Chapter 324

Early in the morning, the entire City Lord's Mansion was bustling with activity.

Today was not only the start of Hei Yao's Autumn Festival but also the day Qi Bai and Lang Ze officially moved into the City Lord's Mansion. Qi Bai had told the young children early in the morning that they could come to the City Lord's Mansion today to get some delicious treats.

Sure enough, as soon as the sky began to lighten, the mansion's large doors and windows were thrown open. Qi Bai was in the large kitchen with over a dozen workers preparing food.

Since the main guests today were the young children, Qi Bai made three types of snacks: red date cakes, berry biscuits, and fresh milk taro root mochi.

The berry biscuits had been prepared several days in advance.

Duck eggs, ghee, and washed dried berries were thoroughly mixed into a paste, Buckwheat flour was added and kneaded into a slightly dry dough. The dough was shaped into a long strip, left to set, sliced thinly, and baked in the oven.

The biscuits made with these real ingredients were full of egg and milk fragrance, combined with the sweet taste of the dried berries. They were even more mellow and fragrant than many biscuits Qi Bai had eaten in his previous life.

At this moment, Sou Jian was taking out over a dozen large woven bamboo trays and carefully arranging the berry biscuits on them. Everyone else was busy making the red date cakes and taro root mochi.

Several sub-beastmen held large pottery basins in their arms, using whisks made from bamboo strips to beat egg whites.

But they weren't working very focused, frequently glancing at each other and snickering secretly.

It wasn't that they were slacking off, but because in the egg-white beating team, there was also a tall and sturdy figure.

Lang Ze had flour on his face, his body was ramrod straight, and he was meticulously stirring the egg mixture in his basin. The look of facing a formidable enemy was a far cry from his usual cold and stern demeanor when leading troops into battle.

However, if one thought Lang Ze couldn't do this job well, that would be a big mistake. Qi Bai had only demonstrated the stirring method once to Lang Ze, and Lang Ze had maintained this uniform speed ever since. Qi Bai felt that even a modern electric whisk wouldn't be much better.

Qi Bai stifled a laugh, walked to Lang Ze's side, and gently pinched his arm.

Lang Ze carefully withdrew his hand and asked in a low voice: "Did I do something wrong?"

Qi Bai showed a big smile and gave Lang Ze a thumbs-up: "Perfect, couldn't find a single problem."

Qi Bai took the already beaten egg mixture, sifted in flour, date paste, and milk, and stirred it slowly until well-mixed. He brushed grass seed oil onto the baking pan, then poured the cake batter into it.

Qi Bai thought for a moment, sprinkled some dried berries on top of the cake batter, leaned close to Lang Ze's ear, and said: "This piece of date cake is for no one else. We'll keep it to eat when we come back tonight."

The corners of Lang Ze's mouth couldn't help but turn up. Hearing the suppressed laughter around him, he raised his hand to his lips and gave a light cough: "I'll do whatever you say." His expression was calm, but the tips of his ears were bright red.

Just as the two of them put three or four large baking trays into the oven together, someone behind them called out: "Great Priest, the taro root flour is steamed."

"Ah, coming!" Qi Bai quickly turned around and ran to the steamer with the milk taro root paste. He stirred the taro root paste with chopsticks and nodded. "It's ready. Take it out of the pot."

"Alrighty."

The entire tray of taro root paste was poured into a large stone mortar. After the paste cooled slightly, pieces of ghee were added, and it was continuously stirred and pounded with a wooden pestle until the taro root paste became as soft and springy as mochi.

Outside the house, several horned beastmen who were working sniffed hard and then couldn't help but let out a huge sneeze.

The smells coming from the large kitchen these past few days were simply too fragrant, so much so that they had forgotten they were currently handling chili peppers.

Qi Bai felt he probably still lacked the self-awareness of a wealthy person. When others lived in large mansions, their courtyards were planted with trees, flowers, and grass.

Qi Bai, on the other hand, did plant trees, but they were all fruit trees: red fruit, orange fruit, date trees, etc.—every type of fruit tree he had managed to collect was planted without exception. The only tree that could be considered an ornamental tree was a sweet osmanthus tree. The reason it was classified as ornamental was that it had just been planted and couldn't bloom yet; otherwise, it wouldn't have escaped being eaten either.

