Chapter 1126: Farming Master
Translator: Lordbluefire
Sun Mo washed the crab and then added a handful of wild scallions before steaming it on the stone pot.
Seafood was usually eaten for the ‘freshness’. If too many condiments were added, it’d suppress the original flavors instead.
“Teacher, the wild pheasant is washed!”
Hui s.h.i.+ was in charge of a.s.sisting him. He was much more familiar with such work compared to Gu Xiuxun and the others. After all, the few of them were all great teachers and didn’t lack money. Therefore, they had never cooked before.
“En!”
Sun Mo chopped up the wild pheasant, which he had no idea what cla.s.s protection it was cla.s.sified as, into small pieces. He then blanched and added them into the stone pot to stew along with mushrooms to bring out the freshness of the flavors, as well as wild scallions and wild gingers to get rid of the stench.
This didn’t require much skill. The main show was coming up next.
Sun Mo had killed a wild boar previously and had saved the fats. He then heated it up in the stone pot, and the lard was rendered very quickly.
“Take a good look. Ready up the pot, heat up the oil. Don’t use too much oil. Put in the fish that has been washed and marinated, then fry it. Don’t flip it unnecessarily. The flesh will break up.”
As the lard was used to cook the fish, a fragrance started to drift out.
Hui s.h.i.+’s nose couldn’t help but twitch. He had never smelled such a strong fragrance before.
Gulp!
Hui s.h.i.+’s throat rolled as he stared at the fried fish and kept on swallowing his saliva.
Due to the lack of condiments, Sun Mo couldn’t make braised fish and could only cook up a simple fried fish. However, this was already a great feast for Hui s.h.i.+.
“Pal, if you like it, please give a like!”
After Sun Mo was done frying the fish, he said this line playfully.
“Is this a necessary step to cooking?”
Bai Fu asked curiously.
Sun Mo smiled and looked toward Bai Fu. “Don’t blink. This next dish is the essence. Ready up the pot, heat up the oil. When the oil starts to emit slight smoke, add the meat slices.”
Sizzle!
When the meat slices came into contact with the stone pot, they released intense sounds and oil started to splatter. However, Hui s.h.i.+ couldn’t bear to leave the pot and stared without blinking.
“After the color of the meat slices changes, add in the scallions and then a bit of chicken soup.”
Sun Mo didn’t have chicken essence, so he could only make do with chicken stock. “Fry it for a little longer, then serve!”
The strong fragrance made Gu Xiuxun unable to hold back. She picked up a piece and tossed it into her mouth.
“Wow, it’s delicious!”
The meat slices were scorching, but Gu Xiuxun couldn’t bear to stop. After she was done, she took another one.
“This stir-fried lamb with scallions focuses on the ingredients’ original flavors and is best cooked when there’s a lack of condiments.”
Sun Mo explained.
The source of the meat came from a wild goat.
In this era, the advantage was that all food ingredients were natural and harmless. There wasn’t a need to worry about buying fake meat.
For the last dish, Sun Mo chose fried eggs.
There wasn’t any need for additional condiments. Salt and scallions were enough to make it extremely fragrant, perking one’s appet.i.te.
“Sun Mo, it’s such a waste that you didn’t choose to become a chef.”
The food was really delicious, and Gu Xiuxun was in tears as she ate. She had decided to go to Sun Mo’s home for free meals every day in the future.
“If Sun Mo can cook for me every day, I’ll join the Central Province Academy.”
Bai Fu’s stomach was conquered.
“Teacher, can you teach me how to cook?”
Hui s.h.i.+ was chewing on the meat when he dropped to his knees and kowtowed. This was the most delicious dinner he had in over ten years.
“Hehe!”
Sun Mo peeled the crab calmly, feeling extremely dejected.
Hotpot, barbecued meat, as well as a luxurious new year’s eve dinner were things that he’d never get to eat anymore!
The next morning, Sun Mo’s small group set off for Gray Rock Tribe.
With the Witchcraft: Beast Transformation in his hands, Sun Mo was already capable of establis.h.i.+ng a standing in this tribe.
Three days later, at the foot of a hill, Sun Mo saw rising smoke.
“Ah Tan!”
