Chapter 206: Pork Trotter Soup with Soybeans

Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Pork Trotter Soup with Soybeans

Upon reaching the abandoned cave at the entrance of Zone Three Valley, Xiaqing didn’t even need to call out. The Sick Wolf, its waist injured, slowly shuffled out. Its condition had clearly improved, which made Xiaqing very happy. Once this wolf was fully healed, she wouldn’t have to deliver medicine anymore.

At this stage, the Sick Wolf only needed five milliliters of oral medication per day, mixed into some spring water. Xiaqing prepared the medicated water and pushed it in front of the Sick Wolf. "It’s all yours. Drink up."

After the Sick Wolf licked the basin clean, Xiaqing poured more spring water into it, filling it most of the way, and stepped aside. Only one Black Wolf emerged from the cave to drink. This was the fewest wolves she had seen left to guard the cave since the Sick Wolf had moved in.

After the Black Wolf finished drinking, just as Xiaqing was about to retrieve the basin, she heard the sound of something heavy being dragged in the distance. A wolf must be returning with prey.

Xiaqing hadn’t yet received any prey from the Wolf Group for the Sick Wolf today. She leaned against the rock wall and waited patiently.

Half a minute later, the broken leg wolf appeared at the entrance to Valley No. 1, a half-grown wild boar dangling from its jaws. It walked into the Wild Boar Breeding Center. The boar it carried had to weigh at least a hundred pounds; no wonder it had made such a commotion.

Upon seeing Xiaqing, the broken leg wolf immediately lifted its head, holding the wild boar high in its jaws. It trotted quickly to the front of the cave, head still raised, and stared fiercely at her.

’Showing off. It’s definitely showing off!’

’Then again, for hunting a boar this big, it’s earned the right to show off.’

Xiaqing asked in a pleasant tone, "Is this prey for the Sick Wolf and for me?"

The broken leg wolf didn’t put the boar down, keeping its head high and staring at Xiaqing with primal intensity.

’Ah, I get it...’

’This goofball must have seen how I always praise the wolf that brings the prey before I accept it, so now it thinks praise is a necessary ’ritual’ for the exchange.’

Xiaqing mustered up the right emotion and offered her admiration in a soft, gentle voice. "Broken Leg, I never realized! Not only is your Jumping Power incredible since you recovered, but your bite force is amazing too. To be able to take down such a large animal... I’m impressed. I’m truly impressed."

’The wolves had already eaten all the wild boars on Mountain No. 49. For the broken leg wolf to hunt down a boar and drag it over here, its bite force must be pretty incredible.’

Only after hearing the praise did the broken leg wolf drop the boar. It ran over to drink its fill of spring water and then disappeared into the cave without a backward glance at Xiaqing. The Brain Domain Evolution Wolf nudged the boar toward her with a front paw, indicating that she should take it.

"Thank you." ’Bringing such a large boar was incredibly generous of the broken leg wolf.’

As Xiaqing sealed the boar in a bag, she chatted idly with the Brain Domain Evolution Wolf. "The Queen isn’t here. Did she go looking for medicinal herbs? The places where those grow must be very dangerous. I hope she can return safely..."

Once the boar was sealed, Xiaqing lifted the bag and informed the Brain Domain Evolution Wolf, "I’m heading back to my territory. This boar is enough for three days, so there’s no need to send any more prey tomorrow or the day after."

Green Light prey was far more important than checking on the movements of the Red Squirrels. Xiaqing hefted the sealed bag and hurried back to her territory.

Why was she carrying it by hand? Because the boar was too big to stuff into her small backpack. If she had known the broken leg wolf was going to be so generous, she definitely would have brought her large pack when she came to deliver the medicine.

Back in her territory, Xiaqing divided the edible portions of the boar into three shares:

The boar’s head, half a side of pork, and most of the organs—weighing a total of forty-four pounds—was set aside for Territory Land No. 7. This single delivery paid back more than half of the seventy-seven pounds of Green Light meat she owed them. Half a rack of ribs, half a heart, and one trotter were for Hu Zifeng to take back to Luo Pei to help his recovery. The rest she kept for herself and the Sick Wolf.

