Volume 1: Farming Chapter 8: Table Strategy
This time, Xiao Yun didn't faint for long. He woke up right after returning to the tribe. After all, he was just choked by the severe body odor and short-term suffocation. It wasn't like the last time when he was kicked and almost had a concussion...
Well, it seemed that the fainting confirmed his frailty, as the young men looked at him cautiously... When he borrowed Sal's wooden barrel to fetch water to wash vegetables, the girl Yangmao immediately snatched the barrel away, as if the several hundred-meter walk from the tribe to the water point would make him tired.
There was no way to explain this matter anyway, so Xiao Yun simply found a rock to sit on and sort the wild vegetables. This time, with the help of three snow werewolf boys, he dug up much more wild vegetables than when he was alone. In addition to the most common dandelions and plantains, he also picked a lot of relatively rare gray vegetables, and accidentally found some perilla.
Xiao Yun is very familiar with perilla, not because it is a Chinese herbal medicine, but because he is from the south. When southerners make kimchi at home, they add perilla leaves to the jar to prevent the kimchi from growing white spots. Xiao Yun's mother used to add perilla leaves when she was making pickled radish and cabbage. Moreover, perilla leaves have their own fragrance, and many places in the south use them as seasoning.
"It's a pity there's no Polygonum multiflorum... Does it grow in places with higher latitudes? Forget it, it's not in season now."
The plantain in heads is too old to be eaten, but adding some when cooking can prevent and treat dysentery. Snow wolves have no concept of hygiene, and even if they have inhuman physiques, they cannot avoid diarrhea. Dandelions taste a bit bitter, and mixing them with gray cabbage is just right to neutralize the taste. Add some perilla leaves to enhance the flavor, and you're done.
He was picking wild vegetables, while on the other side, the tribesmen who had returned to the tribe were staring at him from afar.
"Ashan, what's wrong with Ayun? Why do you suddenly like playing with grass?" Another snow werewolf warrior who had just returned was sitting at the door of his tent sharpening bone arrows. He stared at Ayun "playing with grass" for a long time with his eyes wide open, and asked Ashan, who was picking wild fruits with his butt sticking out, in confusion.
"That's not grass, that's vegetable."
Ah Shan had no idea how to answer, but Niu Jiao, who was resting after cleaning up the wild boar, said, "It's wild vegetables. I've eaten them. They're delicious."
"Oh——" The Snow Wolf Warrior and Ashan drew out their voices in unison, "How delicious is it?"
Niu Jiao was drinking water from a "cup" made of a cow skull. Upon hearing this, he licked his lips and smacked his lips: "It's delicious anyway." With his limited vocabulary, he certainly couldn't say anything to praise it, but his aftertasteful expression was enough to explain his feelings.
The Snow Wolf Warrior and Ashan looked at each other, stopped sharpening their bone arrows and picking up the wild fruits, and stood up together and strode towards Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun knew that the Snow Wolf people would not leave any food or vegetables, so he picked the gray grass and dandelions he had collected this afternoon and put them together, ready to cook them together later; he kept some basil for later use, picked some plantain to cook, and put the rest aside to get seeds later. While he was busy, his uncle Ashan and another Snow Wolf brother who was about the size of a bull horn came over, squatted beside him, and stared at the wild vegetables he had sorted into several piles with sharp eyes.
Xiao Yun: “…” Forget it, just pretend not to see it for now.
A Shan reached out and picked up a piece of plantain. Seeing that Xiao Yun didn't react, he... opened his mouth and stuffed the whole plantain into his mouth.
"Uncle?!" Xiao Yun was shocked. Can't you see there's so much mud on it?!
"..." Ashan didn't say anything, nor did he spit it out. He chewed the extremely old plantain with a serious expression on his face.
Xiao Yun... Xiao Yun was completely shocked. Even if he didn't understand the micro-expressions, he could see how heart-wrenching Ashan's swallowing action was.
After swallowing the whole plantain with difficulty, Ah Shan's tense face was about to crack, but he still had a serious expression and nodded to Xiao Yun, praising: "Sure enough, it's delicious!"
Xiao Yun looked at him in amazement.
The Snow Wolf warrior who came with him got up and left, going back to sharpen his bone arrows...Ashan's acting skills couldn't even fool the Snow Wolf.
"...Uncle, this is not how you eat it. You can't eat it raw, and you can't eat the overly old parts. Even if you eat it as a cold dish, you have to blanch it first, which means boil it in water. And before boiling it, you have to wash off the mud on it..." Xiao Yun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Oh." Ashan didn't hide it this time. He revealed his uncomfortable expression and grinned.
Xiao Yun... Xiao Yun really had no idea about the snow wolf's thought process, really.
After washing the vegetables with the water brought back by Wool, Xiao Yun put them aside. He felt that there was no need for him to pay attention to the rhythm and slowly influence the snow werewolf. That kind of roundabout routine was a complete waste of time. So he was too lazy to hide his strength and went straight to the wild boar meat that Niu Jiao had packed.
