Chapter 37
Although he hadn’t been in this world for long, Hua Shi’an had clearly realized that he had developed a strong sense of belonging to this poor and backward tribe, to his own dim and narrow tree hollow.
The tree hollow was simple, and “bare-walled” was an understatement. It was even worse than a mountain cave. But strangely, as soon as he pushed open the bamboo door and entered the tree hollow, Hua Shi’an felt incredibly relaxed, an indescribable warmth and comfort enveloping him.
As the old saying goes, there’s no place like home.
He really wanted to lie down in his “doghouse” and have a good sleep, but unfortunately, it wasn’t the time.
Hua Shi’an looked around his small and cozy tree hollow, threw the heavy coir bag with the stone knives and axes on the bamboo table, and then turned and squeezed out of the tree hollow again.
On the other side of the crooked-necked tree, Chief Mu was squatting in Hua Shi’an’s vegetable patch, staring at a few lush blueberry bushes.
His attention was entirely on the blueberries. He didn’t even notice when Hua Shi’an approached until he spoke, “What are you looking at, Chief?”
“Oh my heavens!” Chief Mu was so startled he almost fell on his behind. When he turned and saw Hua Shi’an, he patted his chest and let out a long sigh of relief. “Why do you walk so quietly? You’re so scary.”
Hua Shi’an shrugged and deliberately teased him, “How can you blame me for that? Chief, you should look for the reason in yourself. You can be scared in broad daylight. I’m afraid you’ve done something wrong.”
Chief Mu was so angry he laughed. “Your mouth is getting sharper and sharper. Where would I do anything wrong? I’m here looking at the blueberries you planted. They’re growing so well, the leaves are even more lush than the blueberries in the forest.”
“Yes, they are indeed growing better than in the forest.”
Hua Shi’an walked around to Chief Mu’s side and looked at the lush blueberry bushes. “Blueberries like moisture. It has been less rainy recently, and the forest is relatively dry, so the leaves tend to turn yellow and fall off. The ones planted in front of the house are different. They can be watered at any time, so they grow better.”
Chief Mu understood and nodded. Then, as if he had thought of something, he looked around and suddenly said, “Huh? Why are there only blueberries? Didn’t you also plant that ginger? Where did you plant it? Let me see.”
“There.” Hua Shi’an pointed to a few rows of soil without any green, a sigh escaping his lips. “The ginger was just planted and hasn’t sprouted from the soil yet. Whether it can survive or not depends on whether it can grow seedlings before winter.”
“It seems that planting is not an easy task!” Chief Mu shook his head and sighed, then chased after Hua Shi’an and asked, “The potato you gave me just now…”
Before he could finish, Hua Shi’an shook his head. “It’s getting colder and colder, and winter will be here soon. Potatoes, like ginger, are not cold-resistant. They won’t survive the winter if they’re planted now.”
“Let’s wait. After winter, in the spring of next year.”
A gentle breeze blew. Looking at the gradually yellowing grass under the sun, Hua Shi’an squinted his eyes comfortably and murmured as if to himself, “Next year, when the land thaws, we’ll reclaim a few plots of land over there for planting. It might be hard for a while, but when it’s time to harvest, our tribe will no longer have to worry about food.”
They had strayed into the Giant Tree Forest, thinking it was a dead end, but it turned out to be a new beginning.
Under the leadership of the Lord Priest, they rebuilt their homes and found new food.
Life was getting better and better. They no longer had to go hungry. Perhaps in the near future, they could even live a more comfortable and stable life than before.
Chief Mu followed Hua Shi’an and looked at the meadow, smiling with satisfaction. But as he smiled, a touch of sadness appeared in his eyes, and his wrinkled cheeks were covered with worry.
The natural disaster had taken away too many relatives and companions. If only the others were still alive. They had never eaten pine nuts, had never tasted honey, had never—
“Let’s go, Chief!”
A soft call interrupted his wandering thoughts. Chief Mu turned around to see Hua Shi’an, who had been standing beside him, had walked into the glade and was standing in the sunlight. He waved his hands in the air and urged with a smile, “Aren’t you going to get something for me? Hurry up, Chief.”
