novelraw Chapter 15: Taking a Bowl of Blood Together with You
Chapter 15: Taking a Bowl of Blood Together with You
Last night's banquet was all cold dishes. Today this was hot rice and hot food, fatty white meat slices. Li Qiuchen ate with a feeling as if he'd lived through another lifetime.
Who understands this redemptive feeling of fat melting in your mouth like jelly?
Forget just this past month. In the past in the village, because of strange faith issues, he'd also eaten vegetarian every day, only able to occasionally go to Boss Guan's noodle shop to drink some meat broth to satisfy his cravings.
This meal, Li Qiuchen ate until the trenches were full and the moat was level. Finally unable to eat anymore, he simply lay down on the ground, clutching his belly and rubbing his stomach.
Lying in place resting for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the white crane flapped its wings and descended from the sky.
"Ga!"
As expected.
Li Qiuchen sat up, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Someone was hiding in the dark watching but he'd only noticed Li Qiuchen eating with his head down. He completely hadn't noticed the white crane flying in the sky.
Li Qiuchen had already finished his performance. Next, he'd see what origin this peeping tom had.If he returned to the village to report to the old man, that would mean the old man had a guilty conscience.
Otherwise... he was the mole!
"Follow him, see where he runs to... You work first. I'll save all the meat for you!"
Watching Gaga Pig reluctantly fly away, Li Qiuchen turned his head and began working.
The half side of raw pork the villagers left needed to be processed quickly. Otherwise it would easily attract fierce beasts from the forest.
If they really invited the Mountain Lord over, that wouldn't be fun at all.
Last night, Li Qiuchen had specifically instructed the old man to have people come here to start a fire. Besides scheming for their family's iron pot, he was also very interested in their family's cleaver and stove.
If no one helped, relying on himself alone to pile up such a stove, who knew how much effort it would take?
Cutting the raw pork into long strips and hanging them on the stove with tree branches, Li Qiuchen built a meat-smoking furnace on the spot. Only by smoking this raw meat into preserved meat could it be taken away for long-term storage.
Those stone clams in the lake had particularly keen perception. As long as there was any movement by the lakeside, they absolutely wouldn't come ashore, so Li Qiuchen didn't consider them.
When the moon rose above the branches, the white crane flew back. Without a word, it lifted the pot lid, buried its head in the food, and went on a wild eating spree.
"Ga ga!"
The person ran away. Not only didn't he return to the village, he also ran very far.
If nothing unexpected happened, he should have gone to report to the bandits.
Li Qiuchen packed up all his things and asked the white crane in a low voice, "Do you want revenge?"
The white crane, with its face covered in lard and sauerkraut shreds, froze for a moment and raised its head to look toward the lake.
How to get revenge?
That thing slipped away too fast.
"Give some blood."
The white crane shrank its neck and shook its head desperately but under Li Qiuchen's gaze, after hesitating for a moment, it still cautiously puffed out its chest.
Give blood then give blood. If this revenge isn't taken, this bird vows not to be a bird!
But when Li Qiuchen picked up the cleaver, it immediately chickened out again.
Are you trying to bleed me or stew bird soup?
"Hurry up. Giving some blood won't kill you. Don't be like a woman."
With one sentence, Li Qiuchen somehow poked at the white crane's sore spot again. It fiercely slapped him with a wing.
Li Qiuchen had absolutely no idea where a bird's artery was. He just felt around and cut a small opening under its wing root, letting out a small bowl of fresh blood.
Although the wound wasn't large, the white crane's cries were particularly miserable. Those who didn't know would think from the sound that it had suffered some kind of abuse.
It wasn't until Li Qiuchen also made a cut on his own wrist, letting out the same amount of fresh blood, that it finally settled down.
Regarding the other things the old man said, Li Qiuchen was half-believing and half-doubting but the matter about his great-grandfather seeing a big tiger injured, with blood attracting aquatic creatures to devour, was probably true.
People can't imagine things they haven't seen. Some stories can't be made up.
That is to say, blood could indeed lure those stone clams to take the bait, and it had to be high-quality blood.
Li Qiuchen didn't know whether these stone clams were picky eaters, so he took half the blood from the white crane and half from himself, then added some dried and ground medicinal powder to the blood.
His blood contained the Medicine Master's blessing. Life energy was extraordinarily vigorous.
If he couldn't emit a woody aura as camouflage, in the eyes of those carnivorous animals, he'd probably be as delicious as a cream cake but he also had to guard against omnivorous beasts, like bears and wild boars. These things were not picky about meat or vegetables.
Holding the small bowl containing fresh blood, Li Qiuchen tiptoed to the other side of the lake.
Those villagers had been busy by the lakeside for half a day, making fires and chopping meat. The more alert fish and shrimp in the water had long since scattered but this lake itself wasn't very large in area.
The other side was very quiet. In the words of fishing enthusiasts, this was a sacred ground for chumming the water.
Li Qiuchen spread a freshly peeled pig skin on the shore. He casually scattered some meat scraps and leftover yellow rice, splashed a small portion of the fresh blood in the bowl into the lake, poured all the rest onto the pig skin, then quietly retreated.
Hiding in the forest and waiting quietly for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he saw the water surface begin to ripple slightly.
