I've been transported to the orc continent.

Chapter 365 Rice

In order to find more gold, the beastmen have been working from dawn till dusk for the past two weeks without a moment's rest. The gold they find has not been refined but has been stored in the Fifth Tribe's warehouse.

Bai Ling is a very sensible person. He said he would only pan for gold for half a month, and he really only panned for half a month. He wouldn't even do it for a day longer.

As it was time to leave, Bai Ling stood on a rock and looked into the distance. The sun had already set, but it wasn't completely dark yet. Birds flew endlessly in the sky, and the green mountains on the ground were like pines. A small river meandered through the green mountains, and everything looked so peaceful.

But Bai Ling knew that beneath this ordinary and calm river lay a wealth that could drive everyone mad.

Now they are giving up this wealth to prepare for the upcoming autumn harvest.

If humans were here, they would definitely choose to stay and continue panning for gold without hesitation. But the beastmen were the opposite. When Bai Ling said to end the gold panning and return to the tribe to prepare for the autumn harvest, not a single beastman objected.

To the orcs, gold is beautiful and precious, and they all want it very much. But no matter how beautiful, precious, or desirable gold is, it seems to have nothing important compared to a year's worth of hard-earned crops.

Without hesitation, the orcs packed up all their tools, sat on the backs of the Sky Orcs, and left without a trace of regret.

*

Of all the crops, Bai Ling was most concerned about rice.

The first crop he harvested was rice. During the two weeks he was away panning for gold, Bai Ling would come back every two or three days. Each time he came back, he would walk around several rice paddies. When he saw that the rice leaves seemed to have turned a little yellow, Bai Ling knew that the rice was ready to be harvested.

To turn rice into millet, several tools are needed. Bai Ling first made the rice bucket, which consists of two parts: the upper part is a wooden "bucket" and the lower part is woven from bamboo. The bamboo is woven into three "walls" and supported on the bucket with wooden sticks. After the rice is dried, people take the rice and beat it on the rice bucket. Because of the three "walls", the rice that is beaten will not splash onto the ground.

The rice bins were ready, and it was time to harvest the rice. The beastmen were exceptionally lucky; none of the rice paddies were affected by any disasters, and all of them grew safely until the harvest season.

Harvesting rice is no different from harvesting wheat. Bai Ling and the beastmen wielded sickles and harvested the mature rice.

Compared to Earth, the rice on the Orc Continent is taller and stronger, with larger ears, but it is also much shriveled.

Bai Ling clasped his hands together, grasped the rice stalks in his hands, and exerted a little force, but it seemed as if he could not feel the presence of rice.

He used two fingers to forcefully pry open the outer husk of the rice. He saw the rice grains inside, which were pitifully small compared to the tall rice plants. They were even smaller than the rice grains on Earth in Bai Ling's previous life.

He sighed softly, put down the rice stalks he was holding, bent down, and continued harvesting the rice.

They have only just begun planting, and if the harvest of rice exceeds the amount of seeds planted, that will be a tremendous and memorable achievement.

The harvested rice still needed to be dried, and while that was taking place, Bai Ling made rice hullers.

This is specifically used for milling rice. It works on a similar principle to a stone mill, but it has more legs and a hopper. It is also surrounded by bamboo strips to prevent the milled rice from running around.

*

The rice harvest is complete, and as previously agreed, Bai Ling received 30% of the rice.

After receiving the rice, Bai Ling immediately took out a basket of rice and milled it into rice. When she saw the yellowish-white rice, Bai Ling almost burst into tears of joy.

Yue had never eaten rice before, but he had heard Bai Ling talk about it countless times. Now, seeing the light in his lover's eyes, Yue could already imagine how delicious rice must be.

Yue held the bag open, and Bai Ling used a winnowing basket to fill it with sifted rice. As he filled it, he muttered, "Yue, we can finally eat rice. I'll steam rice for you when I get back."

Just thinking about the sweet and soft texture of the rice made Bai Ling's mouth water.

Yue said, "Ling, I remember you said that braised pork is best with rice."

"Of course! The braised pork is fragrant but not greasy, and melts in your mouth. It's a perfect match for the soft and sweet rice. Especially at the end, when you pour the remaining braised pork and sauce from the plate into your bowl and mix it with the rice," Bai Ling closed her eyes, took a deep breath, as if she had really tasted it, "~ Ah, it makes me so happy I almost cry."

Yue held the bag with both hands and said, "Alright, Ling, hurry up and pack the rice. We'll cook rice in a couple of days."

Yue's words brought Bai Ling back from his pleasant reverie. He continued packing rice into the bag and casually asked, "Why do we have to wait two more days? We can cook rice as soon as we get back."

He couldn't wait any longer; he wanted to go back and cook rice.

"Ling, didn't you say rice and braised pork go best together? I need to hunt a wild boar so I can make braised pork," Yue said.

The orcs in the tribe are busy with the autumn harvest. They haven't gone out hunting for many days and are eating smoked dried meat. To make braised pork, they need fresh pork, so of course they have to go hunting.

Bai Ling hadn't thought that much about it. He only remembered this when he heard Yue say that. Although the beastmen had begun to domesticate livestock, hunting was still the main source of meat. At this time, the tribe would not slaughter pigs. If they wanted to eat fresh pork, they still had to hunt.

Bai Ling said, "Yue, you're amazing! You thought of all this so quickly. I was only thinking about eating braised pork and didn't even think of this."

Yue laughed and said, "That's because you're not good at this."

*

Three days after they left, Yue and her people returned. When they returned, in addition to the two dead wild boars, they also brought back four half-grown wild boars.

The four wild boars had their limbs tied up, and having been starved for two days, they were all very lethargic. Since Bai Ling's yard didn't have a pigpen, the four wild boars were temporarily placed in the pigpen at Zhao and Ding's house.

Zhao and Ding have moved into their new house, where they will be living for a long time, so everything is ready. They had planned to raise some livestock, so the pens are prepared.

Four wild boars entered the pigpen and began searching for food. Bai Ling took out rice husks, mixed them with water to make a paste, and poured it into a broken earthenware basin in the pigpen.

Smelling the aroma of food, the four wild boars immediately ran over, rooting around in the broken earthenware pot and munching on their food with slurping noises.