Chapter 20
Lang Shuo had deliberately lightened his movements just now, and the young wolves were concentrating on waiting for the meat to roast. Even when Lang Shuo walked up beside them, they still did not notice. After all, Lang Shuo was a trustworthy member. The young wolves were not guarded against familiar scents.
When they heard Lang Yun’s question, the young wolves still did not pay attention. The cooking area was only so big, so it was normal for Lang Yun’s voice to travel over from the other side.
On the first day they secretly roasted meat, they had still been very cautious and had specially left one person to watch the surroundings. In the end, that day, Lang Shuo had been teaching everyone how to make cages, and the idle members had all gone over to watch.
Afterward, the group of sub-adults discovered that in the entire tribe, no one cared how long this bunch of rice buckets roasted meat. Their courage grew. When roasting their own food, they began roasting the Black Wolf Tribe’s too. At first, they only put out a little. Then, after everyone returned to the cave to rest, they took out the rest.
These past two days, the sub-adults of the Black Wolf Tribe had become more and more capable of eating. Today, they had brought a full four back baskets of meat. The young wolves could only hide most of it outside first, then secretly bring back one basket while washing the tools. As for the other two baskets, they would find an excuse to bring them back later.
They were roasting enthusiastically on this side when they suddenly heard Lang Shuo’s voice beside them. The whole group of young wolves froze on the spot.
Lang Nuo reacted the fastest. However, he was closest to Lang Shuo, so he did not dare move at all. After all, Lang Shuo had been relying entirely on crutches to move recently and was unsteady when walking. If Lang Nuo moved too much and knocked Lang Shuo over, the consequences would be unimaginable. Forget Lang Yu—his companions beside him could tear him apart first.
The other sub-adults were not as close, but with Lang Shuo looking at them, they were caught between hiding and not hiding.
Lang Shuo looked at the group of young wolves and asked, “Confess and be treated leniently, or resist and be treated harshly?”
Lang Nuo slowly turned around and asked seriously, “How lenient is confession? How harsh is resistance?”
He wanted to compare and choose.
Lang Shuo said, “If you confess, I won’t punish you this time. As for resisting, then starting today, we eat separately.”
As soon as these words came out, the young wolves were collectively shocked. “No!”
Eating separately meant they would never again get to eat the food Lang Shuo prepared. How could that be allowed? Absolutely not.
Confess. Confess. They had to confess.
Lang Nuo raised the cluck-cluck bird leg in his hand. “I’ll confess.”
Lang Shuo used his crutch to push Lang Nuo and the young wolf beside him to either side, then hopped on one foot to sit between them. He took one, placed it over the fire, and slowly roasted it. “Mm. Speak. I’m listening.”
Seeing his attention on the cluck-cluck bird leg, Lang Nuo made eye contact with another sub-adult. After the two exchanged looks for a while, Lang Nuo began explaining. “This is prey we caught together with the sub-adults from the Black Wolf Tribe.”
“Mm.” Lang Shuo turned the cluck-cluck bird leg over.
Lang Nuo looked at the bird leg, which had been roasted golden, and swallowed. “The Black Wolf Tribe’s cooking doesn’t taste good, so they give us part of the food, and we help roast it. The next day, we bring it over.”
Lang Shuo took out a stone knife, made several cuts in the chicken leg, exposing the meat inside, then placed it back over the fire to roast again.
Accompanied by the sizzling sound of heating, a fragrance spread out. The young wolves even forgot to be nervous and watched Lang Shuo’s movements. It was the same ingredient, and the fire was the same fire, but why did what Lang Shuo roasted look more tempting than what they roasted?
Under Lang Shuo’s guidance, the Snow Wolf Tribe had already changed their previous crude roasting method. They no longer threw meat chunks directly into the fire. Their roasting skills had improved by a lot. Not only did the food no longer scrape the throat as much, the flavor was also much better.
The young wolves had thought their own skills were quite good. After all, the meat they roasted had become more and more popular with the black wolves. One only had to look at the increasing amount of raw ingredients every day to know how much the other side liked it.
However, at this moment, the young wolves had only one thought: compared with what Lang Shuo roasted, theirs could only be considered edible.
The golden skin curled slightly at the edges. Only the very outermost part was a little charred, but this did not affect it at all. Instead, it made the bird leg look even more tempting. The cut areas had originally been a little pale, but after being roasted a second time, the color began to deepen.
When it was almost done, Lang Shuo looked to both sides and asked, “Where’s the salt?”
One sub-adult immediately brought over the salt stored in a bamboo tube.
