Chapter 116: Discovery
The two bamboo plants in front of Xia Lu Nong soon withered.
Xia Huo Qu looked up and said, “Let’s chop them down.”
“Alright,” Xia Lu Nong said, turning to find a machete, but Kong Zhi silently handed it to him.
Xia Lu Nong smiled at Kong Zhi, took the machete, and was about to chop the bamboo when Xia Huo Qu said, “Let me do it.”
Xia Huo Qu bent down and chopped the bamboo near the base.
With one swing, the bamboo’s stem split, and a large amount of water immediately seeped out, soaking the yellowed outer skin.
At the same time, the seeds above their heads began to rain down, hitting them like small pebbles.
The bamboo seeds were large and solid, bringing a slight sting when they hit.
Xia Lu Nong, who had been looking up, quickly ducked after getting hit in the face. He jumped back, retreating from the “seed rain.”
With quick reflexes, Yan Xi Nian grabbed the bamboo to keep more seeds from falling. “Maybe we should spread some sacks underneath before chopping more?”
Xia Huo Qu glanced up. “No need, just one more swing, and we can sweep it up afterward.”
With another swing of the machete, the bamboo fell. But thanks to Yan Xi Nian’s steady grip, it didn’t crash down.
Yan Xi Nian carefully laid the bamboo down on the cleared concrete ground.
Xia Lu Nong leaned in to inspect it.
The branches were laden with gray-green bamboo seeds, each about the size of a soybean, but slightly longer and oval-shaped.
Xia Lu Nong plucked one and held it in his hand. It felt heavy and full.
He picked up the seed and bit into it. His teeth made a crisp sound as they broke through the hard shell, requiring some effort.
The seed’s texture was quite similar to raw rice, but it carried a rich bamboo fragrance and a hint of sweetness.
Xia Lu Nong inspected the broken seed in his hand.
The inside was gray-green, with a slight whiteness, resembling grains of rice.
“Not bad,” Xia Lu Nong murmured, staring at the seed. “It’s not much different from rice, is it?”
Kong Zhi added, “Bamboo belongs to the grass family, like rice.”
“Well, that explains it,” Xia Lu Nong replied. Then he asked, “Shall we cook some bamboo seed rice later?”
“Up to you,” Xia Huo Qu said, moving to the other bamboo plant and signaling Yan Xi Nian to hold it steady.
Yan Xi Nian held the bamboo, saying, “I’m ready.”
With a firm “Hmm,” Xia Huo Qu swung the machete, chopping down the second bamboo plant with a single stroke.
Yan Xi Nian glanced down, grinning. “Nice one!”
“Cutting bamboo isn’t hard,” Xia Huo Qu replied, hefting the bamboo and placing it on the cleared ground.
With two more swings, Xia Huo Qu chopped off the long main stem of the bamboo. He then cut through the top of the first section and handed the hollow piece to Xia Lu Nong.
As expected, the bamboo segment was filled with water. Xia Lu Nong held the bamboo in both hands, tilting it slightly to look inside. “There’s about a liter of water in here.”
Yan Xi Nian marveled, “A natural water storage system. If each section holds this much, we’ll have plenty.”
Xia Huo Qu nodded. “Try the water and see if it’s drinkable.”
Xia Lu Nong nodded and, without grabbing a cup, drank straight from the bamboo. He sipped a little, tasting it carefully. “Not bad. Other than a faint bamboo fragrance, there’s no other taste—kind of like mineral water.”
Kong Zhi reached out. “Let me try.”
Xia Lu Nong handed him the bamboo. “Here, give it a taste.”
Kong Zhi took a sip, agreed with the assessment, and nodded.
While they were drinking, Xia Huo Qu chopped down another bamboo segment, took a sip, and gave a nod of approval for the quality of the water.
After his taste, he passed the bamboo water to Yan Xi Nian, who drank last.
He tasted it meticulously and said, “Perfect drinking water, almost no difference from mineral water.”
Xia Lu Nong agreed. “I think so too.”
