Chapter 7: Bone Soup

December 8, 2021 by danmeiheaven

Zhuang Yu is very busy today. He decided to make a stone pot, but before that, he had to water his chili field.

The current pepper field is actually about 20 square meters. He scooped water with a shell and began watering.

Little Mushroom also imitated him. Holding his shell to fetch water, but…his leg slipped, plunged directly into the water, and made a panicked cry.

Zhuang Yu hurried over. As a result, the little mushroom didn’t sink at all. It was just tossing with its eyes closed. He estimated that its body is too light to sink at all.

The little mushroom was also shocked, paddled in the water, and then was so happy. It turned out that he wouldn’t drown at all.

Zhuang Yu looked at the little mushroom that found the new plaything and began wading around. He decided to use all the water for irrigating the field, so he didn’t let go of Little Mushroom’s bathwater.

He continued watering. He’s even more certain that his pepper field is unusual because his pepper seedlings grew very fast and then at a normal speed every now and then. It’s too strange.

No matter how he thinks about it, he can’t think of the reason.

The good thing is that every pepper seedling is particularly strong, so it’s conceivable that there will be a good harvest.

Zhuang Yu finished pouring the water and began to make a stone pot, while the little mushroom was still playing in the water.

Making a stone pot is much more difficult than expected. It’s not that he doesn’t have enough strength, but that the tools are inappropriate.

He can only chisel at it bit by bit. Then Zhuang Yu looked at the leftover mushrooms and chicken feet with pickled peppers. They’re enough to eat today. They don’t need to find food today, but what about tomorrow?

After today, worry about tomorrow. When will this day end?

He glanced at the little mushroom playing in the water. It’s not a long-term solution to rely on this little guy to take him into the mountains to find food.

Zhuang Yu’s plan of making a stone pot took almost the whole day to be finished, which was very boring.

Of course, some interesting things happened. For example, at the entrance of his cave, a child with a little fur hat riding a deer passed by him 13 times.

His cave is relatively remote and most people don’t pass through it.

Zhuang Yu looked at this Xiao Pimao interestingly. Although the other party pretended to be just passing by, it’s too frequent.

But if the other party didn’t speak, he didn’t even notice.

Because it’s his first time making a stone pot, a small and compact stone pot is definitely not possible. The first one is used for practice.

Zhuang Yu looked at what he made. It’s not so much a pot as it’s a tripod. It’s a bit big, almost as high as Feng Wen.

There’s no way. It’s his first time, his craftsmanship is poor, but with experience, he can definitely make smaller ones.

He worked again, this time making stone jars, it’ll be used to marinate peppers. He casually made a stone bowl for Feng Wen and Little Mushroom. It doesn’t matter that he’s using shells as bowls every day, but its edges are very sharp, he’s afraid Feng Wen and Little Mushroom will get hurt.

At this time, he didn’t know where Feng Wen had gone to play. Although he’s timid and withdrawn, he will play everywhere by himself. This is also good. It’s better than staying in the cave all the time.

At present, under the huge golden centipede, there are many giant beasts around, leisurely basking in the sun. These giant beasts belonged to the Golden Centipede Tribe.

The tribe lives on the back of the golden centipede, and the giant beasts surround it to form an arch-shaped guard.

When the hunting team goes out to hunt, in fact, it’s when the giant beasts are hungry, so they take them out to kill their prey.

The behemoths eat a lot. But with a full meal, they can manage for many days.

After they’re full, the remaining prey will be brought back by the hunting team. These prey will first meet the needs of the giant beast warriors.

The most important thing for a tribe is the giant beasts and giant beast warriors. If they don’t have enough to eat and their energy and blood decline, the whole tribe will also decline and can’t survive. So in any case, they must ensure that the giant beasts and giant beast warriors have enough food. 

This is also the reason why this primitive mountain range is obviously rich in resources and prey—a dinosaur is enough for several meals—however, there are still so many people who can’t eat enough. The consumption is too large, the giant beasts alone consume most of the meat. But without them, the tribe couldn’t survive in this savage primitive mountain range.

At this moment, among the giant beasts, Feng Wen was in a daze. He was playing alone, but why are there so many giant beasts around him all of a sudden?

