Lu Xuan smiled and said: “We passed through here today and are planning to settle somewhere nearby. If you live close by, and if you have any concerns about your mate’s leg wound, you can come find us. But we haven’t decided exactly where we’ll be staying yet, so that’s why I asked where you live.”
Xing Chi’s expression softened: “I live just down the slope. I came here because I overheard your people talking.”
So that was it. Lu Xuan understood.
“Then it looks like we’re going to be neighbors.”
Xing Chi didn’t understand: “Neighbors?”
Lu Xuan tilted his head, showing his small canine teeth: “Living close by, and with only our two groups here, how is that not neighbors?”
Xing Chi, while still observing his mate, said gratefully: “You treated Xue Rong’s wound. As thanks, I can tell you where to find salt.”
“But there are beastmen guarding that place. Whether you want to trade or take it by force, that depends on your own abilities.”
He picked up his mate and looked at Tian Xuan’s leg.
“Your leg seems inconvenient. That’s fine. Your companions can go.”
Tian Xuan’s expression darkened. Back then, it was precisely because his broken leg couldn’t be treated that he had been wandering in the Wasteland Forest, hoping to die.
“Don’t get agitated.”
Xing Chi looked at him calmly: “The fact that you’re all here means you couldn’t stay near the Wasteland Forest any longer. Everyone is just trying to survive in seclusion. It’s best if we leave each other alone. So, if you do take the salt lake by force, don’t be as foolish as those other idiots.”
Lu Xuan couldn’t listen any longer: “It would be better for us to trade goods.”
How could their small group seize anything? To fight, at least they needed to be physically healthy.
Lu Xuan softened his tone: “We don’t want to seize any salt lake. We came here because the area near the Wasteland Forest was too chaotic and unsuitable for cubs to grow up in.”
Xing Chi lifted his gaze, eyes puzzled: “Cubs?”
Lu Xuan was surprised: “You didn’t see them?”
They were right behind him, not far away. That shouldn’t have been possible.
Only then did Xing Chi notice Xiong Yue and the five cubs, two of which were clearly newborns.
His expression softened: “All my attention was on my mate. I didn’t notice my surroundings.”
“Welcome to settle here. Xue Rong will surely be happy when he wakes up. I won’t disturb you any longer.”
Watching Xing Chi’s retreating figure, Lu Xuan sighed: “He truly loves his mate.”
Tian Xuan snorted coldly: “Isn’t that how it should be?”
When the sun slanted westward, Xiong Xuan returned. They had found a place.
The group packed up their things and arrived there before dark.
Xiong Xuan’s stern face softened considerably: “We’ve already set up the hide shelters. Xiong Qi and Xiong Yan are there keeping watch and making improvements.”
With limited animal hides, the three shelters were very small. Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yuan’s family of four shared one. Xiong Qi, Xiong Yan, and Tian Xuan shared another. Lu Xuan, Xiong Yue, and the three cubs stayed in the third.
It was too late in the day. After a simple tidying up, they began making dinner.
The main dishes were stir-fried pork belly with bracken, and ribs stewed with chestnuts, large portions enough to fill everyone up.
Lu Xuan ate a big bowl of chestnuts and bracken, barely touching the meat.
The chestnuts were soft and powdery in his mouth. This long-missed texture nearly brought tears to Lu Xuan’s eyes.
After the night passed, a light rain began to fall. Everything was damp. They lit a fire to keep the hide shelters from getting too humid.
Lu Xuan squatted at the entrance of his shelter, resting his chin on both hands.
“If there’s a heavy rain or strong wind, these hide shelters probably won’t hold up, will they?”
The three shelters were clustered together, so everyone could hear him.
Tian Xuan appeared at the entrance of his own shelter and replied: “Once the rain stops, we’ll hunt more and collect more hides.”
Lu Xuan looked at him: “Will that be enough to get through the cold period?”
Tian Xuan: “If we have enough hides, yes.”
