I am a Primitive Man Chapter 784: Eating the Delicacies of Dark Cuisine

Chapter 784: Eating the Delicacies of Dark Cuisine

“I forgot too…”

After Han Cheng finally got his clueless childhood bride to understand what he was asking, he looked at Bai Xue with hopeful eyes.

Under Han Cheng’s unusually eager gaze, Bai Xue hesitated for a moment before weakly saying,

“I forgot…”

Hearing this and seeing Bai Xue’s confused and innocent expression, Han Cheng suddenly felt like collapsing and sighing deeply.

“There’s a record on paper inside the room!”

After a moment, Bai Xue seemed excited as she spoke up.

Right after she said that, Bai Xue dashed toward the house, eager to fetch the notebook for Brother Cheng.

Before Han Cheng could even say a word, Bai Xue had already run inside.

Han Cheng stood there with his mouth half-open, unable to hide the embarrassment.

“I know you’re healthy, I know you’re a primitive woman, but no matter how strong you are, you can’t be this reckless!”

“Brother Cheng, here!”

While he was still stunned, Bai Xue came back at the same speed, holding a stack of papers sewn together with needle and thread, offering it like a treasure to Han Cheng.

Han Cheng sniffed, held back the urge to tap her on the head again, and took the simple notebook. He flipped through it carefully, reading the recorded dates.

February 20.

Now it was April 15 — almost two months since the last time!

Han Cheng calculated the time, confirmed it was correct, and, in excitement, snapped the notebook shut. He pulled Bai Xue into a hug and whispered into her ear, “We’re going to have a baby again! We’re having a second child!”

Bai Xue, already confused by Han Cheng’s strange behavior today, was stunned once more by this news.

After a long moment, with a face full of surprise and disbelief, she placed her hand on her flat belly and asked,

“Really?”

“Really!”

Han Cheng nodded emphatically.

After saying this, Han Cheng couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Having a second child — how could anyone not be happy?!

“From now on, you have to walk more steadily. You can’t keep running around like the wind anymore!”

After the joy, Han Cheng warned Bai Xue, who nodded firmly.

“Don’t feed the silkworms anymore. Let them feed themselves.”

Han Cheng continued.

Bai Xue was about to nod, but then shook her head quickly like a little rattling drum.

“Brother Cheng, the silkworms are about to spin silk…”

She clung to Han Cheng’s arm pleadingly.

Han Cheng understood. The silkworms had molted three times and were about to spin silk. This was the busiest time of the year.

But precisely because of this, Han Cheng didn’t want Bai Xue to get involved with the silkworms anymore.

Because this was not only the busiest time, but also the most critical.

At this time, the silkworms ate astonishing amounts, needing constant feeding and cleaning of their droppings, even through the night.

“Then you can’t do too much, just watch and tell them what to do. And at night, don’t get up at all.”

Han Cheng thought for a bit and eased up on his conditions.

Pregnancy does require care, but being overly pampered can backfire.

Hearing this, Bai Xue immediately brightened up…

Overjoyed that Bai Xue was pregnant again, Han Cheng grabbed the fish traps and, along with Fu Jiang and little Pea, headed to the riverbank.

He wanted to catch some fish to cook delicious, nourishing food for Bai Xue.

After placing some grasshoppers and other bait in the traps, Han Cheng spread them in the water, tied the ropes to a stick on the riverbank, and then waited a bit before leaving.

He had to leave because with little Pea, Tuantuan, and Fu Jiang around, the fish wouldn’t dare come near the traps.

Leaving the riverbank, Han Cheng led his group back, pondering what to cook.

Having just sauerkraut fish for dinner seemed a bit sparse. He wanted to think of something else.

After walking a bit, he glanced at some apricot trees nearby.

Numerous green apricots, pigeon-egg-sized, peeked from among the leaves.

Seeing those apricots and recalling how Bai Xue had been munching on them earlier, Han Cheng’s mouth started watering again.

No wonder married women like Cao could use the “looking at plums to quench thirst” trick — it really works.

