Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Rice Noodle Rolls

“Chang Xia, let me try—”

After eating the cold noodle sheets, Nuan Chun got up and walked over to Chang Xia. She reached out, took the bone pot from Chang Xia, brushed it with oil, and, copying Chang Xia’s movements, peeled off the noodle sheet, cooled it, cut it into strips, and filled a bowl.

“Nuan Chun, want to try making the rice batter too?” Chang Xia asked.

Since she was just learning, Chang Xia hadn’t made much rice batter—just enough for two batches of noodle sheets. Seeing Nuan Chun’s eager expression, she smiled and asked.

Nuan Chun put the cut noodle sheets into a bowl. She was already full and wasn’t in a hurry to eat more.

“Chang Xia, is that okay?”

“Of course. Make a bit more, and Nan Feng can bring some to Shen Rong, Shan Kun, and the others to try.”

As she spoke, she handed all the tools to Nuan Chun.

With Nuan Chun making noodle sheets, Chang Xia could try making freshly pressed rice noodles.

Unlike noodle sheets, freshly pressed rice noodles are made by extruding fermented rice paste through a press into boiling water. After a few minutes, snowy white rice noodles are ready to eat.

Freshly pressed rice noodles are delicate, with a strong elasticity and a pleasantly chewy texture.

Their flavor is completely different from that of dried rice noodles.

The process of mixing the rice slurry is simple; the real challenge lies in draining the excess water to form a dough. What’s more, the dough for freshly pressed rice noodles needs to be fermented, which is an even bigger hurdle.

In the Heluo tribe, people usually wear animal skins, but there is also a special kind of feather garment.

These feather garments are woven by the bird tribe using a unique kind of thread.

The bird tribe is flamboyant and vain by nature, so their own feather garments are always colorful and ornate. The animal tribe obtains their feather garments through trade with the bird tribe, and theirs are mostly in shades of blue and gray. Because of this, the animal tribe calls these feather garments “blue cloth.”

Changxia has many outfits made from blue cloth. Most of the blue cloth the Heluo tribe gets from the bird tribe is made into Changxia’s clothes, except for a portion given to the tribe’s young cubs and some elders.

Changxia’s skin has always been delicate. When she takes human form, wearing regular animal skins would often cause rashes and allergies, leaving her swollen and in pain at the slightest touch.

The shaman and the tribe tried everything, and finally traded with the bird tribe for blue cloth to make her clothes. Only then did Changxia have something she could wear.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Changxia is the tribe’s darling.

Previously, Changxia had Nan Feng pass on a message to Gen that she didn’t want the tribe to keep sending her food—she didn’t want to keep taking advantage of the tribe’s kindness. She’d already received so much care and favoritism from the tribe since she was little. Luckily, the animal tribe is simple and cheerful by nature, and her peers never held it against her.

The thread the bird tribe uses to weave blue cloth is different from the cotton and linen Changxia is familiar with.

Cotton and linen can be a bit rough on the hands, but the thread for blue cloth isn’t. To Changxia, this thread seems more like spider silk or silkworm silk—spun by animals, not drawn from plants.

Changxia once asked the shaman about it, but the shaman said he didn’t know either.

He only said that the thread for blue cloth was a secret technique of the bird tribe, and not to ask too much about it.

“Changxia, what are you doing with those clothes?” Nan Feng looked up to see Changxia taking a shirt from the animal den and couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Changxia replied, “The rice dough for freshly pressed noodles needs to ferment. I want to make a filter bag to drain the rice slurry and wrap it up for fermentation.”

The needle was made from polished animal bone, and the thread came from the bird tribe—leftover from making Changxia’s clothes. Don’t be fooled by how small a roll of thread looks—a fist-sized ball of it costs a whole animal skin in trade. It’s ridiculously expensive!

“We used up all the blue cloth the tribe traded for last year. The only remaining piece was given to Nuanchun. This year, the bird tribe is in trouble, so we might not be able to get any blue cloth,” Nan Feng said seriously, hinting that Changxia should be more frugal.

Changxia was different from the others.

Even if she wore animal skins, she still needed blue cloth clothes as an underlayer.

