Chapter 43: Gathering and Granite

Duo Ji and Mu Tong set off. Although some time was lost because of Ju Cao, both walked at a brisk pace and soon caught up with the tribe members who were foraging in a nearby forest.

Most of the foraging team consisted of women, along with half-grown youths too young to join the hunting parties, some men who had previously been injured and could no longer do heavy labor, and still-nimble elderly people.

Seeing the arrival of the Divine Envoy and Duo Ji, everyone greeted them with warm smiles, grateful that thanks to the Divine Envoy, they were now able to bring back significantly more food every day.

A wide variety of edible items could be found in this forest: noodle fruits, spiky cucumbers, green beans, chard, purple rice, and even the spiky lychees that Mu Tong had previously discovered.

"Are these spiky fruits edible?" Duo Ji asked, unable to help himself when he saw Mu Tong picking a large handful of them and putting them into her back basket.

"Of course they're edible," Mu Tong replied simply. She took a small knife, sliced open the tough outer shell of a spiky lychee, and offered the white, pulpy flesh to Duo Ji to taste.

"Delicious!" Sweet, tart, and juicy, these spiky fruits were extraordinarily good. In the past, people in the tribe had tried to crack them open, but stone spears simply couldn't pierce the shells; they had to resort to heavy boulders. By the time the shell finally shattered under a massive rock, the flesh inside had been smashed to mush, and the moment the hard casing split, everything would spill out and drain away in a rush.

Other times, when a spiky fruit was opened, it would be completely hollow inside. Duo Ji did not know that this happened because the fruit was overripe, causing the pulp to wither and vanish.

The men in the tribe had never cared for tart wild fruits, let alone hollow ones, while the women lacked the means to break the hard shells, or even if they exerted all their strength to crack one open, nothing edible remained. Consequently, after a few failed attempts, no one bothered to harvest the spiky fruits anymore.

Duo Ji never expected that his sister-in-law would discover yet another edible fruit and teach him how to accurately distinguish between ripe ones, unripe ones, and overripe ones that lacked pulp inside.

Moreover, Mu Tong had discovered a simple and easy method to open the spiky fruits: taking a sharp stone spear, she would forcefully poke a hole near the stem, then pull hard on the thorns on either side, causing the outer shell to easily split apart.

Hehe, after returning today, he would have something new to boast about to his friends in the tribe.

Although the foraging team was scattered throughout this forest, the woods were vast, and once people dispersed, they could only be seen as distant silhouettes.

At this moment, Mu Tong and Duo Ji were foraging alone. In this particular section of the forest, there seemed to be only this single spiky lychee tree. Therefore, the two of them harvested the fruits vigorously without anyone else competing with them, until all the ripe spiky lychees had been picked.

As usual, they stored the bulk of the harvest away, leaving only a small portion in their back baskets.

The yield of this forest was truly abundant, and being the height of summer, many plants were bearing ripe fruit. In no time at all, their back baskets were filled to the brim, especially with purple rice fruits, which were the most numerous. Considering that they needed to bring food to Ju Cao's family, the two hurried back to the tribe, dropped off their loads at home, emptied their baskets, and headed back into the mountains.

If they hadn't been helping Ju Cao's family, a single trip would have been enough, and Mu Tong would have stored all the excess harvest inside her spatial ring.

However, because they had promised to help Ju Cao, this extra trip was mandatory. Otherwise, people would inevitably suspect how they managed to acquire so much food to trade with Ju Cao in the first place.

When the two reappeared at the foraging grounds, several others were also on their second trip of the day, much like themselves. Most people primarily gathered purple rice fruits and noodle fruits, as these had a long shelf life, making it practical to stockpile larger quantities.

The items collected by the foraging team belonged to whoever gathered them, even though everyone traveled and worked together. Therefore, seizing the opportunity of finding such an abundance of food today, anyone with the ability and time wanted to harvest as much as possible.

Since everything nearby had already been mostly picked clean, the remaining people moved further ahead. Soon, everyone discovered a small grove of purple rice trees and stopped to forage.

Mu Tong and Duo Ji also selected a purple rice tree, climbed up, and began harvesting.

Each purple rice tree bore an immense quantity of fruit, with golden-red globes crowding the branches, bringing broad smiles to the faces of the gatherers. If all the purple rice fruits from a single tree were completely harvested, it would yield at least several dozen baskets. With such a vast quantity of purple rice, even daily consumption would last a very long time.

Furthermore, once these purple rice fruits were picked, the trees would produce new ones. These trees would continue bearing fruit right up until the approach of winter. Therefore, the people of the tribe were deeply grateful to Mu Tong for discovering such an edible and easily preserved food source.

Mu Tong climbed among the lush, leafy branches, her hands moving with fluid agility as she continuously plucked the ripe purple rice fruits and tossed them into the basket on her back. In reality, the vast majority of the harvested fruit went directly into the storage gear on her hands and ears. However, everyone else was too engrossed in the excitement of harvesting to pay her any attention, and the dense foliage provided ample cover.

Duo Ji descended the tree after filling his basket with purple rice. Seeing Mu Tong working continuously without rest, he guessed that his sister-in-law must be storing away more purple rice, and he felt a surge of joy. The food his sister-in-law stashed away would eventually end up in their own household anyway.

With the food his sister-in-law hid away, and his older brother's promise to bring back even more game each day to place in Mu Tong's secret cache, neither he nor his brother would go hungry this winter, provided they had enough food stored.

After stripping the entire tree of its purple rice, Mu Tong estimated she had gathered around five or six hundred pounds. With enough purple rice to last for quite a while, she climbed down the tree.

As the two walked home with their heavy baskets, Mu Tong paused as they passed a rocky hill. Earlier, while rushing back and forth, she hadn't paid attention, but now, walking slowly on her return journey, she noticed that this exposed rocky hill was composed entirely of granite.

Remembering that their current grass-thatched hut still had a mud floor, Mu Tong grew more delighted the longer she looked at the granite expanse: ah, with so much granite available, she could completely pave their home with stone flooring!

Stone flooring was naturally far superior to mud floors, eliminating any worry about accidentally spilling water inside and turning the ground into a muddy mess.

Setting her back basket aside, Mu Tong selected a large slab of granite and pulled out her small knife to chip and carve at it. In a short while, a massive piece of granite was transformed into several uniform, thick stone slabs.

Duo Ji watched as Mu Tong produced stone slabs that, after being polished, turned out quite smooth. Yet, he wondered what such smooth stones could possibly be used for.

"Carry your basket back first," Mu Tong instructed after estimating the amount of stone needed to tile the entire house.

Though Duo Ji did not understand the reasoning, he obediently hoisted and carried both baskets back home. Then, he quickly ran back and stood watching Mu Tong.

Before long, he understood her technique. Picking up a piece of granite nearby, he began to imitate Mu Tong, using his small knife to chip and carve away.