Lang Shuo reached out to take it. When his fingers touched the salt inside, they paused slightly. In the end, he pinched out a small amount, rubbed it between his fingers twice, and sprinkled it over the nearly roasted cluck-cluck bird leg.
Seeing the group of sub-adults all watching him, Lang Shuo blew on it twice. “Continue.”
Lang Nuo was confused. Lang Nuo was shocked.
Where had he been just now?
Hearing no voice, Lang Shuo turned the cluck-cluck bird leg in his hand twice and asked, “You’re helping the Black Wolf Tribe for free?”
He did not believe Lang Nuo could do something like that. When it came to food, this group of young wolves would not suffer even the slightest loss.
Lang Nuo looked at the bird leg Lang Shuo had roasted and suddenly felt that the one in his own hand was no longer fragrant. Dejected, he said, “After the meat is roasted, we eat half and give them half.”
Lang Shuo: “…”
A fifty-percent processing fee. This shady little workshop was quite profitable.
But what was most unbelievable was that someone had really agreed to this transaction. Lang Shuo pointed at the salt in the bamboo tube and asked, “Did the sub-adults of the Black Wolf Tribe give you this too?”
The sub-adults were shocked. How had he seen that? They had even changed it into a container from their own tribe.
The group of young wolves could not help looking toward the sub-adult who had brought the salt.
The latter panicked and hurriedly denied it. “I didn’t say anything!”
Lang Shuo: “…”
A little bit of brain, but not much.
“You all knew to change the container, but you didn’t know to grind the salt finer?”
The Snow Wolf Tribe had little salt. To make it last longer, Lang Shuo had Lang Shi grind the salt fine. The Black Wolf Tribe’s salt came in whole grains. It was more wasteful to use, and when sprinkled over meat, it always slid off.
The sub-adults looked at one another. They had only remembered to change the container to disguise it as their own tribe’s. They had never expected someone to check whether the salt had been ground.
Lang Shuo could only shake his head. They really were a bit silly.
He lowered his head to look at the roasted cluck-cluck bird leg in his hand. Perhaps because cluck-cluck birds ran for long periods of time, their meat was very firm. Lang Shuo cut off one piece and put it into his mouth right in front of the young wolves.
The young wolves watched helplessly as that piece of meat was eaten by him.
Seeing that the young wolves’ attention was all on the meat, Lang Shuo asked, “So you’ve been busy with this recently?”
After saying this, he calculated the time. Today was the sixth day. They hunted during the day, then returned at night and worked overtime roasting meat. For the sake of this bite of food, this group of young wolves really had worked hard.
There was no way to lie about this. The sub-adults nodded.
Lang Shuo coaxed out a few more details, then asked, “Do you know where you went wrong?”
Lang Nuo said, “We shouldn’t have helped them roast meat.”
Lang Shuo said, “It’s that you shouldn’t have done it secretly. Did the chief ever say you weren’t allowed to roast meat?”
The sub-adults looked at one another, then shook their heads together in the end.
Lang Shuo handed the meat he had used to tempt them to Lang Nuo and let him divide it himself. “Since that’s the case, why did you do it secretly? You could have told me, told Yun, or told the chief. Now look. When the chief comes back, we’ll see what he says.”
What the sub-adults had done was not a major problem, but it could not be overlooked either. If taken lightly, it was just a transaction between a group of greedy young wolves. If taken seriously, it was contact with another tribe without permission. This depended on how the chief viewed it.
Lang Yu was not a dictatorial chief and would not restrict the young wolves’ actions.
But the most important part of this problem was not the transaction. It was that the sub-adults of two tribes were meeting every day at a fixed time. It was fine if no other tribe knew about this, but if beastmen with ill intentions learned of it, they could easily take all the sub-adults from both tribes in one sweep.
If he and Lang Yun had not noticed something wrong, who knew how long this secret transaction would have continued?
Lang Nuo had not thought that much. Seeing that Lang Shuo was not angry, he relaxed.
However, he relaxed too soon.
Just as Lang Shuo handed him the cluck-cluck bird leg, a burst of messy footsteps came from outside, followed by Lang Shi’s voice.
“Who put meat outside? What if it gets stolen?”
Lang Nuo: “!!!”
Lang Shuo: “???”
Lang Shuo did not suspect the young wolves immediately. However, whenever Lang Nuo felt guilty, he showed it very obviously. It was hard not to notice.
Lang Shuo looked at the two back baskets opposite him that the sub-adults were desperately trying to block, then looked outside. Lang Shi was holding one large back basket in each hand. They were about the same size as the two opposite. If all of them were filled, there would probably be three or four hundred jin in total.
With complicated feelings, he asked Lang Nuo, “Are all of these to be processed?”
