Chapter 22: We Are Not Short of Food
“Grow vegetables?” The beastmen had no concept of planting so Jiao Zhu was puzzled by what Lu Zhan said.
Lu Zhan shrugged his shoulders and said that he was also not quite clear on what he meant. Although Luo Zhen explained it to him when he was paving the ground last night, he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes after all so even if he was asked to tell Jiao Zhu, he couldn’t properly do so.
“He said that in winter, he would still be able to have wild vegetables.”
“Can wild vegetables grow in winter?” The winter here is very cold, and most of the plants would’ve almost withered before the winter even truly began so Jiao Zhu is not optimistic about Luo Zhen’s vegetable planting behavior this time.
Lu Zhan didn’t want to discuss an issue that neither of them understood with Jiao Zhu, so he broke away from the topic, “Why did you come here alone today? Did that foreigner named Luka go hunting for us?”
“Yeah.” Jiao Zhu nodded. “The leader let Hei Lei guide him.”
“Hei Lei is still a single warrior, he has a lot of free time, and he is indeed more suitable than you.”
Jiao Zhu smiled, Lu Zhan handed a green pear to him but Jiao Zhu shook his head and refused.
“Have you talked to Da Wu about the cassava and the dishes taught by Luo Zhen?”
“Well, there are still the few cassava roots Luo Zhen brought back with A-Ya’s help. I heard that when the cassava tree was pulled off at the time, there were more than half of them left in the mud. They went to take the remaining cassava back, and along the way, see if there are other cassava trees nearby.” He didn’t see the original appearance of the cassava tree at the time, or else he wouldn’t have let Hei Ya go with his injured legs.
Jiao Zhu glanced at Lu Zhan, “Of course, Da Wu wants to ask Luo Zhen if he has time to go to the small forest again, maybe he knows other foods.”
“Da Wu suspects that Luo Zhen is a foreigner from the opposite side of Changfeng Mountain?” Lu Zhan narrowed his eyes. Although he asked it as a question, his tone was affirmative.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“He didn’t say that.” Jiao Zhu sat down cross-legged, avoiding Lu Zhan’s gaze.
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He was very conspicuous and weird.
Not to mention Da Wu, even Lu Zhan had doubted Luo Zhen’s identity. They lived in this place for so many years and even though they did not have deep relations with them, they had more or less contact with them. They had never met such a person like Luo Zhen.
Lu Zhan didn’t have much interest in Luo Zhen’s identity, so he didn’t think it mattered. Although he tried to find out, he wouldn’t ask too much, however for their leader and the Da Wu of the tribe, Luo Zhen may be an unknown factor that threatens the safety of their tribe, or he may be a person who can the shake the majesty of the current Da Wu.
If someone is injured and they can deal with it by themselves, then the Da Wu in the tribe loses their meaning of existence.
It’s just that this kind of performance is not obvious now, and Luo Zhen seems to be able to provide them with other new types of food, so everyone did not put those speculations on the surface.
“You can see that he is busy planting things today, and Luka promised to hunt for our food, so we won’t need to go out to find food at the moment.” The underlying implication was that Luo Zhen had no time to follow them into the forest to find more types of food.
The tribe does not force ordinary people to act together. They are relatively tolerant of ordinary people who can’t be beastized. Since Lu Zhan helped Luo Zhen refuse then Jiao Zhu cannot force him, after all, he was just a person who came to spread the word.
“Da Wu asks you to take Luo Zhen to him as soon as possible after you are healed of your injuries.” Jiao Zhu reminded him, “If Luo Zhen can provide us with more food for us to live a food-rich winter, then next year, Da Wu may make an exception and give the fertility fruit to him.”
Lu Zhan raised his eyebrows, “Don’t worry, I’ll take him over in a few days.”
Jiao Zhu nodded, and the two chatted with a few more words before leaving.
*
The morning sun shone on Luo Zhen, and Luo Zhen rubbed his eyes as the cuckoo bird on the cedar tree next to him began its day of cuckling. After being tied to the foot of the tree, the two little guys have already adapted to their new life, and coupled with the fresh weeds provided by Luo Zhen, they have now built a nest in the grass and plan to settle down here.
A-Shui squatted in front of the newly cleaned land and looked at the ants that were crawling around. Next to him stood a woman with an immature face, said woman occasionally reached out to pick up the ants and put them in her mouth to chew. Maybe after hearing movements, she turned her head to look towards Luo Zhen.
“Who are you?” Luo Zhen hadn’t seen this woman before but seeing the other person’s dress, she should be from the Black Panther tribe.
“My name is A-Xue, I am the daughter of Da Wu.” A-Xue smiled, showing teeth missing half of the front teeth, Luo Zhen could even see the ants in the teeth between the other party who had not had time to swallow.
A-Xue was a little familiar with greeting strangers so she continued without waiting for Luo Zhen to ask, “Da Wu heard that you are going to grow vegetables at home today. He let me come over and help you.”
