Chapter 49
“Quick, quick, the smoke is already rising. Are you guys done over there?”
“Almost, almost! Here, this skewer is done. Take it over first.”
“Watch the fire. Don’t let it flare up. Add more cypress branches.”
“The Lord Priest said we still need to seal the opening. Go to the river and move some more stones, the big ones.”
…
At the crack of dawn, the wind was biting, and the sky had just lifted its hazy curtain. The yellowed riverbank was bustling with people, and the sound of voices was deafening.
Before dawn, the open, flat meadow was empty. As soon as it began to lighten, a half-person-high, massive rectangular “stone kiln” appeared on the meadow.
The stone kiln was built of large and small stones. The front and back were the same size, and the top was wide open, not yet sealed. It looked more like a not-so-sturdy water tank pieced together from stones.
Dry firewood was piled inside the stone kiln. It was lit with a fire starter, and soon, scorching flames broke through the stone kiln, swaying in the cold wind. At this moment, a bundle of water-soaked cypress branches was placed on the dry firewood. The open flame instantly disappeared, and wisps of green smoke rose.
The smoke spread quickly. In a short while, the meadow was enveloped in a thick “lump of fog.” Five meters away, you couldn’t tell a person from an animal. The sound of coughing rose and fell. Fortunately, the smoke was not unpleasant. A unique woody fragrance lingered in the air, refreshing the mind.
The smoke was carried by the wind to the camp, and the busy sub-beastmen in the camp quickened their pace. They skewered the mutton, which had been marinated and dried for three days and was a little withered, onto wooden sticks, neatly arranged like a beaded curtain.
As soon as the sub-beastmen had finished a skewer, a beastman would immediately take the wooden stick away and place it on the stone kiln.
The stone kiln had openings, and the wooden sticks had been measured. With a slight adjustment of the angle, the ends of the wooden sticks were stuck in the crevices of the stones, and the large pieces of mutton, skewered with coir rope, hung perfectly in the stone kiln.
One skewer after another, and when the mutton in the back basket was all skewered, the stone kiln was just full.
The beastmen lifted the stone slabs and rocks they had picked up from the riverbank and sealed the top opening of the stone kiln, bit by bit. There were gaps between the stones, and the smoke would still drift out through the gaps. So they spread two bundles of cypress branches on the stones to block the smoke as much as possible.
It was finally smoking. Running back and forth, Hua Shi’an, as the technical director, was exhausted. His forehead was covered in sweat. He was just about to go to the river to wash his face when Chief Mu, who had appeared from nowhere, called out to him.
“Shi’an, how long does this meat have to be smoked?”
Having helped the beastmen pick up stones, Chief Mu was also drenched in sweat, panting heavily.
Hua Shi’an beckoned to him and continued to walk towards the river, treading on the gravel. “One day. From now until evening. It’s best to let it sit overnight to get rid of the moisture.”
“One day?” Chief Mu was taken aback. He followed Hua Shi’an to the river and muttered, out of breath, “Why so long? I thought it would only be for a while. Doesn’t that mean we can’t do anything else today?”
The river water was bone-chillingly cold. He squatted by the river and scooped up a handful of water, washing the sweat from his face. Hua Shi’an felt refreshed. He wiped the water from his face with the back of his hand and then turned to look at Chief Mu, answering his question, “It’s too cold. The cured meat won’t dry in a short time, so we have to smoke it longer. The less moisture in the meat, the better it can be stored. Otherwise, it will spoil.”
“This is already the fastest smoking method. The stranger said that they sometimes smoke meat for ten or twenty days. But it doesn’t affect our work. Once it’s smoking, it’s simple. Just leave a few people to watch it, add firewood, add cypress branches, and flip it once in the middle.”
After washing his face, Chief Mu wiped his face again. “As long as it doesn’t delay our work, it’s fine. We still have to go with the gathering team to pick firewood and dig for wild vegetables later. You know how much those guys in the tree hollow can eat. They eat several back baskets of wild vegetables a day. All the wild vegetables we’ve picked recently have been eaten by them. I haven’t had a single one.”
“Oh? You’re sad that you haven’t had any wild vegetables? Then the offal and goat head soup weren’t delicious? Alright, then we’ll just have wild vegetables tonight.” Hua Shi’an was being mischievous, teasing him as he washed his hands.
Chief Mu was anxious. “Tsk, what are you talking about? I was just complaining. Why did you take it seriously? Didn’t we agree to have goat bone soup tonight? We have to have it, we must have it!”
