The resources for living in this world are quite abundant. As long as people are willing to work, they can eat their fill. However, the food available may not always be of the highest quality. In particular, among the caravans such as ours, we usually have two types of food: one is black bread made from ground black wheat flour, with a little salt added. Although it is quite rough, the taste is quite sweet when you chew the grains carefully. Each loaf of black bread is as big as a washbasin and can be stored for several months without going bad. The other type of food is barley flour cooked on a hot stone slab to make a hard cake. We have to break it up with a hammer and put it in a large bowl, then pour a ladle of thick beef jerky and wild vegetable soup on top to make it filling.

Caravans usually carry these breads, cakes, and some preserved dried beef. Occasionally, we also have the fresh meat of wild beasts that we hunted during the adventure, but that is quite rare. For this caravan with over 600 people, even if we manage to catch one or two mountain goats or white deer, it won't be enough to feed more than ten people.

Kuz has just returned and helped me take off the leather saddle from Thunder Rhino. He said excitedly, "Ji Jia, my hometown near the Paiyi Grassland is not far from here. There should be a lot of delicious food there. In the early spring season, the guinea pigs are the most delicious. They stay in their burrows all winter, only eating grass seeds and roots. Their intestines are clean, and their meat is the freshest and most delicious. Let's catch a few and stew them with mountain yam later."

Young orc people are usually very wary of humans. Almost all orc people think that humans are a group of cunning and despicable individuals. Therefore, even in such peaceful times, gaining an orc's trust is a very difficult thing to do.

One of the main reasons I was able to become friends with Kuz is due to his relationship with Old Kurru. Kuz is Old Kurru's grandson, and Old Kurru was very fond of me. Another reason is that I was a child, and for a 12-year-old like Kuz, I posed no threat, so he could approach me without any worries and ask me various questions to satisfy his curiosity. Old Kurru taught me the language of the Orcs to facilitate communication, and when Kuz and I were alone, we conversed in Orcish. The third reason is that I could make some delicious soups, but that's another story.

Old Kurru was a very experienced pharmacist and a longtime friend of Lepus. During the trading trip to Stan Kingdom, Lepus spent a lot of favors to invite Kurru to serve as the caravan's pharmacist instead of hiring other human pharmacists, because the journey required crossing the Paigu Plateau and the New Asian Chis Mountains, where there were many herbs that were unfamiliar to human pharmacists. Only Kurru, an experienced orc pharmacist, was knowledgeable about the properties of these herbs, making him a somewhat mysterious figure among the caravan.

Old Kurru earned the respect of everyone in the caravan, which is also why I was rescued and taken in by the caravan. One day, after my injuries had healed, Old Kurru discovered that I could remember the entire process of making medicine when he was brewing medicine, including which herbs to use, how much to use, and when to pour out the medicinal solution. For someone with a culinary background like me, this was not difficult at all; it was just like cooking. Although I had the physical body of a child under the age of five, my mental age was very mature at that time. I often helped Old Kurru make medicine since many people in the caravan would fall ill due to the change of water and soil, and Old Kurru would improvise by collecting some local herbs and boiling them to make medicinal solution. I was just a little helper.

Kuz enjoys physical activities and has boundless energy. He can run endlessly through the mountains just to catch a single grouse.

In the Tien Shan mountain range, there is a common type of wild grouse with gray spots on a white background. This species, which is usually only slightly larger than a pigeon, can only glide short distances in the valleys, but is very agile and will fly away at the slightest sign of danger. Despite this, the flesh of these birds is incredibly tender and delicious.

One time, Kuz caught a few Tien Shan grouse and impaled them on an iron rod before roasting them over a campfire. As the feathers burned, the whole bird turned black, and the smell of burnt feathers permeated the entire campsite. To be honest, the smell was quite unpleasant.

After the meat was cooked, Kuz had to remove the blackened scab of feathers and skin from the small birds. The taste of the grouse was slightly bitter and reminded me of the smell of burnt feathers.

The simplicity and kindness of the nomads was evident in their actions. After roasting the grouse, even if Kuz himself didn't have enough to eat, he would give a roasted bird to the old Kuru and even offered me one. Honestly, the strange smell made me hesitant to eat it, but since the caravan only provided beef soup every five days, the rest of the time we subsisted on dry vegetables, wild greens soup with barley cakes, or black bread. Having a charred bird to eat was a rare treat. I confirmed with Kuz that the bird was indeed meant for me.

Kuz grinned and nodded, revealing his neat white teeth as he tore into the remaining Tien Shan grouse impaled on the iron rod, blowing on it to cool it down.

At that moment, I felt like a naive child. In this unfamiliar world, to obtain such a pure and pristine friendship was a rare and precious happiness. Even the burning pain from the flames on my body seemed less intense.

I sat next to Kuz, my shoulder leaning against his, holding a warm roasted chicken in my hand as I said to him, "Next time you catch these types of chickens, let me cook them. I've found a better way to prepare them."

"Mmm," Kuz mumbled in agreement, still fully focused on preparing the two roasted chickens.

To my surprise, the next day at noon, our caravan rested in a mountain valley, and I was napping on the back of a Thunder Rhino, which was carrying Kulu herbs and other supplies. I was abruptly woken up to see Kuz proudly holding an iron rod with 7 or 8 mountain chickens skewered on it, saying in broken imperial language, "Let's eat together!"

For me, it was the first meal I had made in this world, and it held great significance.

In truth, I had no better way of cooking these chickens. There were no additional seasonings or ingredients available. I learned that even the butlers of Lepas Castle had never tasted fried chicken wings, as the cooking techniques in this magical world were very simple - either boiling in soup or grilling.

