Chapter 23 Hold Breath

There was a big bone, and today Li Pan made stewed beef bone soup. She had scraped off some of the meat from the bone in advance, chopped it up, and soaked it in the broth. She cooked some radishes and vegetables, chopped them up, and mixed them into the meaty broth with some green barley flour. It cooled down to a warm temperature before she fed it to the two cubs.

The she-wolf saw this and approached, sniffing curiously.

"Give me some," she demanded.

"Sure," Li Pan agreed.

Li Pan found a few clay pots for the wolves, one for each, and even made special marks on them for the wolves' exclusive use. She prepared a large pot of the meaty mixture, with meat, vegetables, and barley flour mixed in.

The wolves ate with relish, licking the big pot clean.

"Will you eat dinner, or should I save some for you?" Li Pan asked.

"Eat," the she-wolf responded. Warm food is delicious and easy to digest.

They carried back two large baskets of meat to the cave, while the cubs stayed behind to play with Li Pan.

Li Pan made a nice and warm nest for the cubs out of old clothes, leftover sponge from couch cushions, one for each cub. They looked like little tents with different colors.

After eating their fill, the cubs Yue Ying and Yue Xin crawled into their nests to sleep.

Qin Jianzhong returned and took green bricks and cement to seal the gap so that Mutant Beasts wouldn't come through again.

The cow weighed over four thousand pounds; the meat would be enough for them to eat for a long time.

They planned to cut the meat into long strips and hang them in the storage room of the new house to air-dry into jerky.

Some of the better cuts of meat were chopped into small pieces, sorted by part, labeled, and frozen in the fridge. They were good for making ground meat or stew, and the bones were saved for making soup.

For dinner, they had meat and bones. Since there was plenty of meat today, Xue Dong made beef pilaf, and the aroma filled the courtyard.

Considering that the wolves seemed to really enjoy hot food, their portions were included — two big pots of pilaf were prepared, satisfying everyone's appetite.

Xue Dong deliberately chopped the bones, scooping out the marrow and fat into the pilaf. The richness was fragrant, allowing everyone to indulge, as they hadn't tasted such fatty food in a long while.

After a full meal in the afternoon, Qin Jianzhong washed the dishes and utensils. As night approached, he called, "Wolf King, join me for a patrol outside the valley."

The Wolf King stood up with the Wolf pack.

The cubs didn't go; they were too young. They would have to wait until they were half a year old and grown before they could join in, as they were too little to be of any help now.

That afternoon Qin Jianzhong had filled the breach with cement and green bricks; it would dry in a couple of days.

Qin Jianzhong and the Wolf pack made a round inside the valley, ensuring there were no other large animals before moving on to patrol outside.

Li Pan tidied up, moving small items one by one to the new house while storing most of the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the cave.

Previously, Xue Dong and Qin Jianzhong had been busy putting cut black oats and fresh grass into the green storage pit for fermentation, gradually feeding it to the cattle.

Tomorrow, they would start plowing the land and continue to plant black oats and Purple clover. Purple clover could enrich the soil as well as feed the cattle and sheep, and its tender leaves were edible for humans too.

After fertilizing, the land where the sweet potatoes grew could be used to plant more potatoes, which also moderately enriched the soil. The land that had potatoes would then be used for sweet potatoes.

The area with bamboo would be cleared to grow sugarcane, which would later serve as a significant source of sugar and income.

The vegetables in the garden were ripening quickly, and Li Pan had to infuse the soil with her superpower daily. She would pick vegetables every day, which they couldn't finish eating. With chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, and sheep at home, they weren't worried about running out of food.

Before sleeping at night, either Qin Jianzhong or Xue Dong had to take the Wolf pack for two rounds of patrol inside and outside the valley. This had become their daily routine.

In just a few days, Xue Dong and the Wolf pack had another success, bringing back a wild boar that weighed five thousand pounds. It was an enormous beast.

Seeing so much meat, Li Pan murmured, "Now we won't have to worry about running out of meat."

"Pan'er, I want to discuss something with you. I'm thinking of selling some pork to our brothers at the base; they hardly get to eat any meat," Qin Jianzhong proposed.

There was too little meat for too many people, and superpower users had overall improved physical strength and huge appetites, no matter how much there was, it never seemed enough for everyone.

"Sure, we can't finish all this by ourselves anyway. Take some to sell, and can we make the rest into cured meat?" Li Pan agreed.

