Whole School Transmigrated: I Have 3 Daily Intel

Chapter 33: Chapter 31: Smoked and Cured Meat, a School Speech?

Seeing Chen Chong remain silent for so long, Xu Jun seemed to realize something. His expression grew conflicted, and he hesitated before speaking.

"Brother Chong, you’re not... upset that I used the Building Card in the living room without discussing it with you, are you?"

"If that’s the case, I’ll figure out a way to get rid of them..."

"Damn it!" Chen Chong was speechless and aimed a kick at his butt.

"What the hell are you thinking? Am I that petty in your eyes?"

"I just think what you said makes more sense. Besides, this is all your stuff. It’s safest to keep it in your own room."

"People are always coming and going in this living room. I can’t guarantee I won’t sneak away with some of the animals you’re raising or the crops you’re growing. Don’t come crying to me when that happens."

Xu Jun laughed, rubbing his butt. "You scared me to death! I thought you were pissed. So that’s what it was."

"Take whatever you want. From the very beginning, I planned for us to share whatever I raise. Besides, other than Wang Biao and Jia Wen, you’re the only other person who comes into this apartment, Brother Chong."

"Those two are a special case, so we won’t get into that. But the person I trust most is you, Brother Chong. I trust you more than my own parents. What’s there to worry about leaving my stuff in the living room?"

"You trust me that much?" Chen Chong raised an eyebrow. "Then why don’t you call me ’Godfather’?"

"Get outta here..."

Chen Chong laughed too. He wasn’t surprised by Xu Jun’s unconditional trust, but he was genuinely touched.

He wasn’t as desperate for Vacant Land Cards as Xu Jun was and could place his buildings inside his own room, but that didn’t mean he was going to hide his things away.

Just as Xu Jun intended, the fish he would raise in his future fishpond, or the crops he would grow...

As long as he had a bite to eat, he would never let Xu Jun go hungry.

They weren’t just a team surviving together; they were brothers who knew each other inside and out.

Besides, the living room was pretty big. It was just sitting empty, so if Xu Jun wanted to use it, he should just use it.

What’s more, he’d used a Vacant Land Card in the living room, making it even larger. The new structures wouldn’t make it feel crowded.

In the future, coming home to see food growing in the plots and poultry in the pens would give everyone a lot of hope and motivation.

Chen Chong found he was actually looking forward to seeing it...

「After cooking and eating some fresh moose meat for breakfast.」

The four of them sat on the sofa, staring at the several hundred pounds of meat on the floor, lost in thought.

"Alright, everyone, we have a big task today. If we don’t process all this moose meat today, it’ll spoil."

Xu Jun nodded. "Yeah. Good thing Brother Chong traded for about ten bags of salt yesterday. I just don’t know if it’ll be enough for curing."

"It’s not enough," Chen Chong said, shaking his head. "So we can’t cure all of it..."

The ten bags of salt weighed about ten pounds in total.

After trading for the apartment and some other supplies, there were still about six hundred and sixty pounds of meat left.

But this included things like bones. If you removed those and only counted the pure meat, there were probably close to four hundred pounds that could be cured.

Going by the ratio of 20 grams of salt per pound of meat for curing, four hundred pounds would require about 16 pounds of salt.

Not only was the salt they had insufficient, but even if it were enough, they couldn’t afford to be so extravagant with it when supplies were this scarce.

That’s why from the start, Chen Chong hadn’t planned on turning all the meat into cured meat. Instead, he would divide it into four parts!

Fresh meat, smoked meat, salt-cured meat, and preserved bacon!

The fresh meat would be for eating today, with a portion set aside to trade for supplies at the market tonight.

Smoked meat didn’t rely on salt; it just needed to be smoked and air-dried to be preserved for a long time, though its shelf life wasn’t as long as salt-cured meat.

The salt-cured meat and preserved bacon were both made using salt. Their flavors were a bit different, but their preservation methods and the resulting shelf life had much in common.

Processing the meat in four different ways would significantly reduce their salt consumption. It also meant they would have a variety of flavors, so they wouldn’t get tired of eating it over the long term.

