Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Stone Pot Stewed Goose

Crunch!

Soon, the crisp sound of biting into fried eggs could be heard everywhere.

Along with the crunching came a rich, mouthwatering aroma.

“These fried eggs are so good!”

“They’re way tastier than boiled eggs. I’ve never had such delicious bird eggs before!”

“Changxia, aren’t you eating?”

Everyone sat around the table, wolfing down their food.

Nan Feng glanced at the roasted bird egg in Changxia’s hand. She’d tried roasted eggs before—they were good, but not quite as tasty as the fried ones.

Nan Feng couldn’t understand why Changxia liked roasted bird eggs so much, even showing a look of reverence and gratitude when she ate them. Were the roasted eggs she ate somehow different? But wasn’t roasting just tossing the eggs into the hearth and eating them when they’re done?

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“I’m full, you take your time.” Chang Xia waved her hand as she replied.

She didn’t have the appetite of Nan Feng—she couldn’t eat that much in the morning. After eating so much, Chang Xia felt like if she didn’t walk around a bit, she’d be so stuffed she might throw up.

“What are you all eating? I could smell it from far away—it’s making my mouth water!”

“It smells amazing!”

“Chief, how come you didn’t call us over when there’s something good to eat?”

Judging by the voices, it sounded like Nuan Chun and the others had arrived. The cave dwellings weren’t far from the animal pens, so it was normal for the delicious aroma to drift over. Besides, even if the cave dwellings looked nice, it didn’t take long to walk around them.

“He Yun, come on, everyone gets a bowl to try it out first,” Mu Qin said without fuss. She got up and quickly assembled bowls of rice noodles with soup, fried eggs, minced meat, and other toppings—her movements were so practiced, it was clear she’d done this countless times.

He Yun and the other women were straightforward people; they didn’t waste time chatting.

They stepped forward, took their bowls of freshly pressed rice noodles, and found places to sit or squat, each one digging in.

Compared to Yun Dong and the others, He Yun’s group ate a bit more gracefully.

In no time at all, Yun Dong and his friends had polished off their bowls, not a noodle left.

Everyone looked satisfied, their eyes shining as they stared at Chang Xia. After resting for a bit to digest, Chang Xia and Nan Feng started cutting up meat, getting ready to turn the baskets of meat Kong Shan and the others had brought into fried meat. Later that night, Kong Shan would take it back to the tribe.

“Chang Xia, are these fresh-pressed rice noodles really made from ginkgo nuts?” He Yun asked in surprise.

Chang Xia smiled, put down her knife, and nodded. “Yes. The dough for pressing the noodles is made by grinding ginkgo nuts into flour, turning it into a paste, and then fermenting it. It’s not too hard. Auntie He Yun, if you want to learn, I can teach you—just like when we built the cave dwellings. But you’ll need to prepare your own tools, like the fermentation bags for the dough, the sieves for filtering the flour, and the press for shaping the noodles. I don’t have any extras here.”

At that, everyone’s faces lit up with joy.

“Chang Xia, what do you want us to trade for it?”

“No need to trade—I’ll just teach you.”

The tribe had helped a lot with building the cave dwellings, after all. Besides, when she first started experimenting with ginkgo nuts, it wasn’t just because she was greedy—she wanted to benefit the tribe. Unfortunately, making dry flour was complicated and still needed more research.

“Chief—”

“Do as Chang Xia says.”

With just those two sentences, Gen settled the matter.

After all, sometimes being too calculating just made people feel distant.

After eating the rice noodles, He Yun and the other women gathered around Chang Xia, helping her fry meat while asking her about all sorts of techniques for making things with ginkgo flour.

Recently, Nan Feng and Nuan Chun had brought plenty of new foods back to the tribe from Chang Xia.

Over time, the tribe had picked up a lot just by watching and learning.

But since they had time today, they weren’t about to miss the chance. Besides ginkgo flour recipes, they asked about preserving meat and bird eggs, as well as how to gather and cook wild vegetables. There was a constant stream of questions, and Chang Xia answered them all with patience.

