Li Xian also sat beside the little girl as he placed his ration packet in front of him. Under the watchful eyes of the little girl, he opened that packet, which was packed tightly in a big leaf with a strong root.
He thought it was a banyan root, but he has never observed them that much, even though he has seen them many times.
Not bothering with that question, he unpacked it slowly, not wanting the meat pieces to roll away. But instead of meat pieces, some unknown fruits, which he has never seen or heard of rolled from the package. He then looked at the three large slices of meat, neatly placed on each other.
"Little bowl! That is big brother's food! Here we have our own package, if you are hungry, I will give you some fruits for now." Lasang said as he saw his daughter look at Li Xian's food package without blinking.
"But! Father, I want to eat meat now." Little bowl said with a stubborn face.
"No! Meat is only for the night! If you eat now, you won't get any for the night."
Lasang said it a bit seriously, as the meat will only be distributed once a week. Even if they eat it only once a day, they still won't get enough rations to last till the next distribution.
He also wants to teach his daughter, how to survive in these harsh conditions. If she grows up to become like the 'Big Bowl', it will garner endless troubles for him. Ankara also nodded his head as he gave a sideways glance to Li Xian.
When she saw her father's solemn expression, Little Bowl's eyes welled up. Just as she was about to cry, a hand patted her head, which instantly calmed her emotions.
"It's alright, little girl... Ah, no... Little bowl. Big brother will give you some of mine, but wait till big brother finishes cooking this, okay?" Li Xian said as he felt a bit of pity toward her.
He remembered his sister, to whom he used to give his chicken pieces when they were young. However, his family can only afford meat in its early stages a few times a year.
As such, he used to put his meat pieces on his sister's plate while his mom and father put some of their meat on their plates.
They used to joke about this a bit after their family situation settled down and both Li Xian and his sister grew up. They felt warm and loving towards each other whenever they remembered those hard days, but Li Xian never felt the brimming sorrow that he feels now.
His eyes moistened up a bit at just the thought of those memories, and he felt that one million years was a bit too damn long to meet his own parents again.
A small hand slowly held his shoulder, jolting him back. He looked at the little bowl, which was looking at him with concern. Even Lasang and Ankara looked at him as if they had never seen this kid with such a sad expression, even though he cried a little.
"It's alright, big brother! Little Bowl doesn't want your meat... Please don't cry!" Little bowl expressed her belief that her big brother is probably regretting his promise to share the meat.
Li Xian couldn't help but roll his eyes at this innocent little one. But he also felt warm at heart, as many people don't receive such warm consolation when they are at their worst.
But he who just got transmigrated to this damned place has a little girl consoling him, which gives him a kind of energy that he is unable to explain.
"It's nothing! Just sit here and wait." Li Xian said as he took the entire package of meat and fruits to the only water pit in the cave.
As he made his way to the pit, Li Xian kind of felt afraid to see the poop around the area. But he felt relieved after not seeing anything around that.
He did come to check his face against the same pit before, but he wasn't that concentrated at that moment. But now he has to clean them, and as such, this became his most pressing concern.
He placed the package nearby before starting to clean the fruits and then the meat one by one.
But his head is filled with thought, as to how these people are wiping their a***. He felt that would become one of his biggest concerns, as he was used to the modern world's 'cleanliness'.
'Ding! People in this era were wiped with rocks and then threw the rocks into rivers. The host can either choose to follow this custom or the host can use the mullein leaves, which are quite abundant in this area, which is a great alternative to using and cleaning with water later.'
Li Xian felt trouble in the first few words. He got a chill just thinking about wiping your a** with a cold rock. But the next suggestion from the system gave him a bit of relief, even though he doesn't know what a 'mullein leaf' is.
He decided to get help from the system when it was time to unload. He shook his head at that thought, as it was time to eat.
"Lasang! What is that kid doing?" All three of their eyes concentrated on Li Xian as he weirdly wiped the fruits and meat with water. They felt even weirder with his 'generosity' of his this time, as he usually protected his rations and never shared them with anyone.
"Don't know, brother! He is acting a bit weird, as though he has become a new person altogether. But it could also be because he knows he has very little chance of survival from tomorrow on." Lasang said after thinking for a moment, making Ankara's heart ache a bit.
But he soon shook his head, as he had already tried his best. Even if this kid dies tomorrow, it won't be his fault anymore.
"Nevermind! Let him do whatever he wants to do. " Ankara said, as they saw Li Xian coming back.
"Little bowl! Let me cook this meat first, okay?" As he sat beside the fire, Li Xian said. He then grabbed one of those dried sticks that looked sturdy and sharp, which are used to keep the fire going continuously, before piercing the meat.
"What's cooking, big brother? I don't want to eat any cooking. I, I just want to eat meat." The little girl blinked, perplexed, as she noticed the meat was pierced.
"You don't have to pierce the meat with a stick, kid. Give it to me, I will tear off a small piece for her, which will be enough for her."
Lasang said as he thought that Li Xian is trying to tear the meat to give it to the Little bowl.
Hearing their words, Li Xian finally understood the big problem here.
"These people still don't use the fire to 'barbeque' their meat? And they are still consuming raw meat like steak tartare without any other spices?"
Li Xian couldn't help but be a bit confused. He thought that cooking may have already been introduced a long time ago, just a bit later after the fire was discovered around 1.5 million years ago or even 2 million years ago.
'Ding! The first fire was invented around 3.8 million years ago by a caveman descended from Australopithecus afarensis. But it didn't spread that much at that time, and the second invention comes from another caveman around 1.6 million years ago, from the genus Homo erectus. The cooking of raw meat using fire is found in some of the Homo erectus bands from around 2,00,000 years ago. But it is still not that widespread a practice and hasn't reached here yet.'
System explained, making Li Xian scratch his head with all those weird names again. He just understands the fact that this band he is living with is still eating raw meat.
But Li Xian is never fond of raw meat. He didn't even try it once in his entire life before, and as such he finds it hard to go with this custom too, just like 'wiping' one.
"I'm not trying to tear the meat, I'm about to cook it, Uncle Lasang." Li Xian gritted his teeth as he decided to teach them how to cook, or at the very least how to use it for barbeques if they didn't already have one.
Under the confused eyes of all three pairs of eyes. Li Xian slowly pushed his 'meat stick' forward, not rushing it directly into the center, as that would also burn the stick. He decided to ask Lasang to make a tool for this using stones after the hunting thing is over.