Lu Xuan gazed at the trees on the distant slope and asked in confusion: “Why don’t we build houses?”
The original owner’s tribe had cave dwellings, but the chief and the priest lived in stone houses, even if they were very small. Given the bear tribe’s capabilities, they shouldn’t be unaware of house-building.
Tian Xuan was silent for a moment, then replied: “We lack the conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“The conditions for building houses,” Xiong Yue said, popping his head out from behind Lu Xuan. “Building houses requires a lot of stones and a lot of manpower. We don’t have either.”
Lu Xuan pointed to the vast expanse of trees and said: “Then why not build wooden houses?”
Using locally available materials, how convenient.
Xiong Yue scratched his head: “But wooden houses aren’t warm in winter. Wood gets eaten by insects and collapses easily.”
“In such cold weather, wouldn’t the insects freeze to death?”
“Uh…”
The two sub-beastmen stared at each other with wide eyes. The beastmen completely ignored this meaningless topic. They were all thinking about hunting once the rain stopped, each rainfall would bring lower temperatures.
Fortunately, the light rain stopped by noon, and the sun showed a bit of its shadow. Lu Xuan opened up the hide shelters for ventilation, hoping the faint sunlight would dry out the moisture.
Tian Xuan saw this and opened his shelter too. Xiong Xuan glanced at it and began doing the same.
The ground was muddy, every step left a footprint. In no time, the three cubs had turned into mud-covered cats.
Lu Xuan took a deep breath, trying hard to turn a blind eye. Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan found a pile of small broken stones and built a half-meter-high platform.
As for the fish that had been salted yesterday with the intention of drying into dried fish, given this weather, they might as well just cook and eat them all.
Tian Xuan took the wild pheasant he had caught yesterday and went aside to gut and pluck it. Lu Xuan’s eyes lit up, and three big characters flashed through his mind: Beggar’s Chicken.
He stood behind Tian Xuan, bending over, and asked: “How are you planning to cook the chicken?”
Tian Xuan glanced up at him: “Roast it.”
Lu Xuan’s eyes narrowed into a smile: “Let me make it for you in a new way.”
Thinking of how Lu Xuan’s different cooking methods had made food taste better, Tian Xuan nodded: “I’ll bring it to you once it’s clean.”
This sub-beastman Lu Xuan was especially fond of cleanliness.
After the fire was lit, Xiong Yue skewered the fish directly and began roasting them, then started making meat soup. Lu Xuan washed and chopped some garlic cloves for later, and also picked two large leaves.
Tian Xuan brought the cleaned wild pheasant to Lu Xuan and stood beside him, watching as Lu Xuan stuffed chopped garlic, garlic leaves, and a very small red wild fruit into the pheasant’s belly.
He also rubbed a layer of salt on it, wrapped it in the leaves, coated it with a thick layer of mud, and finally placed it into the fire.
Tian Xuan looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Lu Xuan turned his head and, seeing him like this, asked in surprise: “What do you want to say?”
He had never seen such an expression on Tian Xuan’s face before.
Tian Xuan finally asked a cautious question: “That fruit is very sour. No one picks it.”
That’s what this was about?
Lu Xuan laughed: “I only put in a few pieces, to remove the gamey smell. You won’t taste the sourness.”
After the roasted fish, roasted meat, and meat soup were all ready, Lu Xuan calculated the time and pulled the wild pheasant out of the fire.
He cracked open the hardened mud. As soon as the leaves were opened, a unique fragrance spread into the air. Everyone’s gaze was instantly drawn to it.
The tender chicken meat steamed with heat. Everyone subconsciously twitched their nostrils.
So fragrant.
The three cubs circled around Lu Xuan, chirping and whining.
“Alright, alright. You’ll eat together with the adults.”
There were three wild pheasants in total. The three cubs each got one drumstick. The remaining meat was shared among the adults.
Each person got only two bites. After finishing, they felt even hungrier.
