Chapter 96: Fresh Wild Vegetables

"Oink, oink~~"

"Oink, oink~~"

While Andrew was interacting with Camerupt and Rockruff, The two Oinkolognes suddenly came up and grabbed the edge of Andrew's clothes, trying to pull him aside.

"What's up, Oinkologne?" Andrew asked in confusion.

"Oink, oink~"

"Oink, oink~"

The two Oinkologne continued to tug on Andrew with determination.

Suddenly, Andrew realized, "Did you find some new ingredients?"

"Oink, oink~"

"Oink, oink~"

Seeing that Andrew understood, the two Oinkologne started bouncing around with excitement.

"Quick, show me!" Andrew was eager to follow.

"Oink, oink~"

"Oink, oink~"

The two Oinkologne hurriedly turned and ran in one direction. Andrew quickly followed and waved goodbye to Camerupt and the others.

"Camerupt, Rockruff, Lycanroc, see you later! Be careful next time!"

"Meruupt~"

"Ruff ruff~"

"Awwooo~"

The three Pokémon responded to Andrew's farewell with their own, also bidding him goodbye.

Pawmi, standing at the feet of the Espathra, patted its long legs.

"Pawmi~ Pawmi~" Were they just talking about something delicious?

"Espaath~" Yes, that's right.

The Espathra nodded in agreement.

"Pawmi!!!"

Pawmi's eyes brightened, and it dashed after Andrew without hesitation.

The Espathra watched Pawmi's retreating form and shook its head with a sigh. It then slowly followed along, carrying Arven and bringing Maschiff with it.

Under the guidance of the two Oinkologne, Andrew and the group arrived at a grassy area with sparse vegetation. The ground was covered with plants that had leaves lying flat against the surface.

"Isn't this shepherd's purse?" Andrew said with surprise and delight.

Pawmi ran over and hugged Andrew's leg, looking up and asking, "Pawmi~ Pawmi~" Shepherd's purse? Is it good to eat?

Andrew squatted down and patted Pawmi's head, "We're in for a treat tonight!"

"Pawmi!!!"

Pawmi's eyes sparkled with excitement and it began picking the plants enthusiastically.

Andrew quickly said, "Wait, wait~ You're picking the wrong ones, those are just common weeds!" He then picked a shepherd's purse and showed it to Pawmi. "This is what we're looking for!"

"Pawmi~"

Pawmi quickly discarded the weed it was holding, bent down, and picked another plant to show Andrew.

Andrew smiled, "That's right!"

Pawmi resumed picking the correct plants, happily continuing its task.

At that moment, Arven got off the Espathra, "I'll help too."

So, the group began gathering the plants with much enthusiasm.

The meadow was filled with shepherd's purse, with only a few other wild greens mixed in.

As they worked, Andrew instructed the group, "Pick the tender ones. Don't take the ones that have flowers or have become too tall."

He pointed to a shepherd's purse that had flowered and grown tall to illustrate.

"Pawmi~" Got it!

"Okay!"

"Espaath~" Understood~

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Before long, Andrew and the group had filled a large basket with shepherd's purse. The Espathra, using its psychic powers, was especially efficient, gathering more in one go than the entire team combined.

As it was getting late, Andrew stored the overflowing basket in his system space and told Arven and the Pokémon, "We need to head back, or it'll be dark soon!"

Due to Area Zero's unique terrain, the days were much shorter than the nights, and it got dark quickly.

"Coming!"

Arven was the first to reach Andrew, quickly climbing onto the back of the Espathra.

The group began their journey back. As they passed the entrance to Area Zero, the guard, seeing Andrew's safe return, let out a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you're back safely. If you'd been any later, I would have had to go in and look for you."

Andrew, a bit embarrassed, replied, "I lost track of time—sorry for making you worry."

The guard smiled and nodded, "As long as everything is fine. Just make sure not to take so long next time; the Pokémon down there are quite troublesome."

Some of them were so fierce that even the guards didn't dare to mess with them.

Andrew nodded, "Got it."

With that, he waved goodbye to the guards.

When they returned to the upper level's Research Station No. 1, the sun was just starting to set. Diancie, who had set up the tables and chairs since noon, was waiting for Andrew and the others to come back and cook.

Andrew approached Diancie and asked, "How did the experiments go this afternoon?"

Diancie replied, "Almost finished."

