Chapter 26 Eating Eggs
Zhou Ji was unruffled as he retracted the hand he’d placed on Xiong Ye’s belly, then attentively handed over Xiong Ye’s animal hide skirt.
Xiong Ye felt a little awkward at first but soon calmed down.
His figure was still pretty good. Zhou Ji should be satisfied, right?
“I just reached adulthood, so I’m not very robust, but don’t worry, I’ll become stronger and st.u.r.dier in the future!” Xiong Ye put on his animal hide skirt and patted his lean belly.
“You’re fine as you are now.” Zhou Ji smiled as he spoke. Xiong Ye’s figure was indeed really good.
Unlike modern bodybuilders who specialized in large muscles, Xiong Ye’s muscles weren’t considered big, but they were much more pleasing to the eye, and he would definitely cut a great figure in slim fit clothing.
Xiong Ye couldn’t help smiling when he heard Zhou Ji’s praise.
He used to think that Zhou Ji wasn’t too bad, but that was it. Now, when he thought of how Zhou Ji would become his mate, he felt that everything about Zhou Ji was good.
Look, Zhou Ji was so pale! He was even paler than Lang Yin! The skin on his face was so fine, it must be particularly tender and feel particularly good!
His eyes were black, his eyebrows were black, and his hair was black; it was all so good-looking!
It was just that he looked a little weak. Xiong Ye needed to work hard and support Zhou Ji better so that he could make him a little stronger!
The fire in the cave hadn’t been lit yet, so there was insufficient light. Even though visibility was poor, Xiong Ye still felt that Zhou Ji looked like a fairy.
As for Zhou Ji, he was inspecting Xiong Ye’s injuries at this time.
The fight earlier hadn’t left Xiong Ye unscathed, but the wounds weren’t deep because his fur was thick.
Xiong Ye had many old injuries on his body, and now some new ones had been added… Zhou Ji poured Xiong Ye a cup of water and told him to rinse out his mouth, then used some more water to wash Xiong Ye’s wounds before taking out some medicinal herbs, grinding them up, and finally smearing it on the wounds.
Zhou Ji’s movements were very gentle, and he hadn’t put any salt into the water or the medicinal herbs. Xiong Ye quite enjoyed the sensation and increasingly felt that Zhou Ji was really good.
“You haven’t had dinner yet. You should eat something.” After Zhou Ji finished administering Xiong Ye’s wounds, he started up the fire again.
He had used a type of particularly fire-resistant wood to keep their fire burning.
This kind of wood would’ve probably sold for sky-high prices back on Earth since the wood quality was too good, but here… It was being used to preserve fire.
After adding some firewood to the embers, Zhou Ji said, “We’re out of firewood.”
The gathering team would bring firewood back every day, but everyone had to obtain their own firewood if they were using it for their own cave.
“I’ll go and get some firewood tomorrow.” Xiong Ye said immediately.
“We’ll go together tomorrow.” Zhou Ji said.
Xiong Ye was delighted, “Alright!” Zhou Ji definitely wanted to be with him and didn’t want to be separated from him…
Previously, whenever Shi Li had sought him out to talk, Xiong Ye would inevitably recall their past history together, but at this moment, he wasn’t thinking about any of those events at all.
He was living together with Zhou Ji, and they were really like a family! They discussed things together and would have a good life together in the future…
With that in mind, he even thought that while Niu Er had been with them, they were like a family of three… Niu Er was just like a child that needed to be taken care of… Cough!
Wasn’t this the life he had always wanted?
Zhou Ji didn’t know what Xiong Ye was thinking about, but he wasn’t in a rush to eat roasted meat at all. Zhou Ji cut the roasted meat they had cooked down in the valley into pieces, then added a paste that he had made with fruit and a bit of salt that could barely be called jam before holding it up to Xiong Ye’s mouth.
Xiong Ye opened his mouth and consumed the roasted meat into his belly before realizing it was particularly sweet.
However, Xiong Bai felt that her eyes were going to go blind!
Xiong Bai had come over to deliver the dinosaur egg. The egg that Xiong Ye had obtained from the priest that he had then used as a proposal gift to Zhou Ji had actually been left behind after Xiong Ye finished his fight!
Xiong Bai remained in the valley and was a bit sad for a while, but when she gathered her thoughts, she noticed that there was an egg beside her and brought it over.
Then, she saw the scene of Zhou Ji feeding Xiong Ye.
Zhou Ji must be relying on these kinds of considerate acts in order to obtain Xiong Ye’s affections!