A-Shui continued, “Daddy told Da Wu, and then Da Wu sent A-Xue to help, and Daddy also asked me to help you.” A-Shui thought for a while, “I have little strength and can’t grow vegetables but I can pick weeds for the cuckoo bird.”
Luo Zhen smiled and reached out to touch A-Shui’s little head, “Since you are all here to help, let’s help light a fire and make breakfast first. Only when you are full can you have the energy to work.”
“Okay,” A-Xue replied loudly and ran to the fire pit. There was still some charcoal buried in the fire pit that had not been completely extinguished. A-Xue added a handful of hay to ignite it and blew it against the charcoal. After two breaths, he suddenly raised his head and said to Luo Zhen who was about to enter the tent, “I have already eaten.”
Luo Zhen glanced at her and nodded slightly. But A-Shui looked at him blankly, still biting his little finger in his mouth. He had eaten two meals here and knew that Luo Zhen’s cooking was better than his father’s barbecue, even though he had already eaten at home, he still felt greedy when it came to food.
In the tent, Lu Zhan was using a bone knife to make a wooden bowl. Next to him was a nutshell as a reference object. He had to look up every time he scraped a bit of sawdust, for fear of making a mistake.
“You woke up very early? Why didn’t you wake me up?” Luo Zhen walked over and looked at the wooden bowl in his hand. This kind of wood has very fine and hard grain. He tried it yesterday but took a lot of effort to cut the wood. Despite this, this kind of wood is very light and has no peculiar smell and water will not penetrate the wood even if it is poured into it. Even if no other processing is required, it can be used by just digging out a wooden bowl shape. It is currently the most suitable for use for making utensils.
What Luo Zhen didn’t expect was that he just raised a mouth yesterday and gestured twice with a bone knife while resting but Lu Zhan already took the initiative to make this thing today.
“Last night was a long one so you can sleep a little longer.” Lu Zhan’s gaze scanned the red spots on the opponent’s body that were bitten by mosquitoes, thinking that when he heads out after a while, he had to remember to get some insect-repellent plants back.
Luo Zhen disturbed his arm, sat next to Lu Zhan, pointed outside with his chin, and asked in a low voice, “What’s the matter with that person named A-Xue?”
Lu Zhan relayed the things that Jiao Zhu came to say in the morning, and Luo Zhen finally realized what was up “Jiao Zhu is not there, so Da Wu wants to send someone to learn how to grow vegetables with me?”
“Yeah.” Lu Zhan nodded, “If you mind, you don’t need to plant it today. Luka has gone hunting, and we don’t lack food.”
“I don’t mind.” Just relying on Luo Zhen to grow how many things he can grow would not work so he hopes that everyone will know how to so at least he won’t need to do everything himself to plant successfully. “But why do you want to help me refuse the opportunity to enter the forest? There are still many things in the forest. Maybe I can find other food if I go. If I can dig a few more cassava trees, it would be nice to bring them back.”
“We don’t lack food.” Lu Zhan still said.
“Okay.” Luo Zhen rolled his eyes. There is free labor like Luka, so there is no need to use it in vain.
Moreover, Lu Zhan preferred to eat something other than cassava or other wild vegetables. He had to eat a lot of meat after the human-faced bird wounded his stomach. The internal organs of people who can be beasts are probably not the same as him. After murmuring a few words, Luo Zhen didn’t care much. It was not far away from winter now so if he planted the land earlier, he could catch up with the harvest. It would be okay to go to the forest after processing the land and planting the seeds.
Seeing that Luo Zhen didn’t ask anymore, he picked up the last piece of beef left last night and wanted to cook breakfast. Lu Zhan pursed his lips and said in a low voice to Luo Zhen, “Don’t believe in Da Wu too much.”
Luo Zhen looked back at him questioningly, probably because he was worried that A-Xue outside would hear it. Lu Zhan’s voice was very low. Even if Luo Zhen was so close to the other party, he would not be able to hear what the other party was saying if he didn’t pay attention. “Don’t believe in Da Wu too, he is not the kind of person he shows himself to be.”
Luo Zhen seemed to be thinking about something while standing there. It was a long time before he nodded and replied, “I know.”
Lu Zhan watched the other person step out of the tent, retracted his gaze, and picked up the bone knife again to cut the wood in his hand.
A-Xue is a girl with ingenuity. She can do the things Luo Zhen ordered better than him. There is still some bone broth boiled last night. He added some water to re-cook it so although the meat taste will be lighter, it is still better than drinking plain water without taste.
There is not much cassava left. He doesn’t know if they can exchange some of Jiao Zhu’s after they dig it back. They cut the remaining beef into slices and mixed them with cassava to stir-fry a dish. On the way, A-Xue saw Luo Zhen. He took out a piece of animal skin and carefully twisted a little white sand-like thing in, curiously reached out her hand and put it in his mouth, then her eyes lit up, “Salt?”
Luo Zhen handed over the small pile of salt grains that had been refined so that the other party could see more clearly, “Of course, these are salt.”
Thanks for the chapter!! 🧡
Ants can be eaten?!😮