Chapter 35

After drinking the porridge, everyone's enthusiasm for planting rice reached an unprecedented high. Zhang Fan also took the opportunity to tell everyone that rice could be used not only to cook porridge but also to make dry rice, rice noodles, rice paste, and many other foods. Hearing Zhang Fan say that so many foods are made from rice, everyone's enthusiasm was stirred up again. Finally, the chieftain couldn't hold back and said:

"Since rice can be used to make so many foods, why don't we plant more?" As soon as they heard the chieftain speak, the tribespeople below also couldn't hold back, and they all looked at Zhang Fan with eager eyes. At that moment, Zhang Fan and Ba te er exchanged a glance and understood each other's meaning. Ba te er brought out the wooden basin he had brought and the plump grains that Zhang Fan had specially selected. Zhang Fan said to everyone:

"Now everyone, first take out the seeds, then pour them onto the ground."

After saying that, he grabbed a handful of rice from Ba te er, then stepped down from the stage. He inspected each person's seeds one by one. At this point, many people seeing the seeds Zhang Fan held in his hand began to feel embarrassed, after all, they had just grabbed seeds at random, not carefully selected like Zhang Fan. After Zhang Fan had looked at most people's seeds, saying he wasn't disappointed would be impossible. At first, everyone didn't believe rice could be grown, so they just took seeds randomly; some people even brought seeds that had already moldy. However, a few families with good relations, such as Nuoya's family, the Hong family, the Gesa family, the Wu Na family, plus Fei Er and Mo De, and Ba te er's close brothers, all brought carefully selected plump large grains. Seeing this, Zhang Fan's mood was very good. After looking around, Zhang Fan returned to the stage.

"Just now, I have looked at all the seeds you brought; of course, I have selected good seeds, and you have also seen them. Now you can start selecting seeds, remember to choose plump grains—shriveled and moldy seeds won't do. Such seeds cannot produce grain, so remember to pick them out."

Just like that, the tribespeople below eagerly began to select seeds. Zhang Fan saw that everyone was selecting seeds by hand. He felt the efficiency was indeed low, and suddenly thought of using a sieve to select. As soon as he thought of it, Zhang Fan immediately told Ba Ke Er his idea. Ba Ke Er then went down from the stage to those who had already selected good seeds, and went to cut bamboo back to weave sieves for selecting grain and seeds. After saying that, everyone agreed, after all, this is beneficial to every household. Contributing to the Tribe also comes with rewards. After agreeing, everyone transformed into Beastmen and flew with Ba Ke Er to the bamboo forest to cut bamboo.

Zhang Fan then began teaching everyone how to soak seeds. Soaking seeds is very simple; even toddlers can learn it—you just need to wash the seeds clean and put them in water to soak. Soak until the seeds swell and start to sprout white shoots. The rest goes without saying, after all, the seeds haven't sprouted yet. After teaching everyone how to soak seeds, Ba Ke Er and his group also brought back the bamboo. Then Zhang Fan had Ba Ke Er and his group use stone knives to split the bamboo open, just like making chopsticks, into thin strips. Then separate the bamboo green and bamboo yellow. Use the bamboo yellow to make the sieve's frame, and use the bamboo green, i. e., bamboo splints, to weave the sieve. The Beastmen's hands-on skills are strong; following Zhang Fan's requirements, they soon made several sieves of various sizes. Zhang Fan was very satisfied; seeing that some people still hadn't selected good seeds, he had Ba Ke Er distribute the finished sieves to those families so they could use the sieves to select seeds. This way, with a comparison, everyone could see that manual selection was indeed labor-intensive and unrewarding, tiring and slow, while using the sieve, the grain seeds were selected in just a few moments.

After that day, everyone returning home didn't forget to go to the bamboo forest to cut bamboo and bring it home to weave sieves. Now, the bamboo in the bamboo forest has found its use again. Since everyone started using chopsticks, they have known the importance of bamboo. People then planted bamboo groves all around the Tribe. Some families even planted one or two baskets of bamboo at their doorsteps.