Yogurt
Bai Wu hummed a song while making breakfast. The tune was strange yet cheerful, and the sounds he made were like playful little birds.
Chuan, who was picking vegetables nearby, asked, “Why are you so happy?”
“I feel like I’ll be able to build the house soon. Dad, aren’t we all supposed to move to caves for the winter? Maybe we won’t have to this year.”
“That won’t do. Winters are so cold; even with lots of animal hides, there will be times when we can’t keep warm.”
“We won’t rely on animal hides. We can build a heated kang (traditional Chinese bed) and burn firewood for warmth.”
“Wu,” Chuan called after him, “The year before last and the year before that, people still froze to death living in caves. This isn’t something we can try. You can build your house, but you’ll still have to move to caves for the winter.”
Bai Wu was stunned.
Chuan paused, patted his shoulder, and softened his tone. “What do you mean by saying the house will be built soon? Aren’t we still short of tiles, wood, and resin?”
“Oh, that?” Bai Wu readily changed the subject. “The tiles and wood needed for building a house are relatively easy to obtain. Once the resin problem is solved, the house will be built quickly.”
“So confident?”
“Dad, what do you think of our soap?”
“It’s very good. I can still smell your fragrance.”
“I’ll make a lot of soap today. Dad, could you help me send some to your friends?”
“What? After targeting those little sub-beastmen, you’re now targeting us?”
“The more people come to me for trade, the better. Many families build their nests and then leave the resin there untouched for decades. It’s much better to exchange it for soap.”
The resin adhesive is in no way inferior to cement.
Bai Wu had specifically investigated; even nests built hundreds of years ago still had very firmly bonded stones underneath.
Putting everything else aside, the remnants of the old house on the hilltop where he wanted to build his house took him a long time to clean up.
He even set it on fire to melt the resin before finally moving the remaining stones.
Judging from this, the resin wouldn’t spoil even after hundreds of years.
Before the father and son could finish their conversation, a gust of wind blew from behind, bringing with it the scent of strange beastmen.
Bai Wu turned around in surprise.
Several beastmen carrying resin arrived in a group, folding their enormous wings and landing on the ground.
The beastmen transformed back into their original forms, straightened their feathered skirts, picked up the resin from the ground, and greeted Chuan and Bai Wu first.
Chuan smiled and asked, “Ni, have you eaten? Have something to eat here.”
“Thank you,” Ni, the leader, smiled shyly, “We’ve eaten. We’d like to trade some soap with Wu, is that alright?”
Ni bit his lip, making a strange sound, and blushed for a moment.
Bai Wu moved some wooden stools for them to sit on. “Please wait here a moment, I’ll go get them for you. Eight bars in total, right?”
“Yes, two bars each.”
Bai Wu brought out the soaps for them to choose from.
The beastmen looked at the soaps with curiosity.
One of the beastmen asked, “Is there some cooling herb in it?”
“Yes, it repels mosquitoes after washing.”
After exchanging soaps with them, Bai Wu also gave each of them a small piece of the soap scraps.
The beastmen, having exchanged their soaps, transformed back into their beast forms, flapped their wings, and flew away.
Bai Wu breathed a sigh of relief and sat down by the fire pit.
Chuan, watching from the side, found it amusing. “Wu, your facial expressions are different when you exchange things with others.”
Bai Wu rubbed his numb face. “I’m afraid if I don’t smile, they’ll think I’m difficult to talk to and won’t come again.”
Before Bai Wu could even settle in, someone else came to exchange soap with him.
He inquired and discovered that the soaps were all exchanged through family members of young, sub-beastmen.
By mid-morning, he had exchanged all thirty bars of soap.
An returned when the sun was high in the sky.
As soon as he got back to his den, he called to Baiwu, “Wu, I did as you said and had those who wanted soap come to you to exchange it. How’s the exchange going?”
Baiwu gave him a thumbs-up. “All gone.”
“So fast?!” An’s eyes widened. “We just got back from the river!”
“They all had their family members exchange them.”
“I knew they weren’t in a hurry! They had their family members exchange them first! Those guys.”
“Don’t be so angry. I kept one for Chu to wash his clothes; you can bring it to him later. Let’s make another batch tonight, and keep some for our own use.”
“That’s more like it.”
“Look at this pile of resin!” Bai Wu showed An the pile of resin at his feet. “I reckon we’ll soon have enough to exchange for the resin I need to build my house.”
“Wow, so much?! At this rate, you’ll have your house built before autumn.”
“I hope so. I’ll see what else I can get, so I can trade it with others when I need wood.”
Bai Wu went out to find fragrant herbs during the day, and that night he made two large jars of soap.
The soap liquid was poured out and divided into 147 bars.
An helped stir the soap liquid, his hands almost breaking from stirring.
“I can’t keep stirring, my hands are so sore I won’t be able to fly tomorrow. By the way, you said you’d make me something delicious once you got the resin, where’s the delicious food?”
“I wasn’t lying to you,” Bai Wu said, lifting the jar. “It’s in the jar, you’ll see when you go look.”
“Huh, isn’t this jar for goat milk? Why did you seal it with mud?”
“You’ll see when you break the mud.”
An excitedly went to find a sharp-edged stone and deftly broke open the mud covering the jar.
Underneath the mud were dried leaves used to seal the jar.
An struggled to tear off these leaves as well.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the jar was opened, a strange, indescribable sour smell hit him, making him wrinkle his nose.
“Oh no! Wu, your food has gone bad!”
“It shouldn’t be, let me see, it’s sour.”
“It really is spoiled, it smells sour, you don’t believe me? Smell it.”
Bai Wu took the jar with some skepticism and, by the firelight, examined its contents.
Inside was a pool of tender, solid matter, topped with a layer of pale yellow milk skin. It jiggled when shaken, looking like steamed egg custard.
