Chapter 18: Grand Situation
When everyone heard that there was going to be a dinner party, they all brought their own food.
In addition to contributing food, Jian Mo also brought the spice powder and scallop powder that he had ground before. When
he made stew, he fried it on the stone slab first and then stewed it, which was much more fragrant than a simple stew.
Everyone crowded around him, watching and learning.
Jian Mo fried several pieces of stone slab meat, and when he turned around, he met a row of focused eyes. Even the little beastmen and little sub-beastmen who could not transform yet squatted in the front row, standing only on their hind legs, stood up and looked, and couldn't help laughing.
Zhou Fu sniffed: "I cook in the same way now, but the taste is far worse. I wonder what's going on?"
Jian Mo said casually: "It may be a problem with the heat and seasoning. If the food is not heated evenly, it will be overcooked or half-cooked, which will be quite unpalatable. If the seasoning is not added correctly, it will also become unpalatable."
Zhou Fu sighed: "Then when can I make delicious dishes?"
Jian Mo smiled and patted his shoulder: "You can only practice more."
Jian Mo took a small spoon, scooped out the soup from each stew pot to taste, and made sure that there was enough salt, and let them bubble in the pot.
Everyone had nothing to do for the time being, so they all gathered around the campfire to chat.
The children were running around with the cubs who had not yet transformed.
Jian Mo saw that the atmosphere was really warm, and his heart was rarely relaxed.
He took the unused rice cake beside him, skewered it with a small stick, and slowly baked it over the fire.
After the rice cake was baked, a layer of tiger skin formed on the outside, and the whole cake became softer and glutinous, giving off a faint fragrance.
The little guys were attracted by the rice cake in his hand, and slowly came over, squatted at his feet, and huddled around him.
The little cat Banju, who couldn't transform yet, was the most familiar with Jian Mo. He stood at his feet and jumped lightly, then jumped onto his legs.
He stepped on his legs with his little paws, and seeing that he had no intention of objecting, the little cat lay down on his legs, turned his round head, and stared motionlessly at the freshly baked rice cake.
Jian Mo took the rice cake aside to let it dry, picked up a piece and threw it into his mouth. After tasting it, he found that there was no strange taste and it was not hot, so he picked up another piece and put it in front of the little Banju.
Spotted Chick: "Meow."
The little fellow sniffed with his nose, then stretched out his pink tongue and rolled it directly into his mouth. He bit the left side and then the right side, concentrating on eating the noodle cake.
The other little fellows at Jian Mo's feet were tired of it, and they all pawed at him, and cried anxiously beside him, indicating that they wanted some too.
He glanced at the little fellows, smiled, and tore the noodle cake into small pieces and fed them one by one.
Seeing this, the others also roasted the noodle cake with small wooden sticks.
The aroma of roasted noodle cakes soon wafted from the campfire.
Jian Mo looked at the scene in front of him, and always felt that something was missing. After thinking about it, he waved to the older children next to him to come over.
Jiang Xing, who was squatting beside him waiting for food, stood up immediately: "Brother Jian Mo! What do you want?"
Jian Mo: "Can you help me get a can of jam? It's the can of sago jam that I put on the shelf."
Jiang Xing often went in to check when he was cooking, so he knew where the jam was placed: "Do you want to bring the whole can over?"
Jian Mo nodded.
Jiang Xing: "Then wait for us for a while!"
The children chased each other and ran together to help Jian Mo get the jam.
Jian Mo brought a few more pieces of fruit cakes and baked them together.
Not long after, Jiang Xing ran back panting with a jar of jam in his arms: "Brother Jian Mo, here you go!"
Jian Mo took the jar of jam: "Thank you, wait, don't leave yet--"
Jian Mo stopped Jiang Xing, opened the jar of jam, took a clean stick, scooped out the jam and spread it on the dough cake.
The dough cake that had just been baked was sticky and hot, and after being spread with the jam, it immediately exuded a sweet aroma.
The children's eyes lit up and they almost drooled.
Jian Mo gave each child who helped him get the jam a bunch of baked dough cakes, and gave Wu Jiong another bunch.
The children couldn't wait to start eating, and the adults looked at Jian Mo, then at Wu Jiong, with subtle smiles on their faces.
Only Zhou Fu looked at the jam with bright eyes: "Can it be eaten like this?"
"Yes, it tastes good." Jian Mo put the jam jar in front, "Spread it on yourselves."
Everyone's attention was instantly diverted, and Zhou Fu was the first to reach out: "It smells so good! Then I won't be polite."
