The longer the tofu was stored, the richer and more pungent its flavor beca. Although she was eager to share it, she couldn’t guarantee others would like it. After so thought, she decided to keep this stinky delicacy for herself to enjoy.
Rainy season brought wave after wave of mushrooms, and since Tiantian couldn’t go out, she joined the cubs in mushroom picking.
The Beastn still allocated so of their number to ironing and making copper tools. Occasionally, they also used the shovels they made to chisel out rocks, which could be made into stone pots, slabs, mortars, and bowls. Their uses were quite extensive, but they required a lot of ti to polish, and the long periods of labor led to many blisters on their hands.
As the leaders, Yin Ye and Lang Sen naturally sustained injuries too. Although Tiantian bandaged their wounds, disinfected them with alcohol, and applied hot compresses of hemostatic herbs, the lengthy work hours caused their scabs to repeatedly form and reopen, eventually thickening into calluses.
As the days began to heat up, Tiantian suddenly heard cicada sounds. At first, she thought she had misheard, but upon listening carefully, it was indeed the call of the Golden Cicada.
"Why didn’t I notice this before? Is it new this year, or has it always been there?"
"Sister, have you lost your mory? These creatures are so annoying, chirping nonstop every day, really disrupts the rest."
Had her previous lack of attention caused her to miss out on so much?
Thinking this, she imdiately said, "Tomorrow, pick up any cicada molts you see and bring them to . They can be used as dicinal materials and are quite effective for dispelling wind-heat, relieving sore throats, and treating ailnts like wind-heat common colds, throat pain, tetanus, and so on. Tonight let’s go catch so Golden Cicadas. They are an interesting food to eat, nutritious and delicious."
With their sensitive sense of sll, the Beastn could even find cicadas in the dark of night, and much faster and more accurately than ordinary humans.
Since Lili would transform at night, Tiantian only took the cubs with her, but the two Beastn, worried for their safety, followed along.
After a few hours of searching in the grove, they surprisingly collected a large basin full of Golden Cicadas, which were much larger here than in her previous life. Each was as large as a finger in length, which explained why their cries were so piercing and loud; it was unfortunate that she only noticed them this year.
After bringing the Golden Cicadas ho, she imdiately washed them in clean water and then soaked them in salty water, storing them in her space.
During the day, while picking mushrooms, they would also collect cicada molts.
At Noon, she cut the Golden Cicadas into appropriately sized pieces, fried them until fragrant in oil, then added tofu, chili, and minced garlic for further stir-frying. The resulting dish was incredibly tasty with rice.
Thanks to her, the Nandi Clan had discovered a new delicacy. Before long, it spread throughout the entire tribe, and soon the children could bring back plentiful catches every night without her assistance. Each night they ca back looking like muddy monkeys and needed a wash.
As a result of this endeavor, the local Golden Cicada population noticeably decreased, and their chirping was no longer as grating.
The daring ones even went beyond the tribe to search. Throughout the rainy season, this snack remained in high demand, and thankfully to the cubs, she gathered many cicada molts. After cleaning and drying them, she ground them into powder for future use as dicine.
In the third month of the rainy season, buckwheat ripened, and they picked basketfuls of cucumbers, eggplants, chilis, and green vegetables to bring ho.
Half a month later, sorghum, millet, and wheat also matured, and the whole Nandi clan was busy harvesting crops, even leaving the blacksmith shop unattended.
By the end of the rainy season, sweet potatoes, potatoes, soybeans, rape seeds, peanuts, sesa, and sugarcane had all reached maturity.
Peanuts and sesa, as new varieties, had a yield higher than expected. The six tomato plants, however, did not fare well, picked off by birds before they could ripen. After a season’s effort, she harvested only a basketful of poorly shaped, unsightly, and unappetizing tomatoes.
Deeply disappointed.
But she didn’t give up hope. Having managed to taste them, she could save seeds for another attempt in the future. Perhaps this ti, Jin Han and the others might bring her a pleasant surprise!
Storing the harvest sounded simple, but the execution was extrely difficult. It involved the entire Nandi clan bustling from dawn to dusk, particularly with crops like soybeans and peanuts, which had to be rechecked post-harvest to ensure no fruits were left behind.
Sesa was easier; once cut, it was taken ho to dry on grass mats. When dry, the sesa seeds would easily fall out with a simple shake.
Digging up sweet potatoes and potatoes was hard work, but the high yield made it a tiring yet joyful activity.
Once all the crops were stored, only the immature wheat remained in the fields. Though they brought back only a small amount, with careful cultivation, weeding, watering, and fertilizing, it was growing quite well, and the seeds left behind were sufficient for next spring’s planting.
By observing their growth, they’d likely be harvested just before the Cold Season arrived.
With two months before the onset of the Cold Season, Tangtang instructed the Beastn to go beyond the tribe to cut sugarcane and dig lotus roots, as well as collect Stinky Fruits, while also teaching the females how to process the harvested crops, from drying to storage, including grain threshing. She taught them hands-on.
The peanut leaves were a favorite of the sheep, while the pigs loved the sweet potato leaves. Stems from sesa, soybeans, and rape could be used as firewood, as could buckwheat and sorghum stalks, hence every household had high stacks of firewood. To prevent rain damage, they built specific shelters for storing firewood, even covering them with clay-sar grass mats to avoid leaks. They thought of nearly everything and implented it fully, showing their utmost dedication.
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