Chapter 85

Chapter 85

While waiting for the spring pancakes, they could also prepare the "spring assortment." Little Snow Fox thought for a moment and said to Round Radish, "By the way, Uncle Round Radish, let's bring over some of the filling ingredients to use."

"Sure." They had already prepared plenty of ingredients for the fillings, which saved a lot of time.

"Cucumbers, carrots, and lettuce can be shredded," Little Snow Fox said, glancing at the ingredients.

So Round Radish brought over the ingredients that hadn't been chopped into fillings yet and shredded them as instructed by Little Snow Fox.

Little Snow Fox added, "Chong Yan, go pick a few types of meat, cook them through, and then cut them into thin strips." Just saying "cook them" meant they could be prepared in any way—fried, stir-fried, roasted, or deep-fried—whichever method he preferred.

The "spring assortment" would definitely contain only cooked foods so that they could be rolled up and eaten directly.

After giving a few instructions, Little Snow Fox said, "Eating a spring assortment in spring is all about the sense of ceremony." Just as he was about to burrow into the pile of fuzzy cubs, he remembered something and said to Chong Yan, "Chong Yan, don’t forget to prepare the seasoning tray."

"Got it." Chong Yan had watched Ice Hill prepare those seasonings stored in bamboo containers back when he was still in his animal form, so he knew how to get them ready.

The little cubs had already finished kneading the dough. When they saw Little Snow Fox, they immediately left the dough behind and went to play with him.

"Let's go sneak some of the snacks Uncle Guang Sha brought back!" Sha Hu couldn't squeeze into the center of the "fuzzy mat" and was a bit far from Snowball, but he still couldn't resist suggesting a mischievous plan.

"I heard! There are cherries and peaches!" the red fox cub immediately chimed in.

Little Snow Fox, lying contentedly, grew tempted at the mention of cherries. "Do you know where they're kept?"

"Yes!" the cubs answered in unison.

Surprisingly, the cubs were quite clever about such matters. To avoid drawing too much attention, they even knew to go in small groups.

Little Snow Fox followed behind Sha Hu and the others, winding through the tunnels until they reached a food storage area. Supplies that hadn't been distributed yet were usually kept in a corner of the central cave.

"Here it is!" Sha Hu stopped in front of a bamboo basket filled with dark red cherries.

Cherries were once known as the "first fruit of early spring," so they must be delicious.

The cubs transformed into their human forms and began quietly moving the fruits. They didn't dare take too many, just a few to taste.

"Don't forget to get some for Snowball," Sha Hu mumbled through a full mouth.

"Got it, got it. Unlike you, I'm not just thinking about myself." Little Mouse glanced disdainfully at Sha Hu, who had already sneaked a cherry and had a red mark by his mouth.

"What are you all doing here?"

Hearing an adult's voice, Little Mouse quickly picked up Little Snow Fox and ran, while Sha Hu, moving slower, was caught red-handed.

Sha Hu clasped his hands behind his back, turned around, and said loudly, "I wasn't doing anything!"

The person who arrived was Lele's father, Yuan Yi. Looking at the mark on Sha Hu's mouth, he found Sha Hu's indignant tone utterly unconvincing.

Yuan Yi: "We were going to distribute these today anyway. Why couldn't you little ones wait?"

All his friends had run off, leaving Sha Hu to take the blame alone. He stood there obediently while Lele's father scolded him for a long time.

"Hahaha." Once they were far enough away, Little Snow Fox finally couldn't hold back his laughter. Wherever Sha Hu was, there was always fun to be had.

Little Mouse: "Hehe, good thing we ran fast."

Lele: "Time to wash the cherries!" The successfully escaped cubs took their fruits to wash them clean and began eating.

Having some sweet little fruits before a meal to fill their stomachs—what joy!

"Tuantuan."

It was Chong Yan coming to find the cub.

Little Mouse: "How did he get here so fast?"

"Snowball hasn't been gone for long..." the red fox cub grumbled.

Lele didn't quite understand, but he had indeed noticed that Chong Yan always seemed to "hog" Little Snow Fox.

As soon as Chong Yan arrived, he picked up Little Snow Fox from the fuzzy pile and carried him back. Little Snow Fox lay on his shoulder, waving his paw goodbye to his fuzzy friends.

"Did you finish preparing the meat already?" Little Snow Fox asked, turning to Chong Yan. Although meat cooked quickly, Chong Yan's speed was impressive.

Chong Yan: "It's done. Let's go taste it."

When Little Snow Fox returned, he saw the table filled with small dishes of various accompaniments.

The meats were either sliced evenly or cut into strips; the colorful vegetables were mostly shredded. On the other side were several small bamboo containers, which undoubtedly held the seasonings.

Everything was neat, orderly, and pleasing to the eye. They could mix and match as they liked, making it a special "buffet-style" meal in the beast world.

"You've worked hard!" With everything prepared so thoroughly, entrusting the task to Uncle Round Radish and Chong Yan was indeed reassuring.

That evening, the beastmen were once again pleasantly surprised by the impressive spread on the table.

Whether it was the meat slices or the colorful side dishes, everything looked appetizing. Plus, with the seasoning area nearby, they could mix their own dipping sauces. There were even various types of meat pastes available for the Brown-Eared Panther Folk to choose from.

Everyone washed their hands and began assembling their spring pancakes.