“So delicious. I never thought a chicken wrapped in mud and roasted could taste this good. Lu Xuan, you have so many ideas.”
Xiong Yue took another bite of roasted fish, then his eyes lit up: “The roasted fish is delicious too. Everything Lu Xuan makes tastes better than before.”
Everyone deeply agreed.
Xiong Qi ate a large piece of meat to curb his craving for the pheasant he hadn’t gotten: “I’ll find a few more wild pheasants this afternoon.”
Faced with such praise, all Lu Xuan wanted to say was: It could taste even better.
There just weren’t enough seasonings, and the cooking tools weren’t ideal either.
But hearing Xiong Qi say that gave him an idea. He said: “You can look for a wild hen with a nest of chicks. Bring them all back and raise them. That way, when you want to eat one, you won’t have to go catch it, it’ll be convenient.”
Xiong Qi nodded: “Alright. I’ll keep an eye out.”
Xiong Xuan’s expression was serious: “We still need to focus on hunting beasts for their hides. We need the furs to get through the cold period.”
Lu Xuan quickly said: “Of course. Everything else is just secondary.”
Lu Xuan was also very nervous about the cold period that would arrive in a few months. He much preferred living in a house over a hide shelter.
Just like the drizzling rain that morning, the shelter had been damp, dark, and cramped. When a heavy rainstorm came, a shelter like that would turn into a mud pit.
After eating and a brief rest, Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan, the two beastmen without any injuries, went out to hunt, focusing on large, furry animals.
The injured Tian Xuan and Xiong Qi took the three sub-beastmen and the cubs out to gather. They didn’t go far, mainly just to familiarize themselves with the environment around their dwelling.
After the rain, the ground was wet everywhere. The damp hide clothes clung to their bodies, making them feel stifled and heavy.
“Tian Xuan, besides building houses with stone, didn’t your tribe use anything else?” Lu Xuan asked, wiping water droplets from his face.
Tian Xuan looked puzzled: “What else?”
Lu Xuan stopped walking. He looked around at the vast green expanse, then at the hide shelters in the distance.
He said firmly to the group: “Let’s build houses. Build a house that doesn’t need stone.”
“How? Tell me, and I’ll help you.”
Xiong Qi’s tone was full of curiosity. Ever since Lu Xuan had treated his leg wound and saved his life, he trusted Lu Xuan completely.
“It just rained, and everything is wet all around. Let’s go back first. I’ll make something to show you, and then we’ll discuss it in detail.”
Xiong Yuan was holding the two little bear cubs in his arms. It really wasn’t suitable for him to go out gathering. But leaving him, a sub-beastman, alone in the hide shelter with two cubs wasn’t safe either.
Tian Xuan nodded: “Let’s go back first.”
They hadn’t really expected to gather anything anyway. Walking around was just to get to know the surrounding environment and identify directions.
Back at the hide shelters, Lu Xuan took out a piece of wood from his basket. He wanted to use the bone knife to split the wood into several planks.
But his strength was limited, and he failed several times.
Tian Xuan took the bone knife from his hand and asked: “How do you want it done?”
With Lu Xuan’s gestures and explanations, Tian Xuan quickly carved out wooden boards twenty centimeters long and ten centimeters wide. Lu Xuan used the boards to make rectangular molds, three in total.
Then he had Xiong Qi go to the foot of the slope, the place where they had rested yesterday, to dig up some mud.
“Why does it have to be mud from there?” Xiong Qi didn’t understand. Mud was everywhere, how hard could it be?
Lu Xuan explained: “I noticed yesterday that the mud there is different from elsewhere. That mud is sticky.”
“Right, just bring a small amount to start with.”
After Xiong Qi left, Lu Xuan also dug out the dry grass that had been spread on the floor of the shelter.
“What are you going to do?”
Tian Xuan’s gaze followed the sub-beastman. The sub-beastman was very busy, but Tian Xuan couldn’t find anywhere to help.
“Make mud bricks.”