Xiong Bai shot Zhou Ji an indignant glance, but she also couldn’t help swallowing a mouthful of saliva, “Zhou Ji, what did you put on top of your roasted meat? Why is it so fragrant? Can you let me try a bite?”
Zhou Ji picked up a piece of roasted meat, then added some jam to it…
Xiong Ye leaned over and ate it all in one bite, then looked towards Xiong Bai, “This is food that Zhou Ji made for me!”
Xiong Bai: “……” In fact, Xiong Ye wasn’t any better, right?
Xiong Bai stormed off in a huff.
Xiong Ye turned his head back and wanted Zhou Ji to feed him a few more bites, but Zhou Ji handed the roasted meat and jam to him and turned round to heat up water.
He even placed vegetables into the water…
This was also food that Zhou Ji had prepared for him to eat, so he should eat it… Xiong Ye grumbled internally as he finished off a big bowl of vegetable soup, then stuffed a piece of roasted meat into his mouth to wash away the taste.
After eating, it was time to go to bed.
Xiong Ye was a little bewildered when he thought about sleeping.
Back when he had first invited Zhou Ji to live in his cave, he hadn’t had any other thoughts and had been very calm, but now… Were they supposed to do something?
The priest said that it was better not to have children before they reached adulthood as it wasn’t good for either the child or the child’s mother. It was also because of this that the men and women of the tribe would only start looking for partners after they became adults.
Xiong Ye had become an adult in the second half of the previous year and had established a relationship with Shi Li after that, but because winter had been approaching, n.o.body had had time to think about doing those things together. He had also wanted to save up food for his hibernation, so they had decided to move in together after spring arrived and they had held their mating ceremony.
Spring was the season for children. This was something that had been universally acknowledged!
Therefore, Xiong Ye had no experience at all.
However, he had lived in the collective cave since he was small and had seen such things before. He did have an idea about what went on.
Men and women ‘could tumble together in the dirt’, but when it came to men and men, did they use their hands?
While Xiong Ye was still thinking about it, Zhou Ji patted his head and said, “Go to sleep.”
Based on Xiong Ye’s expression, he was probably thinking about things inappropriate for children, and it had also caused his body to react… However, Zhou Ji felt that it was too soon.
He liked Xiong Ye quite a lot, and he had been very satisfied with Xiong Ye’s reaction after he had agreed to be with him today, but some things should still be taken slowly.
Xiong Ye went back to his own cave in a daze and laid down before he suddenly realized… Nothing had happened between him and Zhou Ji!
Xiong Ye inexplicably felt a sense of loss, then very quickly fell asleep once again.
Zhou Ji laughed lightly.
The calming herbs he had given to Xiong Ye were completely harmless to the human body and their effect was actually quite weak, but Xiong Ye fell asleep so quickly every time…
It could only be said that Xiong Ye’s ability to sleep was really too good.
Zhou Ji also fell asleep soon after.
Over the past few days when Niu Er was in the cave, Zhou Ji had cultivated all night and hadn’t slept–he couldn’t fall asleep when strangers were nearby. In fact, he also hadn’t slept when he had first moved in with Xiong Ye.
But now, he was actually able to fall asleep.
The next day, Xiong Ye woke up to a scent he had never smelled before.
It smelled really fragrant! Xiong Ye got out of bed and looked towards the entrance of the cave where Zhou Ji was making breakfast.
The breakfast Zhou Ji was making was scrambled eggs… no, scrambled dinosaur eggs.
After studying this dinosaur egg, he ultimately decided to eat it. He cut a hole in one end of the eggsh.e.l.l, then poured out the liquid egg inside and prepared to eat it.
Dinosaur eggs had a slight gamey taste. It wasn’t at an unacceptable level, but it probably wouldn’t taste that good if it was boiled, so he poured some of the oil he had collected into the pot, waited for it to heat up, then poured in the liquid dinosaur egg and salt that he’d beaten together…
The fragrance of scrambled eggs immediately spread through the cave. Even Zhou Ji who originally hadn’t had much interest in eating the dinosaur egg also wanted to try a bite.
“Smells good.” Xiong Ye soon arrived by Zhou Ji’s side, his eyes shining as he looked at Zhou Ji. “What is this?”
“Scrambled dinosaur eggs.” Zhou Ji replied. He picked up some scrambled eggs with his chopsticks and fed it to Xiong Ye.
Previously, Zhou Ji had mostly boiled food in water to cook it, and he hadn’t bothered to put in much seasoning. Although it tasted better than the food Xiong Ye made before, it couldn’t be considered phenomenal.
As for the honey roasted meat and the like, other people in the tribe had done similar things before.
But this time… No one in their tribe had ever fried a dinosaur egg!
