"Just moments ago you were crying like a little kitten, and now you’re giggling away," Ji Nuan teased Ge Ye who was panting from running.
Ge Ye’s cheeks turned a shade of red, and then chuckled in response. She pulled out a purple fruit from behind her and handed it to Ji Nuan, "Song Yu gave this to me while he was hunting today, it’s pretty and can be used to decorate caves, I’m giving it to you."
Ji Nuan looked surprised, "You’re giving this to me?"
Ge Ye nodded, "Yes, without you today, my father’s leg might never have healed. Besides, thanks to the medicinal powder you gave to Grandma Shaman, his wound doesn’t even hurt anymore."
Ji Nuan felt a bit embarrassed, "That’s not true. Even if I didn’t go, Grandma Shaman would have healed Uncle Clan Leader."
Seeing Ji Nuan hesitating to take the purple fruit, Ge Ye hastily stuffed it into her arms and ran away, "The particles inside are a favorite of birds and animals, so you can just throw them away. I’ll be going first!"
Ji Nuan watched the retreating figure with amusement and shook her head, then lowered her head to look at the fruit in her hand.
Just as its name suggested, the fruit had a purple shell. Ji Nuan pinched it and found it very hard. If she tried to crack it with a stone, it would likely be destroyed easily.
"Hmm? Where did this purple fruit come from?" A low voice inquired next to her ear.
Ji Nuan quickly looked up, and sure enough, it was Xiu Yan covered in two baskets of clay, looking at the purple fruit in her hand.
Ji Nuan waved the fruit in her hand, "Ge Ye just gave it to me. She said it can be used to decorate the cave, but the skin is too hard. I can’t open it."
Xiu Yan chuckled lightly, took the purple fruit from her hand, a glint of cold flashed from his index finger, revealing a sharp nail, which he ran around the middle of the fruit. Then, clutching one half in each hand, he gently twisted it, splitting the purple fruit neatly into two.
The center of the fruit held black particles about the size of a fist, seemingly seeds of the fruit. Wrapped in a transparent film, outside of it were these yellow-bean-sized semi-transparent granules.
Ji Nuan scooped one out and squeezed it. It was pretty hard - this wouldn’t be a bean from the Beast World Continent, would it?
Hesitant, Ji Nuan placed the small granule inside her mouth.
Xiu Yan watched the adorable Ji Nuan put the purple fruit seed in her mouth, his eyes full of amusement. This scene reminded him of the first time he saw her in the grove.
She was also eating bird food then, which was why he decided to give her a Humming Beast leg.
So, was this little one partial to bird food?
Although the purple fruit seed was hard to the touch, it was surprisingly easy to chew. As she chewed, the mildly sweet taste that is unique to rice filled her mouth, making Ji Nuan’s eyes instantly light up.
Could it be that these purple fruits were rice from the Orc Continent?
Taking the remaining fruit from Xiu Yan, Ji Nuan’s eyes sparkled with delight, "Brother Xiu Yan, could you bring back some more clay, I want to make something delicious for you."
Xiu Yan raised an eyebrow, "With the bird... purple fruit?"
In her excitement, Ji Nuan didn’t catch the hidden meaning in Xiu Yan’s words. Holding the purple fruit, she ran towards the cave, "Don’t worry, it’s going to be delicious."
The petite figure disappeared into the cave, and Xiu Yan shifted his gaze, emptying the baskets of clay near the stone slabs, and ran off with two empty baskets in hand.
Inside the cave, Ji Nuan used a stone knife to scrape the seeds from the purple fruit and poured them into three stone bowls. Holding the fruit pieces in both hands, she rubbed them together. As she rubbed, the blocky fruit transformed into semi-transparent granules that fell directly into the bowl. Apart from the color, they looked exactly like yellow beans.
After treating the fruit in the other two bowls in the same way and washing them clean in the stone pot, she built her own small clay stove and started a fire, preparing to cook the granules as if they were rice.
She gratefully picked up a large chunk of Humming Beast meat from a wooden shelf outside the cave, struggled to cut it into slices with a stone knife, and placed them on a large leaf for later use.
She then found a few varieties of fruit that she commonly used for cooking, chopped them up, and placed them into a stone bowl.
Once everything was ready, Ji Nuan’s excitement over discovering this presumed ’rice’ finally started to settle down.
Petting her forehead, she remembered the basket filled with wood left outside the cave.
As she stepped outside, she saw the empty basket neatly placed at the entrance of the cave, while a pile of firewood lay quietly a short distance away from the stone slabs.
Picking up the basket, Ji Nuan couldn’t help but smile, "When did Brother Xiu Yan become so considerate?" "Hehe!"
The wait for the purple fruit rice to cook was agonizing. Each time Ji Nuan collected firewood, she couldn’t help but take a detour through the cave, nervous and expectant at the same time.
Finally, upon her third trip back with firewood, she could already smell the aroma of rice wafting out of the cave as she approached. Ji Nuan’s eyes sparkled.
It had worked!