Yan Xi Nian chuckled, “Well, from now on, wherever we go, we’ll bring you along. That way, we can pretty much guarantee a water source.”
Xia Lu Nong replied, “As long as I’ve got enough energy and we’re not heading into the desert, we should be fine.”
“Alright, I’ll hold you to that,” Yan Xi Nian teased.
Having tasted the bamboo fruits and sipped bamboo water, Xia Lu Nong finally had time to look at what they had brought back.
“Wild birds?” Xia Lu Nong squatted down to inspect the birds his brother had brought back. “They’re quite plump.”
Yan Xi Nian remarked, “Of course, we picked the fattest ones. The skinny ones aren’t worth eating.”
“That’s true,” Xia Lu Nong agreed. “The bamboo shoots have just sprouted. How about we have stir-fried bird meat with pickled peppers and bamboo shoots tonight? And a side of bamboo fruit and white rice combo?”
Everyone agreed.
Kong Zhi picked up the wild birds. “I’ll go pluck the feathers.”
“I’ll wash the rice and prep the veggies,” Xia Lu Nong said.
He fetched the pot and rice from the truck, started a fire to prepare for cooking, and boiled water, which would be used to scald the birds for feather plucking later.
As the fire came to life, smoke rose, instantly filling the air with the familiar scent of a cooking fire.
Under the yellow-tinged sky, the group went about their tasks, creating a warm and homely atmosphere.
Xia Huo Qu brought over some of the bamboo fruits they had cleaned. Xia Lu Nong, unsure of their flavor, only added a small amount—just two handfuls to half a pot of rice.
After rinsing the rice, Xia Lu Nong hung the pot over the fire and went to check on Kong Zhi.
The birds had been slaughtered, and the blood saved separately. The bird meat was placed in a basin, and hot water was poured over it to loosen the feathers for easier plucking.
Wild bird skin is quite delicate, and care was needed while plucking, so as not to tear it off with the feathers.
Though Xia Lu Nong was decent in the kitchen, he was always clumsy with tasks like this. On the other hand, Kong Zhi handled everything with calm efficiency.
Soon enough, Kong Zhi had finished preparing the bird meat, chopping it into pieces and handing it over to Xia Lu Nong.
Xia Lu Nong blanched the bamboo shoots in boiling water before stir-frying them with the bird meat in hot oil.
As the evening breeze blew, the delicious aroma of stir-fried bird meat wafted through the air.
At the same time, the fragrant scent of bamboo rice filled the air as well.
None of them had eaten yet, and the tantalizing smell made their stomachs growl.
Yan Xi Nian and his group had finished gathering all the bamboo fruits, though they hadn’t sifted them yet. Since it was inconvenient to do so in the wild, they stored everything in burlap sacks to take back to the base for drying and sorting later.
Yan Xi Nian sat down by the fire next to Xia Huo Qu, casually grabbing a bamboo tube to pour water for Xia Huo Qu before gulping down the rest himself.
Even after drinking his fill of the sweet water, Yan Xi Nian’s stomach still rumbled with hunger. Rubbing his belly, he asked, “Xia Lu Nong, how much longer for the bird meat?”
“Once the sauce thickens, it’ll be ready. The meat’s tough, so it needs to simmer a bit longer or it’ll be hard to chew,” Xia Lu Nong said as he half-stood to check the pot before sitting back down on his small stool. “The rice isn’t ready yet either. Maybe another 10 or 20 minutes.”
Yan Xi Nian sighed, “When you’re hungry, food always smells a hundred times better. My stomach’s on fire!”
Xia Lu Nong turned his head. “There’s jerky in the truck bed. Want to snack on that while you wait?”
“Nah,” Yan Xi Nian said eagerly. “I’ve got to save room for the stir-fried bird meat.”
Xia Lu Nong propped his chin on his hand. “Then you’ll just have to wait a bit longer.”
The four of them sat around the fire, waiting for the food to be ready.
As night slowly fell, the firelight painted their faces a warm red, saving them the trouble of lighting extra lamps.