Dinosaur eggs could be eaten two ways. One was to place the entire egg into water and boil it, and the other was to wrap the entire egg with large leaves and place it into the fire to bake it.
But now… Dinosaur eggs could be fried and eaten!
“Xiong Ye, what are you guys eating?” The smell of the scrambled dinosaur eggs even drew in the person who was living in the cave below Xiong Ye. This tribal warrior, who had a pretty good relationship with Xiong Ye, climbed up to Xiong Ye’s platform and looked eagerly at him.
“Dinosaur eggs.” Xiong Ye said. He was actually very willing to share, but at this moment, he didn’t want to give any scrambled eggs to anyone else.
This egg was really tasty, and he should let Zhou Ji eat more of it. “Zhou Ji, have more.”
The dinosaur egg was quite big and was around three kilograms. There was a big pot of it after it had been scrambled, but if Xiong Ye really wanted to eat it all, it would basically just fill in the gaps between his teeth… He couldn’t bear to eat it and wanted Zhou Ji to eat first.
Zhou Ji laughed a little, then divided the dinosaur egg into two parts and gave Xiong Ye one part, “Go ahead and eat.”
“You should eat more. I don’t need that much.” Xiong Ye said.
“I’ve had enough, too.” Zhou Ji insisted.
Xiong Ye thought for a moment, then used his chopsticks to pluck a piece of the egg from his bowl into Zhou Ji’s. After that, while their neighbor at the entrance to the cave looked on, he completely demolished his own scrambled dinosaur eggs.
After eating the dinosaur egg, Zhou Ji took out the leftover roasted meat from the day before and cut it into small pieces, then placed it into the pot which still had some leftover oil from frying the eggs–the pot wasn’t smooth, and he had put in a little too much oil in order to scramble the eggs well.
Xiong Ye asked as he ate his fried meat, “When will we set out? Where are we going?”
Zhou Ji said, “I found a beehive. We’ll go get honey.” Xiong Ye really liked honey, but based on Zhou Ji’s apparent abilities it wouldn’t be possible for him to obtain any. Since that was the case, he would let Xiong Ye get it.
“Alright.” Xiong Ye immediately agreed, “When the time comes, you need to stay far away so that you don’t get stung by the bees.” His animal form’s fur was very thick, and he wasn’t scared of bees, but Zhou Ji would need to be careful.
“Alright.” Zhou Ji also agreed.
The two of them were ready to set out after having eaten enough, but they ran into the priest just as they arrived at the valley. The priest smiled broadly and walked towards them, “Xiong Ye, I heard that you found a new way to cook dinosaur eggs? I haven’t eaten my dinosaur egg from yesterday, haha.”
Even a priest would store food. Dinosaur eggs, which could be stored for days, would certainly not be eaten right away.
This had undoubtedly been the right choice. Earlier this morning, he had heard that Zhou Ji had used a new method to cook his dinosaur egg, and it was said to have been particularly fragrant.
Could it be that they had coated the dinosaur egg with honey after boiling it?
The priest smacked his lips as he reminisced about the sweet taste of the honey Xiong Ye had given him yesterday.
When Xiong Ye heard the priest’s words, he immediately looked towards Zhou Ji.
Zhou Ji explained, “Grandpa Priest, you can put dinosaur fat into the pot and cook it without adding anything else in order to get oil. After that, you can pour in the liquid egg from the dinosaur egg and cook it.”
His scrambled eggs had been made with vegetable oil that he had refined himself. It wasn’t convenient for him to bring it out, so he had the priest eat animal oil instead.
The priest was probably used to the taste of dinosaur meat, anyway.
The priest nodded and was itching to give it a try. He asked, “How much fat is required?”
“More is better, but don’t use too much.” Zhou Ji used his hands to measure out an approximate amount.
“That’s already a lot. Other than me, there’s probably n.o.body else who can spare that much fat.” The priest replied, then slowly wobbled his way back, intending to test out this new method of eating dinosaur eggs.
Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye left the valley together.
As they walked out, Zhou Ji felt something and looked back to meet Yang Su’s vicious gaze. Yang Su’s face was swollen, but he still spat in Zhou Ji’s direction.
This child was particularly fond of spitting at others. It was really rather unpleasant!
Zhou Ji ignored him and left the tribe with Xiong Ye.
The place where the beehive was was quite far away from the tribe–If it had been close by, the beehive would’ve been brought back by the people of the tribe long ago.
It really wasn’t difficult for anyone who had awakened as a bear to obtain some honey!
Therefore, Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye walked for over half an hour and still hadn’t reached their destination yet.
