Xu Chen got up and stared at the white mushroom ball: "Isn't this a straw mushroom?"
Although they couldn't understand Xu Chen's complicated words, they still understood the questioning expression, and they both shook their heads vigorously.
Xu Chen helplessly picked up a chicken fir and asked, "Can't you eat this?"
The two shook their heads together again.
Xu Chen picked up another one, and the two of them still shook their heads wildly.
So Xu Chen understood that these dogs and savages didn't know each other at all, or they had ancestral phobias and just thought that all mushrooms were inedible.
However, seeing the frightened and excited expressions of the two of them, he finally gave in. He sighed with regret and gave up the idea of having a mushroom dinner for the time being.
They sat down under the shade of the trees again, and the three of them sat in a row and ate the wild fruits that Gu Heju had picked.
Most of these wild fruits are unpalatable, either sour or bitter, and they are not full. After eating a few, Xu Chen felt that his stomach was even more upset.
"Chen Ga, fish..."
Seeing that Xu Chen looked constipated, he pointed in the direction of the river.
Xu Chen's eyes lit up. He lost the core and ran straight to the river beach. After walking for more than ten steps, he quickly ran back and picked up the basket on his back.
There was a heavy rain yesterday, and the water in the river swelled a lot. It looked much wider than usual. The water in the river was slightly turbid, and a large area of the river beach was submerged.
A large number of waterbirds are flying among the shallow water and grass to feed. Some have long legs, some have short legs, some have long necks and some have short necks. Some of them are wild ducks, wild geese, and white cranes, and many more are unknown. It is a paradise for birds.
As soon as the three of them approached the river beach, a large number of wild birds suddenly flew into the sky and the scene became spectacular.
There are fish and shrimps everywhere among the water plants, and occasionally you can see turtles, turtles and water snakes swimming around.
Gu was covering the water here and there, working hard for a long time but didn't catch anything.
Ju held a spear and carefully looked around in the slightly deeper water. When he saw a fish, he poked hard, but failed every time.
Xu Chen watched for a few minutes, then curled his lips and chose a place with luxuriant water plants. He pressed the backpack down, then swept it from top to bottom with his feet. When he reached the position of the backpack, he quickly lifted it up.
This is a common and ancient way of catching fish in rural areas, called fishing, but the fishing nets used are made of bamboo and are usually used in small river ditches instead of on river beaches.
But it seems that there are a lot of fish and shrimps on the river beach now, so it should be useful.
As expected, when the basket made of rattan was lifted up, there were indeed a few small fish inside, as well as a few grass shrimps. Although they were not big, a group of fish and shrimps were jumping wildly inside, which looked very real.
lively.
Gu and Ju didn't know what Xu Chen was doing. They came over to take a look out of curiosity. They screamed in surprise. They turned around and prepared to take their own baskets to catch fish, but Xu Chen was stopped by them.
Stopped.
"fire!"
Xu Chen grabbed Gu's arm and pointed to the mountainside, and then made a gesture of support with his hand.
Fish and shrimp will naturally fill your stomach, but you also need fire. However, there are no matches or lighters at the moment, not even flint, so if you want fire, you have to go back to the cave to get it.
Gu understood and ran away excitedly.
Jiu then went back to the place where he dug the pit to fetch the two baskets. Then the two of them cooperated, holding the two baskets side by side and lowering the net. Xu Chen took the spear and fished among the aquatic plants. As a result, the harvest increased greatly.
At one time, I would always harvest a few fish and shrimps, which soon weighed half a catty, and were poured into another rattan basket and kept with water.
After almost half an hour, they saw that there were already two or three kilograms of fish and shrimp, so the two of them stopped and carefully pinched the intestines of these fish and shrimp. When they were almost done, Gu Da came back sweating profusely.
It means that the fire has been obtained.
With fire, everything will be easier.
First, build a stone stove with a few stones, then put some firewood brought back from ancient times with residual sparks in it, find some dried weeds nearby, and after blowing hard, the fire was finally lit, and then continued
Add some dry branches and soon the flames will be burning brightly.
Xu Chen arranged for Gu to be responsible for lighting the fire, and asked Ji to find a thin stone slab, take it to the river beach, wash it clean, and put it on the stone stove to burn.
Shibanyaki, the ancestor of Teppanyaki, is a local delicacy in Yunnan.
There is a saying in the local food circle: Everything can be grilled with a stone slab.
This means that any food can be grilled on the stone slab.
This simple cooking method was also what Xu Chen often used during his previous field trips.
Chicken, duck, fish, lotus roots and potatoes, mushrooms, yams, peppers and eggplants, as long as they are solid foods that can be heated, can be processed with stone slabs.
When having a picnic, not only the ingredients can be obtained locally, but the cooking tools can also be used.
In fact, a group of primitive people roasted and ate it on stone slabs in this way every day, but it was still in a very ancient embryonic state.
It is best to make a stove like this so that it can be baked faster.
Of course, the soul of barbecue lies in the seasoning.
But it's a pity that everything is ready now, but there is a lack of seasonings. Not to mention cumin chili noodles, there is not even the most basic salt.
