To confirm what was going on, they would have to plant the grains again and check if the grains grew like that again. However, they did not have a second planting season this year.
Another solution was to go talk to Ji Ju and see what the old man planted.
No matter what the Thousand Grain Gold looked like, no one doubted that it was special. Which regular grain could attract such a huge commotion? The entire harvest process had been chaos.
“We’ll cook some and check its properties,” said Shao Xuan.
To them, the grains were the most useful as food. Eating it would determine if they were good or bad for the body, if they were beneficial or toxic. Although that was not an accurate conclusion, it was enough. Especially the shamaness who specialised in herbs and Quan Bia from Taihe, eating the grains would tell them a lot about the plant.
Shao Xuan peeled the husk off a hundred and fifteen grains, all the husk placed into a clay container for the shamaness to study later. The grains were then put into a clay Ding cauldron by the shamaness. She used this especially for boiling medicine. This time, just for the grains, she had deliberately cleaned the cauldron and prepared it here, even picking out the best firewood.
Since Shao Xuan’s house was too small to fit everyone, plus there was a lingering smell of bird poop, they moved to an empty warehouse. Zheng Luo personally cleared the space for them.
The twenty-three people who harvested the grains, plus the shamaness, Qi Qi and the rest of the people involved in planting the grains made a total of more than thirty. They sat around the cauldron in a few rings. As for the Taihe people, they were ‘invited’ to wait at the bottom of the hill before harvest.
One hundred and fifteen Thousand Grain Gold grains as big as grapes were placed into the clay Ding cauldron, then water was added. The firewood was lighted and the water boiled.
A light fragrance wafted through the air.
This was different from the fragrance of the first plant but not completely different.
More than thirty pairs of eyes stared at the cauldron, waiting for the grains to cook. When the water turned into a purple soup, the shamaness took a wooden ladle and scooped up a little of the thick soup into a bowl and tasted it.
The shamaness’ face was first one of tasting the soup, then thought, then surprise, then joy and finally excitement. “Amazing!!”
Shao Xuan knew that this was a good thing if the shamaness had such a comment. Everyone’s hard work was worth it.
The shamaness distributed the contents of the cauldron to everyone and left ten grains behind. They were put into another bowl. This was for the Taihe people.
Shao Xuan felt like this was a lot better than the last. He felt as if all the pores in his body had opened to let out the steam. Since he hadn’t previously had any illnesses or injuries, he did not feel major changes but from the surprise on the other faces, he knew that the returns had far exceeded their hard work. It was worth planting the seeds again.
“I feel like all my energy has been replenished!” said a warrior.
“I feel like my injuries don’t hurt as much anymore,” said a warrior who was severely injured in the last hunt.
“I feel… feel… feel like this is amazing, even better than eating a whole boar!” exclaimed Duo Kang. “What do we need to feed this plant? Next time when you’re planting them I’ll hunt more animals for it. Hehe, just give me a larger portion afterwards. Hehe!”
“No, the Thousand GRain Gold definitely has more functions than this. I think this plant will benefit us all!” The shamaness was ecstatic. With time, she would be able to find out more of its properties.
“Keep these well!” Zheng Luo cried emotionally, pointing at the twenty-three sacks. While they did not have a definite answer to what benefits this grain could bring, they were certain the shamaness’ conclusion would not disappoint.
“We’ll plant more next year,” said Qi Qi. she had just eaten one grain but already felt satiated. Other than that, she felt refreshed and all her fatigue and tension were mostly gone. She had the same feeling that the plant had more uses.
“When we bring these to Anba City, we’ll definitely be able to trade for a lot of good stuff,” said Duo Kang, smacking his lips.
Zheng Luo smacked him instead. “Nonsense, of course we’re keeping this good stuff for ourselves! How could we trade it?”
Duo Kang thought for a moment. There were already so many of them here, how could they bear to give these to other people? They still had their animal skins.
“So we won’t bring these when we leave in a few days?” asked Duo Kang.
“Shao Xuan will bring some but the rest won’t,” answered Zheng Luo.
In the previous discussion, they had concluded that Shao Xuan would bring some to King City for Gongjia Heng. Next time, they would be able to ask Heng for weapons.
“Shao Xuan, how many grains from last year left?” asked the shamaness.
Shao Xuan thought for a moment. “We’ve used up two hundred and fifty, so there are about seven hundred left.”
“If possible, plant everything next year. We’ll plant some of this year’s harvest too. But planting so many will definitely be difficult.” The shamaness frowned.
“When I’m at King City, I’ll try to find out more efficient methods of planting crops,” said Shao Xuan.
The shamaness nodded. “That will be the only way.”
Five hundred harvested grains were given to Quan Bai and the rest of the Taihe people. They had provided a lot of help after all. They wanted more but Zheng Luo said no. He said Flaming Horn had caught the beasts for food, and the idea came from his people, the seeds were theirs and in the end, they defended the plants too. They didn’t even have enough for the whole village, how would they spare more for Taihe? This was already very generous.
Quan Bai and a few went to complain to Shao Xuan and in the end, got one hundred of last year’s grains. They left happily. Last year’s planting was a failure, of course they had to do it again.
As for the new grains, they would plant them next year and grow their grain store.
Three days later, it was the agreed date for the excursion.
Shao Xuan counted one thousand grains and put them in a pouch. They left as a team. The remaining grains were with the shamaness. They had already discussed how to distribute the grains so Shao Xuan did not have to worry.
The trade team arrived at Anba but did not directly head to the free trade zone. Shao Xuan held a token given by Black Bear and looked for him.
There was a small house with a yard, about a hundred square meters. It was not very large in this region.
Shao Xuan rapped on the door.
“Who is it?” A hoarse voice came. There were loud footsteps.
Creak—
The wooden door opened and a muscular man walked out. Although he wasn’t as large as their leader, Black Bear, he already had the physique of a bear.
That impatient tone disappeared when he saw Shao Xuan. “Eh?” He pointed his finger, as thick as a carrot, at Shao Xuan. “Aren’t you the guy who carried that broken cauldron?”
Even the term ‘guy who carried the cauldron’ was dubious, what did ‘broken’ mean? Plus that cauldron wasn’t even broken.
Without wasting time on banter, he took out the token from Black Bear.
“Eh? So it really is you? Flaming Horn? If you came two days later, you wouldn’t have met us. We’re leaving for King City in two days,” said the muscular man.