Chapter 64 Exploration
After eating delicious food these two days, Jian Mo felt that his energy was replenished.
When he got up in the morning, he was refreshed and his steps were particularly light.
He asked Wu Jiong who was boiling water: "What do you want to eat in the morning? Meat pie or sausage? There is also marinated meat, you can take it out and grill it directly." Wu Jiong:
"Grilled meat, I'm a little tired of eating meat pie and sausage."
Jian Mo rolled up his sleeves: "Then grilled meat, I'll go cut some tendon grass later. I feel like I haven't eaten vegetables for the past two days, I need to replenish it."
Wu Jiong: "I'll go cut it."
Jian Mo: "Don't worry, let's go after the snow stops."
As he said that, Jian Mo looked out from the window.
I don't know why, it's been snowing these days, it's freezing outside, water freezes, let alone going outside, even walking around in the yard is freezing.
Jian Mo asked Wu Jiong to wait a while, and he continued to wipe the windowsill with a cloth.
He cleaned it very cleanly, but Jian Mo saw that the fire pit was dirtier, and he couldn't bear it, so he cleaned it too.
While cleaning, Jian Mo said, "Why don't we build a new kitchen next to the house today? That way the house won't be greasy and need to be cleaned all the time. We can also find fabrics, vases, etc. and decorate the house."
Wu Jiong agreed, "I'll tell Qing Kuang and the others. We have a lot of animal skins at home, so we can exchange some stones from the tribe."
Jian Mo: "Exchange more. I want to make a stove. I feel that the fire pit is not very convenient to use. I have to put stone slabs on it every time. It's too troublesome."
Jian Mo lived in the countryside when he was a child. He had seen a stove and knew what it was. It should be possible to replicate it now. At most, it would be a little more difficult to use, but it would not be more difficult to use than the fire pit.
Besides, they can slowly adjust it when the time comes. Anyway, all the buildings are made by themselves. If they are not easy to use, they can be dismantled and adjusted.
Thinking of this, Jian Mo said: "Let's see if we can make two metal pots. I have made special observations during this period. The metal knives we use are quite stable and not rusty. It shouldn't be a big problem to use them to make pots."
When they put the metal in the furnace to melt, the temperature in the furnace is at least more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. Making a pot to cook is at most 200 to 300 degrees Celsius, which should not release toxic substances.
The current ceramic pots are too easy to burn and crack. Jian Mo has long wanted a big iron pot.
Wu Jiong also agreed: "Tell me, I'll do it."
Jian Mo: "This is not difficult, just take a relatively large piece of metal, forge it into a metal sheet, and then hammer it into a concave pot. You can think of it as a small basin with ears, but it's made of metal and can be placed on the fire to cook."
He gestured while talking, and seeing that Wu Jiong might still not understand it clearly, he said: "I'll draw it on a wooden board later, and you'll know what it is when you see it."
While talking, Jian Mo's hand touched a soft object, which should be the food that accidentally fell when he was cooking yesterday.
He picked it up and planned to throw it into the wooden barrel next to him for kitchen waste.
Unexpectedly, he glanced at it with the corner of his eye and saw that what he was pinching in his hand was actually a small piece of dough.
It must have fallen off accidentally when mixing the cake base. After being piled on the stone slab for a day, the moisture of this small piece of dough evaporated a lot, but it felt soft to the touch.
Jian Mo took it in his hand and looked at it. He found that the dough was fermented and smooth. With a light pinch, he could clearly feel the air inside being squeezed out.
His hand paused - fermentation, he actually forgot about fermentation!
There are many yeasts in the air. This piece of dough has sugar, which provides food for the yeast. The yeast must have multiplied and grown inside, so this piece of dough was fermented so perfectly.
Seeing that he suddenly stopped talking, Wu Jiong asked, "What's wrong?"
Jian Mo put the dough in the palm of his hand and showed it to Wu Jiong, "This dough has been fermented."
Wu Jiong took it in the palm of his hand and looked at it, "Fermented?"
Jian Mo: "Fermentation - you can understand it as a process of incorporating air into the dough. Isn't the dough we knead very firm? It's different after fermentation. There will be many small bubbles in the fermented dough. It is very soft and plump. It will have a different taste and can be used to make other foods."