She only had a few outfits in total—if she used them to make filter bags, would she have enough clothes left to wear?

“My resistance has gotten stronger as I’ve grown up. Maybe I won’t be allergic to animal skins in the future. Besides, if we can’t get blue cloth, maybe I can find cotton or linen and make cotton or linen cloth myself,” Changxia said confidently.

“Cotton and linen!”

Nan Feng and Nuanchun exchanged a glance and made a mental note of those words.

“Alright then!” Nan Feng agreed.

She fumbled to help Nuanchun steam the noodle sheets, all the while sneaking glances at Changxia as she took apart her clothes and used needle and thread to sew the blue cloth into a filter bag.

“Nan Feng—”

Nuanchun’s voice suddenly rang out, cold and sinister.

Nan Feng jumped, and Changxia turned to look as well.

“What’s wrong, Nuanchun?” Nan Feng asked innocently.

Nuanchun picked up the wooden basin in her hands, took a few deep breaths to calm her anger, and snapped, “You idiot, look at what you’ve done to this rice slurry!”

Changxia put down her needle and thread and walked over.

Most of the basin was filled with a watery mess—clearly, too much water had been added.

“Uh…” Nan Feng gave an awkward laugh. She’d been so busy chatting with Changxia that she’d accidentally added too much water. Swallowing nervously, she whispered, “Should I… just add more rice flour?”

Isn’t rice slurry just rice flour mixed with water?

If it’s too thin, just add more flour.

If it’s too thick, add water.

Seeing Nan Feng’s eager hands, Nuanchun put her hand to her forehead, not wanting to look at her anymore. Changxia had to stifle a laugh—Nan Feng’s image had collapsed so quickly, it was like a tornado, leaving everyone a bit at a loss.

“Nan Feng, don’t—” Changxia stopped her from adding more flour. Suddenly, she remembered another way to eat steamed rice sheets—cheung fun, which is quite similar to cold mixed rice noodles.

Cheung fun is a famous snack from Guangdong on Earth.

It comes in many flavors and styles.

Seafood, all kinds of meat, even corn, mushrooms, and greens—basically any ingredient you can think of can be used.

But what really makes cheung fun special is the sauce. Sesame paste, sweet sauce, chili sauce, tomato sauce—no cheung fun is complete without sauce.

Changxia had thought about making a sour fruit sauce before, since there was still half a basket of sour fruit left in the animal den. But she’d been too busy building the kiln to have time. Now, with Nan Feng’s “mistake” creating the perfect rice slurry for cheung fun, Changxia thought it was time to try making that sauce.

“Should I throw it out?” Nuanchun asked, reluctant to waste it.

Changxia smiled. “No need to throw it out. We can try making cheung fun. It’s delicious too, though it’s a shame we don’t have any sauce—cheung fun without sauce has no soul. Still, it’s worth a try.”

“Cheung fun? How do you make that?”

Nuanchun relaxed, setting down the wooden basin and letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

She turned and shot Nan Feng a fierce glare.

Nan Feng looked up at the sky, not daring to meet Nuanchun’s eyes. Clearly, these delicate tasks weren’t her strong suit. Maybe she should learn from Changxia and find a male who can cook?

Staring at the sky, Nan Feng’s thoughts drifted far away.

“It’s pretty much like making rice noodle sheets,” Changxia explained. “Pour the rice slurry into the animal bone pot, add slices of meat, bird eggs, shrimp, wild vegetables, and steam it all until cooked. Then drizzle with a tasty sauce.”

“Changxia, is the sauce just ginger, scallions, and garlic?” Nuanchun asked curiously.

“No, that’s not it. Sauces are made by simmering ingredients—like how sour berries can be cooked down into a sour berry jam, and river shrimp or crabs can be turned into shrimp paste or crab paste. But we don’t have enough materials from the animal den right now, so we can’t make any sauce at the moment,” Changxia explained as she took out a fresh piece of meat from the animal den and began slicing it.

With no sauce, they could only eat the meat mixed with bone broth.

The fruit flour paste tasted good, so the rice rolls made from it would probably be delicious too.