Chapter 12

But Mu Qing was willing to spend on his female, and He felt that if they said anything disagreeable again, Yun Li would surely become unhappy.

She came to get on good terms with Yun Li, so it's better not to make Yun Li unhappy.

Lvcao standing at the back actually wanted to say Yun Li shouldn't be so willful, in case Mu Qing grows tired of her.

But when the words reached her lips, seeing Mu Qing had already crushed the whole block of salt ore, a malicious thought flashed in her mind: let her continue like this, and once she annoys Mu Qing, she won't have these good days anymore.

"A Li, it's done."

After Mu Qing finished pinching it, he stepped aside to let her see.

Unexpectedly, Yun Li grabbed him and pointed to the hole on the stone plate, saying, "A Qing, roll those not-too-finely crushed ores into that hole, then grip it and turn it like this."

Mu Qing did as she said.

The stone disc on top started turning, accompanied by an unpleasant grinding sound, and He and they all curiously watched to see what the stone mill could grind out.

The males also came over to look, waiting for Yun Li to have Mu Qing move the top stone disc aside; when they saw the ore that hadn't been ground much, one or two males laughed, saying, 'Looks like Mu Qing's female's thing isn't useful at all.'

He and they looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

'Looks like this thing is completely useless; we waited for nothing.'

A female quietly whispered to her companion beside her.

'Yeah, I thought she could produce something good, but ended up wasting food and wasting salt ore.'

Her companion also lowered her voice.

He heard them say that; although he inwardly agreed with what those two said, he still gave them a look telling them to stop speaking.

The two females immediately shut up, but inwardly they didn't care much; what they said was clearly the truth.

Beast people have good hearing; even though they lowered their voices, Yun Li heard it. Mu Qing, fearing she'd be hurt, frowned and glanced toward He's side, then softly comforted his own female.

'A Li, don't listen to them. This stone mill is very useful; when I use it to grind salt ore, I don't exert much effort. If you still want to grind salt ore later, I'll keep grinding it for you. All our salt ore can be ground with the stone mill however you like.'

This result Yun Li had already mentally prepared for; after all, salt ore is quite hard, and the stone disc is just stone ground, so it's normal that it doesn't break.

But hearing Mu Qing say that, her heart instantly felt happy.

Yun Li picked up the salt granules on the lower stone disc, then smiled at Mu Qing and said, 'You said it, so help me grind the remaining salt ore into this; I'll have use for it later.'

Although she didn't quite remember how to use salt ore to extract refined salt, she still remembered the sayings about boiling salt and sun-drying seawater.

Boiling salt definitely uses a pot, and sun-drying seawater definitely means sun-drying seawater; she remembered that sea salt is made by spreading seawater in one place and exposing it to intense sun until it crystallizes.

Then using the salt water soaked from salt ore to boil salt, the steps should be correct—it's all about forming crystals at high temperature.

Ground salt ore dissolves more easily; if we move quickly, maybe we can produce some coarse salt today.

'Good!'

Seeing her happy, Mu Qing naturally followed her lead.

'Then you grind quickly; I'll go get a basin to later hold these crushed salts.'

Yun Li threw down those words and ran back into the house.

A few males, hearing Yun Li wanted to get a basin to hold the salts, couldn't help laughing and said, 'Mu Qing, is your female still okay? These crushed salts just need to be collected; there's no need to use a basin to hold them.'

Mu Qing knew this fact in his heart, but he wouldn't say a bad word about his own female.

'A Li has her own ideas; she said later it will be useful, so it is. If you want to say another word, better wait until we're idle, then I'll spar with you—just right for giving you some training.'

After he said that, those few males had no choice but to fall silent helplessly.

The two females behind He who had previously whispered, hearing Mu Qing say that, felt a bit dissatisfied inwardly; they were just stating the truth, is it necessary to protect the calf like that?

He also felt Mu Qing was overprotective, but thinking that Mu Qing, after being an adult for four or five years, finally had a female willing to accept him and even made him the First Beast Husband, he felt it was normal for him to be this protective.

Anyway, his own males are fine and won't provoke Mu Qing, so even if Mu Qing wants to pick a fight with males, he can't hit his males on the head.

However, Lv Cao started acting up again; she actually whispered to the other females, 'It's all Yun Li who's led Mu Qing astray.'

'He is Yun Li's male; he doesn't protect his own female—does he still have to go tell other beast people that his female is bad?'

The female who had initially laughed at Yun Li's naive idea of pickling wild vegetables, seeing Lv Cao speak again, immediately rolled her eyes angrily and said, 'Can't you just be a bit more quiet?'

Upon hearing that, Lv Cao instantly turned toward He and showed a wronged expression.

He saw Lv Cao showing that expression despite being fine, and he also frowned, 'Qing Ye didn't speak wrong either; who are you making that expression for?'

Lv Cao only felt helpless; He couldn't see at all whether Qing Ye was targeting her, and she hadn't said anything—why would she say that about her?

Then what else?

He's sister and Qing Ye are on good terms; He not helping his own people—could it be that he's helping a female who forcibly inserted herself into their little group?

So when Yun Li took out the basin, Lv Cao turned her gaze on her again; she wanted to see what trick Yun Li would pull today, and when they go to the gathering team tomorrow, she will definitely spread the word that Yun Li looks down on them, these former friends.

'A Qing, quick! Put the crushed salt into the basin; I also took out a few iron fruits. Didn't the Witch Doctor say drinking water boiled from this is good for the body? Crush them and use the stone mill to grind them into powder for me; then drinking this won't choke the throat.'

Yun Li also, when she went into the house to get the basin, remembered this; the Witch Doctor said crushing the iron fruit and boiling water is good for the body, but she dislikes how no matter how much she crushes it, when she boils water there's always a big hard prickle that hurts her throat, so she hardly drinks it.

Fortunately, there is a stone mill at home; seeing the iron fruit, she suddenly remembered.

After Mu Qing helped her sweep the crushed salt into the basin, he looked at the iron fruit Yun Li handed over, hesitated a moment, then still took it.

Seeing Yun Li just finished grinding the salt ore and now starting to crush the tree fruit, He sighed and said, 'A Li, this iron fruit is a good thing; do you know what it is......'

'Iron fruit is also called pregnancy fruit; I know that.'

Yun Li glanced at Mu Qing, who was silently crushing the tree fruit, and asked, 'Could it be that when you drink iron fruit you've never had your throat choked? Or do you use stone tools to crush the iron fruit into powder, so drinking it poses no problem?'

He looked at the crushed salt in her basin and said, 'But your stone mill is clearly not usable.'

Yun Li looked at the crushed salt in her basin, her mind working quickly, and said, 'Where is it not usable? Think about how every year the Witch Doctor has the tribe's males help grind the dried herbs; even if their palms are slapped raw, they can only produce a little bit, and still the Witch Doctor complains they're slow.'

This stone mill can even grind salt ore; could it not grind the dried herbs either?

As soon as she said that, Gong immediately looked at the stone mill with fiery eyes.

He is precisely the male who every year is called by the Witch Doctor to help grind the herbs, yet still complained about being slow.

Before, how had he not thought of using tools to grind the herbs?

He also froze.

Yeah, a stone mill can grind hard salt ore into powder—what about the dried herbs?