295 7.23 Trade Rubies And Sapphires With Breakfast And Dinner. (2/2)

Doc held the piece in his hands and after a close examination, he found that the Emerald was truely of Poor quality and required 5 of these Poor ones to make a Fair piece. It takes another 5 Fair pieces to make a Good one and 5 more Good ones to make a Perfect piece.

”We have a stash of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires with us right now. Each of us managed to get about 7 pieces of each type every day means we have 49 pieces of each type of shards daily. The stash at home would be best left undisturbed as the Director may have other plans for them.”

”Come...take these 49 shards of each gem with you first. We trust your sincerity and what's for dinner?”

Hahahahaha...everyone seemed to chase after our home-cooked meals after all...!

”We are having tea and you could break up these dumplings among yourself first. I would be guiding Missy on how to cook rice, gruel as well as plain grilled bread or with cheese, smoked chicken or mashed eggs in them for our meals.” I replied as I extended my hands to retrieve 4 small pouches containing 4 different types of shards, as I handed Doc our dumplings to be shared among the 7 members of their mining expedition team.

I passed the pouches to Matilda and she quickly stored it inside her main storage bag.

”Young man, you knew about our names and characters, we have yet to be acquainted with your even if you have your name above your head right now.”

”Oh...I'm sorry to be of my neglectfulness. My name is Robin, and I am a Firestarter as described by my partner here, and a Humble Master at your service, while this is Milady Matilda, my wife to be and also an adventurer in my party.”

Matilda and I exchanged pleasantries and as they consumed the simple tea break, I guided Matilda on how to make rice or gruel.

.....

”To make rice, rinse once and use your middle finger here to measure the water level. Touch the top of the rice and the water shouldn't exceed the ring here. It would be best set slightly lower. You will then have rice when you closed the lid tightly.”

”If your water level is the same or slightly higher, you would end up with slightly soft rice. As for gruel, you may measure up to the 3rd ring of your palm. The first gruel, the base soup would be thick, but if you use about half a pot of water, the gruel would be thin.”

”Measure one small bowl of rice for each person to make steamed rice or one small bowl of rice for 2 people to make gruel. There's a simpler way to make steamed rice using bamboo or a large 3 layer steamer and some bamboo bowls.”

”Matilda, I think you would earn lots of skills when you are roughing it out with me. Come, let's make a thick gruel for the 9 of us.”

I slowly guided Matilda on how to make a thick gruel base and make the right measurements. I used the garnishings that she had bought earlier to prepare and set it aside. A simple vegetable gruel with 5 scoops of rice for the 9 of us was slowly boiling in the pot above the fire and I halved a boiled eggs for each of us.

It was already sundown and cricket were chirping when we finally settled down to eat dinner with the 7 dwarfs. Luckily with my charisma and negotiations skills, we would be able to get the required shards just over simple daily meals.

Hahahahha...I was wondering whether these dwarfs were gullible or simply my approach to them were workable for their benefits.