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The orc who asked the question sighed, "But digging little by little with a hoe is too difficult."

The orcs and sub-orcs in the tribe don't have much patience. In the past, when they went out to gather resources, they didn't work for long periods of time; they were more focused on traveling.

Today, we have to work slowly on the land, and many people are getting a little impatient.

Many people started to give up after digging for a while:

"Forget it, I don't want to plant anymore. Next year I'll just go hunting and gathering with the group; that's easier for me."

"I think so too. We'd work ourselves to the bone cultivating the land, and the produce wouldn't even last a few meals. We should just go hunting and gathering."

"Yeah, I'm not a good cook. No matter how good the ingredients are, they won't taste good in my hands, so I might as well not bother."

Originally, most of the tribe wanted to plant something, but once the land in the tribe was cultivated, the vast majority of them gave up.

They decided to go out and hunt some game and gather some food to eat.

In any case, except for winter, there is plenty of food outside in the other three seasons; you can easily find something to fill your stomach just by going out.

Everyone had their opinions, but they only felt that reclaiming land was troublesome and didn't have any complaints about Jian Mo.

They even went out of their way to comfort Jian Mo, saying it wasn't that they couldn't grow crops, but that they were just too lazy to do it, so they didn't plant any.

Jian Mo smiled and agreed.

Many people originally wanted to grow things, but there wasn't enough land on the riverbank, Jian Mo planned to cultivate a few more terraced fields on the mountain.

Now that so many people have given up on farming, there's plenty of land to go around on the other side of the river.

Jian Mo and her team specifically chose flat and fertile land to cultivate. Although the first year of construction was difficult, things would definitely get better and better in the future.

Jian Mo estimated that with his and Wu Jiong's skill level, they should be able to clear most of the land in ten to fifteen days.

Needless to say, Wu Jiong is strong, quick-witted, and a very capable worker.

He's a bit lacking, but he's still a fine young man in the prime of his life, so the work shouldn't be too difficult for him.

Unexpectedly, when it came time to officially begin cultivating the land, people from the tribe came to help.

Jian Mo touched and surprised. "Weren't you all impatient with farming?"

Ban Ming grinned. "Farming is troublesome. Besides clearing the land, there's a lot of other work to do. But it's easy for me to take a couple of days off to help you with some work. We can all work together and finish quickly."

A Hu added from the side, "Since we're just killing time anyway, we might as well come over to Jian Mo's place and stretch our legs a bit."

Xi Lu smiled and said, "We'll treat this as an opportunity to learn how to reclaim wasteland."

He Feng, popping out from the side, shouted, "Play in the mud!"

Jian Mo then noticed the children had come over, and quickly looked over, calling out to the little ones who were carrying grass roots and stones to pile up to the side, "Hey, you don't need to carry stones, the soil in the ground is dirty."

The kitten Banjiu loudly, "Meow, we're not afraid of getting dirty!"

Zhou Dao: "Woof! Yes, we're not afraid!"

Jian Mo pushed the furry little creatures away a bit with her hands, saying, "That won't do either. You can help carry the grass away."

Banjiu: "Okay!"

The riverbank was bustling with activity. The other members of the tribe, a little slower to react, also came over with their tools to help them.

Jian Mo had originally allocated so much time for land reclamation, but unexpectedly, all the land he had his eye on was reclaimed in less than three days.

Some land that was originally not intended to be occupied was reclaimed with the help of young people who got carried away with the work.

Jian Mo was touched, but without saying much, she invited them to dinner.

Finally, Qing Kuo said, "It's been a long time since we've all had a good time together, so let's have a bonfire party."

When spring comes, the tribe will get busy, and there probably won't be as much time for fun.

Jian Mo had no objections. In addition to contributing meat to treat everyone to a meal, he also specially brought over some snow pearl wine— the Snow Pearl Fruit in their backyard were growing well, and they had harvested several more batches, all of which were brewed into wine.

Upon seeing the Snow Pearl Fruit, Qing Kuo remembered and asked, "Does your family also brew Flour Fruit? How's it going now?"

Mentioning this, Jian Mo sighed, "The wine tastes quite pure and shows no signs of spoiling, but the fermentation is very slow; it's still fermenting slowly."

Qing Kuo comforted him, "Didn't you say that good food is worth the wait? As long as it ferments well, it's okay if it takes a little longer?"

Jian Mo: "That's what I think too. Maybe the temperature is too low, or the bacteria inside isn't quite right, so the fermentation is exceptionally slow."

Even among yeasts that can be used for fermentation, there are actually many different types. If an unsuitable strain is used, it's not surprising that fermentation will be slow; you should be grateful if it can ferment at all.

Hearing unfamiliar terms, Qing Kuo automatically skipped them. "Tell me when it's fermented. I'm quite curious about this distilled spirit you mentioned."

Jian Mo assured him, "Don't worry, we might need your help then."

The land was cleared and the earthen mounds were built. Jian Mo and Wu Jiong began to apply base fertilizer.

The base fertilizer they used consisted of wood ash and fermented animal manure—including the droppings of Flying-Winged Beast and Pack-Pack Beast.

Several families in the tribe who had decided to plant came to help and learn as well.

Applying base fertilizer is not difficult; just mix it evenly with the soil.

The difficulty lies in obtaining the base fertilizer.

Jian Mo said to Qing Kuo and the others, "If you need it, you can get Jiujiu's droppings as fertilizer. But it's best to get the ones I've fermented, otherwise they might burn the roots."

Qing Kuo nodded, and remarked with a sigh, "Jiujiu eats and poops so much, now it can finally come in handy."

Jian Mo laughed, "That's what I thought too. Luckily, we can use it. Otherwise, I really wouldn't know where to transport its excrement next year. Leaving it there would be too polluting to the environment."

For a time, Jian Mo even wanted Jiujiu to learn from the beastmen in the tribe and run out into the forest to relieve herself.