Chapter 10: Mass-produced Goods
Morning.
As the sunlight fell on the treetops, the magical effect of the Dream Tree gradually faded.
Chu Jiu yawned and opened his eyes.
He first subconsciously pressed his chest to make sure Little Can was still lying there obediently and hadn’t fallen, then slowly sat up and looked around—
The green trees, in varying shades, were shrouded in the unique morning mist, adding a touch of gentleness to the usual scenery.
Above the treetops, unknown birds chirped and flapped their wings, flying towards the pale blue sky.
Around the trunk, the beasts that had gathered last night rubbed their necks affectionately and left together, wagging their tails.
Chu Jiu patted Little Can’s head: “It’s so nice.”
It’s so nice, peaceful and quiet.
*
After walking along the edge of the forest for a few more hours, Chu Jiu finally found the “underground mine.”
To Chu Jiu’s slight surprise, the entrance of this mine still had traces of artificial excavation:
There were damaged tracks on the ground, decayed arches at the entrance, and even gas lamp brackets on the rock walls inside the mine…
It seemed that many years ago, this Forgotten Forest was also a human activity area.
Chu Jiu sighed softly.
He stood at the entrance of the cave, not rushing in, but re-made some fluorescent grass into a [Cold Light Torch] and held it in his hand, then went inside with the torch in one hand and the machete in the other.
After only a few steps inside, he heard the sound of “cluck cluck.”
Chu Jiu naturally didn’t think that there would be gentle little chickens in this place.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, a magical creature with a chicken head on its upper body, half as tall as Chu Jiu, and a long snake tail on its lower body crawled out.
Little Can hissed in his chest pocket, its small body tensing up a bit.
Chu Jiu whispered, “It’s okay, it won’t see us.”
“We’ll be fine as long as we don’t provoke each other… Huh?”
This chicken-headed snake monster corresponded to this illustrated card in Chu Jiu’s mind:
[Clucking Chicken-headed Snake Monster: The legendary chicken-headed snake monster can petrify people instantly, a terrifying magical creature.
But the chicken-headed snake monster has an attack power of about zero, and its meat is so delicious that it can instantly soften people, a great ingredient that makes people drool.
Collection site: Unknown]
Chu Jiu looked at the fresh ingredients in front of him, stepped forward and made a quick chop—
Okay, chicken head fell to the ground.
Cut, disassemble, pack.
A set of smooth movements, [Chicken-flavored Snake Monster Meat X50], [Superior Snake Skin X30].
Little Can was stunned.
Its tail stood straight up, and it looked up at Chu Jiu and meowed, “What about not provoking each other?”
Chu Jiu: “Cough. Turning them into ingredients and eating them is the greatest respect for magical creatures.”
Little Can: …?
What kind of nonsense is this!
*
Holding the torch and walking for a short distance, Chu Jiu found what he needed on the surrounding rock layers: gypsum.
In addition to gypsum, there were also some scattered saltpeter and alum.
Chu Jiu picked up 99 pieces of gypsum, 99 pieces of saltpeter, and 99 pieces of alum in one go, using the maximum collection number of single items in his backpack.
After picking up these three ores, Chu Jiu hesitated and took two more steps into the depths of the mine.
Since he was here, he might as well see what else was inside and open the map.
Walking further into the darkness, Chu Jiu felt colder and colder, and Little Can in his pocket seemed to be more and more nervous.
A few minutes later, a rusty iron door appeared in front of him, with a big lock from who knows how many years ago.
Behind the iron door, there was a faint “hissing” sound.
This sound was heard when the bizarre worm attacked last time.
Chu Jiu shivered and immediately decided to leave.
But Little Can became restless at this time, and actually wanted to jump out of his pocket regardless, as if it was very interested in the things behind the iron door.
Chu Jiu whispered, “It’s very dangerous, let’s go,” but Little Can was still arching out.
Helpless, Chu Jiu freed a hand, pressed Little Can’s little head with his finger, and coaxed it in a child-like voice, “Be good, we’re leaving, I’ll make you chicken-flavored cat sticks when we get back.”
Little Can shuddered and stood stiffly in Chu Jiu’s chest pocket, unable to move.
“Be good”?
What, what is this human saying? Does he think I’m some kind of ignorant little baby!
Little Can was both embarrassed and furious, deciding that upon returning, he would definitely devour that seemingly delicious “chicken-flavored cat treat” to express his anger.
*
The next day at noon, Chu Jiu returned to Bean Village.
He used his spiritual power to create a set of wooden molds, soaked a barrel of soybeans overnight, and the next morning, he carried the soybeans to the village chief’s house.
He borrowed a large pot, a stone mill used for grinding jade powder, a stone mortar, a piece of gauze, and two wooden buckets from the village chief. He also asked the village chief to find two capable people to help.
The village chief was naturally very happy to see Chu Jiu return safely and quickly asked Aman to help organize things.
The old man saw the crystalline ore that Chu Jiu had brought back and asked in confusion, “This gypsum… I’ve seen it many years ago.”
“Are you going to put it directly into the soybeans?”
Chu Jiu said, “You can’t put it in directly. It needs to be calcined into cooked gypsum first.”
