EFB Chapter 28 You made your sisters eat this kind of filthy stuff
Chapter 28 You made your sisters eat this kind of filthy stuff
"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."
Seeing her like this, Cai Xuan said helplessly. Anyone who didn't know better would think he was abusing her, starving her and leaving a perfectly healthy child like this.
Unfortunately, Xi'er didn't hear him at all and just buried her head in her food.
Although the seven small golden gourds on the wooden frame were inedible, their rich aroma wafted up, causing them to sway on the vine, their bodies trembling slightly as if absorbing the fragrance in the air. Slowly, the gourd rinds even turned a faint reddish glow, as if they were blushing with excitement.
"It smells so good! Big sister, it smells so good!" the little golden gourds chirped excitedly.
"It smells delicious, doesn't it! When you come out, I'll have my brother make you a big pot of delicious food. You can eat as much as you want." Xi'er said, waving her hand generously.
"Eat...eat...eat..." the little golden pumpkins cheered in unison.
After finishing their hotpot, Cai Xuan and Xi'er each held a bright red tomato, sat on the platform, leaned against the railing, and gazed at the sky above. The tomatoes were freshly picked from the field, naturally ripened, and the sun-dried flavor melted in their mouths—sweet and sour, refreshing and not greasy at all.
The azure sky was like a piece of silk that had been washed clean, without a single cloud, so pristine that it was breathtaking.
In the distance, layers of mountains rise one after another, ranging from deep green to light blue, stretching all the way to the horizon and merging with the skyline. A gentle breeze carries the scent of grass and earth, as soft as a mother's caress.
Xi'er took a bite of the tomato, and juice dripped down the corner of her mouth.
She wiped her face haphazardly with her sleeve, looked up at the sky, and suddenly said, "Brother, this place is really nice."
Cai Xuan turned to look at her. The little girl's face still had some blood from the sword-spine crocodile that hadn't been washed off, her hair was messy, and her clothes were wrinkled, but her eyes were clear and bright, like the purest spring water in the mountains.
"Yes! This place is really nice."
He spoke softly, a slight smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips.
The two enormous sword-backed crocodiles, along with the food they had stored up, were enough to feed him and Xi'er for a while.
With the food supplies in hand, Cai Xuan finally felt at ease. Early the next morning, he restarted his interrupted pottery-making project. He originally intended to work slowly by himself, but the energetic Xi'er couldn't stop for a moment, running around beside him.
Cai Xuan then let her step in the mud, and to his surprise, Xi'er was very excited about it!
She took off her shoes and jumped barefoot into the mud puddle, her little feet splashing around in the sticky mud as she sang the nursery rhyme Cai Xuan had just taught her:
"The little girl picking mushrooms, carrying a big bamboo basket on her back"
Barefoot in the early morning, we walked through the forests and hills.
She picked the most mushrooms, so many they were like countless stars.
The mushrooms she picked were the biggest, so big they were like tiny umbrellas filling a whole basket!
She sang with increasing excitement, and the more excited she became, the more vigorously she stomped, splashing mud everywhere and covering herself completely, making her look like a little pig rolling in the mud.
Cai Xuan smacked his lips, unsure of what to say, shook his head, and then stopped paying attention.
Kids are fine as long as they're happy and there's no danger, they don't care about anything else.
With Xi'er's innate superhuman strength helping him, Cai Xuan's pottery making went exceptionally smoothly.
The clay she stomped out was fine and even, without a single air bubble, and had excellent toughness. Cai Xuan repeatedly pounded the clay on the wooden board, rolled it into strips, coiled it, patted it, and shaped it—one by one, the clay pieces slowly took shape in his hands: large vats, small jars, bowls, plates, pots, and even wine jars specially designed for holding wine.
He also specially picked up some fine sand containing iron from the mountain stream, ground it into powder, mixed it with water to make a glaze, and carefully brushed it onto the surface of the vessel with a grass brush.
Although he is not a professional potter, he has watched many videos of traditional pottery making techniques and imitates them, and his work is quite decent.
After the blanks are air-dried, they are fired in a kiln.
This time, he strictly controlled the temperature and fired the kiln for two whole days and nights before opening it.
The moment the kiln door was opened, Cai Xuan's eyes lit up.
The yield rate of this kiln was much higher than the last one, and each piece of pottery was covered with a thin layer of glaze, some dark brown and some with a light bluish-gray hue, smooth and lustrous, and producing a clear and pleasant sound when tapped. Although it cannot compare to those of professional porcelain makers, it is already a remarkable achievement in this wild forest.
Cai Xuan carefully took out the pottery pieces one by one and moved them to the storage room.
The first thing he did was to transfer the wine from the iron barrel to the wine jar.
Then, the smoked and dried crocodile meat, crocodile bones, dried sweet potatoes, and dried vegetables were placed one by one into the newly fired large vats. These vats had wide bellies and narrow mouths; once the lids were on and wood was placed underneath to prevent moisture and insects, they could be stored for a long time.
Cai Xuan stuffed the last batch of dried dragon whiskers into the jar, put the lid on, took a few steps back, looked at the neatly arranged earthenware jars in the storage room, and nodded in satisfaction.
With so much food, we finally don't have to worry about going hungry anymore.
The mangoes at the foot of the mountain were ripe for picking, so Cai Xuan took Xi'er to pick some.
Now is the time when mangoes are at their tenderest and most delicious. They don't have kernels yet, and the acidity hasn't developed. You can peel them and eat them raw; or you can slice them thinly, boil them in water to remove the sourness and astringency, dry them in the sun, and use them in cooking; or you can cook them, put them in a jar, seal them, and store them until next year.
The tomatoes are gradually ripening, and the red fruits hang all over the vines.
There were too many tomatoes to eat. So Cai Xuan washed, steamed, and dried them to make dried tomatoes for preservation. Later, when he wanted to eat them, he would soak them in water and use them in stir-fries and soups, where they were very delicious.
Now he wants to hoard everything edible he sees. There's no way around it; this isn't home where you can just buy whatever you want to eat.
In this desolate wilderness, it's impossible to buy anything. If we encounter bad weather or something else and can't leave the house, and there's no food stored at home, it could be fatal.
Besides, there are two big eaters in the family.
Cai Xuan looked at Xi'er chatting with her sisters under the wooden frame and sighed deeply.
One little one is already big enough to eat, but what if all seven of them jump out... He really didn't dare to think about it. He decided to store up more food, not just for them, but also for himself.
Realizing that he hadn't fertilized the giant pumpkin vine in a long time, Cai Xuan went to the toilet to fetch the fertilizer he had prepared and brought it to the giant pumpkin vine.
Xi'er smelled the aroma and ran over, standing by the second-floor railing looking at the bucket and Cai Xuan. "Brother, what are you doing?"
"Fertilize! Otherwise, how could the giant pumpkin vine grow so strong, and how could you little things grow so well?" Cai Xuan said, picking up the bucket to pour fertilizer on it.
"You're letting your sisters drink this filthy stuff?" Xi'er said, hands on her hips.
"What do you mean 'dirty'? This is fertilizer I specially formulated, okay? Didn't you see how well your sisters grew after drinking it?"
"The sisters became silly because they ate this kind of dirty stuff."
Cai Xuan was displeased and threw down the wooden bucket. "Then what do you want to eat?"
Xi'er turned her head and looked around, then waved her hand and said, "Come on, follow me."
Cai Xuan was curious to see what she was up to, so he followed her.