Chapter 633: Chapter 405: Busy Days
The commander Yang didn’t think much of it, it was getting late, so he let his subordinates go to help.
Xiao Mi was originally going to help as well, but Wei Ziang stopped her, and without saying a word, changed her back into her original shoes, then told her to wait by the shore.
The sun had already set by this time, and the river water was even colder, especially since Xiao Mi had been playing in the water for quite a while earlier.
Perhaps due to previous experiences, this time Xiao Mi obediently let Wei Ziang assist her.
Xiao Mi’s feet had become icy cold from soaking, so when Wei Ziang put her shoes on, he held her feet in his hands for a bit to warm them before putting the shoes on.
This action couldn’t help but make Commander Yang suspicious, although he didn’t know about Miss Jiang, it seemed that the Third Young Master’s intentions were not pure.
However, after all, it was a family matter, and the Third Young Master was known by everyone to be an adopted son, so it wasn’t much of a concern.
They busied themselves with handling the fish, and other hunters gradually returned with their prey, unexpectedly capturing a wild buffalo!
But it had already been shot into a sieve.
Seeing Xiao Mi sighing repeatedly, Wei Ziang patted her hand and whispered in her ear, "In a few days, I’ll take you to the frontier, where there are plenty of cattle and sheep."
Xiao Mi’s eyes lit up instantly, "Really? Promise, you mustn’t lie to me."
Wei Ziang nodded, "Don’t worry, I won’t lie to you."
As for convincing his parents, he’d have to think of a way.
If it were before, he might still worry about what would happen if they got lost while taking Xiao Mi out.
After all, once outside Lishi City, there’s an endless grassland; although there are cities ahead, they are too far apart and have no marked roads.
In such circumstances, it is quite easy to get lost.
But now he wasn’t worried anymore, after all, Ling’er and Xiao Ba were there, and the two combined were even more useful than the most experienced guide.
Receiving a confirmed answer, Xiao Mi became excited at once, hurriedly pulling Wei Ziang, chirping about what she wanted to find.
She had this idea as soon as she arrived in Lishi City, camels, yaks, sheep, and even large grey prairie rabbits, wolves, foxes, and if lucky, maybe an eagle!
She admitted she wanted to keep them; she had seen roasted camel in Lishi City before, and if it weren’t for being with her parents, she would have gone to ask about the source.
After all, she needed these for her space, as Ling’er said, the more biodiversity in the space, the faster it upgrades.
For this purpose, she even specifically gathered wild grass seeds along the roadside and sent them into space.
With Ling’er around, the wild grass would only grow obediently along the field ridges, with no need to worry about harming the crops.
Wei Ziang held a dagger in one hand and pressed a fish with the other, while Xiao Mi squatted on a large stone nearby, one spoke, the other listened, occasionally nodding to indicate agreement.
It was as if they were completely isolated from the others.
Fortunately, everyone was immersed in the excitement of capturing the wild buffalo, with enthusiastic discussions even about the weight of the buffalo head, leaving them unable to pay attention to the two on the side.
The beef was definitely to be eaten, whether roasted or stewed, it would be fine.
However, the horns, bones, and hides could all be used in medicine, and they planned to have General Song’s people bring them back to the city to sell at the pharmacy when they brought the sickle the next day.
The forbidden army members also had families to feed, and although their salaries weren’t low, who wouldn’t want a little extra money?
But this buffalo was really huge, a fully grown bull weighing at least a thousand kilograms, captured after being besieged by dozens of people.
When they returned, it was dragged back by a dozen horses.
But when it was still a whole buffalo, it didn’t seem that much, only big, without any particular impact.
But now, after being gutted and dismembered into pieces of meat, it was piled into a huge heap, and even the cleaned stomach weighed tens of pounds!
It was fortunate that Xiao Mi was sharp-eyed; otherwise, the stomach would have been discarded.
Buffalo stomach is so delicious in hot pot, and it’s incredibly expensive!
Not just the stomach, other preserved internal organs were also saved by Xiao Mi; if they weren’t so unfamiliar with each other, she would have scolded them for wasting.
Then she hurried back to call her parents.
This was just like working with pig organs; if you didn’t know how to process and cook them, they would produce too much of an odor to eat.
Her mother happened to be the one skilled at these, calling several women who could cook to help clean the bovine offal by the river.
Don’t be fooled by its interior origin; if not properly cleansed, it’s really inedible.
However, beef is not easily cooked, and since time was short tonight, everyone could only roughly handle it first, then choose the tenderest tenderloin to stew soup for tonight, leaving the rest for tomorrow morning’s slow preparation.
Fortunately, besides this buffalo, there was plenty of other food, so surely no one would go hungry.
Despite this, by the time everyone had finally finished busying and relaxed, it was already under the sparse stars and moonlight.
The moonlight was nice tonight, there was no worry about rain, and everyone squeezed into the carts to rest; the forbidden army removed saddles and laid them on the ground, taking turns to keep watch, letting others rest well.
Jiang Hu, Jiang Yu, and others also lay directly on saddles to rest, as they didn’t need to be on night watch, leaving them spare.
The carriage was reserved for Er Niang, Xiao Mi, and Xiao Xue.
But more than a hundred others, regardless of gender, were indeed all crowded into the carts, which was understandable, as they probably had some fear and distrust towards outsiders, particularly men.
Everyone else understood, so usually, with nothing much to do, they typically wouldn’t bother them, leaving them to their own tasks was better.
Thus muddling through a day, the next morning, at first light, ox carts, camel carts, and horse carts were transporting loads of timber and bricks.
Surprisingly, the bricks were freshly fired.
Not just bricks, but many craftsmen for building houses had arrived.
Upon inquiring further, it turned out that General Song had arranged this all along.
Knowing they planned to settle here and that Ning’an Village had been abandoned for years, as soon as they left yesterday, General Song began preparing these supplies.
To retain this farmer, Old Zheng, General Song put in a lot of effort.
But doing so saved Commander Yang and the others the trouble of sourcing materials in the surrounding mountains; to express their gratitude, they sent back a beef leg with those returning.
What followed was a busy period of construction; the supplies were sufficient, but Commander Yang still dispatched about a hundred people daily to hunt in the surrounding area.
The rest helped with building houses, women were responsible for cooking, and after finishing that, they washed clothes everyone had exchanged out of or first mowed the surrounding wild grass from the fields.
With so many hands, in three or four days, the originally abandoned village was bustling with life.
And at this point, Wei Ziang and Xiao Mi felt it was about time and prepared to speak to their parents about wanting to visit the grasslands.