Wu Jiong had an expression that seemed to understand.
Jian Mo: "You'll know when I make it."
Jian Mo held the fermented dough and said, "I'll use this small dough as a starter, and then ferment another dough to make dumplings tonight."
Wu Jiong had never heard of this kind of food, but it didn't stop him from looking forward to the new food Jian Mo mentioned: "Okay, I'll help."
Jian Mo: "I can do it, we'll marinate some meat later and make stewed meat dumplings tonight."
As he said that, Jian Mo couldn't wait to wash his hands, then scooped out flour, kneaded a dough, and then kneaded the small dough in his hand into the kneaded dough.
He specially found a clean piece to cover the dough, put it in a corner of the fire pit, and waited for it to ferment slowly.
There must not be much yeast in that small piece of dough, and the fermentation time of the dough is estimated to be much longer than that of ordinary dough. It should be ready in the afternoon.
Despite this, Jian Mo couldn't help but take a look at the dough every once in a while.
The dough gradually became white and plump. If you press it with your hand, you can make a hole. At the same time, you can obviously feel that the dough has become softer.
Jian Mo didn't go anywhere that day. He just sat in the house doing handwork, and looked forward to watching the dough ferment little by little.
In the afternoon, he specially made the braised pork and put it aside to cool.
The evening finally came, and the dough was three times larger than in the morning and looked perfect.
Jian Mo took a small piece of dough from the dough, scooped up some flour again and kneaded it with the small piece of dough, then placed it in a dry place to let it ferment quietly. This piece of dough was the starter full of yeast.
After keeping the starter, Jian Mo put the large dough on a clean stone slab and kneaded it to squeeze out some of the air inside, then rolled it into long strips, pinched off the dough pieces one by one, rolled them into a round shape, then put the braised pork inside and wrapped them into buns.
Jian Mo was very excited throughout the whole process and there was no need for Wu Jiong to intervene. Wu Jiong just helped beside him and watched him conjure up a big, white and plump bun like magic.
Wu Jiong asked, "Can we eat it now?"
Jian Mo: "Not yet. You have to steam them in a pot. You can eat them only after they are cooked."
Wu Jiong: "Then I'll heat the water."
Steaming buns doesn't require much skill, and Wu Jiong quickly finished steaming them.
There were eight buns in the first basket, each bigger than their fists, white and plump, with the tops permeated with the fat of the braised meat, with a bit of tempting sauce color.
They didn't have soy sauce, and this sauce actually used more caramel color and shellfish powder to make a salty and fresh taste.
Although the braised meat was not very authentic, this carefully made food still looked very tempting.
Jian Mo didn't care about the boiling, so he gave one to Wu Jiong and took one for himself: "Hurry up, hurry up and try it. This is called a bun, a specialty food in our place. Although it is also made of flour, the taste is completely different from cake."
As he said, Jian Mo gently broke open the braised pork bun.
Flour was so rare that he used it sparingly, so each bun had a thin skin and large fillings. The braised pork inside was half fat and half lean, and the gravy flowed out slowly with an alluring oily sheen.
Jian Mo took a big bite.
The dough was soft, glutinous and slightly sweet, and the braised pork was rich and fragrant. The taste of the combination was simply unbeatable.
He knew that this unbeatable combination of starch, fat and protein would definitely taste good.
Jian Mo exhaled hot air: "How is it? I didn't lie to you, did I? Aren't these buns delicious?"
Wu Jiong: "Well, I tasted the flavors of the pepper powder and garlic powder in it. The meat made with these two kinds of powder is so fragrant."
Jian Mo: "Yes! The fragrance is fully brought out! Come on, eat it while it's hot. We probably can't finish all the buns we made today, so we'll steam some of them and eat them tomorrow. Then we won't have to go through so much trouble tomorrow and can just heat them up and eat them."
Wu Jiong looked at the steamed buns: "Like sausages, they are also food that can be stored."
Jian Mo: "Almost. In this weather, it can be stored for ten days or half a month, but it certainly can't be stored that long. I can eat three meals a day, and I'll finish them in two days."
Wu Jiong sighed slightly: "Hurry up and reclaim the land, we can't wait any longer."
Jian Mo laughed: "There's nothing we can do, we have to wait until the weather clears up."
