Jiang Xuan picked up a suitable piece of black gravel from the creek, threw it at a big stone, and the gravel cracked. Jiang Xuan picked up a thin piece of stone, and the fracture was very sharp.
Then, he untied a big fish from the rattan, used stone flakes to remove the scales and gills, and opened the intestines and belly.
“So much fish oil!”
Fish in autumn are very fat and have a lot of fish oil in their bellies.
Jiang Xuan was delighted. Most of the beasts on the mountain had lean meat and very little fat. For the tribesmen, meat and fat were a good thing and were more popular than lean meat.
He tore off the fish oil bit by bit, put it in a bamboo tube, kept the swim bladder, and threw the rest aside.
Fish maw is just fish foam. After it is dried and boiled, fish maw glue can be obtained, which is a highly viscous adhesive glue.
Red peony root and Uncaria also found sharp stones and helped kill the fish together. After all the fish were taken care of, Jiang Xuan got about a pound of fish oil and a dozen fish bladders of different sizes.
As for the fish offal, Jiang Xuan asked the red peony root to be packed in bamboo tubes and poured them all into the pond dug earlier, so as to attract more fish.
After finishing, Jiang Xuan and others rinsed all the fish and took them back to the bamboo house to grill.
In fact, they couldn't eat that much fish in one meal, because these dozen fish weighed at least fifty or sixty pounds in total.
But there is no way. If we don't bake all these fish, given the autumn weather, these fish will stink in a day and night at most.
In the bamboo house, above the fire pit, there is a thick bamboo beam. It is not very high and can be reached by standing up and stretching out your hand.
There are more than a dozen two-braided ropes hanging from the bamboo beams. The ends of these ropes are tied with rope sets, which can be connected to other ropes for hanging the endless meat.
The flames of the fire pit are non-stop day and night, and the high temperature and smoke are constantly smoking the meat hanging on the beams. Mosquitoes cannot get close, bacteria cannot grow, and the meat will become smoked and dry. This method can extend the storage time of the meat.
.
This method was not thought up by Jiang Xuan, but is a common practice of the Deer Tribe and represents the survival experience and wisdom of the tribesmen.
Without this method, raw meat would not be preserved for long without salt.
"Leave two for later and hang up the rest."
Jiang Xuan and Undeng tied the fish one by one to the ropes hanging from the beam, and hung them high above the fire pond to be smoked by the fireworks.
There were two fish, which were pierced with wooden sticks and grilled next to the fire pit.
For those dozen fish bladders, Jiang Xuan found a thin vine and hung them on the wall of the bamboo house for later use.
Jiang Xuan added some firewood to the fire pit, and the fire quickly burned very brightly. The firelight reflected the fish and the faces of the five people.
There is a circle of big stones next to the fire pond. Jiang Xuan placed the wooden stick with the fish on it on the two opposite big stones, and just flipped the fish over from time to time instead of always holding it in his hand.
Although the fish has been cleaned, it still has a faint fishy smell.
"The fishy smell..." Jiang Xuan seemed to remember something.
"Don't grill the fish yet, I'll go out for a while."
Jiang Xuan moved the fish aside, then stood up, picked up the bone and walked outside. Chi Shao hurriedly followed, fearing that Jiang Xuan would go too far and be in danger.
"Xuan, where are you going?"
"I'm going to find some spice."
"What are spices?" Chi Shao was puzzled.
"You'll find out later."
Jiang Xuan walked to the forest on the right side of the bamboo forest. Not far away, he saw a plant with yellowing leaves on the edges.
He walked over and tried to pull it out, but it didn't come up, so he dug out the plant and its underground roots with a razor blade. The plant's fine roots broke, and a pungent smell suddenly filled the air.
This is a wild ginger plant that can be seen everywhere in the southern wilderness mountains and forests. There are several plants in adjacent areas, but Jiang Xuan did not dig it again.
Chi Shao looked at the wild ginger dug by Jiang Xuan: "This is a herb that can detoxify. Why are you digging this?"
Tribal people use many medicinal herbs, and wild ginger, which is common in the mountains, is also one of them.
