Orc Girl's Tribal Daily Life

Chapter 262 Jiangma Cave (This chapter was written too early; please reread it.)

Those are things to worry about later. Jiang Luoluo calculated the growth time of the seeds she had planted and made arrangements accordingly.

As for what to arrange? Well, of course, it's to arrange for appraisers to continue sorting out the seeds with the necessary characteristics—specifically, red and chili peppers.

It's no secret that Chi loves stir-fried spicy rabbit meat. However, apart from the very beginning when Chi often had to come to Jiang Luoluo to "beg for money," she has since learned how to make it herself and no longer bothers Jiang Luoluo.

However, if Jiang Luoluo wants to find someone to taste the spiciness of chili peppers, she will still ask Chi, and Chi has no objection.

One reason is that Chi himself likes to eat spicy food. The fact that Chi tasted the spicy food for Jiang Luoluo would be a burden for others, but not for Chi.

The other one is Chi, who has eaten the most chilies and has the most accurate judgment of spiciness. She also has enough experience to know how to distinguish chilies of different spiciness levels according to Jiang Luoluo's requirements. If it were someone else, they would have to get used to it first.

The last reason is that, due to his vision problems, Chi cannot see most objects clearly and can only rely on several other senses besides vision. Over time, he has developed a more acute sense than others, which is completely incomparable to other tribesmen.

However, after Chi got her glasses and was able to see clearly, she has been participating in the tribe's hunting activities without missing a single one, making her a true workaholic.

Even though Akane herself had no shortage of food, and even had so much prey that she was completely overwhelmed, she showed absolutely no intention of stopping to rest.

It seems that Akane has acquired the glasses as a new toy, and she is very excited about it, so she is enthusiastic about the hunting activity and is using the hunt to test her new toy.

But in reality, those who know Aka will know that this is one of Aka's habits—because he cannot clearly confirm with his eyes whether what he is doing is correct, Aka will repeat whatever he does dozens or hundreds of times until he can fully master it even when he can't see it.

For Chi, participating in the tribe's hunt was just such a thing.

Because Aka had never participated in such a hunt before, he was trying his best to familiarize himself with the rhythm of the hunt and frantically absorbing experience so that he could do his best.

She has never been inferior to anyone.

Therefore, Jiang Luoluo calculated the time and figured that in about half a month, when the chili seeds matured, the hunting team would also be returning.

It's a good opportunity to ask Chi for help in testing chili seeds and see if these specially selected "non-spicy" chilies have inherited the characteristic of being "non-spicy".

Then select the less spicy seeds and continue planting them.

After repeating this dozens of times, Jiang Luoluo refused to believe that she couldn't find chili peppers that she could eat.

"By the way, Luo, you should also start preparing for the brewing recently," Wu suddenly remembered the brewing matter and reminded Jiang Luoluo.

"Hmm?" Jiang Luoluo looked up at Wu.

"When the Fireflower bears fruit, most of the fruits in the Taz Forest will also be ripe," the witch reminded Jiang Luoluo.

Actually, there are quite a few fast-growing fruits in the Taz Forest now, but there aren't many, so picking them now would be a waste of time and manpower.

Another reason is that the hunting team has returned, so there are enough people to pick enough fruit to make wine.

Fruit wine performs exceptionally well during hunts before and after the snow season, and its effectiveness is recognized by most of the tribe, except for the occasional minor trouble caused by "drunkenness".

Therefore, it is necessary to increase the amount of fruit wine produced this year.

Telling Jiang Luoluo in advance will allow her to start preparing beforehand. Although the ingredients for making fruit wine are not complicated, the quantity needed is large.

Those containers and the like need to be prepared well in advance.

But Wu's reminder was tantamount to a heavy blow to Jiang Luoluo on the spot.

If she makes some fruit wine herself, it can be considered a hobby; if she makes a little more, it can be considered a gift for relatives and friends.

But if we were to brew enough wine to supply the entire tribe, wouldn't that mean the cattle and horses would have to work again?!

And it's supplying the entire tribe! How much would we have to brew to make it enough? I'm afraid we'll have to fill this place for the rest of the time!

