Not far from the table, there was a small recessed area made of bricks, used for starting a fire. At the very edge was a huge wooden barrel, large enough that a person could sit inside and still have room to move.
Inside the room, there was a wooden wall. Pushing open the wooden door, you could see two rather large beds. Each bed was covered with a bamboo mat and had two animal hair-filled pillows, which were also covered with bamboo mats.
Tree Fruit realized this was where they slept, and she couldn't hide her surprise as she touched it.
The cool touch made her eyes widen. In the sweltering heat of summer, this coolness could help her get a good night's sleep.
The cabin wasn't furnished, but it had everything you needed. Everything was self-explanatory, requiring no explanation. After leading the person into the cabin, Shen Nong told them that someone would call them for dinner and then left.
The priest of the Cliff Tribe helped Chief Wolf Cliff to lie down on the bed, then placed the goods he had brought for the trade on the ground between the two beds. He took out the remaining wild prickly pears, thinking that he would ask the Wood Tribe beastmen for some hot water to soak them when he ate the meat.
After putting their things away, Tree Fruit and Fox Tree wandered around the wooden house, touching this and that. The further they went, the harder it was for them to believe that the house was made of wood.
But the familiar touch made them believe it, and the two carefully examined the wooden house from the inside out.
Based on their experience building treehouses, they always felt that wooden houses couldn't be built so sturdily.
The two squatted on the concrete ground, propping their heads up with their hands, staring at the wooden house in bewilderment. How could such heavy wooden planks, stuck in the ground, not fall over?
Just as the two were racking their brains trying to figure it out, they heard footsteps behind them.
It was the food-making team from the Wood Tribe who came to deliver food to the four of them.
After the cement road was repaired, the food delivery team used flatbed carts to haul meals. This small wooden hut was close to the workers' dormitory, so the meals for four people were brought over together. Two orcs, each carrying a large wooden bucket from the cart, saw the tree fruits and fox trees squatting on the ground and asked, "This is enough for four people. Which hut will you be eating in?"
Fox Tree, with its keen sense of smell, had already detected the aroma of meat emanating from the tightly covered wooden barrel. Its mind was entirely focused on the meat, and it didn't listen to what the Wood Tribe beastmen were saying at all.
Tree Fruit pointed to the wooden house next door and said, "Let's go to that wooden house and eat there."
Since it's inconvenient to travel back and forth from Wolf Cliff, it's perfect to have the food eaten together in his wooden cabin.
The orcs from the food-making team placed the large wooden barrel on the table in the wooden house where Ya Yu lived, and quickly took out a large wooden spoon and a ceramic bowl from the wooden cabinet behind it, and lifted the heavy lid on the barrel.
The aroma of meat instantly intensified, and Fox Tree took a deep breath, swallowing hard.
Tree fruit and cliff rain weren't much better. The meat made by the wood tribe orcs in the border tribes was particularly delicious, but they could only smell it and couldn't eat it.
The meat in front of them smelled even better than those, and they could actually eat it.
For a moment, the only sounds in the wooden house were the swallowing of the orcs from the outskirts of the tribe, and the clinking of wooden spoons against earthenware bowls as the orcs from the food-making team helped them put meat in their bowls.
There were two buckets. One bucket was filled with stir-fried wild vegetables and meat chunks, and the other bucket contained a large bowl of kelp and egg soup.
The stir-fried wild vegetables with chunks of meat were perfectly seasoned, with oyster sauce enhancing the flavor. The kelp and egg soup had tender egg flowers floating beautifully in the broth.
The orcs from the outskirts of the tribe had never seen an egg before, so they asked what it was.
The orcs from the food-making team told the truth, leaving the orcs from the outlying tribes stunned. Could chicken eggs be made like this?
They just cracked the shells open and poured the contents directly into their mouths. The texture wasn't very good; it was sticky and gooey.
Eight ceramic bowls were laid out on the table. The orc from the food-making team said, "What's left in the bucket is all yours. After you're done eating, just leave the food on the table, and someone will come to collect it."
The three from the outlying tribe nodded blankly. Just as the orcs from the food-making team were about to leave, Ya Yu suddenly came to her senses and asked if there was any hot water.
The food preparation team member said, "We'll bring it to you when we come to collect your supplies. Oh, and if you want to take a shower, you can let us know. We'll arrange for someone to prepare water for you."
Taking a bath? What's that? I've never heard of it, but I'd like to try it.
All three from the outlying tribe wanted to try taking a bath. The orc from the food preparation team noted this down and told them to let the bathhouse know when they went to the workers' dormitory so that they could boil water and bring it over.
