Chapter 126 - Egg Fried Rice (1/2)

Ch126 - Egg Fried Rice

The people of the Grass Tribe found Zhou Ji’s proposal too tempting, to the point where they wondered if Zhou Ji was a bit of a fool, “Are you sure you want to trade meat for rice? We’ll need a lot of meat…”

“I’m sure.” Zhou Ji replied.

“This rice doesn’t taste very good…” The people of the Grass Tribe added.

“I very much enjoy the taste of rice.” Zhou Ji said.

On Earth, before the Han Dynasty, rice and wheat had been reserved for the lower class people to eat because people at the time hadn’t known to hull the grain, and eating these two crops along with their husks wasn’t tasty at all.

In this place, it was obviously the same situation.

However, Zhou Ji really wanted to eat rice… Also, hunting might be difficult for the Grass Tribe tribesmen, but to them, hunting was an easy matter.

“In that case, one bag of meat can be exchanged for two bags of rice.” The tribal chief of the Grass Tribe said.

“Wait a moment. I’ll have someone go get the meat right away.” Zhou Ji said, then continued, “Can you give me some rice first?”

The chief of the Grass Tribe was naturally willing to give Zhou Ji some rice. In their tribe, rice really wasn’t worth anything.

Their tribe grew much more millet than rice, but they usually ate rice because most of the millet that they grew went to the Giant Rhinoceros Tribe.

As for rice… The people of the Giant Rhinoceros Tribe wouldn’t want rice even if they gave it to them for nothing.

Zhou Ji soon obtained five kilograms of rice. After he had it on hand, Xiong Ye didn’t even wait for him to say anything before offering, “I’ll remove the husks?”

Zhou Ji easily handed the rice to Xiong Ye, then had Hai Feng go and bring back some meat––the river that separated the Beastman Continent from the wild forest ran from east to west, and they had constantly been traveling in a westerly direction. They were now located some distance away from the large river, but they weren’t too far away.

At least, based on Hai Feng’s speed, an hour was enough for him to run to the riverside.

Rice and barley were slightly different. At the start, Xiong Ye hadn’t gotten a grasp on the level of strength that was needed and crushed some of the rice into bits, but he soon started to knock off the rice husks with just the right force, allowing the grains of rice to remain relatively whole.

“Add some water to get rid of the remaining husks, then boil it to eat.” Zhou Ji directed.

The barley they had eaten previously had to be ground into powder and had to remain dry; that was why he had chosen to remove the hulll by blowing air at it However, rice just needed to be cooked in water, so they didn’t need to go to such lengths.

After hearing Zhou Ji’s words, Xiong Ye added water to the hulled rice, waiting for the shells to float to the top before pouring it out and obtaining hulled rice grains.

“This rice is tasty when cooked?” Xiong Ye asked curiously.

He had already discovered that things like barley tasted mediocre on its own, but was delicious when paired with other things.

It should be the same for this rice, right?

“Yes,” Zhou Ji replied. “This is one of the best foods that the Beast God has blessed us with.”

The rice grains here weren’t as big the rice grains from his era, but it was already enough to cook rice with.

Zhou Ji poured it all into a pottery pot and added water, then had someone begin to cook it as he went to make other dishes.

He stir-fried the vegetables they’d found during the journey, then stir-fried and roasted some meat… By the time everything was finished, the fragrance of cooked rice was already coming out of the pot.

Zhou Ji opened the pot to reveal a pot of slightly yellowed rice––it wasn’t possible for the rice grains to be completely clean after using such coarse methods to remove the husks. However, it was also good this way; the rice would retain more nutrients.

Zhou Ji served himself a large bowl of rice and ate a bit, feeling that it was incredibly fragrant.

Although he felt that the stir-fried vegetables and meat that he’d made before were pretty good, he’d always felt that they were a little boring just being eaten on their own. He now realized that it was originally due to the lack of rice.

At the end of the day, earth eggs and barley just weren’t comparable to the rice he used to eat.

The people of the Big Bear Tribe all ate a lot, but at the same time, they were also very curious about the rice that only Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye had.

Zhou Ji had previously said that millet congee was very tasty, but he had chosen not to eat the millet congee now that he had rice… How tasty must that rice be?

“Zhou Ji, this…” Xiong Qi walked over with his own bowl in hand.

Zhou Ji gave him a bowl of rice, and then gave him a bit of the stir-fried meat he’d made himself.

At first, Xiong Qi had thought that this rice would be similar to the rice made from barley, but after he’d really eaten it, he discovered that this rice was much softer.

In fact, it didn’t taste like much, but when it was chewed carefully, it released a bit of sweetness…

This rice wasn’t much when eaten on its own, but when it was paired with the very tasty meat that Zhou Ji had cooked… It was really too tasty!

Unfortunately, he only had one bowl of it!

Xiong Qi watched as Xiong Ye ate bowl after bowl and felt a little jealous.

The people of the Big Bear Tribe were all staring covetously at the rice, while the people of the Grass Tribe were all left speechless by Zhou Ji’s actions.

They had previously wondered if there was some sort of conspiracy when Zhou Ji had first offered to trade for rice with meat, but they now knew that there had been no hidden scheme.

“No wonder they’re from a big tribe, they even hull rice before they eat it!”

“Rice cooked like this should taste very good, but there’s a lot less of it, and it’s very wasteful…”

“Rice is still rice even if it’s made this way. How could it be as delicious as meat…”

……

The people of the Grass Tribe tribe had already determined that this leader from the Big Bear Tribe was definitely very arrogant. He had to do so many fancy things just for the sake of eating rice.

However, although they thought this way, the people of the Grass Tribe also wanted to give it a try when they saw how much Zhou Ji and Xiong Ye were enjoying their meal. They learned from Xiong Ye and removed the husks from the rice.

Those rice grains ended up smashed to pieces.

The people of the Grass Tribe were reluctant to let it go to waste and could only add some water to the mess and swallow down the crushed rice directly. At the same time, they never wanted to think about this matter again.

They were better off waiting for the Big Bear Tribe’s meat!

The smell from the roasted meat that the Big Bear Tribe was roasting was really too, too fragrant.

They wanted to eat meat!

The people of the Grass Tribe were thinking about this when they heard a large disturbance. It seemed as though there were some giant beasts heading towards their tribe…

The tribesmen who had previously been watching the people of the Big Bear Tribe eat instantly turned into rabbits, field mice, and many other kinds of small animals, then quickly drilled into some burrows that were around twenty to thirty centimeters wide. A few women who were holding children who were too small to have an animal form carried their children with them as they dove for the only human-sized burrow. Some children who were also under the age of ten also followed them into the burrow.

In an instant, the entire Grass Tribe had gone into hiding.

Zhou Ji: “……”

Xiong Ye couldn’t keep his eyes from sparkling. “Zhou Ji, these people’s animal forms really look very cute.”

Zhou Ji: “……”

The people of the Grass Tribe hid very quickly, and a woman who was carrying a child also called out for the people of the Big Bear Tribe to hide together with them. When he heard this, Zhou Ji replied, “It’s fine. It’s the people of our tribe who have gone out hunting and are coming back.”