People here preferred to stew animal fat into thick soup. If the soup was too greasy, they would put in as many wheat cakes as possible to absorb the grease. The food was oily, warm, and comforting, but there were rarely any seasonings or spices added, at most just a little salt.

Initially, I thought that Sichuan pepper, sesame, star anise, chili, and other spices were not present in this new world. However, after a year of studying herbal medicine with old Kulu, I realized that these spices also existed here, and they were common herbs rather than rare ones.

Perhaps even Old Kururu could not have imagined that I would be so diligent in studying herbal medicine. Initially, I studied herbal medicine to assist him in decocting medicine, but gradually, I was able to carry a small medicine chest and follow him to safe areas around the camp to collect herbs. However, the first effect of studying herbal medicine was that I kept researching the commonalities between these plants and those in my world, and I worked hard to discover the tastes from my memories.

"Okay, leave these chickens to me, and you go find some chestnuts. Kuz, you're a great hunter!" I took the mountain chickens and praised Kuz.

Even in this magical world, chestnuts exist. In the orcish language, they are called "tree rice." Chestnuts have always been eaten as a staple food, and they grow all over the southern slopes of the Chishan Mountains in New Asia. There are also many apple and autumn pear trees.

Dwarves and orcs do not like to eat apples. Apples have always been used by dwarves to make wine, and orcs prefer to wait until the first heavy snowfall, when they go to pick the frozen autumn pears that are as hard as stones on the mountainside. Old Kururu and Kuz love these hard, icy pears. Old Kururu told me that if he only ate wheat cakes and meat soup in the winter, he would gradually become ill. Only by eating these frozen fruits could he receive the blessing of the Beast God King, who protects the Paigao Plain.

After more than a year of traveling through the Chishan Mountains with the caravan on the back of the Thundering Rhino, my body gradually became stronger.

Although I was roasted by the fire poison in my body every day and was in excruciating pain, these symptoms were slowly easing. I found that I could easily jump and leap on the back of the Thundering Rhino, which is over four meters high, although my movements were clumsy and often ridiculed by Kuz. But I knew that children of the same age in my original world could only play in the yard by drinking yogurt and riding tricycles.

At the age of seven, I was already required by the Lepus butler to decoct herbs for Old Kururu every day and to deliver them to the sick people in the caravan, as well as instruct them on how to take them and so on.

Although I was small, handling these mountain chickens was not difficult. I threw them into a ceramic pot filled with hot water and rinsed them a few times before quickly taking them out. If the feathers were soaked in hot water for too long, they would be cooked and fall off with the skin and meat, so the timing had to be just right.

Swiftly grasping the chicken claws, I removed the feathers and placed the plump, oily chickens on the wooden table. Even the old Kuru who was simmering the medicine nearby glanced at my skilled movements but did not understand why I had to scald the chicken before plucking its feathers. Wouldn't it be better to just burn them directly? I used a small knife to cut open the mountain chicken, took out the offal and threw it into a wooden bucket. For orcs, these entrails were more delicious and could not be discarded.

I threw the chopped chicken meat into the soup pot, sprinkled some prepared seasonings and salt, and waited for Kuz to bring back the chestnuts. Kuz came in with half a bag of chestnuts on his back, bent down and lifted the curtain, and said, "Ji Jia, this soup smells so good."

"You can eat it later, help me peel the chestnuts now."

In the tent, next to the smoking ceramic jar, a half-grown orc child and a human child were chatting and laughing while peeling chestnuts. In orcish and Imperial language, there was no word for stewed dishes. They all referred to this food cooked in a ceramic jar as soup.

The aroma of the stewed chestnuts and chicken wafted out, and although Kuz's mouth was watering, he held back until I announced that it was ready to eat. We even served the first bowl of meat to the old Kuru.

After tasting it, the dry, dim eyes of the old Kuru stared at me for a long time before he said, "I know you are a different kind of child. This soup is delicious. With this delicious soup, you can also live very well in a human city in the future. However, I still hope that you and Kuz's friendship can continue and help each other on the path in the future."

"I will, grandpa!"

"I will, teacher!" Kuz and I said respectfully.

Yes, this is the third reason why I can become friends with Kuz, because I can make some delicious soup.

Eight plump and delicious mountain chickens and half a bag of chestnuts were stewed in a large clay pot, which was full to the brim. In one hand, Kuz held a piece of black bread that was larger than his own head, and in the other, a large ladle. He slurped the soup eagerly, undeterred by its heat, and even swallowed the bones whole.

Those who can cook delicious food are undoubtedly the ones who truly appreciate good food. Many chefs are overweight because they are born foodies who have a strong interest in creating delicious dishes. The more delicious the food, the more carefully they prepare it, down to the tiniest details.

I believe I am equally passionate about this. In this life, the first thing I thought of was not exploring the world's other mysterious aspects, but rather eating. Therefore, when Professor Kuru taught me herbalism, I accepted it willingly. It was just to learn what could be eaten and what couldn't. To understand the complicated terminologies in the scrolls on herbalism, I even spent a considerable amount of time learning the language of the Orcs. If Professor Kuru knew that my original purpose for studying herbalism so hard was just to avoid starving when wandering, I wonder how he would feel. Would he be too discouraged?

Gradually, I don't know when it started, I began to realize how important herbalism was to me. And then, Professor Kuru, my Orcish mentor, began to teach me a new subject: alchemy.

Kuz was excited when he heard that I was going to study alchemy with Professor Kuru. That night, we sat on the back of the Thundering Rhino and chatted. Kuz talked about his dream of becoming a hunter, and if he hadn't accidentally saved me, he might have been the one carrying those herbalism scrolls with Professor Kuru. Kuz said to me, "It's great that you're here!"