Han Cheng joked to himself about Mr. Cao, and then inspiration struck, forming a dish idea.

Green Apricot Bamboo Shoot Pork Soup?

This would be a “dark cuisine” dish, but seeing Bai Xue’s fondness for green apricots today, Han Cheng decided to make it anyway.

Compared to some university “dark cuisine” dishes like tomato-fried mooncakes or grape-fried corn, his green apricot bamboo shoot pork soup would seem much more normal.

After all, he was using green apricots as vinegar. Those university chefs who make “dark cuisine” are the true experts, mixing all kinds of unexpected things…

Without hesitation, Han Cheng grabbed a branch from an apricot tree and started picking the fruit.

These apricot and other fruit trees had been planted gradually after the tribe was settled. The trees weren’t fully grown, so he could easily reach the fruit by pulling branches down instead of climbing.

“Dad, dad, eat, eat…”

Little Pea inherited excellent eating genes from both Han Cheng and Bai Xue. Seeing Han Cheng picking apricots, he stood on tiptoes, stretching out his hands, drooling and begging for apricots.

“This isn’t tasty. It’s too sour.”

Han Cheng said to Pea, pretending to bite into an apricot himself. He chewed while making a sour face.

Dad’s exaggerated acting stunned little Pea for a moment. After a brief pause, Pea mumbled twice, then reached out again, “Dad, want eat, want eat.”

With a hint of mischief.

Han Cheng looked at the apricot in his hand, then at little Pea, who was drooling and fussing because he couldn’t get the apricot.

After a moment’s thought, Han Cheng wiped an apricot on his clothes and handed it over.

“You asked for it, so don’t blame Dad.”

Little Pea took the apricot with an excited look.

Han Cheng silently muttered inside and squinted his eyes, not quite willing to watch what was about to happen.

Little Pea happily bit into the apricot without hesitation.

Han Cheng saw clearly that after the bite, Pea paused, as if frozen in place.

After a moment, Pea’s eyes suddenly widened, then squeezed shut tightly. He shivered and stomped his feet from the sourness.

While stomping, his hands flailed nonstop, instantly breaking into a dancing frenzy.

Knowing the taste of these primitive green apricots well, Han Cheng shuddered along.

After jumping around for a while, little Pea finally calmed down.

Looking down at the apricot with a bite taken out, then at his father squatting before him and swallowing hard, little Pea’s eyes welled up with tears.

This wasn’t just feeling wronged—it was literally being overwhelmed by a full measure of fatherly love that made him sour.

Just when Han Cheng thought this little guy would throw away the sour green apricot that had made him so sour and start throwing a tantrum, little Pea was surprisingly calm.

The boy blinked his tear-filled eyes, stood there dazed for a moment, then suddenly handed the apricot—already bitten—to Panda Tuantuan standing nearby, who looked very eager.

Tuantuan was even more of a foodie. Otherwise, with such strength, he wouldn’t have tolerated torment from little Pea and the others just for some food, refusing to leave the Green Sparrow Tribe to return to nature.

Tuantuan often got snacks from little Pea’s hands, so the moment Pea reached out with the apricot, Tuantuan couldn’t wait to open his mouth and gobble it up.

Then…

Tuantuan’s reaction was almost the same as little Pea’s. After chewing for a while with a smack-smack sound, he suddenly froze, as if hit by a paralysis spell.

After a moment, despite being older and usually quiet, Tuantuan suddenly howled and then turned to run.

He ran a short distance, then flopped down, rolling on the ground, using both front paws to dig at his mouth.

Nearby, Fujiang, who had been stretching his head out hoping for a share, saw Tuantuan’s state, and his fur stood on end. Using all four hooves, he dashed off quickly.

He only stopped about ten meters away, looked back at little Pea, then at Tuantuan rolling on the ground holding his mouth, and decided it wasn’t safe here anymore. So he tucked his tail and trotted off to the deer pen.

At the deer pen, he poked his head out and looked back from a distance, clearly spooked by what happened.

Not far away, Han Cheng—who had witnessed the whole thing while holding his clothes pocket with green apricots—had his mouth wide open.

