Chapter 43: Daily Life

After lying in bed for several days, Zhang Fan finally became vigorous again. Ba Ke Er also waited on him hand and foot during those days.

That day, after breakfast, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er went out to the rice paddies to check the rice. After over a month, the seedlings had begun to sprout tiny rice flowers. Many bees and butterflies fluttered in the field. Seeing this, Zhang Fan felt reassured and couldn't help smiling with satisfaction.

Many people came to the field to look at the rice. They had seen Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er come over and then followed them. After all, nobody had ever planted anything before; although Zhang Fan, this "Divine Envoy," was teaching them how to grow rice, everyone still felt uncertain. Now seeing Zhang Fan come out to inspect the rice, they couldn't help but follow, and seeing him smile gave them reassurance. Zhang Fan glanced at the surrounding paddies; the water levels and growth of the rice in most fields were basically the same as his own, with only a couple of households having issues, so he relaxed. Since most people trusted him, he said to everyone:

"Fellow tribesmen, I just checked and found that most households have the right amount of water. Only one or two fields have too much or too little. You can use my field as a reference and then decide how much water to keep."

After hearing Zhang Fan's words, everyone started walking to his field, looked at it, then returned to their own fields to compare. After comparing, a few households realized their water levels were indeed somewhat off—for example, their rice flowers were fewer than others', and their rice stalks weren't as tall. They began to feel a bit ashamed, since Zhang Fan had taught them all together.

They spent the whole morning in the field, and when it was nearly noon, Ba Ke Er first took Zhang Fan home, then went out hunting himself. Back home, Zhang Fan started cooking rice and heating water; the stove here resembles an Earth rural stove, with a small hole beside the chimney for placing a pottery jar, allowing water to be heated while cooking rice. Zhang Fan has now learned how to quickly start a fire with flint, so he has put away his lighter. After all, there are only one or two lighters, and once they're used up, they're gone.

Soon the rice was about seventy percent done; next Zhang Fan used the house's large wooden steamer to finish cooking it. Upon seeing the big steamer, Zhang Fan couldn't help remarking that Ba Ke Er could really eat! Indeed, beastmen are all big eaters.

Not long after the rice finished steaming, Ba Ke Er returned. He has now grown accustomed to eating stir-fried vegetables, so each time he goes hunting he also brings back some edible wild greens. From these, Zhang Fan discovered lettuce stem, water spinach, spinach, and the like, and he also saved some seeds to plant in his yard. Now the courtyard of Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er's home has become a small vegetable garden. When Fei Er and Nuoya came to play at Zhang Fan's house and saw this, they couldn't resist going home to have their own beastmen dig up more. Later, other females in the tribe saw it and followed suit. Nowadays, every household grows plenty of vegetables.

Today Ba Ke Er brought back a processed antelope and several baby rabbits. Seeing this, Zhang Fan was delighted and said:

"Ba Ke Er, you even brought back live rabbits! Rabbits breed prolifically; if we keep just a pair, in about a month or two we'll have a whole litter! If we could raise them through the cold season…" Zhang Fan hadn't finished speaking when Ba Ke Er already understood.

"If we raise them to the cold season, we'll have more food!" Upon saying that, Ba Ke Er immediately responded, "Fan Fan, you said if we raised larger animals like sheep or wild boar, could they also make it through the cold season?"

Zhang Fan had always known Ba Ke Er was smart, but he hadn't expected him to be so quick to grasp things and apply the lesson elsewhere. He said happily:

"Yes! Yes! Ba Ke Er, you're really smart!" After saying that, he jumped up, kissed Ba Ke Er, and ran back to the kitchen.

Ba Ke Er, wearing a look of happiness, carried the processed antelope and followed him into the kitchen.

After finishing their meal, the two began making cages for the newly arrived rabbits. This idea was Ba Ke Er's, since when he caught rabbits he had also observed their burrowing ability.

Once the cages were ready, the rabbits moved in. At first they resisted, but after several days they couldn't escape, so they gave up resisting and began living happily in the cages, since they got food every day and didn't have to fear being eaten by other animals. After a few days, the rabbits had grown plump.