Traveling through the primitive world: I was a priest in the tribe

Chapter 123 Sea Salt

Grandma Xue came into the house cheerfully and took out a jar, "Here you go."

"What is this?" Ji Lang stopped playing with Damao, reached out to take it, and looked at it curiously. It was covered with a large leaf and tied firmly with a small straw rope.

"Xiaoshu and the others picked some fruits outside, and I made two jars of jam. You can take this jar back and let the children try it." Grandma Xue said. Some wild fruits are difficult to preserve. They are high in water and there is not much left even after drying. It is better to make them into jam, which can be kept for a few more days, but only a few days.

Ji Lang went back happily holding the jar. Several children were helping to wash wild vegetables in the outer yard. They were said to be washing, but actually they were playing while washing. Their bodies were all wet, but fortunately the weather was hot, so they were not afraid of catching a cold. They would dry in the sun soon.

"Little ones! It's time to eat delicious food!" Ji Lang gave an order, and a group of "little monkeys" immediately came over with their short legs, almost shouting "King, King".

"What's the good stuff?" It was obvious that Chuan was not speaking clearly.

"Is it in this jar?"

"Is it honey?"

After a lot of chatting, Ji Lang took them into the kitchen, found a few spoons, and then removed the leaves on the jar.

Immediately, a sweet fruity aroma wafted out.

A group of little guys exclaimed in unison, "Wow~"

Ji Lang: ...You guys are so supportive.

He scooped out a spoonful, which was orange in color with a hint of citrus fragrance. Ignoring the circle of eager faces around him, Ji Lang put it into his mouth without hesitation.

Sweet and sour.

When the little guys were drooling, they were finally able to eat. Each of them scooped a spoonful and tasted the food, as if they were tasting fairy wine, with a look of satisfaction on their faces.

The jar was small, and each person finished half of it with two spoons. "Go away, save the rest for tomorrow." Ji Lang said as he drove them out like monkeys.

This is a good idea. If the fresh ones cannot be kept, you can make them into jam, sterilize them at high temperature and store them in a sealed container, so they can be kept for a longer period of time.

Damao lives alone, so his doghouse can be made smaller and warmer. Jilang spent an afternoon hammering and pounding and finally made a nearly perfect one. He also coated the gaps with gum sap to make it windproof.

There is not much gum sap left in the bottle, I have to find time to get some more. This stuff is very useful and can be used for anything, and it is also sturdy.

"Brother Lang! Come and see what we brought back!" Feng shouted outside, the hunting team is back.

Ji Lang trotted out and saw Feng taking eggs out of the basket one by one. There were several large pheasants tied to the sticks next to them. There was only one male, and the others were all female. It was easy to tell the male and female pheasants apart. The male pheasant had very long and colorful tail feathers. The female pheasant basically looked like a large gray-brown pigeon. At this moment, they were all tied together, and their claws were kicking, trying to break free.

"Don't underestimate the fact that there are only five pheasants. It took a lot of effort." Seeing that Ji Lang didn't react, Feng started to take credit.

Actually, Ji Lang gave up the idea the last time he heard Qing Jiu say that pheasants were difficult to catch. Although he wanted to try to raise them, it would not be worth it for them to take risks for a few pheasants. He did not expect that he would bring them back in just a few days, so he was a little surprised.

Feng is a man who can't keep secrets, and he explained everything in a short while.

Ji Lang mentioned it again when he came back from the lake, and Qing Jiu took it to heart. The pheasants nested on the cliff, but some places are accessible to people. After some discussion, he took people there today. They made too much noise and scared away some of the pheasants, so they brought back many pheasant eggs, but there were only a few pheasants.

Only Uncle Lin knew about the pheasant feather clipping, but he only saw it from a distance when he went to exchange salt, and didn't know the specific method. They could only pick them up by themselves. After studying it for a long time, they still couldn't figure it out, so in the end they simply clipped all the feathers, big and small, on the wings.

"Do we need to make a special cage for them?" Feng asked as he untied several pheasants whose wings had turned into bangs from the wooden sticks.

Ji Lang, "Ah? Didn't they clip the feathers on their wings? They won't be able to fly if they are released outside."

