Chapter 159: Malt

The warehouse where they stored grain was still the old adobe house, but to prevent rats, they had smeared a layer of Cement on the floor and walls; they had never even considered the issue of leaks.

They had seen so many heavy rainstorms in the past without any leaks, so they had long since cast the matter to the back of their minds; they never expected that this time, disaster would strike.

When Baifeng rushed over to look, a large area by the Phylum was wet, and when he went inside, water was still pooled on the ground; last year it was a granary made of Cement, but this year, because there was so much more grain, most of it was in large grain bins reinforced with wood, but no matter what they used to store it, they couldn't block the rain from above.

This entire warehouse of Wheat was almost all soaked; he just didn't know if the grain in the lower layers was wet yet. He checked the other warehouses, and they were all dry with no problems. If it were just this one warehouse, the loss wouldn't be too great, and it wouldn't affect their lives.

However, it still needed to be salvaged. The open space on the plaza was large enough, and it was a Cement floor, though there was still standing water and it hadn't dried yet. The sun was quite bright now, so he estimated it wouldn't take long to dry, and only then would they have a place to sun the Wheat.

After giving instructions to the tribespeople, Baifeng continued to observe the water outside the city. If it really turned into a large Dahe, what should they do? Moving house again? That probably wouldn't work.

Everything is actually much more convenient next to a large Dahe, but it is easily threatened by floods, especially since there are heavy rainstorms here all the time in summer.

The Wheat had already been spread out to dry. The Wheat in the upper layer was all soaked and bloated; he estimated it was beyond saving. The lower layers were just severely damp; he would see if they could be salvaged after drying. If not, using them as feed would be fine; in any case, they could not be wasted.

Because sparrows and all kinds of birds had discovered that so much Wheat was being dried here, they flew down in swarms of hundreds to peck at it. The main thing was, if you're going to eat, eat, but they kept defecating in it.

Helpless, he had to assign people specifically to chase the birds. A youth who was exceptionally good at playing with stones eagerly signed up, saying he wanted to guard it, only hoping to be given a few more of the sparrows he hit. Baifeng thought that these sparrows didn't have much meat anyway, and the tribe wouldn't collect them, so he gave them all to him.

Once this was said, many half-grown boys who couldn't do heavy labor all said they wanted to guard the grain. Baifeng was very willing; chasing birds didn't require much effort, and he had done this when he was a child.

However, what he didn't expect was that when he happened to pass by the plaza, he found that those boys already had many sparrows piled at their feet, along with some other birds. They either threw stones directly with their hands or had practiced and learned to use a sling; in any case, as long as their aim was good, they could hit the birds.

Baifeng felt a playful urge as he watched, but there was no chance for him to play now. However, looking at the many birds at their feet, and seeing that several of them had quite a lot, Baifeng thought of a mischievous idea.

He walked over with a grin on his face. Those children subconsciously blocked the birds with their feet. Although the Tribal Chief said they didn't need to hand them over, now that there were so many, it was hard to say if the Tribal Chief would go back on his word. Furthermore, they had intentionally waited for the birds to land firmly on the Wheat before hitting them, not chasing the birds away from the grain, so they could be considered negligent.

But Baifeng didn't care about that. With so much Wheat, how much could these birds eat even if they were allowed to eat their fill? Besides, the meat they ate would be the compensation.

He looked at those children with a sly expression: "I have a very good secret recipe for a delicacy that can make your bird meat taste especially good. Do you want to learn it?"

Those children undoubtedly wanted to learn; otherwise, even if they caught so many, the end result of taking them home would just be a pot of meat soup, and given the nature of their "parents," they certainly wouldn't get much to eat.

Baifeng bared his teeth: "You want to learn? That's simple. You just need to give me two sparrows or one pigeon each, and I'll teach you how to make it myself, how about that?"

The children were a bit hesitant when they heard the cost, but after counting the birds at their feet one by one, the leader—the one who had caught the most—said he was willing and gave the two sparrows to Baifeng. After all, the meat content of two sparrows couldn't compare to one pigeon at all.

Seeing that their big brother had already made a decision, the others also took out their birds and gave them to Baifeng. In this moment, Baifeng had twelve sparrows, which was more than even the person who had caught the least among them.

Looking at the still-sodden Wheat, Baifeng waved his hand and told them to follow him. They would leave this Wheat for now and go eat something good.

He found an open space at random; the ground was all mud now, so there was no need to mix mud specifically. Baifeng gave them a Small Knife he had brought himself and told them to remove the internal organs of all these birds. There was no need to pluck the feathers; they were small things to begin with, and plucking them was too much trouble.

He went to the side of the Fish Pond himself and poled a Bamboo Raft to pick some lotus leaves; he didn't trust the children to pick them.

Finally, he wrapped the eviscerated birds in lotus leaves, coated the outside with mud mixed with plenty of salt, and then set up a fire to start roasting. Baifeng taught them how to make Beggar's Chicken.

When the fire had almost died out, Baifeng picked out his own mud ball and took it back to eat with Sui. While waiting for it to roast, they had gone back to catch more birds; they had to bring something home to account for their time.

Baifeng and Sui ate with great relish. Although there wasn't much meat, it was quite good as a side dish for Wine. After all, they weren't short of food; they wouldn't be full from this little bit, and it wasn't as if they didn't have extra meals.

At night, the undried Wheat was shoveled up and piled together, which could prevent the birds from defecating everywhere while stealing food; at most, they would defecate on the outside.

The next day, when the Wheat was pushed open to dry again, Baifeng knew there was no need for it anymore, because a thick smell of fermentation was coming out, and if one looked closely, some Wheat sprouts had already emerged.

Everyone felt it was a pity that so much Wheat had to be used as feed. The tribespeople had conducted a comprehensive inspection of the roofs of the other warehouses yesterday and patched them with Tile again, just for fear that this kind of thing would happen again.

However, Baifeng stroked his chin and thought for a while. Although this sprouted Wheat could only be used as feed, the malt was still too short now. Baifeng then asked everyone to continue spreading out the Wheat and then keep sprinkling water on it, sprinkling it once or twice a day to let the malt grow faster; he had a use for it.

The tribespeople didn't know what use the Tribal Chief was talking about, but even if it were like raising rice seedlings for Wild Rice, now was not the time. Although they didn't have enough experience in farming, they knew that nothing could grow in Winter.

Baifeng couldn't explain it clearly to them, but it would take a few more days for the malt to grow to the point where it could be used. Now, they should clean up the large stove they used for steaming Wine; it would be needed when making Maltose.