Chapter 269

The heavy wheat ears bowed their heads. A gentle breeze blew through, causing the golden leaves to sway and produce a rustling sound.

In the farmland north of the city, there was a bustling scene at this moment.

The orcs bent their backs, following the ridges of the fields, constantly swinging the bone knives in their hands. Wherever they passed, the bundled sorghum stalks and bean stalks were waiting to be transported.

A little further away, two half-grown cubs worked together to lift a huge blue gourd and ran toward the field ridge.

Sorghum, beans, sweet potatoes, radishes, gourds, wooden flowers, sesame... one by one, the food was harvested and loaded onto carts. The heavily loaded wagons formed a long line between the farmland and the city.

More than ten thousand people worked together, and it only took one day. Except for some gourds that could still bear fruit, the other crops in the farmland were all harvested.

The hunting patrol, on the second day after the harvest, took hard curd and jerky to go out for this year's second large-scale hunt.

Of course, harvesting was only the first step. Shelled and sun-dried millet still required work inside the city, but these tasks could be taught to the young orcs and the horned orcs left behind.

The academy inside the city officially started classes. All cubs under ten years old were divided into classes, with several teachers taking turns lecturing.

The cubs’ learning was task-based. They could not miss classes every morning, and there was a test every month. Those who did well could receive some rewards.

Afternoon classes were voluntary. Every afternoon, five teachers gave lectures. The schedule was posted in advance at the academy’s entrance. Whether or not to attend was completely up to the clan members themselves.

Interestingly, because of different learning progress, many literacy class teachers were younger than their students.

For example, Leopard Star (Baoxing) could barely reach the top of the blackboard. Often while teaching, he had to squat down, move his small stool, then step back up to continue.

Fortunately, there was a large lectern that hid Leopard Star’s movements. Otherwise, this little action might have melted the hearts of the adult orcs in the classroom.

Turning past the classrooms and offices, there was a small separate building with a somewhat curved exterior, looking like a row of large mushroom houses. This was the kindergarten for cubs under three years old inside the city.

Many orcs were already holding their cubs, peeking anxiously outside the door. Soon, the mushroom house door opened from the inside.

Three people wearing beast-skin aprons came out. Leading was Zhu Zhu, followed by Dai and Li.

Shu Lin was the first to send Little Bear Shan over. Little Bear Shan was at his naughtiest and laughed happily as his mother pushed him. Shu Lin was so annoyed that he directly grabbed the back of the little brown bear’s neck skin and threw him into the mushroom house.

The little brown bear rolled twice on the spot, then acted like nothing was wrong, prancing with his pigeon-toed steps inside the room, frolicking and rolling with the other cubs.

The cubs inside were orphans who had lost their parents. There were many such cubs in the city, all taken care of together.

Shu Lin breathed a big sigh of relief and handed over a large bamboo tube, a piece of cured meat, and some sweet potatoes to Zhu Zhu: “This is Little Bear Shan’s water cup and seven days’ food. These sweet potatoes are his tuition. Check if it’s enough.”

Zhu Zhu took them and put them into a large rattan basket beside her: “It’s enough. Remember to pick up the cubs on time every morning and evening.”

Shu Lin smiled broadly: “I know. I’ll definitely come on time.”

His mate Xiong Feng had gone out hunting, so Shu Lin was both working and taking care of this little naughty bear, exhausting himself every day. Now, with the kindergarten inside the city, as long as he paid some reward, Zhu Zhu and the others could help look after the kids and provide three meals a day.

It was said that for cubs like Little Bear Shan, aged two or three, teachers would teach them literacy and arithmetic, and hunting skills would be taught by warriors from the hunting patrol.

Shu Lin didn’t hesitate and directly sent the cub over.

At this time, many orcs still felt uneasy. Seeing Shu Lin’s decisiveness, a Cloud Valley (Yungu) half-beast orc asked him: “Is it really okay to leave the cub here?”

His cub was only half a year old, unable to transform into human form yet. Such cubs in the tribe were usually closely watched by orcs and not allowed contact with outsiders. But now, everyone was busy working day and night. Who had time to watch the kids?

