“Hey, why did your hands stop? You have to keep rubbing and squeezing. [6] Make sure to turn the intestines inside out too!”
“Ahh, but I’m tired~~”
“Enough with the complaining. You’ve eaten all that meat so you should have plenty of energy to work.”
“Boo…”
I was currently instructing the children on the fine art of offal cleaning. [8] We’re working in the garden by the well with Sui around to provide extra freshwater when needed.
[8] The small intestines did not require much cleaning, just trimming off the white parts, cutting them into five-inch long pieces and rubbing them in flour then rinsing until the water runs clear would do.
However, for the large intestines, the job was more intensive. A lot of kneading, rinsing, and scraping would be required to make the stink go away.
Luckily, I have Sui to help me get rid of the excess stinky water too.
When I first showed the children the intestines, they screamed and backed away.
“Yuck! That’s disgusting!”
“Eww, gross!!”
[6] “… you guys ate a lot of these just now, you know?” I said exasperatedly.
[8] I gave everyone a large bowl and instructed them on how to deal with small intestines first since that was less labour intensive. The more responsible children were put in charge of cutting, while the rest were in charge of separating the intestines and rinsing.
[8]
Next, we dealt with the large intestines.
“Eww, gross, it stinks!”
“Those black dots…”
“Are those… poop?”
I smiled, “You ate a lot of these just now too,”
“Arrrgh!!”
“Were they delicious?”
“… yeah…”
“Right, I’m about to teach you the secret of making these stinky things into something delicious.”
“Yay!”
Nearly half an hour of flour kneading, rinsing, rubbing, more kneading, more rinsing…
The job was finally done.
“Auggh!! This is tiring! Big brother, you sure know how to make people work,” Lewis complained as he scraped the intestines with a short knife.
The other children said nothing, but I could feel their begrudging stares. They looked really tired too…
[9] Ahh, child labour! I’m an exploiter of children!! I’m feeling a little guilty now…
“Ahem, you’ve all been a great help to me. So, I’d like to thank everyone. Since you’ve done such a good job, you may have this as a separate reward.”
I took out two chunks of Dungeon Pork, still neatly wrapped in its leaf package, and placed them in front of the children. I had no idea how many children there were at the orphanagebut these two chunks of meat should be enough to make a hearty pot of soup or a large quantity of stir-fry.
““ ““ ““Woahhh!!”” ”” ””
“Big brother, are you sure?” Lewis looked at me with shining eyes.
The children, who had looked like wilting flowers just now, perked up and kneaded the intestines with extra zeal.
“Yes, that’s the reward for doing a great job.” After all, if I had to do the cleaning on my own, my arms would probably fall off…
The children cheered again.
“Hmm, but the meat drops are a little heavy, could you carry them back? Would you like me to help you?”
“Nah, it’s fine. Hey, Harold, take 2 or 3 people with you and fetch a plank from that old man, will you?”
“Got it!”
Harold scurried off with two of his companions and returned with a sturdy looking board. [5]
[6] The board was not very big. It was shaped like a short stretcher and four or six children could easily carry the two chunks of meat between them like this.
Everyone looked very happy after receiving the meat and was already talking about what kind of food they would ask the kitchen to make.
My, my, they looked half-dead just a few minutes ago but look at them now.
Still, since they were in such a good mood, I could probably ask them to help me out a bit more.
“Who’s the old man you got your plank from?”
“Oh, him? We run some errands for him now and then. He pays us 7 or 8 bronze coins per day. It’s not a lot but not many people will hire kids like us.”
[9] Oho, so I’m not the only one who exploits child labour?
Well, since they are used to working for money, I guess the next bit would be easier.
“I see, I’d like to talk about hiring you guys for a job. See, I have more offal to clean up. I’m willing to pay 1 silver coin per person. How about it? Naturally, I’ll take care of your meals too.”
“What, really? Do it! We’ll do it!”
“Oi, oi, are you sure you don’t need to consult your friends over this?”
“Of course, but I’m sure everyone will agree,” said Lewis. He turned to his friends, [5] “What do you guys think?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“We’re very okay with it!”
“A silver coin and a meal on top of it? Of course!”
“Wait, we get to eat delicious food again?! Yess!!!”
“Well, big brother. We’re in!” said Lewis with a grin.
“Very nice. I’ll see you again tomorrow,” I said, happy to have secured some labour forces for my offal cleaning.
The children chattered happily as they collected their Dungeon Pork and were about to leave when someone said.
“Hey! What about our bats?!”
They all came running back and I had to call Sui over to take care of the matter.
“Sui, could you fix these sticks just like how you did them yesterday?”
““Ye~~es~~””
Aahh, Sui is the best~~
The children each placed their bats on the floor and Sui absorbed them into her Gigantified body. A short while later…
“Oohhh!! This is awesome!”
Suddenly, there were a lot of kids swinging their bats in my garden.
“Ahem, well, see you guys tomorrow.”
“See you!!”
“Make us something delicious again!!”
I waved at the happy kids with their Dungeon Pork and wooden bats.
Fufufu, I shall give you lots of offal to process tomorrow, but don’t worry, I shall feed you well too.
We can have Motsunabe, Motsuni, as well as Horumonyaki.
I look forward to our next offal dish.
[Gumihou: Motsunabe = Offal hotpot, Motsuni = Offal stew, Horumonyaki = Grilled Offal]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – Adjusted details on offal cleaning.
– Cleaning offal in the garden instead of the kitchen (like 21 kids in the kitchen with stinky offal, flour and water everywhere? You want them inside a building? Seriously?
– Proper ways of cleaning small intestines (just take it apart and cut away the white part, slice them into 5-inch pieces then squish them in flour followed by general rinsing)
– Proper way of cleaning large intestines (flour treatment and scraping)
