"It's ready to eat!"
Jiang Xuan placed two grilled fish on a clean stone slab, then used chopsticks to pick a piece of fish meat from the back, blew on it, and put it into his mouth.
While building the bamboo house, he had made several pairs of chopsticks from bamboo, but unfortunately, except for himself and Chi Shao, the others like Gou Teng preferred to use their hands to eat directly.
The fish had been grilled for quite a while, making it fairly dry, and the rich meat flavor was complemented by the fresh aroma of wild ginger.
This native freshwater fish had an excellent taste and texture, even with just two slices of wild ginger, it was delicious.
"Tastes good, everyone, try it."
Jiang Xuan continued to eat while encouraging others to try.
Chi Shao also picked up a pair of chopsticks. She wasn't accustomed to using them, but Jiang Xuan liked them, so she tried to get used to them so he wouldn't feel alone.
Chi Shao awkwardly used the chopsticks to pick up a piece of fish, supporting it with her hand, afraid it would fall.
When she put the fish into her mouth and chewed a few times, she nodded in satisfaction, her eyes narrowing into crescents because of her smile.
"With that herb, it definitely tastes better than before."
Chi Shao fully approved of Jiang Xuan's method of stuffing wild ginger into the fish to grill it.
"Hot, hot, hot..."
Gou Teng, Shi Qiu, and Nan Xing directly tore the fish meat with their hands, exclaiming at the heat, blowing on it, and stuffing it into their mouths.
"Delicious!"
"Xuan, your grilled fish is amazing!"
"I want more."
The three quickly finished a large fish. The fish didn't have many small bones, and because Jiang Xuan grilled it dry, even though they ate quickly, no one got a bone stuck.
After eating two large fish, the five of them still wanted more, so they skewered the leftover fish oil on small sticks, roasted them over the charcoal, and then ate them.
The texture of the fish oil wasn't great, but no one minded, as long as it was edible.
After finishing, Jiang Xuan thought that if they could make a pot of fish soup, it would be great; eating grilled food all the time can become tiresome.
However, making soup requires a pot, and without a pot, at least a pottery jar would suffice.
"Pottery jar..."
Jiang Xuan mumbled, eyes lighting up: "Why not make some pottery?"
Chi Shao, who heard his words, exclaimed in surprise, "Xuan, you know how to make pottery? How much did you learn in the tribe?"
Chi Shao always felt a sense of disbelief that her younger brother was so capable, and how she hadn't noticed before?
In the Deer Tribe, some could make pottery, although it was the most primitive and simple earthenware, it was still pottery with its basic functions and characteristics.
Jiang Xuan bashfully said, "I just watched them do it, and whether I can succeed, I can only find out by trying."
Chi Shao nodded and said, "Then give it a try, Xuan, I believe in you."
This place is resource-rich, and now with a method of fishing, combined with hunting and digging plant roots, storing enough food for winter for five people isn't particularly difficult.
With fewer people and more resources, the survival pressure here was much lesser than in the Deer Tribe.
"Alright, I'll give it my best shot!"
To be able to drink meat soup, Jiang Xuan decided to attempt pottery making.
Actually, making pottery is not complicated. You just need to choose the right clay, repeatedly beat, knead, shape, and dry it, then fire it at high temperatures.
If they tried multiple times and learned from their experiences, they should be able to succeed.
By the small stream, there was clay; the kind that was white in color and very fine, perfect material for making pottery jars.
However, before making pottery, there was a more urgent task: digging a pond.
Since the fishing traps worked, they'd surely catch a lot of fish in the future. They couldn't just hang them all up to smoke, right? What a huge firepit that would need!
The best method was to dig a pond and raise these fish, grabbing them to eat when needed, no need to bother with preservation, and small fish could grow bigger.
Early the next morning, Jiang Xuan got up, took down two half-smoked fish from above the firepit, and grilled them for a hearty meal for everyone before starting to prepare the tools for digging the pond.
As the saying goes, "to do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools."
Good tools can significantly improve work efficiency.
With Chi Shao and others' help, Jiang Xuan spent an entire day creating three more Bone Plows, adding to the previous two, making five in total, enough for each person to have one.
Then they spent another day weaving three wicker baskets of different sizes from vines for transporting the excavated soil.
On the third day, they finally began digging the pond.
Jiang Xuan chose a relatively level spot near the stream in front of the bamboo forest. After clearing the grass and shrubs, the five of them used the bone plows to dig, piling the dug earth with the wicker baskets to build pond embankments.
Because the tools were primitive, it took them eight full days to complete a pond six meters long, four meters wide, and half a meter deep, a task exhausting beyond outsiders' comprehension.
Jiang Xuan spent another day coating the pond's embankments with wet mud to prevent leaks.
After sealing the embankments, Jiang Xuan inserted a small fence woven from branches at the outlet so the fish wouldn't escape.
After everything was done, Jiang Xuan dug a channel to lead stream water into the pond.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
The stream water flowed in, slowly filling the pond.
Jiang Xuan and the others stood by the pond, watching the water level rise, hearts filled with a sense of achievement.
"Xuan, with the pond dug, will we have endless fish to eat in the future?" Nan Xing asked dreamily.
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Yes, one day, we'll have endless fish to eat."
"Great!"
Nan Xing immediately laughed with joy, and Gou Teng and Shi Qiu were laughing too.
Chi Shao looked at Jiang Xuan and said, "I hope that day comes soon so everyone doesn't have to worry about hunger anymore."
Jiang Xuan nodded, believing that with hard work, that day would come eventually.
After the pond was dug, they no longer hit the fish caught by the traps.
They used wicker baskets to scoop up fish from the pool, then put the live fish back into the pond using Beast Hide Bags for stocking.
A few days later, the newly dug pond was no longer empty, filled with fish swimming around.
However, they quickly discovered a new problem.
Carnivorous fish frequently bit the herbivorous fish. Even the larger herbivorous ones were often injured or even killed.
Helplessly, Jiang Xuan had to drain the pond and build another embankment in the middle to separate carnivorous from herbivorous fish.
Though the carnivorous fish still bit each other, at least the herbivorous fish could survive, and they only needed to throw in some aquatic plants daily for food.