Chapter 7: Cotton Sheep
Chu Jiu understood Little Can’s confusion.
He took out his “special weapon” from his backpack and explained:
“The fruit on this tree is a specialty of the Forgotten Forest, ‘Cotton Sheep’.”
“It’s actually a kind of plant.”
“Look at it in big clumps, doesn’t it look like cotton?”
“The flesh under this cotton tastes like real mutton.”
Little Can opened its mouth wide, its small cat face full of surprise: What? Really?
Chu Jiu smiled and put the water balloon he had made from a fish bladder and filled with clear water on the slingshot.
“This kind of fruit grows too high, and the trunk is full of moss, making it difficult for people to climb.”
“But if you sprinkle a little water on it, the ‘Cotton Sheep’ will become very heavy and fall from the branches on its own.”
“We just need to shoot the ‘Cotton Sheep’ with the water balloon.”
Chu Jiu squinted and tried to aim the slingshot at the swaying cotton clumps at the top of the tree.
Little Can meowed softly, as if saying: Although it sounds strange, anyway… good luck.
Chu Jiu took a deep breath, pulled the rubber band—fired!
Pop!
The first water balloon hit the trunk. The clear water splashed out, wetting the moss on the tree.
Little Can: …This human seems a little clumsy.
Chu Jiu: “Cough. Missed, missed.”
Chu Jiu wasn’t very good at using a slingshot.
Moreover, these Cotton Sheep were so high up and moved with the wind.
He took out another water balloon and whispered, “I must hit it this time!”
Pop!
The second water balloon hit the branch. It was higher than the first one, but still didn’t touch the “Cotton Sheep.”
Chu Jiu scratched his head: “Shooting is really difficult.”
Little Can shook its head: No, no, this human is too clumsy.
It “meowed” and jumped directly from his pocket onto Chu Jiu’s arm, waving its four short legs: Let me! Let me!
Strangely enough, Chu Jiu actually understood what it meant from Little Can’s gestures:
“You mean… I hold the slingshot, and you aim and pull the rubber band?”
Little Can nodded.
Chu Jiu: “This rubber band is very tight, how can you pull it with your small body…”
Little Can “meowed” and its small whiskers trembled, its two round eyes turning into cartoon-like semicircles: What did you say?
Seeing that the little guy was angry, Chu Jiu could only smile and say, “Okay, let’s try it your way.”
He held the slingshot with his right hand, Little Can stepped on his forearm, holding the rubber band in its mouth, holding the water balloon with its front paws, and moved back, back, back…
Little Can looked up at the swaying Cotton Sheep, its ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly, and it released its mouth.
Pop!
One shot hit.
The water balloon broke, and clear water flowed out, wetting the cotton.
The water-filled Cotton Sheep, as expected, “thumped” and fell straight to the grass.
Chu Jiu said in surprise, “Hit! Wow, Little Can, you’re amazing!”
Little Can licked its paws with a calm expression: Hmph, this is nothing.
I used to be in shooting class…
Eh?
Did I… use a gun before? Did I hit anything?
I don’t remember…
Chu Jiu excitedly touched Little Can’s head: “Let’s continue! There are still several water balloons!”
*
Half an hour later, Chu Jiu harvested [Cotton Sheep Fruit X10] and [Cotton Sheep Skin X20].
[Cotton Sheep Fruit: No matter how experienced the diners are, they will insist: This must be top-quality mutton! Who would believe that this thing is actually a plant…]
[Cotton Sheep Skin: The outer skin of a fruit, its use is exactly the same as sheepskin. Therefore, like real sheepskin, this skin needs to be tanned before it can be made into leather goods.]
Unfortunately, the wool of the Cotton Sheep—the outer layer of “cotton”—withered after the Cotton Sheep fruit landed and could not be collected.
However, Chu Jiu was very satisfied with this harvest.
He told Little Can with a smile, “That’s enough. Besides the mutton for Cheng Yue, we’ll have some left for ourselves!”
“Mutton can be eaten, and these sheepskins can be made into leather jackets, which will be very useful in winter!”
Little Can was extremely proud.
