Chapter 9
“I’ll teach you to recognize a few more wild grasses tonight,” Bai Tu said as he finished tying up the calf and spoke to Bai Dong and a few others.
Small animals like chickens, rabbits, and field mice didn’t eat much, and they could simply be fed whatever grass was grabbed from the base of the mountain. However, cows consumed far more, and in the future, they would need to be led outside to graze.
There were some poisonous grasses nearby, so it was crucial to teach the children to recognize them so they could avoid them. Any animal accidentally eating poisonous grass would be a significant loss for the tribe.
Besides the gathering team and the children who often went out, everyone else in the tribe also needed to learn about these plants, just in case.
Some plants were highly toxic, and ingesting even a little could have serious consequences, whether for the beastmen or their prey. Given the sheer number of plant species, it was impossible to teach them all at once. Bai Tu decided to start with the most common ones and limit the lessons to just a few plants per day to avoid overwhelming anyone.
These lessons had become a daily routine. Bai Dong nodded and proudly said, leading a group of older children, “Tu, we loosened a lot of soil today.”
Bai Tu had already noticed the results. Beside the seedlings they had planted yesterday, another patch of land had been neatly tilled. No one had been slacking off.
“I’ll give you all extra meat tonight!” Bai Tu promised.
“Meat!” The children cheered in delight. Meat was a staple food for everyone, but children their age couldn’t join the hunting or gathering teams yet. They were only tasked with lighter duties, like collecting firewood, and the food they received was limited. Since they were still growing, they usually finished their rations the same day they got them, and it often wasn’t enough.
A few days ago, Bai Tu had taught them to identify some edible wild vegetables, but there weren’t many, and the last time they had truly eaten their fill was when they had chicken soup.
Today’s prey was large, so everyone would get more than usual. Even without Bai Tu’s promise, the children knew they would eat their fill, but it didn’t stop them from feeling ecstatic. For kids who had been hungry most of their lives, the joy of abundant prey was a first-time experience.
“Let’s move the bull to the cave first,” Bai An instructed the group as they began transporting the prey. The weather outside was too hot, and the meat would spoil quickly. The cave used for storing food was the coolest place in the tribe.
Bai Tu didn’t intend to watch the butchering of the bull. Instead, he took out the leftover pork from a few days ago.
During the last hunt, he had chosen a piece of fatty meat with the intention of rendering it into lard. However, he hadn’t had time to do it until now. Today, with some free time, he decided to process it.
Fortunately, the tribe’s food storage cave was cool enough that the pork was still edible. If it had been left outside, it would have gone bad long ago.
Bai Tu had followed Bai An into the storage cave once and discovered that it was like an entirely different world. The cave was shaded and never exposed to sunlight. Combined with its depth, the temperature inside was likely below freezing. It was no wonder that the prey stored there could last seven or eight days without spoiling. It was like a natural refrigerator—one that didn’t require electricity.
Bai Tu cut the pork fat into small pieces and washed them thoroughly. He added a little water to the pot first, then slowly let the fat render into lard as the water evaporated.
The stone pot was large, and the 3 or 4 kilos of pork fat took up less than half of it. Bai Tu fed the fire with small sticks, adding them slowly as he mulled over his plans.
If they were lucky, the prey caught in the traps might help the tribe get through the next month or so of the rainy season without too much hardship. However, planting seedlings still couldn’t be put on hold.
The crops they planted now would serve as reserve food for the winter. Additionally, hunting with traps, like traditional hunting, always involved an element of luck.
Prey wouldn’t always pass by the trap location, and not all seasons brought large herds of prey to the water source nearby. It was crucial to continue preparations rather than grow complacent from today’s success.
Moreover, Bai Tu couldn’t ignore the looming presence of the Wild Lion Tribe. Just thinking about them made him frown.
Their customs and behavior were despicable, but for now, there was no way to deal with them. Whether or not they currently posed a threat to the Snow Rabbit Tribe, their proximity was enough to make Bai Tu uneasy.
With a sigh, Bai Tu glanced at the pot. The lard still needed some time to finish rendering. He called over Tu You to watch the fire while he went to process the herbs they had gathered that day.
“Add a few sticks at a time. Don’t let the fire get too big. I’ll let you eat the crispy pork bits later,” Bai Tu said. He remembered how excited he used to get as a child when pork lard was rendered, eagerly anticipating the crispy bits left behind. Seeing the children now, he couldn’t help but put himself in their shoes.
Plants had their seasons, and if they missed the window to harvest them, they’d have to wait until next year. Bai Tu had collected most of what he saw, including those with seeds, which could be planted the following year.
The herbs from today were mostly pulled from around the trap. Since they had no roots, processing them was relatively simple—some needed washing, while others could be dried directly. Bai Tu also gathered the dried herbs from previous days.
After a long bout of work, the lard in the pot was finally ready just as Bai Qi arrived, carrying some beef.
“Tu, this is for you,” Bai Qi said, holding a large piece of beef leg. Members of the hunting team who contributed significantly always received extra food, and Bai Tu, who not only treated injuries but also prepared medicine for the tribe, was given an even larger share.
Such a large piece of meat was far too much to finish in one sitting, so Bai Tu asked Bai Qi to help him cut off a smaller portion and take the rest back to the storage cave.
Bai Qi had anticipated this and, without hesitation, took out a bone knife. With a few swift strokes, he neatly carved off a sizeable chunk of beef.
Watching from the side, Bai Tu couldn’t help but feel envious. They were roughly the same age, yet Bai Qi was much stronger and significantly faster.
Bai Tu wasn’t sure if this was a result of lingering aftereffects from his injury, a lack of exercise in his previous life, or both. His strength and stamina simply couldn’t compare to Bai Qi’s.
