Beauty and the Beasts

141-150

Chapter 141 - Making a Stone Mill

Curtis's upper body transformed into its human form. His magnificent red hair fell over his shoulders and felt cool to the touch as it casually brushed against Bai Qingqing's arm.

Bai Qingqing couldn't help but glance at him. Her heart thumped erratically.

"What are you doing?" Curtis asked as he glanced at the odd-looking stones.

These stones looked different from the stones they made to extract oil. The two stones were round and had countless narrow grooves that looked like they were carved out by hand.

Bai Qingqing walked over to the stones and exclaimed in surprise, "Parker finished carving the stones so quickly. They seem like they can be used already."

Curtis tilted his head. There was confusion in his clear, red eyes.

Bai Qingqing unexpectedly met Curtis's eyes and was instantly stunned. She then awkwardly averted her eyes. "These are grinding stones. I want to use them to grind the rice into a powder so that I can make more delicious food."

Bai Qingqing only did this because she was bored out of her mind while being cooped up at home. It took her a long time to figure out how to create the grooves in the grinding stones, and she asked Parker to start work when she had figured out a way to do so that day.

"Mm." Curtis nodded.

Now that the two of them were on speaking terms, their cold war came to nothing.

When Parker returned with half a basin of fish and prawns, Curtis had already started a fire. Parker let out a disgruntled scoff before steaming the fish and prawns.

Bai Qingqing tried to lift a rock with all her might, but it refused to budge. She said with much difficulty, "Curtis, help me move this."

Curtis walked over and lifted the rock with ease. "Where do I put it?"

"Put it on this rock, and make sure that the hole in the middle lines up with the protruding part of the rock below."

Curtis did as Bai Qingqing said.

Now that the stone mill was ȧssembled, Bai Qingqing inserted the handle in a hole on the side of the rock on top. She then hammered it down with a rock to secure it in place. The stone mill was complete, and it looked somewhat like the real deal.

At the bottom of the stone mill was a "track". The rice pulp would slowly flow between the grinding stones onto the "track" and out through the only exit.

Bai Qingqing gripped onto the handle and used all her strength to push it forward. However, the grinding stone only moved slightly as it was too blunt.

She gritted her teeth and continued to push the handle. Just as she felt a huge burst of energy, she felt her hand suddenly grabbed by Curtis.

Curtis glanced at Bai Qingqing and asked her coldly, "Have you forgotten what I told you?"

Bai Qingqing was scared of Curtis whenever he got angry. She kept her mouth shut, not daring to make a sound. The moment he exerted strength on the handle with his hand placed over hers, the grinding stone rotated quickly, making grinding sounds in the process.