Shu Lin nodded: “Of course it’s okay. We’re no longer in a small tribe but in such a big city. If a cub got lost or taken by a wild beast, it would be hard to find. It’s better to pay some supplies to have the mushroom house look after them.”

Orc cubs were physically strong. After birth, they quickly became agile and could feed themselves. Not to mention these little ones who had drunk goat milk for at least half a year, all sturdy and healthy.

“Besides, the mushroom house looks even better than our home. The cubs like it very much.”

The half-beast orc peeked inside the room and saw a bamboo fence, soft beast-skin carpets, various toys they had never seen before, and a kitchen specially prepared to feed the cubs.

The little cloud leopard in his arms spun a few circles, making a happy purring sound, seeming to strongly agree with Shu Lin.

The half-beast orc smiled: “If you’re willing to come play here, I can work half a day more and get you more meat later.”

The little leopard pressed his paw pads on the orc’s neck, meowing nonstop: I can get meat for you too.

Zhu Zhu accepted the orc’s payment and lifted her eyelids: “Your cub isn’t even one year old. If you want, we can bring you fresh goat milk and cook the leftover milk for you every day. You can take it home and feed the cub directly at night.”

The half-beast orc hadn’t expected such arrangements at the kindergarten and quickly agreed. This saved him a lot of trouble and was very convenient.

Today was the first day the kindergarten opened. Not many orcs sent their cubs over. Zhu Zhu didn’t push either. When the work horn sounded from the square, she tidied up and closed the door.

Inside, Dai and Li were busy preparing breakfast for the cubs, while Zhu Zhu moved a stool, smiling as she watched the cubs chase bamboo balls and feathered cat toys.

At this time, those gathering from the academy to the square included Shu Lin and others sending their kids to kindergarten, as well as Leopard Moon (Baoyue), who was sending her younger brother to work and school. Everyone chatted and laughed all the way to their destination.

The city now had a sundial, fixing the start and end times of work.

Since there was no clock tower yet, at 8 a.m., 12 noon, 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. every day, someone would blow the horn in the square, signaling work start and end times.

Though the horn’s sound could not spread throughout the city, most workshops were on this street, so the notice was enough for most clan members.

Life inside the city quickly became regular.

This was the time when the mountains and forests had the most plants and prey. The production teams’ orcs continued to gather and hunt outside. Around noon, the teams returned to the city one after another. Orcs rested at home briefly and then started working inside the city.

Outside the Heishan residential area, on South Street commercial district, the chimney of the first storefront began steaming from this morning.

A group of passing orcs looked curiously.

At the door, a large millstone slowly turned. The person pushing it was still Ma Chong, but beside him stood a half-beast orc holding a bamboo scoop, helping pour sorghum into the middle of the stone mill.

Niuxiu and a few others, unaware of the situation, were pleasantly surprised when they saw the half-beast orc and ran over: “Ma Liang, haven’t seen you for a long time. Is your health better? Can you work now?”

Ma Liang couldn’t say he made mistakes, nor explain why he wasn’t working with everyone. He lied that his body felt unwell after giving birth to a cub and needed more recovery. The orcs were mostly simple and believed him, some even worried a bit.

Ma Mu somewhat guessed the inside story. He secretly looked at Ma Liang’s mate Ma Qian in the crowd, seeing Ma Qian’s calm face, seeming to already know Ma Liang could go out.

Someone sniffled and couldn’t help asking, “What’s that smell? Why is it so fragrant?”

Ma Liang smiled, showing no sign of his past unwillingness to work: “This is a new food the high priest taught us—tofu.”

Tofu?

An orc joked: “Don’t fool us. We’ve all eaten curd. Curd doesn’t smell like this.”

Ma Liang said, “This isn’t curd made from goat milk. It’s tofu made from beans.”

Then he took a few steps to the side mold, removed the stone pressing the mold, lifted the bamboo curtain covering it, revealing steaming, white, soft tofu.

Everyone gathered and saw that it looked very much like curd, but smelled completely different. Even orcs who previously found curd a bit sour and gamey now inhaled deeply with satisfaction.

“Is this really made from beans?”

Ma Liang nodded and showed the white liquid in two big buckets nearby: “This is soy milk and tofu pudding, both by-products made when we make tofu.”

Someone swallowed secretly: “How is this made?”

