novelden Chapter 82 Mao's First Hunt
Chapter 82 Mao's First Hunt
After finishing lunch, without much rest, Jiang Luoluo continued making jam.
As Jiang Luoluo cooked, she looked at Chi with a resentful gaze. If it weren't for Chi's "kindness," she would definitely be very free right now.
Chi couldn't see Jiang Luoluo's gaze, but he could feel the burning intensity of her gaze. After thinking for a moment, Chi suddenly realized what was going on.
The cub said yesterday that she didn't have enough Water Ball Fruit, right? She was so engrossed in catching rabbits yesterday that she completely forgot about this.
It's okay, you can still go now.
Chi glanced at the torrential rain outside, then suddenly stood up and started to walk outside, startling the others.
Brown couldn't help but ask, "Red, what are you going to do?"
Just as Akane was about to answer, he turned his head and saw Shigeru helping out next to the cub. He glanced at Shigeru's strong physique and intact arms, and before he could answer Kuroi's question, he changed the subject.
"Mao, it's Mao, right? Come with me."
Mao got up, completely bewildered. Before he could even ask what was going on, Chi grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the cave.
Mao was powerless to resist and was dragged along with them.
"Huh?!" Brown stepped forward to stop him, but he was a step too slow and couldn't catch up.
Jiang Luoluo, holding a wooden spoon, stood beside the stone pot, looking completely bewildered, unable to understand Chi's sudden reaction.
Mao was about to struggle, but after being pulled out, Chi seemed to remember to explain, and said in the pouring rain, "Didn't Luo say that there weren't enough Water Ball Fruits? You come with me to pick Water Ball Fruits. I can't bring back many by myself."
Since Mao couldn't help much by staying by the cub's side anyway, instead of wasting time sitting around, it was better to go with her to pick water puffs, as those things were not easy to bring back.
Mao stopped struggling instantly.
The main reason is that there aren't many rules and complicated reasoning in the tribe. Sometimes, what to do depends entirely on what the tribesman with the highest fighting strength is thinking.
Apart from the "shaman" who can reason with people, the only way for other members of the tribe to determine the right to speak is through force; that is, whoever is stronger can be in charge and become the leader.
Normally, the clan members may be peaceful and modest with each other, but when it comes to situations where decisions need to be made, their dictatorial mentality of "I am powerful and listen to me" is hard to hide.
Just like Mao, his disadvantage when facing Chi is that he is not yet an orc warrior and does not have the basic strength to resist. However, he is not as young as Jiang Luoluo and can be pampered as a child. He is in the awkward stage of transitioning to become an orc warrior.
This led to Akira not treating him as a cub, but as a half-orc warrior. However, because Mao was not strong enough, he could not receive the same treatment as an orc warrior in Akira's eyes.
Jiang Luoluo looked at He with concern, and He reassured her, "It's alright. Chi is unreliable, but she's strong enough. Mao won't encounter any danger if she follows her."
With Chief Jing and all the orc warriors out hunting, Chi is arguably the strongest among all the tribe members.
Brown doesn't worry about anyone, but he doesn't worry about Red encountering any insurmountable danger.
If even Mao can't be protected, then Chi doesn't need to live on the top of Silver Peak Mountain to protect the witch.
Sure enough, Brown was right. As evening approached, Red returned with Shigeru, carrying a bunch of Water Pellets in large and small bags.
Mao also had a half-grown wild animal, which looked like a squirrel, hanging on his body.
Upon seeing Jiang Luoluo, even Mao, who is usually very reserved, couldn't help but show his excitement and eagerly wanted to share his joy with her.
"Luo, this is my prey." Mao's voice was trembling with excitement.
Brown paused upon hearing this, glancing thoughtfully at Red who seemed unconcerned.
Jiang Luoluo didn't quite understand why Mao was so excited, but she could sense that this seemed to be a very important matter for Mao, so she naturally became happy as well.
Regardless, if Mao feels it's a happy thing, then it's a happy thing.
Chi put down the Water Ball Fruit, greeted Jiang Luoluo, and left without paying attention to the other two.
Brown then asked Mao about his afternoon experiences, and Mao answered in detail.
Chi is very familiar with the environment around Silver Peak Mountain. Even in heavy rain, when it is difficult to distinguish directions and distances, she can still accurately find the place she wants to go.
