Chapter 52

"Well done!" Xue Tuan vigorously ruffled the Little Black Lion's fur, praising him.

No matter how many times, the Little Black Lion always basked in the Little Dumpling's praise. His paws restlessly scraped the ground. Like many cubs, the Little Black Lion felt fortunate to have a friend as adorable and clever as Xue Tuan.

As was their custom, the cubs let the Hundred Herbs Beast sample any new food first. This time, they finally hit upon something that pleased the Hundred Herbs Beast's palate. After chewing, the Hundred Herbs Beast let out two "munch-munch" sounds, then took a few quick steps forward, seemingly eager for more walnuts.

Seeing that the Hundred Herbs Beast ate without issue, the cubs swarmed over, snatching up walnut kernels and devouring them, fearing they'd miss out if they were too slow. This was a "survival" lesson they'd learned from several previous "food skirmishes."

They were lucky; in the Beast World, these walnuts could be eaten raw, without any further processing. The kernels were pale, soft in texture, with a slight initial astringency and bitterness, but the lingering sweet aftertaste ultimately redeemed their flavor.

"Let's pack up the rest and take them with us," Xue Tuan quietly suggested, observing the cubs stuffing broken walnut kernels into their mouths one after another, estimating they'd be at it for a while longer. They'd make perfect snacks for the cubs to carry in their small bags and munch on as they walked.

The sun hung directly overhead, its dappled light filtering through branches and leaves onto the ground. A rustling sound suddenly emanated from the weed-covered earth. The other cubs pricked up their ears in alarm, but only the human-shaped Xue Tuan spotted a small patch of wild soybeans on the left slope below, a joyful smile spreading across his face.

Wild soybeans, discovered in the cold season? Xue Tuan was about to call everyone to harvest some to take back: "Hurry up..."

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Juan Juan froze. Not far ahead, a faint "rustling—" sound, like something sliding, came from the low bushes.

Juan Juan and Little Star pounced simultaneously, followed by two distinct "smack, smack" sounds.

"We caught a snake!" Juan Juan's claws pinned the snake at its vital spot, while Little Star held down its tail.

Juan Juan gleefully clutched the snake, intending to present it to Xue Tuan.

"Don't bring that over here!" Xue Tuan quickly ducked behind the Little Black Lion, only his wide eyes peeking out. He could tolerate eating snake meat, but a direct offering was quite unnecessary, thank you very much.

Juan Juan disappointedly withdrew his claws: "Oh..."

But seeing that Xue Tuan seemed a bit afraid of snakes, Juan Juan quickly moved the snake farther away, planning to eat it for lunch.

Xue Tuan cautiously emerged from behind the Little Black Lion. It seemed the cubs had learned the "strike a snake at its vital spot" technique quite well; dealing with a few snakes was clearly effortless for them. However, Xue Tuan still preferred his snake meat in a hot pot.

And when thinking of hot pot, sauce was indispensable.

Historically, the five flavors—sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty—were represented by vinegar, wine, honey, ginger, and salt. Here, they had found substitutes for all but wine. Salty meat pastes were called "hài," and from "hài," soy sauce gradually evolved.

The process of making soy sauce alone required one to two months of sun-drying. Xue Tuan mused that even if they started now, they wouldn't be able to enjoy it until the next season. Moreover, besides soybeans, they were missing something crucial for the koji-making process...

"What were you going to call us to do just now?" The Little Black Lion turned to ask Xue Tuan, remembering that Xue Tuan's words had been interrupted.

Xue Tuan pointed to the patch of soybeans he had just seen: "Those. Let's take some back first."

On the unassuming slope, clusters of low-lying plants bore heavy, drooping pods. Their plump pods hung low, stems winding and intertwining across the ground like creeping vines.

"Ah, Xue Tuan found beans!"

"Haven't had these in ages!"

"Coming, coming, I'll help too."

Seeing the long-awaited food, the cubs were equally delighted. Although they usually just boiled these beans, during times of scarcity, finding any beans at all filled them with joy.

Xue Tuan initially wanted to help, but he found he couldn't cut them. He had thought his body had fully recovered, but it seemed strength wasn't something that simply reappeared. Xue Tuan straightened up and bounced a bit; his feet felt uncomfortable after squatting for too long. He observed the cubs' progress and realized they could only harvest a small portion; the adults would have to collect the rest.

Soybeans were incredibly versatile, but their appearance was rare. This small patch wouldn't last long, so they needed to be cultivated.

The same applied to rice, even rarer than soybeans. Xue Tuan also missed the taste of rice. Of course, wheat was probably the rarest; Xue Tuan had neither seen it nor heard anyone mention it.

Uncle Yun Lu needed to organize the gathering team to search diligently. Rice and flour, as staple foods, could solve most problems of hunger and cold. Grains were also a vital source of feed—they should plant them all!

The cubs marked the spot for the beastmen to collect the remaining soybeans. The small group of cubs planned to continue exploring uncharted territories.

Xue Tuan had discovered several more substitute seasonings today, which he could research upon their return.

Juan Juan's father, Yuan Luo, loved cooking. Xue Tuan had noticed this when they made sausages last time and felt that Uncle Yuan Luo could be put in charge of such tasks in the future.