Looking at little Pea standing there grinning but still recovering from the sourness, then at Tuantuan rolling on the ground hugging his paws like a ball, Han Cheng felt a bit dizzy.

This kid, still wearing open-crotch pants, is already this mischievous—what will he be like when he grows up?

Unaware that he himself was the cause of his son’s bad habits, Han Cheng gazed at his son, sighing…

Returning to the tribe with green apricots in his pocket, Han Cheng carried a small basket and a bronze hoe to dig bamboo shoots.

Fishing with traps was no longer as efficient as before; it now required waiting longer.

This was a good time to dig some bamboo shoots.

Tuantuan, still sour from eating the green apricot given by little Pea, was angry and no longer approached little Pea like before. Instead, he lay far away on a rock, limbs sprawled, looking like he’d lost all hope.

But when he saw little Pea holding bamboo shoots dug out by Han Cheng, the hopeless Tuantuan immediately perked up.

He wagged his chubby butt and headed towards Han Cheng and little Pea.

Arriving beside them, he stared with his heavily dark-circled eyes at little Pea. When little Pea handed him a bamboo shoot, Tuantuan immediately grabbed it, sat down, and began munching happily.

By the time Han Cheng carried the dug bamboo shoots back to the tribe with little Pea, Tuantuan had already forgotten the whole green apricot feeding incident.

Back at the tribe, Han Cheng peeled the bamboo shoots one by one, sliced them with a copper knife, then soaked them in a ceramic pot filled with water. After that, he went to the river to collect the fish traps.

Han Cheng untied the ropes tied to a stone by the shore and began pulling the traps towards land.

As the traps neared the shore, a trembling sensation passed through the rope — the fish inside were jumping.

This was the most exciting moment.

Han Cheng carefully pulled the traps to shore and then lifted them out of the water.

Water inside the trap gushed out, and through the gaps, several fish could be seen wildly flapping around.

“Fish! Fish!” little Pea pointed excitedly at the lively fish, clapping his hands.

Though there were fewer fish in the river than before, after pulling in seven or eight traps in a row, the catch was still substantial.

Big fish were kept, while smaller ones and those with visible roe were placed into a basin and released into the tribe’s nearby fish pond, which already held quite a bit of water.

After this, Han Cheng carried the fish traps strung together, leading little Pea and the bamboo shoot-satisfied Panda Tuantuan back to the tribe.

Once back, Han Cheng skillfully descaled and gutted the fish, removing the gills.

Next was Han Cheng’s moment to show off his knife skills.

The fish chosen for the sauerkraut fish dish was a species with two black stripes on each side. Han Cheng named it “Black Stripe.”

It looked pretty different from the black fish of later generations, but had even better meat quality.

In later times, most fish eaten were farmed in ponds; wild fish caught in rivers often had an oily taste, making pond-raised fish preferable.

After preparing the Black Stripe fish, Han Cheng warned little Pea not to fidget and took his copper knife outside.

Squatting by a grindstone, he splashed water from a ceramic basin to wet the whetstone, then began sharpening the knife with a push-pull motion.

Unlike steel knives, copper knives dull easily.

He still needed to slice the Black Stripe fish, so sharpening the knife well was essential.

After some time, Han Cheng lightly tested the blade with his finger, found it sharp enough, rinsed the knife with clean water, and returned to the kitchen.

Slicing fish fillets was truly a skillful task. Although Han Cheng was a foodie who liked to cook for himself, he wasn’t formally trained—never studied at New Oriental learning to control an excavator in English or cooking—so slicing fish was still challenging for him.

A slip could easily break fish bones, but in the end, he managed.

Although some fillets had extra broken bones, uneven thickness, and irregular sizes, if those were trimmed off, the fish slices looked quite decent.

Han Cheng sliced for quite a while before stopping.

Partly because of his lack of skill, and partly because there was a lot of fish—nearly a whole ceramic basin.

No choice, the tribe had too many foodies. Although the sauerkraut fish was mainly for the pregnant Bai Xue, once made, a large group of greedy eaters would always stare, making it hard to enjoy.