Mao followed along in the rain, making many mistakes along the way. He would slip and fall on waterlogged branches, or get stuck in puddles. He didn't know how to use the rain to keep going, so he could only grit his teeth and keep up.
After all, he had never gone hunting in Silver Peak Mountain, and his father Ke had no time to teach him, which resulted in him not understanding many things.
Akane didn't look down on him. She knew he was a novice when she brought him out, and she was prepared for it.
Therefore, after Shigeru made a mistake, Aka simply said a couple of things about where he went wrong, explained the correct way to do it, and told him to pay attention next time. That was all.
If Mao can remember something after just one repetition, Chi will only repeat it once. If he can't remember it after one repetition, Chi will repeat it twice. His mindset is surprisingly calm, which is completely different from his fiery personality.
It might seem contradictory, but it's actually quite normal. After all, Aka is never the kind of person who can do things perfectly the first time. Because he can't see things clearly, Aka always has to repeat each step over and over again until he is completely familiar with it.
She was so used to failure that other people's failures were just ordinary things to her, and she wasn't particularly moved by them.
As long as you succeed in the end, all the failures and embarrassments along the way are insignificant.
Mao and Chi arrived at the place where the Water Pear grows. This place may be a bit remote, not a place that the tribe often comes to. The Water Pear trees are everywhere.
Because of the heavy rain, most of the water pears on the trees had broken open, and juice was flowing all over the ground. Even after being washed away by the rain, a sweet aroma lingered.
Mao and Akade searched for water pomegranates that grew in secluded locations, away from direct rain, and also prepared some rain shelters to pack them up and take them with them.
The materials are simple; you can just use whatever you have on hand.
Three main types are used: the fruit of a tree called the Wannian Pine, rabbit hair grass for cushioning and preventing bumps, and grass leaves for rain protection. These only need to be large and sturdy enough; there are no special requirements.
The fruit of the Wannian Pine is the pine cone that Jiang Luoluo is very familiar with. However, compared to the pine cones that Jiang Luoluo remembers as being no bigger than a fist, the pine cones that grow from the Wannian Pine are as big as a person.
It's as if it took tens of thousands of years to grow this big.
The bursting scales naturally create distinct layers; by laying a few sheets of soft rabbit hair grass inside, you don't have to worry about the water puffs breaking from bumps.
The big-tailed squirrel in Mao's hand was encountered at this time. These big-tailed squirrels will use the pine cones of ancient pines as their "home" and the pine nuts inside are their food.
Once they've eaten all the pine nuts from one pine cone, they'll move on to the next one to make it their home.
However, these big-tailed squirrels generally have a hoarding habit. They live in one pine cone and will also collect pine nuts from other pine cones to secretly hide as food for themselves in winter or when they cannot find new pine cones.
Mao was just a novice, and his understanding of these things was only superficial. When Chi asked him to find an empty pine cone, he couldn't tell which one was empty and which one wasn't.
And that's how he bumped into the big-tailed squirrel in the pine cone.
It seems that all animals have a protective instinct towards their "home." The big-tailed squirrel, dragged out of its home, was not frightened away but instead bravely launched an attack on the squirrel.
Aka saw it, but didn't interfere. He just watched as Mao, relying on what he had learned at Little Rock Mountain, managed to hunt a large-tailed squirrel that posed little threat, in a very disheveled manner.
From that moment on, Mao was no longer a simple child; he had his own prey, and he became a warrior.
Perhaps the prey posed little threat and held little value, but Mao proved himself.
Just like the day Jiang Luoluo celebrated her 18th birthday in the previous world, it was just an ordinary day for others, and for her, it was just an unremarkable birthday celebration. There was no sudden transformation or growth, and she would not instantly turn from a simple child into a mature adult.
But legally, she is an adult, and she has received a kind of implicit recognition of her status.
The same goes for Mao.
Then, the two of them brought back the fruit they had filled with.
Jiang Luoluo understood. No wonder Mao was so excited; this was something as memorable as a coming-of-age ceremony.
Mao's father, Ke, was not in the tribe, so the only ones who could share his excitement were Jiang Luoluo and He. Jiang Luoluo wouldn't do anything to spoil the fun, so she put aside the jam-making and enthusiastically started preparing it for Mao.
So this big-tailed squirrel became the main dish for dinner tonight.