Lang Nuo guiltily nodded.
Lang Shuo’s mood was complicated. Divided evenly, each person had to roast forty or fifty jin. No matter who did it, they would be busy for half a day. And yet they had still agreed to it. They were truly too hardworking. Even though he knew the young wolves had astonishing perseverance when it came to food, Lang Shuo still could not help sighing at this moment.
For a moment, Lang Shuo did not know whether to feel sorry for the young wolves or sympathize with the Black Wolf Tribe. Did the chief of the Black Wolf Tribe know that his young wolves were continuously sending food outside every day?
The Black Wolf Tribe’s situation could be set aside for now. The thing to solve now was the matter of the young wolves operating without a license. Lang Shuo waved toward the hunting party. “Brother, I’m over here.”
Lang Shuo rarely called Lang Yu over, especially right after he returned to the tribe. He usually tried to let him rest a little longer. Today, however, he was acting unusually. Lang Yu instructed Lang Shi to put the meat aside first, then came over to find Lang Shuo.
Lang Shuo did not waste words and directly explained the truth. “Those two baskets, and the ones over there, are all processing orders they accepted.”
“What orders?” Lang Yu was stunned.
“They’re helping the Black Wolf Tribe process food. They’ve been doing it secretly for five days. The Black Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults give them meat, they roast it, and the next day they send it back. They take half as a processing fee.”
Lang Yu fell silent. For a long while, he did not recover from the sub-adults’ astonishing operation.
From the moment the hidden meat was discovered, the sub-adults had gone silent. Now, they looked toward Lang Shuo for help.
The two brothers looked similar, but in the young wolves’ hearts, the pressure they brought was completely different.
If they angered Lang Shuo, they would feel guilty and think they had done something wrong. At the same time, they would worry that Lang Shuo would ignore them. But if they angered the chief, their reaction was fear.
When Lang Yu acted, he was absolutely not vague. In the entire tribe, among those younger than Lang Yu, only Lang Shuo was not afraid of him.
Lang Shuo received the young wolves’ gazes and sighed in his heart. He tugged at Lang Yu’s clothes. “Brother, sit down first. My neck hurts.”
After Lang Yu sat down, the group of young wolves were obviously not as nervous as before. After all, if he was sitting, he could not immediately attack.
Lang Nuo honestly repeated what he had just told Lang Shuo.
After listening, Lang Yu looked at his worried younger brother beside him and endured without saying anything too harsh. Forget it. Sub-adults were all about equally stupid. These ones before him were already considered good. At least they had not suffered a loss.
Lang Nuo diligently offered up the cluck-cluck bird leg Lang Shuo had just roasted and specially emphasized, “Shuo roasted it.”
“How much have you roasted in total?” Lang Yu took it, glanced at the color, and confirmed it had indeed been roasted by his younger brother before taking a bite.
The young wolves had no time to feel distressed over the eaten cluck-cluck bird leg. They calculated the amount they had helped process over the past few days.
At first, it had been half a back basket. Later, a bit more was added each day. Yesterday, it had been one back basket. Today, it had increased to four back baskets.
Lang Shuo calculated it and discovered that even if the Black Wolf Tribe came over unreasonably demanding an expensive processing fee, their tribe could afford it. He relaxed slightly.
Lang Yu’s focus, however, was not this. He finished the roasted cluck-cluck bird leg in front of the young wolves and continued asking, “Where is the roasted meat you earned over the past few days? Did you eat it all?”
The young wolves nodded.
Lang Shuo was shocked. Added together, the amount was not small. Were sub-adult stomachs bottomless pits?
Thinking of the more than thirty cubs in the cave, then thinking of the few half-grown children who were about to enter the sub-adult stage, Lang Shuo did not even dare calculate the amount of food they would need.
Lang Yu, however, did not find it surprising. After all, he had gone through that age too. The greater the activity, the faster one became hungry. Previously, the sub-adults had only wandered near the settlement and still ate quite a lot of food. Now that they had just begun hunting, their harvests could not make up for the energy they lost. It was normal for them to eat more.
But having big appetites was not a reason to secretly trade with the Black Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults. The edge of the territory was already a dangerous area. These two groups of sub-adults staying there every day was simply courting death.
He had let them off lightly last time because it was their first offense. This time, he could not leave it unpunished. Otherwise, these sub-adults, whose brains existed only occasionally, would absolutely do it again.
As for how to punish them…
Lang Yu met his younger brother’s worried gaze again and shook his head, indicating that he would not use violence. After all, if they were injured, they would need to be nursed back to health.
Lang Yu thought for a moment and said, “Starting today, for the next five days, you’ll prepare your own food. Snacks are also stopped.”