Thinking of this, Jiang Luoluo lost all interest in looking at the remaining plants—in fact, she had already seen everything she needed to see—and hurriedly pulled the delighted Xing away.

No, she definitely can't do this herself; she needs to find another sucker to take over.

Jiang Luoluo's first target was Ke.

Ke is currently in charge of making jam in the tribe. It has become a stable job. He doesn't need to go hunting. He can support his family and even have some money left over just by trading the jam for food.

Besides the fact that jam has now risen to a status comparable to bitter salt, the most important reason is probably those... kids who steal their own jam.

If parents aren't watching closely, a whole jar of jam that could last for half a month might be stolen and eaten up in one go by their greedy child.

In the end, they could only exchange for new jam to increase Ke's sales... After all, they themselves also liked to eat jam, and they couldn't give it up.

When Ke heard Jiang Luoluo's purpose, he looked very troubled and told her with embarrassment that he couldn't do so many things.

Making jam sounds easy, but Ke doesn't have anyone else to help him—Mao is going hunting with Aka and learning all sorts of skills.

Ke had to go to the Taz Forest to pick fruit himself, bring it home, sort, wash, and cook it into different jams by himself. This took up almost all of his time, leaving him no free time at all.

Most importantly, the jam that Ke made was meant to supply the entire tribe, and he really couldn't make fruit wine on top of that.

"By the way, Luo, try this." Just as Jiang Luoluo was about to leave in disappointment, Ke called out to her and put a soft object in her mouth.

Jiang Luoluo didn't suspect Ke's malice and started chewing it without even looking at it, releasing a rich fruity aroma.

It's like jam, but it's not quite jam.

Jiang Luoluo looked at Ke's hand in surprise and saw a wooden jar filled with a transparent, solidified substance. "Pectin?"

Ke actually managed to cook out pectin himself?

But thinking about it, it's normal. After making jam for over a year, it's only natural that he would unexpectedly discover some derivative products.

"So it's called pectin?" Ke scratched his head and said with a smile, "I've discovered that the reason the jam is made successfully is because of this pectin."

"Some fruits don't release this substance when cooked, making them difficult to make into jam. But if you extract this pectin from other fruits and then add it to fruits that don't have pectin, you can make jam!"

Jiang Luoluo was already used to the intelligence of the tribespeople and wouldn't show excessive surprise.

"Luo, I've cooked quite a lot of this pectin here. Do you want to take some back and eat it? It's soft and tastes much better than jam."

When Ke said he cooked a lot, he meant he really did, without exaggeration. So Jiang Luoluo didn't hesitate for a second and immediately nodded, "Okay, I'll take it!"

She's already envisioned what fruit gummies she'll make with pectin. Hehehe, she's going to have candy to eat!

I don't know if fruit juice gummies are considered new, or if I can trade them for food from the python.

After leaving Ke, Jiang Luoluo visited many more clansmen, including He. He had experience in processing fruit wine before, so he was the most experienced in making it and the most suitable candidate.

Unfortunately, Brown was unwilling to give up his work on Little Stone Mountain. He preferred teaching the children on Little Stone Mountain to making fruit wine.

However, He also said that he would try his best to help Jiang Luoluo if she needed anything.

However, when Jiang Luoluo thought about the amount of fruit wine that needed to be supplied to the entire tribe, she could no longer show a smile.

It's just a drop in the ocean, a drop in the ocean.

Jiang Luoluo went to find other members of her clan, but unfortunately, she made no progress after a whole day.

Everyone was generous and offered Jiang Luoluo help when she needed it, but they all declined the offer to dedicate themselves to making fruit wine full-time.

For most of the tribe, brewing fruit wine was a reliable way to make a living and provide a sense of security for their later years. However, compared to simply repeating the same task, they still trusted the strength in their own hands more.

In other words, they simply can't stay at home.

People like Ke are few and far between, and Ke is also old, over forty years old. He is not particularly strong and often can't keep up with the pace of the hunt.

In addition, having raised Mao alone and having no rest time due to years of hunting, he had too many hidden injuries. It was only after considering his own situation that he chose to take over the jam making business.

Healthy members of the clan generally do not consider this.

