Perhaps because they had been given food, the two bald-headed fox beastmen worked especially hard. By the time the mud bricks and timber were unloaded, Xiong Qi and Xiong Yan had already sat down to drink water and rest.
One of the fox beastmen, seeing Xiong Yue plowing the field, automatically shifted into his fox beast form, found some vines, attached them to the plow, and started pulling it from the front. The other took the stone hoe and weeded at a speed that matched three sub-beastmen combined.
A fox pulling a plow, Lu Xuan covered his face. This was something you could only see on the beastman continent.
With the two fox beastmen joining in, the four beastmen, Tian Xuan, Xiong Xuan, Xiong Yan, and Xiong Qi, could focus all their energy on building the house. Following Lu Xuan’s ideas, they kept trying and finding the best way to put everything together.
Half a month later, a brand-new wooden house appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Unlike the houses of any tribe, inside there were three rooms and a very large living room. The living room wasn’t just a living room, it also contained a cooking area.
All three rooms had heated pits. The floors were smooth and clean. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, creating a warm and cozy feeling.
Everyone looked at the wooden house in disbelief. Such a beautiful house had actually been built.
“Oh my, this is the first time I’ve seen such a good-looking house. It’s completely different from any wooden house before. This isn’t even a wooden house, it’s more beautiful than the chief’s house!” Xiong Yue was utterly astonished. He loved this house so much.
The roof was also sealed with wood, then covered with mud mixed with unchopped hay. The three cubs ran around inside and out. The lynx cub even climbed all the way from a window up to the roof. He stood up there and cried out, “Ah ah!”
Lu Xuan’s face darkened. Dare to climb up, but not dare to come down, whose cub was this?
He opened his arms and coaxed, “Be good, jump down. Daddy will catch you.”
The lynx cub shook his head. It was too high, he didn’t dare.
The house was over four meters tall, and the highest point of the roof to the ground was nearly five meters. That did seem quite high. Thinking of how he himself had been afraid to come down from a tree, Lu Xuan felt a bit guilty.
“Ahem, well… how about you go back the way you came?”
The sub-beastman’s expressions were so vivid. Tian Xuan’s lips pressed together into a faint smile. He shifted into his beast form, raised one paw, and placed it under the eaves.
“Come up.”
The lynx cub happily jumped onto Tian Xuan’s paw, then used it to leap into Lu Xuan’s arms.
Lu Xuan hugged the cub and kneaded it for a while, then said, “That whole sequence was quite smooth.”
“Gather some firewood and burn it inside the house and under the heated pits to dry the place out,” Lu Xuan said to the others after putting down the lynx cub.
Xiong Yue felt a bit regretful that they couldn’t move in immediately. He asked, “So when can we move in?”
Lu Xuan thought for a moment and said, “Let it air out for three or four days.”
Xiong Yue: “Oh, all right.”
With one finished wooden house right in front of them, everyone’s spirits were higher than ever when it came to building the second one.
After selecting the site, Lu Xuan couldn’t really help with measuring, digging the foundation, or making mud bricks. He went off to tend to his vegetable garden instead.
After the garden had been turned over, he had only found time to transplant some potatoes and a few wild vegetables. Now he needed to carefully choose what to plant.
While eating roasted meat at noon, Lu Xuan chewed and chewed, feeling that the flavor was a bit bland. He then realized that the salt was truly running out.
They had been saying the salt was low for a while, but during the busy house-building, the matter of trading for more had been put off. Mainly, they had been able to make do by using it sparingly.
“When are we going to trade for salt?”
After the wooden house was completed, everyone’s expressions visibly relaxed, and the smiles on their faces increased.
Even Xiong Xuan, who was usually reserved, said with a light-hearted brow, “We don’t have enough mud bricks for the second wooden house. You all continue making mud bricks. Xiong Yan and I will go trade for salt.”
The prey for the salt trade had been prepared all along. It was just that after each meal, they would replenish it for the next, there was no need to go hunting on the spot. They could leave anytime.
Lu Xuan’s eyes lit up: “Take some potatoes along. You all know the ways to eat potatoes, they’re essential winter survival items.”
He had even made french fries for them. Lu Xuan was sure they knew the benefits of potatoes by now.
“Take more potatoes. That way we can save the meat for ourselves.”
Xiong Yan spoke up at this point: “Let’s take plenty of both potatoes and meat. Trade for a hundred jin of salt.”
As soon as lunch was finished, Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan loaded up three baskets of potatoes, thirty wild rabbits, twenty wild chickens, and one goat. Before leaving, Xiong Yan also brought Hu Yi along.
After half a month of eating well without worries, the two fox beastmen had put on some weight. They were no longer sallow-skinned and emaciated.
Hu Yi and Hu Er were brothers. Both were gray-black mixed-fur foxes, descendants of exile beastmen. In a chaotic fight over prey, both had been injured.
Hu Er had injured his head and was now a bit slow in response. Hu Yi had injured his tongue and couldn’t speak clearly, so he usually didn’t talk much.
Hu Yi gave Hu Er a deep look, then hugged him tightly before turning to follow Xiong Xuan and the others. Only when the three had walked so far that their figures were almost out of sight did Hu Er shift from a dazed expression to one of anxiety.
“I-I’ll go too. I-I can fight.”
Lu Xuan pulled him back and gently coaxed, “Your brother went to trade for salt. Without salt, roasted meat has no flavor. With salt, the meat tastes good. They’ll be back before dark.”
After half a month together, Hu Er had grown fond of sticking close to Lu Xuan. Hearing this, he calmed down, understanding only the words “will be back” from the whole sentence.