"Tuan Tuan, look over there." The Little Black Lion raised a paw and nudged the Little Dumpling, pointing into the distance.

The land there was strikingly barren, as if a patch of grass had suddenly gone bald. No other plants grew around it, only a few clusters of plants stood silently in the center. These plants had densely branched stems and thin, long leaves, green with an inconspicuous gray tint.

Was that alkali sagebrush...? This plant thrived in harsh, saline-alkali soil where other vegetation couldn't survive.

Alkali was typically obtained from plant ash or salt lakes, but the alkali sagebrush before Xue Tuan could yield an even higher alkali content after burning.

Sha Hu: "Xue Tuan, should we pick those?" Sha Hu, noticing Xue Tuan staring at the plants, inquired.

Xue Tuan glanced at the cubs' packs, which were already stuffed to the brim.

Xue Tuan patted the packs on the Little Black Lion's back and shook his head: "No, let's just mark them."

"Okay, I'll go." Sha Hu went to mark the spot. The cubs packed their belongings and decided to find the adults to prepare for lunch. Later, they could hand their collected items over to the gathering team's beastmen, freeing up space in their packs.

The temporary camp was bustling. Everyone received the pottery uniformly brought by the tribe and began to light fires and cook.

Xue Tuan and the Little Black Lion hadn't even located their family's cooking pot when they heard Bing Qiu's shout.

"My Tuan! Over here!" Bing Qiu jumped up and down, waving both hands to make himself more visible.

"Coming." Xue Tuan led the Little Black Lion through the crowd and walked over.

As soon as Xue Tuan arrived, he saw his father, Feng Yan, processing several caught snakes.

Feng Yan washed the snakes with clean water, then used a bone knife to precisely cut along the belly, remove the internal organs, debone the snake meat, and wash off the blood again. The tribe had made pottery water jars for storing water, which were filled with pre-boiled water before hunting and brought along, eliminating the need to boil water on the spot.

Feng Yan neatly peeled off the snake skins and set them aside. After collecting them, they could be taken back for Rong Shan and others to use as sewing materials.

"Brother, where's the 'seasoning pack'?" The adults were busy, so Xue Tuan wanted to lay out the seasonings first. He and Bing Qiu had packed the seasonings into small bamboo containers, which were carried in a separate small bag.

Now, in their family, everyone could mix their own preferred flavors in pottery dishes.

Xue Tuan arranged the bamboo containers one by one on a stone slab, creating a makeshift "seasoning station." Each bamboo container also came with a delicate small bamboo spoon, which Xue Tuan had asked Ye Cong to make. In Ye Cong's opinion, such small things were useless, but he made them because Xue Tuan wanted them.

Feng Yan processed several snakes in one go, then took some snake meat and exchanged it with neighbors for a bit of beef, boar meat, and vegetable leaves.

Xue Tuan had once suspected there might be no sheep-like beasts in the Beast World, but fortunately, he had overheard the name "Horned Sheep Beast" during adult conversations. It was said to be very rare, so Xue Tuan hadn't seen anyone eating it yet.

Everyone exchanged food like this to save effort and time. However, Feng Yan would slice the exchanged meat thinner to make it easier for his cub to eat.

The charcoal fire blazed, and the pottery pot emitted a gentle "gurgling" sound. The boiling water's surface was dotted with freshly added chunks of animal fat, and scallions and ginger had already been added to simmer.

The snake meat was cut into several segments, waiting to be added to the pot along with other meats. Because Feng Yan had sliced the meat quite thin, their family's pot gave a hot pot-like experience when eating.

The soup in the pot was fragrant and steaming.

Feng Yan: "Snake meat is tender; eat it while it's hot." Several pieces of snake meat were placed into Xue Tuan's small bowl.

The snake meat was tender and firm with almost no fat. After dipping it in the sauce Xue Tuan had prepared himself, it tasted surprisingly good.

"Chief, this is for your son, Xue Tuan."

Hearing his name, Xue Tuan looked up.

He saw Uncle Chen Yue carefully holding a pottery bowl in both hands—inside was actually rice!

"I only found this little bit. Half went to my own child, and the other half, I wanted to give to Xue Tuan." As Chen Yue spoke, he pursed his lips a bit shyly.

The tribe was currently gathering food for planting, so aside from keeping a little for seeds, he had used the pottery steamer to steam this small portion of rice. In the past, when they found rice, they would cook it in a stone pot. Now, with this pottery steamer, they could steam many things to eat. Unexpectedly, the steamed rice tasted especially good.

"Thank you, Uncle." Xue Tuan held out both hands and accepted the hard-to-come-by bowl of rice. Even though there were still some bits of unhulled grains mixed in, Xue Tuan smiled, his eyes full of contentment.

"You're welcome." Seeing the little cub so happy, Chen Yue also smiled and said goodbye. Juan Juan, who had been hiding behind his father Chen Yue, lifted a smiling face and waved at Xue Tuan.

This small amount of rice was only enough for a few bites, but Xue Tuan still shared it spoonful by spoonful with Bing Qiu and the Little Black Lion. He had originally wanted to give a spoonful to his father as well, but was refused.

