SDIWD - Chapter 111

Chapter 111

After the fruit was removed from the bunches, the palm fruit needed to be pounded to separate the pulp from the kernel. The oil extracted from the pulp was palm oil, while the oil from the kernel was palm kernel oil.

Bai Zhen made a simple mortar and pestle to crush the palm fruit, and Hua Mu was responsible for separating the crushed pulp and kernels. Making palm kernel oil was more troublesome and not particularly useful at the moment, so for now, they only took the pulp.

It took the two of them two days to complete this part, and they also selected the materials for making the oil cakes. Dried banana leaves woven together with palm leaves worked best, able to withstand great impact.

Before pressing the oil, the crushed pulp needed to be steamed for an hour. After taking it out, it was wrapped into oil cakes while still hot and placed in the oil press. For their first attempt, they made five oil cakes, weighing about ten kilograms in total.

Steaming, boiling, pounding, and carrying—Bai Zhen didn't feel much, but Hua Mu was already exhausted. Although she was no longer the delicate noble lady she had been eight months ago, this kind of high-intensity, strenuous work was still a bit much for her to handle.

As soon as the oil cakes were loaded, she collapsed onto the lounge chair. Bai Zhen opened a coconut for her, massaged her back, and rubbed her legs. It took a while for her to recover.

"So tired..."

Hua Mu drank the coconut water in one go and let out a heavy sigh.

"You rest now. I'll take care of the rest."

The next step was pressing the oil, and Hua Mu couldn't be of much help anyway.

"The working people of the past really had it tough. My back is about to break."

"It's mainly because there are only two of us. Back in my home village, we had communal machines. Things like edible oil were usually produced collectively and distributed according to labor, which was much faster than this."

Although Hua Mu knew the Black-Eyed Clan was primitive, she hadn't expected them to be this primitive.

"Did you participate in this kind of work since you were a child? I remember you said you were only twelve when you came to the Tower."

"If there were adults in the family, children generally didn't need to participate in this kind of village labor. But..."

Hua Mu, of course, knew what the "but" meant. Bai Zhen was an orphan. If she didn't go, no one from her family could, and she naturally wouldn't be allocated anything.

She felt a pang of sympathy and, feeling she had touched a sore spot, held Bai Zhen's hand, unsure of what to say.

Bai Zhen smiled and comforted her in return. "Actually, even if I didn't go, it's not like I wouldn't get anything. The village has communal supplies... you could call it a kind of fund, which provides a certain amount of help to families in the village who have lost their able-bodied members. But I grew up fast, so since I could support myself, I shouldn't have taken up those resources."

Hua Mu thought back to her own twelve-year-old self... no, before this ordeal, she hadn't suffered much in her eighteen years of life.

"So what the books say is true, that because of your primitive lifestyle, the Black-Eyed Clan is closer to a state of communism. But what I can't understand is, why do you insist on living in the rainforest and refuse to come out? The empire proposed a relocation plan over a hundred years ago, and the terms offered were very generous, even by today's standards."

After entering the Tower, Bai Zhen had pondered this question herself. Compared to the outside world, the Hezhou rainforest was like a completely different world. Because of this question, she had also looked into some history.

"Actually, it's not that no one from the Black-Eyed Clan agreed to relocate back then. A portion of our people did indeed integrate into the outside world. But..." Bai Zhen pointed to her own eyes. "Miss, you may not know this, but my appearance isn't actually typical of the Black-Eyed Clan. However, because I do have pitch-black pupils, the clan accepted me very easily. To the Black-Eyed Clan, black eyes are the channel through which the gods observe the mortal world, and the Black-Eyed Clan are the gods' spokespeople. So, black eyes are more important than anything. But for the members of the Black-Eyed Clan who moved to the outside world, even if they didn't intermarry with other clans, their children's eye color would quickly lighten. And as if by a curse, the descendants with lighter eye colors often had very poor health, with an extremely high infant mortality rate. On the other hand, the offspring from intermarriages with other clans were able to grow up healthy."

"Those who wished to preserve their bloodline eventually returned to the Hezhou rainforest, while those who intermarried with other clans stayed outside, gradually losing the characteristics of the Black-Eyed Clan and completely integrating into modern life."

Although Hua Mu had learned about the Black-Eyed Clan because of Bai Zhen, this was the first time she had heard such a secret.

"That's so strange. Is there no scientific explanation for it?"

"There were scholars who tried to offer explanations, studying it from aspects like diet, climate, and genetic diseases. But after what happened, the Black-Eyed Clan believed they had angered the gods, so very few were willing to cooperate with the research. Naturally, the matter was dropped."

Hua Mu had grown up in a civilized society, and her education had left her with no racial prejudice, so she found it difficult to understand the Black-Eyed Clan's choice. However, how one chose to live was a matter of personal freedom. The only thing Hua Mu was grateful for was that Bai Zhen had awakened as a Sentinel and come to her.

"It's a good thing we're not from the same clan, otherwise it would be terrible if our baby wasn't healthy. But it's a shame their eyes wouldn't be like yours. Black eyes are so beautiful."

Hua Mu said it so naturally, but Bai Zhen was completely stunned.