As he spoke, Chief Mu sighed again, his expression gradually becoming serious. “Sigh, I’m just worried. The weather is getting colder and colder, and the wild grass and vegetables in the forest have withered. It’s getting harder and harder to find them. In a few days, we probably won’t be able to find any wild vegetables. What will we feed them then?”
Hua Shi’an was not worried at all. “Don’t worry. If there are wild vegetables, we’ll feed them wild vegetables. If there are no wild vegetables, we’ll feed them leaves and grass roots. They can survive in the wild in winter. Don’t worry, they won’t starve. Even if they don’t get enough nutrition, we can at worst feed them some cooked potatoes.”
“Po-potatoes to feed the sheep and rabbits?” Chief Mu was shocked. “That’s what the gathering team worked so hard to—”
“Chief,” Hua Shi’an interrupted him and patted his shoulder with his water-drenched hand. “No pain, no gain. Don’t be reluctant. When the sheep and rabbits are fattened up and have babies, we’ll have more meat to eat.”
“Of course, the premise is that we can feed ourselves first, and then we can share some with them. If we don’t have enough to eat ourselves, then we’ll just feed them some leaves and grass roots to keep them alive. As long as they don’t die, we can raise them properly next year.”
It made sense. Chief Mu wiped his hands on his coir skirt and slowly stood up. “Alright, I’ll listen to you. I’ll take the gathering team out first. The beastmen of the hunting team will stay in the camp with you to smoke the meat. Oh right, the sheepskin has also been soaking in the water for a day. The animal skin you tanned is soft. You can teach them how to do it on the way.”
“Mm-hm.” Hua Shi’an stood up and walked up the slope with Chief Mu.
Fourteen red sheep, fourteen sheepskins. The chief didn’t explicitly say who they would be given to, but by having the beastmen tan the animal skins, he had said everything. The prey was caught by the beastmen, and the dangerous and strenuous work was done by the beastmen. The animal skins should naturally be given to them.
With the return of the salt-boiling team and the injured, the hunting team now had twelve members. After distributing the fourteen animal skins, there would only be two left. One of them would definitely be for the chief, and the other…
He had already walked a short distance. Hua Shi’an quickly caught up with Chief Mu and whispered something in his ear.
Chief Mu barely hesitated. He nodded as soon as he finished speaking.
Tanning sheepskin was a meticulous and patient job. After the gathering team left, one person was left to watch the fire and add firewood. Hua Shi’an, like herding ducks, led a group of beastmen to the river to get to work.
Thinking of the soft and warm sheepskin, the beastmen were full of enthusiasm, each more motivated than the last. But they had just started the first step, and the brave and skilled beastmen, who could come and go freely in the forest, all had long faces, anxiously scratching their heads.
One person couldn’t tan fourteen sheepskins. Hua Shi’an taught and coaxed them, both physically and mentally exhausted, and had a hard time himself.
After dawdling until noon, the fourteen sheepskins were finally tanned. Finally, he showed them how to fix the animal skins to a bamboo frame, and then Hua Shi’an slipped away, decisively making his escape.
He was tired when he was busy, but bored when he was idle.
After checking the smoked meat, Hua Shi’an could finally sit down and rest for a while. But he couldn’t stay idle for long. He ran back to the tree hollow, got two rolls of coir rope, two finished coir shirts, and one that was almost finished.
It was warm by the stone kiln. He found a spot where the wind couldn’t reach and sat down, slowly knitting the coir shirt.
He had been knitting whenever he had some free time these past few days and had managed to knit two and a half pieces, but unfortunately, none of them were his own. He still had debts to pay. Two were for Chang Yueyue and Hong Yinglan, who had tied for first place in the last plant competition, and the other was for—
“Lord Priest, Lord Priest!”
He had just knitted two rows when a loud shout came from behind.
Hua Shi’an turned his head to see Ju Ming holding a bamboo frame with a fixed sheepskin, stumbling towards him from the camp.
The red sheep were large, so the sheepskin was also a circle larger. The bamboo frame that fixed the sheepskin was only bigger, not smaller. Holding such a large thing, Hua Shi’an was really afraid he would fall.
Fortunately, the beastman knew what he was doing. He didn’t run too fast and finally reached him safely.
“Lord Priest, look, it’s, it’s fixed!” Ju Ming was a little excited, panting heavily, and looking at him with a smile.
He didn’t know what he was so excited about. Hua Shi’an was knitting his coir shirt. He took a moment to glance at him and gave him a puzzled look. “If it’s fixed, then just leave it to dry. Why did you bring it to me? To show me?”