After the orcs from the food-making team left, Ya Yu helped Lang Ya out and sat him down at the wooden table. The tree fruits and fox trees were already gobbling down the meat; it was just too delicious!
The taste of an egg placed in soup is completely different from that of an egg that has been cracked open and eaten directly.
Wolf Cliff sat down in the chair, the aroma lingering around his nose, and he involuntarily swallowed.
When he saw the wild vegetables mixed in with the meat, his brow furrowed immediately. He really didn't want to eat any more of this; it was just too awful!
But the Wood Tribe orc who rescued him said that only by eating these could he recover. Wolf Cliff took a deep breath, and in order to recover faster, he picked up the wild vegetables sandwiched between the pieces of meat, closed his eyes, and stuffed them into his mouth.
Wolf Cliff planned to chew quickly a couple of times and then swallow it whole. But as he chewed, he realized something was off—wow, this tastes so good!
Wolf Cliff wondered if he was seeing things, and that what he was eating wasn't wild vegetables. He opened his eyes, picked up another wild vegetable, and stared at it.
That's right, it's the wild vegetable he hates the most. It's the kind of vegetable he was forced to eat by the Wood Tribe orcs when he was in a border tribe.
He almost threw up at that moment.
It tastes awful.
Even dirt tastes better than this stuff.
Wolf Cliff stared at the wild vegetables for a while, then recalled the taste in his mouth. He couldn't help but smack his lips, his mouth watering.
Wolf Cliff's eyes lit up as another limp wild vegetable was tossed into his mouth.
tasty!
It tastes better than any meat he's ever eaten—no, none of the meat he's ever eaten is even half as good as this wild vegetable!
Seeing Langya frantically searching for wild vegetables in the earthenware bowl, Ya Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Before, Langya had been forced to eat wild vegetables, unwillingly, and had vomited them all up several times. Ya Yu was very worried; not being able to eat wild vegetables and the fear of being cursed were truly troubling.
After Langya finished eating the wild vegetables he could see in the earthenware bowl, he started eating meat, picking up a piece of meat and putting it in his mouth.
!!
Is this meat?
Wolf Cliff forgot to chew for a moment, staring at the ceramic bowl in front of him with a look of surprise.
What kind of meat is this wood tribe feeding them? It tastes so good! It's much, much better than any meat he's ever eaten before.
Wolf Cliff quickly ran out of time to think, because Fox Tree and Tree Fruit's bowls were already empty, with only wild vegetables left at the bottom. If he thought any longer, he wouldn't get any food!
Unlike Wolf Cliff, the other three chose to eat wild vegetables last.
Orcs would never eat wild vegetables unless they were absolutely starving. Who would eat something so unpalatable?
The way Wolf Cliff had been so eagerly eating wild vegetables earlier, in the eyes of the three, meant that he didn't like them but would be cursed if he didn't eat them, so he had to force himself on them.
After all, he ate like this when he was in a remote tribe.
The three were also afraid of being cursed. Wolf Cliff was so strong and powerful, but after being cursed, he would be so weak that he would need someone to help him walk. This made the three of them shudder and decide to gulp down the unpalatable wild vegetables at the bottom of their bowls.
I had mentally prepared myself, but the moment the wild vegetables touched my tongue, I forgot everything else—they were so delicious!
The wild vegetables from this Mu tribe seem completely different from what I ate in the border tribes before.
They never knew wild vegetables could taste so good!
The two large wooden tubs, filled with meat and soup, were completely devoured by the four people from the outlying tribe; not even a single vegetable leaf remained.
The orcs from the food preparation team who came to clean up looked at the table with some confusion. Why were there no bamboo chopsticks?
The orcs from the outskirts of the tribe, who didn't know how to use chopsticks, ate a meal with their hands, burning their fingertips until they turned red.
The food preparation team had barely left when the orcs from the bathhouse near the workers' dormitory arrived, pulling a flatbed cart.
There were four buckets on the vehicle: one for hot water and three for cold water.
In summer, the water doesn't need to be too hot when taking a bath.
While Ya Yu was soaking wild prickly pears in hot water brought by the food preparation team, her eyes were fixed on the orcs of the Wood Tribe pouring water into a particularly large wooden tub.
With a "splashing" sound, bucket after bucket of water was poured into the large bathtub, the sound continuing for a while before stopping. The Wood Tribe orc tested the water temperature; it was just right. He called over Cliff Rain and pointed to a round wooden handle on the bottom edge of the bathtub, "After you're done washing, pull this open, and the water will flow out through the hole. Once it's all gone, close the lid. There's enough water for the next person."
Ya Yu's gaze remained fixed on the round log, and he kept nodding.
