Chapter 11
Although the tribe had decided to produce beef and pork jerky, hunting and gathering couldn’t stop. The workload for everyone suddenly increased.
Aside from the youngest children who had just learned to walk, everyone else pitched in to help. Some were cutting meat, others were gathering firewood, while others were assisting with drying the meat. In short, everyone was doing as much as they could to contribute.
The more jerky they made, the more supplies they could trade for.
Bai An brought out the remaining salt from the tribe’s stores—less than six bowls in total. This was the salt the tribe had painstakingly saved by rationing it to the smallest possible amounts. It was their emergency reserve, saved for times when the tribe couldn’t gather enough food to venture out for trade, as the journey to the market took over ten days during which they couldn’t hunt.
Since salt was such a precious resource, Bai Tu adjusted the marinade recipe to use less salt, reducing costs as much as possible.
With everyone helping, the efficiency was far greater than before. By the fourth evening, the tribe had finished marinating all the meat from the first two animals and packed it into twelve large baskets.
The hunting team had also caught a new antelope, which was being marinated and dried as the final batch of jerky.
To maximize the amount of jerky they could make, the tribe had avoided roasting whole cuts of meat in recent days. Instead, they used the leftover internal organs and smaller, less desirable cuts of meat to fill their stomachs.
Seeing the children, who had finally eaten two full meals, returning to their previous state of semi-hunger, even as their workload had increased, Bai Tu did his best to gather more wild vegetables. He made bone broth to cook with the vegetables and fed it to everyone.
Although it wasn’t as filling as eating meat, it was enough to fill their bellies. The rich, savory bone broth left everyone wanting more after finishing a bowl.
But bone broth alone wasn’t enough. Bai Tu recalled the river he had seen while gathering herbs earlier and decided to head there with two large baskets.
Initially, Bai Tu had assumed the river was shallow because of its high elevation. However, after asking Bai Qi, he learned that the river’s water level was low because it hadn’t rained for several months.
After the rainy season, the river would expand to several times its current width. What Bai Tu thought were gentle riverbanks were actually part of the riverbed.
In just three or four days since Bai Tu had last been to the river to clean herbs, the water level had dropped significantly. Back then, he could sit on a nearby rock and reach the water by leaning forward. Now, the water was more than a meter below the same rock.
No wonder everyone kept saying the rainy season was approaching. The weather had become even hotter than the day Bai Tu had first woken up, and judging by the water level, the river might not last another half month.
The tribe had two main sources of water. River water was used for cleaning animal hides, while spring water from the mountain was used for drinking and cooking. However, the spring produced only a small amount of water.
Wooden barrels and stone pots were placed at the base of the mountain to collect it continuously, but it was barely enough to meet the tribe’s needs. Because of the sweltering heat, some impatient beastmen had started fetching water directly from the river.
If Bai Tu hadn’t repeatedly emphasized the risks of drinking untreated water and how it could cause illness, many of them would have been drinking it straight from the river.
Many beastmen were already accustomed to drinking untreated water, and cases of stomach pain or other symptoms had occurred before. However, most people didn’t understand the cause, as not everyone who drank river water got sick.
Bai Tu knew it was due to differences in individual constitutions. To avoid any risks, he insisted that everyone only drink boiled water. Even though he had gathered a good supply of medicinal herbs, he didn’t want to rely on medicine to deal with preventable illnesses.
Thanks to Bai Tu and Bai An’s repeated reminders, the situation had improved slightly. Most beastmen were gradually accepting the idea of drinking boiled water. Even when they were in a rush, they tried to use the mountain spring instead of the river.
This river had fish, though not many. The last time Bai Tu was here, he had spent over an hour by the river and had only seen a few fish.
Now, perhaps due to the lower water level, fish fry were much more visible. Since no one had been fishing here, the fish were unusually naive, swimming around leisurely and obliviously in the water. It was clear they had never experienced the harsh realities of the world.
Bai Tu tested one of the bamboo baskets in the river, scooping near the bank where it was easier to catch fish. He ignored the deeper areas farther from the shore. After about an hour, he had caught one large fish nearly the length of two palms, a few medium-sized fish about the length of one palm, and over a dozen finger-sized fry. He wanted to keep fishing but noticed that the nearby fish had already been scared away. Continuing would mean waiting for them to relax and return.
Looking up at the sun, Bai Tu decided against waiting and opted to try a different method instead.
First, he dug up some earthworms from the riverbank and tossed them into one of the baskets. Then he used reeds and wild grass to cover the top of the basket, leaving only a small hole to allow fish to swim inside. This turned the basket into a simple fish trap.
He tied a large stone to the bottom of the basket and fixed it in place with the opening facing the current. This way, the basket wouldn’t be carried off by the water, and any fish swimming downstream could easily enter the trap.
He set up three fish traps, spacing them out along the river, and then cleaned the fish he had already caught by the riverbank. Once the fish were gutted and washed, he placed them in the smallest basket he had brought and carried them back to the tribe.
“Tu, where did you go?” Bai Dong called out as Bai Tu returned to the tribe.
Bai Dong was busy teaching others how to cut the beef properly. Having gone through the process once before, the group of children had become “junior instructors,” eagerly guiding the rest of the tribe on how to cut up the beef and pork.
When Bai Dong spoke, many of the tribe members who were busy working turned to look at Bai Tu.
They were already impressed by Bai Tu’s healing abilities, and after tasting the jerky he had made, their admiration for him had only grown. Hearing he had gone out, their first thought was that he had been gathering new wild vegetables or medicinal herbs again.
“I caught a few fish,” Bai Tu said, showing them his basket.
The moment they realized it was fish, the tribe members quietly turned back to their work. If it had been a new type of plant, they might have been excited, but fish? Most beastmen weren’t interested in fish at all.