Does this really mean I have to do this kind of thing myself? No! Jiang Luoluo covered her face, her expression full of struggle.

The thought that I won't be able to play freely anymore, and will have to be confined to one place, constantly brewing wine... makes me feel like my life, which is only seven years old, is already over.

Fortunately, Wu wasn't so heartless. The next day, he called Jiang Luoluo over and said, "I heard you spent the whole day yesterday looking for people and asking them if they wanted to make fruit wine."

Jiang Luoluo scratched her head sheepishly and answered honestly, "There's too much to do. If I do it all myself, I won't have time to do anything else."

Wu thought about it and agreed with Jiang Luoluo. She was already at an age where she couldn't sit still, so it was really a bit unreasonable to let Jiang Luoluo bear all of this alone.

“Since you want to hand this matter over to someone else, why don’t you go and take a look at the Jiangma Cave?” the shaman suggested.

Jiangma Cave is a place for tribesmen with congenital defects and disabilities. Some of them are born with defects and cannot transform into beasts, while others get sick or injured during their growth, which prevents them from transforming into beasts and ultimately makes them like "useless people".

After their parents raised them to adulthood, they were unable to survive independently. They had no choice but to move to the Jiangma Cave, where they made hemp cloth and sewed simple clothes to exchange for food with other tribesmen.

Their situation is only slightly better than that of Yuerdong.

But sometimes it's not even as good as Yuerdong. At least the children in Yuerdong, who lack food, can catch fish in the river to fill their stomachs.

Although eating soft-shelled turtle meat can make you thinner, at least it makes you feel full when you eat it.

Jiang Luoluo had been in the tribe for so long, but Jiangma Cave was a place she had never been to before, because it was more "exclusive" than other places and normal tribespeople were forbidden from approaching it.

Only with the permission of the chieftain and the shaman, such as the tribesman who regularly delivers food, can one approach and enter.

Now, Jiang Luoluo has been granted permission to enter.

“I’ll have Tong take you there,” the shaman said, summoning a female tribeswoman with only one eye, whose right eye had been blinded by a wild beast during a hunt.

Although one eye is enough to continue hunting, the tribe is not so short-handed that even members like Tong are forced to continue hunting, so relatively easy tasks are assigned to Tong.

For example, delivering various supplies and food to the people in Jiangma Cave would make Tong more acceptable to them because he is missing an eye, and it would not upset them too much.

"Okay." Jiang Luoluo nodded obediently, carefully examining Tong.

Tong is a very standard orc warrior—specifically, the "standard" in Jiang Luoluo's mind, the kind of tough female warrior with a game-like character design.

Dark skin, strong muscles, and scars on his face.

Even her voice fits Jiang Luoluo's "stereotype".

It has a deep, magnetic quality.

"Luo, do you want me to carry you?" Tong asked. The distance from the mountaintop to Jiangma Cave was quite far.

If Jiang Luoluo were to walk there by herself, it would take her at least twenty minutes to get there.

Jiang Luoluo didn't want to waste any time, so she reached out to Tong for a hug, "It's for you."

As soon as Tong picked up Jiang Luoluo, her eyebrows twitched... she was quite heavy.

It's not that I can't lift it, but it's much heavier than I expected for a normal seven-year-old, which is a bit unexpected.

Jiangma Cave is not a large cave like Yuer Cave, but a semi-circular valley with a flat open space in the middle and interconnected caves carved out around it according to the arc of the mountain wall.

The caves vary in size. The larger ones house different numbers of tribespeople, like dormitories. Because everyone has physical disabilities, living together allows them to take care of each other.

The smaller caves are where people of the tribe who have reached a certain age have chosen each other, formed their own small families, and had children.

Fortunately, even when parents are disabled, the children are rarely affected and are mostly healthy.

However, many times, the parents in Jiangma Cave could not support their children and eventually had to send them to live in Yuer Cave. Half of the children in Yuer Cave were not actually orphans, but their parents did not have the ability to raise them.

As for why parents who can't afford to raise their children still have more... it's because the tribe needs people, it needs the next generation of children. One of the major roles of the people in Jiangma Cave is that they can also contribute to the continuation of the tribe.