I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 271 – I only want a mouthful of soup
“Whoosh!” The sound of rustling leaves as the bone shovel cleared them away while Han Cheng stood nearby, eagerly awaiting the appearance of bamboo shoots.
“Wow!”
After two shovels went down, instead of joy, there was alarm!
A yellow snake, almost half a meter long and as thick as a rolling pin, emerged from the ground. It wasn’t fleeing but coiling up, raising its head and spitting out crimson venom, glaring at the people who disturbed its peaceful slumber.
Han Cheng had always been quite afraid of snakes. These cold-blooded creatures made him feel uncomfortable just by looking at them.
The sudden appearance of this snake gave him goosebumps instantly, and he felt the hairs on his body stand on end.
He had been so focused on finding bamboo shoots that he forgot this was the favorite habitat for snakes near the riverbank!
Now, at the end of spring, the snakes had already awakened.
“Swish!”
A bone shovel suddenly appeared, slamming directly onto the snake. This majestic snake was instantly subdued.
Even when the bone shovel pressed it to the ground, and it coiled around the shovel with all its strength, it was still helpless.
The bone shovel soon cut off the snake’s head. Eldest Senior Brother retrieved the shovel, and in Han Cheng’s admiring gaze, he reached out and pulled the headless snake off, holding it in his hand and excitedly exclaiming to Han Cheng that lunch was sorted.
Watching, Han Cheng took a few steps back.
He realized he was still a pseudo-primitive man who couldn’t be as tough as Eldest Senior Brother and the others. Watching them catch two more snakes, Han Cheng’s face twitched uncontrollably.
The ground was dug up, revealing fat bamboo shoots that had stored energy for a long time. Unfortunately, before they could explode with astonishing growth, they were dug up, along with the snakes, and became food for the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe.
With several bamboo shoots in his arms, Han Cheng, laden with spoils, left the bamboo forest with Eldest Senior Brother and the others, heading back to where the boats were moored.
Eldest Senior Brother’s hand also had a bamboo pole about four centimeters in diameter.
This was chopped down according to Han Cheng’s instructions to be used as a boat paddle.
The slender and lightweight bamboo pole was more suitable for paddling than other wooden sticks.
This bamboo pole was chopped off from below after digging through the soil. Without starting from here, it would be difficult for the Green Sparrow Tribe’s tools to chop down a complete bamboo pole.
Han Cheng didn’t let anyone explore the bamboo forest. Firstly, there were many snakes inside, and even though Eldest Senior Brother and the others were tough, they couldn’t withstand snakes with potent venom. If bitten by such a snake, this journey would end tragically.
Secondly, Han Cheng was worried about encountering an animal with formidable strength but insisted on acting cute to make a living.
Despite appearing cute most of the time, this fellow was actually a hidden master.
Pandas, first they’re bears, then they’re cats. Legend has it that the mount of Chi You, who clashed with the Yellow Emperor, was a panda.
A national treasure. Han Cheng didn’t want to mess with it.
The peeled bamboo shoots and snakes were thrown into clay pots to simmer.
After simmering, Eldest Senior Brother first served a bowl to Han Cheng.
Han Cheng was adamantly against eating snake meat, and when he thought of the snake’s cold look, he felt even more uncomfortable.
Han Cheng vowed that he would rather starve, even jump off from here, than take a sip of bamboo shoot and snake soup!
But his stomach couldn’t help but rumble a bit.
After waiting and seeing Eldest Senior Brother and the others enjoying their meal with unstoppable enthusiasm, Han Cheng’s firm resolve began to waver.
“I’ll just taste a little bit of the soup.”
He said to himself, cautiously bringing the bowl to his lips and taking a sip. Surprisingly, the taste was excellent, bringing out the freshness of the bamboo shoots and the snake meat to the fullest.
“I don’t taste the flavor in this sip. I’ll try another one…” Han Cheng said to himself.
After finishing the soup, he decided to try some snake meat as well…
So, a bowl of bamboo shoots and snake soup disappeared completely into Han Cheng’s stomach.
After finishing one bowl and still unsatisfied, he clamored for another one.
“Delicious!”
With the food gone, Han Cheng smacked his lips, unable to help but exclaim.
He wanted to return to the bamboo forest with Eldest Senior Brother and the others to catch more snakes and continue making soup.
With gentle waves, the oars swaying, the four canoes left where they had stayed overnight plus half a day, slowly drifting downstream.
A green-headed water bird quietly peeked out from the grass, seeing the ferocious unwelcome guests leaving, and couldn’t help but open its mouth to cry out in delight…
Han Cheng stood at the boat’s bow, using a charcoal pen to mark a black dot on the south side of the intersection of the Red River and the Egret River, labeling it with two characters – Bamboo Forest.
In the coming days, Han Cheng and his companions continued downstream, stopping and disembarking wherever they found suitable spots to explore the vegetation, rocks, and other surroundings.
However, their luck seemed to have run out. Apart from the bamboo forest, they didn’t find anything beneficial for the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Today was the sixth day since leaving the tribe. As the river continued to merge, it became wider.
Not far ahead, a water bay appeared before them, where the river became extremely calm, with no visible flow.
Seeing that the sun was already slightly westward and everyone was hungry, they decided to stop the boat and land here to make a fire and cook.
Several fish traps hanging from the stern, half submerged in water, were lifted up. Inside were the fish they had caught but hadn’t finished eating.
After the meal, they released the ropes and pushed the small boats away from the shore with poles. Then, armed with weapons and tools, they headed towards the shore to explore the deserted area.
“What’s this?”
Just a few steps in, Han Cheng stopped in his tracks, looking at a few green plants in the thicket, his heart filled with anticipation.
Eldest Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, and Shang noticed Han Cheng’s unusual expression and knew he had discovered something. They followed Han Cheng’s gaze.
Except for the wild grass, there was nothing special in sight.
Han Cheng took a few quick steps and arrived before a clump of grass almost level with him, carefully examining the large-leaved plants.
The leaves of the plants were somewhat similar to palm leaves but clearly not from the Chinese parasol tree. They had some small thorns on them and some on their bodies, with a slightly purplish color at the roots.
This is…
Wild hemp?!