Hearing this terrible news, the group of sub-adults seemed to be struck by lightning.
“What?”
The sub-adults could not believe it. Stopping the snacks Lang Shuo prepared for them was worse than beating them up.
If they were beaten, they would recover after a couple of days. They might even get fed by Lang Shuo because they were injured. But cutting off snacks for five days was far too terrifying. Not to mention, during these five days, they could only eat food they prepared themselves.
What happened to “confess and be treated leniently, resist and be treated harshly”? They had already confessed. Why did they still have to eat separately from Lang Shuo in the end?
The group of young wolves felt like the sky had collapsed and looked toward Lang Shuo for help.
This time, Lang Shuo truly had no way. This punishment was not severe. If he pleaded for them again, it would be somewhat unreasonable.
The matter was settled. The young wolves drooped in dejection. Lang Nuo was even more regretful. If he had known earlier, he would not have given Lang Yu that cluck-cluck bird leg just now. Now even his only comfort was gone.
Before they had anything roasted by Lang Shuo to compare with, they had thought what they roasted was really not bad. Now that there was a comparison, looking at what they had roasted themselves, they were dissatisfied with every part of it.
Lang Yu ignored the sub-adults’ reactions and went to divide tonight’s food after speaking. Although they had also caught food today, it was one humming beast, which was not very large. Humming beasts were smaller than long-horned beasts and curved-horned beasts, but after dividing it up, it was still enough for the whole tribe to eat.
After the members responsible for processing prey placed the cut meat together, Lang Yu said, “Take another half basket of curved-horned beast. From now on, the sub-adults will get half a basket more every day.”
When the other members heard that it was for the sub-adults, they had no objections. After all, every beastman had experienced the sub-adult stage and knew that at this age, no matter how much one ate, one could not get full. In the eyes of adult beastmen, those who had not yet become adults were all cubs. Feeding cubs was their responsibility.
Lang Shuo heard the movement over there and saw that Lang Nuo beside him was still listless. He took the opportunity to teach him. “Learn from this. Next time something happens, report it first. Understand? Think on the bright side. The chief gave you more food, so you won’t go hungry now.”
“All right.” Lang Nuo answered weakly. Just thinking that he would not have food prepared by Lang Shuo tomorrow and could only eat what he roasted himself made him feel that wolf life had no hope. Even if more food was placed in front of him, he could not get excited.
The other young wolves reacted similarly. After going around in circles, the final punishment still landed on food. This dealt a heavy blow to the group of young wolves.
Lang Shuo could not bear it a little, but no matter how distressed he felt, he could not ruin Lang Yu’s rules. He could only comfort them. “Behave better. Explain things clearly to the Black Wolf Tribe. Once these few days pass, I’ll continue preparing food for you.”
Lang Shuo rubbed the fluffy heads of the few young wolves. “All right. I’ll watch you roast today. Is that enough?”
Hearing this, the young wolves instantly recovered to full health. If Lang Shuo watched them roast it, then even if the result could not compare to Lang Shuo roasting it himself, it would still taste better than what they roasted.
Watching one sheep or a flock of sheep was all the same. Lang Shuo pointed at the baskets. “Take out that meat too. Roast it earlier today and rest earlier.”
After being instructed by Lang Shuo, the group of sub-adults immediately felt at ease and worked swiftly.
Lang Shuo watched their carefree appearance, growing happier the busier they became, and for a moment did not know what to say about them.
But they really were easy to coax. Just a few words were enough. Being around them made him forget his own worries too.
In the previous few days, when there were many people around, they would control the amount of meat they roasted, so as not to make it too obvious and be discovered by someone. This took a long time. Today, with Lang Shuo there, they directly divided the meat into three types according to chunk size: skewers, grilled meat on stone slabs, and bamboo-tube roasted meat. Three sides were busy at the same time. By the time most members had eaten and drunk their fill and returned to the cave to rest, the food on this side was already cooked.
Lang Shuo separated out one-third, then divided that one-third into one large portion and one small portion. Pointing at the smaller portion, he said, “Give these to the children who gather firewood tomorrow. Don’t treat picking up firewood as if it’s not work. Give the rest to the Black Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults. Tell them you can’t help anymore. Understand?”
Taking half the raw ingredients as processing fees was indeed a bit high. One-third was more appropriate. The larger portion counted as compensation for the difference over the past few days. As for giving some to the tribe’s children, everyone used the branches they picked up. The sub-adults had used more by roasting meat, increasing their workload. They had to be given some reward.
The young wolves obediently agreed. Because Lang Shuo had watched over them the entire night, tonight’s food tasted better than what they roasted themselves. The sub-adults’ moods all improved.