Ma Liang generously shared: “Soak dried beans all day, add water, grind into slurry on the millstone, then cook it. The cooked slurry is soy milk.” He pointed to the first wooden bucket.

“Press the residue from the soy milk, add fresh seawater, and you get tofu pudding.” He then pointed to the second bucket.

Everyone marveled: both were liquids, so how did adding seawater make the soy milk curdle?

“And then? And then? This still isn’t tofu!”

Ma Liang didn’t keep them waiting: “Put the tofu pudding into clean thin beast skin full of small holes, wrap tightly, put into a mold, and press out all the water with stones—that’s tofu.”

Someone started gasping: “This tofu is delicious but making it is so hard. Where would we usually get fresh seawater?”

Another shook their head: “Making food, yet you have to destroy such a big, beautiful piece of beast skin.”

Ma Liang quickly said: “If you think it’s troublesome, you can bring beans to me and Ma Chong, and we’ll make it for you. This big block of tofu only needs one liter of soybeans.”

“Really?”

“Really?”

Exclamations rose. Even without numbers, they could see it was a bargain. One sheng of beans was just a few handfuls, yet the tofu slab looked five or six times larger.

“Of course. And we’ll keep the leftover pulp as payment. If you agree, we can register the trade at the Yi Division. Even pooling beans together works—we don’t mind.”

Eyes lit up across the crowd. It was like conjuring food from nothing.

Still, one beastman hesitated. “But what if it tastes bad?”

Ma Liang chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’ve already traded plenty to the big canteen. Tonight, everyone will get tofu dishes there.”

At that, spirits soared. They would be sure to eat at the canteen tonight.

Not long ago, everyone had received some beans in their wages. They’d disliked them, hard as pebbles. Who would have thought the Grand Priest would so quickly invent a way to turn beans into food?

Old beastmen, in particular, looked forward to it. The tofu, when unveiled, wobbled soft and tender—perfect for their teeth.

One elder suddenly turned to Ma Qian. “Ma Qian, Ma Liang is your cub, right?”

Startled, Ma Qian smiled and nodded. “Yes, he’s mine.”

“Your cub is truly capable.”

“Yes, yes, making such difficult food—I couldn’t follow half of it.”

As they praised, no one noticed how Ma Qian’s bent back seemed to straighten with pride.

After the crowd left, Ma Chong muttered, “The Grand Priest really guessed right.”

Indeed, when Qi Bai taught them tofu-making, he had said: “If others want to learn, teach them. It’s tricky, and even if they fail, they’ll pay you to do it. Even just grinding soy slurry for them earns food.”

And sure enough, his words had come true.

Once alone, Ma Liang’s smile fell. He exhaled heavily.

So long without facing outsiders—of course he’d been nervous. But he knew: this was his last chance. Fail now, and he’d never rejoin the city.

Not even Ma Chong knew that during those first days studying the Code, Ma Liang had nightmares every night, certain he’d be the first beastman executed.

Now, he dared think of nothing but working hard to earn grain.

The tofu shop was a partnership with Qi Bai—Qi Bai provided the recipe, they the labor, and beans earned were split evenly.

Profits weren’t much, and splitting cut them further. Qi Bai had warned them it was grueling work.

But Ma Liang clenched his will. No matter how hard, he would live better than the rest.

Pushing a cart loaded with the day’s final batch, he prepared to deliver tofu to the canteen—and to pick up his cub from the mushroom house.

Qi Bai, meanwhile, sat in the canteen courtyard, not noticing his arrival.

He had chosen Ma Liang because he was one of the few sharp beastmen. Such men shirked communal labor, but thrived in business.

There were hardly any others like him. One exception, Hu Xiao the fox cub—every time Qi Bai thought of his arrogant face, he shook his head. Born with divine blood, Hu Xiao carried himself as though being a priest was his birthright. He would need tempering, not indulgence.

At the moment, however, Qi Bai was wholly focused on the thin pancakes he flipped over the fire.

Hu Xue accepted one, biting down with a crunch. Crispy, chewy, fragrant.

“This pancake isn’t bad,” she admitted, chewing. “But it’s troublesome to make something so thin. We already have plenty of breads to eat. Why make a whole new pan just for this?”