She immediately boiled half the heart and the entire liver to feed the wolf. The ribs and remaining meat were washed with spring water, sealed, and placed in the warehouse’s underground storage room.

To preserve her potatoes, Xiaqing had set the temperature in this storage room to 4 degrees Celsius. Combined with the protective effect of the Yi Stone, the room was equivalent to the refrigeration compartment of a typical household fridge before the Natural Disasters. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Sealed and stored in this refrigerated room, the ribs and meat wouldn’t spoil for three days.

Back in the kitchen, Xiaqing cleaned the one remaining trotter, chopped it into small pieces, and placed it in a clay pot with Pollution-free Spring Water, ginger, and scallions. She brought it to a boil over high heat, then reduced it to a low simmer.

She stared at the bubbling, steaming pot for a few seconds, then picked up a recipe book from a shelf and flipped through it. A moment later, she went to the storage room beneath her tool shed, grabbed a small handful of Yellow Light Soybeans, washed them, and added them to the clay pot.

With the addition of the soybeans, the dish was now a soybean and pig trotter soup. She couldn’t be sure, however, that she’d be able to bite through the soybeans even after the trotter was fully cooked.

That spring, Xiaqing had discovered a total of twenty-five Yellow Light Soybean seedlings on her territory. During the second Harmful Rain, three of them underwent Qiang Evolution. The remaining twenty-two plants successfully flowered and produced pods.

Wild edible plants all had some method of self-preservation. Xiaqing waited until the fuzzy green pods turned brownish-yellow and the plants’ leaves began to yellow and fall off. Only after several cautious tests to confirm the soybeans had no aggressive traits did she begin the harvest.

She successfully pulled up the stalks, picked the pods, and let them sun-dry for three days, but they never split open on their own. When Xiaqing tried to handle them, she was stunned. These damn pods, which looked completely normal, were as hard as iron. Even as a Level 6 Strength Evolver, Xiaqing couldn’t crack them open with her bare hands to get the beans out.

Xiaqing had gone on plenty of gathering missions outside the Safe Zone with her team in the past, but in the ten years since the Natural Disasters began, this was the first time she had ever encountered pods this hard. It took a knife, a hammer, and a significant amount of effort before she finally managed to shell the soybeans.

It was no wonder this type of evolved soybean had survived into the tenth year of the Natural Disasters. With this level of hardness, any Evolutionary Animal that wasn’t a rodent wouldn’t even be able to leave a tooth mark on them.

The twenty-two soybean plants yielded a total of a pound and a half of soybeans. Xiaqing had originally intended to save all of them as seeds, but she changed her mind after getting some big news from Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui the day before yesterday.

The Hui San Base Lord Management Department had innovated, optimized, and standardized the agricultural trade fair. Now, each Lord could report their specialties and needs to the patrol convoys. If a match was found between two Lords, a trade could be arranged.

On the list Zhong Tao had compiled, Xiaqing noticed a Lord wanted to trade four pounds of Green Light Soybeans for seven pounds of Green Light Mung Beans. On the surface, this seemed like an unfair trade, so there was no check mark next to the listing, meaning no one had agreed to it.

To Xiaqing, however, the trade was perfectly reasonable. She had received six and a half pounds of Yellow Light Mung Bean seeds when she left the Safe Zone, which grew into twenty-seven Green Light Mung Bean seedlings. In early June, she harvested just over a pound of Green Light Mung Beans. In late June, she planted another half-pound of Green Light Mung Beans.

Now, with planting experience and the cultivation Guide from Li Si, her mung beans had a higher germination rate than the first crop, and the seedlings were growing well. If they could successfully survive the third Harmful Rain, she could harvest at least one hundred and ten pounds of Green Light Mung Beans. Xiaqing was more than willing to trade seven pounds of them for four pounds of Green Light Soybeans.

Yesterday, Zhong Tao had messaged her to say that the Lord had agreed to the trade and would wait until after she harvested her Green Light Mung Beans.

Therefore, with a future supply of Green Light Soybeans for seeds secured, Xiaqing decided it was time to taste the "Iron Soybeans" that had grown on her own land.