After saying that, Chu Jiu asked someone to grind the soybeans with the stone mill, while he immersed himself in making the cooked gypsum.
He first baked the gypsum over a fire, then broke the gypsum into small pieces, picked out the black impurities, and then finely crushed it with a stone mortar, obtaining white cooked gypsum powder.
By this time, the barrel of soaked soybeans had all been ground into a paste.
Using linen cloth to wrap the paste, he squeezed and twisted it, filtering out the soybean residue. The remaining milky white liquid was poured into a large pot and boiled, resulting in a large bucket of smooth and fragrant fresh soy milk.
The two young women who came to help, one named Lin Wen and the other named Shi Qian, were amazed by the fragrant smell of the soybeans and couldn’t help but swallow their saliva.
Chu Jiu stirred the cooked gypsum and said with a smile, “You can each have a bowl to try.”
Hearing Chu Jiu say this, Aman quickly took out bowls from the cupboard and served a bowl of soy milk to each of them.
The village chief took a big sip from the bowl and said in surprise, “It’s so smooth! It doesn’t taste like it’s made from soybeans at all. It’s a bit like the milk I used to drink in town.”
Lin Wen also said, “It does taste a bit like milk… but milk is very, very expensive, more expensive than a whole barrel of soybeans…”
Chu Jiu smiled without saying a word, set aside the stirred cooked gypsum, and carefully took out the upper layer of the suspension liquid and poured it into the soy milk bucket.
Soon, the soy milk in the bucket coagulated into clumps of “tofu flower.”
Chu Jiu poured the tofu flower into a square wooden mold lined with gauze, then pressed the wooden lid onto the tofu flower, and said, “In three hours, you’ll see tofu.”
There wasn’t much to do during these three hours.
Chu Jiu took advantage of this time to stew a pot of chicken soup—or rather, “chicken-flavored basilisk soup.”
After setting up the soup pot, there wasn’t much left to do in the kitchen.
However, the two young women who came to help were reluctant to leave. Instead, they stayed by Chu Jiu’s side, asking him to explain the steps they had just seen in detail.
Chu Jiu didn’t hold back at all. He even asked Aman to bring over a wooden board and charcoal pencil, and wrote down the tofu-making method, starting from how to calcine gypsum, without missing a single step.
Just as Chu Jiu finished writing the last stroke and handed over the wooden board, the system issued a series of prompts:
[Host has activated “mass-produced goods”]
[Mass-produced goods must meet the following conditions:
Condition 1: The host already possesses the recipe for the item;
Condition 2: The item is suitable for large-scale production;
Condition 3: The host chooses to give the recipe for the item to others.]
[Villagers can now produce “tofu” according to the recipe. Villager favorability has greatly increased. Host gains 1000 development points.]
[If the mass-produced goods are successfully sold, the host can continue to receive development points from each transaction.]
1, 1000 points? That’s a lot!
And if it sells well, I can get a commission?
Wow!
Chu Jiu’s eyes widened, startling Aman and the others, who wondered if Chu Jiu had overworked himself.
*
Three hours later, the tofu was formed.
Chu Jiu uncovered the gauze and handed the knife to the young woman named Lin Wen, saying, “Here, try cutting it.”
She took the knife and cut down forcefully—
She originally thought it would be like cutting a radish.
Unexpectedly, the knife encountered almost no resistance, easily cutting a line.
“Wow!” she exclaimed in surprise.
Chu Jiu smiled and asked Lin Wen to cut another line horizontally, cutting the tofu into square, palm-sized pieces.
Looking at the white, tender, and slightly wobbly piece, Aman couldn’t help but drool, asking while wiping his mouth, “Brother Chu Jiu, can this tofu be eaten directly?”
Chu Jiu said, “You can eat it directly when it’s just made. But…”
Before he could finish speaking, Aman grabbed a spoon, scooped up a corner, and put it in his mouth.
The village chief asked with a smile, “Is it delicious? What does it taste like?”
Aman scratched his head, looking frustrated, “It’s too tender and slippery, I didn’t get to taste what it was like before it slid down my throat.”
The adults were amused and laughed, their eyes filled with anticipation: this stuff is really good, maybe it can attract merchants.
Chu Jiu cut a few more pieces of tofu, put them into the stewing pot with the chicken soup for a while, scooped them out, and handed them to everyone, saying:
“One of the benefits of tofu is that it goes especially well with other dishes.”
“Try this chicken soup tofu.”
The hot, golden, steaming chicken soup, with its rich and mellow fragrance, provided the best explanation for Chu Jiu’s words.
The village chief took the bowl, scooped up a piece of tofu, blew on it, and carefully put it in his mouth—
The deliciousness of the chicken soup, wrapped in the unique fragrance of the tofu, was a perfect match.
And as Aman said, the smooth and tender texture was beyond his imagination.
How could those hard soybeans have turned into such a delicate and tender bowl of food?
Everyone ate in silence, slurping loudly, sweat beading on their foreheads.
After finishing, they looked at each other, then at Chu Jiu, and said in unison, “Take it to town to sell! It’ll definitely be a hit!”