Brown also cooperated by instructing Mao on how to handle the prey, but he didn't interfere at all, simply directing Mao to complete all the steps himself.
From hunting to skinning and processing the prey, and even turning the prey into food.
The meat of the big-tailed squirrel tastes very good, with a texture similar to rabbit meat, but without the fishy smell of native rabbit meat. It even has a faint nutty flavor, perhaps because it has eaten a lot of pine nuts.
The only downside is that there's really too little meat.
The.
After removing more than half of its tail, the big-tailed squirrel has very little meat left. Even if Jiang Luoluo were to feed the whole squirrel, it wouldn't be enough to fill her up.
The food was divided among three people, just enough for them to taste. It was gone in a few bites, and they still relied on other meats to fill their stomachs.
Jiang Luoluo couldn't help but think, no wonder no one in the clan goes to catch big-tailed squirrels; if they caught them, they would have to eat dozens to be full in one meal.
But think about how long it takes to process a big-tailed squirrel... all the energy from the little food they eat is used up in processing their prey.
……
Another uneventful day passed, and the next day brought another torrential downpour. He had no choice but to stay at home and make jam with Jiang Luoluo.
After Mao finished breakfast, he came over to help and discovered that Jiang Luoluo had exchanged many more wooden containers with Cong and was taking the opportunity to organize things in the cave.
The largest container originally used for storing jam was a wooden jar that was about knee-high. Although it could hold quite a lot, it required many wooden jars, which Jiang Luoluo found somewhat troublesome.
They then exchanged a large wooden bucket, commonly used by other families living in log cabins, for jam. They placed it next to the stone water tank, which emptied many wooden jars at once.
The jars that were previously used to store the "fruit wine" were also dug out.
It's called "fruit wine," but it's actually just some fruit that's been left out for too long, the fruit is overripe, and it's fermented on its own, giving it an alcoholic taste. Jiang Luoluo just put it together without doing anything about it.
After all, Jiang Luoluo knew how to make jam, but she had never made fruit wine before and knew nothing about the brewing process, so she could only leave it to the fruits to experiment with.
However, Jiang Luoluo also knew that fruit wine usually takes at least a month to ferment successfully. The fruit wine she had here had only been fermented for more than ten days and was not yet ready to drink.
It was also by sheer coincidence that Chi Lai ran into Jiang Luoluo checking the fermentation of several jars of fruit wine.
It wasn't exactly sweet, and it had a slightly strange flavor that immediately attracted Aka.
"Luo, what is this? Is it jam too?" Chi licked his lips, finding the taste inexplicably appealing.
Jiang Luolu shook her head, realizing that Chi couldn't see her movements, so she looked up at the others. He was stirring in front of the stone pot in her place, and Mao glanced at her and explained for her.
"It's not jam. Luo made fruit juice from fruit that was almost ripe and spoiled."
The tribe doesn't have the concept of "alcohol," so they simply call it fruit water, a liquid made from fruit that's like water.
"May I have a taste?" Chi looked at the cub expectantly. "Just one bite."
Jiang Luoluo looked at Chi hesitantly, then gestured to Mao.
Mao: "Luo said the fruit juice isn't ready yet."
"It's alright, I'll just have a bite!" Chi said nonchalantly, his eyes filled with intense interest.
Jiang Luoluo thought for a moment. This thing only contains fruit and water. The biggest problem is that it might undergo a qualitative change, and drinking it might cause an upset stomach.
However, as someone who can eat even roasted chili peppers raw, Chi should be fine after just a few bites, right?
Jiang Luoluo also wanted to know how well the "fruit wine" was brewed. After hesitating for a moment, she took out a wooden bowl, filtered it with a clean linen cloth, and filled a bowl for Chi Liao.
Chi first took a small sip, then his eyes lit up and he poured the whole bowl into his mouth. "Delicious!"
After finishing the drink, he smacked his lips a couple of times, feeling a little disappointed, "It just felt a bit too bland."
Jiang Luolu shook her head. Of course, it's only been a few days, and it hasn't fermented properly yet. It's already good enough that you can taste the alcohol.
Thinking of this, Jiang Luoluo couldn't help but secretly glance at Chi. After finding that Chi was fine, she unconsciously started to pour herself some water.
She should be fine drinking just a little bit, right?