The first to crawl ashore were crabs. These crabs attracted by the blood and meat began feasting without a word.
As time passed, those stone clams also silently appeared on shore.
The white crane crouched beside Li Qiuchen, staring intently at the movement on the shore.
Seeing those crabs already flipped over and foaming at the mouth while the stone clams remained oblivious, its wings couldn't help trembling.
Finally waiting for this day.
Li Qiuchen actually wasn't certain whether the toxicity of those medicinal herbs could have an effect on the stone clams. But this world was just like this. Who dared say they had one hundred percent certainty in doing anything?
If it seemed feasible, gamble on it. Losing wouldn't result in any loss anyway.
Gambling behavior certainly wasn't worth advocating, but this time he'd won the bet again.
The effect was outstanding.
After about half an hour, the shore was already covered with various fish, shrimp, crabs, and turtles, as well as stone clams with their shells open, motionless.
Li Qiuchen picked up the sack and began harvesting.
There were too many stone clams here. It should be because they had no natural predators. Adding their innate earth escape divine ability from birth, they could grow wildly as they pleased. He hardly expended any effort and picked up a full large sack.
Shouldering the sack back to his temporary dwelling, lighting a campfire, Li Qiuchen dumped out all the stone clams from the sack and began extracting pearls.
He didn't know if it was because of the poisoning, but the shells of these things were all open, saving him much effort.
Turning over the white and tender clam meat, a round pearl dropped out with a "pa da."
This pearl was as large as a thumbnail, not the pure white color of ordinary pearls, but had a silver-gray, almost metallic luster. Held in his palm, it was ice-cold. He could feel the chill hidden within.
No wonder it was called a dark pearl. This thing could probably be used in medicine but Li Qiuchen wasn't a professional physician. Without a prescription, he couldn't make deductions. Even the Medicine Master's blessing seemed to have no reaction to this kind of inorganic substance.
Li Qiuchen spent a full hour extracting over a hundred dark pearls from this pile of stone clams. The vast majority had diameters less than one centimeter. He felt they should belong to the rather inferior category.
Of course, the bigger and rounder pearls were, the better.
But this thing wasn't crops. How big and round they could grow was entirely up to fate.
The remaining small portion he felt were pretty good had all reached the size of thumbnails, which was a diameter of one to two centimeters.
There were also a few particularly excellent ones, as large as pigeon eggs. Under the moonlight they shone brilliantly, with pressing coldness. Just holding them in hand, his fingers felt painfully frozen.
This was about enough. What more could you ask for?
Li Qiuchen had a good mentality. Anyway, he hadn't paid anything either, just given some blood. Being able to have this kind of harvest, he was already very satisfied.
Knowing the method and location, if there was need in the future, he could come back to fish for more.
One couldn't be too greedy and drain the pond to catch fish.
What if behind these stone clams there was still some Foundation Establishment Stone Clam King, Core Formation Stone Clam Ancestor... or as the old man said, their ancestors even had dragon bloodline?
Li Qiuchen selected a neither-too-large-nor-too-small, medium-to-lower pearl from the pile of dark pearls and put it in his pocket, preparing to give it to the old man to repay the kindness of his family's two meals.
Any more and his family couldn't bear it. Sooner or later it would fall into the bandits' hands.
As for whether it could match the price of a pig... opinions would vary. This wasn't about the pig, but concerned his whole family's lives.
Packing and collecting the other dark pearls, Li Qiuchen glanced at the white crane beside him that was venting frustration by skipping clamshells on the water, lay down, and fell asleep with his head on the ground.
Before he could even turn over, the white crane stepped on his butt with one foot.
"Ga!"
Li Qiuchen thought for quite a while before understanding what it wanted to express.
"You want to divide the spoils?"
"Ga!"
"But you can't even eat those pearls..."
"Ga!!!"
"Alright, alright, alright. I'll split half with you. When the time comes, I'll string you a necklace to hang around your neck?"
Gaga Pig finally nodded with satisfaction, walked away proudly, and continued skipping its stones.
Getting up early the next morning, Li Qiuchen wasn't in a hurry to go to the village.
Since the old man had taken him for a mountain spirit, he was happy to maintain this mysterious image.
Being too familiar wasn't good either. People held awe toward spirits, but not toward children.
Spending a full day cleaning up all traces by the lakeside, taking away what could be taken, and for what really couldn't be taken, finding a place to dig a hole and bury it to move next time.
Not until the sun set did Li Qiuchen sneak into the village.
The mourning shed hadn't been dismantled yet. The old man lay in the coffin anxious and fretful. The table was filled with food and wine. He waited left and right but no one came.
Suddenly hearing footsteps outside, the old man hurriedly climbed out of the coffin and ran over to open the door.
Seeing Li Qiuchen appear, the stone in his heart finally landed.
"I got the job done for you. As for whether this pearl is good or not, I don't understand either."
Li Qiuchen pulled out the dark pearl from his pocket and casually tossed it into the old man's hands, pretending to be relaxed, "If it doesn't work, don't blame me..."
Hearing no sound, he turned his head to look. The old man's eyes were wide as saucers, both hands trembling as they held the pearl, as if frightened.
"Ex... Exquisite! Good heavens! This is an exquisite dark pearl!"