Unlike modern tools, the knives they used now were simple, minimally processed implements. Naturally, the blades weren’t very sharp. Bai Tu could manage tasks like digging up wild vegetables or herbs, but cutting up a cow was a different matter. If not for Bai Qi, even cutting up the chicken meat before had been a struggle for him.
Since Bai Qi was already helping, Bai Tu decided to make another request. He asked Bai Qi to cut the chunk of beef into thick slices—he planned to make steak.
After rinsing the blood off the beef, Bai Tu tenderized the slices by pounding them repeatedly. He placed them in a clean bowl, added some salt, and set them aside to marinate.
Meanwhile, he used chopsticks to scoop out the crispy pork bits from the pot of rendered lard and distributed them to a group of children. After pouring the lard into a bowl, he left a small layer of it in the pot and placed the marinated steak slices directly into the pan. As the meat sizzled, an enticing aroma filled the air.
The uneven bottom of the stone pot required him to adjust the placement of the meat constantly. He flipped the steaks back and forth until both sides were perfectly browned. Once the first steak was cooked, he set it aside and put the next slice into the pot.
Originally planning to eat roasted meat today, Bai Qi suddenly found himself unable to move away.
The freshly cooked steak in the bowl gave off an irresistible fragrance. The gathering team had just returned, and since no one had started eating yet, the smell seemed even more unique and tempting in the air.
“Grrrr—” Bai Qi’s stomach growled audibly, and he awkwardly clutched at his belly.
Bai Tu couldn’t help but laugh at Bai Qi’s expression. “Wait a little longer, and you can eat,” he said with a grin.
Bai Tu knew Bai Qi and the others had worked much harder than he had. While Bai Tu had only organized herbs and helped at the trap, Bai Qi and his team had been running all over the place, digging pits, and hauling prey. They were far more exhausted than him.
However, food that was too hot could harm the esophagus. Bai Tu waited until the second steak was cooked before slicing the first one into pieces.
The preparation was simple, but the pure flavor of the beef still captivated everyone’s attention.
There was plenty of beef, so Bai Tu wasn’t stingy. He cut the first steak into five portions, enough for everyone to have a taste.
Taking a bite himself, Bai Tu found the steak crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with just the right amount of salt. Although the only seasoning was salt, it brought out the natural flavor of the beef, which was just as good as any meat he had eaten in the past.
The others, who had never eaten pan-fried meat before, practically devoured their portions in one bite, as if they couldn’t get enough of the new texture and taste. It was entirely different from roasted meat.
“Eat slowly. There’s more coming,” Bai Tu said, pointing to the steaks still marinating. Bai Tu himself would be satisfied with one or two pieces, but he had prepared plenty so everyone could enjoy some.
Each steak weighed about 250 grams. After finishing the steaks, Bai Tu used the remaining lard in the pot to stir-fry some cleaned wild vegetables.
What surprised Bai Tu was the sheer appetite of the tribe members. Over the past few days, they had been eating only one piece of meat per meal because that was all they had been allocated—not because their appetites were so small.
Today, with a large prey animal to share, even the children received generous portions. Bai Tu watched Tu You finish an entire steak and half a bowl of wild vegetables, only to follow it up with a roasted piece of meat weighing over 500 grams.
Children around seven or eight years old could eat about 1 kilos of food, so it was no surprise that the adult beastmen could easily consume 2 or 3 kilos in a sitting.
Bai Tu was stunned by their appetites. A fleeting thought crossed his mind: Was the Rabbit Clan weak because they had never eaten enough food?
The idea passed quickly as Bai Tu was pulled back to reality by the tasks at hand. After the meal, it was time for the usual plant-identification lessons. With daylight still lingering, Bai Tu called on Bai Qi and a few children to help him divide up the beef.
One cow leg weighed over a hundred pounds. Even after removing the bones, there was still more than a hundred pounds of meat left—enough for Bai Tu to eat for a month if he prepared it in different ways.
However, even the best-tasting food could become tiresome after a while. Since the tribe would continue catching prey, Bai Tu decided to turn some of the leftover beef into jerky. Jerky not only tasted great but also lasted much longer.
Bai Tu had another reason for making jerky. It wasn’t always possible to catch prey suitable for raising.
When they encountered large animals like adult wild pigs or cattle, they had to kill them immediately for safety reasons.
While the tribe’s storage cave could preserve food for three or four days, and sometimes five or six, anything left for more than ten days would gradually spoil, even in the cold environment.
Bai Qi had mentioned that in larger tribes, when prey was abundant, they would eat the oldest meat first or roast it to extend its shelf life. However, roasted meat didn’t taste as good after reheating. The Snow Rabbit Tribe rarely did this, as they never had enough prey to make it necessary.
Now that they had started catching prey more efficiently with traps, hunting injuries were also less frequent. With the added time and safety, they could continue searching for prey while processing excess meat into jerky, smoked meat, or salted meat.
These semi-preserved foods wouldn’t spoil easily and could also fetch better prices when bartered for salt or other goods.
Bai Tu wasn’t one to procrastinate. Once the idea struck him, he immediately began experimenting. Since it was his first attempt, he didn’t touch the meat allocated to the tribe and instead used his own portion for the trial.
He first cut the beef into slices, then into strips, and seasoned them with green onions, ginger, and salt. Without many seasonings, Bai Tu decided to let the meat marinate overnight and begin drying it the following morning.
The stone and bone knives were dull, making the work exhausting. With five people—two adults and three children—it took until nightfall to finish cutting, seasoning, and preparing the entire cow leg.
Bai Tu rubbed his sore arms and sighed. Using poor tools was far too tiring. He began wondering if there were any tribes in the area that had developed iron tools. Even if they didn’t, finding an iron mine and building a small forge to smelt his own iron would be a worthwhile endeavor.
Thanks for the chapter 🙂