Xiong Qi carried back a basket of mud, Lu Xuan chopped the hay into pieces, then mixed it into the mud and began to stir.
The mud and hay needed to be fully mixed. After stirring for a while, Lu Xuan panted heavily and stepped aside.
“Tian Xuan, you do it.”
Tian Xuan had long wanted to help himself, but he was afraid of doing something wrong. Upon hearing Lu Xuan’s call, he immediately took over.
His legs could not use full strength temporarily, but his arms were completely fine.
A basket of mud was not much, mixed with hay, it was soon stirred well. Lu Xuan squatted down to check and, finding it satisfactory, told Tian Xuan to stop.
He put the mixed mud into a pre-made rectangular mold, pressed it firm, and smoothed it flat.
Then he demolded it, and one mud brick was done.
After making one more, he let Tian Xuan do it, as he was truly tired.
Beastmen are naturally strong, very suited for such heavy labor.
After all were finished, Tian Xuan asked: “What to do next?”
There were about ten mud bricks in total, the weather looked like it would not rain again.
“Leave them outside to dry for two days,” Lu Xuan said.
Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan hunted two goats, not large in size. After skinning and deboning, the meat was even less than that of a wild boar.
However, the goat skins were good warmth-keeping items, and it was a bountiful hunting trip. Xiong Qi, in high spirits, went with Xiong Xuan to the river to process the two goats.
“What are these few things?” Xiong Yan squatted on the ground, looking left and right. When he reached out to knock and tap, he was stopped by Tian Xuan.
“These are mud bricks made by Lu Xuan, which can be used to build houses.”
Xiong Yan stared at the mud bricks with his two big eyes: “How can such small things build a house?”
Lu Xuan smiled and said: “Let’s try it first.”
Xiong Yan thought of Lu Xuan’s skill in healing wounds and making all kinds of delicious food, and felt that perhaps these small things really could build a house.
But these few bricks were obviously not enough.
“Next time you make more, call me. I’ll help you.”
Lu Xuan nodded and agreed: “Okay, but we need sunlight to come out. Mud bricks cannot withstand heavy rain, and we also need dry grass to make them.”
Xiong Yan looked up at the sky and said, “Don’t worry, it won’t rain tomorrow.”
“How can you be sure?” Lu Xuan asked curiously.
Xiong Yan pointed to a corner of the sky and said, “Look, the brightest star has come out.”
Lu Xuan looked up and indeed saw it. The tribe said that if you see that star, there won’t be heavy rain.
He hoped it wouldn’t even drizzle tomorrow, otherwise the few mud bricks would have been made in vain.
The next day, it did not rain. The weather was very good. The sunlight shone, and everything glowed with brilliance.
Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan went out hunting early in the morning. They were the main hunting force.
Tian Xuan and Xiong Qi still led the three sub-beastmen and the cubs to forage around. The slopes were full of life along the way, and many birds were chirping in the forest.
After a light rain, many mushrooms and wood ear fungi grew in the forest.
Lu Xuan was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar[1] an image of overwhelming, delighted abundance, like a mouse that stumbles into a jar full of rice, surrounded by more food than it could ever want jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2282802_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2282802_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. Carrying his basket, he rushed straight into the forest. The time to improve their meals had come, chicken stewed with mushrooms, and wood ear scrambled with eggs.
Pick them, pick them all.
Xiong Yuan did not join the foraging. He carried two bear cubs in his animal hide pouch and followed behind the three young cubs.
“Baishe, Bao Yong [2]豹 (Bao) = leopard/panther, 勇 (Yong) = brave/courageous jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2282802_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2282802_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, Xueyu, what are you digging for?”
The three little ones were very lively, digging here, nibbling there, but they also knew not to wander out of sight of the adults. Overall, they were very well-behaved.
Xiong Yuan liked them very much. Seeing them staring at something they were digging, he grew curious.
“What did you dig up?”
Baishe carried a wild vegetable in its mouth and dragged it out. A few small fruits still dangled from the root.
“What is this?”