The orc from the Wood Tribe, who was fetching water, pulled out a handful of greenish things from his fish-skin bag and casually placed them on the windowsill next to the bathtub. "This is round-leaf grass and mugwort. Soak the round-leaf grass in the water for a while, and you'll feel cool all over afterward. Both mugwort and round-leaf grass have scents that mosquitoes dislike, so they'll avoid being bitten. You can chew the round-leaf grass, but don't swallow it. Spit out the juice after chewing it. It will keep your teeth clean and won't hurt."
Finally, the Wood Tribe orc propped up the window made of a single wooden plank and lowered the bamboo curtain in front of the bath tub, saying, "You can bathe now."
Ya Yu helped Lang Ya into the bathtub, and following the instructions of the Wood Tribe orc, he threw in a handful of round-leaf grass and mugwort. The round-leaf grass floated on the surface of the water, a lovely bright green. The mugwort was darker in color and had a stronger smell, but it was tolerable.
The warm water enveloped his body, seemingly sweeping away all his fatigue. Wolf Cliff couldn't help but let out a sound of comfort.
Both the berry tree and the fox tree on the other side wanted to be the first to bathe, so in the end, the two of them squeezed into one big bathtub, pushing and splashing each other, making water stains all over the floor.
After soaking in the round-leaf grass bath, their bodies felt incredibly cool. Lying down on the bamboo mat amplified this coolness even more; it was the first time they had ever felt so dry and refreshed in the summer.
As they lay down, they discovered that the soft thing under their heads also smelled of roundleaf grass and mugwort. Accompanied by the light scent of roundleaf grass and mugwort, the four of them gradually fell asleep.
The beastmen from the outlying tribes who chose to find their own places to live obviously did not receive such treatment. They went through a lot of effort to finally hunt a deer and a few rabbits, which were divided among the fourteen people, and each person did not get much meat.
The orcs had huge appetites, and this amount of meat was far from enough to satisfy their hunger. In the end, they drank a lot of blood to fill their stomachs.
When they were sleeping, they became easy prey for mosquitoes, with a constant buzzing in their ears. For orcs with their sensitive hearing, this sound was incredibly bothersome.
Fortunately, I've gotten used to it, and I can manage to sleep if I just bear it. It's just that the mosquito bites are so itchy that I can't stand it.
If only we had a fire, there would be fewer mosquitoes.
Early the next morning, the food preparation team delivered meat to the workers' dormitories. These working orcs received their morning and evening meals delivered to their dormitories, while their midday meal was delivered to each of their respective teams.
Just like last night, the portion for the cabin was also delivered there. The bathhouse had also heated enough water for washing, and when it was delivered to the cabin, it ran right into the food preparation team.
The orc in the bathhouse asked what they had eaten that morning. After receiving an answer from the orc in the food preparation team, he quickly ran back to the bathhouse, grabbed his ceramic bowl, and waited for the food preparation team to arrive.
Today we have sweet honey milk to drink!
After discovering the beehive, Shen Nong built beehives and started beekeeping. The apiary was built inside the military guard compound. Without the suppression of high-level orc bloodlines, the orcs who kept bees would be stung all over their heads.
Each time honey is harvested, two or three high-level orcs are sent to keep the beekeepers in check to prevent them from being stung.
In the tribe, milk is given to children and the elderly first, and the rest is distributed to other orcs.
However, the elders always felt that they didn't do much work every day and shouldn't be drinking such good things, so they only went to the food preparation team to get milk every other day. On the day they went without milk, the milk was left for the younger orcs of the tribe.
The orcs from different tribes in the workers' dormitories don't get any milk, since even the Wood Tribe itself doesn't have enough to drink.
But the priest said that the four orcs from the outskirts of the tribe living in the wooden hut received a small bowl of milk for breakfast, and that they had been paid for with animal hides.
It's a huge sheet.
For breakfast, they had fish soup and stewed meat. The orcs from the outskirts of the tribe drank the delicious fish soup clean and licked the tender, juicy stewed meat clean, even the juice off the leaves. The four of them stared blankly at the white, unidentified liquid in the earthenware bowl.
Fox Tree sniffed, "It smells quite nice."
Then she picked up the earthenware bowl and started gulping it down. After the orcs of the Wood Tribe cooked meat for her Tree Tribe once, Fox Tree firmly believed that everything the Wood Tribe people made was delicious.
Yesterday's events confirmed her suspicions; in fact, the food she ate yesterday was even better than what she had eaten at the Tree Tribe before.
Although she didn't know what was in the bowl, she was sure it would taste good.
As it turned out, she was right.
It smells so good, tastes so good, and is sweet too!