“Would you like me to carry you?” Xiong Ye asked. It was very tiring to walk out in the wild, and some of the leaves could cut skin. Although Zhou Ji had been very careful and walked with animal leather wrapped around his feet, the gra.s.s and leaves on their path might still scratch his calves.
Xiong Ye had this thought in mind as he looked worriedly at Zhou Ji’s legs, but he then discovered that there were no wounds on Zhou Ji’s legs at all.
Zhou Ji’s luck was really good. Oh, he had been lucky too and hadn’t encountered any of the annoying p.r.i.c.kly gra.s.s.
Zhou Ji glanced at Xiong Ye, then smiled, “Sure.”
They would be able to run faster if Xiong Ye was willing to carry him on his back, so it wasn’t a bad thing.
He could also save a lot of effort.
Having experienced many years of hard work after the apocalypse had hit, Zhou Ji was very willing to be lazy.
Xiong Ye put Zhou Ji on his back and was quite happy even if he couldn’t quite pinpoint the reason for his delight.
Xiong Ye was used to running in the forest barefoot and could run very quickly. He carried Zhou Ji on his back and ran for an hour while following Zhou Ji’s directions before coming across the beehive.
Right now was a time when the flowers were in full bloom, and countless bees were busily moving amongst the flowers as they brought nectar back to their huge nest.
There had to be a lot of honey inside! Xiong Ye stared at the beehive and swallowed his saliva, then explored the surrounding area and placed Zhou Ji down under a tree, “Wait for me here!”
He left after he’d set Zhou Ji down, turning into his animal form as he picked up the beehive and ran in the opposite direction from Zhou Ji.
There was a stream over there. He could hide there!
Xiong Ye ran like he was flying, and the swarm of bees behind him was just as fast.
However, those poor bees really had no way to deal with this huge brown bear.
The fur on that brown bear was ten centimeters long!
Zhou Ji watched as Xiong Ye ran away, then helped disperse most of the bees that were chasing him before returning back to the place Xiong Ye had set him down to sit and wait. He also took this chance to eat while Xiong Ye wasn’t around.
He now had an extremely large appet.i.te and he could easily eat over ten kilograms of plants similar to sweet potatoes every day.
He also wasn’t quite sure why he could eat so much.
Zhou Ji ate for two hours and finished off over ten kilograms of various plants before Xiong Ye finally returned.
Xiong Ye was soaked all over when he came back. He held a beehive in one hand and an alligator as long as an adult’s thigh in the other. “Zhou Ji, I caught an alligator. We can have roasted alligator meat later!”
Zhou Ji, “……” He didn’t really want to eat alligators.
Xiong Ye was obviously very satisfied with today’s harvest. “This beehive is so big that there must be a lot of honey inside, and there’s also the delicious honeycomb… Zhou Ji, let’s give some of it to Grandpa Priest. Two days from now, it’ll be the day of the Beast G.o.d Sacrifice. We’ll need his help with the mating ceremony then.”
Xiong Ye scrutinized Zhou Ji very carefully as he spoke about the mating ceremony.
They hadn’t discussed this matter at all after they had returned to their cave last night, and he was suddenly a bit worried that Zhou Ji might regret it.
Zhou Ji replied, “We should give some of it to the priest.” He wasn’t short on honey. If Xiong Ye liked it, they could even try and raise some bees.
“Good.” Xiong Ye was very happy.
Zhou Ji continued, “We still don’t have enough houseware at home. We should get some wood and bring it back. I think we can bring that tree back and use it to make buckets, bowls, and chopsticks.”
The tree Zhou Ji was pointing to was a very thick tree.
Buckets and other things made out of low quality wood would turn moldy, but things made from this tree definitely wouldn’t rot.
It could conveniently also be used to make bowls and chopsticks.
Before, although Zhou Ji had stayed in the Big Bear Tribe, he hadn’t felt a sense of belonging and was very indifferent to his living environment. Now, however, he had developed some requirements.
The wood that Zhou Ji had chosen was indeed very good; Xiong Ye immediately began to cut down the tree.
Cutting trees with stone axes was actually quite difficult, but this time, the chopping process was especially short… It was just that the tree was rather heavy and hard to handle.
Xiong Ye hung the beehive and alligator up on the tree, then said to Zhou Ji, “You’ll have to walk by yourself on the way back.”
“No problem.” Zhou Ji replied, then watched as Xiong Ye took on his animal form and picked up the fallen tree.
He smiled and drew on the energy around them, letting it enter Xiong Ye’s body so that he would have an easier time of it.
xiin: i had.. scrambled eggs twice today.
Juurensha: Hahaha, get some honey too xiin!