The Infrastructure’s Guide Chapter 12

Qiu Juan remained in his embrace for a long time before he turned his head and got out. He gathered up the scattered things on the ground.

"I must hurry before my mother gets worried." With those words, the sub-female fled.

His back was so shy.

Meng Sheng was also at a loss as to why Kong Jia he didn't appreciate such a good boy. Couldn't he see how attractive he was? But, no matter what, if he showed up again in the future, Meng Sheng he wouldn't let Kong Jia, that son of a bitch, to harm Qiu Juan, nor will he allow such a male have the opportunity to sit in the chief's seat. This was not only for Qiu Juan, but also for the good of the tribe.

The male's stern eyes flashed with determination for the future...

The sub-female didn't hear the footsteps behind him, so he turned his gaze back to the male, who was still frozen in place, and stopped to wait for him. In truth, he was still concerned that Meng Sheng would return to find Kong Jia. After all, he had only said that orchids were beautiful, and had jumped off the cliff.

He still didn't understand why Meng Sheng was being so kind to him. Was the male naturally cheerful and friendly, or just because the sub-female was so pitiful to elicit his pity? For some reason, this sympathy didn't annoy him.

"Why aren't you moving?" asked Qiu Juan. "You don't know the way back from here. Hurry up and follow me so you don't get lost!"

"Coming." Meng Sheng followed quickly, avoiding the subject that had left the two of them upset. "It's noon. Aunt Luo has most likely already prepared food and is waiting for your return. When I return, I will have to prepare it myself."

Qiu Juan said, "You just have to wash the meat and eat it. How much work is that?"

"I only like to eat cooked food."

Qiu Juan smiled. "You're really picky. I could eat it raw and cooked. But the food you gave mama last time seemed really good.

Meng Sheng nodded. "I told Aunt Luo the process, and he can prepare it for you."

With that, he suddenly recalled that when he went to the cave where Qiu Juan was today, he hadn't seen any meat stored there, so he checked. "That's right. Do you still have any meat at home?"

"Two days ago, you gave out a lot of meat at the food distribution. I haven't eaten all the meat yet. I can already walk normally on my feet. I'll go hunting in two days, no problem."

Meng Sheng responded, and the two chatted briefly before parting ways at Qiu Juan's cave's entrance. Meng Sheng returned to his cave with an array of wild fruits.

He built a large fire and boiled water to simmer the meat. In reality, he had planned to eat barbecue for lunch, but the stewed meat would save him a lot of trouble. He didn't have time to sit down and tend to the meat so it wouldn't burn. He was anxious to plant the freshly dug lemon and pepper. If they were successfully planted, it would improve the quality of his meals.

He picked off the larger lemons and peppers so that for now the plant would focus on growing rather than ripening the fruit. Using his machete, he loosened the soil where he wanted to plant them.

He used his omnipotent machete to pry up the firm soil, opening up a small patch of land next to the chicken coop, while simultaneously shoveling a few piles of chicken manure out as fertilizer. Afterward, he watered the newly planted seedlings.

When he approached the chicken coop, the pheasant hatching its eggs groaned in discontent.

"Do you think this is your own home so soon?" snorted Meng Sheng, tossing a berry into the chicken coop.

The pheasant took a peck at the fruit, grunted twice, tilted its head and indicated it didn't want to eat before squatting proudly back on its nest.

"Tsk tsk, it seems you have not yet learned the hardships of life; I wonder how long you will continue to act so wild." With a snap, he inserted back the wooden peg of the door.

When the man returned to the cave, the meat in the pot had begun to simmer, and he could smell it. The stone pot was thick and inconvenient to cook in. Not only was it costly in terms of firewood, but it was also unsightly.

The marks of the tools he used to chisel, ax and sharp stone were still visible. The one in Zhong Yang's cave looked even more horrible. It takes a lot of effort to chisel the pot by hand. No wonder it takes a long time, even for powerful males with breath.