"Okay, I'll handle it. Do we have enough spices at home? If not, I'll go buy some," Qin Jianzhong said.

"Ouch! We don't have enough salt and Sichuan peppercorn, the amount we bought last time was not enough to cure the meat. Let's buy some more, and make some ham as well, it's nice to have a variety to eat. Let's also pick some vegetables to take with us, how much meat should we sell to the base?"

"Half of it, I think. We have a good amount of vegetables as well, so we can take a cartload to sell along the way."

"Alright, my medicinal herbs are about ready to dry as well."

"No need to buy Sichuan peppercorns, I saw some Sichuan peppercorn trees around the mountainside when I patrolled the other day, I forgot to mention it. It's a bit of a distance, but I'll bring some back tomorrow."

Qin Jianzhong remembered this only when he heard it.

"Okay, we won't buy Sichuan peppercorns then, but we still need to buy salt."

The next day, everyone went to pick vegetables. They picked a lot of tomatoes, feather vegetable, leafy greens, cabbage, celtuce, cucumbers, and many other vegetables. They also had radishes and the like, all packed in baskets, ready to be sold at the base tomorrow.

The pig was really too big, with more than five thousand pounds of meat that they couldn't finish eating themselves. Besides, the meat they bred themselves was even tastier, so they decided to sell half to the base and keep the remaining half of the pork and beef for their own consumption.

Yue Xin's kid had a Basic Level Space system superpower, with a space about thirty square meters, big enough to help them carry things.

"Wolf King, I'm going to the base tomorrow to deliver the meat. Do I need to bring Yue Xin's kid along? Are you coming with me?"

"Let Little Four go with you, she's too weak."

The Wolf King glanced at Li Pan, disdaining her for being weak, and decided to send Little Four, the male wolf, to protect her.

Li Pan pouted and turned to continue her work, as if she hadn't heard anything.

Xue Dong couldn't help but laugh. "What do you need? I'll bring it back for you."

"I don't lack anything. Just don't lose the kid, or I'll bite Li Pan to death."

The Wolf King reiterated his warning.

"Got it, won't lose her."

Xue Dong smiled.

After a busy day, they finally got the meat ready. Early the next morning, they set off for the base on their own tricycle.

Qin Jianzhong stayed with the Wolf pack to guard the house and work.

Li Pan was going to the base to buy some cloth for curtains, cotton clothes, quilt covers, and the like. They had also planted their own cotton, but it was far from harvest time.

She held Yue Xin's child in her arms and dozed off in the cart, bringing some food with her in case he got hungry.

Upon arrival at the base, she was woken up, fed Yue Xin and Little Four some food first, making sure they were full.

Then they went straight to the base.

"Boss, I'm here again."

"What are you here for this time?"

"You look so constipated. I've come to bring you and the brothers some food and drink. I caught a wild pig, it's a big one, so I brought some meat over. Our vegetables at home are ripe too, so I brought them along to add some greens for the brothers."

"At least you have some conscience, boy. How are your crops doing?"

The Base Commander was most concerned about this, as during the last visit to collect potatoes, several farms were stingy and reluctant to sell more. The only reliable sources they could count on were Xue Dong and Li Pan's farm.

Speaking of this made him angry; when they needed things, the base provided whatever they asked for, trying to give them a good deal. But come harvest time for the grains, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, they were reluctant to sell to the base, wanting to keep everything for themselves. Didn't they think about the many people in the base he had to feed? "Sell me some first to help the base get through tough times, and later, if you are in trouble, I will give you grains."

The Base Commander felt aggrieved but couldn't say much, as he had previously agreed to let people have enough for themselves, and if they didn't want to sell, he couldn't force them.

"Pan'er is practically living in the fields. Oh, and we've spotted some insects there, don't forget to warn the other farms to pay attention. If the insects get out of hand, it could be disastrous."

"I know. People get annoyed whenever they see us, not wanting us to check their crops out of fear we'll take their grains. Forget it, come on, join me for a drink today, I'm full of frustration."

The Base Commander dragged Xue Dong towards the kitchen; it was about time for lunch anyway.

"Pan'er, come on, let's eat something in the canteen."

"Okay."

Li Pan took Yue Xin to the kitchen to drop off the goods; they still had to be weighed, with records kept and payments made via card or mobile phone.