As for flowers and grass, that went without saying. Qi Bai had opened up four mu of land in the large courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion specifically for cultivating the chili peppers and corn he brought back from Song Wu. Next to them were a few more mu of vegetable plots for growing melons, fruits, and vegetables.

The chili peppers had already ripened a lot by now. However, unlike beans or xiangke, their fruits didn't all ripen at the same time. Therefore, the first task for the mansion's workers every morning was to go to the fields and pick the chili peppers that had fully ripened.

At this moment, these few horned beastmen were handling the chili peppers with animal hides covering their faces. They needed to slice open the chili peppers with stone knives, separately remove the seeds inside, and sun-dry both the seeds and the chili peppers for storage.

One beastman sniffled and asked very puzzled: "These chili peppers are so pungent. Why does the Great Priest particularly like this smell?"

The slightly older beastman next to him shook his head: "Your dare to be so bold now, daring to presumptuously discuss the Great Priest? Since the Great Priest has planted the chili peppers and fu bao separately in the City Lord's Mansion, it's enough to show how important these plants are. You better be careful not to lose the seeds the Great Priest needs."

"I'm not that careless," the young beastman patted the winnowing basket beside him. "I've been counting every single seed carefully."

As they bantered with each other, they heard the sound of young children laughing and playing outside the wall.

"They're here," the slightly older horned beastman laughed. "Quick, go inform the City Lord and Great Priest!"

By this time, the work in the large kitchen was also almost done. Qi Bai directed everyone to put the taro root mochi into clean large trays. A large wooden bowl was placed on each large tray, filled to the brim with soybean powder and brown sugar syrup.

Thus, all three types of snacks were ready.

"Great Priest brother!" "Great Priest brother!"

"So fragrant!" "What kind of food is this!"

There was no need for directions. The young children entered the courtyard, followed the aroma, and ran to the large kitchen window, each standing on tiptoe, their little heads bobbing up and down like waves.

Qi Bai smiled and waved to them: "Go wait at the door. You'll be able to eat soon."

Lang Ze washed his hands clean and, along with the horned beastman who came to report, brought out two large tables from the side hall. The young children then gleefully followed Lang Ze, trotting along behind him.

After setting out the food, Qi Bai asked the little girl at the front of the line: "Have you decided which one you want?"

There were now over a thousand children under the age of ten in Hei Yao City alone. Qi Bai couldn't possibly feed them all by himself. Therefore, besides receiving one biscuit each, everyone could only choose one type between the date cake and the mochi.

The little girl put her finger to her mouth, looked carefully at the two foods, and finally pointed to the taro root mochi. Although she had never eaten date cake, the academy cafeteria made them steamed cornbread and steamed buns. This date cake looked somewhat similar to those. She wanted to try something she hadn't eaten before.

Qi Bai smiled, cut off a large piece of mochi, tossed it in the soybean powder to coat it, drizzled on a little brown sugar syrup, then skewered it with a bamboo stick and handed it to her.

The little girl's eyes followed the mochi up and down. She took the bamboo skewer with both hands. Just as she was about to open her mouth to thank him, saliva dribbled from the corner of her mouth. A proper "thank you" ended up being said as "shoo shoo."

The little girl left happily with her mochi. The next little chubby boy looked left and right, unable to bear giving up either one.

The young child behind the chubby boy couldn't help but urge: "Hurry up and choose the one you like the most. Have you forgotten what Teacher Bao Xing said? The food Great Priest brother makes will be taught to the tribespeople. Maybe in a few days, it will be sold on the trading street."

Qi Bai looked into the distance and asked: "Where is your Teacher Bao Xing? How come I haven't seen him?"

"I know, I know," another young child raised his hand and said, "Teacher Bao Xing said he is already an adult. He won't fight us for food."

Qi Bai "pffted" with laughter, separately prepared a skewer of mochi, and handed it to that young child: "Take this to Teacher Bao Xing. Tell him I specially sent this for him."

Poor Bao Xing. At his age, on Blue Earth (Earth), he should still be in elementary school. Now, he alone was bearing too much.

The young child, assigned a task, immediately shouted brightly: "Yes! I will definitely deliver it!"

After distributing the housewarming gifts to the young children, Qi Bai went home and took out his Great Priest robes to prepare for the upcoming ceremony.

