Chapter 16: Brewing Soy Sauce

The next morning.

At dawn, Chu Jiu had already prepared everything: soybeans, flour mixed with wheat bran, coarse salt, a steamer, gauze, a clay pot, a wooden spoon, and a cloak woven from dry grass.

He did one final inventory of the raw materials and tools before activating the skill [Recipe Insight].

Chu Jiu wasn’t a food engineering student; by coincidence and personal interest, he had once watched a documentary about traditional soy sauce production.

Now, he had to piece together a soy sauce recipe—something that didn’t exist in this world—from those fragmented memories.

He dragged a chair to the window, found a sunny spot, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and activated the skill.

Soon, various floating icons appeared before him.

He had to admit, these quaint tools—clay pots, steamers, and the like—looked increasingly adorable as icons.

Chu Jiu first selected a round steamer, then the soybeans, inputting “steam the soybeans” into the assembly line’s empty slot. Next, he filled in “spread the soybeans flat to dry,” then moved on to sprinkling flour, covering it with the cloak to ferment slowly...

After that, waiting for mold to grow on the beans, washing, drying, soaking in brine... continuing fermentation...

Many details were involved—how long to sun-dry, the fermentation temperature, the salt-to-water ratio—but Chu Jiu couldn’t recall them precisely, so he repeatedly adjusted the entries.

He soon realized that if these details were too far off, the system wouldn’t recognize his recipe as valid.

All morning, Chu Jiu kept swapping tools and tweaking details in his mind.

When at last the system prompted, [Spend 5 spirit points to obtain “Basic Soy Sauce” recipe x1], he was drenched in sweat and his stomach growling fiercely.

He exhaled deeply and clicked [Use].

Finally, he had the soy sauce recipe!

Overjoyed, Chu Jiu instinctively cheered aloud and tried to jump up from his chair—

Crash!

He’d forgotten his legs had gone numb from sitting cross-legged so long.

Suddenly standing, his legs gave way, and he tumbled right off the chair.

The little can, who had been fast asleep, bolted over like a streak of black lightning, eyes wide: “What happened? Why did you fall?”

Chu Jiu laughed, sitting on the floor, shaking his head: “I’m fine, just too excited!”

“Little Can, I got the soy sauce recipe! We can brew soy sauce soon!”

“When the soy sauce’s ready, I’ll make you braised fish! A big bowl swimming in rich sauce—you’ll love it!”

Besides braised fish, there would be braised lamb chops, braised pig’s trotters, braised chicken wings...

Though he didn’t have pig’s trotters or chicken wings yet, he was sure he’d find some!

As Chu Jiu daydreamed about these sumptuous dishes, his stomach growled louder.

Seeing he was alright, Little Can’s eyes returned to normal.

So it was just hunger that caused the fall.

It also heard Chu Jiu’s rumbling belly.

It stared at it for two seconds, leapt onto the nearby dining table, picked up the grilled fish jerky Chu Jiu hadn’t dared eat that morning, padded over softly, and meowed: “Here, for you.”

“You’re this hungry—have a bite first.”

“Next time you have to make me delicious braised fish!”

Chu Jiu caught the two pieces of jerky, blinked in surprise, then smiled: “Thanks!”

Such a considerate cat!

*

After a quick lunch, Chu Jiu used spirit points to start soy sauce production.

According to the system’s calculation, the first batch would be ready in 240 hours.

Would he even be back from the forest by then?

While pondering, he activated a new skill: [Treasure Seeker’s Target].

[Treasure Seeker’s Target: Within explored areas of the map, the host may lock onto a specific material, and the system will mark its gathering location on the map, regardless of whether the area is fully revealed.]

In short, if Chu Jiu wanted to gather something but didn’t know where it was, the system could mark it for him.

If he’d had this skill when searching for gypsum last time, he could have found it faster, without slowly exploring the forest’s edge.

After activating the skill, Chu Jiu recalled the “bamboo” entry from the illustrated guide as thoroughly as possible.

Seconds later, the system marked a small star on a mostly dark map:

[“Bamboo” gathering location locked.]

Roughly estimating, the trip from the Pioneer’s Cabin to this location would take six or seven days.

Chu Jiu felt reassured.

That night, he first used [Recipe Insight] to obtain the “Natural Organic Fertilizer” recipe, then with [Recipe Creation], produced a large barrel of fertilizer to place beside the field, temporarily solving the fertility depletion from continuous farming.

Next, he prepared enough mutton jerky to feed the Hoho rabbits for twenty days.

Though theoretically a round trip would take only half a month, he made extra in case he couldn’t return on time, so the hardworking little rabbits wouldn’t starve.

With some time left, by the firelight of the stove, he raised a small mirror and began recording a video.

Because he had been too busy, his video diaries recently were brief—usually just a minute or so, a few words like “Our tofu sells well” or “I plan to brew soy sauce tomorrow.”

Perhaps because they were too short, the system’s reward points had decreased—from 30 to 20.

That was a loss of a full 10,000 coins!

So Chu Jiu planned to talk more today, aiming to make up for the lost money—or rather, the lost development points.

After all, farming had cost him 500 points!

He spent quite some time explaining how soy sauce is brewed and why wheat bran serves as a fermentation agent...

After the science lesson, he couldn’t help but start daydreaming aloud:

“I once made braised chicken wings using soy sauce, ginger slices, garlic, rock sugar, and a bit of chili and scallions...”

“The final dish had chicken wings glossy and bright red, shimmering with oil, soaked in thick sauce...”

As he spoke, Chu Jiu instinctively wiped the corner of his mouth.

His stomach betrayed him again with a loud growl.

Even recording a video diary in front of a mirror, he felt a bit embarrassed and explained:

“Ah, actually, I’m full.”

“It’s just been a long time since I had braised dishes, so I kind of want some...”

He said this while patting his rumbling belly.

At that moment, the small mirror that usually reflected only his image suddenly flashed.

Chu Jiu froze.

The mirror quickly returned to normal.

But in that brief half-second, Chu Jiu felt as if... somewhere far, far away, someone was... watching him?