They have never been so eager for the weather to clear up.
After waiting for several days, the rain and snow finally stopped, and the snow outside was almost melted.
Wu Jiong talked to the people in the tribe, and everyone decided to reclaim the land while the weather was good.
The matter of reclaiming land had been discussed in a meeting before.
This year is the first year that the Riverside Tribe has tried to plant something seriously. No one knows how the planting will go, so they are not greedy. They only plan to reclaim a small piece of land on the other side of the tribe. The rest of the river section will be distributed by everyone on a first-come, first-served basis.
As the chief, although Wu Jiong really wants to reclaim his own land first, he still holds back and reclaims the collective land with everyone first.
They have reclaimed land on the mountain before and have some experience. They think reclaiming the land by the river is not that difficult.
The impatient big cats and dogs in the tribe think that reclaiming land is too careless.
To reclaim the land, you must first pull out the grass and trees on the top, and then dig out the tree roots, grass roots and stones underneath and throw them away.
The soil near the river looked fertile, which meant there must be a lot of plants growing on it. Just digging out the grass and tree roots was exhausting.
"I never knew grass roots could grow so densely. Look, these grass roots are longer than my human form."
"Oh, I'm so tired. I used to go out to dig for stems and just cut off the grass roots. I didn't expect to have to dig them all out now."
"There are a lot of stones underground. I accidentally hit the hoe on a stone twice. Now the hoe is bent."
"Brother Jian Mo, can't I really change back to my beast form to dig? My claws are definitely much more useful than a hoe."
Jian Mo listened to their conversation and didn't say anything at first until someone called him. He stood up and answered seriously: "It's best not to use your claws. If they are worn out, they will easily get inflamed. Maybe your claws will hurt for several days."
The beastman who asked the question sighed: "But it's too difficult to dig a little bit with a hoe."
The beastmen and sub-beastmen in the tribe actually don't have much patience. In the past, when they went out to collect, they didn't work all the time, but more often they hurried.
Today, they have to work slowly on the land, and many people are a little impatient.
Many people started to back out after digging:
"Forget it, I don't want to plant anymore. I'll go out hunting and gathering with the main force next year. That's easier for me."
"I think so too. I'll work so hard to reclaim the land, but the food I grow won't last for many meals. I'd better go hunting and gathering."
"Yes, I'm not a good cook. No matter how good the food is, it won't taste good in my hands. It's better not to bother."
Originally, most of the people in the tribe wanted to plant something, but when the land in the tribe was reclaimed, most of them gave up.
They decided to just go out and hunt and gather food.
Anyway, except for winter, there is plenty of food outside in the other three seasons, and you can fill your stomach by just looking outside.
Everyone said what they wanted to say, but they just thought that reclaiming the land was troublesome and had no objection to Jian Mo.
They even went out of their way to comfort Jian Mo, saying that it was not that they were bad at planting, but that they were too lazy and didn't want to move, so they didn't plant.
Jian Mo agreed with a smile .
Originally, many people wanted to plant things, and the land on the river bank was not enough, so Jian Mo planned to reclaim a few more terraces on the mountain.
Now that so many people have given up the idea of farming, the land on the other side of the river is suddenly enough.
Jian Mo and his team specifically picked flat and fertile land for reclamation. Although it was difficult to start work in the first year, it will definitely get better and better in the future.
Jian Mo estimated that with his and Wu Jiong's level, they should be able to finish the reclamation in ten days or half a month.
Wu Jiong, needless to say, is strong and nimble, and is a good worker.
He is a little bit lacking, but he is also a young man in his prime, so it shouldn't be too difficult for him to do the work.
Unexpectedly, when the reclamation officially started, people in the tribe came to help.
Jian Mo was touched and surprised: "Aren't you tired of farming?"
Ban Ming smiled and said, "Farming is very troublesome. In addition to clearing wasteland, there are many other things to do later. But it is very simple to take two days out to help you do some work. Anyway, if we work together, it will be done quickly."
Ah Hu added, "We are free anyway, so it is a good opportunity to come here with you, Brother Jian Mo, to practice our skills."
Xilu smiled and said, "Let's just come here to learn how to clear wasteland."
Hefeng, who came out from the side, shouted, "Play in the mud!"