Among them, Little Ear moved the fastest. Although Little Ear's legs weren't as agile, his hands were quick, accompanied by his muttered chanting: "Some roasted meat, what's this vegetable? Doesn't matter, I'll take some too..."

While mumbling, he wrapped up a spring pancake and eagerly stuffed it into his mouth.

"You didn't even dip it in sauce!" Big Ear shook his head helplessly beside him.

"It's good even without sauce!" The ingredients had been lightly salted during cooking. The crispy pancake wrapped around fresh side dishes allowed him to taste many flavors at once, and Little Ear particularly loved eating it this way!

At another table, the Brown-Eared Panther Folk began tasting the wheat-based foods they had never seen before.

"Is... is this edible?" Blue stared at a plate of plump, round buns on the table and asked.

"Of course it's edible." Bank Soil distributed one to each of the Brown-Eared Panther Folk at the table. This time, the buns were made smaller so they didn't need to be split.

The buns were still steaming. Since they hadn't learned to use chopsticks yet, Blue tried picking one up with a fork and took a bite.

The soft texture and a unique aroma took him by surprise. "Did this really come from our wheat?" Blue's confusion reached its peak—where was any sign of wheat in these buns?

"Haha, absolutely. So, how are they? Not bad, right?" Bank Soil was quite proud. These were made from the tribe's special flour!

"Try pairing it with this." Bank Soil placed a small dish of preserved vegetables in front of Blue.

All the Brown-Eared Panther Folk copied Bank Soil's method and tasted the buns, dumplings, and noodles in broth.

One of the Brown-Eared Panther Folk mumbled between mouthfuls, "I... I really want to stay in your tribe."

"You're silly, our tribe is your tribe now!" Antu said with an amused laugh.

...

The dining table of the snow fox family was also packed with people today.

Rongshan was busy rolling spring pancakes for his little cub—this new dish was quite interesting.

"Uncle, let me do it," Zhongyan said once again, wanting to help Little Snowball roll his pancake.

Rongshan declined again, "No need, you two eat yours." He knew his child's tastes well and had already rolled several spring pancakes with different fillings into a clay bowl, so the little snow fox could eat to his heart's content.

"Dad, that's enough for me," the little snow fox said quickly, seeing the bowl piling up like a small hill.

"Alright, tell me if you need more," Rongshan said before rolling one for himself to try.

"This way of eating is really good," Rongshan remarked, licking sauce from his fingers before rolling one for Fengyan too.

"Delicious, delicious," Bingqiu mumbled with his cheeks stuffed. Even though they were all familiar ingredients, just changing the way they were prepared made them taste amazing again!

Guangsha added, "When Lele told me about it today, I wondered how good it could be..." But now he couldn’t stop eating either. He admitted his earlier ignorance and apologized.

Fengyan had returned with Guangsha today, so Guangsha’s family joined Little Snowball and the others for the meal.

Lele exclaimed, "I told you Little Snowball’s 'spring pancakes' are delicious, didn’t I?" He remembered his father’s skeptical look earlier—now he had nothing to say.

"Dad, I want another one!" Lele called out to Yuanyi.

Yuanyi passed him a spring pancake from nearby, and Lele happily started rolling a new one.

"The little priest always has clever ideas," Yuanyi said with a smile, glancing at the little snow fox. The little priest constantly came up with new ideas, and each time, everyone loved them.

The Yunlu family, meanwhile, seemed unusually quiet. The little snow fox glanced over and noticed that Uncle Yunlu and his family were too busy eating to chat.

It was yet another delicious dinner. The Beastmen couldn’t imagine what they would do if such meals ever stopped.

Once everyone had mostly finished eating, Fengyan and Guangsha resumed their earlier unfinished discussion.

Fengyan asked, "So tomorrow, you’ll lead a team over?"

Guangsha replied, "Yes, that’s what I had in mind."

"I taught them the mnemonic chant long ago. I hope we achieve something this time," Yunlu interjected.

"Last few times, we didn’t go deep enough. Staying longer might help us find something," Guangsha added.

Rongshan remarked, "That large bamboo raft looks quite sturdy. It should allow us to bring back a good amount of stones in one trip, right?"

"Indeed, after the elders made improvements, it’s much better than the small rafts," Guangsha responded. He had participated in the test runs of the small rafts and knew them best.

Back in the old tribe, Guangsha had often led Beastmen to quarry stones and bring them back for the elders to craft into various stone tools.

So when the Mountain-River Tribe discovered a quarry across the river, Shihu and Yunlu immediately thought of entrusting the task to Guangsha.

As an experienced Beastman, Fengyan and Rongshan trusted Guangsha with the stone quarrying.

Hearing that the adults were going to the quarry tomorrow, the little snow fox asked shyly, "Father, Dad, can I come along?"

"You want to go too, little cub?" Rongshan patted the little snow fox’s furry head.

The little snow fox nodded, "Yes!"

"Then I want to go too!" Bingqiu immediately added.

"I’m going as well," Zhongyan stated matter-of-factly.

Bingqiu shot a sidelong glance at Zhongyan and mumbled, "Copycat."

Whether or not Zhongyan heard Bingqiu’s grumbling, he didn’t even look his way. If Little Snowball was going into the wilderness, he’d follow to protect him.

Fengyan didn’t hesitate for long before saying, "Old rules apply—if you don’t look after Little Snowball, there won’t be a next time."

"Got it!"