As if infected by that smile, Chief Mu also smiled. “Coming!”
Hua Shi’an didn’t know what he was going to get. After they had finished talking about the potatoes, he was about to go back to the tree hollow to catch up on sleep when Chief Mu pulled him aside and mysteriously said that he had something good for him.
He had thought they were going to the chief’s tree hollow to get it, but after walking a short distance from the crooked-necked tree, Chief Mu led Hua Shi’an on a slow stroll to the foot of another thick giant redwood tree.
Like the other trees around it, this tree also had a tree hollow chiseled at its base, with a bamboo door at the entrance. But no one lived in this tree hollow, because it was one of the tribe’s food storage warehouses.
Withered leaves were used as a base, and coir sheets were spread on the ground to prevent moisture. Shelled chestnuts and dried pine nuts were piled up in the tree hollow. In addition, there were some small stone pots, empty bamboo tubes, coir ropes, and stones that had not yet been made into stone tools on both sides of the entrance.
There were several such warehouses around, but unfortunately, not all of them were as full as this one.
There were many things in the tree hollow. Chief Mu lay on his stomach at the entrance, his upper body reaching into the tree hollow to rummage. Hua Shi’an stepped back to the side and waited.
He could actually vaguely guess what he was going to get. It was probably the plants that the tribe members had found in the forest these past two days, which he had to identify.
He was quite looking forward to it. After all, one more plant meant one more possibility.
It seemed he hadn’t guessed wrong. In just a minute or two, Chief Mu came out of the tree hollow, pounding his waist, and stood up with three arm-sized bamboo tubes.
He had a smile on his face. He handed one of the bamboo tubes to Hua Shi’an and said with a hint of pride, “Open it and see for yourself. This thing is no worse than your potato. It’s simply to die for. We ate it the other day. This portion is for you. The other two are for Yan Qiuyu and the big oaf, Mo Huaishan.”
He had learned from the best. The bamboo tube that Chief Mu handed over also had a lid made of coir sheets. But before he even lifted the lid, Hua Shi’an knew what was inside just by holding the bamboo tube. His hand holding the bamboo tube trembled slightly.
Lifting the simple coir lid, a strong, gamey smell rushed to his face. It was like being instantly teleported to a butcher’s stall in a market and licking the chopping block where they chopped bones and cut meat. The gamey and bloody smells were intertwined, and he could even faintly smell a hint of grass.
This smell… Hua Shi’an’s brow furrowed slightly. He held his breath and took a look. The bamboo tube was filled with meat, chopped into small pieces, mostly lean, like the meat and bones of a bovine or ovine animal.
He couldn’t tell what kind of animal it was, but he could smell it. This strong, gamey smell was clearly mutton! Hua Shi’an was both surprised and delighted. He suddenly looked up and pointed at the bamboo tube, quickly confirming with Chief Mu, “Chief, does this beast have a white or brown coat, and two sharp horns on its head?”
“You even know that?” Chief Mu’s eyes widened in surprise.
Hua Shi’an: “White or brown?”
Chief Mu: “White, snow white, and two hard horns on its head. Did the stranger tell you about this beast? What’s it called?”
“A goat, a mountain goat.” Hua Shi’an excitedly clutched the bamboo tube and then asked, “Where did you catch it? This kind of beast is agile and fast. It shouldn’t be easy to catch, right?”
Chief Mu patted Hua Shi’an’s shoulder and laughed heartily. “We have you to thank for being able to eat such delicious beast meat, Shi’an. It’s all thanks to the trap you taught the big oaf to dig.”
“After learning how to make a trap from the big oaf, Hong Yong also led people to dig a few in the forest. There had been no activity for a while, and we had almost forgotten about it. But on the night you guys left, coincidentally, the trap was triggered, and that beast called a mountain goat was trapped in the pit!”
