Favorite of the Beast-world: I Got Rich Through Farming-Chapter 99 - 95: Let’s Become Mates
The moment these refugee Beastmen from the Barbarian Bear Tribe entered the village, they were utterly shocked, just like the other Beastmen who had been taken in before them.
Beyond the spacious and sturdy wooden houses, they were even more amazed by the warm rooms and the floors that were hot to the touch.
They broke out in a sweat the moment they stepped inside. ’Is... is this really the Cold Season? Are we dreaming?!’ The Beastmen gawked in disbelief.
When An Jin sent people to bring them food and animal hides, they were moved beyond words.
’Being accepted into the tribe was already an unexpected joy. We never imagined that we, who had been spurned by all, would be treated just like any other Beastman!’
The morale that had just dipped rose again considerably.
[Morale +2, Current: +42↑]
[Personal Prestige +1, Current: +95↑]
Her period had started a few days ago, and a certain snake was always coiled nearby, watching her like a hawk. Even though it wasn’t the Snake Beast mating season yet, An Jin could already feel Mi Yin’s barely contained desire.
Still feeling some resistance toward *that*, An Jin did her best to ignore him these past few days. Fortunately, the flock of sheep they had captured earlier had started giving birth and producing milk, so her attention was quickly diverted.
"BAA~" The sheep munched on fodder in the grass shed. Although several months of domestication hadn’t completely rid them of their wild nature, at least they no longer attacked people randomly.
Of course, the ones that *did* randomly attack people had already been roasted and eaten.
The ones that remained were of a docile breed. There were only four or five rams for breeding; the majority were ewes.
The ewes were still nursing, each surrounded by one or two little lambs bleating as they drank their fill.
’My apologies.’ As soon as the lambs were done, An Jin called over two Beastmen to compete with them for the milk.
The grass shed descended into utter chaos for a while before finally calming down half a day later.
The few Beastmen emerged with red hoof prints on their faces, looking miserable, each carrying a wooden bucket of milky white sheep’s milk.
"You’ve worked hard." An Jin held back her laughter as she comforted the dejected Beastmen before her. "I’ll give you a larger share during the next food distribution."
Sheep’s milk turned gamey as soon as it was exposed to air, and raw sheep’s milk wasn’t suitable for the females to drink.
With the males idle at home during the Rainy and Cold Seasons, it was also the peak time for females to become pregnant. An Jin thought about making some dairy products to provide the females with extra nutrition.
To remove some of the gamey taste from the sheep’s milk, you could add some jasmine flowers or other tea leaves while boiling it. This would not only get rid of the original taste but also make the milk more fragrant and rich.
It wasn’t advisable to add sugar during the boiling process. If you wanted to add sugar, you could do so after the milk was cooked.
The milk also shouldn’t be boiled for too long, as this would cause some sediments to form and reduce its nutritional value.
As the number of Beastmen in the tribe grew, their food supply was being consumed faster and faster. The Wild Grass Birds, which didn’t lay eggs in the Cold Season, and this flock of sheep had now become the tribe’s best source of supplemental food.
Drinking sheep’s milk, roasting whole sheep, sipping on old hen soup... the tribe’s Beastmen were spending this bustling Cold Season in exceptional comfort.
The morale value continued to increase slowly.
[Ding—A random side quest has been issued: Successfully fire 5 pieces of pottery.
Quest Progress: 0/5
Time Limit: One month
Quest Reward: 50 Gold Coins!]
Just as An Jin was thinking that stone tools were too clumsy and was planning to fire some pottery, the system issued a related quest.
"If you have time in the next couple of days, help me build a kiln!"
Taking advantage of the end of the Cold Season and the rising temperatures, An Jin, whose period was also almost over, felt refreshed and ran outside to call Ling Hong over.
"Alright, where do you want to build it?" Ling Hong didn’t ask what she wanted it for. He simply accepted the order and got straight to work.
He was incredibly strong. He carried stone materials as tall as two men and effortlessly piled them on the flat ground she pointed to, constructing a simple kiln.
An Jin looked up at him expectantly. "Do we have any dry firewood left at home?"
"There should be some left. I cut a lot of firewood before the year’s end, so we probably didn’t use it all up this Cold Season." Ling Hong thought for a moment, then decided to go back to the house to check. He soon returned from the storage room with a large armful of dry firewood.
The two of them fired up the kiln together.
The elasticity of this clay was excellent. It was likely a mixture of various mineral soils. After adding water and kneading it evenly, simply removing impurities and air bubbles, and getting rid of any layers in the raw material, it could be shaped very well.
An Jin first pinched a small clay plate, slid it onto a thin stone slab, and quickly placed it into the roaring kiln to test the temperature. The heat released by the Fire Source Stone was substantial, enough to fire the clay and set its shape in half a day.
But unexpectedly, the small clay plate cracked.
’Was it uneven heating? Did the gas expand and increase the pressure, or did the water evaporate too quickly? Or maybe the heating and cooling were too rapid, causing the internal stress of the pottery to change too fast.’
Under Ling Hong’s puzzled gaze, An Jin tried to shape the pottery to be smoother and more even. She secretly bought something like a glaze from the System’s shop and applied it to the pottery’s surface before firing it again.
She also did her best to control the heating and cooling, making them slow and steady.
She opened the kiln once more.
None of the seven pieces of pottery she had fired had shattered. There were some fine cracks, but they couldn’t be considered flaws; in fact, they added to the pottery’s charm.
"Submit quest."
[Ding—Congratulations on completing the random side quest (Fire Pottery). Reward: 50 Gold Coins. Account Balance: +190]
[Items exceeding the quest requirement can be sold in the shop for Gold Coins!]
She could always fire more pottery, but Gold Coins were in short supply. ’Confirm sale,’ An Jin said silently in her mind.
[Ding—10 Gold Coins have been deposited. Account Balance: +200!]
「Two days later」
An Jin’s period, which had been on and off for nearly a week, was finally over. Coincidentally, the sanitary pads that Xi had made for her from Shark Sha were also almost used up.
Having not bathed in over a week, An Jin couldn’t stand it any longer. She boiled some water, found a large wooden tub, and had just slipped in, not even getting a chance to enjoy it, when a certain snake impatiently slithered over.
An Jin watched in shock as a Red Snake slid into her tub.
The wooden tub was very large; An Jin had the Beastmen build it to the standards of a modern bathtub, able to accommodate two people at once.
The Red Snake transformed into a bewitchingly handsome man.
Mi Yin wrapped his arms around her waist with practiced ease, pressing his entire body against hers. His forked tongue flicked against her face. "Jin’er, you’re not bleeding anymore..."
The candlelight flickered in the man’s blood-red eyes. The corners of his eyes were tinged with red, as if brimming with amorous intent. His gaze bored into hers, aggressive and deep enough to drown in. "Let’s become mates."
His voice was low and cool, yet laced with an irrepressible anticipation. He wanted to confirm their relationship as soon as possible.
She had promised him before, after all.
Mi Yin’s heart burned. He bent down slightly toward her, his thin lips brushing against her ear before crushing down on her lips.
An Jin didn’t know how much time had passed. It was already completely dark outside. She was so sleepy she just wanted to sleep. The corners of her eyes were red and tear-streaked, though whether from sleepiness or something else, she wasn’t sure.
Her throat was dry and hoarse, her voice low and weak.