Before noon, all the meat Kong Shan and the others had brought was turned into fried meat, packed into clay jars to cool before being sealed with wooden lids.

This way, the meat would keep for a long time and was easy to eat.

While Chang Xia was busy frying meat, Yun Dong and the others took over the heavy work of pressing the dough. By the time Chang Xia finished frying, over a hundred pounds of dough had been turned into fine noodles, all stored in sieves.

Before noon, Shen Rong and the others returned, loaded down with game.

Each person carried several animals, and Ya Dong had two huge geese—much bigger than the white geese Chang Xia was familiar with, at least two or three times the size. Each one must have weighed forty or fifty pounds—real giants.

“Chang Xia, look what I caught for you!” Ya Dong shouted, swinging the big white goose in his hand.

The goose, in pain, started honking loudly and tried to peck Ya Dong’s thigh, making his face twist in pain.

“Where did you catch the goose?” Chang Xia asked happily.

As soon as she saw the geese, she thought of braised goose in an iron pot. There was no iron pot in the animal pen, but a stone pot would do. With two geese, it would make a perfect stew.

“There’s a shallow area upstream of White Lake, kind of like the White River beach. We caught these two geese there, and there were plenty of bird eggs too,” Shen Rong explained gently.

He put down five or six wild chickens, all with their legs tied so they wouldn’t run off.

“Chang Xia, can we eat these sharp-beaked animals?” He Yun squeezed forward, eyeing them.

Chang Xia replied, “Yes, you can. The big ones are geese—white geese. The smaller ones are ducks—white and gray ducks. Looks like there are a lot of wild ducks living around White Lake. The most colorful ones are chickens. These small birds can be kept if you clip the feathers on their wings. I’m thinking of building a shelter in the reeds by White Lake to raise some chickens, ducks, and geese…”

Now that Nan Feng and the others had finished building their cave dwellings, and with so many people from the tribe here today, Chang Xia decided to share her idea about raising animals. Ever since she was little, she’d always had surprising ideas.

In the past, the tribe had dismissed these as the wild imaginings of a child.

But after seeing her build the cave dwellings and make all sorts of foods from ginkgo flour, the tribe gradually realized Chang Xia’s ideas weren’t just nonsense.

“Chang Xia, do you need help?” Gen asked.

This time, he didn’t try to stop her—he just asked if she needed a hand.

He didn’t really understand what raising animals meant, but he knew Chang Xia would never harm the tribe.

“Chief, it’s fine, I’ve got it,” Chang Xia said happily.

Nan Feng patted her chest and said cheerfully, “Chang Xia, if you want to raise chickens, ducks, and geese, I’ll catch more for you. When you’ve raised them, don’t forget to invite me to eat!”

“Haha!”

Laughter rang out all around—they were clearly amused by Nan Feng’s shamelessness.

Chang Xia’s suggestion about raising animals didn’t get much comment, but He Yun and the other women took it to heart. After they’d tasted chicken, duck, and goose, they’d decide what to do. For now, there was no rush.

Chang Xia rolled her eyes at Nan Feng, then turned to Shen Rong.

“Shen Rong, take Ya Dong and the others to White Lake to process the chickens, ducks, and these two geese. Let’s prepare a hot pot feast in advance to welcome everyone who came to visit.”

She believed that nothing brings people together quite like sharing a meal.

And if one meal isn’t enough, then have two.

“Chang Xia, how about beggar’s chicken for lunch?” Nan Feng asked cheerfully.

Chang Xia ignored her eye roll completely. When she heard that Nan Feng had sent Chen Rong to Bai Lake to deal with the chickens and ducks, she was instantly excited.

Beggar’s chicken—Nan Feng had tried making it herself back in the tribe.

But no matter what, it never tasted as good as Chang Xia’s.

“Sure,” Chang Xia nodded, then added, “Besides beggar’s chicken, let’s have stone pot stewed goose for lunch too.”