From afar, Hui s.h.i.+ started to wave at the young man from the tribe who was keeping watch.
“Hui s.h.i.+ isn’t dead. He’s back.”
Ah Tan shouted and was about to receive Hui s.h.i.+ when he saw Sun Mo and the others. He immediately held onto his weapon and went on his guard.
“This is my teacher!” Hui s.h.i.+ quickly introduced, “Hurry up and put away your weapon!”
“Teacher? What’s that?”
Ah Tan didn’t understand.
“You don’t understand. I’ll bring them to meet the chieftain!”
Hui s.h.i.+ led the way.
As outsiders coming to the tribe, they naturally attracted a lot of curious gazes sizing them up.
Sun Mo was very handsome, but to the tribesmen, it was useless for men to be good-looking. They must be strong and capable of killing ferocious beasts. Therefore, Sun Mo was ignored.
Gu Xiuxun and the other three, on the contrary, attracted a lot of attention. This was especially so for Jin Mujie. She was like a s.e.x bomb, making one unable to control themselves and receive serious blows to their hearts.
“Little Stone, you’re back?”
A woman dashed out and hugged Hui s.h.i.+ agitatedly.
“Mother, I’ll bring Teacher to meet the chieftain first.”
Hui s.h.i.+ broke out from his mother’s embrace.
As for his father?
He had died long ago during a hunt.
In the stone age, there’d be two major characters in a tribe. The first was the chieftain, a position that was undertaken by the man who had the strongest battle prowess. The other one was the prophet, a position a.s.sumed by the elder who possessed the greatest wisdom.
Out of which, after a man became the chieftain, they could discard their previous name and had the right to use the name ‘Hui Yan[1]’, which was the name of their tribe, as their new name.
Hui Yan was the name of a 30-year-old man with a body that was strong as a bear.
“You’ve comprehended our tribe’s witchcraft?”
Hui Yan wasn’t one who would beat about the bush. Sun Mo’s group had just taken a seat when he went straight to the point.
“En!” Sun Mo looked toward Hui s.h.i.+. “Why don’t you show it to everyone?”
Hui s.h.i.+ immediately started to perform the Ancestors Praying Ritual. Then, his body started to transform into a beast, and his appearance turned into that of a wild boar.
“This…”
Hui Yan was first stunned and then overwhelmed by agitation. He knelt and mumbled his thanks to their ancestors for their blessings to bring witchcraft back to the Gray Rock Tribe.
Sun Mo was in no hurry and he waited for Hui Yan to digest this blow.
“Sun Mo, you can stay in the tribe. After you’ve proven your loyalty, you can a.s.sume the position of the prophet.”
Hui Yan smiled bitterly. “Although you’ve grasped our witchcraft, everyone will not be convinced to let someone who has just joined the tribe become the prophet.”
“I don’t wish to join your tribe.”
Sun Mo said outright.
“Then you…”
Hui Yan frowned.
“I have a n.o.ble mission that I have to carry out. But before that, I’ll need to look for my companions whom I’ve been separated from.”
Sun Mo started to boast.
“Companions?”
Hui Yan was stunned. Then, he gave instructions to the tribesmen who were outside the door.
Not long later, three people were brought in.
“Teacher Zhou? Teacher Zhang?”
The three unlucky people were Zhou Zerui, Zhang Wentao, as well as his personal disciple, Liu Yuzhi.
“Teacher Sun?”
When Zhou Zerui saw Sun Mo, he suddenly felt extremely embarra.s.sed. He lowered his head and had a strong urge to look for a gap to hide himself in.
It was too embarra.s.sing.
Sun Mo was the chieftain’s honorable guest, while he was a slave.
The three of them were really unlucky and had been teleported into the game right outside this tribe. Before they could figure out what was going on, they were already captured.
Thereafter, they started a life as tough laborers, doing all sorts of tough and dirty work day and night, turning extremely skinny.
“Go get them some food.”
The chieftain’s emotional intelligence wasn’t low and immediately instructed his tribesmen to take action. At the same time, he started to apologize to Sun Mo.
“One who doesn’t know can’t be held responsible!”
Sun Mo showed great magnanimity.
