After arranging the army expansion mission, Zhu Jue had nothing to do.
The conservative case is still under investigation and there has been no progress yet. Several other cases, such as a few male ants taking advantage of their authority to steal honeydew, some officials derelict in their duties, and a group of leaf-cutting ants being dissatisfied with the great God Envoy King, were also handed over to the corresponding officials for handling.
Zhu Jue was not directly involved in these trivial tasks, which gave him a rare period of rest in the main nest to think and reflect. This is a rare leisure time. It seems that since he came to this world, winter is the only time that belongs to Zhu Jue. During the other times, Zhu Jue belongs to the Ant Alliance.
Not only Zhu Jue, but also most ants have a sharp reduction in activity in winter. They stay in the nest and take a nap or do nothing, leaving only when eating and excreting. Worker ants have no social needs and can go nowhere except for those ants who continue to work in blast furnaces and workshops. Only the nobles would socialize, visiting their palaces or apartments in the winter and enjoying the rationed food.
Zhu Jue doesn't go out much either, and he's not as keen on socializing to fill his time when bored like other nobles. Except for occasionally coming outdoors to breathe the cool and refreshing air when the weather is good, Zhu Jue stays in his bedroom most of the time. The other ants have no idea what he is doing or thinking.
After a new cold wave arrived and he was unable to go out into the wild for almost half a month, Zhu Jue's winter routine became extremely regular.
Every day around the time of sunrise outside, the biological clock will make Zhu Jue wake up automatically. There are no ants waiting in his dormitory, but as soon as they hear the sound of Zhu Jue getting up, the big-headed ant workers and attendants waiting outside start to get busy.
Zhu Jue's habit of cleaning his body in the morning must be rooted in human beings' morning routine of washing, but ants definitely don't have this habit. Even if they do, some nobles are imitating the God Envoy King. What they do is more like Perform a ritual.
Zhu Jue, however, enjoyed the refreshing feeling brought by washing. The attendants were busy separately. Some wiped Zhu Jue's head with soft plant fiber balls dipped in hot water, and some used a slightly harder insect whisker brush to clean his tough and shiny jaws. Sometimes Zhu Jue would ask to wipe his whole body. It's equivalent to taking a morning bath.
The hot water for washing comes from the special supply of the combustion chamber. A huge clay pot is placed next to the sacred fire. It is at a suitable distance from the heat source. The water temperature is always maintained at 60 or 70 degrees. It is then placed in a small clay pot with an outer layer of fiber for insulation. , it was still a comfortable temperature of fifty or sixty degrees when it was delivered to the palace of the Divine Envoy King.
After washing, it was breakfast time. Zhu Jue had a simple meal in the morning, a boiled mealworm egg, a roasted setaria seed or a flattened and roasted setaria seed cake, and a small plate of sliced bacon or barbecue. (Sometimes it’s soft-tasting mealworm meat, sometimes it’s firm and chewy locust leg meat), a cup of honeydew juice mixed drink or a cup of royal jelly honey mixed drink.
If there is an occasional cup of protein-rich insect secretion "**" in spring, it comes from the secretion of cockroaches or giant ant spiders feeding their larvae. Since the ant workers cannot be reared and rely entirely on capture, it is very rare. In winter this drink is no longer available and is sometimes replaced by the juice of pressed legumes.
This breakfast is relatively nutritious, similar to the breakfast that humans eat boiled eggs, bread, ham slices, milk, and soy milk. This kind of breakfast quickly became popular under the name of "The King of Gods" and became the standard breakfast for many nobles in the Ant Alliance.
After breakfast it was time for exercise. Zhu Jue did not do any strenuous exercise. He usually walked around the lair and inspected the area. His strength comes from a natural gift from the gods, and training does not have much effect.
As it approached noon, Zhu Jue began to work and read, and briefly dealt with some matters that required his decision-making. He had to patiently receive some visiting ant nobles with higher status in the small conference room of the palace, and the day's work was over. .
Zhu Jue will then read some information packets, which are stored in the brains of professional library ants. One information packet will be stored by multiple library ants, and from time to time, the old library ants will repeatedly instill it into the new ants. Strengthen memory to avoid forgetting or misremembering.
Zhu Jue also taught these library ants to learn Arabic numerals and some simple text symbols to assist memory. At the same time, the library ants also used the characteristics of white pebbles to temporarily store part of the information in some processed pebble sheet media to facilitate transmission. , which is similar to the function of a CD.
Zhu Jue recently likes to read intelligence information about the Destroyer, from the information about the Destroyer's invasion that has been preserved in his homeland to the latest collected information, trying to analyze the mysterious origin of the Destroyer and the legend about the Destroyer in the ant civilization. The truth behind the annihilation of this little devil ant clan. Of course, almost nothing was found, just a lot of speculation!
At noon, Zhu Jue would have a simple meal, usually grass seed cakes or grass seed puree, plus barbecue and pickles.
Then there was free time in the afternoon. Zhu Jue went out or met guests at first, but gradually he became bored, so he took a nap in the afternoon to replenish his energy. Compared with ordinary ants, Zhu Jue uses his brain much more frequently. His human-based thinking runs on the hardware of the ant brain, which puts a heavy burden on the brain. Zhu Jue has felt that his way of thinking has become simpler and more direct over the years, closer to that of an ant. To enable the brain to work more complexly and efficiently, rest is essential. In addition to long hours on the water at night, it is also good to take a nap in the afternoon. Even in the military camp, Zhu Jue would try his best to find time to sleep.
If he wakes up early in the afternoon or does not take a nap, Zhu Jue will still handle official duties and read until dinner time.
Dinner is very rich, sometimes with more than a dozen dishes. In this depressing winter day, only ants have such a large reserve. Other insects either still spend the winter in the form of eggs, or their numbers will be greatly reduced in the future. Without activities and food, there are no conditions for enjoyment.
The dinner dishes include dried vegetables, pickles, fungi, meats, soups and staple foods. They are prepared in various ways, either raw or cooked, boiled or grilled. It requires 24 chefs in the dedicated kitchen of the Palace of the Divine Messenger. Cooking dinner there. Since Zhu Jue doesn't spend much time in the palace now, these chefs will also serve in the homes of other high-ranking nobles on weekdays. They are very popular technical ants.
Zhu Jue had no fixed content in the evening, either working, meeting guests, or exercising. Then two or three hours after the sun set, Zhu Jue slept on the soft ant silk bed.
