The Primitive Adventures of a Chipmunk 46

Chapter 46

The large, plump red sheep were scored on both sides, rubbed with ginger paste and Sichuan peppercorn powder ground by the tribe members, and then seasoned with salt. They were only marinated for a short while while waiting for dinner. The whole sheep were skewered on cleaned, thick wooden sticks and placed on a fire pit built of gravel to be slowly roasted over a low fire.

Finally, with two beastmen continuously turning the wooden sticks to flip them, Hua Shi’an could finally shirk his responsibilities and be a hands-off manager.

It was easier said than done. Roasting a whole lamb usually involved a medium-sized one, which cooked easily and took a relatively short time. But the two remaining whole sheep were quite large, estimated to be over a hundred pounds each. It took a lot of effort to get the two sheep on the fire.

After a whole day of hard work, Hua Shi’an was exhausted. He was just about to find a place to sit for a while, but before his butt could touch the ground, Hong Yinglan started shouting from the other side, “Lord Priest, what do we do with these internal organs? Which ones do we cook, and which ones are useful? Do we need to separate them?”

It couldn’t be explained in a few words. Hua Shi’an sighed and stood up, walking over quickly.

A full fourteen sheep, and the cleaned internal organs filled ten winnowing baskets.

Heart, liver, lungs… a mix of various internal organs were jumbled together. Hua Shi’an had Hong Yinglan bring over an empty winnowing basket, squatted on the ground, and started sorting, at the same time teaching the sub-beastmen.

“Unlike the green iguana, most parts of a mountain goat are edible, except for some glands and the lymph nodes that grow into small lumps. Don’t worry, I’ve already told the beastmen. The inedible parts have all been thrown away. Everything in the basket is edible, just the way of eating is different.”

“These I’ve picked out, the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, tripe… also known as offal, can be stir-fried or stewed in a soup. As long as they’re cleaned properly and a lot of seasonings are added to remove the gamey and rank smell, the taste is still quite good.”

Yan Zhile squatted beside Hua Shi’an, listening and watching, looking like a good student.

Finally, taking advantage of a long pause from Hua Shi’an, he rested his chin on his hand and asked the question he had been wanting to ask, “Lord Priest, you always talk about stir-frying. What exactly is stir-frying, and how do you do it?”

Not only did he always talk about it, but he was also always thinking about it.

Stir-frying required oil. He didn’t have the conditions before, but now he did. Hua Shi’an took out a large piece of sheep fat from the winnowing basket and said with a smile, “This white, greasy part is called sheep tail fat. We can only stir-fry after we render the sheep oil from it. As for how to render it and how to stir-fry, it’s too late today. I’ll teach you tomorrow.”

“Okay, Lord Priest!” Hong Yinglan and Yan Zhile said in unison.

They had meat to eat and could also learn something. The two sub-beastmen were overjoyed. After the internal organs in the winnowing basket were introduced, they still refused to leave, indirectly asking Hua Shi’an if there was a better way to preserve the remaining mutton.

There were fourteen sheep in total, and they had already finished two tonight. If they ate like this every meal, it wouldn’t last for a few days. Next, they would eat the offal and gnaw on the bones. The remaining mutton had to be stored for the winter.

The tribe used to store beast meat before. The method was to roast it and then air-dry it. This could indeed be preserved for a long time, but the taste was not ideal, and the texture… let’s just say it was hard to chew if you didn’t have good teeth.

Curing it into bacon or making it into smoked meat were both good methods. Hua Shi’an thought for a while and already had an idea in his mind, but he didn’t show it on his face. He twisted his neck, stood up, and said to the sub-beastmen, “Tomorrow. I’ll think about it tonight first.”

Explaining it would be endless. All he wanted now was to rest.

He moved a stone and sat in a corner. This time, his butt finally touched the ground. But before he could rest for a while, Chief Mu, who had returned from the river with the beastmen, came over and sat down beside him very naturally.

“Oh my, my shoulders, my old back!”

As soon as he sat down, Chief Mu pounded his shoulders and rubbed his waist, letting out a long sigh of relief with his neck stretched. “I’m getting old and can’t take the tossing and turning. I’m really exhausted today.”

He hadn’t intended to respond, but hearing this, Hua Shi’an chuckled. “You wouldn’t listen when I told you to stay in the tribe. You insisted on going to dig for potatoes. You’re getting old, so don’t overexert yourself. It’s not worth it if you hurt yourself.”

He was the one who had insisted on going, and he was the one who was complaining about being tired. Chief Mu was not in the right and muttered, “Everyone is busy. Of course, I also want to do something for the tribe. I’m the chief of a tribe, and I’m also a beastman, after all.”

Hua Shi’an raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you’re going to go again?”

“No, no, no. I have to admit I’m old!” Chief Mu quickly waved his hands.

