middle of the mountain, close to the top of the mountain.
"We're here." Di Ya, who was at the front, stopped, "Everyone, get your shell-picking knives ready."
All the orcs stopped at the same time.
The Asian orcs slowly got off the orcs' backs, and Jian Mo also slid off Wu Jiong's back.
At this time, Jian Mo noticed that these orcs had been running for the whole morning, and although they were steaming, no one was out of breath.
It was incredible.
They were so big, yet their endurance was so great, which was totally inconsistent with his understanding.
This was indeed a different world from the Earth.
Everyone ran to the lake in groups of two, carrying backpacks.
When they got down to the lake, Jian Mo discovered that the silt by the lake was very thick, almost surrounding the lake.
Unlike the alpine lakes he had in mind, this lake was full of dark green aquatic plants.
The aquatic plants were very thick, and they were different from any aquatic plants he had ever seen. They looked plump and a bit like meat.
No wonder there were so many shellfish here. Only
with sufficient food could huge shellfish be raised.
Jian Mo looked around.
Wu Jiong took the backpack from his shoulder: "Let's go over there to find knife clams."
Jian Mo looked in the direction he pointed and squinted his eyes.
Wu Jiong: "The sunlight is a bit dazzling, you should lower your head and look at the road."
Jian Mo then discovered that Wu Jiong's pupils had changed. Not only Wu Jiong, but all the orcs and sub-orcs present had narrowed their pupils to resist the dazzling light.
It seems that the people who have lived here for a long time have already evolved organs to adapt to the environment.
The two went down to the lake.
The mud buried Jian Mo to the middle of his thighs. It was a bit cold, but it was bearable in the sun.
He rolled up his trouser legs, moved slowly, and began to search in the mud by the lake.
Large shells are actually quite easy to find. In addition to the occasional exposed edges, there are holes on the top of the mud for them to breathe.
Wu Jiong quickly locked onto a target: "Let's dig this."
Jian Mo nodded quickly: "Okay."
Wu Jiong took out a stone hoe, stood in the mud, and dug the mud away in a few strokes.
Jian Mo soon saw the shellfish underneath - its shell was dark blue and huge, a bit like an enlarged version of a river clam.
Once disturbed, the knife shell tightly closed its shell.
Wu Jiong reached down and tried to pull it up.
The suction of the mud was too strong. He tried several times but failed to pick up the shell. He had to swing the hoe again and try to dig away the mud.
Jian Mo helped from the side.
The two of them dug away the mud together, pulled the knife shell out and placed it on the mud.
The knife-clam they dug up was bigger than a millstone, with both sides bulging high. It looked very full and also very heavy.
Jian Mo knocked on it gently. The shell of the knife-clam was very hard. Although it had not been processed yet, the edge was already very sharp.
Wu Jiong took out a shell knife from the basket and cut the clam on the spot.
The knife-clam was tightly closed and not easy to cut, but it was not difficult for Wu Jiong, who was very strong and skilled.
After a while, he opened the clam.
The slightly orange-red clam meat inside was exposed, and it looked very plump.
When Jian Mo was drooling secretly, Wu Jiong swiftly took out the clam meat inside and threw it on the mud, and then stacked the two shells and put them in the big backpack.
His movements were so fast that Jian Mo was completely unable to react. After he had thrown away all the shellfish meat, Jian Mo finally reacted. He grabbed his wrist and asked in shock: "Don't you want the shellfish meat anymore?!"
Wu Jiong rarely saw Jian Mo react so strongly, and said: "It doesn't taste good and it's very heavy."
Jian Mo stared at the shellfish meat: "It looks plump."
Wu Jiong reminded: "It's hard and fishy."
Jian Mo: "..."
Jian Mo didn't seem to believe it. He stared at the shellfish meat with hesitation on his face.
Seeing him like this, Wu Jiong compromised, "If you really like it, take two back to try it."
Jian Mo thought about it, but still couldn't bear to part with the clam meat that looked very plump: "How about I tear off the dirt and keep the meat? That way it won't be heavy. Even if we can't eat it, it's good to feed Jiujiu. We won't go hunting and gathering today, and there's nothing to feed it at home."
Wu Jiong took a look at the clam meat and said, "Okay."
The knife clams are big and have a lot of meat.
Jian Mo easily separated the clam meat and threw it into the basket.
He didn't know what the clam meat tasted like for the time being, but it looked really tempting, especially the two palm-sized closed concha muscles - the part where the Yaozhu was made.
The Yaozhu of later generations could never be that big.
They dug and cut the meat at the same time.
The others soon discovered that Jian Mo had saved the clam meat, so they tore off some and gave it to him.
Although everyone didn't understand why he wanted the clam meat, they were all happy to take care of him.
Jian Mo's basket was soon half full, and when Zhou Fu brought another small basket of clam meat over, he politely said, "No need to give it to me, you guys keep it."
Zhou Fu waved his hands repeatedly, "Forget it, I'm most afraid of this kind of fishy and hard stuff, I can't bite it."
Jian Mo: "If you cook it well, it won't be impossible to bite it."
"Impossible! Unless you eat it raw." Zhou Fu looked at Jian Mo's expression and said worriedly, "You don't really want to eat it raw, do you? There are worms in the meat, it can't be eaten raw."
