Cultivating Farmland in a Fluffy S-Rank Game – CH16

Chapter 16: Brewing Soy Sauce

Early the next morning.

Chu Jiu prepared soybeans, wheat bran flour, coarse salt, steamer, gauze, pottery jars, wooden spoons, straw “cloak”… all of them.

He checked the raw materials and utensils one last time and started using [Recipe Comprehension].

Chu Jiu himself wasn’t a food engineering student, but by coincidence and hobby, he happened to have seen a documentary about the ancient method of making soy sauce.

Now, he had to piece together the soy sauce recipe that didn’t exist in this world based on this fragmented memory.

He dragged the chair to the window, found a spot with decent sunlight, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and activated the skill.

Soon, various floating small icons appeared before his eyes.

It had to be said that these simple and ancient utensils, such as pottery jars and steamers, became very cute when they turned into small icons.

Chu Jiu first selected a round steamer, then selected soybeans, filled in “steam the soybeans” in the production line space, then switched to the next space and filled in “spread the soybeans to dry”…

Then came sprinkling flour and covering with a cloak for slow fermentation.

Then wait for the beans to grow mold, then wash, dry, soak in salt water… continue to ferment…

Many details involved, such as how long to dry, how high the fermentation temperature should be, the ratio of salt to water, Chu Jiu really couldn’t remember clearly, so he could only modify them in the spaces again and again.

He now realized that if these details were too far off, the system wouldn’t recognize the recipe he made.

For the entire morning, Chu Jiu was changing tools and modifying details in his mind.

By the time the system finally popped up a prompt [Use 5 spirit points to obtain “Primary Soy Sauce” recipe X1], he was sweating all over and his stomach was growling with hunger.

Chu Jiu let out a long breath and clicked [Use].

Finally got the soy sauce recipe!

Excited, Chu Jiu subconsciously cheered and wanted to jump up from the chair—

Thump!

He forgot that he had been sitting cross-legged for too long, and his legs were numb.

Getting up so suddenly, his legs gave way and he fell off the chair.

With this fall, Little Can, who was originally sleeping soundly, rushed over like a small black lightning bolt, its eyes wide open, “What happened? What happened? Why did you fall?”

Chu Jiu sat on the ground and laughed, shaking his head, “I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m just too happy!”

“Little Can, I got the soy sauce recipe, we can brew soy sauce later!”

“Once the soy sauce is brewed, I’ll make braised fish for you! A big bowl of rich, dark, and flavorful sauce, you’ll definitely love it!”

Besides braised fish, I can also make braised lamb chops, braised pig trotters, braised chicken wings…

Although I don’t have pig trotters and chicken wings yet, I’ll find them eventually!

Chu Jiu was imagining all sorts of braised dishes, while his stomach growled even louder.

Seeing that Chu Jiu was indeed okay, Little Can’s eyes gradually returned to normal.

“Tsk, he just fell off the chair because he was too hungry.”

It also heard Chu Jiu’s stomach growling.

It stared at Chu Jiu’s stomach for two seconds, then jumped onto the nearby dining table, picked up the dried grilled fish it couldn’t bear to eat in the morning, and walked to Chu Jiu, meowing, “Here, for you.”

“You’re so hungry, have a bite first.”

“You have to make me delicious braised fish next time!”

Chu Jiu took the two pieces of dried grilled fish, blinked in surprise, and then smiled, “Thank you!”

“Such a considerate kitty!”

*

After a quick lunch, Chu Jiu used spiritual energy to start making soy sauce.

According to the system’s calculation, the first batch of soy sauce would be ready in 240 hours.

“240 hours, will I be back from the forest by then?”

Chu Jiu wondered, while activating the new skill: [Treasure Hunter’s Target].

[Treasure Hunter’s Target: In the areas of the opened map, the host can lock onto a specific material within the area. The system will mark the gathering location of this material on the map, regardless of whether the area map is fully opened.]

In simple terms, if Chu Jiu wanted to gather something and didn’t know where it was, the system could mark it for him.

If he had this skill when he was looking for gypsum last time, he could have found it faster, without having to explore the edge of the forest slowly.

After activating the skill, Chu Jiu followed the system’s prompt and tried to recall the “bamboo” encyclopedia card as detailed as possible in his mind.

A few seconds later, the system marked a small star on the map, most of which was still pitch black:

[Gathering location of “bamboo” has been locked.]

After a rough estimate, it would take about 6 or 7 days to walk from the Pioneer’s Hut to this gathering location.

Chu Jiu had a plan in his mind.

That night, Chu Jiu first used “Recipe Comprehension” to get the “natural organic fertilizer” recipe, and then used “Recipe Production” to create a large bucket of fertilizer and placed it by the field, which could temporarily solve the problem of insufficient fertility from continuous farming.

Then, he made enough lamb jerky for Rawr Rawr Rabbit to eat for 20 days in advance.

Although theoretically, he could make a round trip in half a month, he gave some extra time in case he couldn’t return on time, so that the hardworking little rabbit wouldn’t starve.

With the remaining time, he used the firelight from the stove to pick up the small mirror and started recording a video.

Because he was too busy, his video diaries had been very short these past two days, usually just a minute or a few sentences, like “Our tofu is selling well” or “I’m going to brew soy sauce tomorrow.”

Perhaps because they were too short, the Pioneer Points rewarded by the system had decreased—from 30 points to 20 points.

That’s a loss of 10,000 bucks!

So Chu Jiu planned to say more today and try to earn back the lost money, no, the lost Pioneer Points.

After all, he had spent 500 points on farming!

So Chu Jiu spent a lot of time talking about how soy sauce was brewed, why wheat bran was needed as a fermenting agent…

After finish explaining, Chu Jiu couldn’t stop himself and started daydreaming:

“I made braised chicken drumsticks once, with soy sauce, ginger slices, garlic, rock sugar, and a little chili and green onion…”

“The final product was bright red chicken drumsticks, glistening with oil, soaked in a thick sauce…”

As he spoke, Chu Jiu subconsciously raised his hand and wiped his mouth.

And his stomach, disappointingly, growled again.

Even though he was just recording a video diary in the mirror, Chu Jiu explained embarrassedly:

“Ah, I’m actually full.”

“It’s just that I haven’t had braised dishes for a long time, I miss them a bit…”

He spoke, pressing his growling belly.

At that moment, the small mirror, which was always quiet and showing a reflection, suddenly flickered.

Chu Jiu was stunned.

The mirror quickly returned to normal.

But for that brief half-second, Chu Jiu felt…

In a very, very far place, it seemed like someone… was watching him?