Xiong Yuan had never seen it before. He turned his head and called out to Lu Xuan.
“The cubs dug this up while playing. Come and see if it’s edible.”
“Edible, edible.”
Lu Xuan’s eyes lit up, potatoes, carbohydrates.
He picked up the three cubs and gave each a kiss.
“Truly Daddy’s good little ones.”
Under the potato seedlings hung many small potato tubers, some large, some small, looking like they weren’t fully ripe yet.
“Let’s dig up just a small amount for now, and let them grow in the soil for a while longer.”
The forest was vast and rich in species. The group worked only in one corner and still filled three large baskets.
Tian Xuan and Xiong Qi also found time to shoot two wild chickens and one wild rabbit with small stones. The sun had only tilted slightly westward when they returned fully loaded.
At noon, they made wild chicken stew with mushrooms, and potato rib soup. The all-natural food needed only a pinch of salt. The fresh, fragrant flavor still brought tears to Lu Xuan’s eyes.
It was truly too delicious.
If only there were a bowl of rice to go with it!
Noodles and steamed buns were also things he deeply longed for.
After the meal, Xiong Yuan put the sleeping bear cubs inside the animal hide shelter, then joined Xiong Qi, Xiong Yue, and Tian Xuan in pulling weeds.
The three animal hide shelters had been built hastily, with weeds all around them. To make them comfortable to live in, the weeds and broken stones needed to be cleared away, and the ground needed to be leveled.
Lu Xuan also joined in. But after pulling weeds for a while, three red marks were pulled open on his palms, swelling into raised lines.
Xiong Yue laughed heartily: “Lu Xuan, you’re so delicate!”
Lu Xuan sighed: “I’ll go check how the mud bricks are drying.”
The surface of the mud bricks had already dried and become firm. It looked like they would work. He straightened up and looked at the people pulling weeds.
No wonder the beastmen were the main fighting force. Around Tian Xuan and Xiong Qi, a large area of clean, cleared dirt was exposed. The areas cleared by the two sub-beastmen, Xiong Yue and Xiong Yuan, added together were still less than half of Tian Xuan’s.
Lu Xuan knew what he could do. He shook the dirt off the weed roots and put them into a basket, planning to find a good place to dry them into hay.
“After these weeds are dried and mixed with mud, they can be used to make mud bricks.” He explained to the four curious onlookers as he worked.
The three cubs were tired from playing. They were now lying not far from Lu Xuan, sleeping huddled together. Lu Xuan’s old fatherly heart from his past life instantly rose. He carried the three cubs into the animal hide shelter and even covered their bellies with a thin piece of animal hide, what if they caught a cold?
When the sun slanted westward, the temperature was no longer as hot as at noon. At that time, Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan, who had been out hunting, returned. Each carried a wolf over his shoulder.
Xiong Yuan, holding the two little bear cubs, happily went up to greet them and exchanged a smile with Xiong Xuan. The family of four looked happy and sweet under the glow of the setting sun.
What a pity there was no camera, otherwise, it would certainly have made a great photo. Lu Xuan felt regretful.
The two had returned safely, and everyone was in a good mood. Xiong Yue immediately clamored to make dinner.
“I learned wild chicken stew with mushrooms from Lu Xuan. I’ll make it for you.”
Xiong Yan watched him cook from the side and said dismissively, “Isn’t it just boiling mushrooms and wild chicken together in soup? What’s so hard about that?”
Xiong Yue gave him a look and said, “It’s the same with roasting meat. Why does yours always taste bad?”
Xiong Yan was rendered speechless. As a beastman, roasting meat was a basic skill, but he really wasn’t good at it.
It was already dark by the time they finished eating. After a busy day, everyone went back to their own animal hide shelters and went to sleep. Lu Xuan had thought that sleeping so early would definitely make it hard to fall asleep, but unexpectedly, as soon as his head touched the pillow, sleepiness surged within minutes, and he started yawning.
The three little ones were curled up around his neck, a natural, pollution-free animal fur scarf. Not only warm, but actually a bit hot.