He has to say, it’s really a little confusing.

On the golden centipede’s back, Shaohao frowned. Then after thinking about it, he went back and brought out a large piece of meat and some clean bones that he’s about to take out and throw away.

Today, he ate the food brought by the kid. Although it was small, it was very delicious. Just use this meat as a reward. He knows what kind of life these children living in caves are like and he can’t eat other people’s food for nothing.

Feng Wen was about to withdraw from the behemoth group when a tall figure stood in front of him, “This meat is for you. The cuckoo bird’s feet in the morning taste good.”

He was baffled. Looking at such a large piece of meat, his mouth watered. He’s already full today, but he still couldn’t help drooling when he saw the meat. Maybe it was caused by long-term hunger.

However, Feng Wen did not take the meat but took those bones without flesh. This kind of dinosaur bones are very hard. After the meat is removed, it’ll be thrown away. It’s completely useless. Feng Wen said thank you in a low voice and ran away.

Shaohao was dumbfounded. He brought those bones out to be thrown away.

He’s really polite, he can resist such a big temptation. In front of people who can’t eat enough, food is completely irresistible. If his brother can have such a temperament, he won’t be hated by everyone in the Golden Centipede Tribe…

When Feng Wen returned to the cave, Zhuang Yu saw him holding a pile of clean bones. The dinosaur skeleton was very big, so each piece was very large.

“Where did these come from?” Zhuang Yu asked.

Feng Wen lowered his head and didn’t dare to look up. He said in a faint mosquito-like voice, “A brother in the hunting team gave them to me.”

He saw Yu chiseling stones today. Although he didn’t know what he was doing, these dinosaur bones were very hard and most useful for carving.

Zhuang Yu looked at the bones. Although there’s no meat, they can be used to boil bone soup and supplement calcium for Feng Wen. It just so happens that his big stone pot is also ready.

He praised, “Feng Wen is really good, he knows how to bring home food.” 

Feng Wen bowed his head even lower, but there’s a small dimple on his face. His brother praised him. But what he brought back wasn’t food?

Zhuang Yu was just about to try his stone pot. He added water and boiled it. These bones were too hard to cut. Fortunately, his stone pot is big, otherwise, it really couldn’t fit.

It took some time to boil the water in the stone pot, but it’s still able to boil. Zhuang Yu nodded. The most abundant thing about this primitive mountain range is the firewood. Just burn for a while.

Feng Wen looked at Zhuang Yu suspiciously. What’s his brother doing?

In the big shell filled with water, the little mushroom also showed his head curiously, also seemingly not understanding.

But soon, they figured it out because the stone pot exuded a fragrant scent. Zhuang Yu added salt and slowly boiled the bones.

The bones get more and more fragrant.

The little mushroom didn’t care about playing anymore and jumped out of the shell.

Zhuang Yu looked at Feng Wen and the small mushrooms guarding beside the pot and felt a little amused. He said, “Remember to add firewood, don’t let the fire die out.”

He went to carve the stone bowl by himself. When the stone bowl was finished, he had to make a beehive for Feng Wen. Every time he saw Feng Wen, he would just breathe through the corner of his mouth. His whole body is covered with bees. It looked very strange to walk all the way with the bees.

When he polished the stone bowl and a stone jar with a lid, it’s already time for sunset. Because of his experience in making stone pots, the stone bowl and jar were chiseled flat.

The bone soup in the pot also gave off a charming smell. Zhuang Yu threw the last remaining mushrooms in and continued boiling.

The little mushroom has been holding his shell and pointing to the pot. It smells good, it will definitely be edible.

Zhuang Yu looked at the pot and the soup began to turn white. It’s a good bone soup.

He began scooping some, but instead of using shells, he used his newly chiseled stone bowl.

The little mushroom froze for a moment, then still dropped his shell and went to guard next to his stone bowl.

Zhuang Yu looked at the two little guys sitting in a row, blowing the soup in the bowl, and he’s very happy.

He tried to drink some soup, only salt was added, but he also boiled out the fragrance of the bones. It’s very good to supplement calcium for Feng Wen. However, his stone pot is too big, so it’s estimated that they can’t finish drinking such a big pot of bone soup, which is a waste.