At least in terms of appearance, this yogurt was a success.
Bai Wu then held the yogurt to his nose and smelled it; a sour aroma wafted up.
It was the smell of yogurt!
Bai Wu’s eyes lit up, and he exclaimed happily, “It’s not spoiled! It smells just like this!”
“Hey, what’s wrong with your nose? You say it’s not spoiled even like this.”
“Go get a bowl, scoop some out and taste it, you’ll know.”
An hesitated and went to get a bowl.
Bai Wu reached out to take the bowl, but he gripped the other end tightly. “Think it through. If you get a stomachache, you’ll have to go to the priest for some very bitter medicine.”
“…”
“I remember now, when you made this yogurt, didn’t you add pickled onion juice? Is it safe to eat goat milk with that?”
“That’s exactly how it tastes. If you’re worried, I’ll taste it. If it doesn’t taste right, I’ll spit it out.”
An looked conflicted. “Give me the jar, I’ll try it first.”
“It’s not that bad.” Bai Wu took the yogurt jar from him and gently scooped a spoonful from the top.
The top layer of solidified yellow skin was quite chewy, resembling a piece of dried bean curd.
Below was a white, solidified yogurt, looking very much like old-fashioned yogurt.
Bai Wu put the yogurt in his mouth, and a rich, sour flavor spread through his mouth, making him squint.
The yogurt was incredibly smooth, yet slightly sticky, and the skin clinging to his lips—it smelled wonderful.
Beside him, An watched him squint, his face contorted with sourness, and patted him on the shoulder. “Can’t eat it? Spit it out, I won’t laugh at you.”
“It’s edible,” Bai Wu swallowed the yogurt. “It’s actually quite delicious, want to try some?”
“I find it hard to believe.”
“Could you get me some jam and honey? Mix it up and it’ll taste good.”
“Is it really that amazing?”
An brought over the jam and honey.
Bai Wu scooped the yogurt into a bowl, topped it with jam, then poured a spoonful of honey over it before handing the bowl to An. “Want to try some?”
An took the bowl with some skepticism, stirred it briefly, and scooped a spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.
Bai Wu scrutinized his expression, noticing his still-grimaced face, and reached out to take the bowl from his hand. “If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Some people genuinely don’t like this sour stuff.”
An turned away slightly. “Let me try some more!”
He smacked his lips. “A couple more bites and it seems quite delicious?”
“I knew it! How could it not be delicious?” Bai Wu laughed, ladling himself a bowl. “When we find sugar later, we can add it in to ferment; it’ll taste even better.”
An finished his bowl, looked down at the remaining half-full jar, and patted his stomach. “I’ll leave this half-jar of yogurt for Dad and Father. I’ll make some more tomorrow.”
“Okay, we’ll make it after milking tomorrow.” Bai Wu finished his yogurt, yawned, and looked at the stars. “It’s late. Let’s sleep. Tomorrow I’ll go pick some black berries to make jam.”
“I’ll go with you!”
The two brothers took soap, washed and brushed their teeth at the river below, then rolled around in their nests and fell asleep immediately.
The next day, Chuan came to wake them.
“What time is it?” Bai Wu felt his eyelids were glued to his lower eyelids, and he could barely open his eyes. “Dad, I’m so sleepy, I’ll sleep a little longer.”
“Wait a bit longer, the High Priest is waiting for you outside.”
“What?” Bai Wu jumped in surprise, sitting up abruptly and peering outside. “Dad, who did you say is here?”
Bai Wu had already seen the scene outside while asking the question.
The young beastman stood in the sunlight, his tall figure casting a long shadow. Hearing the noise, he looked up and met Bai Wu’s gaze.
Bai Wu subconsciously rubbed his eyes, stunned, not knowing what to say.
Nan Yao nodded at him.
He looked magnificent in the morning light.
Damn.
How can someone be so handsome so early in the morning?
Bai Wu suddenly lay back down, feeling a sense of utter superiority. An was startled awake by his sudden movement. Without opening his eyes, he mumbled, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. The High Priest is here. You go back to sleep, I’ll go see.”
Bai Wu tidied his hair and clothes, got up, and went to find Nan Yao. “What brings you here so early, High Priest?”
“I said a few days ago I’d take you to see the other tribes. Starting today, I’m going on a new round of inspections. I was wondering if you’d like to come with me?”
So soon?
Wait, Nan Yao saying he’d take him to other tribes’ territories to gather resources wasn’t just a polite gesture.
Bai Wu paused for a moment. “I fly rather slowly, won’t it delay your plans?”
“It’s alright. I haven’t thoroughly explored the territories of the various tribes for several years, this is a good opportunity to take my time.”
“How many days will you be gone, High Priest?”
“Six or seven days. I mainly want to take you to see the Night Howling Clan’s Thousand Lakes. There grows a special fruit there that you might find interesting.”
“A fruit? High Priest, may I ask what kind of fruit it is?”
“A yellow fruit. The shell is very difficult to peel, it’s about a third the size of a fingernail, it tastes a bit prickly in the throat, and nobody really likes to eat it. But you might have another way of eating it. If you grind it like you would green root powder, and wash out the powder inside, it should be quite good.”
Bai Wu listened to his description, his mind racing, but he still couldn’t figure out what it was.
However, starchy foods are good food, and their family’s green root powder had long since run out. This was a good opportunity to replenish it.
Bai Wu looked at Chuan and Mo, his eyes filled with longing, “Dad, Father, I want to go with the High Priest.”
Neither father objected.
Nan Yao reminded him, “Just the two of us.”
“Just the two of us…that’s fine. I’ll go pack.”
“No need to rush. We’ll leave at noon and rest in the Cui Clan’s territory at night. If you’ve made up your mind, come find me before noon.”