"Phew", Su Shuiche let out a sigh of relief, straightened up, and rubbed her sore waist. Finally, it was done.
Su Shuiche wrapped the dried wild mushrooms in silk cloth and put them in the bag.
These mushrooms were found a few days ago under a few big wet trees when she was exploring.
At first, he wasn't sure if the mushrooms were poisonous. Later, when he was observing, he found that the pheasants were pecking at the mushrooms and didn't see anything strange. Only then did he feel relieved and boldly dig up all the mushrooms with a thick branch.
She added a few mushrooms to the stew and found that the taste was much better.
It seemed that stewing soup was not that easy. At first, she had to drill wood to get the fire seed and stew the tasteless tiger meat soup. It was not until last month that she made the sour and salty sauce that the soup tasted better. And the mushrooms that she found these days added a lot of flavor to the soup.
Su Shuiche was satisfied with the large bag of dried mushrooms. Although the weight was not heavy, it was enough for her to eat for several months.
"Woo woo", two wolf pups rushed into the cave from the outside, bit Su Shuiche's trousers and dragged them out.
Su Shuiche had to let them drag her to the entrance of the cave.
"Xiaochun, Xiaoxue, did you catch these?"
Su Shuiche asked the two wolf pups in surprise, pointing at the two pheasants lying on the ground dripping blood.
"Woo woo woo."
The wolf pups seemed to be answering her. They straightened their forelegs and walked around Su Shuiche in a circle, then put down their forelegs and shook their pure white tails a few times.
Su Shuiche smiled and squatted down, rubbing their heads, "I didn't expect that Xiaochun and Xiaoxue have grown up and can hunt for food.
Hehe … Well, today we will eat roasted pheasants. Well, cut off the claws and neck and stew the soup. "
"Woo woo woo —" The two wolf pups happily circled Su Shuiche, shook their heads a few times, and rushed out of the cave to pick up the dead branches. Su Shuiche stood at the entrance of the cave and looked at them with a smile for a while, then rolled up her sleeves and prepared to work.
While boiling hot water for plucking the feathers in the stone pot, she thought about the matter of leaving the forest.
Now that the two wolf pups were almost one year old, there should be no problem for them to follow her out of the forest. Moreover, they could also catch small wild animals. Even if the dried meat, mushrooms, and wild fruits that she prepared were not enough, she didn't have to worry about them starving.
Well, it's decided then. While it's still spring and summer, I must set off early.
Who knew how long it would take to get out of the forest? If the weather turned cold and the snow blocked the mountain, it would be terrible.
After coming up with a plan, Su Shuiche briskly plucked the feathers and washed the two pheasants. After Jingzhi, she used a dagger to cut open the chickens' bellies. The bellies of the wild animals that lived in the mountains were very clean. Other than the five internal organs, there were almost no disgusting oil sacs. It was not like in her memory, when her cousin dug out so many oily and disgusting things when he cut the chickens.
Su Shuiche stared at the two cleaned and cut pheasants and thought for a long time. She decided to marinate one of them with the juice of the salted fruit for half a day, then hang the chicken claws in the cave with a hemp rope woven from vines to dry. As for the other one, she smeared the back of the chicken with the sour and salted juice and put it on a wooden stick to prepare for roasting later.
She also put the chicken claws, neck, and internal organs into the stone pot that was already filled with 60% water. She also threw in a lot of dried mushrooms and added seasoning, then put it on the fire to stew.
"Woo woo woo —" When the fragrant chicken soup and the crispy roast chicken were almost ready to be tasted, the two wolf pups gave up on playing tail chasing not far away from the cave. They whimpered and ran back to Su Shuiyin's side, licking her feet as if they were hungry.
Su Shuiche laughed and picked up Xiaoxue. "Little sister, are you hungry?
Okay, we'll start eating right away. "
Then she patted Xiaochun, who was squatting on the ground and looking enviously at Su Shuiche teasing Xiaoxue. She smiled and comforted him. "Xiaochun is also hungry, right?
Okay, play with your little sister for a while. I'll bring you the fragrant chicken soup and crispy roasted chicken. "
She filled the stone bowls with the thick chicken soup for the two wolf pups and put them aside to cool first. Then she used a dagger to cut the whole roasted chicken into eight large pieces. She gave the two chicken legs to Xiaochun and Xiaoxue, and picked up a chicken wing to eat.
Well, with the seasoning, the roasted chicken tasted much better than the roasted tiger meat.
Looking at the two wolf pups eating happily, she smiled. She didn't expect that wolf pups also liked to eat cooked food.
Maybe it was because she had been feeding them meat soup and eating meat from the beginning, but Xiaochun and Xiaoxue didn't have the ferocity of hungry wolves when it came to living or dying wild animals. Even if they caught a wild animal like today, they would bring it back and let her deal with it.
She didn't know if this kind of wolf was good or bad for them.
However, since she had decided to bring them out of the forest, she would raise them like big dogs. As long as she had something to eat, they wouldn't starve.
… …
Although she had decided to leave the forest long ago, by the time Su Shuiche was fully prepared and packed up, another month had passed. The forest had also entered summer as scheduled.
"Xiaochun, Xiaoxue, we should go."