But for a group of three-and-a-half-year-olds who are just growing up and always in a state of hunger, not to mention the lack of salt, they are eager to chew off a few kilograms of stone slabs when they are hungry.
There are so many fish and shrimps now, it is already a rare feast.
But no matter how simple the conditions are, for foodies, as long as the conditions are created, the taste should still be there.
So while Ju and Gu were busy working, Xu Chen also searched nearby for a while, picked a handful of wild onions and leeks, took them to the river beach, washed them, then smashed them carefully on the rocks into paste, and picked them up on the river beach.
Wash the three clam shells, pack them and take them back.
After a busy meal, the stone slab started to get hot. Xu Chen folded two branches and used them as chopsticks. He picked up the washed fish and shrimps one by one and arranged them. Soon, the whole stone slab was densely arranged.
Under the high-temperature grilling on the stone slab, the river shrimp quickly began to change color, and at the same time, a smell of grilled fish and shrimp slowly came out.
Not far away, a bus with a group of women was resting under the shade of a tree.
At first, I saw Xu Chen and the others digging soil, going to the woods to find food, and going to the river beach to fish. I just thought it was boring and playing, so I didn't pay much attention to it. However, when I saw smoke rising, so
I felt the need to come and take a look.
After all, fire is the tribe's most important asset, and it always needs to be protected and not allowed to spread anywhere.
Especially for tribes without fire, if you want to get fire, you have to bring a lot of gifts to nearby tribes to exchange.
Even if you get the fire, it's very troublesome to get it back. You need to pass the torch one after another on the way. If you accidentally extinguish it, you have to start all over again.
The hot weather in summer and autumn is not bad, but if there is no fire in the tribe during winter and spring, it will be very difficult for many adults, let alone children, to bear it.
But after Momba came over to take a closer look, she felt that she was not feeling well.
I saw Xu Chen and the others sitting around the stove, eating grilled fish and shrimp with excitement on their faces.
She just ate it and dipped it in the sauce while eating. The aroma of the food filled the air and made her drool.
"Mobaba quack!"
Seeing Mu Ba suddenly coming over, Gu and Ju quickly stood up, their faces burning with shame.
The adults were busy collecting food, but the three of them were fishing for food in secret. This was completely inconsistent with the group's long-standing rules.
But Xu Chen had no such idea.
You need to eat when you are hungry, you need to drink when you are thirsty, and you need to sleep when you are sleepy. These are the five major urgent needs in life. Eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. are the most basic needs and no one can control them.
So he smiled, picked up a grilled shrimp, dipped it in some sauce, and put it in Mom's hand.
The mother didn't scold him, but put the shrimp into her mouth and chewed it with a smile on her face.
Gu and Ju breathed a sigh of relief, and each took a shrimp and put it in the mother's hand. After finishing the meal, the mother pointed at the stove and said a few words before leaving.
However, not long after the mother bus left, several young women ran over.
These women are all still very young, with bulging breasts. Although they are dark and thin, they are obviously much more attractive.
However, this kind of endurance is only relative. In Xu Chen's eyes, although his body is the same as theirs, his soul will always be separated by species. After watching it for more than half a month, his heart has long been as calm as water and there is no trace of waves.
Besides, all the women in the cave are related to them.
So there are no more ideas, a group of virtuous people,
Naturally, the women who came here did not come to watch the fun, but came over to ask for food after listening to the mother's words.
A group of people gathered together to eat fish and shrimp grilled on a stone slab, and exchanged some topics. Xu Chen also explained with pictures how he wanted to make pottery here. After all the fish and shrimp were grilled and eaten,
The women went back to work, and Xu Chen and the other two finally had enough to eat. After adding firewood to cover the fire, they cheered up and continued digging.
…
More than ten pottery vessels in the fire pit have been burning for a whole day and night.
And today the mother gave special orders to increase the fire and keep it burning for a whole day.
Xu Chen, who finished work in the evening and returned to the mountain, immediately dug out all the dishes, cups and pots from the fire.
Several of them are cracked or even broken.
If it is intact, it will make a bang-bang-bang sound when tapped gently.
After being calcined at high temperatures for a long time, these utensils have undergone some qualitative changes and are no longer entirely clay.
But it is far from being as strong as pottery. At most it can be regarded as a low-temperature fired pottery.
The difference between earthenware and pottery is not only that the soil quality is poor and the workmanship is rough, but that the calcining temperature cannot reach the level where the silicon and aluminum in the clay can be vitrified and cannot be perfectly fused together.
Therefore, the pottery is not strong enough, the sealing performance is not good enough, the pores are relatively large, and it is easy for water and air to pass through, so it cannot preserve food for a long time.
But even so, these utensils can be used for daily use. It is definitely not a big problem to drink water, eat and carry things, but they are not strong and can be easily broken.
When Xu Chen took out these pottery, the entire tribe was shocked by his magical creativity.
The two little pottery figures were taken away by a group of children cheering before they were allowed to cool.
And all the adults gathered together and passed around the dishes and pots to watch and marvel.
Mother Ba, in particular, groped through all the pottery one by one. She held Xu Xia in her arms with trembling hands, kneading and touching her. If there was milk, she might even give him some milk.