Ju Ming nodded vigorously. “Lord Priest, look. You tanned three, right? This is one of them.”
The sheepskin was stretched straight. The side facing Hua Shi’an was the one without fur. The surface was smooth, with almost no knife marks. It was a very complete and perfect sheepskin. Hua Shi’an glanced at it casually and became even more confused. “I’ve seen it. And then?”
“Well, it’s just, it’s just… I, I want…” Ju Ming chuckled twice, seemingly not knowing how to start. He was fidgety and stammered, unable to form a complete sentence for a long time.
Hua Shi’an’s hand, which was knitting the coir shirt, paused slightly. He looked up at him. “Say what you want to say. We’ve known each other for more than a day. You’re still being shy.”
He was encouraged. Ju Ming took a deep breath. “Then I’ll be direct, Lord Priest. It’s my first time tanning sheepskin. I, I’m not very skilled. I accidentally scraped through the sheepskin when I was scraping the fat. There are a few small holes. I was thinking, since you tanned three, can I exchange one of yours?”
“So that’s what you were after.” Hua Shi’an chuckled softly and asked for the reason, “Several beastmen have scraped through theirs. A few small holes won’t affect its use. Why do you have to exchange it?”
“It’s a long story.”
Ju Ming was no longer joking. He sat down beside Hua Shi’an, holding the bamboo frame, his expression serious and earnest. “The day after the disaster was supposed to be the day my mate and I moved in together and officially became mates. I had prepared the animal skin, stone knife, and bone necklace, and was just waiting for her. But that night, the disaster came first.”
“Fortunately, both she and I survived and followed the tribe into the Giant Tree Forest. But the things I had prepared for her… were all gone. Starting over in the Giant Tree Forest, we couldn’t even fill our stomachs. I had nothing to give her. Now that I’ve finally gotten an animal skin, I’ve scraped a few holes in it.”
“Lord Priest, it’s the first time I’m giving her something. I want to give her a better, more complete animal skin.” Ju Ming looked at Hua Shi’an with pleading eyes, his gaze filled with deep anticipation and an unyielding obsession.
Who could refuse such a reason?
Hua Shi’an helplessly rubbed his temples. He neither agreed nor refused, a soft laugh escaping his lips. “Those three animal skins were tanned by me, but they don’t belong to me. I can make the decision to exchange one for you, but you have to think carefully. Will your mate want a flawless animal skin, or an animal skin that you tanned for her with your own hands?”
He seemed to have never thought of it from this perspective. Ju Ming was struck by lightning, his eyes wide as he stood there, almost forgetting to breathe.
Hua Shi’an continued to knit his coir shirt and added nonchalantly, “When you give someone something, you also have to think about what she really wants. If it were me, a thousand good things are not as good as something made by my mate’s own hands.”
It wasn’t that he was being stingy and unwilling to exchange it. This was his sincere advice.
The camp behind him suddenly became lively. The sound of voices and footsteps was endless. Hua Shi’an looked back to see that the gathering team had returned with dry firewood and wild vegetables.
It was just in time. Hua Shi’an put down his bamboo needle, cupped his hands to his mouth like a trumpet, and shouted, “Yan Zhile, Hong Yinglan, Chang Yueyue, come here for a moment.”
The sub-beastmen who had been called looked around. Seeing Hua Shi’an on the grass, their eyes lit up. They quickly took off the heavy back baskets on their backs and trotted over.
They had just returned to the camp and were called over. Without even catching their breath, the three sub-beastmen sat down on the ground, panting heavily.
The chatterbox Yan Zhile couldn’t stay still. As soon as he had recovered, he grabbed Hua Shi’an’s arm and panted, “What, what’s wrong, Lord Priest? Did you suddenly realize you can’t live without us? We’ll stay for a while, we won’t go out. We’ll stay and help, okay?”
“Take a break, you.” Hua Shi’an stuffed a bamboo tube with clear water into his hands.
Yan Zhile chuckled, took a sip from the bamboo tube, and then handed it to Hong Yinglan. At the same time, he finally noticed the dazed Ju Ming beside him, and the bamboo frame with the sheepskin in his hands.
“Wow!” Yan Zhile exclaimed, scrambling up from the ground and coming to the bamboo frame to examine it carefully. “Is this a tanned animal skin? It’s so smooth, so big, even bigger than the Lord Priest’s! And this fur, it’s so thick. It must be very warm to wear in winter.”
“It’s so thick when it’s wet. It must be even thicker when it’s dry.”
“It feels very soft to the touch. It’s so nice. I wish I were a beastman.”
