I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 258 – Eating together is not against the rules
This time, the meal in the Green Sparrow Tribe differed from before.
In the past, after the food was prepared, everyone had to wait, following the order of Divine Child, the Shaman, the Eldest Senior Brother… to take their food in turn, and then eat.
But this time, five identical food portions were directly prepared and placed in five circles together.
Then everyone sat around together, holding their bowls and chopsticks, eating together.
Han Cheng suggested this way of eating. When he discussed it with the Shaman and the Eldest Senior Brother yesterday, they were initially not very agreeable, thinking that eating like this would affect the rules.
Of course, their original words weren’t like this, but they expressed that idea.
This made Han Cheng nod secretly. Regardless of whether they had a specific concept of rules and etiquette, they had recognized the importance of rules. It just sounded a bit awkward.
At that moment, Han Cheng explained his thoughts to them and said that they would only eat like this at major festivals; usually, they would follow the previous method. The Shaman and the Eldest Senior Brother agreed after hearing this, but they still had some uncertainty in their hearts, especially the Shaman, who valued these things more than the Eldest Senior Brother.
The Shaman’s anxious heart didn’t settle until Han Cheng arranged the seating for the meal.
“Let’s eat!”
Han Cheng knew what everyone was thinking, so he didn’t waste time saying unnecessary words like “I have three points to talk about this time, each point divided into several major points and further subdivided into several minor points.” Instead, seeing that everyone had already taken their seats according to the previous arrangement, he directly announced the meal’s start.
Although eating together like this was entirely novel, the speed at which everyone started eating was not slow at all. With Han Cheng’s command, the numerous chopsticks that had long been eagerly stretched towards the food in the middle, aiming for the targets the host had already set and returned fully loaded.
In an instant, the food placed there decreased visibly in quantity.
It was almost comparable to the speed at which some people ate in later generations at banquets.
Seeing this scene, Han Cheng couldn’t help but smirk. He had indeed overestimated these guys’ resistance when faced with delicious food.
However, there was plenty of food prepared today. Opening a store didn’t fear gluttons. Let’s see how long you can maintain this speed.
Han Cheng, leisurely nibbling on a chicken wing, watched the scene unfold like a gust of wind sweeping away the clouds, thinking like this.
“Divine Child, eat.”
Seeing Han Cheng only eating a wing without meat, the Eldest Senior Brother felt guilty and specially picked up a chopstick of plump meat and put it into Han Cheng’s bowl.
In his opinion, this kind of food was the most flavorful.
Little did he know that this action caused Han Cheng’s heart to twitch.
He does not like to eat fatty meat, whether in the past or now.
“Shaman, you eat.”
After nodding to the Eldest Senior Brother with a smile, Han Cheng poured the very tender piece of steamed meat into the Shaman’s bowl.
The Shaman’s teeth were not good, so this kind of food was most to his liking.
As he felt moved by Divine Child’s warm-hearted gesture and picked up the juicy piece of meat to put it in his mouth, he did not need to bite with his teeth; just a little suction was enough to melt it completely.
The Shaman squinted his eyes in enjoyment, savoring the unforgettable taste in his mouth while also marveling at the Divine Child’s great power.
Not only was it about cooking food, but also about the arrangement of seats this time.
He initially thought that even if Divine Child had a feasible method, it couldn’t solve the issue of everyone gathering together to eat in a way that adhered to the rules. But now, in the face of established facts, such thoughts had already been discarded.
The Shaman deeply understood that rules could still be observed even when eating together in a group.
For example, their group was situated in the innermost position of the cave.
In primitive tribes, the more prestigious individuals occupied positions closer to the center because it represented safety.
Those eating with them were also relatively prominent individuals within the tribe, such as Shang, the Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, Heiwa, and Lame.
Within the same group, there were also rules, such as Divine Child, himself, and the Chief occupying the innermost positions.
The Shaman carefully savored this previously untasted delicious food, contemplating these matters, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt the subtlety.
Because this method not only differentiated the status of the individuals but also, due to eating together, invisibly brought people closer, making the tribe more united.
A balance was found between status, rules, and closeness, which were somewhat contradictory.
Of course, the Shaman couldn’t think so clearly. He only vaguely felt some of these things and appreciated the benefits of this approach.
He wondered if they would eat in this entirely new way in the future.
From initial disagreement to half-hearted acceptance and then to complete agreement, the shaman’s thoughts underwent a significant transformation after experiencing the benefits of this method firsthand.
Not many people in the Green Sparrow Tribe thought as deeply about these matters as he did. The vast majority of people were utterly intoxicated by the myriad of flavors and exceptional taste of the food, unable to extricate themselves.
They had initially thought that the dried millet rice they used to eat was delicious enough, but now, after tasting the food newly prepared by Divine Child, they realized how shallow their experiences were…
After the meal, most people in the Green Sparrow Tribe still rubbed their stomachs, savoring the dream-like food that Divine Child called the New Year’s Eve dinner.
They couldn’t help but wonder why they hadn’t celebrated the New Year before.
Calling this meal the New Year’s Eve dinner wasn’t entirely accurate because it wasn’t eaten at night but in the afternoon.
There were no electric lights at night, and many things were inconvenient. Also, tonight, another more lively and important activity was to be carried out—scaring away the New Year Monster!
After the sumptuous meal and a short rest, the men began to leave the cave one after another, preparing to scare away the New Year Nian, a task they had already done a lot of preparation for.
This included preparing firewood and checking the leather drums, among other tasks.
Some of the women stayed inside the cave to clean up the remnants.
The Green Sparrow Tribe, which never left any food behind, unexpectedly had a lot of leftovers this time. It wasn’t that the food wasn’t delicious, but there was just too much to finish.
The tribe had always cherished food a lot. One female primitive person carried a clean, washed pottery basin and poured the leftover delicious food into it to save it for later consumption.
Han Cheng was also busy marking several isolation areas in the courtyard, especially around the area where dry green grass and the deer shed were piled up. Fire couldn’t be allowed near there, and if those two places caught fire, it would be big trouble.
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