This time the rest of the fresh meat was cooked in the pot. The other meat had already been seasoned. It was pleasant in the afternoon. He also planned to smoke the marinated meat into bacon and save it for the winter when he was too tired to go hunting.

He prepared a broth from the leg bones. He cut the leg bones and stewed the meat to make a nice hot soup. He ate a few slices with a small blade while it was still piping hot. The meat was good. The broth was clear, but it could be more flavorful if stewed with a little pepper and ginger.

It seems that when he had time, he had to go around and try to find these things.

After eating more than two hundred grams of meat, he scalded the wild vegetables sent by Qiu Juan with wooden chopsticks. He had always had the habit of consuming these green leafy vegetables with boiling water until the leaves were soft and broke apart easily. Crispy and delicious!

After slowly eating his lunch, when the sun was already shining to the west, he lay back in the cave and took a nap.

After sleeping away whole afternoon, he got up. His body was a little sore and his bones creaked. He went outside the cave to erect a stone circle for a campfire. He chopped up some trees. A few small trees were formed into a frame and placed on the stone circle. It was suitable for laying bacon on and smoking it.

He cut a lot of cypress branches and looked forward to the bacon.

There was still a lot of meat in the cave. He made three batches of the roast. He was worried he would put too much on at once and break the sticks. The first batch was all smoked pork, and he had been eating a lot of it lately. He enjoys a variety of animal meats, but his favorite was pork. Of course, he also enjoyed lamb and beef, but he had never hunted that here before.

In this wild, primitive place, these creatures were comparatively weak. They were not as ostentatious as wild animals. They were good at hiding. It was reasonable for him not to see them.

When the fire had nearly burned out, he added the cypress branches. After a while dense white smoke rose, smoking the bacon on the shelf.

In reality, it would have been better to smoke the meat in a confined pace. The efficiency of the smoking would be so much better, and so would the taste, but the environment wouldn't allow it, and he had to make do.

He observed the smoking process. He was afraid the meat would burn when he left it. As he passed the time, he teased the chicken and checked on his freshly planted lemons and chilies. The sky was darkening fast. He was annoyed that he had taken a nap after lunch. Otherwise he would have finished before the sun went down.

After dark, the temperature dropped rapidly. He returned to the cave to change his simple leather skirt for his old world clothes. He decided to also lit the fire in the cave. Just as he did it, the he pheasants outside the cave suddenly clucked and screamed. He hurriedly put down the firewood and flew out.

He could see the pheasant inside the chicken ring hopping up and down through the crack, and behind a sheet of wood, a dark shadow was staring at the pheasant inside.

“Oho, fresh food delivery!”

He reentered the cave, took his machete, leaned lightly, and moved in closer. He could tell it was a thylacine from the firelight.

He had seen this animal before at the food distribution. The Tang brothers had hunted this kind of wolf. They were not big, resembling regular wolves, but they were extremely vicious.

Even if he approached cautiously, the keen thylacine still spotted him and stared at him with gleaming green eyes.

"Tsk, just a hungry wolf."

The thylacine snarled, showing its sharp teeth, drool flowing along its jaw. It took a step back from the chicken coop and then charged at the man.

“Yap!” The next moment the the thylacine let out a whimper.

Meng Sheng wiped the blood on the back of his hand. “How good am I.”

He cast a look over at the pheasant in the chicken pen. Fortunately, the chicken pen was sturdy enough to keep the thylacine at bay, but he still scared the pheasant enough that it was already trembling.

"Look, it's dead." Meng Sheng tossed the thylacine over the side of the chicken coop and clapped his hands.

With the slight distraction out of the way, he returned to his smoked meat. The meat was now black in color and should soon be ready. He assumed, that if there were no smoke and fire right now, the thylacine would simply take the meat and left the pheasants behind.

He continued waiting by the smoke until the meat was ready, that packed it before returning to the cave.

<<Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter>>