Jian Mo was a little surprised that everyone knew about parasites.
Zhou Fu thought he didn't believe it: "There really are bugs. You can see them after you look at them carefully."
Jian Mo: "I know. They won't eat them raw."
Zhou Fu glanced at him and murmured worriedly: "That's good. I'll tell the tribe leader about it later."
There are a lot of knife shells here. Wu Jiong and his friends picked the big ones and dug out dozens of them in a short while.
They only kept the meat and shells and filled the backpack.
The sun gradually sank to the west, and the wind direction changed. The cold wind blew over, which made Jian Mo's head hurt a little. In addition, the mud was cold, and he began to feel uncomfortable.
Seeing that they had caught almost everything, Wu Jiong said, "Let's go back, it's enough."
Jian Mo nodded repeatedly, "Let's go, go, go."
Jian Mo walked out of the mud with difficulty, went to the shore and basked in the sun, only then did he feel better.
Everyone washed their hands and feet and waited for each other. After everyone gathered, the beastmen transformed into beasts again, carrying backpacks and their companions, and ran towards the tribe.
Shell Lake was too far away, and it was dark when everyone returned to the tribe.
They left half of the harvested knife shells for the tribe to distribute, and took the remaining half back home.
After Jian Mo went home and started a fire, he saw that Wu Jiong wanted to come over to help him, so he pushed Wu Jiong in a tough attitude: "You warm yourself by the fire and take a rest, I'll cook dinner."
Wu Jiong: "I'll help."
Jian Mo held his shoulder: "No need to help, I can do it alone, you sit down."
Wu Jiong no longer insisted.
After running around for a day, they were very exhausted.
Jian Mo washed the wood radish and put it in a pot to cook, and then cut the meat into dices, preparing to make the meat pie that Wu Jiong liked.
After the wood radish was cooked, he crushed it, added oil and spices, mixed it evenly, and spread it on a stone slab to fry it. When both sides were fried to a crispy crust, it was ready to eat.
The meat pie was also fried on the stone slab. Because it was half fat and half lean, it was more difficult to fry it to a crispy crust, but it would have delicious juice after frying.
Jian Mo's movements were very quick.
While frying the wood radish and the meat pie, he also placed the washed discarded scallop shells on the stone slab, and then placed the closed shell muscle of the scallop on it, and then added chopped spicy fruit, chopped celery leaves, a few grains of coarse salt and a small piece of animal oil.
Meeting Wu Jiong's gaze, Jian Mo said, "Try it. It's really not tasty. I'll feed it to the flying beast later."
Wu Jiong nodded and looked at the clam meat intently.
He could already smell the fragrance.
The wood diced root and the meat pie were fried very quickly.
The weather was cold, so they fried and ate one piece at a time. The hot and delicious food quickly dispelled the fatigue of the day.
When the two of them finished eating the wood diced root and the meat pie, the clam meat on the shell was also cooked, and the juice inside was bubbling.
Jian Mo did not add any water when grilling it, but now the juice is overflowing.
Under the combined effect of the chopped spicy fruit, chopped celery leaves and animal oil, the fishy smell of the clam meat had long disappeared, and instead there was a peculiar aroma.
Jian Mo swallowed his saliva.
This smell is really like the smell he smelled at the barbecue stall before.
Although there is no minced garlic now, it has a different fragrance, which is not inferior to minced garlic.
Wu Jiong also smelled this magical fragrance, and looked at the shell meat with bright eyes: "Is it ready to eat?"
"It's ready." Jian Mo picked up the shell with chopsticks, gave one to Wu Jiong, and took one for himself, "Be careful of the burn."
Although he said so, Jian Mo himself couldn't wait to get close to the shell, blew it, and then carefully sucked a mouthful of juice.
Fresh!
A fresh smell that rushed straight to the top of his head swept towards Jian Mo, followed by the complex fragrance of crushed spicy fruit and crushed celery leaves, together with animal oil, formed a slightly spicy aftertaste.
Delicious!
Jian Mo squinted his eyes, blew on the shellfish meat, and took a bite. It was full of fat meat, fresh and hot, almost making people sweat.
No wonder oysters have dominated the barbecue stalls for many years.
This smell can really make people dizzy.
Jian Mo slowly ate a whole piece of shellfish meat before coming back to his senses and wanting to see Wu Jiong's reaction.
Wu Jiong didn't wait for him to ask, and said directly: "It tastes better than I thought, not fishy, and very tender."
Jian Mo smiled: "I told you, the closed concha muscle should be the most delicious part of the shellfish. It would be a waste if we don't bring it back."
Wu Jiong: "You have good skills, and most people's cooking is not delicious."
Jian Mo: "That's right, in terms of food, I am standing on the shoulders of gods. The food in our place is so diverse, mine is nothing."
After listening, Wu Jiong said: "That's really difficult Imagine, you are the best craftsman I have ever seen and heard of."
Jian Mo compared: "Compared with the craftsmen in our area, my craftsmanship is probably the difference between the craftsmanship of the people in the tribe and mine. Their theories and skills are probably a big level higher than mine."
Seeing Wu Jiong's unbelievable expression, Jian Mo said: "I will take you to try it if there is a chance."
Wu Jiong nodded seriously: "Okay."
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