Mushroom circle

Jian Mo: "Thank you. How's your toe?"

Ru Da: "It's much better now, and a little bit of my nail has even grown back."

Ru Da showed Jian Mo the eggs and meat in the basket. "This is the meat of the Arrow-Bone Beast; it tastes quite good."

Jian Mo knew that they had used salt to fish for Arrow-Bone Beast in the winter, but she didn't expect Ru Da to bring them over. "Aren't Arrow-Bone Beast particularly difficult to catch?"

Ru Da grinned, "I know how to make traps; I can catch these kinds of beasts every time. Doctor Jian Mo, you should try some. If you like it, you can have someone tell me, and I'll send some more over later."

Jian Mo: "Thank you then."

After glancing at the meat and eggs in the basket, Jian Mo quickly spotted a packet of seeds wrapped in cloth underneath.

He was somewhat surprised and looked up at Ru Da.

Ru Da smiled smugly, "I see you planted something by the river Doctor Jian Mo; you must really like this wild vegetable."

Jian Mo looked at the sesame-seed-sized seeds. "Are these wild vegetable seeds?"

Ru Da nodded. "It's a very tender wild vegetable. Once it grows up, Doctor Jian Mo, you can pick its tender shoots to eat. It's best to eat it before its leaves turn green; that's when it tastes best. Just blanch it in hot water and it's ready to eat. Once it's a little bigger, it becomes bitter, and the taste isn't as good."

Jian Mo listened to his eloquent explanation and a thought struck her, "Do you grow things where you're from?"

Ru Da: "Yes, we plant, but not as much as you guys do. We don't bother to fence off the land with walls or fences; we just plant whatever we can around our houses."

Jian Mo: "You only grow good-tasting crops, right?"

Ru Da nodded.

Jian Mo thought for a moment, then asked him, "Have you ever eaten or seen a crop with a special fragrance?"

Jian Mo wanted to ask Ru Da about scallions; if there were similar plants, spring should be the season when scallions grow.

He rummaged around and found some charcoal and a wooden board. With a few simple strokes, he drew a scallion. "This is the crop we call scallion."

Chapter 78 Mushroom Circle

Ru Da and his companions carefully examined what Jian Mo had drawn, but ultimately shook their heads, saying they had never seen or heard of a plant similar to scallions.

Jian Mo, undeterred, asked them, "Are there any crops that people use as spices?"

Ru Da scratched his head and said, "Our two tribes are so close together. If we really had such good spices, your tribe would probably have heard of them. Speaking of spices, there are only so many kinds. We have them, and you have them too. There's nothing special about them."

Jian Mo could only say regretfully, "Never mind then."

Ru Da's companion said, "Doctor Jian Mo, why don't you give us this plank? We'll let you know if we see it or get any news."

Jian Mo thanked them and handed them the wooden board.

Before we received any news about the scallions, the spring rain started falling.

Rain fell one after another, and the weather was unpredictable, sometimes cold and sometimes hot. When it was cold, you had to light a charcoal brazier, but when it was hot, all you needed to do was wear a short robe or a short apron.

As the rain started, more plants became available to collect outside.

Especially all kinds of mushrooms.

Jian Mo had no idea there were so many kinds of mushrooms here—white, black, yellow, red, green, blue... They could pick mushrooms almost every day.

He spent quite some time collecting mushrooms with the tribe, but he still couldn't identify all of them, and occasionally he couldn't recognize the poisonous ones.

Seeing this, Qing Kuo and the others were very worried and insisted that Jian Mo show the mushrooms he had found to everyone, or take them back to show Wu Jiong, before eating them.

Jian Mo looked at their serious expressions and earnestly agreed.

He's not stupid. He definitely wouldn't mess around with this.

Qing Kuo explained, "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that people get poisoned every year, so we have to be careful."

Those who are poisoned are under the care of doctors. Jian Mo, "How serious is the poisoning? Are there any cases of death?"

Qing Kuo glanced at him. "Orcs are quite difficult to poison, and sub-orcs are also quite resilient. Generally speaking, it won't be too serious. However, it might be a different story for you. Your body isn't that strong, so it could be very serious."

Jian Mo reiterated, "I won't eat mushrooms randomly."

Qing Kuo: "I'll tell you a few more times."

The tribe not only told Jian Mo the same thing, but also to the little ones, repeatedly warning them not to eat indiscriminately.

The little ones obediently agreed.

Jian Mo watched, thinking to herself that, in some ways, people's education was quite adequate.

They found a lot of mushrooms, and they've been eating a lot of them these past few days.

That day, Jian Mo took the mushrooms out of the basket on her back to prepare a meal, while Wu Jiong assisted her, staring at the mushrooms for several moments.

Jian Mo laughed as soon as she saw it, "Stop looking at it, it won't turn into any other mushroom no matter how much you look at it."

Wu Jiong shifted his gaze to Jian Mo's face, his eyes asking, "Why are they still these kinds of mushrooms?"

Jian Mo shrugged. "There's nothing we can do. These kinds of mushrooms are the most abundant in the forest; we can't possibly pick them all."

I don't know why delicious mushrooms grow so sparsely, while ordinary-tasting mushrooms seem to sprout up one after another.

They've been stir-frying and stewing mushrooms these days, using them as a main dish or a side dish, and they're definitely getting a bit tired of it.

Jian Mo thought for a moment, "Today, I won't use the usual method; I'll try a different one."

Wu Jiong: "Fried mushrooms? Or stuffed mushrooms?"

Jian Mo knew he preferred either of these two methods. "Neither. I was planning to fry it with butter, and then add milk and peppercorns. You can change it if you prefer."

Wu Jiong: "Let's fry it with butter instead."

Jian Mo nudged him. "Then you help start the fire."

With someone helping to stoke the fire in the wood-burning stove, Jian Mo didn't have to frantically juggle both tasks.

Wu Jiong sat in front of the stove and lit the dry grass inside with a tinderbox. "Should the fire be bigger or smaller?"

Jian Mo: "A regular fire will do, it doesn't need to be particularly big."