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The two of them worked together and quickly dealt with the insects.

Jian Mo looked at the large basket of insects in her hand. She had originally thought of keeping half of them until tomorrow morning, but then she thought that they wouldn't be very fresh. Besides, it would be good to make more, and it would be nice to have half of them Jiujiu and the other half scurrying around.

It must have worked so hard carrying it so far today, Jiujiu deserves a good reward.

Today, we picked half a basket of pepper buds. While Jian Mo was cooking, Wu Jiong took the pepper buds outside to dry.

There's no sun at night, but there's a breeze. If it's not raining, you can take it out to dry overnight and it'll be half-dry.

Jian Mo watched him walk out, she suddenly remembered, "Don't go yet, give me a handful of pepper buds, I'll use them to stir-fry pepper bud worms later."

Wu Jiong: "Stir-fry with fresh pepper stamens?"

Jian Mo: "Give it a try. Pepper worms naturally have the flavor of pepper buds, so stir-frying them together shouldn't taste bad."

Wu Jiong then took out a handful of peppercorns. "Jiujiu might find it spicy."

Jian Mo agreed, "Just fry the portion for Jiujiu and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. We'll only put the peppercorns on the portion for us."

Wu Jiong nodded.

Jian Mo first slowly fried the pepper worms in oil. The pepper worms released a unique aroma of protein in the pot, which smelled a bit like chicken, but even more delicious.

He couldn't resist picking one out of the pot, blowing on it to cool it down, and then popping it into his mouth.

Mmm, it's really delicious. It's fresh, fragrant, and crispy, with a subtle aroma of pepper and spiciness, and a touch of sweetness. It tastes like both chicken and shrimp.

Jian Mo finishing one, Jane couldn't resist picking up another and popping it into her mouth.

It smells so good! It's so hot!

It's cooked to perfection; it's ready to be served.

Humming a song, Jian Mo scooped the pepper worms out of the pot, poured out most of the oil, leaving only a little bit, then threw the pepper buds back in to sauté until fragrant, before returning the pepper worms to the pot to stir-fry.

Stir-frying it like this fills the whole house with aroma. When it's almost done, sprinkle on some garlic powder, and the flavor will be even better.

Jian Mo heard this and felt her appetite was completely whetted.

He called for Wu Jiong to come back for dinner, and then found some wine.

The Flour Fruit is still not ready, but the snow pearl wine still tastes great.

When Jian Mo poured out the wine, she took a small sip and squinted her eyes in delight.

Their food was ready, Jiujiu's food was ready too.

Today I prepared fried pepper worms, roasted meat, and a big basket of fresh grass for Jiujiu.

Wu Jiong took it to feed the animals, and when he came back, he saw Jian Mo washing his hands, but today he wasn't using water, he was using oil.

Jian Mo raised her hand and explained, "Some substances are insoluble in water but soluble in oil. The pepper pistils are a bit spicy, so washing them with oil makes them much better."

Wu Jiong looked at it and said, "It's amazing."

Jian Mo: "Really, you should wash your hands and eat too."

The two washed their hands with oil, then switched to soap.

After washing up, Jian Mo sat down at the table and eagerly raised her glass. "Let's have a toast to our harvest and to the delicious food we made!"

Wu Jiong his glass.

Jian Mo took a sip of wine, sighed contentedly, and picked up her chopsticks to eat the pepper worm.

The pepper worms are so fresh, fragrant, and crispy; if they were on Earth, a plate of them would easily cost over a thousand yuan.

Jian Mo: "Let's see if we can catch some more tomorrow."

Wu Jiong: "Okay."

Jian Mo: "I reckon once they're fried, they'll be stored in an earthenware jar for ten to fifteen days. We can then enjoy them slowly."

They ate inside the house, and Jiujiu ate in the backyard.

This guy has a habit of saving the best food for last, and today was no exception. He first diligently ate a whole basket of grass, filling his stomach about seven or eight-tenths full.

Then it ate all the roasted meat, and even went to the river to drink water and rinse its mouth before starting to eat the pepper worms.

It loves pepper crickets, especially these fragrant fried worms. It uses its paws to scoop them up and throw them into its mouth, one cricket at a time, just the right amount as its little snack.

When he got excited while eating, this guy couldn't help but wiggle his fat butt.

It also had a habit of rubbing its butt against the wall, but after rubbing a patch of the wall bare, it was taught a lesson by Jian Mo and Wu Jiong.

Today it didn't rub against the wall, it just rubbed against its own nest.

It didn't even notice that its nest, after being rubbed against for so long, had become less sturdy.

Immersed in its delicious food, it habitually bumped its rear end against the pillar. Then, the pillar could no longer withstand the double impact of its rear end and the roof, and it snapped.

The entire nest lost its support and collapsed with a loud bang, raising a huge cloud of dust.

Jiujiu froze, turned its head to look at the completely collapsed nest, and was dumbfounded.

At the same time, Jian Mo and Wu Jiong, who were enjoying their meal, heard a loud bang.

Jian Mo flinched, nearly dropping her chopsticks onto the table.

"What's wrong?" Jian Mo, who had been drinking, was a little slow and couldn't quite process what had happened. "Was it thundering?"

Wu Jiong stood up. "In the backyard, it seems that Jiujiu knocked something down. I'll go take a look."

Jian Mo quickly caught up with him. "I'll go with you."

The two went to the backyard, only to find that Jiujiu's nest had collapsed.

Jiujiu lay in its collapsed nest, its furry face blank with confusion. Its big eyes looked left and right, completely unable to comprehend what had happened. However, its front paws firmly gripped the food bowl, and surprisingly, most of the bowl of pepper crickets hadn't spilled.

Jian Mo looked at it.

No wonder he's a freeloader.

Seeing the two approaching, Jiujiu chirped.

Jiujiu stood up, supporting itself on its paws, and stared blankly at the collapsed nest.

His expression seemed a little sad.

After checking her over, Jian Mo said to Wu Jiong, "Jiujiu isn't injured; she should be fine."

Wu Jiong patted Jiujiu's belly. "She was probably just scared."

Jian Mo patted it and comforted it, "You should be, don't be afraid, Jiujiu."

Jiujiu came to her senses and looked at them with a wronged expression. "Eek."