I've been transported to the orc continent.

Yue felt a warm current flowing from where their palms met. This warm current encountered no resistance and flowed directly towards his heart.

In fact, the two had met before. They were often together and occasionally touched each other's skin. But no matter when, Yue felt that a flame would ignite from where their skin touched, and it would set him on fire as well.

But today, he didn't feel any flames burning; instead, he felt a warm, calm, and peaceful atmosphere, neither intense nor agitated.

Why is that? Yue was a little confused.

Was Ling's expression too serious, or was what Ling was saying inherently sweet?

Yue couldn't figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. He just stared at their clasped hands for two seconds, then slightly rotated his palm, with his thumb on one side and his four fingers on the other, and grasped Bai Ling's hand in return.

“Ling, I accept your invitation,” Yue’s eyes curved into a smile. His long, silvery-white hair was blown even more violently by the wind, and two small seashells followed along the ends of his hair, hitting their clasped hands. “For a new beginning in life.”

In fact, Yue didn't understand what these words meant, or rather, he didn't understand them.

For him, there was no difference between growing food and gathering and hunting; both were for the sake of survival. However, Ling came to "grow" with such high expectations, so he also began to yearn for it.

Ling said this was a new beginning in his life, so it was a new beginning for him too. He even thought about other meanings that this so-called "starting point" represented.

For example, starting today, the two have become closer and more intimate.

Thinking of this, Yue's eyes reddened again.

*

Making maltose is not difficult. First, let the wheat sprout in a warm place until the sprouts are about the width of your palm. Then, steam the glutinous rice in a pot. After it is cooked, mix it with the chopped malt and let it sit for more than ten hours. Then, filter out the juice and finally boil the juice in a pot.

Bai Ling didn't have any glutinous rice on hand, so he used sorghum instead. Sorghum also contains sugar. Bai Ling had heard people say before that poor families used to sprout some malt and make malt candy with sorghum rice during the New Year. Some families would also use steamed sweet potatoes to make malt candy.

Actually, making maltose doesn't require so many people. Even if Bai Ling were to do it all by himself, he could finish all the preliminary preparations in less than a morning.

However, the whole family approached making maltose with great enthusiasm. Even Yue, who usually had a calm expression, became serious and took the task very seriously.

To this end, Bai Ling even assigned tasks to everyone: Father and younger brother were responsible for cleaning the malt, Father was responsible for cutting the malt, Yue was responsible for cooking the sorghum rice, and Bai Ling was responsible for mixing the malt with the cooked sorghum rice.

This little bit of work was nothing to the orcs who were used to doing manual labor. By the time everything was finished, it was still very early, and there was still plenty of time before lunch.

Now that the work was done, everyone couldn't just sit there staring at each other, so Bai Ling decided to make something delicious to celebrate this new beginning in life.

With tapioca flour, meat, scallions, ginger, and dried vegetables at home, Bai Ling decided to make some steamed dumplings.

Although it uses tapioca flour instead of wheat flour, at least you get some starch in it.

Bai Ling's suggestion was unanimously approved by the whole family. They did it right away. Feng and Cang went to the cave in the house to get the things they needed. After the two left, Chen's eyes rolled around, and he seemed to have thought of something. He also ran out.

Only Yue and Bai Ling remained in the cave.

This is the cave where the tribespeople cook their own meals. It's still too early, so no one from the tribespeople has come to cook yet.

Yue asked softly, "Ling, is it a bit inappropriate for me to always eat at your house? When I have time, I'll invite your family to dinner too."

Yue actually had plenty of food. He was a skilled hunter and single, with no elderly or children to support. After giving some to the tribe, he still had a considerable amount of food left over.

He had already eaten at the Ling family's house several times. Would this leave a bad impression on the Ling family? Yue wondered if he should invite the Ling family to a meal or send them some things so that it wouldn't seem like he was just freeloading at the Ling family's house.

Bai Ling laughed and said, "No need. My father was very grateful to you when you took me out before, and he always said he wanted to give you some things. Now you've only eaten at our house twice, so why is that bad?"

"We orcs, isn't it all about mutual help?"

Bai Ling muttered in a slightly aggrieved voice, "Yue, do you have to be so distant with me?"

The moment Bai Ling showed even the slightest hint of grievance in his eyes, Yue would immediately surrender, shaking his head like a rattle-drum: "Ling, we're not strangers at all."

Bai Ling's expression instantly turned into a smile: "Well, then Yue shouldn't say things like that anymore. We're good friends, why be so formal?"

Yue's lips moved, but in the end she said nothing.

He really wanted to ask, "Are we just friends? Can we only ever be friends?"

*

When making steamed dumplings with tapioca flour, you must scald the flour with boiling water. Chen was in charge of boiling the water, Yuefeng was in charge of cutting the meat, Bailing soaked various dried vegetables in water, and Feng and Cang sat on the side talking.

Once the water boils, Bai Ling will have to knead the dough.

Actually, kneading dough with boiling water is quite simple. Just use one hand to hold a spoon and add water to the bowl, and use the other hand to hold chopsticks and stir back and forth.

Orcs are all big eaters. Bai Ling made a whole basin of dough. If they couldn't finish the steamed dumplings, they could freeze them for later.

After kneading the dough, Bai Ling set it aside to rest for a while before starting to stir-fry the meat.

Add a little oil to the wok, then put in the diced cured meat and stir-fry. The cured meat is quite salty, so if you're using it as minced meat, you need to wash it several times beforehand to remove the salt residue.

After the cured meat simmered in the iron pot for a few seconds, a rich aroma filled the air.

The marinated meat seems to have a richer flavor than fresh meat, and the aroma is even stronger when the white meat is stir-fried in hot oil over high heat.

Once the meat is cooked, add the seasoning powder while it's still hot, along with chopped dried vegetables, and finally salt.

Inside the cave, a wooden board was set up. A layer of cassava flour was sprinkled on the board, and Bai Ling then placed the dough on the board and kneaded it.

When making steamed dumplings with tapioca flour, the dough must be kneaded thoroughly. Bai Ling has a lot of strength and kneads the dough vigorously, so it quickly becomes smooth.

That's not all. The longer the dough is kneaded, the more vigorous it becomes. Bai Ling's hands kept moving, and everyone else gathered around him, watching curiously as Bai Ling kept kneading the dough in his hands.

Chen: "Brother, are you done yet? Are you tired?"

Bai Ling: "It will be ready in a while. The longer you knead the dough, the tastier the steamed dumplings will be."

Chen immediately changed his mind: "Then you should massage it a little longer, brother."