Twins

Ban Ming flicked the kitten's head. "You've already eaten all your pepper tofu."

Banjiu meowed again, jumped onto her brother's lap, and wiggled her way into his arms.

Ban Ming pinched the back of his neck, trying to pull him out, but the guy was snoring and kneading his breasts, so Ban Ming couldn't lift him up with any force. He could only mutter curses under his breath and let him shrink into his arms.

The kitten Banjiu looked up, nuzzled Ban Ming's chin with its round head, and stared intently at Jiaorui Tofu: "Meow."

Ban Ming sighed resignedly, ruffled the kitten's hair a couple of times, and picked up some spicy tofu from his own bowl for him. "You little rascal, where did you learn all this from?"

Banjiu glanced at Jian Mo and Wu Jiong beside her, then looked away without answering. She simply rubbed her cheek against her brother's wrist and flicked her tail, meowing.

Chapter 102 Twins

Jian Mo's tofu was a hit with everyone, and people began to value soybeans more.

However, as they say, beans come from wild plants, and the yield is actually not very high.

They picked beans from several nearby mountains, but only managed to collect about twenty baskets. After shelling the pods and taking only the beans inside, they could only fill six baskets.

Jian Mo taught everyone how to make tofu, and the tribe gave him three baskets of beans.

Feeling guilty, he said to Qing Kuo, "Wasn't that too much?"

Qing Kuo: "The tribe discussed it and unanimously agreed. There are only three baskets, and I still think it's not enough. But that's all the beans available outside. We'll have to wait for the next batch, which will probably take another twenty or thirty days. We'll just have to wait and see."

Jian Mo: "It seems the beans are growing quite slowly."

Qing Kuo: "Plants with particularly large fruits tend to grow slowly."

After Qing Kuo delivered the beans, he went back.

Jian Mo squeezed the beans and put them in the sun to dry, intending to store them and then steam or soak them when needed.

He really wanted to make some soy sauce and bean paste, but unfortunately he hadn't had much experience with sauces before and didn't know how to make them.

He remembered that others usually made sauce in the fall and winter. He was afraid it would spoil in this hot weather, so he planned to wait until the weather cooled down before trying it.

They can't make soy sauce for the time being, but their fish sauce is pretty good.

Jian Mo would sometimes open the jar to let it air out in the sun, then stir it to allow the fish inside to ferment fully.

After this period of high-salt fermentation, some fish have already surfaced. The color is somewhat like light soy sauce, and there's no strange taste. It should be fully fermented by next year.

Jian Mo went to the river to collect the fish traps.

Their fish traps are always kept in the river, and they retrieve them about every two or three days, usually with a good catch.

If it's a big fish, Jian Mo will cook it normally. If it's a small fish, he will usually clean it, and after finishing cooking and washing the pot, he will spread the fish evenly in the pot and use the residual heat of the stove to dry the fish and shrimp.

The sun had just risen in the morning.

Jian Mo walked home along the river and saw a large group of cubs fishing on the riverbank in the distance.

Jian Mo taught me how to fish, using a modified version of the Qin Sea Tribe fishing rod with added feather floats.

Compared to catching fish in the river, fishing relies more on luck and is easier. The kids have really enjoyed fishing these past few days.

Jian Mo looked at the little ones, but mainly at Jiujiu crouching behind them.

Jiujiu folded its wings and sat on the back. From a distance, it looked like a big triangular rice dumpling, only it was fluffy.

Upon closer inspection, it looked like a puppy, eagerly waiting for the fish to eat.

Before Jian Mo could get close, it heard a noise, turned around, and saw Jian Mo. It chirped happily, "Chirp—"

Now all the little ones turned their heads.

Jian Mo asked with a smile, "Was the fishing trip successful?"

The little ones, one by one, all had serious faces, nodded solemnly, and kept their mouths tightly shut.

Jiang Xing said softly and earnestly, "Jian Mo, don't talk to Jiujiu, or you'll scare the fish away."

Jian Mo laughed and nodded, "Okay, I'm leaving now."

Jiujiu glanced at Jian Mo, then at the little ones fishing, shifted its feet, hesitated for a long time, and finally continued to follow behind the little ones—it couldn't bear to part with the fish they had caught.

Jian Mo laughed as she went home to make breakfast.

Wu Jiong went out on patrol last night and hasn't handed over his shift yet. We can cook dinner a little later, but it should be a hearty meal so he can catch up on sleep afterward.

Jian Mo hummed a song as she slowly cooked, the flames under the stove roaring, the slices of meat in the pot being stir-fried over high heat, quickly curling up and releasing the unique aroma of stir-fried meat.

He poured the fruit wine into it, and as the steam rose, the aroma became even stronger.

Just as the spatula clattered against the pot, someone outside called out, "Doctor Jian Mo— "

Hearing this address, Jian Mo was somewhat surprised, as only people from other tribes would call him Doctor Jian Mo.

He scooped some water from the water vat next to him and poured it into the pot, letting the vegetables simmer: "Here it comes—"

Jian Mo went out to see what was going on and found that the person who came was Pengxi from the Tianning Tribe, who was particularly good at making pottery.

Pengxi landed on his skinny Flying-Winged Beast at their doorstep: "Doctor Jian Mo— "

Jian Mo: "Why are you here? Come in quickly."

The skinny Flying-Winged Beast flapped its wings excitedly when it saw Jian Mo.

Jian Mo went over and pulled on the Flying-Winged Beast's reins to help Pengxi down. "Is there something you need?"

Pengxi slid down the Flying-Winged Beast's body. "Our tribe heard that you healed the chieftain of the Qin Sea Tribe, and we also heard that you've recently been helping a pregnant sub-beastman—"

Jian Mo: "Pretty much, does your tribe have any pregnant orcs?"

Pengxi: "Yes! Shan Yan from our tribe, the one who's pregnant with a child, is about to give birth. His partner is an orc from the Xiongying Tribe. The Xiongying Tribe's fetuses are usually larger, and our tribe is worried that the baby in his belly will take on the orc form of the Xiongying Tribe, making delivery difficult. So we'd like to ask you to come and take a look—"

Pengxi looked really nervous; he rattled off a whole bunch of things as soon as he opened his mouth.