You don't know until you see it, and you'll be shocked when you see it. This so-called cleaned up... is just a whole pig with the skin peeled, belly ripped out and internal organs taken out - because there is no blade, the snow werewolf can't cut the whole wild boar into pieces of meat, and the pig is not bled when it is killed. When Xiao Yun approached, he was almost choked by the heavy fishy smell.
"Damn it, the delicious roasted wild boar meat in the YY novels is really a lie. The wild boar meat that has never been fanned and the blood foam has never been completely removed, the smell alone when it is roasted is enough to make people vomit, right?!"
Xiao Yun covered his nose and thought to himself, he would definitely not eat this for dinner. After thinking for a while, he waved and called Niu Jiao over: "Niu Jiao, should we make this meat more delicious?"
"Yes." Niu Jiao answered immediately.
Niu Jiao had eaten the wild vegetables he brought back and found that he was easier to use than his uncle Ashan. Xiao Yun simply asked him to carry the wild boar meat, and he carried an empty bucket to fill it with wild boar viscera, and went to the river together to do the secondary processing.
After thinking about it and realizing that he needed help, Xiao Yun called the girl Yangmao again - he originally considered calling Thrall, but he was worried that this human would catch a cold or something and cause trouble.
After leaving the tribe, walk about 500 meters southwest and you will see the tributary of the river where the migrating tribe stayed. The river water in autumn is not as turbulent as in summer, and the river surface looks relatively calm. The width is about 20 meters. There are a few water birds flying on the water surface. There are lush reeds on both sides of the river. Near the tribe, there is a semicircular pit with a diameter of about two meters and a depth of one meter dug (or shoveled) by the Snow Wolf people, probably to prevent the tribe members from falling into the river when taking water.
Xiao Yun first taught Yang Mao how to clean wild boar viscera. Snow wolves don't eat viscera when they have enough food. Xiao Yun doesn't want to waste it. Even without ginger and garlic to remove the fishy smell, the nutritional value of wild boar viscera is still worth looking forward to. Washing pig intestines by the river is less disgusting than washing them in a basin...
After arranging the work for Yangmao, he then discussed with Niu Jiao how to process the wild boar meat. The original wild boars were unusually strong, but after all, they were not specially raised domestic pigs, so the fat layer was quite thin and there was not much lard, which had to be taken out for other uses. It could not be eaten after being roasted, as that would be a waste.
Then, there is the problem of removing the remaining blood in the pork... The pig has never been fanned in the first place, and if the blood is not removed as much as possible, it will be extremely fishy and smelly. This requires that the wild boar must be cut into pieces - when there is no boning knife available and you can only rely on your own claws, this is really a problem.
Fortunately, Xiao Yun already had an idea. He asked Niu Jiao to use brute force to push the wild boar away. He carefully observed the wild boar's spine, ribs, fat layer to be separated, and the position of lard. Xiao Yun suddenly changed into a wolf and slashed with his claws... The wolf form consumed a lot of energy, so he had to save time wherever possible.
After spending some time cutting up the pork and soaking it in the river, Niu Jiao jumped into the river to catch fish with his claws. Xiao Yun didn't have the ability to do that, so he simply searched among the reeds by the river to see if he could pick up any bird eggs...
The northern grasslands are located at a higher latitude, but not at a higher altitude. They are plains. Except for the northern part of the grasslands which has long been ruled by ice and snow, the rest of the grasslands have a pleasant climate and lush grasses. However, the abundant water resources make the entire grasslands full of vitality, but also bring floods. In the original owner's memory, the further south the grasslands go, the more swamps there are. Although the tribe migrated to the southwest, there was a very large swamp less than a hundred miles south of the tribe, where cattle and sheep could never get out if they accidentally stepped into it.
Xiao Yun's hometown is near the historical "Yellow River Flood Area". He has his own understanding of this: there is no strong country formed on the grassland, let alone any artificial water conservancy projects. So in the flood season every year, the two big rivers on the grassland will naturally overflow and go wherever they want... The indigenous people on the grassland dare not live near the two rivers, and they all look for tributaries. Even the Tauren tribe, who are the most dependent on water and know how to farm, dare not enter the southeast region where floods occur every year and are everywhere with rivers, streams and springs. You can imagine.
The ancestors of the Snow Wolf people were also harmed by the flood and had to migrate to the southwest. They chose the grassland northeast of the river tributary. The tribe moved directly to the tributary a few hundred meters away. Once the water volume of the tributary was abnormal, the Snow Wolf people could find it in the first time and move the cattle and sheep away...
Xiao Yun, who didn't pick up any bird eggs, stood by the river, gazing at the calm water and pondering his plan for the self-strengthening production of the Snow Werewolves. Obviously, with the convenience of abundant water resources, farming is feasible, but before there are enough manpower to carry out water conservancy projects, we must be vigilant about preventing floods... In other words , the "experimental field" cannot be built closer to the river than the tribe, as irrigation will become a hassle.
"...Don't worry, farming is next year's thing. The most important thing this year is to survive the winter."