Hong Yinglan and Chang Yueyue also came over, staring at the animal skin and sighing with envy.
Looking at the three of them, their hands reaching out and then retracting, Hua Shi’an lifted his chin slightly and chuckled in a low voice, “If you want to touch it, then touch it. It was meant for you guys anyway. Just don’t get it dirty. I’m too lazy to wash it.”
“Can we? Then I’ll just touch it a little.”
Yan Zhile only heard half of it and ran over, staring at the animal skin without blinking. But just as his fingertip was about to touch the sheepskin, he suddenly reacted. He quickly withdrew his hand and looked at Hua Shi’an in disbelief. “For who? For us?”
“Lord Priest, don’t tease us.” Hong Yinglan also reacted, her long eyelashes trembling, her lips pressed into a straight line. “There are only fourteen animal skins in total. How could it be our turn?”
He had finally finished knitting. Hua Shi’an cut the coir rope with a stone knife and tucked the end into the stitches. Only then did he look up at the three of them and say unhurriedly, “That’s right. There are fourteen animal skins in total. One for each beastman, one for the chief, and isn’t there one left over?”
“You’ve been working with me all these days. You’ve worked harder and are more tired than others. I’ve already spoken to the chief. This sheepskin is for the three of you. You can cut it into three pieces after it’s dry, one small piece for each of you, or you can take turns using it, one person per day.”
“Anyway… wait, wait.” Almost forgetting the other person, Hua Shi’an turned to Ju Ming and raised an eyebrow. “Well, have you decided? To exchange or not?”
He seemed to have made up his mind long ago. Ju Ming decisively shook his head. “I’m not exchanging it, Lord Priest. You’re right. I know my mate. She would rather have an animal skin that I tanned for her with my own hands than a flawless one.”
“That’s more like it. You have to have confidence in yourself.”
Hua Shi’an took the bamboo frame from Ju Ming’s hands and handed it to the three sub-beastmen, saying quite solemnly, “It’s yours now. You can use it however you want.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the sub-beastmen’s cheers shot up to the sky.
“Really? Am I dreaming? We actually get a sheepskin.”
“Heavens, I can also have an animal skin for the winter. I can also have an animal skin!”
“There’s meat to eat when you follow the Lord Priest. Lord Priest, Lord Priest…” Yan Zhile was like a madman. He turned and threw himself at Hua Shi’an, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Lord Priest, you’re so good. How can you be so good? I want to be your mate!”
He was clinging to him like an octopus. Hua Shi’an looked disgusted and decisively pushed him away. “Go, go, you’re getting all your stinky sweat on me.”
“Hehe, hehehe!” Yan Zhile was overjoyed. He spun around like an ant and then came to the sheepskin again, murmuring to himself, “Hehe, a sheepskin. I have a sheepskin too!”
Yan Zhile was like he had gone mad, but Hong Yinglan’s eyes had quietly turned red.
She held the bamboo frame and looked at Hua Shi’an, tears glistening in her eyes, her lips trembling slightly. “Thank you, Lord Priest. You, you’re really too good to us. We’ll still work with you next year.”
“Thank you, thank you, Lord Priest,” Chang Yueyue said sincerely and earnestly, unable to hide her joy.
“Alright, alright. No need to thank me. This is the reward you’ve earned with your sweat.”
He had only fought for a small right for them, but the sub-beastmen’s grateful gazes made Hua Shi’an’s scalp tingle. He just wanted this to be over quickly. Hua Shi’an picked up the coir shirts beside him and handed them to the two girls.
His skills were really limited. The coir shirts had no sleeves and were knitted in the style of a vest.
The two thick shoulder straps would make the clothes fit better and not fall off easily while working. And the stitches in the middle were very dense, the coir rope intertwined so tightly that no wind could get through. Not only could it keep them warm, but it could also protect the girls’ privacy.
Holding the clothes and sizing them up, the two girls couldn’t put them down. Yan Zhile was so jealous he was pouting and making a face. He only stopped after pestering Hua Shi’an to promise to teach him how to knit.
The other, larger coir shirt was also finished, but unfortunately, its owner had not yet returned.
Hua Shi’an looked down at the coir shirt, the smile in his eyes gradually turning into worry.
“Lord Priest, look over there. Isn’t that Yan Qiuyu and the big oaf?”
A huge stone was thrown into the calm lake, and ripples spread out layer by layer. Hua Shi’an suddenly looked up and, following Yan Zhile’s finger, the gray winter suddenly became bright and brilliant.