"I heard from people in the tribe that this herb can not only detoxify, but also remove the fishy smell and make barbecue more fragrant. I want to try if it can be used to grill fish."
Jiang Xuan's face didn't turn red and his heart didn't beat wildly, but he pushed the matter to the people of the Lu tribe. Anyway, he would die without any evidence.
"Really? Why haven't I heard of it?"
Chi Shao was doubtful, but she didn't ask any more questions. It's not her character to ask for details.
"You'll know when you go back and give it a try."
Jiang Xuan took the bone grass and wild ginger and walked back. Chi Shao thought the same thing, there is no harm in it anyway, just give it a try.
Jiang Xuan returned to the outside of the bamboo house, put down the bamboo shoots, went to the stream to wash the wild ginger, broke off the stems and leaves, and cut the wild ginger into several pieces with sharp stones.
After returning to the bamboo house, Jiang Xuan divided the wild ginger in half, stuffed it into the bellies of two grilled fish, and simply sewed the fish stomachs together with thin vines to prevent the wild ginger slices from falling out.
Jiang Xuan placed another big stone on the edge of the fire pond, put the two fish on it, then pulled the red-hot charcoal fire from the center of the fire pond, and grilled the fish directly on the charcoal fire.
Fish grilled over an open fire will burn, but charcoal fire is relatively mild, so the grilled fish will not burn easily.
Time passed bit by bit, and under the charcoal fire, the grilled fish gradually exuded the aroma of meat and a faint smell of wild ginger.
The surface of the fish is gradually browned, and the aroma fills the entire bamboo house.
"It's ready to eat!"
Jiang Xuan placed the two grilled fishes on a clean stone board, then used chopsticks to pick up a piece of fish meat from the back of the grilled fish, blew on it, and put it into his mouth.
When building the bamboo house, he used bamboo to sharpen several pairs of chopsticks. Unfortunately, except for himself, Chi Shao, Uncaria and others, they preferred to eat directly with their hands.
The fish is roasted for a longer time and is relatively dry. The rich meat flavor is accompanied by the fragrance of wild ginger.
This original freshwater fish has excellent texture and taste. Even if only two pieces of wild ginger are added, it tastes delicious.
"It tastes good. Let's try it."
Jiang Xuan greeted him while continuing to eat.
Chi Shao also picked up a pair of chopsticks. She was not used to using chopsticks, but Jiang Xuan liked it, so she tried to get used to it so that Jiang Xuan would not be alone.
Chi Shao awkwardly picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and held it up with her hands, for fear of falling.
After she put the fish meat into her mouth, she chewed it a few times and nodded with satisfaction. Her eyes were slightly squinted with a smile, like a crescent moon.
"With the addition of that herb, the roast is indeed much more delicious than before."
Chi Shao fully affirmed Jiang Xuan's method of stuffing wild ginger into the belly of fish to grill the fish.
"Hot, hot, hot..."
Uncaria, Stone Loach, and Nan Xing tore the fish meat directly with their hands, shouted that it was hot, blew on it, and stuffed it into their mouths.
“It’s delicious!”
"Xuan, the fish you grilled is great!"
"I still want to eat."
The three of them quickly ate up a big fish. There were no small fish bones in the big fish, and Jiang Xuan roasted it dry. Therefore, although they ate quickly, no one got stuck by the fish bones.
After eating the two big fish, the five of them were still not satisfied, so they skewered the fish oil on small wooden sticks, grilled it on the charcoal fire, and then ate it.
The taste of fish oil is actually not very good, but no one cares, as long as it can be eaten.
After eating the fish, Jiang Xuan thought to himself, it would be great if he could make a pot of fish soup. He would get bored of eating grilled things all the time.
However, making soup requires a pot. If you don’t have a pot, you must at least have an earthen pot.
"Crock..."
Jiang Xuan muttered in a low voice and his eyes lit up: "Why not make some pottery?"
Chi Shao on the side heard his words and said in surprise: "Xuan, you can also make pottery? How much have you learned in the tribe?"
Chi Shao always has an unreal feeling. Her biological brother is so powerful, why didn’t she realize it before?
