Chapter 39
In the misty morning, the green grassy riverbank was bustling with activity.
The beastmen and sub-beastmen who had woken up early were squatting in a row along the riverbank, shoulder to shoulder, scooping water to wash their faces and brushing their teeth with willow branches, trying to clean themselves up as much as possible.
There were too many people. Hua Shi’an stood on the riverbank with his mouthwash cup and toothbrush. He had intended to go down when there were fewer people, but just then, Yan Zhile, who was brushing his teeth with no proper form, shaking his head and looking around, saw him and quickly waved.
“Lord Priest, over here, over here!”
A simple greeting would have been fine, but the sub-beastman insisted on inviting him to wash up with them.
Seeing that there was no empty space next to him, he elbowed the beastman beside him and said matter-of-factly, “Move over a little, move that way, and make a spot for the Lord Priest.”
The riverbank was crowded. One person moving wouldn’t make a space, so one person led a group of people, and they all moved downstream, forcing an empty spot.
Hua Shi’an, who had no intention of joining the fun: …
The spot was already empty. He couldn’t let them have gone to all that trouble for nothing. Hua Shi’an thanked the tribe members, picked up his bamboo tube, and walked down the slope, squatting beside Yan Zhile to scoop water and brush his teeth.
The chatterbox couldn’t stay quiet for a moment. Yan Zhile brushed his teeth with a willow branch while whispering in Hua Shi’an’s ear, “I didn’t see you last night. They said you went back to the tree hollow in the afternoon. Did the Lord Priest sleep from the afternoon until now? That’s amazing!”
Is sleeping for a long time also considered amazing?
The way he chatted, Hua Shi’an couldn’t respond. He just grunted in acknowledgment and asked in return, “I was sleeping. Did you need me for something?”
It was a casual question, but to his surprise, Yan Zhile immediately nodded. “Yes! Have you forgotten, Lord Priest? It’s that, that competition where whoever finds a useful plant gets a reward! We’ve found new plants these past few days. I found two kinds myself, but unfortunately, you weren’t in the tribe.”
He hadn’t received any plants for a while, and Hua Shi’an had indeed almost forgotten about this competition.
Hearing Yan Zhile mention it, his interest was piqued again. He spat out the mouthwash in his mouth and said with a straight face, “I haven’t forgotten. I remember. Let’s eat first. After we eat, bring your things and wait for me in the camp.”
“Mm-hm!” Yan Zhile nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
After washing up and returning to the tree hollow, he drank a cup of sweet blueberry honey water and ate some pine nuts and chestnuts to fill his stomach before leisurely walking to the camp.
The sky was gradually brightening. The tribe members who had finished breakfast began to get busy, preparing to go out. There was no need to search. As soon as Hua Shi’an arrived at the camp, he saw a few restless sub-beastmen by the fire.
Yan Zhile, Hong Yinglan, Chang Yueyue, and a man and a woman, sub-beastmen whose names Hua Shi’an couldn’t recall at the moment.
They were looking around, their expressions slightly anxious, as if they had been waiting for a long time. Seeing this, Hua Shi’an stopped dawdling and quickened his pace, trotting forward. “Morning. Why are you guys so early? Have you had breakfast?”
“Lord Priest!”
“Morning, Lord Priest.”
The sub-beastmen sitting on the stones stood up in unison and greeted him.
It seemed that only Yan Zhile had heard what he said. He chuckled twice. “We’ve eaten! The pine nut shells are hard, so we just changed back to our beast form and cracked them with our teeth. That’s why we ate so quickly.”
Changed back to their beast form to crack pine nuts? Hua Shi’an was taken aback.
No wonder they were so fast. A squirrel’s sharp teeth were perfect for cracking nuts.
It was getting late, and they had to go out soon. Seeing that Hua Shi’an had suddenly fallen silent, Hong Yinglan coughed and reminded him gently, “Shi’an, we should be going to pick pine cones soon.”
Almost led astray by Yan Zhile, Hua Shi’an promptly reined in his wandering thoughts and slapped his forehead. “Let’s go. Let’s make it quick. Everyone, take them out and let’s have a look.”
“Yay!”
“Lord Priest, take a look.”
Yan Zhile was the most excited. Hua Shi’an had thought he had found something good, but when he opened the leaf—two blades of grass.
One was an unknown weed, and the other was plantain.
Plantain was a traditional Chinese medicine with effects such as clearing heat and promoting diuresis, and relieving coughs and phlegm.
It was actually very useful, but Hua Shi’an’s expectations had been raised, so he was inevitably a little disappointed.
The other two less familiar sub-beastmen had each found one plant. The one the boy handed over was a few wild fruits, reddish-purple wild fruits. Their shape was very special, oval. Hua Shi’an recognized them at a glance: mulberries, the fruit of the mulberry tree.
The plant the girl found was large, like a potato. It must have been a tuber dug from the soil. But it was much larger than a potato, oblate, with a pitted and rough surface. At first glance, you would think it was a tree root.
He looked at it for a long time but couldn’t recognize it. It wasn’t until the girl said her hands were very itchy after touching the plant that Hua Shi’an had a sudden realization. It was a member of the generally toxic Araceae family—konjac.
The next contestant, Hong Yinglan, submitted two plants. One was the alfalfa they had picked by the river before, a repeat, which was disqualified. The other was the leafy vegetable that Hua Shi’an had thought of when he was making up a story to fool the tribe members, the prototype of Rangrang.