After Zhou Fu spread the jam, he first handed a bunch to Jian Mo, and then gave a bunch to his partner and son, and then couldn't wait to take a bite of the cake: "Wow, so delicious!!! So sweet and sticky!!!"
Everyone showed similar touching expressions while eating the baked cake spread with jam.
Jian Mo smiled beside them. The combination of carbohydrates and sugar could not help but make people happy: "Everyone, eat more."
Just as everyone was happily eating cakes and discussing picking more noodles when they had time, the orc Ye Luo said: "I remember that our tribe seemed to have noodles."
Ban Ming: "Impossible!!! We have been to every place in the tribe and have never seen the shadow of noodles."
Ye Luo was good friends with Qing Kuang and did not mind Ban Ming's words. He just asked: "Have you been to the back of the mountain over at the Green Swamp Source?"
Ban Ming paused: "We don't like to eat fish, why should we go there?"
Ye Luo Shrugging: "So you can't find the noodle fruit."
Qingkuan knocked on the door and said to Ye Luo: "When did you see the noodle fruit?"
Ye Luo squinted and recalled: "It was a few years ago. It's too far
away. I haven't been there much since then." The orc Dejiang fed the baked noodle fruit cake in his hand to the child and said: "There are indeed many lakes there, and the terrain is low. I think we can go and have a look. Anyway, it's not far away, and it's much more convenient than going to the Zhengchi tribe."
Qingkuan stared at the noodle fruit cake and said: "Noodle fruit is really good when made into noodle fruit cake. Why don't we go and have a look?"
Everyone looked at Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong nodded: "Okay, let's set out early tomorrow morning. If we can't pick any noodles, we can catch some fish in the Green Swamp and make them into mackerel to store for the winter."
No one had any objections. The tribe didn't like to go there before simply because they didn't eat fish much, but now everyone is much more accepting of fish, so it's okay to go and take a look.
After eating the baked fruit cake, the stewed meat and fruit cake in the pot were also ready.
Everyone ate the delicious food and thanked Jian Mo, saying that thanks to him, the food in the tribe has been much more abundant recently.
Before everyone went home to rest, Qing Kuang gave Jian Mo a jar of unopened fruit wine to thank him for his contribution to the tribe.
Jian Mo was a little embarrassed, but everyone smiled and asked him to hurry up.
At dawn the next day, everyone set out to the back of the mountain on the other side of the Green Swamp Source to pick fruit.
When they arrived at the place, everyone saw the fruit grass growing in the lake at a glance.
Ye Luo remembered correctly, there really was fruit here.
Although the fruit grass here is not as lush as that in other low-lying lakes, there are still many fruit on the branches, enough for them to fill the baskets they brought.
The only drawback is that this lake is relatively deep, with a water depth of four or five meters on average, and even more than ten meters in the center. People can't just step on the bottom of the lake to pick the fruit, they can only swim to pick it.
Jian Mo saw that everyone was going to go into the lake, and hurriedly stopped them: "Don't go in yet, warm up, and start the activity before going in, otherwise your legs will easily cramp."
The physical education classes he took from childhood to adulthood were not in vain, and he didn't dare to be as fierce as the orcs and beastmen.
Jian Mo already had a lot of prestige in the tribe. Everyone didn't quite understand why they had to warm up, but they followed his example and did some warm-up exercises.
He led everyone seriously to move their hands, feet, waists and hips, and only went into the water after the activity started.
Unexpectedly, while everyone else was swimming well, he was the most ferocious one. As soon as he got into the water, he had to struggle hard to keep his balance.
- The water was too cold and deep. He couldn't find the familiar feeling of swimming at all.
Qing Kuang couldn't stand it anymore: "Why don't you let the chief turn into a giant wolf, and you lie on him. It's very easy to float in the lake in beast form."
Jian Mo: "No need... Gulp Gulp... I can do it..."
He was distracted and sank into the lake again, gurgling with bubbles.
Qing Kuang was startled and hurried over to pull him up.
Jian Mo adjusted himself, floated up again, wiped the water off his face, and said with a breath: "It's just a little cold. I'm not used to this environment. I'll be fine after a while."
The wild lake is indeed much more complicated than the environment of a swimming pool. He has never experienced this.
Qing Kuang was worried and called Wu Jiong: "Wu Jiong, you'd better come over and watch over him, in case something really happens."
Wu Jiong nodded and swam over. When Jian Mo lost his balance again, he stretched out his hand and grabbed his waist directly, trying to pick him up.
The lake water was too cold, and Wu Jiong's body temperature was high, so the touch on his waist was very obvious.
Jian Mo shivered and lost his balance directly. He floundered in the water, struggling desperately like a fish that had just come ashore.