There are indeed people in the Deer Tribe who can make pottery. Although it is only the most primitive and simple earth pottery, it is still pottery and has the basic functions and characteristics of pottery.
Jiang Xuan said sheepishly: "I've only seen them do it. As for whether it can be successfully fired, I'll have to try it before I know."
Chi Shao nodded and said: "Then give it a try, Xuan, I believe you."
This place is rich in resources. Now that we have fishing methods, hunting, and digging plant roots, as long as we are diligent, it is not particularly difficult to save enough food for five people for the winter.
There are fewer people and more resources, so the pressure to survive is much less than when we were in the deer tribe.
"Okay, I'll try my best!"
In order to drink broth, Jiang Xuan decided to try making pottery.
In fact, the making of pottery is not complicated. You only need to choose the right clay, beat it repeatedly, knead it, shape it into the shape of the pot, dry it in the shade and then bake it at high temperature.
As long as you try a few more times and sum up your experience, you should be able to succeed.
There is clay beside the stream, which is the kind of white and very fine soil. It is a good material for making pottery pots.
However, before making pottery, there is a more urgent matter, which is to dig a pond.
Since the fishing trap is effective, they will definitely be able to catch a lot of fish in the future, but they can’t hang them all up and smoke them, right? How big of a fire pit would that be!
The best way is to dig a pond, raise these fish, and fish them out whenever you want. You don’t have to worry about saving them, and the small fish can be raised.
Early the next morning, Jiang Xuan got up, took two half-smoked fish from the top of the fire pond, grilled them for everyone to have a feast, and then began to prepare the tools for digging the pond.
As the saying goes, if a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools.
Good tools can greatly improve work efficiency.
Jiang Xuan, with the help of Chi Shao and others, spent a whole day making three more bone clams. Adding the previous two, they had five bone clams, and each of them could own one. Then, they spent another day using rattan to weave three rattan baskets of different sizes for transporting the excavated soil.
On the third day, they finally started digging the pond.
Jiang Xuan chose a place in front of the bamboo forest that was relatively close to the creek and had relatively flat terrain. After eradicating the weeds and shrubs, the five of them dug soil at the same time with bone blades. The excavated soil was piled around in rattan baskets to build a pond embankment.
.
Because the tools were backward, it took them eight full days to dig a six-meter-long, four-meter-wide, and half-meter-deep pond. The hard work involved cannot be appreciated by outsiders.
Jiang Xuan spent another day using the mixed wet mud to paste the embankments around the pond so that water leakage would not easily occur.
After laying up the pond embankment, Jiang Xuan inserted a small fence made of branches at the water outlet, so that it would be difficult for the fish to escape.
After everything was done, Jiang Xuan dug a diversion canal to divert the stream water into the pond.
"Crash..."
The stream is rushing, filling the pond little by little.
Jiang Xuan and the other five stood by the pond, watching the water surface rising little by little, and their hearts were filled with a sense of accomplishment.
"Xuan, if we dig the pond, will we have endless fish to eat in the future?" Nan Xing asked longingly.
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "Yes, one day we will have endless fish to eat."
"Great!"
Nan Xing suddenly laughed happily, and Uncaria and Stone Loach also laughed.
Chi Shao looked at Jiang Xuan and said, "I really hope this day comes soon, so that everyone no longer has to worry about going hungry."
Jiang Xuan nodded, he believed that as long as he worked hard, that day would come sooner or later.
After digging the pond, the fish caught in the fishing trap will no longer be shot to death.
They used rattan baskets to fish out the fish from the pond, and then used animal skin bags to put the live fish back into the pond and release them.
After a few days, the newly dug pond was no longer empty, with many fish swimming around in the water.
However, they soon discovered new problems.
Carnivorous fish often bite herbivorous fish. Even if the herbivorous fish is relatively large, they will be bitten with bruises all over their bodies or even be killed directly.
Helpless, Jiang Xuan could only drain the water in the pond, build a new embankment in the middle of the pond, and raise carnivorous fish and herbivorous fish separately.
Although the carnivorous fish will still bite each other, the herbivorous fish can survive at least. They only need to throw some aquatic plants for them as food every day.