Lu Xuan turned over, pulled one down and hugged it in his arms, and soon drifted into darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, he was actually the last one to wake up. Even the three cubs were no longer inside the animal hide shelter.
After coming out of the shelter, Xiong Yuan and Xiong Yue were making breakfast.
The weeds he had gathered yesterday were being spread on the ground by Tian Xuan to dry. Lu Xuan’s face turned red. He quickly walked over and said to him, “Let me do the drying.”
Tian Xuan frowned slightly: “Why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?”
Lu Xuan shook his head: “No, no. I just woke up. I’m a bit warm.”
Then he quickly changed the subject: “Where are Xiong Yan and the others?”
After Lu Xuan said he was fine, Tian Xuan’s expression remained cool, but he visibly relaxed.
“They went to the river to skin the wolves.”
“Oh.”
Lu Xuan felt awkward. Tian Xuan was naturally a man of few words, and for a moment, neither of them spoke.
Lu Xuan felt even more awkward. He randomly grabbed a topic and asked, “Your name and Xiong Xuan’s name sound similar. Are you brothers?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to slap himself. If they really were brothers, they would have said so long ago, not waited for him to ask. There was no need to hide it.
Tian Xuan: “Not brothers.”
Lu Xuan lowered his head and closed his eyes. See, he knew it, if they were brothers, they would have said so.
“Xiong Xuan was originally my name, but he was born earlier than me. My father and his father were brothers, so they gave that name to him. When I was born, it happened to be the first sunny day after several days of rain, so I was named Tian Xuan.”
Lu Xuan looked up at him, face full of surprise.
“It can be done like that?”
Tian Xuan paused: “It can.”
Lu Xuan: Alright then.
Just then, Xiong Qi and the others returned. The wolf skins had been well processed. Two complete pelts were spread on the grass to dry.
The three cubs had never seen such large wolf skins before. They gathered around, looking very astonished.
Lu Xuan watched as the cubs shook the mud off their feet onto the wolf skins. He closed his eyes, unable to bear it.
He grabbed Tian Xuan, who was about to leave: “Find two thin wooden sticks and some vines and bring them here.”
Tian Xuan glanced at him, didn’t ask why, and turned to leave. Soon he returned carrying two saplings of some unknown tree and a large coil of vines.
Xiong Qi asked in confusion: “What are you doing with those?”
Tian Xuan looked toward Lu Xuan: “He wanted them.”
Lu Xuan happened to be looking over at that moment. When he saw the saplings in Tian Xuan’s hands, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, then he ran over excitedly.
“You actually pulled up two wild fruit tree saplings.”
Tian Xuan: “No use?”
Lu Xuan’s eyes sparkled: “Yes, very useful.”
He had originally wanted to use two dead branches to make a clothesline, but now it had turned into two fruit tree saplings. He would have to carefully plan where to plant them. Even if they didn’t survive, it didn’t matter.
Xiong Qi asked: “What use are they?”
“You’ll know once it’s done.” After saying that, Lu Xuan pressed him into service: “You come help too.”
He directed the two to make a sapling version of a clothesline. After it was done, Lu Xuan struggled to carry the two wolf skins over and hung them up.
“How about that? Isn’t drying animal skins this way cleaner?”
Xiong Qi didn’t understand: “How is spreading them on the grass not clean?”
Lu Xuan said very naturally: “They won’t get stepped on by the cubs, won’t get dirt on them, and no bugs will crawl onto them.”
Tian Xuan: Exactly as he had thought, sub-beastmen really care about cleanliness.
The clothesline was warmly welcomed by the two sub-beastmen, Xiong Yue and Xiong Yuan. They said they wanted to make two more. Xiong Xuan turned around and was about to go pull up more saplings.
Lu Xuan quickly stopped him: “For drying animal hides and clothes, dead trees as thick as a wrist are fine. You don’t necessarily have to pull up live trees.”
That was even simpler. Within an hour, four more clotheslines had been added around the animal hide shelters, all hung with various animal hide products.
References[+]