“None of us had ever seen this kind of beast, so we didn’t know if it was edible. We were originally thinking of waiting for you to come back, but, but…” Chief Mu’s gaze flickered, and his expression became a little unnatural as he stammered, “It had been too long since we’d had beast meat. We accidentally, couldn’t hold back.”
Hua Shi’an burst out laughing. “I can understand. Fish meat can’t completely replace beast meat. Not having meat for a long time can indeed make people feel uncomfortable, a feeling of being out of sorts.”
“Right!” Chief Mu immediately agreed. “I had that feeling too, so, so we ate it first. But we didn’t forget you guys. We specially saved some meat for you. That mountain goat wasn’t very big. After removing the head, skin, and internal organs, there wasn’t much meat left. Everyone only had a few pieces.”
Removed the head, skin, and internal organs? The smile in Hua Shi’an’s eyes gradually faded, and he quickly asked, “The goat’s head, skin, and internal organs, were they all thrown away?”
“No,” Chief Mu waved his hand.
Hua Shi’an breathed a sigh of relief. “Then—”
Before the word “good” could be pronounced, Chief Mu added, “The head and internal organs were thrown away. You said before that they couldn’t be eaten. What’s the point of keeping them? I saw that the skin was thick and soft, so I couldn’t bear to throw it away. I dried it in the sun for two days and put it in the tree hollow. Oh right, I’ll give it to you for your bed.”
After speaking, Chief Mu put down the bamboo tube, turned around, and started rummaging in the tree hollow again.
But Hua Shi’an stood there blankly, an echo in his mind:
Goat head and offal, thrown away, thrown away…
A heavier, gamey smell disturbed his thoughts. By the time Hua Shi’an came to his senses, an almost complete, yellowish-white sheepskin was spread out in front of him.
It hadn’t been tanned and had just been dried in the sun for two days. The sheepskin had a strong, gamey smell and was very unpleasant. The fur was stained with blood and was not soft at all. It was just a hard “cardboard.”
“What are you standing there for? Take it.” Chief Mu’s hand was almost sore from holding it up. He simply stuffed it into Hua Shi’an’s hands. “It looks a bit hard, but the fur on the outside is still very soft. Take it back for your bed.”
The gamey smell went straight to his head. Hua Shi’an turned his face away and took a deep breath of fresh air. “Sheepskin is a good thing. You’re just giving it to me like this? Actually, there’s a way to make it soft. Not only can it be used for a bed, but it can also be made into a beast skin skirt and warm clothes.”
“A good thing?” Chief Mu laughed. “It’s because it’s a good thing that I’m giving it to you. Keep it well. Whether it’s for a bed or for making clothes, you can decide for yourself. But remember to show it to me when you’re done.”
Hua Shi’an no longer refused and smiled, pursing his lips. “Then I won’t be polite. Thank you, Chief.”
“Don’t be so polite,” Chief Mu picked up the bamboo tube again and pushed Hua Shi’an back. “Let’s go, let’s go. It’s getting late. You should hurry up and cook the meat. After you eat, have a good sleep. I’ll take these two portions of meat to them, and then I should go out and pick pine cones.”
Hua Shi’an grunted in acknowledgment and walked back to the camp with Chief Mu.
He wasn’t idle on the way. He walked and at the same time, told Chief Mu which animals’ internal organs were edible and which were not.
Since there were mountain goats in the forest, there must be other omnivorous mammals.
To prevent the tribe members from rushing up to a tiger or a lion, Hua Shi’an also took the opportunity to introduce the chief to some animals that might appear in the forest, such as tigers, lions, wild oxen, wild boars, deer, roe deer…
Chief Mu listened with great interest, but the more Hua Shi’an spoke, the stranger he felt.
By the way, what was the standard for beastmen transformation in this world? Squirrels could turn into humans, and black panthers and goshawks could also turn into humans. Then… why couldn’t goats?
It was something beyond the scope of science, beyond his understanding. Hua Shi’an didn’t want to investigate.
He was just afraid that the meat in the bamboo tube, which looked like mutton, was actually…
Damn! Too creepy.