Hua Shi’an smiled and didn’t say anything more, leaning against the tree trunk and closing his eyes.

Chief Mu followed his example, leaning against the tree trunk and closing his eyes. But his mouth was never idle, chattering away, “So much prey, so much beast meat. I wouldn’t have dared to imagine it a while ago. Even in the Clear Sky Forest, we never caught more than ten prey at once.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Shi’an.”

“No, you’re thanking the wrong person.” Hua Shi’an yawned lazily. “We have Hong Yong and the hunting team to thank for being able to eat meat tonight. It has nothing to do with me. Hong Yinglan and the others and I also went to the forest, but we didn’t help with anything. We were just there for the fun of it.”

Chief Mu “tsked.” “What’s with all of you, pushing away the credit? I heard from Hong Yong that you guys were the first to find the traces of the prey. Whether you helped or not, how could you catch the prey without finding it?”

Hua Shi’an: “It doesn’t matter who gets the credit. Being able to eat meat is the most important thing. Chief, let’s not collect honey for now. Let the hunting team wander around the forest more in the coming days, look for things. Maybe they can catch other prey.”

“What do you mean?” He was suddenly not tired anymore. Chief Mu’s eyes opened, and he was full of energy, sitting up straight and looking at Hua Shi’an with anticipation.

Hearing the commotion beside him, Hua Shi’an also forced his eyelids open and said with some seriousness, “The hunting team has been running in the forest every day for the past while, but they haven’t caught any prey. Hunting is their specialty. They are good at observing and searching. It’s impossible for them to have only caught one green iguana in such a long time, with wild beasts running everywhere.”

“So I’m guessing that there were no wild beasts around here for the past while, or very few.”

Chief Mu was bewildered. “No wild beasts? Then where did these mountain goats come from? Didn’t we catch one in a trap a while ago?”

Hua Shi’an: “When we caught the first mountain goat, the temperature had already started to drop. This forest may be larger than we imagined. Whether it’s mountain goats or red sheep, they may have been living deep in the forest. The recent drop in temperature may have caused them to migrate here.”

“Longitudinal, longitudinal migration? What does that mean?” Chief Mu scratched his head in confusion.

He had accidentally used a modern term. Hua Shi’an coughed lightly and explained, “Mountain goats actually live on mountains. When the weather gets cold, they will migrate in groups, from high places to low places, from cold areas to warmer areas.”

Even after breaking it down, Chief Mu was still confused. He didn’t insist and quickly nodded in agreement. “Alright, I’ll go and talk to Hong Yong in a bit. I’ll have them start hunting again tomorrow.”

Hua Shi’an grunted softly and closed his eyes again.

Knowing he was tired, Chief Mu really didn’t want to disturb him this time.

But just as he stood up from the ground and was about to go and check on dinner, his peripheral vision accidentally swept over the two large and one small red sheep tied to a stone in the corner. He couldn’t help but ask one more question, “Hong Yong told me that you plan to keep those three live sheep? I’m not questioning your idea. I’m just curious, what are you keeping them for?”

The tribe’s method of obtaining food was still at the most primitive stage—hunting and gathering.

They hadn’t started farming yet, so naturally, they had no concept of animal husbandry. Hua Shi’an pondered for a moment, pointed to the darkness-shrouded meadow in the distance, and said gently, “Didn’t I say before? If we bury seeds in the ground and take good care of them, we can harvest food in front of our own doors next year.”

“The purpose of keeping these live sheep is the same. I plan to raise them in captivity, tame them, and raise them carefully. Maybe after a while, the big sheep will give birth to little sheep, and the little sheep will grow up and give birth to more little sheep. In the long run, perhaps we won’t need to hunt and will have a whole flock of sheep.”

Chief Mu was very quick to understand this. He stared blankly at Hua Shi’an, his mouth agape, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

Seeing that he was about to get excited again, to prevent his expectations from getting too high, before he could speak, Hua Shi’an gave him another precautionary shot, “Don’t get too happy too soon. Although the three red sheep are two ewes and one ram, and there is a possibility of reproduction, they are more or less injured. It’s not certain if they can be raised. This is just an attempt.”

“And it’s not easy to develop a flock of sheep from three. Let’s just raise them for now. If we can, we’ll bring back live sheep that we catch in the future and raise them together. It may take a long time, but we’ll have a flock of sheep sooner or later.”

He understood the subtext, but it didn’t affect Chief Mu’s enjoyment of the beautiful future. He pursed his lips and chuckled for a long time, then nodded solemnly to Hua Shi’an. “We’ll follow all of the Lord Priest’s arrangements.”

“It’s Shi’an when there’s nothing, and Lord Priest when there is, right?” Hua Shi’an deliberately teased.

Chief Mu: “How can—”

“Lord Priest, the mutton seems to be cooked. You should come and take a look!”

