After eating and drinking their fill, the Snow Wolf men left Eric's house for their own homes.
On the way, Michael noticed Max seemed to be lost in thought and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about, Max?"
Max turned his head to look back in Eric's direction with a complex gaze, saying nothing.
Michael thought he was still thinking about the farming and advised, "If the little beast wants to do something, we should lend him a hand. He's also trying to help the tribe get more food."
Kevin also chimed in, "I never used to like the food of the Ox-Head tribe; every dish was dry, hard, and difficult to swallow. I remember choking on it when I was little. The things Eric makes are different. I'd be fine even if you made me eat only noodles and no grilled meat."
This was the highest form of praise from a Snow Wolf.
Recalling the taste of the noodles Eric made, Sam couldn't help but swallow his saliva. He really wanted to taste the dumplings Eric had mentioned.
But he felt a little embarrassed about going to the little beast's house to freeload every day. He remembered that during this year's Spring market, his mother had also traded a lot of beast skins for grain.
It was perfect timing. He would go find Eric tomorrow to make tofu and take the opportunity to bring all the grain from his house to him.
Max remained silent. The farming was a secondary issue; the main thing was Eric. His change was too drastic. Not only had he suddenly learned how to make delicious food, but more importantly, there was a change in his eyes.
Michael and the others couldn't see it. Before, the way Eric looked at him was as scorching as fire. As long as Eric was around, no matter what he did, he could feel Eric's eyes glued to him, which was unsettling.
But now, even when he and Eric were sitting together, he no longer felt that gaze. Even when Eric asked him for help, his eyes were clear, as if those heavy emotions had suddenly vanished without a trace.
He didn't know if this change was for the better or worse. Could a heavy rainstorm really change a person's personality? Max wondered silently.
Eric was unaware of Max's thoughts. The next morning, he woke up early, full of energy, and carried the soaked beans pot by pot to the stone mill.
Leo was in charge of fetching river water for him. The two of them worked together to grind out several large pots of soybean milk.
Looking at these oversized stone pots, Eric figured this amount of soybean milk could probably make three or four hundred pounds of tofu. This time, everyone would be able to eat their fill.
Taking a clean piece of linen, he filtered the soybean milk into a ceramic pot to cook. The filtered-out soybean pulp was saved to be made into okara patties. He hadn't kept the small amount from yesterday, but with today's large quantity, he could make a lot of patties, and it would be a shame to throw it away.
Back in his hometown, many people used okara to feed pigs, but now he had to eat it himself.
But even if he wanted to feed it to pigs, there were no pigs to feed. He had originally intended to try raising livestock, but the combat strength of the animals here was terrifying. He would have to slowly find some normal wild animals without magic, like the chicken he had caught that day, and try to raise them.
Otherwise, like that gray rabbit from the other day, what kind of sturdy cage would he have to build to raise that type of rabbit? A single earth spike had sent the whole cage flying.
When Sam arrived with Max, Eric had already finished making the first pot of soybean milk into tofu pudding. Seeing the two of them, he gave each a bowl to try, topped with a bit of thorn beast honey.
The tofu pudding melted in their mouths, and the thorn beast honey added a sweet, fragrant, and smooth texture. After eating it, Sam became even more determined to farm for Eric.
He had also gathered all the grain from his house, which amounted to several large bags. Since he didn't like to eat it, he couldn't remember the names clearly, only that it was very difficult to swallow when cooked into porridge. So, he brought it all to Eric. After all, if Eric could turn something as unpalatable as wheat into a delicacy, he could surely transform these things into delicious food as well.
Eric happily stored the grain away. Besides glutinous rice and wheat, there was also regular rice, sorghum, and buckwheat. Not to mention that the regular rice could be made into his favorite dish, steamed rice, the sorghum could be used to make white wine. This was good stuff!
But for Sam to just bring all of his family's grain over, he wondered if he would get a beating when he got home. Sam wasn't married yet, so he hadn't moved out on his own. The thought of such a large man getting a beating was quite amusing.
Eric thought, without a shred of conscience.
Today, Max had come over with Sam on his own initiative. After drinking a bowl of tofu pudding, he started to help out.
With their participation, Eric's workload was indeed much lighter. He only needed to be in charge of making the tofu; other tasks like filtering the soybean milk and pressing the tofu with stones were all handled by Max and Sam.
The tofu needed some time to set. Eric was still preoccupied with his brick-making venture. He had roughly built the wood-fired kiln yesterday, and today he wanted to make some adobe bricks.
He had also used wooden planks to make a brick mold. He planned to go straight to the riverbank to do the work, as it was close to a water source, and he wouldn't have to run too far to get the dirt.
Thinking about it, he slightly regretted building the kiln here. If he had known, he would have just built everything by the riverbank.
But adobe bricks were, after all, easier to transport than mud. He glanced at the bronze muscles of Max and Sam. Such powerful arms—it would be a waste not to use them for pounding mud.
Sam was easier to fool than Max. He put on the smile of the big bad wolf tricking Little Red Riding Hood and said:
"Sam, the tofu still needs a few more hours. Let's go play by the river. You're so strong, could you give me a hand?"
Sam reluctantly tore his eyes away from the baskets and agreed without hesitation. He was even quite pleased that Eric had praised his strength and had sought him out first instead of Max.
The innocent Sam even invited Max to follow them to the riverbank with Eric.
Eric transformed his hands into sharp claws, dug a pit, and clawed the dirt out.
Seeing this, Sam thought he was like the other little beasts in the tribe who liked to dig holes to play. He transformed into his beast form, squatted down, and extended his large, furry paws, revealing his sharp claws. With just a few digs into the ground, he had excavated a huge, deep pit.
Leo, upon seeing this, excitedly jumped into the pit and rolled around.
Eric, feeling quite helpless, tossed a small pebble at Leo's head.
Digging a big hole with a whoosh—was this a Snow Wolf or a Husky? Thinking about the fur color of the Snow Wolf people, he suddenly understood. No wonder their ability to wreck houses was so strong.
But Sam had indeed done him a huge favor. He had dug up a very large pile of dirt for Eric.
Eric found some nearby reeds and wove a simple, large basket, then jumped onto the pile himself, stomping on the clumps of dirt.
So he didn't want to play in a dirt hole, he wanted to play with the dirt, Sam now understood.
There were some other little beasts playing by the riverbank. Seeing the pile of dirt and the large hole Sam had dug, they happily ran over. Some jumped into the hole to roll around with Leo, while a few others joined Eric in jumping on the dirt pile.
A group of fluffy, energetic wolf cubs jumped back and forth, rolled around and around. They were surprisingly strong and soon helped Eric stomp the entire pile of dirt flat.
Next was sifting the soil. Eric had Sam hold the large basket while he shoveled dirt into it, telling Sam to shake it up and down.
Sam obediently did as he was told, and with one motion, he flung all the dirt in the basket into the air, especially all over Eric who was standing right in front of him, covering his head in dirt.