Feng Wen and Little Mushroom squint their eyes as they drank. Oh, the water is so delicious, it’s amazing.

They also had mushrooms in their bowls, and the two of them ate with relish, especially Feng Wen. ​​For him, who has always eaten berries, this bowl of soup and these mushrooms are simply too heavenly.

Zhuang Yu filled them with soup again. One person and one mushroom. Finally, their stomachs were bulging.

Zhuang Yu went to make a beehive for Feng Wen, and while he’s at it, picked up the saltwater in the jar to make pickled pepper.

And Feng Wen went out again carrying his stone bowl, in it is the bone soup.

Whenever Feng Wen sees someone, he raises the bowl high. This is the bone soup my brother made for me. It’s delicious.

No one knows that such a terribly introverted child has the strange habit of showing off his brother.

In fact, this is not incomprehensible. In Xiao Feng Wen’s heart, his only relative is Zhuang Yu. He used to treat him badly and he’s very sad, especially when others said that Zhuang Yu was bullying him. Now that Zhuang Yu is a little better to him, he wants to let everyone know.

Children with autism sometimes have very strange ideas.

Anyway, he just wanted everyone to know that his brother made soup for him and didn’t rob his berries.

It’s just that when anyone sees him, they can’t understand why he’s holding a bowl of “water”.

Feng Wen was also very unhappy. Others couldn’t understand such a delicious soup. He’s timid and doesn’t dare to explain.

He thought for a while and then walked to the collective cave. The only people he dared to speak to were the pitiful children in the collective cave.

Zhuang Yu made a jar of saltwater, put all the remaining peppers in, covered it with the lid, and put it in the corner of the cave. He also put the sun-dried salt into a freshly chiseled stone jar and placed it in the corner as well. 

Looking at the jars, the most basic seasonings are available. In the future, there will be at least pickled peppers and salt to eat, so there’s no need to lick the salt stone like the people in the Golden Centipede Tribe.

Nodding with satisfaction, he then began to make a beehive for Feng Wen.

Fortunately, when he was a child in the countryside, he often went to the dilapidated Taoist temple. The old Taoist master had good carpentry skills and often used wood to make some toolboxes without nails. He found it interesting and followed to learn. The old Taoist priest also praised him for his talent, which is why he and the old Taoist master began to get acquainted with each other. 

Finally, the old Taoist priest, who lived alone all his life, gave him the Taoist Sutra before he died.

After he made the beehive and walked out of the cave, he was stunned by the scene in front of him. What happened?

Outside the cave, a group of ragged children, holding shells in their hands, surrounded the big stone pot that smelled of bone soup and stared at it without blinking.

Feng Wen’s head lowered even more and looked at Zhuang Yu with some fear, “They came by themselves. I didn’t let them come.”

He just went to the collective cave to show off his brother’s soup for him. As a result, these former friends followed him.

The corner of Zhuang Yu’s mouth twitched and looked at a group of drooling and somewhat frightened children.

The children are indeed a little scared. This is the little rascal Yu, who’s famous for bullying the little ones. He’ll definitely drive them away with a stick. Just now, Feng Wen said that his brother didn’t snatch his berries and give him food. They couldn’t believe it.

Zhuang Yu looked at the remaining soup in the pot. They couldn’t drink it by themselves anymore and the bone soup couldn’t be preserved for tomorrow in this weather.

He beckoned, “Come here.”

The group of children was in a daze. When Zhuang Yu filled their shells with bone broth, they didn’t react.

The pot is about the same height as these children, so Zhuang Yu didn’t trust them to serve soup by themselves. If something happened, it would be bad. He had to help them one by one.

The children still couldn’t believe it. Did Yu give them soup?

The smell of the soup overcame their thoughts, and when they drank it, their eyes showed intoxicated expressions. As imagined, it’s as delicious as Feng Wen said.

“Thank you, Brother Yu.” An immature voice said.

Zhuang Yu was taken aback and then said with a smile, “Just ask if you want more, there’s still some left.”

While a group of children in the collective cave was drinking delicious bone broth, the patriarch and the witch of the Golden Centipede Tribe were frowning. What can they do about the problem of their food shortage?