"But...won't feathers grow out?" Feng said.

That’s right, Ji Lang slapped his forehead, his brain short-circuited.

I don’t know how long it will take for these guys’ feathers to grow out. If they grow very quickly, they might all fly away after a few days of sleeping at night.

It's true that they just made a doghouse and then a chicken coop, one after another.

With experience in making cages for rabbits, making a chicken cage is not that complicated.

The wind had been blowing for several days in a row, and the yard was filled with dry grass and leaves. A few dogs were playing with the leaves blown by the wind, and a few children were chasing the dogs, laughing and making noises, having a lot of fun.

"Woof! Awooo!!!" A dog barking came from far away.

Ji Lang, who was busy grinding wire, thought that the hunting team had returned, but then he thought again and realized that the hunting team had already returned, and several dogs were in the yard.

The people working outside were also noisy.

The dog in the yard also became excited when he heard the barking, and barked "wool, wool, wool". It was not the kind of barking that came from someone sensing prey, but rather a very excited and happy sound.

Ji Lang also stood up excitedly and ran outside.

It's Ermao! Zhou and Xiaoying are back!

When they ran outside, they saw people who were originally busy standing by the bamboo wall excitedly watching. It was still far away and they couldn't see any people, but from time to time they could hear Ermao's excited shouts.

Half an hour later, the group of people finally came back.

They all looked dusty and had lost a lot of weight. They must have suffered a lot on the way.

A group of people who were not white to begin with are now as dark as Africans. Xiaoying, who used to have a relatively fair complexion, now has a tanned face with cracked skin, and the black and white patches are very uneven.

But his face was full of joy, and he smiled foolishly with his big white teeth bared, "Brother Lang, we are back."

A Zhou looked around in the outer courtyard for a few times before he saw Ye running out of the door in a hurry. He had just been boiling medicine in the cave, and he didn't react at first because of the commotion outside. Later he realized that the team that went out had returned and they ran out in a hurry.

At this moment, Zhou's face was no better looking than Xiaoying's. In addition, he had no time to tidy himself up after a long journey. His hair was oily and covered with dust, and the hair was tangled in tangles, looking messy, worse than a chicken coop.

He looked very embarrassed, but his face was full of joy, and his eyes were filled with indescribable longing when he looked at Ye.

When Ji Lang saw this, he thought, how could the two of them just exchange glances at such an important moment? He immediately pushed Zhou towards Ye, and the two of them hugged each other excitedly.

Yo yo yo, Ji Lang, who was just standing still and preparing to watch the scene, was suddenly turned around by Qing Jiu.

The big tree came over and said, "Priest, what's so good about those two people? Why don't you take a look at the salt we brought back?"

Yes, there are important things to do, and one cannot just read gossips. Ji Lang hurriedly looked at the things they carried back. With the help of people from the Baiyun tribe, it actually took only more than a month to get there, and it took more than twenty days to make salt on the beach. This was after they worked day and night without daring to stop for a moment, and several iron pots were almost burned out before they had enough. When they came back, because they brought salt, the salt bags were very heavy and they had to take turns carrying them, so it took them longer to get back.

Ji Lang opened their bags of salt, which were made from his tarpaulin. They were very strong and waterproof, and much lighter than the animal skin bags these people originally used.

The crystal salt particles inside were very coarse, like rock sugar, but the color was slightly gray, because some impurities were not extracted, which was okay, after all, the purpose of these coarse salts was mostly to pickle meat and vegetables. There were six bags half a person's height, and two of them looked different from the other bags. Ji Lang leaned over and opened them, and the bags that were originally stuffed seemed to be unable to hold up, and the contents overflowed.

"Is this seaweed?" Ji Lang's tone was full of surprise. There is no iodine in sea salt, and iodine deficiency will cause "goiter", which he has always known. When Zhou and the others left, he wanted to tell them that he could bring back some kelp and the like. But then he thought that the salt everyone ate was washed out by him, and he had never lived by the sea, so he had no idea about the high and low tides. What if he encountered danger? So he didn't mention this matter. He planned to wait until they went there more times and became familiar with it before telling them about it. He didn't expect them to give him such a big surprise.