The primary reason was that the ones who had been tortured weren’t one of his close companions. If they turned out to be Li Ziqi and the others, Sun Mo would eradicate this tribe.
“I’ll send my tribesmen to help you search for your companions. During this time, I hope that you can stay here.”
Hui Yan tried hard to persuade Sun Mo.
“Alright then!”
Sun Mo pretended to agree as though he felt troubled.
The truth was that he had no other places to go to. Therefore, it’d be good to stay here for the time being and find out what the crux was to clear the game.
Therefore, Sun Mo and the others stayed in the tribe.
Every day, there’d be sounds of one or two earthquakes. Due to this, Hui Yan had told the people who went out to hunt to be especially careful. This was because the Red Rock Tribe had started to hunt their tribesmen as sacrifices.
Sun Mo and the others also started to follow the group to hunt. But other than that, he was also starting to gather some materials, making preparations to conquer this tribe.
Regardless if Hui Yan really meant what he said and wanted Sun Mo to become the prophet, he didn’t dare to accept it. It was because to get onto this position, one would need to rely on their capabilities.
The prophet could lead the tribesmen to have their fill of food and drinks as well as a good life.
“Sun Mo, what’s your plan?”
Jin Mujie could tell that Sun Mo wanted to take this tribe under him.
“Let their hunger be satiated.” Sun Mo smiled. “That’s why we’ll start growing vegetables!”
“Growing vegetables?”
Bai Fu was stunned. Although it was spring now and the season for farming hadn’t pa.s.sed, where was he going to get seeds from?
“Just you guys wait and see!”
The next day, Sun Mo had Hui s.h.i.+ go to each family and gathered many stone basins that they didn’t need.
It was fine to grow them in the ground too, but if he didn’t try to find a reason to kick up a fuss and let everyone find out about this matter, wouldn’t it be a waste of his effort?
After all, what Sun Mo wanted to do was to ‘act like a saint in front of others’!
When the stone basins were filled with fertile black soil, gra.s.s powder, wood shavings, and straw. He then scattered on some feces and then led Bai Fu and the others to go around searching for some edible and non-poisonous mushrooms.
Or rather, their spores.
Three days later, Sun Mo buried these spores into the mixed beds.
“That’s all?”
Even great teachers from the Nine Provinces like Bai Fu and Jin Mujie appeared stunned, let alone the primitive people. They had never heard that mushrooms could be grown.
Moreover, to speak the truth, people from the Nine Provinces didn’t eat such things for fear of getting poisoned. After all, there weren’t many people like Sun Mo who possessed rich botany knowledge.
“Water them three times a day!”
Sun Mo handed this task to Lu Zhiruo.
Thereafter, he started his second experiment.
After coming over twice to take a look, Hui Yan lost interest. Hui s.h.i.+, on the other hand, was very respectful toward Sun Mo and would come to look at the mushrooms every day, hoping that they’d be able to grow.
“The chieftain is too aloof. If Teacher were to leave, it’d be a great loss for the tribe.”
Hui s.h.i.+ felt very worried, but soon he was unable to come anymore either. It was because he had to head out to hunt, and this trip would take half a month.
“Chieftain, please get your tribesmen to pay attention to these plants when they go out hunting. If they see them, please bring them back.”
Sun Mo had used blood to draw the pictures of some plants onto a piece of animal skin before handing it to Hui Yan
It was because he needed to farm that he wasn’t going on this trip.
Even though Hui Yan agreed to his request, he didn’t pay too much heed to this. Moreover, the others from the tribe were like this as well. After all, a fool who kept thinking of growing mushrooms was definitely unreliable.
A month pa.s.sed and the hunting team returned.
Hui s.h.i.+ was anxious to return.
“Hui s.h.i.+, after this trip, you don’t have to hunt anymore. Follow Teacher Sun and try to learn his witchcraft as soon as possible.”
Hui Yan instructed.
“En!”
Hui s.h.i.+ was very happy, but Hui Que, who was in the group and of the same age as him, felt unhappy.
Why was it that Hui s.h.i.+ could get this preferential treatment?
Who didn’t know that going out to hunt was very dangerous? Moreover, anyone would want to stay at home to enjoy life.