Andrew smiled and nodded, "Great. Let's get started on dinner. Tonight, we'll have something fresh."

"What are we having?" Diancie asked with interest.

Andrew replied, "Mandu! I picked some wild shepherd's purse today, so we'll make mandu!" He then took out a basket of shepherd's purse from his backpack.

Diancie had never tried mandu before. She picked a stalk of shepherd's purse from the basket and asked, "Are mandu tasty?"

Andrew said mysteriously, "You'll find out once you taste them."

Diancie pouted, "Fine, keep your secret."

Next, Andrew summoned Munchlax and Drizzile from home.

Recently, Munchlax had been finishing the chores around the house early, preparing meals for the Pokémon, and then waiting at the doorstep for Andrew's call.

Not only did Munchlax keep himself busy, but he also constantly urged Drizzile to help out, which was starting to wear on Drizzile's patience.

As soon as Munchlax reached Andrew, he leaped into Andrew's arms, being affectionate.

"Munch~ Munch~" Master, it's been a while! I missed you so much!

Andrew patted Munchlax's head affectionately, "Alright, alright, I missed you too!"

Hearing this, Munchlax was overjoyed.

Andrew said, "Alright, let's start cooking!"

"Munch~ Munch~"

Now full of energy after the affectionate greetings from his master, Munchlax raised his fist eagerly in response to Andrew.

Suddenly remembering something, Munchlax rummaged through his belly and pulled out two Poké Balls.

"Munch~" Here you go, Master!

Munchlax handed the Poké Balls to Andrew, who opened them to reveal two Charcadet.

"How do you like the new home?" Andrew asked with a smile.

"Charca~"

"Charc~"

The two Charcadet were delighted, holding hands and spinning around Andrew.

They loved their new home. Everyone was friendly, and the house was very comfortable. They no longer had to worry about getting wet in the rain.

Their room even had a charcoal basin, specially set up by Munchlax at Andrew's request. The basin was filled with charcoal, which they could lie on while sleeping.

Their natural high temperature would ignite the charcoal, providing them with energy. Sleeping in the charcoal basin was incredibly cozy.

Andrew smiled, "I'm glad you like it. I'm going to need your help with cooking again today."

"Charca~"

"Charca~"

The two Charcadet nodded enthusiastically.

Andrew then assigned tasks.

"Munchlax, can you help knead some dough?"

"Munch~"

Munchlax, as if on an important mission, nodded firmly, grabbed a bag of flour and water, and started working at a nearby table.

"Arven, you, Diancie, and Pawmi can pick the shepherd's purse," Andrew continued.

"No problem!"

"Got it!"

"Paw!"

Arven, Diancie, and Pawmi responded in unison.

Finally, Andrew looked at Drizzile and said, "Drizzile, you're in charge of washing the vegetables."

"Drizz~" Leave it to me!

Drizzile confidently made an OK gesture towards Andrew, then took a basin, walked over, and filled it with water from his fingertip.

As for Espathra, Oinkolognes, and Maschiff, they just had to wait for the meal.

The two Charcadet didn't need to start their tasks yet either.

After assigning the tasks, Andrew let the five members of the Scovillain family out to play on the grass and get acquainted with everyone.

Andrew then went to another table, where he placed a large piece of pork on the cutting board. Today, he was preparing pork and shepherd's purse mandu.

Andrew took out a knife and began finely chopping the meat, then minced it.

Since the meat was for mandu, it didn't need to be minced too finely.

Andrew remembered that frozen mandu from the supermarket in his past life had their meat ground into a paste, which lacked texture and flavor.

Hand-minced meat, with a bit of chunkiness, was much more delicious to Andrew.

Once the meat was minced, Diancie and the others had finished picking the shepherd's purse.

Seeing this, Andrew asked the Charcadet, "Could you heat up some water for me?"

"Charca~"

"Charca~"

Two Charcadets nodded enthusiastically and quickly ran to the pot Andrew had prepared, their bodies ablaze with bright red flames.

Andrew himself placed the washed shepherd's purse into salted water. The salt was pure salt from Garganacl, and after soaking, the shepherd's purse appeared even more vibrant and fresh, almost glistening.

Once the water boiled, he blanched the soaked shepherd's purse in the pot for about 30 seconds, then removed it, dried it, and chopped it up for later use.

Next was preparing the meat filling.

