Hearing this, Wu Yue looked at what he was holding, and her eyes instantly lit up with delight. "Eggs!"

And they were eggs as large as an adult male’s palm.

Seeing her delight, Chang Ye straightened his slightly stooped back. "We raised them according to the method you described. I can’t believe that just by catching some insects to feed them, the chickens actually started laying eggs."

Wu Yue took the eggs from his hands and hurried toward the nearby chicken coop.

The chicken coop now had wooden troughs for water and feed, and every day, a designated slave was responsible for cleaning it.

Ever since Wu Yue had mentioned eggs, the slaves had dedicated themselves to getting the chickens to lay them.

Chang Ye had asked her more than once how they could get the chickens to lay eggs.

For some reason, ever since the chickens had been captured, they hadn’t laid a single egg.

So, looking at the eggs in her hand, Wu Yue was quite excited.

Several little ones were crouched around the chicken coop, holding bamboo tubes. They were tilting the tubes to pour the insects they’d caught into the coop.

The chickens in the coop were CLUCKING, excitedly enjoying the treats from the little ones.

In a straw nest inside the coop, Wu Yue spotted several more eggs.

She turned to Chang Ye. "Go ahead and get those eggs."

Hearing this, Chang Ye grinned, opened the coop gate, and went inside to retrieve the eggs from the straw nest.

The little ones seemed to have just noticed Wu Yue. They stood to the side timidly, nervously fidgeting with the bamboo tubes in their hands.

Wu Yue smiled. "You all did a wonderful job. If you hadn’t caught insects to feed them, who knows when these chickens would have started laying eggs."

She then walked up to them and said, "As a reward for your contribution, I’m going to personally cook a delicious treat for you all today with the very eggs you earned by catching insects for the chickens."

The little ones were young, after all. Having been praised and promised a reward, they all began to steal excited glances at Wu Yue.

Chang Ye, however, was alarmed. He quickly stepped forward. "Lady Wu Yue, we are all slaves. We’re just doing what we’re supposed to. How could we accept such precious food?"

Wu Yue laughed. "I’m giving it to the little ones, not you."

With that, she walked over and took the youngest child’s hand. "Come on. You have to wash your hands before you can eat the delicious food."

Hearing this, Chang Ye immediately followed. He fetched a bucket of clean water and personally supervised as the children washed their hands clean. Afterward, they sat obediently on the piles of straw under the shed.

Wu Yue took out a stone pot and placed all the eggs inside.

Since the eggs were quite large, they took a while longer to cook.

When she felt they were about done, she scooped all the eggs out, peeled off the shells, and used a shell knife to cut them into evenly sized pieces, which she then distributed to the patiently waiting children.

The little ones had never eaten anything like this. They each sniffed their portion carefully, then stuck out their tongues for a little lick. Their eyes lit up. After cautiously scraping off a small bite with their teeth, their eyes went wide in an instant.

’This is so delicious! No wonder Lady Wu Yue was so excited when she saw this food called an egg.’

Wu Yue saved two eggs, planning to call Qingcao and Aya over that evening to make some scrambled eggs.

As the general helper, Chang Ye naturally managed to get a piece as well. After eating it, he had the exact same thought as the little ones.

That evening at dinner, Qingcao and Aya tasted the delicious eggs and instantly changed their opinion of the scrawny beast that was all feathers and no meat. The very next day, they were begging Wu Yue to take them to catch some chickens to raise at home.

「Since then」

The tribe had two new insect catchers.

Thanks to the slaves’ hard work, all the mushrooms within the tribe’s safe zone had been gathered and made into dried mushrooms.

When all the sun-dried mushrooms were packed into baskets, they filled the entire small courtyard, a testament to just how plentiful the mushrooms were.

"Lady Wu Yue, are we taking all these dried mushrooms to the back mountain? Aren’t you going to keep some for yourself?"

Wu Yue took a dried mushroom from the basket Chang Ye was holding. "Of course I’ve set some aside."

Then, she looked at the surrounding slaves. "Let’s head to the back mountain."

「Meanwhile, on the back mountain」

In contrast to the slaves’ bountiful mushroom harvest, the Half-beastmen guarding the taro were on the verge of tears.

During their early morning patrol, their sensitive noses detected a strange smell coming from several of the cellars.