"Eat it quickly with your meat," Feng Yan said, continuing to put meat into his cub’s bowl.

"Mm!" Xue Tuan nodded enthusiastically. In the future, they would surely have more rice to eat!

The beastmen now also understood that meat shouldn’t be cooked too long, lest it become tough and lose its proper texture. So Xue Tuan’s small bowl was soon piled high with meat his family had given him.

At first, whoever gave Xue Tuan meat, he would eat it. But before long, Xue Tuan was full. Even though his appetite had recently grown by leaps and bounds, he still couldn’t eat that much.

Xue Tuan had already eaten most of his food, and seeing that his father was still adding meat to his bowl, it was about to overflow. Xue Tuan had a clever idea: while his father was chatting with the uncle next to them, he sneakily moved the meat from his own bowl to the Little Black Lion’s.

The Little Black Lion had his own small pottery bowl for eating. He had been lying quietly beside Xue Tuan, enjoying the meat given to him by the arctic fox’s family.

While he was eating intently, pieces of meat would occasionally "drop" into his bowl from above...

The Little Black Lion was confused, so he simply lifted his head to look at Xue Tuan. He saw Xue Tuan making eye signals at him and pointing at his small bowl with his little chopsticks.

Did that mean he wanted him to help him finish it?

The Little Black Lion confirmed that Xue Tuan was already full and was doing this intentionally, so he didn’t say anything more and ate contentedly.

Perhaps because the first time he tasted the pepper powder given by Xue Tuan left a deep impression, the Little Black Lion’s seasoning now included both pepper powder and chili flakes—it seemed he had fallen in love with bold-flavored seasonings.

Seeing the Little Black Lion eating so heartily and already quite accustomed to their family’s eating habits, Xue Tuan contentedly ate the last bit of food in his own bowl with a big bite.

"Brothers on patrol said the ice on the ice river seems to be getting thinner..."

Huh? Xue Tuan turned to listen to the adults’ conversation.

Feng Yan said, "The cold season should be ending soon..."

Xue Tuan listened for a while and learned that Uncle Yun Lu and Chen Yue had already marked out the land they planned to use for planting. For now, this land was at the edge of the tribe, near the wall.

For a small tribe, the beastmen’s wall wasn’t very big, and most of it was already built. But if they were to continue planting in the future, they would definitely need to expand the tribe’s living territory—they couldn’t just leave their planting fields exposed like the wilderness, right? So everyone discussed building an outer wall.

Since this wall would cover a larger area, the stones from the back mountain clearly wouldn’t be enough. So the beastmen had their eyes on the quarry on the other side of the ice river.

The resources on the other side of the ice river hadn't been developed yet. Once the river thawed, crossing to the other side would be challenging.

A beastman falling into the river might not drown—some were quite good swimmers—but how would they move the stones?

The conversation didn’t continue on that topic. Adults usually ate quickly in the wild; it was only when there were cubs around that they considered slowing down for the little ones.

The arctic fox family’s entire pot of soup had been finished. Aside from the pottery and other items they brought themselves, the rest were taken care of by the beastmen in charge of logistics.

"Don’t run too far, and don’t leave the area patrolled by the beastmen, understand?" Feng Yan reminded them every time he left the cubs.

The cubs had heard this reminder countless times and could almost recite it, but no one dared to brush it off.

"Understood!" the cubs shouted in unison. Not only did they understand, they also kept an eye on each other. With Xue Tuan as the center, any cub who wandered too far would be called back by the others. They always made sure that however many went out, that many returned.

After the meal, Bing Qiu and Hui Hui followed Xue Tuan, while Feng Yan and Chen Yue, who had other matters to attend to, returned to the tribe first.

Xue Tuan’s stomach was stuffed after lunch. Holding onto his older brother, the Little White Fox, with one hand, he walked slowly to aid digestion.

The Little Black Lion led the way ahead. Now he was a bit more selective—only when he encountered something unfamiliar would he tell Xue Tuan; for common things, he let the other cubs gather them.

As he walked, Xue Tuan was still thinking about the adults’ conversation at noon. The ice river thawing meant they needed to start digging irrigation channels soon, to divert water from the river for planting. They’d probably need to build a waterwheel too... With so many skilled people in Elder Grandpa’s workshop, it shouldn’t be a problem to make one.

The cubs moved lightly through the forest, but the further they went, the denser the trees became. Bing Qiu was getting hesitant about going deeper.

"Shall we change direction?" the Little White Fox asked Xue Tuan beside him.

Before Xue Tuan could reply, the Little Black Lion leading the way stopped in his tracks, claws gripping the ground, staring intently into the depths of the forest.

Xue Tuan hadn’t seen anything yet when he heard a few urgent animal calls—"Moo—moo!"—from afar.

"Ah—"

Soon after, a panicked cry followed.

From the sound, it seemed to be a youth, but the sub-adults in the tribe didn’t usually move around with their group of cubs.

All the cubs looked at each other: Could there be other beastmen?

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Author’s note: I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, and some stomach issues too, so updates are a bit slow. Sorry QAQ