Su Shuiyin picked up the large bundle that had been tidied up properly. Other than the clothes, accessories, and silver that were already there, there was also a bag of dried mushrooms that were almost light in weight, a dried salted pheasant, and a large bag of dried tiger meat and rabbit meat mixed in.
In addition, Su Shuiche used a wooden spoon to scoop the crystal green transparent liquid from the hollow of the stalactite into the gourd.
Although it was only a little bit at the bottom of the gourd, Su Shuiche, who had only tasted a few drops, knew how effective this liquid was. Unless it was absolutely necessary, she didn't want to secretly taste it.
Recently, the two wolf cubs had fallen in love with hunting. Although they could only catch small wild animals, perhaps it was their nature. However, the food they hunted was all given to Su Shuiche. They still didn't like to eat raw food.
Su Shuiyin roasted and stewed the wild rabbits and wild ducks that they had hunted. She ate them happily for a long time. She dried the rest of the meat and prepared to carry them on her back for the journey.
As for the wild fruits, she used the lovely field rattan basket to fill it. There were ripe wild peaches, sour plums, wild mulberries, hawthorns, and a few that looked like apples, but were smaller and more sour. She guessed that they were wild apples. However, this kind of fruit tree was very rare. After searching for many days, she only found two trees. She picked all the ripe fruits on the trees, but there were only about twenty fruits. A few days ago, she couldn't help but eat a few more.
Among the remaining wild fruits, this kind of fruit was the least.
However, it was enough for her to eat for a long time.
Su Shuiche thought happily.
At the very least, the current situation was much better than when they had just arrived, where they could only chew on the bland tiger jerky. Look, there were salty jerky, sun-dried mushrooms, and fresh wild fruits. Oh, although the weight of the basket was a little heavy.
However, looking at the two young wolf pups who were jumping around happily, Su Shuiyong had no choice but to carry it herself. She couldn't bully them because they were still young, right? Although she really wanted to put the fruit basket on their backs and let them carry it forward, she didn't want to.
…
One person and two wolves walked and rested. Every time they came across a water source, Su Shuiche had to stop. Because the gourd was filled with crystal green liquid, it couldn't hold any more water. She had to use the water source to wash her face and hands and drink some water to moisten her lips.
After summer, it was still a little stuffy to travel in the forest.
Su Shuiche let the two wolf cubs drink their fill of water and play with them for a while. She leaned against a tree trunk to rest, gnawing on a few wild fruits and throwing a few pieces of meat jerky to the wolf cubs as snacks.
Although because of the water source, she had lost a few banknotes worth a thousand taels, she still liked to rest in places with water.
Speaking of the five banknotes that had been soaked in the water, Su Shuiche could only conclude that she was not fated to have them.
Who knew that the original owner of this body would hide the banknotes in the belt between the outer robe and inner robe?
When she was taking off her outer robe by the stream, how could she have noticed this? She just took it off and rinsed it in the stream. In the end, she saw the five banknotes when they floated up from the water. When she picked them up, she found that they were actually banknotes worth a thousand taels. Unfortunately, they had already melted.
…
After walking and resting four or five times, she once again arrived near the water source. By then, the sky had already darkened. Su Shuiche looked at the endless forest and sighed. Looking around, she did not find a suitable cave or tree hole to spend the night in.
It seemed that she would have to sleep here tonight. If she continued forward, she did not know if there would be a water source.
After looking around, Su Shuiche chose a relatively hidden bush behind. She took out a tiger skin from her cloth bundle and spread it on the ground. The two wolf cubs were very perceptive. Seeing Su Shuiche's posture, they obediently picked up a lot of dried branches and firewood.
Su Shuiche happily patted their heads, as if her children had learned how to be considerate of their mother.
But after being happy for a while, she remembered that she did not bring the fire seed.
"Oh!"
Su Shuiche dejectedly slapped her forehead. She remembered that she had carefully stored the charcoal fire seed in the stone cylinder. Now, she had forgotten about it in the cave.
She had used her knowledge of drilling wood to experiment with it. She did not know how many times she had experimented before she had succeeded in igniting a spark.
Since then, Su Shuiche had habitually left a fire seed in the stone cylinder. This way, she would not have to drill wood countless times the next time she wanted to start a fire.
That was very painful.
Su Shuiche innocently looked at the two wolf cubs who were squatting on the ground and wagging their tails. She spread out her palms and complained, "Xiaochun, Xiaoxue, I forgot to bring the fire seed.
Although the stone bowl and stone jar are a bit heavy, I did not plan on bringing them.
But I did not want to forget the fire seed in the stone cylinder.
Ai!
It's all my fault. Before I left, I only thought about the tiger skin and did not carefully check it again. "
Su Shuiyue muttered to herself, half complaining and half blaming herself. The two wolf pups whimpered intimately towards her and burrowed into her arms as if to comfort her.
"Okay, I'm not sad. I just blame myself for not being careful.
Fortunately, it's early summer now, so it shouldn't be too cold at night. Moreover, we have this warm and soft tiger skin, right?
Hehe … Stop licking my face, it's itchy! "
The two wolf cubs shared the dried meat and wild fruits. Su Shuiche also cut a salted chicken leg for them to eat. The wolf cubs were still growing, so they could not starve.
Then, after drinking some water, they snuggled up to each other and fell asleep quietly, wrapped in the tiger skin.