Since the city started weaving Muhua cloth, Qi Bai's Great Priest attire had been upgraded by Yang Luo and the others.

Not only were the long robe and floor-length cloak made from the whitest and most uniform Muhua cloth, but Yang Luo had also finally collected enough feathers to weave the floor-length white feathered robe he had been longing for.

When Qi Bai saw the feathered robe they made, he had to admire it. Just give the beastmen a little inspiration, and their imagination and creativity were endless. The feathers on the robe were light and airy, layered and distinct. Just placed there, it had a sacred and sense of purity that made people yearn for it.

The large terrace on the second floor of the Temple of Sacrifice had been decorated, and the sacrificial beast meat was placed on the table.

Colorful animal skin strips and bone ornaments that jingled extended from the large terrace all the way to the entire Grand Plaza. The flames on the stone lamp posts were lit, echoing the bonfires on the Grand Plaza, making the atmosphere throughout the plaza incredibly lively.

Amidst this lively atmosphere, one group of people seemed somewhat ill at ease.

The village chiefs and Ji Yi - ritual priests from the five villages were following closely behind Ma Ling, step by step, afraid that if they took one wrong step, they would lose Ma Ling in the crowd forever.

After receiving the message yesterday, Ma Ling had immediately taken people out of the city to pick up the people from the five villages. Their return timing was perfect. He led the several village chiefs and ritual masters through the crowd to the spots reserved for them in front of the Temple of Sacrifice.

They had just stood still when two clusters of flames suddenly shot up from the large terrace in front of them.

The several people repeatedly stepped back. Only after the flames subsided could they clearly see the white figure slowly walking onto the large terrace.

Qi Bai, wearing the feathered robe and a bone crown with pendants, walked to the edge of the terrace.

The crowd looked up at their Great Priest, listening to him use his light and ethereal voice to bestow blessings upon them.

"The merciful Beast God will bless every hardworking beastman. Enjoy the fruits of your labor! This is your right that can never be deprived!"

Qi Bai clasped his hands and placed them before his face, closed his eyes, and sang softly: "Beast God bless."

"Beast God bless!" "Beast God bless!" "Beast God bless!"

"Roar!" "Roar!" "Roar!"

The Great Priest's blessing was only the beginning. The festival continued until nightfall.

The beastmen danced harvest dances around the bonfires holding up the beast meat, praising the great Beast God and Hei Yao.

Since Hei Yao implemented the marriage system, beastmen who were mutually attracted could register at the Household Department at any time. The tribe's original annual mating day was no longer so important.

But Qi Bai didn't want to cancel the existence of the festival. Since ancient times, people have loved festivals. Even the strongest souls need rest and relaxation. Lively celebrations were the best way for everyone to feel happiness.

Therefore, based on the Hei Shan tribe's Spring Festival, Qi Bai added three more festivals.

Now, Hei Yao had four festivals throughout spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Among them, the Autumn Harvest Festival, which replaced the original tribe mating day, was the most grand.

The tribespeople sang, danced, ate meat, and drank alcohol in large mouthfuls on the plaza. However, the village chiefs and ritual masters from the five villages sat in the banquet hall of the City Lord's Mansion, not knowing where to look.

It had been half a year since the five villages became vassals of Hei Yao. In these six months, they had never entered the city, only hearing about the various rare things in the city from the young children who returned home on holiday from the academy every two months.

Often, they even suspected the young children were bragging or lying.

They had already built tall stone buildings, planted crops, and raised livestock and young. Having food at home and being able to sleep peacefully was already a life they dared not imagine.

The city described by the young children simply didn't seem real.

However, from the moment they entered the city and passed through the gates of the City Lord's Mansion, they suddenly realized the young children's language was too lacking.

Carpets made from various colored animal fur with patterns, soft furniture upholstered with fine animal skins, walls inlaid with shells and gems...

Everything was beyond their imagination. So much so that now, sitting at the dining table, looking at the array of sumptuous dishes, they still felt they were dreaming. Thus, they didn't realize that the City Lord and Great Priest's banquet was not merely for celebration.

After Sou Yu filled everyone's cups with fruit wine, Lang Ze spoke: "After the Harvest Festival, Hei Yao will send troops against Leli."

"Each village must provide at least ten people per hundred to join the army."