The conception rate for Sentinels and Guides was already lower than that of ordinary people. Although conception was possible between same-sex partners under the influence of their spirit animals, the probability was even lower, often requiring a long period of preparation to succeed.

Bai Zhen may have seemed indulgent these past days, but she had actually been careful to avoid the possibility of this happening. Considering both the short and long term, she didn't think getting Hua Mu pregnant was a good idea.

If she could, she didn't want any children.

"Miss..."

Perhaps because Hua Mu was still young, she had always felt that having children was a distant prospect for them, so they had never discussed it.

Only after seeing Bai Zhen's stunned expression did Hua Mu realize how forward her words had been. She was both embarrassed and annoyed, and clumsily changed the subject.

"Ahem, I was just talking nonsense. Oh, you can go press the oil now, before it gets cold."

"Mm..."

Bai Zhen didn't know how to begin, and in the end, she didn't voice her thoughts.

Seeing Bai Zhen turn to get busy, Hua Mu couldn't help but cover her face, so embarrassed she nearly rolled on the ground.

How long had they been together? How could she suddenly bring up the topic of children?

It was all Bai Zhen's fault, why did she have to talk about descendants!

Ah, but- but since they were practically married, wasn't it normal to have children? She didn't know much else, but she knew very well that same-sex Sentinels and Guides could have children.

Although she was still a bit young now, and getting pregnant on the island wouldn't be convenient, there was still the future, wasn't there? It would be too late to think about it then, she had to plan ahead!

Hua Mu went through a round of mental pep talks to suppress her embarrassment. When she looked up again, she saw Bai Zhen inserting wedges into the gaps between the wooden blocks.

Five oil cakes were placed side by side in the oil press. Wooden blocks were stuffed on one side of the cakes. The battering ram would strike the triangular wedges inserted between the blocks to apply pressure to the oil cakes, extracting the liquid from the fruit.

Ingredients like rapeseed went through a drying and roasting process, so what was usually extracted was relatively pure oil. However, palm fruit wasn't suitable for this process. After being boiled and crushed, the fruit still contained a large amount of water, so what was extracted was a mixture of oil and water.

Hua Mu watched Bai Zhen's busy figure, and her fantasies began to run wild.

After making sure the wedges were securely inserted into the gaps and wouldn't fall out, the Sentinel walked over to the battering ram and tested the angle and force. The ram struck the wedge with a considerable noise, making Hua Mu's heart flutter.

With all preparations complete, Bai Zhen officially began.

The Sentinel was tall and well-built. The lean muscles on her arms, waist, and back were clearly defined as she exerted herself.

Hua Mu had a deep appreciation for the power of those arms and had experienced the strength of that waist many times.

As Bai Zhen swung the battering ram, it struck the wedges again and again. The triangular wedges soon began to gradually embed themselves into the gaps between the wooden blocks. The narrow gaps were slowly forced open by the wedges, but the blocks themselves were pressed closer and closer together, gradually applying pressure to the oil cakes.

Once, twice... after about a few dozen strikes, an orange-red liquid began to seep out from around the oil cakes. The viscous liquid increased with the incessant pounding, and began to drip from the gap at the bottom of the oil press.

The dripping oil collected on the slanted trough beneath the press and slowly flowed into an earthenware pot.

This kind of work was clearly not difficult for Bai Zhen. Hua Mu saw that she wasn't even breathing heavily. After completely embedding one wedge into a gap, she moved to another position and continued her work.

A continuous stream of the oil-water mixture was extracted from the oil cakes, still steaming. Because palm oil has a high melting point, it had to be pressed while the fruit was still hot.

As the gaps became smaller, Bai Zhen's movements had to become faster and more forceful each time, and the impact of the battering ram on the wedges grew stronger.

Listening to the thudding sounds, Hua Mu couldn't help but feel envious.

These wedges are so lucky.

Besides her, only these few pieces of wood could be pounded by Bai Zhen like this. And Bai Zhen, really, even pressing oil was so erotic and sexy. How was she supposed to control herself!

The Sentinel finally stopped working only when the wedges could no longer be inserted. The earthenware pot was already more than half full. As the oil and water cooled, they began to separate into distinct layers. The top layer was an orange-red mixture of solid and liquid oil.

This pot of oil-water mixture still needed to be heated to a boil. After letting it stand, the oil, water, and impurities would separate into layers, and then the top layer of oil would be poured off. The resulting oil layer would be heated again until no more bubbles were produced, at which point it would be considered true crude palm oil, ready for the next step of fractionation.

Bai Zhen's main goal was to experiment with the time required for each step.

Seeing that Bai Zhen was finally done, Hua Mu hurriedly called out to her, "Bai Zhen!"

"What is it, Miss?"

After a round of work, the slight gloom that had settled over Bai Zhen from their earlier conversation had dissipated.

Hua Mu fidgeted for a moment, but in the end, she couldn't overcome her desire.

"Ahem, I- I'm tired. I want to take a nap."

Bai Zhen raised an eyebrow. "Do you need me to carry you back?"

Hua Mu immediately opened her arms. "You sleep with me."

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