Sub-adults’ emotions came quickly and left quickly. When they set off the next day, there was no trace of yesterday’s dejection.
Lang Shuo had specially woken up a little early. Seeing them leave the settlement while playing and bickering as usual, he felt reassured.
The Snow Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults had eaten satisfactorily the night before. On top of that, they would be able to eat food prepared by Lang Shuo again after a few days. After one night, they had already accepted reality and could calmly tell their cooperative partners that the transaction was canceled.
The sub-adults of the Black Wolf Tribe, however, felt as if five thunderbolts had struck them.
Today, like the previous days, they had woken before dawn, stayed in the cave until daybreak, and as soon as the chief allowed them to set off, they immediately ran over.
The Snow Wolf Tribe’s sub-adults arrived later. Every day, they waited with longing eyes. If crossing the edge of another tribe’s territory were not a major matter, they would have wanted to wait outside the Snow Wolf Tribe’s settlement.
Today, the Snow Wolf Tribe arrived earlier than yesterday, and the black wolves immediately felt pleasantly surprised. After receiving the food, they could not wait to open it. However, before they could express their happiness, Lang Nuo spoke a piece of bad news.
“These baskets are for today. This one is compensation for the previous few days. Shuo said taking half is too black-hearted, so we can only take one-third. Today is the last day of the transaction. We won’t roast meat anymore after this.” Lang Nuo pointed at the baskets as he spoke.
Lang Yong no longer even cared about eating meat. “What happened? Why won’t you continue?”
They had brought even more meat today than yesterday. How could they just stop roasting?
Lang Nuo sighed. “The chief found out. We almost got beaten. Luckily, Shuo was there, so he only punished us by not letting us eat food made by Lang Shuo for the next few days.”
When Lang Yong heard the word “food,” he automatically skipped the first half of the sentence. “Food made by Shuo is very delicious?”
“Of course—” Lang Nuo stopped abruptly halfway through speaking and looked at Lang Yong suspiciously. “Why are you asking that?”
“I envy you,” Lang Yong said honestly. “The members of our tribe don’t roast food well.”
It would be great if their tribe also had a member who cooked delicious food.
“Oh.” Lang Nuo carefully observed Lang Yong and the other black wolves’ reactions. After discovering that they were indeed envious, he felt relieved. As long as they were not here to steal Lang Shuo from them, it was fine. The group of crawling cubs in the tribe and those pitiful little brats had already taken up more than half of Lang Shuo’s time. They could not have more wolves coming.
Lang Nuo became a bit more cautious and did not mention Lang Shuo again. But when the two of them brought up Lang Shuo, another sub-adult could not hold back and bragged to Lang Yong, “Lang Shuo watched us roast these today. They’re even better than before.”
Lang Yong opened it. The color was indeed different from before. It looked extremely tempting. They had roasted so much, yet none of it was burnt.
However, the better today’s finished food was, the more uncomfortable the group of sub-adult black wolves felt. After eating this meal, they would never be able to eat it again. Thinking of this, sorrow rose from their hearts.
This sorrow continued until they returned to the tribe at dusk. They had been too upset during the day and had barely eaten the meat in the back baskets. The raw ingredients they had brought out in the morning were also still there. Added to the two prey animals they had caught because they were too angry today, there was not a single person in the entire team whose hands were empty.
Because they carried so many things, the sub-adults returned late. When they arrived at the tribe, the other teams had already returned, and the entire tribe’s members were present.
Catching prey was something worth being happy about. However, looking at the expressions on these sub-adults’ faces, no one could say the word “happy.” The other members could not help feeling puzzled.
“What happened?” Lang Qi was directing several members to carry prey. Seeing the group of sighing sub-adults, he found it very strange.
This group of sub-adults could be unhappy? How rare. It had always been them making others unhappy.
Lang Yan was not far from him. Hearing this, he glanced toward the sub-adults, focusing on the back baskets behind them, and calmly said, “Their transaction with another tribe’s young wolves was discovered. No one will help them roast meat anymore.”
“Oh?” Lang Qi looked over again, counted the number of back baskets, and immediately laughed.
A group of sub-adults who never thought about anything besides eating had been rushing outside every day the moment they opened their eyes, thinking themselves clever as they divided meat into several portions and carried it out. Lang Yan had discovered it on the first day. Later, Lang Qi and the other members also noticed something was wrong.
In the entire Black Wolf Tribe, only this group of sub-adults and the cubs in the cave did not know that the sub-adults’ transaction had long been exposed.
More than twenty sub-adults left the tribe every day with their bellies bulging. Who would not take a few more looks at that?