Hu Er believed that Lu Xuan had a good temper and wouldn’t lie to him.
“All right, go dig some soil.”
Hu Er happily left. He really loved digging soil, especially with the three cubs, it made him so happy.
Tian Xuan’s face darkened as he stepped to Lu Xuan’s side in one stride: “He’s an adult beastman.”
“I know,” Lu Xuan said, not understanding.
“So you don’t need to treat him like a cub.”
Tian Xuan’s serious expression struck Lu Xuan as amusing. He said, “I’m not treating him like a cub. It’s just that he…” Lu Xuan tapped his own head. “You know what I mean. I unconsciously soften my voice.”
Tian Xuan frowned: “He’s not an idiot.”
His mind was mature, he was just slow to react.
Lu Xuan scratched his head: “I don’t think he’s an idiot. I just think he’s kind of cute.”
Innocent eyes, sincere in his dealings.
Tian Xuan’s face remained taut. After giving Lu Xuan a deep look, he said, “We plan to give you the second wooden house once it’s built. Do you have any changes you want to make?”
Because Xiong Yuan had two bear cubs, everyone had agreed to give the first wooden house to them.
After seeing the finished wooden house, Lu Xuan did have some ideas. As soon as he heard Tian Xuan’s question, his attention was immediately diverted.
“Yes, I do. Let me tell you.”
Considering the beastmen’s beast forms, the house had been built very tall. But Lu Xuan couldn’t fully shift into beast form. Even if he could, he would be a leopard cat, how much space could a cat take up?
The three cubs could be held in one arm. Even when they grew up, they wouldn’t be much taller.
So Lu Xuan wanted to turn the living room into a split-level space, with a platform at the height of a sofa, and then build a long, wide wooden bench placed against the raised wall.
He also wanted to make several beanbag-style loungers out of animal hides for the split-level platform, but that would have to wait until after the house was built and planned out slowly.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Just as Tian Xuan was about to say something, the corner of his eye caught the silly-grinning fox running toward them. He turned and walked toward the newly laid foundation.
“You’d better explain it to me again on site.”
Lu Xuan thought about it, when it came to how much space to reserve, it was indeed easier to understand by explaining on site. So he followed Tian Xuan over there.
The second wooden house was not far from the first. When they arrived, Lu Xuan made a mark on the side of the living room that had a window.
“Right here. Make the window larger this time.”
Tian Xuan said, “If the window is too large, it won’t block wind and rain well.”
Lu Xuan smiled and said, “That’s fine. We can make a removable cross-shaped frame. Put it on when needed, take it off when not, and hang an animal hide curtain over it. In winter, hang two layers, or make a curtain out of hay and hides. There are plenty of ways.”
Tian Xuan let out a small laugh and said in a low voice, “Yes, you always have plenty of ways.”
When only a sliver of daylight remained, the three beastmen who had gone to trade for salt still hadn’t returned. Xiong Yuan, holding his little bear cubs, looked anxiously toward the depths of the forest.
Lu Xuan’s heart began to pound. He hoped nothing had gone wrong.
Tian Xuan’s brow furrowed slightly. He comforted the nervous group: “Xiong Xuan and Xiong Yan are both top-tier fierce beastmen from their tribe, and that fox is a cunning one too. Don’t worry.”
Hu Er, who had been playing with the three cubs, heard this and said with displeasure, “Hu Yi, good, very good.”
He knew that “cunning” wasn’t a good word. He understood.
Tian Xuan wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. He said to Xiong Qi, “Wait the length of one more meal. If they’re still not back by then, I’ll go look for them. You keep watch here.”
Xiong Qi said in a deep voice, “Don’t worry.”
Just then, Xiong Yan’s voice came from a distance: “Xiong Qi, Tian Xuan, come quick and help!”
Everyone thought someone was injured. Before anyone could react, Tian Xuan had already dashed off far ahead, followed by Xiong Qi, who was more than ten meters away in an instant.
Lu Xuan was about to run after them when he heard Tian Xuan shout from afar, “It’s okay! No one is hurt!”
Lu Xuan clearly heard the sound of Xiong Yuan sighing in relief. His own anxious heart also settled back down.
Before he knew it, he had become one with these bears. If any of them got hurt, he would feel terrible.
Soon, the beastmen appeared before everyone’s eyes. But their appearance left Lu Xuan completely baffled.
“Did you get robbed?”
So you turned around and robbed the robbers instead?
The unspoken meaning on Lu Xuan’s face was all too obvious. Xiong Xuan’s face carried a smile, he was usually serious and reserved, and it was rare to see such a clear smile on his face.
Lu Xuan opened his mouth, then closed it. Goodness, how much stuff had they looted? Even Tian Xuan and Xiong Qi, who had gone to meet them, were completely loaded down with goods.
Tian Xuan put down his load, let out a soft laugh, and said, “Don’t overthink it. We didn’t get robbed.”
Lu Xuan was startled: “Huh? Then what happened?”
“Yeah, why did you even bring back the rabbits and potatoes you took at noon?” After his heart had settled, Xiong Yue returned to his usual carefree manner.
“Don’t tell me you seized the salt cave?”
Xiong Yan laughed heartily and said, “If I could, I’d love to occupy it. But that place can barely grow grass. It’s nothing compared to our wooden houses.”
They had traveled fast at noon, shifting into beast form and galloping without rest, taking two hours to reach the area near the salt cave.
After hiding their goods, Xiong Xuan took Hu Yi, and they split into two groups to scout ahead. As it turned out, from two different positions, they both witnessed how the group of beastmen guarding the salt cave went from an internal quarrel to fighting among themselves, until not a single one was left standing.
It was absolutely spectacular.