HCB Chapter 81 Fruits that look like steamed buns
Chapter 81 Fruits that look like steamed buns
"Zhizhi, I'm back."
After shaking off the water stains from his clothes under the eaves at the door, Lei Xiu entered the house. Le Zhi heard Lei Xiu's voice and leaned down from the second floor to respond.
"Lei Xiu, I'm on the second floor."
As the sweltering summer entered its final month, the drizzling rain had been falling for almost twenty days. The Lingyu tribe members had grown accustomed to this weather, with most staying obediently at home. A small number, however, couldn't bear it any longer and had to find ways to venture out in the rain.
For example, their family is divided into two camps: those who stay at home and those who go out. Lezhi is the type who can stay home forever if there's nothing to do. Leixiu isn't that much of a homebody, but he has strong self-control. Only Maoqiu, after being confined to the house by the rain for just two days, couldn't stand it anymore and was constantly clamoring to go out.
As a wild species, its feathers are waterproof, so as long as it's not a storm, this kind of weather doesn't have much of an impact on Maoqiu. After Maoqiu demonstrated to Lezhi that it could move freely in this light rain, Lezhi stopped restricting its movements.
So now, it's become a routine for Maoqiu to go out and roam every day, providing fresh meat for the family. Leixiu handles everything in the tribe. Lezhi, who has no wings and is just a cub, is happy to stay home, receiving a tribesman suffering from the Shadow Disease every other day.
To make receiving guests easier, Lezhi referenced the layout of Lezhong's house, dividing it into two functional areas. The living quarters remained the same, but a studio was added on the right side, connected by a corridor. This made it much more convenient for clansmen to visit.
After nearly three months of treatment, Lezhi had essentially eliminated all the Shadow Disease patients in the clan. Having absorbed so many Shadows, Lezhi's talent finally leveled up again, his spatial dimension doubled, and his talent ability also reached its upper limit. However, Lezhi himself always felt that something was amiss.
Lately, he's been acting strangely. Sometimes he's so tired that he can sleep all day without doing anything. Other times he's so excited that he's constantly running around the house, working day and night without any sleepiness.
Although Lezhi's other behaviors were relatively normal, Lei Xiu was still very worried, so he specially asked his clansmen to send him some urgently needed items. He had just gone to receive his clansmen.
Ascending the stairs, Lei Xiu approached Le Zhi, who was working in the vegetable garden, and naturally took her place. "I'm here to help. Do you want to pick all of these?"
"Oh right." Seeing Lei Xiu so easily lift him up and put him aside, Le Zhi shrugged and picked up the fruit he had just collected.
Having lived with Lei Xiu for so long, Lezhi has learned to accommodate him in some ways, such as Lei Xiu often taking over chores from her. Previously, Lezhi was the main cook at home, but after Lei Xiu learned some basic cooking methods, Lezhi only needed to provide slight guidance on seasoning, and Lei Xiu could handle everything else very well.
Then there's the planting area at home. Using ground vines for planting is already quite worry-free. Lezhi only needs to pay attention to the growth of the plants and harvest them on time. Lei Xiu won't let Lezhi do too much in this regard.
So now at home, Lei Xiu handles hunting, cooking, cleaning, and tending to plants. Le Zhi only needs to occasionally participate in the clan's group gathering activities when dealing with the shadows, and she is becoming more and more like a pampered cub.
Humans are inherently lazy, and Lezhi is no exception. Lei Xiu didn't take on everything at first; he just did a little bit more each day. Lezhi couldn't afford to argue with Lei Xiu over such a small matter, so he could only be slowly boiled like a frog in water.
Actually, looking at Lei Xiu's handsome face, Le Zhi couldn't bring herself to refuse. That's how pathetic a top-tier looks-obsessed person can be.
"By the way, Zhizhi, I just ran into Chief Lechu when I went out. He told me to tell you that the rain should stop by tomorrow. After the rain stops, the starch workshop can reopen. He asked if you want to go and take a look."
"Hmm, why would the clan leader say that? Could it be that Uncle Lezhong's grinding machine has made progress?" Lezhi rested her chin on her hands, her eyes darting around, and she made a decision. "Alright, I'll go take a look tomorrow. I've already finalized all the appointments for the Shadow Disease, so I don't have anything to do lately."
The starch workshop was initiated by Leyou and Leju. Since the tribesmen came to Lezhi to learn how to make starch, some ways of eating starch have been spread from Lezhi. Starch has become a new staple food for the tribesmen.
When his people had needs, Le Chu naturally wouldn't ignore them. After he showed Le Zhong the structure of the stone mill, Le Zhong, a master craftsman, quickly devised a larger version. However, enlarging the structure wasn't difficult; the challenge lay in finding a power source.
It is precisely because of this incident that Lei Xiu's existence becomes especially necessary. Before being harassed by the shadow, Lei Xiu was already a genius of the Thunder Clan, so electric stones were not a rare commodity for him; in fact, he even had some stored in his spatial storage.
This would be enough for the Spirit Feather Clan for a while. As for the subsequent transaction, Lei Xiu agreed to Le Chu's request to act as an intermediary between the Spirit Feather Clan and the Thunder Clan, with the Spirit Feather Clan providing supplies in exchange for the Thunder Clan's electric carbide.
“Okay, I’ll go with you tomorrow. We can see how their transaction is going.” Lei Xiu picked the last brown fruit from the vine, then carried the basket and gestured for Le Zhi to go downstairs.
"Okay."
Lezhi knew about the trade between his clan and the Thunder Clan involving calcium carbide. He also knew that almost no one had thought of using the energy of calcium carbide before, so the Thunder Clan agreed to the trade not only because of Lei Xiu's influence, but also because they were probably interested in those electrical appliances.
Regardless, with Lei Xiu around, Le Zhi won't lack calcium carbide. As for other matters, Le Zhi chooses to trust Le Chu and Le Zhong; they will definitely know what's what.
With a "bang," the basket filled with brown fruit was placed on the kitchen floor by Lei Xiu. Lei Xiu put his hands on his hips and asked, "What are you going to do with these?"
"Hehe, actually I already have a bit of an idea." Picking up a fruit, Lezhi thought about the taste of the last remaining fruit she had cooked before, and had a rough idea of how to eat this one.
Set up a steamer, and Lezhi washed the fruits clean. He put one in the steamer with the skin on and another with the skin peeled. After the water boiled over high heat, he started steaming. Every ten minutes, Lezhi would use chopsticks to check if the fruits were cooked through. After the third time, the chopsticks could finally be easily inserted into the fruit without the skin.
His eyes lit up, and Lezhi picked out the peel-free fruit, leaving the peeled one in the pot to simmer with the heat off. The steaming, milky-white round fruit in front of him was not much different from the big white steamed buns he remembered.
Gently break off a corner and put it in your mouth. Chew it with your teeth. The sweet aroma of natural starch, combined with the soft texture brought by the air pockets, makes it taste almost the same as a steamed bun.
"Hmm, Lei Xiu, you should try it too."
Without revealing the taste of the steamed fruit beforehand, Lezhi wanted to let the indigenous people try it out to see if they could accept the taste of this staple food.
Seeing Lezhi excitedly raising the food in his hand as if trying to feed him, Lei Xiu raised an eyebrow slightly, followed Lezhi's action, tore off a piece of fruit and put it in his mouth. The soft and sweet taste instantly filled his mouth, and even Lei Xiu couldn't help but squint his eyes.
"good to eat!"