He was so busy. Before Chief Mu could finish his chattering, another loud shout came from the fire. Hua Shi’an rubbed his temples and stood up, calling to Chief Mu who was standing in front of him, “Let’s go. Let’s go and take a look together.”

Yan Qiuyu had a loud voice. With one shout, everyone in the camp heard. So by the time Hua Shi’an and Chief Mu arrived, the two fires were surrounded by three layers of people.

The fat dripped into the fire, and the rich aroma of roasted meat rose with the smoke, lingering in the air for a long time. The sound of inhaling rose and fell. The onlookers who were lucky enough to be in the front row were amazed and discussed among themselves.

“My heavens, it smells so good. We used to eat roasted meat every day, but it never smelled this good!”

“I know! The Lord Priest rubbed something on the lamb before roasting it!”

“He rubbed salt, and ginger paste, and a kind of fruit they found in the forest today called Sichuan peppercorn.”

“The color of the roasted lamb is so special. How was it roasted? It’s not burnt at all, and it’s golden yellow. It feels like it would be crispy with one bite!”

“I know this. I saw Qiuyu brushing honey water on the lamb.”

“Isn’t honey sweet? Then wouldn’t the mutton also become sweet?”

“No, the Lord Priest said last time that brushing honey water on food can enhance the flavor and make it more delicious. Besides, with such a big lamb, how can it become sweet with just a little bit of honey water?”

“Isn’t it cooked already? Why aren’t we eating yet? I’m so hungry!”

…

I’m so hungry too, Hua Shi’an, who had been squeezing through the crowd for a long time, chimed in in his heart.

Finally, with Chief Mu’s help, Hua Shi’an successfully broke through the encirclement and came to the fire pit. Seeing the roasted whole lamb that Yan Qiuyu was still turning, which was exuding a charming aroma, his nose twitched, and he was instantly wide awake.

As the tribe members had said, although the roasted lamb was cooked over an open fire, it was continuously turned and flipped. The cooked red lamb was golden and tempting, almost perfect, no different from one roasted over charcoal.

The honey water and the lamb’s own fat were fully integrated. The caramelized yellow skin was glistening with oil, like a huge piece of caramel. Hua Shi’an could even imagine the crispy, crackling sound of a knife blade sliding across the skin.

The mashed ginger and Sichuan peppercorn powder had greatly diluted the gamey and rank smell. With a deep breath, he could only smell the rich, meaty aroma and a faint, smoky smell.

“Lord Priest, Lord Priest? Can we eat now?”

Yan Qiuyu called out several times, and Hua Shi’an finally came to his senses.

The lamb was cooked, so of course they could eat it. But before eating… Hua Shi’an moved his gaze from the roasted whole lamb, looked around, and waved to Chang Yueyue in the crowd, then called for the crowd to make way for her.

Chang Yueyue and three other sub-beastmen came through the crowd to the fire, each holding a winnowing basket. In the baskets were twenty or thirty bamboo tubes, not the deep bamboo tubes they usually used for eating, but short bamboo tubes, two knuckles high, more like a bamboo bowl.

There was something in the bamboo bowls. The curious tribe members stretched their necks to look. Hua Shi’an took the initiative to pick one up and introduced it to the crowd, “This is the dry dip I had Yueyue and the others make. Do you remember the chili peppers that were drying in the camp a while ago? This has the powder of dried chili peppers, and another kind is the Sichuan peppercorn we found in the forest today. Finally, there’s a small amount of salt.”

“What, what is a dry dip for? To eat the lamb? But wasn’t the roasted lamb already rubbed with salt and spices?” a quick-mouthed tribe member asked.

Hua Shi’an nodded. “Yes, the roasted lamb was indeed rubbed with spices. But the lamb is large and wasn’t marinated for too long, so the meat inside may not be flavorful enough, a bit bland. The dry dip is to enhance the flavor. Those who like a stronger taste can tear off the mutton and dip it in it.”

“Wow, that’s a great idea! If you want it bland, you can eat it directly. If you want it flavorful, you can dip it in the bamboo tube. You’re so smart, Lord Priest!” Yan Zhile rested his chin on his hands, his eyes shining as he looked at Hua Shi’an with admiration.

“Ahem.” Hong Yunlang coughed lightly and nudged him without leaving a trace. “Stop interrupting. Aren’t you hungry? We can only start eating after the Lord Priest is done talking.”

He thought his voice was low, but Hua Shi’an heard it clearly.

The sound of swallowing was endless. It was a rare occasion to have a good meal. Hua Shi’an stopped dawdling and decisively beckoned to the crowd, “Those who want a dry dip can come and get it themselves. The quantity is limited, so two people will share one. And, not everyone is used to chili peppers. Try it first. If you can’t eat it, don’t. Don’t force yourself.”

“Alright, find a place to sit. Let’s eat, let’s eat!”