I woke up to find myself transmigrated into a disabled child.

Chapter 55 The Terrifying Flame Grass

After hearing Le Chu's arrangement, everyone nodded in agreement. Now that Le Zhong was out of danger, there was no need for everyone to gather here. After everyone had said their goodbyes, only Le You and Le Zhi remained at Le Zhong's house.

"Um, shouldn't we go make lunch...?"

Upon hearing Leyou's words, Lezhi realized that he was starving. He ate half of the white juice fruit in his hand and fed the rest to Maoqiu, but this was not enough to whet his appetite. Eating it made him even hungrier.

"Yes, yes, let's go, let's hurry, I'm so hungry."

Holding Leyou's hand, they quickly went to the kitchen to start preparing. Neither of them noticed Lezhong following behind them with a hesitant expression. Lezhong was indeed conflicted. Logically speaking, since Lezhi was his savior, Lezhong should have given him a huge amount of supplies to thank him for his help.

It's really inappropriate to ask your savior to continue fulfilling the previous agreement. Lezhi himself, however, is completely unaware of this problem. For him, absorbing the shadow also benefits him; for Lezhong and himself, it's a win-win situation, so Lezhi doesn't feel he's sacrificed much.

Seeing the two little ones busily and excitedly engaged in their tasks, Le Zhong realized that Le Zhi truly didn't take the matter to heart; he never felt that Le Zhong was his savior. Le You, on the other hand, was aware of this, as he knew the severity of the Shadow Disease, but one thing was one thing.

Saving a life is saving a life, and a transaction is a transaction; the two cannot be confused. Therefore, he readily continued to assist Lezhi, while also secretly learning how to prepare various foods and how to use basic seasonings.

His appetite has been completely spoiled by Lezhi. He used to be able to eat bland food occasionally, but most of the time, Leyou prefers strongly flavored food that Lezhi has added various seasonings to.

"Hey, Leyou, what's this?" Lezhi asked, holding up a plant he had never seen before. The plant was round and plump, and its color was a beautiful emerald green.

Leyou, who was cutting meat, glanced up and immediately gave the answer, "This is a lantern fruit. It's here so early! You should try it. It tastes good, but take small bites. You might not be used to it the first time you try it."

Without Leyou's prompting, Lezhi had already made a preliminary judgment about the fruit in front of him. He gently bit off a small piece with his teeth and carefully tasted it with his tongue. Sure enough, it was the familiar taste.

Green bell peppers, a vegetable loved by countless people and hated by countless others. Those who like them find them refreshing and delicious, while those who dislike them have their own reasons. Lèzhī happens to be one of those who love them.

This lantern fruit has a generally sweet, vegetable-like flavor, leaning more towards the taste of bell peppers from my previous life. The reason Leyou points out this is because it has a slight spiciness, which might be unpalatable for those who are new to spicy food. However, this is not a problem at all for Lezhi.

However, since Leyou specifically reminded herself, it means that someone has been burned by the spiciness. Green peppers exist in this world, so chili peppers must exist too, it just depends on what they look like.

Thinking of it, I asked, "Leyou, are there any fruits around here that taste similar to lantern fruit, but with a stronger/more pungent flavor?"

Hearing Lezhi's inquisitive voice again, Leyou guessed that he was probably thinking of something delicious again. He looked up and thought for a moment, then shook his head helplessly. He really didn't remember anything.

At this moment, Le Zhong, who had been waiting to the side, suddenly interjected, "Yes, but not fruit. I encountered a type of lichen when I was hunting before. It was entirely fiery red and showed no signs of being eaten by any living creature. I picked it out of curiosity and examined it. My innate ability determined that it was non-toxic and edible, so I tried it..."

Seemingly recalling some painful memory, Le Zhong looked utterly dejected. Le You couldn't understand Le Zhong's pain, but Le Zhi instantly understood why Le Zhong had paused for a moment.

"And then, and then?" The naive Leyou waited for a long time but didn't hear Lezhong's next words, so she asked impatiently.

Lezhi glanced at Lezhong with sympathy, and seeing his face contort in pain, a smile welled up inside her. To avoid aggravating Lezhong's suffering, Lezhi used all her strength to keep herself from laughing out loud.

With a helpless glance at the inquisitive Leyou, Lezhong could only continue, "Then, I experienced the most painful day of my life. My mouth and throat felt like they had been burned, but apart from being a little red, there were no visible wounds. Because it wasn't an injury, the sap from the mother tree didn't help at all. That day..."

Thinking of his abnormally swollen lips and tongue, and the pain of not being able to eat all day, Le Zhong was overcome with grief.

"In short, from then on, that plant was named Flame Grass, and all the tribesmen were warned to avoid it and never eat it. Later, after I recovered, I thought about it carefully and realized that the taste of Flame Grass was somewhat similar to that of some of the tastes in lantern fruit, but the pungent taste of lantern fruit was much milder."

He tossed a lantern fruit up and caught it, then looked at Lezhi who was listening attentively, a smile flashing in his eyes. "I wonder if this is what you're looking for, Lezhi."

"Hiss, that sounds terrifying... that Flame Grass, Lezhi..."

Looking at Lezhi with some fear, Leyou was frightened by Lezhong's story. He had indeed heard of Flame Grass before, but had never actually encountered it. He never expected that the source of the warning from his clan to stay away from Flame Grass was Lezhong. It was truly unexpected.

With a slight smile, Lezhi dashed Leyou's hopes, "Judging from the description, it sounds a lot like what I'm looking for, but that's not necessarily true. When we have time, let's go find some and try it out."

“Okay, I’m fine now. I’ll help if you need anything.” Seeing that he had helped Lezhi, Lezhong smiled with relief and made the promise. In fact, he already had some ideas on how to repay Lezhi in the future. There was no rush. The little one was still young, so they could take it one step at a time.

In this pleasant atmosphere, the three people and one bird enjoyed their belated lunch before Lezhi and Leyou bid farewell and left amidst Lezhong's reluctant gaze.

The afternoon was free time. Recently, they had been eating all three meals at Le Zhong's place, and Le Zhi hadn't used up much of the food he had given out. So he and Le You discussed how to deal with the extra food.

"Well, in the past, we would salt and air-dry the meat to make cured meat and store it away. It's quite easy to get food in Jormungand all year round, but it's too cold in winter, so people are less willing to go out. But that's also when the insects are least wary, so the guards would still regularly go to the vicinity to clean up, so everyone had enough to eat."

He nodded, he had guessed as well. Most insects are afraid of the cold, they either cannot survive the winter at all, or they hibernate, so it is right to clear some out in winter, otherwise when spring comes and the weather warms up in Cangling, it is easy to form a large-scale insect plague.

However, even though there was enough food, we couldn't waste it. After thinking it over, Lezhi decided to make the meat into jerky so that he could take it out and eat it whenever he was hungry, and it would also be easier to store.