It tried to control itself, not showing any smug expression, and circled the Cotton Sheep on the ground with a deep look, occasionally looking up at Chu Jiu: Look, this is all my achievement!
Chu Jiu was about to praise this little cat pretending to be deep when he suddenly received a system prompt:
[The host has collected more than 10 types of materials, and the map opening range has been expanded]
[Regional development has increased to 0.2%]
[The host level has increased, now a level 2 pioneer]
[Please do not be proud, keep up the good work]
Ah! The development level has increased! Even his own level has increased!
Chu Jiu, who was already in a good mood, was now even more ecstatic.
He simply picked up Little Can and couldn’t help rubbing its little head with his own:
“That’s great! The development level has also increased!”
“Little Can has made great contributions!”
“I’ll go catch a blunt-headed fish later and make you some fresh fish soup!”
Little Can was about to raise its paw to protest this human’s sudden “face-to-face greeting” when it heard the words “fresh fish soup,” and immediately forgot to resist.
By the time it came back to its senses, its cat fur was almost rubbed off.
While Little Can was scolding this human for being rude in its heart, it was secretly thinking: Fresh fish soup? What does it taste like?
*
Bean Village.
Cheng Yue’s wooden house.
Chu Jiu took out a portion of [Cotton Sheep] from his backpack and placed it on the table.
This ingredient looked like a genuine small lamb leg, with a fresh red and moist skin, and beautiful patterns.
Cheng Yue was surprised and delighted, and repeatedly said that she didn’t expect Chu Jiu to bring back a lamb leg so quickly.
As they were talking, someone opened the door of the inner room—
A thin boy stood at the door, shy and curious, and whispered, “Sister, are there guests at home?”
This must be Cheng Yue’s younger brother, Cheng Lin.
Cheng Yue hurriedly said, “This is Brother Chu Jiu, whom Aman mentioned earlier—this Brother Chu Jiu helped us find the freshest mutton.”
Cheng Lin “wow”ed, turned his face around, and finally smiled at the air, saying, “Thank you, Brother Chu Jiu!”
Chu Jiu had just noticed that Cheng Lin’s eyes were covered with a layer of white mist, and he must have been blind.
He tiptoed to the boy and squatted down, saying, “You’re welcome.”
Cheng Yue asked about how to cook this kind of mutton, found a pair of socks and a roll of cloth that she had prepared in advance, and gave them to Chu Jiu, and also stuffed him with a large handful of beans.
The roll of cloth that Cheng Yue used as a reward was the same as the cloth worn by the siblings, which was rough linen, and the touch was very different from the cotton clothes on Chu Jiu.
The socks were thick and very warm wool socks.
Cheng Yue said that the cloth and wool socks were woven by herself, and also told Chu Jiu that the wool socks would be very useful when the weather got cold in a while.
Chu Jiu couldn’t help but wonder where the wool came from as a raw material since there were no sheep in the village.
As for linen, Chu Jiu had seen the flax fields in the village. The flax in the field had small light blue flowers, which were quite beautiful.
Cheng Yue said, “There is wool only in the town, and now we rely on merchants to bring it to us.”
It turned out that Cheng Yue, in addition to planting beans and corn, also bought some wool from merchants for weaving, and the woven clothes and fabrics could be given to merchants in exchange for other goods.
Chu Jiu asked casually, “Do you know how to weave cloth with cotton?”
Although there was no cotton in the “Forgotten Forest” map, he could collect this widely used crop when the next map was opened.
Cheng Yue shook her head: “Cotton? Weaving cloth with flowers? I’ve never heard of it…”
She thought for a while and said, “There happens to be a market tomorrow. Maybe you can ask Yaris—the merchant who came to the village to exchange goods. He goes to many places and sees many things.”
*
Chu Jiu was not surprised that “Cheng Yue had never seen cotton.”
This confirmed his previous guess: the people in this other world, or at least the people in this village, had a “technology knowledge” that was very different from ancient China, but more like ancient Europe on Earth.
In ancient Europe on Earth, only a very few regions had cotton, and most regions only grew flax and nettles. And the clothing used by ordinary people was usually rough linen.
