After Bai Nu and Wu left, Lin Xi and Wu Chen began preparing the evening meal.
Wu Chen didn’t need to go hunting today because the prey, wild fruits, and vegetables brought by other Beastmen outside the cave were enough to feed him and Lin Xi for several days.
Looking at the prey, Lin Xi decided she would process some of it tomorrow to see if she could make food that could be preserved for a long time.
Otherwise, if they couldn’t eat it all, it would spoil.
This would also be a good opportunity to test whether food preservation through curing would work in preparation for the upcoming winter storage. If successful, she could start stockpiling food right away!
Tonight’s meal was a Yellow-haired Pig.
This type of pig resembled modern wild boars, but its face was somewhere between a wild boar and a domestic pig—not as rugged as a wild boar, yet wilder than a domestic pig.
Its body was covered in short yellow fur.
This was currently Lin Xi’s favorite animal hide besides four-horned beast skin, because Yellow-haired Pig skin was thin and its fur was soft, making it very suitable for clothing. Lin Xi had already stored three or four complete Yellow-haired Pig skins for future clothing.
The prepared Yellow-haired Pig was roasted.
Lin Xi made it sweet and spicy, though the spiciness from the Rolling Fruit Grass was barely noticeable to her now.
Besides the Yellow-haired Pig, Lin Xi also washed some Sweetleaf Grass and yellow multi-seed fruits, and threw a few Black Bug Fruits and Purple Skin Fruits near the fire to roast.
The aroma of food soon filled the air.
When building the Heated Kang Bed today, Lin Xi didn’t directly connect a stove to the other end. She didn’t like having the cooking area right next to the sleeping area.
While brushing melted brown bear oil onto the roasted pork with leaves, she contemplated building another stove inside the cave.
As for the pot, she could just use soft fruit shells. If they got burned, she could easily replace them without feeling sorry about it!
After finishing the evening meal with Wu Chen, Wu Chen cleaned up the traces of the outdoor fire and the leftover pig bones.
Lin Xi scooped some boiled water from the fire, mixed it with cool water, brought it back into the cave, and began her daily routine of wiping her body.
She was very tired today.
Although the light in the cave was dim, the fire in the Heated Kang Bed at the back was still burning, providing more light than usual.
After finishing her wipe-down, Wu Chen soon returned. As soon as he entered the cave, he saw Lin Xi already lying motionless on the grass bed.
Lin Xi hadn’t been in a hurry to remove the original grass bed from the cave.
Since the Heated Kang Bed couldn’t be used for sleeping yet, removing the grass bed would mean she’d have to sleep on the ground with Wu Chen tonight!
His tail swishing behind him, Wu Chen walked to one side of the grass bed, crouched down, and looked at Lin Xi.
Sensing movement, Lin Xi turned her head to look.
“Xi Xi, should we keep the Heated Kang Bed burning?” Wu Chen asked softly.
Lin Xi shook her head. She had already checked—the mud slurry had mostly dried from the firing. After letting it air overnight, they could test it with a normal firing tomorrow morning.
“No need, we don’t have to worry about it today,” Lin Xi said, yawning and looking at Wu Chen with teary eyes.
Hearing this, Wu Chen nodded and lay down beside Lin Xi.
When his strong arm touched the soft, smooth shoulder of the small Female Beast, Wu Chen’s body stiffened slightly. Some deeply ingrained images automatically surfaced in his mind.
He tilted his head to look at Lin Xi, who had already closed her eyes, silently clenched his jaw, waited a moment, then turned on his side and lifted his arm to pull the sleeping female beast into his embrace.
In the darkness, sporadic sparks still crackled with popping sounds.
Beneath the massive animal skin blanket, the girl’s nearly 1.7-meter-tall frame appeared exceptionally petite next to the Beastman’s towering physique.
Around her delicate and slender ankles, a black, fluffy tail was coiled, its tip occasionally lifting and swaying.
Early the next morning.
Lin Xi lay on the grass bed, staring wide-eyed at the high cave ceiling, unwilling to get up.
But reason told her it was time—there was much to do, and Bai Nu and Wu might arrive at any moment.
After lingering a while longer, she slowly pushed herself up from the grass bed.
And then she realized that every movement made her grimace in pain.
Yesterday, while building the heated kang bed, she had carried stone bricks too many times. Now, after a night’s rest, her delicate muscles had caught up, protesting fiercely with intense soreness.
So much so that during breakfast, Lin Xi’s arms trembled uncontrollably!
Finally, Wu Chen couldn’t stand to watch any longer and, for the first time disregarding Lin Xi’s wishes, fed her until she finished the meal.
Then he carried her back to the grass bed, telling her to continue resting.
Lin Xi didn’t want to push herself either, but as Wu Chen set her down and turned to leave, she grabbed his hand: “Wu Chen, when Chief Bai Nu and Wu come, please come in and wake me ahead of time.”
Only after Wu Chen agreed did Lin Xi lie back down and let out a sigh.
Having slept early the previous night, she wasn’t tired now.
So, lying there with nothing to do, Lin Xi began pondering her plans to renovate the cave.
Wu Chen’s cave was already quite spacious. Aside from the heated kang bed at the far right end for sleeping, the rest of the area had no clearly defined purpose.
Lin Xi was a bit obsessive-compulsive—she preferred to organize her living space by function as much as possible.
And, being a girl, she always wanted to decorate her living quarters to look a little prettier.
So, Lin Xi wanted to divide the cave’s space, ideally with a partition to screen off the sleeping area.
Otherwise, having the bed right out in the open, visible as soon as one entered, made her feel uncomfortably exposed, as if she were being put on display naked!
Moreover, although the cave’s heating issue was now resolved, lighting remained a problem.
The cave was too dark. Apart from the area near the entrance where light streamed in, the deeper parts were almost pitch black unless a fire was lit.
But using torches for lighting inside the cave meant dealing with slow-dissipating smoke, which wasn’t good to breathe in over time.
Lin Xi thought about carving a few windows into the cave walls. They wouldn’t need to be large—just enough to let in light for visibility when opened.
Additionally, she needed to build a cooking stove. She had already planned to place it directly opposite the heated kang bed, in the innermost corner to the left of the cave entrance, and eventually partition it off as a kitchen.
With these thoughts, Lin Xi grew restless lying on the grass bed.
She could already envision the cave transformed into one of those cozy, forest cave homes she’d seen in short videos.
And right now, she hadn’t even finished many of the follow-up tasks for building the heated kang bed.
Winter is coming, how can there be so much time to just lie here and rest?
With that thought, Lin Xi got up from the grass bed. Never mind the rest, at the very least, she had to deal with the food she received yesterday.
Then, as quickly as possible, she needed to finish renovating the cave so she could start stockpiling winter supplies!