Everyone knew there were fish in the nearby river, but few enjoyed eating them. Other than a few children who occasionally caught fish while playing by the river, most people didn’t bother.
It wasn’t that fish tasted bad—it was just too troublesome to eat. First, you had to slice open each fish to remove the innards. Then, when eating, it was easy to accidentally swallow a fish bone.
The bones were small and sharp, often getting stuck in people’s throats. Eating anything afterward became painful, and it could take several days to recover.
On top of that, for reasons they didn’t fully understand, some roasted fish ended up tasting bitter. Preparing, cooking, and eating a single fish could take half a day, and after all that effort, they might feel hungrier than before.
Beastmen had strong digestive systems and burned energy quickly, so eating fish felt like more trouble than it was worth.
Bai Dong shook his head. “Tu, fish really aren’t good to eat. They’re terrible.” As if afraid Bai Tu wouldn’t believe him, he emphasized his point by repeating it twice.
“Fish bones are so small and sharp—they can cut your throat. Then it hurts to eat anything else,” another experienced beastman chimed in, sharing his own painful experience. “It takes days to heal. It’s better not to eat fish at all.”
One of the beastmen, guessing that Bai Tu might be worried about a lack of food, tried to reassure him. “The tribe has enough food for now. This year is already much better than before. Last year, before the salt trade, we were only eating one meal a day.”
This period before and after the salt trade was one of the hardest times for the tribe. They had to save as much food as possible to ensure they could trade for enough salt.
Bai Dong nodded in agreement. “Exactly, Tu. This year, I get to eat every day!”
“Me too, me too!” Tu You eagerly chimed in, lifting his shirt to show off his full, round belly. “I’m full! Last year, I almost starved to death!”
Hearing everyone’s chatter, Bai Tu couldn’t help but smile. The people of the tribe were so easily satisfied. Even a small increase in food was enough to make them happy. Bai Tu found himself wanting to maintain this sense of joy every day.
“The prey we’ve caught this year is still less than usual. Otherwise, we could have caught even more,” someone muttered. “Tu, it’s a good thing you made the traps. Without them, we might not have enough food to trade for salt.”
If there wasn’t enough food for the salt trade, the tribe would have no choice but to borrow from other tribes. But even that would only provide a limited amount.
Tribes with surplus food were rare, and even the larger, more successful hunting tribes consumed most of what they caught. Any leftover food would first be reserved for their own members.
Without enough salt, the people of the tribe would grow weaker, making it harder to hunt, creating a vicious cycle. This was why, even now, the tribe was willing to endure hunger for a few days if it meant saving enough food for the salt trade.
With just a few days left until the salt trading team set out, the tribe had already managed to stockpile the equivalent of one and a half cows and one pig. While this still wasn’t enough to trade for all the salt they needed, it was far better than what they’d managed in previous years.
As a result, most people didn’t see the point in eating fish. The leftover scraps and bones from jerky production, as well as the internal organs, were enough to keep everyone fed until the salt trade was over. Once they caught more prey after the trade, they could eat freely again.
The tribe members didn’t want Bai Tu to take unnecessary risks or get hurt just to save a bit of food.
Although everyone was urging him not to bother with fish, Bai Tu didn’t argue. Instead, he went along with their reasoning and said, “I’ll try cooking it first. If it doesn’t taste good, I won’t eat it.”
Hearing this, everyone finally felt relieved. After all, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to get injured by fish bones, which was why no one bothered fishing despite the nearby river. They figured Bai Tu would soon realize just how troublesome fish could be to deal with.
Bai Tu carried his fish basket into his cave and grabbed a bucket. He filled it with mountain spring water and washed the fish thoroughly.
Since he had already removed the scales and guts by the river, the fish were relatively clean. He split the largest fish in half and made a few cuts on all the fish before marinating them with salt, green onions, and ginger.
While the fish marinated, Bai Tu went to help with other tasks. When lunchtime rolled around, he returned to his firepit and lit a fire. He placed a stone pot on the rack, added some rendered pork lard, and started frying the small fish and fish fry.
Smaller fish tended to have a lot of tiny bones, making them tricky to eat if stewed. Frying them was a more practical solution.
Although the stone pot wasn’t as convenient as modern cooking appliances, Bai Tu had grown accustomed to it over the past few days. He had already learned to control the heat well enough to avoid burning his food. Frying fish was no challenge for him.
The lard he had rendered earlier in the week was already used up, but the wild boar they’d caught recently was just as fatty. Bai Tu had taken a piece of its fat and rendered it into a bowl of fresh lard, which would last him several days.
Since the fish had already been marinated, Bai Tu didn’t need to add salt to the pan. Once the oil was hot, he placed the fish directly into the pot.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. But as the fish’s surface turned golden brown, a tantalizing aroma began to waft from the pot.
The smell of frying fish was far more stimulating than that of stewed dishes—especially when everyone was already hungry. The first to succumb to the smell were the children.
Bai Dong, who had earlier tried to discourage Bai Tu from eating fish, wandered over. “Tu, what are you making? It smells so good!”
As he got closer and saw the fish in the pot, he froze. “Is that… the same fish we usually eat?” It looked the same, but the aroma was completely different.
Tu Shi and Tu You, who had followed behind Bai Dong, also caught sight of the pot. Tu Shi leaned in for a closer look, then confirmed, “It really is fish!”
“Tu, you’re amazing,” Tu You said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Even a food as unpopular as fish had been turned into something so appetizing by Bai Tu. With how good it smelled, he didn’t care if there were fish bones—he would happily eat it anyway!
The aroma drifted farther, reaching the beastmen working nearby. Suddenly, the thought of fish being troublesome to eat didn’t seem so bad—after all, if it tasted that good, a little trouble was worth it.
Thanks for the chapter 🙂