He added pure salt from Garganacl, oyster sauce, eggs, pepper, light soy sauce, and starch to the minced meat, mixing thoroughly. Then, he added chopped green onions and ginger in batches, continuing to mix until the meat filling was well-kneaded.

By this time, Arven, Drizzile, Diancie, and Pawmi, who had finished their tasks, gathered around. Pawmi was too short to see, so Diancie had to lift him up and hold him in her arms.

"Paw~"

Pawmi happily kicked his legs in Diancie's arms.

Seeing that Drizzile and Arven were paying close attention, Andrew began explaining the steps for preparing the filling in detail. Both Arven and Drizzile listened intently.

After the pork filling was ready, Andrew mixed in the chopped shepherd's purse and added a suitable amount of Olive oil, stirring thoroughly until well combined.

"Munchlax, is the dough ready?" Andrew called out to Munchlax, setting the prepared filling aside.

"Munch ~ Munchlax~" Alright! Alright!

Munchlax approached with a basin of dough, taking small steps.

"Great, let's roll out the mandu wrappers!"

Andrew walked to another table, sprinkled some flour on it, took the dough from Munchlax, shaped it into a long roll, and cut it into evenly sized pieces.

He had bought a rolling pin from the system store and began his work.

Andrew's skill in rolling mandu wrappers was impressive. In no time, he produced wrappers that were almost identical in size, with a thicker center and thinner edges—a perfect mandu wrapper.

Watching Andrew's deft movements, Munchlax admired him greatly and said eagerly, "Munch~ Munch~" Master, let me try! Let me try!

Andrew readily handed over the rolling pin, "Sure, give it a try!"

Munchlax excitedly took the rolling pin, recalling Andrew's actions, and began rolling with enthusiasm.

However, lacking the technique, Munchlax's first mandu wrapper turned out oddly shaped with several holes.

"Drizzile~ Drizzile~~" Hahaha~ so ugly!

Drizzile immediately laughed at Munchlax without hesitation.

Andrew said, "Why don't you give it a try too?"

Drizzile looked confident.

"Drizzile~ Drizzile~" This won't be hard for me. I'm awesome!

Andrew replied, "Alright, let me see your skills!" and handed another rolling pin to Drizzile.

In fact, Drizzile wasn't any better than Munchlax. Its first mandu wrapper was similarly strange in shape and full of holes.

"Munch~ Munch~" Hahaha~~ Look at you!

Now it was Munchlax's turn to laugh at Drizzile.

"Now you see it's not easy, right?" Andrew laughed and began teaching his two apprentices some techniques.

Both Pokémon were quick learners and soon managed to roll out mandu wrappers. Although not as neat as Andrew's, they were certainly usable.

Andrew said, "Alright, the task of rolling out the wrappers is up to you now. We'll start making the mandu."

"Munch!" Munchlax nodded.

"Drizzile~" Drizzile gave Andrew a thumbs up.

Andrew laid out the mandu wrappers one by one, added a suitable amount of filling, and skillfully began wrapping them. Almost in the blink of an eye, a beautifully wrapped mandu was ready.

The mandu were plump, and the pleats on top looked like a skirt—neat and even.

"Is this a mandu?" Diancie carefully held up one of Andrew's wrapped mandu with both hands, her eyes full of amazement. "It's so beautiful!"

Pawmi, also curious, reached out to poke the mandu's belly but was stopped by Diancie.

"Don't touch it, be careful not to break it!"

(ó﹏ò) Pawmi covered his hand, looking a bit hurt.

"Brother Andrew, can I help too?" Arven asked.

"Of course, I'll show you how," Andrew said, continuing to wrap mandu while explaining the steps to Arven.

Arven showed real talent. Under Andrew's guidance, he quickly managed to wrap his first mandu. While not as perfect as Andrew's, it was well-shaped and the wrapper didn't tear.

Andrew praised, "Not bad. With more practice, you'll get even better."

"Yes, I understand," Arven nodded happily and continued with his second mandu. Being a beginner, his speed was slow.

Andrew worked swiftly, turning out one well-made mandu after another. He occasionally glanced at Arven and, seeing that he was doing well, focused on his own work.

Soon, Munchlax and Drizzile finished rolling out the wrappers. Andrew began teaching them how to wrap mandu. They started with awkward shapes but gradually improved as they practiced.

(The End of This Chapter)