"Over six hundred pounds, minus the bones and organs... let’s call it an even four hundred pounds."

"One hundred pounds will be made into preserved bacon, and another hundred into salt-cured meat. Two hundred pounds will probably use up seven or eight bags of salt. This meat can be preserved for months and will be our emergency reserve."

"One hundred pounds will be made into smoked meat. This type doesn’t keep for that long, so it will be our main food supply for the next month."

"The last hundred pounds, we’ll take to trade for supplies. Whatever is left over, we’ll make into smoked meat as well..."

Chen Chong’s proposal was met with agreement from the other three.

To prevent the high daytime temperatures from spoiling the meat, the four of them immediately got to work, curing two hundred pounds of it with salt in large plastic tubs.

With the electronic scale they had traded for yesterday, they could measure the meat-to-salt ratio with extreme precision, ensuring no waste and no failures.

When it came to making salt-cured meat and preserved bacon, both Chen Chong and Xu Jun only had a partial understanding; they knew some of the steps but not all the details.

But Jia Wen and Wang Biao said they knew how, which seemed to indicate their era also had similar methods for processing meat...

Soon, two hundred pounds of meat were curing in the plastic tubs.

The remaining two hundred pounds were also treated to prevent spoilage and set aside.

Off to one side were the organs and bones. Although not pure meat, these could still be cured, used, or even traded. Naturally, nothing would be wasted.

"Now that the Building Cards are all used, Brother Chong, when we go out today, let’s see if we can find anything to plant."

"Okay, I was thinking the same thing. And some small wild animals. We can’t let the pens and cages stay empty forever."

"My lord, I happen to have made some small traps. I’ll set them outside when we go out today. If we’re lucky, maybe tomorrow we’ll not only have caught prey but also caught something live. Then we can try raising it."

Chen Chong smiled and nodded. "Sounds good."

Now that the meat was mostly processed, it was time to head out and complete today’s objectives.

’Three pieces of intel, and two of them are about food and Cards...’

"To make smoked meat, we’ll need to go find some firewood, and a lot of it."

"Alright, should we head out now?"

"Let’s go!"

The four of them were people of action. Without another word, they grabbed their weapons, locked the door, and headed downstairs.

Because the clothes-drying pole had broken during yesterday’s moose hunt, the team was short one weapon. Fortunately, Wang Biao had acquired a new, suitable weapon.

Chen Chong had his Refined Iron dagger, Xu Jun had his Fire Axe, Jia Wen had his crude iron broadsword, and Wang Biao had a wooden bow.

It was worth noting that after Jia Wen sharpened his crude iron broadsword, its sharpness had increased considerably.

According to him, if they encountered another moose like yesterday’s, a single swing of his blade—even if it couldn’t take its head clean off—would at least be able to sever bone. It wouldn’t get awkwardly stuck in a joint like before...

Since they also wanted to see if there was anything worth trading for at the market during the day, the four of them didn’t take the closer side exit but headed for the main entrance instead.

Along the way, Chen Chong was mentally calculating what they might need.

Ever since the moose hunt, his group was now relatively well-off. Not only did they not have to worry about food in the short term, but they could also spare a portion to trade for other supplies.

Besides basic necessities like instant noodles, bread, salt, oil, and seasonings, he could try to trade for any cultivable crops or fruits to test them out.

And small animals, too.

Chen Chong didn’t dare to hope for things like wild rabbits or pheasants, but fish were a strong possibility.

Even if the trading market didn’t have any, the Fishing Club should have plenty left.

After all, the Fishing Club had caught a lot of fish a few days ago. It was unlikely they had eaten all of them.

Trading for some fish from them to raise in the fishpond would establish a sustainable food source...

"Brother Chong, look. What’s going on over there? Looks like someone’s giving a speech?"

Just then, Xu Jun tugged on Chen Chong’s arm, pointing toward the Central Square.

Chen Chong looked ahead. The Central Square was packed with people, but they weren’t setting up stalls to sell things. Instead, they were all gathered in a crowd.

In the middle was a makeshift platform, and a figure seemed to be standing on it, speaking with impassioned fervor about something...

...