Can you imagine a group of burly men, fierce women, and kids all watching you eat, their eyes wide with anticipation?

After experiencing this several times, Han Cheng adopted the principle of making as much as possible when trying new dishes.

Although not everyone could get some, many were able to satisfy their cravings.

After slicing, Han Cheng added salt and fruit wine, then stirred to marinate the fish.

Finished with that, he fetched three or four eggs, cracked them, separated yolks and whites, then poured the egg whites into the fish slices and stirred them together with the cooking wine to marinate.

Adding egg whites to the fish slices will make them very tender once cooked.

After preparing the fish slices, Han Cheng turned and entered the cave.

As soon as he stepped inside, a cool breeze greeted him. After his eyes adjusted to the light, Han Cheng headed straight toward a corner of the cave.

There were some sealed ceramic jars here. These contained the sauerkraut—pickled Chinese cabbage—that Han Cheng had personally made late autumn after harvesting much larger cabbages.

The cabbage, still in the improvement phase, was washed and dried, then left to wilt a bit in the sun before being densely packed into the ceramic jars. A layer of cabbage was sprinkled with salt, then another layer was added, and this process was repeated. On top, a 40-50 kilogram granite slab was tightly pressed down and sealed. After two or three days, water would be gradually added as needed to soak the cabbage. In about a month and a half, it will be ready.

Of course, this sounds easy, but it was pretty tricky in practice. Han Cheng spoiled several jars before slowly mastering the pickling technique.

Though it couldn’t match the famous aged sauerkraut from later generations, it was still good enough for making sauerkraut fish.

Han Cheng took six heads of sauerkraut from the jar, drained them a little, resealed the jar, and headed outside.

Stepping out of the cave, he immediately felt some warmth, and the lingering chill on his body vanished.

In warm weather, the cave’s temperature, shielded from direct sunlight, was much cooler than outside, making it perfect for storing pickled foods.

He sliced the sauerkraut with a copper knife into shreds and placed them into a ceramic basin to prepare.

After getting these ready, Han Cheng went to get some scallions. Just as he finished chopping the green onions and was about to start the fire, Shaman suddenly appeared, running with legs moving as fast as if he were performing a ritual to the gods.

Of course, Shaman ran fast because the Divine Child hadn’t cooked for some time. Today, he was preparing fish and vegetables—it was clearly going to be a big meal. As a veteran foodie of the tribe, how could Shaman miss the chance to light the fire?

Even though he wouldn’t get to eat during the fire-starting, at least smelling the delicious aromas was pleasant, and watching the Divine Child cook was a treat.

This was a secret Shaman had discovered after Fire One and Fire Two had both passed away.

No wonder those two used to get so excited seeing the Divine Child cook and rushed to help with the fire…

As the Shaman lit the fire and heated the ceramic pot, Han Cheng added some white fatty oil inside, threw in Sichuan peppercorns to toast and release aroma, then tossed in the shredded sauerkraut to stir-fry.

At this moment, Yuan, who was a bit out of breath, finally came over.

Smelling the strong fragrance wafting from the kitchen, and seeing Han Cheng stir-frying and Shaman tending the fire, Yuan’s expression suddenly changed to realization.

No wonder this usually pretends-to-be-asleep fellow ran over so quickly today.

Shaman, who was squatting by the fire, felt Yuan’s gaze and was startled, thinking, “This time it’s over.” She had been hiding well, but suddenly everything was exposed.

Her once-enthusiastic face turned sour.

Han Cheng saw this and didn’t find it funny, but rather deeply empathized.

Shaman was probably even more pitiable than Han Cheng, as Bai Xue was still young, whereas Yuan was no longer young.

After all, “thirty like a wolf, forty like a tiger, fifty sits down and sucks dirt”—Yuan was at that very age.

Thinking this, Han Cheng instantly brightened up, especially since Bai Xue was now pregnant with their second child.

After that night, not only did Bai Xue gain ten months of happiness, but Han Cheng also felt pleased.

Feeling joyful, Han Cheng looked at Shaman again, and his feelings tu