Finally, the bird meat was ready. Yan Xi Nian was the first to jump up, grabbing bowls and chopsticks. “Quick, quick! I’m starving!”
Xia Huo Qu remained lazily by the fire, not moving.
Yan Xi Nian shook the water off the bowls and scooped out the first serving of rice, passing it to Xia Huo Qu. “Go on, try it.”
Kong Zhi served the first bowl of rice to Xia Lu Nong as well.
The four of them pulled back some of the firewood under the wok and gathered around it, eating the stir-fried bird meat and bamboo shoots straight from the pot.
Xia Lu Nong accepted his bowl, sniffing it first.
The rice they were eating was new, freshly harvested this year, and it was glossy and fragrant, with a sweet aftertaste.
This time, bamboo fruit had been added to the rice, dyeing the white grains a pale green. The added bamboo fragrance made the aroma even more enticing.
Xia Lu Nong scooped up a spoonful of rice, blew on it, and shoved a large bite into his mouth.
The hot rice was fragrant and soft, and the unique sweetness of the starch was evident.
Xia Lu Nong closed his eyes in bliss, feeling that he could easily eat three bowls of this rice without any side dishes.
Just as he was enjoying himself, his brother spoke up. “Something feels off.”
Xia Lu Nong, with half a mouthful of rice, looked up at his brother, confused.
Yan Xi Nian took another bite and agreed, “This bamboo fruit has a bit of the same effect as honeysuckle.”
That was a strange way to put it. Xia Lu Nong glanced over at Kong Zhi.
Kong Zhi nodded in agreement.
Puzzled, Xia Lu Nong chewed slowly and carefully, trying to pinpoint what they were talking about.
After a moment, he felt it too. There was something faint, an energy in the bamboo fruit rice, similar to honeysuckle and a bit like honey. It was very subtle, almost unnoticeable if not carefully savored.
Xia Huo Qu took a piece of bamboo shoot from the pot and tasted it. “It’s in the bamboo shoots too. It feels like some kind of energy, very faint.”
All four of them reached for more bamboo shoots at the same time.
Xia Lu Nong bit into a piece of bamboo shoot. His first impression was how delicious it was.
The shoots were tender, thoroughly soaked in the bird meat’s juices, flavorful, with a hint of spice and salt, and the unique taste of pickled peppers—a perfect match with rice.
Only after savoring it did he notice that faint energy again.
“I think I understand why the giant bulls are so interested in Xia Hua Jiao now,” Xia Lu Nong paused with his chopsticks in mid-air. “Do you think the giant bulls can sense that energy too?”
Yan Xi Nian nodded. “Maybe? We’ve used Xia Hua Jiao before and didn’t notice anything unusual at the time.”
Xia Lu Nong said, “Maybe because we didn’t use enough? When we’re eating the bamboo shoots and bamboo fruit, it’s hard to detect the energy unless we focus on it. It’s probably the same with the peppers—if there wasn’t much energy, we wouldn’t have noticed.”
Xia Huo Qu said, “We’ll know once we check later. Then, we can compare the peppers that Xia Hua Jiao produces naturally with the ones it produces after you’ve infused your ability.”
“Sounds good!” Xia Lu Nong nodded. “We also need to investigate whether this energy is harmful or might cause mutations.”
Talking about this gave Yan Xi Nian a bit of a headache. “We’ll need a specialist for that, plus a bunch of equipment. I guess we should fix the computer we got from N University first.”
Xia Huo Qu replied, “Take it slow, no need to rush. First, we should contact other bases, explain what we’ve discovered, and ask them to investigate together.”
Yan Xi Nian agreed. “I’ll report it when we get back. But we shouldn’t mention Xia Lu Nong’s ability—just say that the mutated plants produced edible fruits containing a special kind of energy.”
Kong Zhi added, “And also mention the products from mutated animals, like honey and milk.”
Xia Lu Nong, who had been slow to catch on, wanted to chime in, but realizing they’d already finished speaking, he just sat back down, stuffing his mouth with a large bite of food that puffed out his cheeks.