He had once said that Rangrang was a wild vegetable that symbolized hope.
So what wild vegetable symbolized hope? Of course, it was the one with extremely strong growth and regeneration abilities, which could be harvested again and again… as long as it wasn’t uprooted, it could grow indefinitely—chives!
From hope to disappointment, and with a handful of chives, Hua Shi’an saw hope again. This was truly a great surprise! Not only were chives delicious, but they were also very nutritious. Hua Shi’an was overjoyed and almost declared Hong Yinglan the winner on the spot.
It was a good thing he held back, because the last contestant brought out the trump card.
The small fruit lay in her palm. At a glance, Hua Shi’an almost thought he was hallucinating. The “fruit” was yellowish-green, fresh and tender, about the size of a little finger joint, and also shaped like a little finger, thin and long, with a pointed tip.
He looked again to be sure.
Fearing his eyes were playing tricks on him, Hua Shi’an rubbed his eyes and looked again, but the fresh and tender “fruit” still lay peacefully in Chang Yueyue’s palm.
To search high and low for something only to find it when you least expect it.
This was the seasoning he had been longing for—chili peppers! Wild mountain peppers!
Without bothering to explain to the crowd, Hua Shi’an grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth on the spot. It wasn’t until he tasted a strong and stimulating spicy flavor that he truly felt that he had found chili peppers.
Finally… the days of bland soup and water are finally over.
After the excitement, Hua Shi’an was troubled by how to rank them.
Personally, chili peppers would definitely be number one. This aggressive flavor was enough to change the taste of all food, making it more delicious and flavorful. It was the most important seasoning now.
But there were no chili peppers in the Clear Sky Forest. Having never tasted them, Hua Shi’an was not sure if the tribe members would like them. And chives were nutritious and delicious, and also represented Rangrang, which had a different meaning for the tribe.
After pondering for a moment, his chin in his hand, Hua Shi’an looked up at the five enthusiastic contestants and said quite solemnly, “Except for some weeds, the plants you all found this time are very useful, especially the chives and chili peppers. I can’t choose which one is better, so Hong Yinglan and Chang Yueyue, you are tied for first place.”
“Tied for first place? Do they both get a reward?”
He had known he had no chance when he saw Hua Shi’an’s expression just now, but Yan Zhile was no longer the same Yan Zhile as before. Even though he had been eliminated, he was still very interested in this competition, especially… the reward.
Speaking of the reward, Hua Shi’an coughed lightly into his fist. “Yes, both of them can get a reward, but the reward will be owed for now. I haven’t made anything good yet.”
“Wow, is that so? Then thank you, Lord Priest.” Hong Yinglan couldn’t hide her excitement and laughed out loud.
Chang Yueyue had a calmer personality and was much more composed. She also nodded and thanked him, “Thank you, Lord Priest.”
The sub-beastmen who had no chance of getting a reward were not discouraged either, because they knew that finding more food was not only beneficial to the Lord Priest alone, but to the tribe, to each and every one of them.
It was almost dawn. The gathering team led by Chief Mu and the hunting team led by Hong Yong had already put on their back baskets and were ready to set off.
Without having time to learn about the use and edibility of the plants, the few sub-beastmen were in a hurry to go out to work and quickly waved goodbye to Hua Shi’an:
“We have to go out now. I’ll go get my back basket first.”
“See you tonight, Lord Priest.”
“No need for tonight. We still have to bring back pine cones later.”
“Hey!”
Withdrawing his gaze from the distance, Hua Shi’an called out to the sub-beastmen who had not yet gone far, “The rest of you can go and get busy. Yan Zhile and Hong Yinglan, you two stay behind.”
As if they had guessed why they were being asked to stay, the sub-beastmen who had not been called sighed silently and left with regret. And Hong Yinglan and Yan Zhile, who had been called, looked at each other and ran back to Hua Shi’an, overjoyed.
“Hehe, Lord Priest!”
Yan Zhile’s mouth was almost grinning from ear to ear. He grabbed Hua Shi’an’s arm and shook it left and right, muttering coquettishly, “It’s so good to be with you. We don’t have to go out to work.”
So he just wanted to be lazy? Hua Shi’an smiled. “You just don’t have to go out. You still have to work. Everyone is busy. We can’t just lie in our tree hollows and sleep all day, can we?”
“I know, I was just saying,” Yan Zhile pouted.
“Are you going to take us to make something again?” Hong Yinglan had a vague guess, but she didn’t know what it was and looked around curiously.
Bamboo utensils? Jam? Yan Zhile looked around but couldn’t figure it out. He quickly asked Hua Shi’an, “What are we making, what are we making? I’m full of energy now.”
Hua Shi’an smiled without saying a word, beckoned to the two of them, and then started walking towards the corner where the back baskets were placed.
He lifted the coir sheet, and the large pieces of compressed comb residue in the back basket came into view. Yan Zhile didn’t recognize it as a honeycomb at first. It took him a few seconds to slowly react, “Oh? Is that, that flying bug’s nest, the honeycomb, flattened?”
“That’s right,” Hua Shi’an nodded.
Hong Yinglan leaned in and looked, then poked the piece of comb residue on the surface. “But what can this be used for? Didn’t the Lord Priest say it’s not edible?”
Hua Shi’an: “It’s not for eating. I’m going to teach you how to make—candles.”
