Chapter 19: New Skill
Before Jiang Lili could speak, he dashed out.
This time, he didn't take the main road, but took the small path. Like a diligent bee, he brought back ten more large soft-shelled turtles.
Although they weren't as big as the first one he brought back, they were all as big as a washbasin. Decades later, these would sell for 1000 yuan per jin, but now he could pick them up at will.
By this time, Jiang Lili had already boiled the water. She also took out the large iron pot that was used for cooking pig feed which was hidden on the wooden rack in the pigsty. She carefully cleaned it with straw and placed it on the simple stove next to the pigsty.
Next, it was Chen Fan's turn to perform.
First, he used a cotton stalk to keep the soft-shelled turtle's mouth busy, pulled out its head, and before it knew, he had quickly cut it in half. The turtle's blood gushed out.
He didn't waste the turtle's blood, collecting it in a bowl. Once the bleeding stopped, he placed the soft-shelled turtle in water around 80 degrees Celsius.
Jiang Lili stood beside him the whole time. When Chen Fan asked for hot water, she brought a small bucket of hot water. When he asked for cold water, she brought a large bucket of cold water.
Watching Chen Fan carefully peel off the outer membrane of the soft-shelled turtle that had been soaked in hot water, leaving not a single black spot, he then used large scissors to cut two slits in the soft-shelled turtle's belly, then peeled off the carapace, and carefully removed the small yellow fat from the innards. He discarded some of the internal organs, and finally used a large cleaver to chop the soft-shelled turtle into small pieces on a tree stump and rinsed them in cold water.
The washed soft-shelled turtle meat was put into the cleaned pig feed pot. Water was added and the fire was lit. Large pieces of ginger and scallions were added. Chen Fan stood by the pigsty, holding a spoon, tirelessly skimming off the foam.
When there was no more foam, he poured out the broth and rinsed it again with hot water. Only then did he put the drained soft-shelled turtle meat into the sand pot with many slices of ginger.
He added hot water, scallions, and salt to the large iron pot, placed a steamer rack on it, put the sand pot on the steamer rack, covered the lid, and lit the fire to boil the water.
Only then did Chen Fan breathe a sigh of relief and said to Jiang Lili with a smile, "Simmer on low heat for two or three hours. It will be just in time for dinner at 5 o'clock."
Jiang Lili was stunned for a long time. When she heard his words, she came back to her senses. Her gaze shifting between him and the pot, "Will the soft-shelled turtle won't taste fishy this way?"
"How is that possible!"
Chen Fan sighed, "There's no cooking wine, not even white wine. The fishy smell will definitely not be completely removed. Actually, it's best to use hot oil and spices to stir-fry and make braised soft-shelled turtle. That's the best way. The conditions are limited, so this will have to do."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a "ding" in his head.
"Successfully cooked soft-shelled turtle for the first time, rewarded with Cooking experience +10. Current Cooking skill LV4."
Experience +10? Cooking skill LV4?
Upon hearing the prompt, Chen Fan's first reaction wasn't that he had unlocked a new skill, but rather: So experience points and skill levels aren't equal?!
He had only received experience points twice before. One was for washing dishes, Housekeeping skill experience +1. The other was for talking to the big yellow dog, Beast Language experience +1.
The Housekeeping skill was LV3, and Beast Language was LV1. This gave him the illusion that experience points were equal to skill levels; one point would level up a skill.
Until now, Cooking experience +10, and the Cooking skill level was only 4, did he realize it.
So how many experience points are needed for each level-up?
Jiang Lili on the other side was still thinking about Chen Fan's words. If he really had cooking wine, oil, star anise, fennel, and cinnamon, could he really make a soft-shelled turtle without any fishy smell?
Then she noticed that Chen Fan was staring straight at her. Her face turned red. Before she could react, she got up and quickly walked to the front yard, as if afraid that someone would chase her.
Chen Fan didn't notice that Jiang Lili had already left. He stared at the character panel and fell into thought, how do I see the experience progress bar?
As he pondered, the panel information changed.
The top section remained unchanged. Only a few experience progress bars were added to the skill section at the bottom.
SKILLS:
- Housekeeping LV3 (1/100)
- Beast Language LV1 (1/10)
- Cooking LV4 (10/200)
Except for a progress bar, there was nothing else. It was still incredibly simple.
Chen Fan pondered carefully. Beast Language is LV1 and needs 10 points of experience to level up. Housekeeping is LV3 and needs 100 points of experience to level up. Cooking is LV4 and needs 200 points of experience to level up.
So, level 1 doesn't count. Maybe 1 experience point can unlock it, then 1 to 2 requires 10 points of experience, 3 to 4 requires 100 points of experience, 4 to 5 requires 200 points of experience.
Then the question is, how much is needed from 2 to 3?
There's no pattern at all, it's unreasonable!
Chen Fan pondered for a long time, finding it useless. He sighed: Forget it, when Beast Language levels up to 2, I'll know how much is needed from 2 to 3.
He looked up, huh? Where's Jiang Lili?
She left without saying a word.
He muttered to himself, and didn't pay attention to it. Jiang Lili's impression is that she's timid like a little white rabbit. He let her be.
He checked the stove fire, broke off a few cotton stalks and stuffed them in, then closed the stove door slightly. Chen Fan clapped his hands and went to the front.
He had used a lot of water to boil and clean the turtles. The water in the tank dropped again. He carried the bucket to do the task again.
After carrying two loads of water back and filling the tank, his Constitution successfully increased to 7.
Although the water tank was full, he went to carry another load. He needed water for washing up at night. Two buckets of water are just right.
But this last time did not increase the attributes, it only increased his Housekeeping experience by 3 points, the progress bar increased from 1 to 4.
What is going on?
Chen Fan fell into thought. If it was ineffective, there wouldn't even be 3 experience points. But if it was effective, why did the Constitution points turn into Housekeeping experience?
Could it be that the same method has a limited effect on the basic attributes? If it exceeds the limit, it's useless?
...
Jiang Lili hid in the room. Hearing Chen Fan carry several loads of water back, and didn't talk to her, she silently reflected on herself, Did I think to much?
Maybe he was thinking about something else at the time, and he wasn't looking at me at all?
Thinking of this, she couldn't help feeling a little worried.
She finally found someone who was willing to talk to her. Don't let them drift apart because of this, right?
She paced back and forth in her room, feeling restless.
After a long while, she suddenly noticed that there was no more movement outside. After a two-seconds pause, she quietly opened a crack in the rear window, and steam was coming out of the earthen stove by the pigsty, but she didn't see Chen Fan's figure.
She approached the front window again, and Chen Fan was not in the courtyard.
She went to the door, pressed her ear against it, and still heard nothing.
She pondered for two seconds, gently opened the door, poked her head out and looked left and right. Still no one?
She frowned slightly, Where did he go again?
(End of Chapter)
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