“Chieftain, that Sun Mo is a liar.”
Hui Que complained.
“Who are you calling a liar?”
Hui s.h.i.+ was enraged. He felt that his teacher was humiliated.
“That Sun Mo. I have never heard that mushrooms can be grown.”
Hui Que argued.
“That’s because your knowledge is limited.”
Hui s.h.i.+ felt very good when he was scolding. (Look, I can even use idioms now.)
“Have you seen it before?”
Hui Que asked, causing Hui s.h.i.+’s face to turn flush red. “Then why not have a bet? If Sun Mo can manage to grow mushrooms, then all the prey that I hunted on this trip will all belong to you. If he can’t, then your prey will be mine.”
Hui s.h.i.+ fell silent.
“Why? You don’t dare to take the bet?”
Hui Que said sarcastically, “Chieftain, look…”
“Let’s do it then!”
Hui s.h.i.+ decided to go all out.
“Come, let’s slap our palms together and swear on it!”
Hui Que urged. (Haha, I am going to gain spoils by not doing anything.)
Pa pa pa!
The two of them slapped their palms.
When the hunting team returned to the tribe, they discovered that there was no one to welcome them. Even the guardsmen were gone.
Hui Yan’s countenance immediately sank. If they were attacked by their enemies, wouldn’t they all be wiped out?
The tribe wasn’t big and there wasn’t anyone doing any work. Where had they gone off to?
“Where’s everyone? Where did they all die off to?”
Hui Yan bellowed.
“Over here!”
Very soon, Hui Que, who had a good eye for things, noticed that all the tribesmen were squeezing in front of an abandoned stone house.
Everyone rushed over.
“What’s going on?”
Hui Yan bellowed.
Swoos.h.!.+
Everyone, who was talking amongst themselves, shrank their heads.
“Hmph!”
Hui Yan pushed away these people and entered the crowd. He then saw that there were maggots everywhere on the floor.
“Who died?”
Hui Yan frowned. If someone in the tribe died, they’d need to be incinerated. By right, there shouldn’t be any corpses that were left to rot until there were maggots.
“No one died!”
Someone spoke up.
“Then why are there so many maggots?”
The chieftain entered the stone house with two big strides. Even if the meat they had stored were to rot, there shouldn’t be so many maggots.
Moreover, if he recalled correctly, Sun Mo had asked for stone houses and he had allocated a few in this area to him.
The chieftain was someone who had been put through a lot of battles and experienced killings. However, the moment he entered the stone house, his scalp turned numb and he was so shocked that he almost turned to leave immediately.
It was because maggots were crawling everywhere on the ground in this stone house, being half a finger in thickness.
It was too disgusting.
“Where’s Sun Mo?”
The chieftain bellowed.
“He went to the stream.”
Someone replied.
“Call him back! And burn all of these maggots!”
The chieftain ordered with a cold expression.
“Chieftain, don’t burn them. Let’s wait until Teacher Sun is back and we’ll ask him about them. What if they are treasures?”
Hui s.h.i.+ tried hard to persuade.
“Haha, is there something wrong with your brain? Maggots are treasures? Can they be eaten?”
Hui Que said in disdain.
The others also started laughing.
When Hui s.h.i.+ saw that the chieftain was decided, he secretly left the group and searched for Sun Mo.
Sun Mo was by the stream and was checking the geographical terrain, wanting to channel water to irrigate the farming field he was going to set up.
“You’re trying to lead a primitive civilization into a farming civilization. How long would that take?”
Bai Fu felt that Sun Mo might as well spend the energy on clearing the game.
“There’s nothing else to do anyway.”
Sun Mo smiled. He then heard Hui s.h.i.+ calling out.
“Teacher, things are bad!”
Hui s.h.i.+, who came searching for Sun Mo by following along the stream, was panting heavily. “Teacher, those maggots in the stone house are going to be burned.”
(Although I don’t know what use those maggots have, as long as they are Teacher’s, they must be treasures.)
[1] ‘Hui Yan’ is the pinyin for ‘Gray Rock’.. ‘Hui s.h.i.+’ is the pinyin for ‘Gray Stone’.