After finally regaining his balance, Jian Mo put his hand on Wu Jiong's shoulder and pushed him: "No, I can do it myself."
Wu Jiong seemed to sense his discomfort and let go of his hand: "I won't touch you, you cling to me."
Jian Mo nodded and used his body to keep his balance.
Wu Jiong was about to say something, but Jian Mo stared at the water, and suddenly he dived back into the water.
"What's wrong?" Wu Jiong immediately ignored everything else and grabbed his hand to prevent him from sinking completely.
Jian Mo surfaced again, panting: "I just seemed to see some noodle fruits at the bottom of the lake."
Wu Jiong showed a puzzled look: "Yes, there are."
Jian Mo shook his head and explained: "It's not the noodle fruits on the branches, I mean, there are noodle fruits all over the bottom of the lake."
The others heard the noise and looked over.
It was too strenuous to explain, so Jian Mo pointed his finger down and let everyone see for themselves.
Everyone didn't understand, but just followed his hint and subconsciously dived into the water to check.
They opened their eyes under the lake and saw round and round noodles lying quietly in the gaps between the branches and leaves.
Not just one or two, not just one or two pieces, but the entire lake bottom was covered with noodles!
No one knew how many years the noodles had fallen from the branches and sunk to the bottom of the lake! No
one had expected such a scene at the bottom of the lake.
It was so shocking!
No one must have picked the noodles in this lake before, so every year they would fall from the branches and sink to the bottom of the lake.
Over time, this spectacular scene was formed.
Wu Jiong dived to the bottom of the lake and scooped up a handful of noodles.
Everyone immediately swam over and gathered in front of him.
At this time, no one cared whether the noodles tasted bad or not, and all reached out to grab the noodles and put them in their mouths.
Jian Mo stared at them with wide eyes as they bit open the shells, chewed the nuts inside, and then began to vomit.
Jian Mo: "Hey, no, you guys..."
Qing Kuang: "It's still fresh... vomit... not bad... vomit..."
Jian Mo stretched out his hand to draw water: "If you want to know whether it is bad, you don't have to eat it raw!"
Qing Kuang turned his head away and vomited, then turned back and asked: "How else can you judge?"
Jian Mo thought about it, and was silent after being asked by him.
Zhou Fu held up the noodle fruit he had just tasted, and interrupted their conversation with tears in his eyes: "Mine is not bad... ah..."
Ye Luo: "Mine is also good."
Ban Ming: "Bad, mine is bad! Bah, bah, bah, it tastes even worse after it's bad!"
Everyone returned to the shore first, looked at each other, and found that most of the noodle fruits floating on the bottom of the lake were good.
Zhou Fu: "I don't know how many years ago these noodle fruits piled up on the bottom of the lake are. They can store it for a long time!"
Jian Mo thought of the lotus on Earth. It is said that it can still sprout after dormancy for thousands of years. Maybe the noodle fruit is the same.
Wu Jiong and Jian Mo looked at each other and said, "Let's pick it up and have a look."
The lake is deep and has great buoyancy. Diving down to pick it up is a technical job, and not everyone can succeed.
Finally, Wu Jiong picked out a few beastmen and sub-beastmen who were good at swimming and went down to the bottom of the lake to fish, while the others continued to pick the fruits from the branches.
There were more noodles at the bottom of the lake than they had imagined. The baskets they brought were not enough. They had to dump the noodles they had collected onto the open space on the shore first, free up the baskets and continue collecting.
Fortunately, the noodles were piled up at the bottom of the lake. When they picked them up, they just swept them into the baskets. They could pick up a basket in a few strokes, which was much easier than they had imagined.
Everyone was very excited. They ran from the lake to the shore, jumped from the shore to the lake, ran back and forth, and seemed to not feel tired at all.
By the afternoon, they had finally collected most of the noodles in the lake.
Everyone looked at the pile of noodles on the shore that was as big as a hill, and lay down tiredly beside the noodles, not wanting to move. They
were too tired. They had never been so tired, nor so happy.
Zhou Fu looked at the noodle fruit mountain in front of him with a bit of disbelief in his eyes: "Too much, more than going a long way to the Zhengchi tribe to collect, as much as a small mountain."
Qing Kuang smiled and said: "Thanks to Jian Mo and Ye Luo this time, everyone should not be hungry this winter."
Ban Ming continued Qing Kuang's words: "Don't talk about being hungry, I am worried that there will be so many noodle fruits that we can't eat them all by next winter."
Di Ya patted his son's head: "You are exaggerating."
Everyone laughed.
De Jiang said: "No matter what, this is definitely the most relaxed winter we have had in recent years."