Jian Mo then noticed that the children had also come over, and he quickly looked over and He called out to the cubs who were carrying grass roots and stones to the side: "Hey, don't carry stones, the soil in the ground is dirty."
The little cat Banju shouted: "Meow, we are not afraid of dirt."
Zhoudao: "Woof, yes, we are not afraid!"
Jian Mo pushed the butts of these furry little guys with his hands and pushed them away a little: "That won't work, just help carry the grass away."
Banju: "Okay!"
The riverside was very lively. The other people in the tribe reacted a little slower and came over with tools to work for them.
Jian Mo originally set aside so much time for reclamation, but he didn't expect that in less than three days, all the land he had set his eyes on was reclaimed.
Some land that he didn't intend to take was also reclaimed by the young people who were too obsessed with work.
Jian Mo was touched and had nothing to say, so he invited them to dinner.
Finally, Qing Kuang said that it had been a long time since everyone had had fun together, so why not have a bonfire party?
When spring comes, the tribe will be busy and there may not be so much time to have fun.
Jian Mo certainly had no objection. In addition to contributing meat to treat everyone to dinner, he also brought snow bean wine - the snow bean fruit in their backyard grew well, and they harvested several crops later, all of which were brewed into wine.
Seeing the snow fruit wine, Qingkuang remembered and asked, "Does your family also brew fruit wine? How is it now?"
Speaking of this, Jian Mo wanted to sigh, "The taste of the wine is quite pure, and there is no sign of spoilage, but it ferments very slowly, and it is still fermenting slowly now."
Qingkuang comforted him, "Don't you say that good things are worth waiting for? As long as it ferments well, it doesn't matter if it ferments slowly."
Jian Mo: "I think so too. Maybe the temperature is too low, and the bacteria inside is not right, so the fermentation is particularly slow."
Even though there are many types of yeast that can be used for fermentation, it is not surprising that the fermentation is slow if the inappropriate bacteria are used. Just be thankful that it can ferment.
Qing Kuang automatically skipped the words he didn't quite understand and said, "Tell me when the fermentation is done. I'm quite curious about the distilled wine you mentioned."
Jian Mo assured him, "Don't worry, we might need your help when the time comes."
The land was reclaimed, the earthen embankment was built, and Jian Mo and Wu Jiong began to apply base fertilizer.
The base fertilizer they used was plant ash and fermented animal feces - including the feces of flying beasts and tuk-tuk beasts.
Several families in the tribe who decided to plant came to help and learn by the way.
Applying base fertilizer is not difficult, just mix it evenly with the soil.
The difficult part is to obtain the base fertilizer.
Jian Mo said to Qing Kuang and the others, "If you need it, you can also take Jiujiu's feces as fertilizer. But it's better to take my fermented ones, otherwise it might burn the roots."
Qing Kuang nodded and sighed, "Jiujiu eats so much and poops so much, now it can finally be put to use."
Jian Mo smiled, "I thought so too, luckily it can be used, otherwise I really don't know where to transport its feces next year, it will pollute the environment too much."
For a while, Jian Mo even wanted Jiujiu to learn from the beastmen in the tribe and go to the toilet in the forest outside.
The people in the tribe are all cats and dogs, and they have the habit of burying their excrement, but Jiujiu is not so good at it.
Jian Mo has to clean up every day, and he feels a little tired.
Fortunately, planting is now on the agenda, and things will be better in the future.
Qing Kuang asked: "Can we plant directly after applying the base fertilizer?"
Jian Mo: "It depends on whether the plant can withstand the cold. For example, for wood roots, hair roots and some other herbs, you can pick up the seeds and plant them, and wait for them to slowly germinate. Some plants that can't withstand the cold have to be planted after a while."
After thinking about it, Jian Mo said: "But no matter what, it's best to cover the soil with a layer of dead grass to prevent the weather from being too cold and the newly grown leaves from being frozen. That's what we do there."
If there is a film, lay the film, and if there is no film, cover it with a layer of grass, which can also protect the crops and increase the yield.
Everyone nodded again. Ye Luo said, "I didn't expect there are so many tricks to planting."
Jian Mo: "I have accumulated experience slowly. There are many things I don't know, so we have to explore together."
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