Perhaps that knowledgeable merchant had heard of cotton and cotton cloth?
Chu Jiu planned to ask.
In addition to inquiring about cotton and cotton cloth, Chu Jiu also wanted to buy some other daily necessities. Such as quilts, iron pots, kitchen knives, and the like.
But for now…
The most important thing was to make a delicious fish soup to reward Little Can!
*
On the way back to Bean Village after picking cotton sheep, Chu Jiu caught two more dull-headed fish and found [green onions] and [ginger] by the stream.
These two things didn’t mutate, and they looked exactly the same as the green onions and ginger in Huaguo (a.ka. China) world.
Chu Jiu still remembered that when he checked the illustrations back then, he complained a little: Isn’t this just the green onions and ginger in the vegetable market? This is too uncreative.
Fortunately, this was an “uncreative” material, and it didn’t require any special collection methods. It could be easily collected with a shovel.
Wash the white part of the green onion and cut it into pieces, peel the ginger and slice it, cut half a dull-headed fish into 3 cm thick pieces, and throw them into the water together.
After a while, the water boiled.
The fish soup naturally turned milky white, the soup bubbled, and the fish aroma filled the air.
This aroma lured Little Can to prop up its body and stick out its head, looking over here from time to time.
Although it didn’t say anything, and its cat face looked like “I’m not in a hurry,” Chu Jiu still saw the little guy’s inner thoughts: When will dinner be served? When will dinner be served?
Chu Jiu gently pressed its wet little nose: “It’ll be ready soon, don’t worry.”
Little Can turned its face away: Hmph, I’m not in a hurry! I won’t be in a hurry for fish soup or anything!
Chu Jiu chuckled and cut a piece of mutton, then skewered it with tree branches in the order of fat and lean, and grilled it directly after smearing it with salt.
Half an hour later, a large pot of fragrant fish soup and a large handful of brown “skewered roasted cotton sheep” were served on the table.
Chu Jiu served Little Can a plate of fish and fish soup, and sat down to take a bite of the roasted mutton.
Phew… this mutton was not greasy or tough, and the slightly fatty part moistened the lean meat just right. It was full of rich aroma, fatty and tender, and full of texture.
Chu Jiu had just immersed himself in the deliciousness of this special mutton when he heard a “meow”—
Looking up, Little Can’s plate had been eaten clean.
Chu Jiu: “…Wow, you… can’t even do magic this fast.”
Little Can licked its lips, its ice-blue eyes staring straight at Chu Jiu. Although it didn’t say a word, it was obviously saying: I want more!
So Chu Jiu served it another plate.
Third plate. Fourth plate.
*
Later, Chu Jiu began to regret why he had made such a small plate.
If he had known, he should have made a food bowl the size of a washbasin for it.
In the end, Little Can relied on its palm-sized body to finish a whole pot of fish soup and eat all the fish meat, which was like a small mountain to it.
Chu Jiu: “…Your stomach is probably like Doraemon’s, with a nuclear reactor inside that can eat anything.”
At this time, Little Can was lying on its back in its canned nest, too full to turn over, and forgot to maintain its aloof and indifferent image. It could only raise its tail and weakly “meow”ed: What is Doraemon?
Chu Jiu found it funny, and walked over to gently rub its belly, saying, “Doraemon is also a cat. But not a cat from this world.”
Hearing the words “not this world,” Little Can’s whiskers trembled.
Chu Jiu didn’t take it seriously, and didn’t think much about why Little Can wasn’t curious about what a “nuclear reactor” was, and continued: “Was today’s fish soup delicious?”
“It’s a pity there’s no pickled cabbage.”
“If there was pickled cabbage, I could make pickled fish.”
“That’s also very, very delicious.”
Little Can’s tail stood up straight like an exclamation mark, and then bent like a question mark: What is pickled cabbage?
Chu Jiu said, “In our place, pickled cabbage is made from mustard greens.”
“As for mustard greens… mustard greens grow from the ground.”
“When we can farm, we can grow cabbage, mustard greens, radishes… they’re all very delicious!”
Farming…
In other words, if they could farm, they could have delicious pickled fish?
Little Can thoughtfully licked its paws.