Dashu was very proud of it. They exchanged this thing with a tribe on the seaside. After they arrived, they did not go to find those tribes, but found a high place near the sea to set up tents and start making salt.

But after all, they were on someone else's territory, and one of the tribes soon discovered them. The people of the Baiyun tribe had exchanged things with them before and had some dealings with them, so there was not much conflict.

But they proposed an exchange. When these people were making salt, the people of that tribe also observed from a distance for a long time and found that the pots they used were much better than the stone pots and ceramic pots in their tribe, so they came up with the idea of ​​an exchange.

Finally, the two groups of people agreed to exchange a pot for the ability to make salt here for a long time. Anyway, sea water is inexhaustible for the tribe here and can be used at will. Those people immediately agreed readily, but Ashu said that their pot is very precious. There are only a few of them in the tribe and it cannot be exchanged casually. Of course, he exaggerated a little. He just didn't want those people to take such a big advantage at once, so he asked them to bring some other things. Those people discussed it and took a lot of seaweed, dried fish and shrimp, etc., and filled two large bags but couldn't finish them. The rest was taken away by the Baiyun tribe.

"Okay, okay, these are all good stuff." Ji Lang grabbed a handful of dried meat of some unknown shellfish and began to drool. He was not a big fan of seafood, but now he was craving for the taste of seafood.

Pick a clean one and put it in your mouth.

"Priest, they said this can't be..."

"Ugh! Why is it so salty! And bitter!" He spat it out just as he put it into his mouth.

Xiaoying silently finished the unfinished sentence, "You can't eat it directly. You have to soak it in water and rinse it clean before you can eat it."

If you hadn't said it earlier, Ji Lang's mouth would now be filled with a salty, bitter and fishy taste.

It’s so salty, no wonder it can be preserved so long in the warm season.

These things were distributed, and those who went out would definitely get more, so that they could exchange some things with others. This was usually done by Xishi and Dashu, and they did it again this time.

Jilang, Qingjiu, and even Xiaoman were given a small jar of coarse salt, a bag of seaweed, and a bag of dried goods.

In the evening, he ate the seafood porridge he had been craving for. Ye added chopped wild vegetables and green onions to remove the fishy smell, and Ji Lang ate two big bowls in one go.

I didn't even have time to eat the steamed egg custard, but other people didn't seem to be interested in things made from seafood. They preferred the egg custard steamed in a bamboo cup with a little soy sauce sprinkled on it. It was tender and smooth, and so delicious that you wanted to swallow your tongue.

The bamboo cups that the little ones licked were almost glistening with food, especially Tao An and Tao Rong. They had only eaten minced meat or paste made of flour and fruit powder before. It was the first time they ate something with such a texture, and they sang along.

His belly was so round, but he was still yelling, "I want seven more, seven more."

"What seven? It's gone!" Sa Shi put away the small wooden spoons they used. Looking at the small spoons that were covered with saliva after being licked, he felt a little disgusted and knocked the two little guys on the head mercilessly.

The two little ones who didn’t get any delicious food and got hit on the head said: Don’t cry for the sake of eating new delicious food today.

Ermao, who had been away for many days, didn't feel strange at all. He visited all the family members one by one, even the two little ones.

The two little men, who used to walk unsteadily, are now chasing after it and pulling its tail hair.

The yard was unusually lively for a few days. Most of the people came to exchange things for pottery jars. Occasionally, some greedy people came to exchange these things with Ji Lang for sugar or ham. The cave was already crowded to begin with, with no room to step. Things like salt and dry goods were easy to deal with and could be put in the kitchen. Anyway, everyone in the yard was used to eating and drinking together, so there was no need to divide them up clearly. But they didn't know what to do with the furs. After thinking about it, Ji Lang and Qingjiu decided to distribute these things to Xiaopang and the other children, as well as Dashu's mother and Grandma Xue, who were older.

In fact, Ji Lang did this for a purpose. He wanted to tell everyone that as long as they were willing to work hard for the betterment of the tribe, their future children and when they were old would be taken care of by other people in the tribe.