In the blink of an eye, it was already Lin Xi’s third day in the Mountain Fire Tribe.
Today, she had finally completed her first Animal Hide Skirt, allowing her to change out of her original clothes that were now filthy beyond recognition!
Before putting on the Animal Hide Skirt, Lin Xi first boiled several pots of water in the Fruit shell pot and thoroughly wiped herself down inside the cave before changing.
The material for this Animal Hide Skirt came from Wu Chen’s old stock of animal hides.
It was impossible to tell what animal the hide came from – it had short, earth-colored fur. The entire hide was quite large, so Lin Xi used a bone knife to cut it into two A-shaped pieces. Adding two wide shoulder straps, it became a long, flowing dress that reached her ankles.
She even added a waist belt in the middle!
There was no helping it – she didn’t know how to tailor clothes properly, so she could only make the simplest design.
However, she also made a small cape that reached just below her shoulders. She sewed two layers of Beast hide rope around the left and right sides, both front and back of the cape, making it somewhat resemble two sleeves. This way, when she put her arms through, it wouldn’t slip off and could block some of the wind coming from below.
The current season was already getting somewhat cold. If it were summer, she could have just made a short skirt and a simple camisole!
Lin Xi made two sets of such animal hide clothing so she could alternate wearing them.
As for her original clothes, she stored the top away. The two legs of the pants, however, she had cut off most of the fabric to make four pairs of underwear and four menstrual pads.
These so-called menstrual pads were actually four small rectangular pouches. One side used waterproof animal hide, while the other used the fabric from her pants. When her period came, she could fill these pouches with clean plant ash to use as sanitary pads.
There was no other choice – using proper sanitary pads in the future was already an impossible luxury for her. She felt fortunate just to have fabric as raw material!
She couldn’t even imagine what she would do when one day, the fabric from these two modern clothing items was completely used up.
After finishing the last menstrual pad, Lin Xi placed all the items made from the pants fabric into a soft fruit shell, planning to take them to the river to wash tomorrow during daytime.
Although she had only been here for three days, Wu Chen’s cave already looked quite different from when she first arrived.
First, there were many more soft fruit shells in the cave. In fact, there was now a pile of them at the cave entrance, waiting for Lin Xi to think of uses for them before bringing them inside.
Secondly, there was much more food in the cave.
The most abundant was still the Black bug fruit that Lin Xi used as her staple food.
Ever since learning that Lin Xi liked eating this fruit, Wu Chen would bring back large quantities every time he went hunting.
However, Lin Xi could only eat a small portion each time, leaving the rest to be stored away.
In just three days, they had already accumulated a small pile.
Lin Xi had learned from Wu Chen that there were still over fifty days and nights until winter – less than two months.
The Beastmen typically only began stockpiling winter food when there were about thirty days and nights remaining.
Therefore, Lin Xi decided to temporarily slow down her food stockpiling efforts.
Mainly because there were no refrigerators or cooling devices here, making it difficult to preserve food for long.
For now, while she still had time, she should focus on making warm winter clothes and bedding.
Moreover, Lin Xi wanted to try building a heated kang bed inside the cave.
If successful, they wouldn’t have to fear the cold during winter!
Thinking of this, Lin Xi turned over on her grass bed.
There were so many things to do that she hardly had time to miss the family she had suddenly been separated from, or the familiar world she might never return to.
Tonight, Wu Chen had shifted into his beast form while sleeping. He slept on the outer side, blocking the cold air that crept into the cave entrance during the night.
In the darkness, Lin Xi could only vaguely make out the massive black silhouette of the beastman. She gazed at that enormous figure for a long moment before gently closing her eyes.
The next day.
Early in the morning, Lin Xi actually woke up before Wu Chen.
However, the moment she got up, Wu Chen immediately awoke too!
Today, Wu Chen was going hunting in the eastern forest.
The purpose of the hunt was to prepare for their upcoming mate-bond ceremony.
According to tribal customs, when a pair of beastmen decided to mate-bond, they would hold a ceremony on the fifth day after moving in together. This served as a formal announcement to the rest of the tribe about their changed relationship.
Lin Xi felt this was essentially a simpler version of a wedding.
The thought of the word “wedding” still made her feel somewhat melancholy.
As someone from the 21st century, she never imagined her life’s major event would be decided this way.
All those beautiful, dreamy, romantic fantasies from before paled in comparison to the current absurdity!
Yet it felt so real!
For the morning meal, Lin Xi helped Wu Chen prepare four roasted fleece beasts.
They were roasted directly over the fire instead of on the salty stone slab. She had cut seven or eight slits in the fleece beasts’ bodies and stuffed small pieces of salty stone inside to impart a salty flavor.
She thought this method made the roasted fleece beasts more fragrant.
Then she placed about thirty black bug fruits in the embers below. Like sweet potatoes, these fruits tasted much better roasted than boiled, and even Wu Chen particularly liked them.
After the morning meal, Wu Chen prepared to head to the eastern forest.
But before that, he first took Lin Xi to a shack not far away at the foot of the hillside.
It was a conical-structured shack. The tree trunks used to build it were very tall, so the shack was quite spacious.
Lin Xi followed nervously behind Wu Chen, carrying the hide backpack she had made over the past couple of days. This was her first time actively going out to meet other beastmen in the tribe, and she felt quite tense and uneasy.
The shack was home to two rabbit tribe beastmen.
An elderly female beast named Xue Tian and a young female beast named Xue Ying.
Xue Ying appeared to be about the same age as Lin Xi but had a warm and cheerful personality.
Upon seeing Lin Xi, before Wu Chen could even introduce them, Xue Ying approached Lin Xi first. Her large red eyes rounded as she looked at Lin Xi, unable to conceal her curiosity and fondness.
However, her first words were directed at Wu Chen: “Wu Chen, is this the female beast you brought back?”
When facing female beasts other than Lin Xi, Wu Chen’s expression became much more wooden.
He nodded, then looked seriously at Xue Tian Ama: “Xue Tian Ama, I’m going hunting in the eastern forest today to prepare game for tomorrow’s mate-bond ceremony. Could you please watch over Xi Xi for me today? I’ll bring you a fleece beast as payment tonight.”
Upon hearing Wu Chen’s words, Xue Tian Ama’s deeply lined face broke into a smile. She glanced at Lin Xi, holding her gaze for a long moment, making Lin Xi unconsciously tense under the scrutiny.
Then Xue Tian withdrew her gaze and nodded to Wu Chen: “Little Wu Chen, you may go. Let Xi Xi stay with Xue Ying today, she’ll be perfectly safe.”
“Alright.”
Seeing Xue Tian’s agreement, Wu Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at Lin Xi once more, meeting her gaze as she watched him, and reached out to ruffle her hair:
“Stay here with Xue Tian Ama, don’t wander off. I probably won’t return until evening. If you get hungry, eat the leftover roasted Fleece Beast from this morning.”
Truthfully, he felt uneasy about leaving Lin Xi alone as a Female beast in the tribe.
Xi Xi was an outsider Female beast – in the tribe she had no Ama or Aba for protection, no elder brothers or sisters to help her, and only him as her sole male companion who hadn’t formally established a Mate-bond with her.
If the Beastmen approaching her were merely males seeking to court her, that would be acceptable. But he feared there might be inherently ill-natured Beastmen who would deliberately bully her!
Yet there was no alternative – today’s hunt was something he absolutely had to do.