Pulling his thoughts back to his senses, Xiao Yun turned his gaze to the lush reeds on the river bank.
"If I remember correctly, reeds can also be used as feed for cattle and sheep, and can be used as a temporary solution when necessary. If you want to build a house for the winter, reed stalks can be used as the roof... You must build a house, but I don't think anyone will respond to my proposal to build a house for the winter. Although the snow wolves are stupid, I have to get them to accept me before I can make them listen to me."
Xiao Yun was thinking silently, his eyes cast towards the horns of the bull that had caught a lot of fat freshwater fish with its claws.
Freshwater fish have many bones, and ethnic groups that cannot use chopsticks flexibly do not like to eat freshwater fish. The Snow Wolf people do not like to eat them...Except for the outlier Niu Jiao, he will roast larger fish and eat them as snacks. Using his claws to slowly pick out the fish bones is just a little game for him.
"Bullhorn, don't throw the smaller fish back, we have lard and can fry fish nuggets!"
When it was completely dark, the chief who was in charge of herding returned to the tribe with more than ten tribesmen who had come back to rest.
A blazing bonfire was burning in the open space in the center of the tribe. The rattan mats were covered with food and a few wild fruits. The hungry tribesmen saw the chief and waved happily, inviting everyone to sit down around the bonfire and share the delicious meal.
"The food is different today?"
The oldest chief in the tribe first checked to see if there were any missing cubs left in the tribe, and then he turned his attention to the food on the rattan mat. Unlike the past when all they had was grilled or boiled meat, today there were several pottery jars filled with green grass-like objects on the mat, and some strange-looking palm-sized charred lumps placed on the wide leaves.
"Well, today we have wild vegetables and miscellaneous fish pieces." Niu Jiao sounded very stiff when he spoke words he had never said before.
"Misc fish pieces?" The patriarch was stunned.
"It's fried, deep-fried..." Xiao Yun, who was sitting among the cubs, twitched his lips and said, "You can also say it's fried fish nuggets. The heat transfer efficiency of the clay pot is not as good as that of the iron pot. The heat is difficult to control, and a lot of it is burnt... But the fish nuggets are cut thinly, and the bones are fried crispy, so it's edible."
"Eat first. I'm starving. I was almost starving just now." Niu Jiao urged. His saliva was drooling when Ayun was frying the fish pieces.
The tribe adopted a separate dining system. Faced with the wild vegetables and fried fish nuggets that they had never seen before, the tribe leader in charge of the meal distribution was completely confused. The fried fish nuggets on the wide leaves were easy to distribute, since there were not many in total, so each person could just take a little to taste it, just like distributing wild fruits. But how to distribute the wild vegetables in the pottery pot? ! Use bowls? The tribe didn't have so many pottery bowls!
There was no choice but to put a few clay pots together, and whoever wanted to eat wild vegetables could grab a handful...
This distribution method made Xiao Yun's eyes twitch. He forced the tribesmen who stayed behind and came back early to wash their hands, but the paws of the group of people who just came back with the tribe leader were still pitch black!
In particular, in order to show encouragement to the cub Ayun who had returned from looking for wild vegetables, the tribe leader took the lead in grabbing a handful of wild vegetables. Just this handful, I don’t know how much mud and ash fell into the pot...
“Hmm!”
The tribe leader, who was unaware that Xiao Yun was staring at his dirty hands and felt a pain in his balls, gritted his teeth and grabbed a handful of grass and put it into his mouth. His expression immediately changed. He finished the wild vegetables that were covered with at least half a pound of mud in just a few bites. The tribe leader looked at the "mature" A Yun with a look of satisfaction and emotion, but he didn't feel like grabbing any more. He picked up the fried fish piece allocated to him and took a bite.
“Uh…ah…”
The chief sighed with ecstasy, chewing slowly the crispy skin and tender fish pieces with a look of enjoyment on his face... After all, the snow werewolves are not made of steel, and the sequelae of years of abusing their bodies are that their teeth are severely damaged in their middle and late youth. The chief, who is over sixty years old, has a hard time eating barbecue now, and fish meat that is easy to eat and does not hurt the teeth is so appetizing.
After experiencing the new food, the tribe leader's expression was obviously different from usual when eating roasted wild boar meat - the pork that had been removed of the blood and cut into small pieces before roasting would be heated more evenly than a whole wild boar. Xiao Yun also asked his uncle Ashan for some long bristles of wild animals, washed them and made a small brush to brush fish oil on the wild boar meat. Although there was still only salt and no other seasonings, the fishy smell was greatly reduced and the fish oil had a bit more freshness, which was a world of difference from the barbecue he had eaten in the past.
Xiao Yun, who didn't have the courage to eat wild vegetables, silently gnawed on the wild boar meat that was barely edible to him. Seeing that the snow wolves, including Thrall, were eating so hard that they refused to look up, he showed a melancholy face like a big-tailed wolf and let out a long sigh: "The dinner table strategy can be regarded as a good first battle... Alas, why is my sense of accomplishment so low?"
