I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 257 – New Year’s Eve Dinner
The shaman stood at the door, carefully examining the thing that appeared for the first time in the Green Sparrow Tribe right before his eyes, smiling.
He had already learned from the Divine Child that this was a way to pray for blessings and dispel disasters, to seek blessings from the heavenly gods using the words of the Divine Child. Indeed, this was an excellent method.
The second most influential shaman in the Green Sparrow Tribe, who had dedicated most of his life to communicating with the heavenly gods, looked at the distinctive couplets that adorned the entire tribe, revealing a pensive expression…
After the Green Sparrow Tribe had made many preparations, the New Year finally arrived.
Han Cheng intentionally made the New Year celebrations grand and splendid, so for the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe celebrating the New Year for the first time, it was bound to be a memorable memory.
“Let’s begin!”
With these words, Han Cheng lifted the lid covering the large cauldron, and white steam instantly filled the cavern, creating an atmosphere like a fairyland.
The rich aroma permeated the air as the mist spread, making people unable to resist swallowing saliva.
As the white mist dissipated slightly, the scene inside the large cauldron appeared faintly visible.
Instead of the meat soup the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe were accustomed to, five rectangular plates of equal size were inside.
There was a fish on each plate with many cuts made by relatively sharp bone knives.
Han Cheng pinched some finely chopped green onions from the side basin and sprinkled them lightly on the fish. Then, Tie Tou and the others, eagerly waiting on the side, brought out the five steamed fish and placed them in the cave, roughly outlining five circles.
Inside those five circles, some pottery bowls and plates were already placed.
Inside were dishes that were not commonly made, dishes that the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe could never get enough of stir-fried pork with vegetables, deep-fried meat chunks, scrambled eggs with wild onions, large plates of stir-fried salted meat, small plates of smoked meat, and stewed meat chunks.
Now, a plate of steamed fish was added to the mix.
The people of the Green Sparrow Tribe, who had never seen such a scene before, were already salivating at the sight of these delicious-looking dishes.
The children were slurping saliva, and every adult had also secretly swallowed countless mouthfuls of saliva.
However, these children were very disciplined. Even if they were starving and looked eagerly, none reached out to take any food.
The wisest and most knowledgeable shaman, who had never seen such a scene before, looked at the delicious food like everyone else, discreetly swallowing saliva.
Fire One and Fire Two, the oldest members of the Green Sparrow Tribe, looked at the abundant food and felt like they were in a dream.
For as long as they could remember, hunger had always accompanied the heavy snow and cold.
Deaths due to freezing and starvation occurred every few years.
Winter was a hurdle that these people had to go through every year.
In their memories, winter always included the shadows of cold and hunger. However, this year, the Divine Child led everyone to build houses and have heated beds, so this winter wasn’t cold.
The Divine Child had provided them with a lot of food, and this winter, not only did they not have to endure hunger, but they ate better than in the years when food was most abundant!
Just thinking about it was unbelievable.
Yet, this scene, which had never appeared in their dreams, now appeared vividly before their eyes.
The food was already plentiful, which was almost the sentiment of everyone except the children.
However, delicious food continued to be brought over continuously.
After the five plates of steamed fish were removed, the rake made of tree branches and ropes inside the large cauldron was removed, revealing another rake underneath.
Five pottery plates, also on this rake, were found, but instead of fish, they were five plates of steaming, smoke-emitting featherless chickens.
There must be “auspiciousness and abundance for the New Year,” so these two dishes were indispensable.
This year, the Green Sparrow Tribe hatched three broods of chicks, with thirty-four chicks, three and a half of which died prematurely, leaving thirty-one chicks, including six roosters.
After several months, they had grown quite large, so it was natural for them, who neither laid eggs nor expected to breed, to end up in their current state.
Han Cheng specially made the large cauldron for steaming with Hei Wa before autumn, and there were two in total.
It was actually quite simple. You just needed to pinch out a circle of slightly protruding mud strips inside, thirty and sixty centimeters from the bottom of the cauldron, respectively.
After it was burned, things could be steamed on the protruding parts.
As people swallowed saliva, Han Cheng, feeling once again that there was plenty of food, said, “Let’s begin” once more.
The lid of the other steaming cauldron next to it was also lifted, and white mist once again filled the air as five more plates appeared.
Inside the plates were rabbits that had been skinned and eviscerated.
After the rabbits were removed, five plates of plump, oily deer meat that had been steamed were left.
On the twenty-seventh day, a deer somehow injured its leg. It left after being lured out and treated to a meal of small greens outside the courtyard wall away from the deer pen.
However, unlike before, the tendons on the deer legs had been removed beforehand.
Cow tendons were temporarily unavailable, but deer tendons should suffice for making bowstrings.
After these plates of deer meat were brought out, one person served a bowl of millet porridge or deer milk cooked with small pieces of meat and greens, and finally, no more new food was brought out.
The people of the Green Sparrow Tribe did not realize that they had used the word “finally.”
It was regrettable that there were no dumplings. This New Year would have been even more perfect if there were dumplings.
Thinking of this, Han Cheng felt regretful. All these things combined in his heart were not as good as a bowl of piping hot dumplings.
The people of the Green Sparrow Tribe had no idea about their shaman’s thoughts. They would surely be astonished at how precious and delicious dumplings were if they knew.
These delicious foods, which were already unimaginable to them, were still not as good as dumplings. The deliciousness of dumplings was truly beyond their imagination.
Under the gaze of everyone, Han Cheng, who had just finished cooking, sat down in the innermost circle next to the shaman.
Facing the main seat by the entrance, he gestured for the shaman to sit as if he were an elder.
“Please, everyone, take a seat,” Han Cheng invited everyone.
The people seemed somewhat curious and not quite accustomed as they went to their pre-assigned seats, sitting on pieces of stone or thick wooden sticks set up beforehand.
0 Comments