De Jiang is the most powerful cat-type beastman in the tribe. He competed with Wu Jiong for the position of chief.
Everyone didn't expect him to say this, and they all looked at him.
Dejiang looked at the distant mountains, not meeting everyone's eyes.
Qingkuang said, "We can stay in the tribe this winter, and don't have to go out in the snow to find food."
Everyone felt relieved when they heard this.
Going out to hunt and gather in winter is not a pleasant thing.
Today is indeed very tiring, but no matter how tired we are, we still choose to carry the noodles back to the tribe first.
After returning to the tribe, the orcs took other free orcs in the tribe and ran a second time.
Most of the orcs in the tribe came out, and finally carried the noodles back.
When all the noodles were carried back, it was already dark.
The orcs were so tired that they didn't even want to move their fingers. Qingkuang simply took the Asian orcs out and took out the food and fruit wine again, and had a meal in the open space.
In this way, whether they were with a partner or not, the beastmen could eat hot and delicious food.
After dinner, Qingkuang and his friends distributed today's harvest under the starlight.
Most people in the tribe had contributed to the collection today, and when the noodle fruits were distributed, they were collected back to the tribe and redistributed.
No one had any objections.
However, when Qingkuang and his friends were distributing the noodle fruits, they gave Jian Mo and Ye Luo one more portion.
Jian Mo got two portions of noodle fruits in total.
Jian Mo looked at the mountain of noodle fruits that belonged to him and felt a little uneasy: "Is this not good? I think I got too much?"
Qing Kuang looked up and said, "Is this too much?"
Without waiting for Jian Mo to answer, he waved his hand and said, "Keep it. We got so many noodle fruits, thanks to your and Ye Luo's contribution. Besides, don't you want to raise the flying-winged beast and the tuo-tuo beast? No amount of noodle fruits will be enough for them to eat. How can you think it's too much?"
Jian Mo thought of the big eater flying-winged beast and swallowed his words silently.
After Jian Mo got his share of the noodle fruits, Wu Jiong came over to help carry the noodle fruits back.
For the first time, he got more than Wu Jiong.
Jian Mo looked at the two piles of noodle fruits, one large and one small, on the first floor, and felt a surge of pride in his heart.
Although his personal strength is not as strong as that of the orcs and sub-orcs, it is not bad either. He can still support himself if he goes out.
Wu Jiong saw Jian Mo staring at the noodles, and said, "Go wash up and go to bed first, and then look at it tomorrow morning."
"Okay." Jian Mo turned his head, "There is no room downstairs, why don't you move upstairs today?"
Last time Jian Mo suggested that Wu Jiong move upstairs to sleep, Wu Jiong might be shy, and finally did not agree.
Today he should not be able to refuse.
Jian Mo looked at the first floor full of noodles, and his heart was a little happy again.
Wu Jiong has been sleeping on the first floor these days, and Jian Mo felt a little guilty for occupying the nest.
Although there is a certain boundary between orcs and beastmen in this world, he is actually a Homo sapiens, not the same species as orcs and beastmen, so there is no need to be so cautious.
Wu Jiong: "We'll move them later. With so many noodles, should we make all of them into noodle cakes? Or should we make some and store some?"
Jian Mo followed Wu Jiong's line of sight and looked at the noodles: "If we make all of them, we will definitely not be able to eat them all, and they will be wasted if they go bad."
Wu Jiong: "Then how much should we make? I'll borrow a shell knife tomorrow and process some first."
Jian Mo hesitated: "I haven't thought about it yet."
After a pause, Jian Mo said: "I want to try to make wine with noodles."
Wu Jiong: "Wine?"
Jian Mo: "Yes, in theory, the starch content of noodles is so high that it should be able to ferment into wine, but I'm not sure."
The fruit wine in the tribe is very useful for cooking, but the alcohol content is a bit low after all.
He wants to try to make some noodle wine, and then see if he can distill it a few more times and distill some high-proof liquor to use as alcohol.
As a veterinarian, he was not used to not having alcohol on hand.
Wu Jiong: "You can try it if you want. There are so many noodles, it doesn't matter if it's wasted."
Jian Mo thought for a while and said, "It shouldn't be wasted. If the fermentation fails, the possibility of it going bad is relatively small. People can't eat it, but it won't be a big problem to feed it to flying beasts or tuo beasts."
Wu Jiong: "Then let's try it. I'll take some time tomorrow to peel more noodles."
Jian Mo sighed: "The main reason is that I'm not very good at brewing wine."
Different trades have different worlds. Jian Mo has done well in his professional courses, but his miscellaneous subjects such as brewing are more average.
Who would have thought that one day he would need to brew wine himself?
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