While Jian Mo and Wu Jiong were enjoying their meal, the children who had received meat patties earlier ran back to their homes.
One of these children was a young beastman named Qiu Li.
He held up the meat patty as he ran to his father’s side, excitedly calling out, “Dad, try this!”
“What’s this?” His father, Zhou Fu, smelled a rich aroma. Looking down, he noticed it was a small piece of meat patty. “Where did you get this?”
“The Chief gave it to me.” Qiu Li gently patted his father’s leg, urging him, “Try it!”
Zhou Fu, a sub-beastman, took a tiny bite the size of a fingernail. The savory, rich flavor instantly flooded his mouth.
Throughout his life, he had eaten many kinds of meat patties—dried-out ones, overly salty ones, tough ones—but he had never tasted one so fragrant.
His already round eyes widened even further, and his slightly chubby face was full of surprise. “This is so delicious! Little Qiu Li, you should try it too!”
Qiu Li eagerly nodded, opened his mouth wide, and took a tiny bite, savoring it. “So good!”
Zhou Fu chuckled, “That sub-beastman must’ve made it, right? He’s really skilled.”
Qiu Li nodded firmly, confirming, “We watched him make it.”
Zhou Fu gently nudged his son. “Your other father is chopping wood by the big rock. Go let him try it too.”
Qiu Li responded with an enthusiastic “Okay!” and ran off with his short little legs.
Similar conversations were happening in several households.
By dinnertime, many people came to the central square with their bowls to eat, chatting as they did so.
When it came to Jian Mo, the conversation was unstoppable.
“I’ve heard that the food made by that sub-beastman is delicious. I tried the meat patties he made earlier, and they were truly fragrant.”
“Me too! I even tried making extra meat patties myself, but they didn’t taste the same at all.”
“Hey, do you guys know how he makes them?”
“I don’t know about that, but I heard he came from a big tribe and knows a lot of things. He’s the one who cured Hong Qiu’s illness.”
…
Jian Mo was unaware of these discussions. After finishing his dinner, he used a twig to brush his teeth and then went upstairs to sleep—Wu Jiong insisted on handling the remaining household chores.
Having been out for most of the day, Jian Mo was so exhausted that his legs were cramping. As soon as he hit the bed, he fell asleep, with no stray thoughts at all.
The next day, after breakfast, Jian Mo followed Wu Jiong out to join the gathering team. To his surprise, the sub-beastmen were much friendlier than before, with many of them greeting him warmly.
Jian Mo didn’t know why, but he didn’t miss this opportunity to get to know them better. He greeted them back and stood nearby, joining in their conversations.
Although he didn’t say much, he successfully integrated himself into the group chat.
Everyone was punctual, and after waiting for a bit, the entire team was assembled. Jian Mo and the others set off for another gathering trip.
Jian Mo noticed that the tribe had several hunting and gathering teams. The sub-beastmen in his team were generally older, most of them with partners and children.
Wu Jiong probably thought these sub-beastmen were more reliable, which was why he entrusted Jian Mo to their care.
The first time Jian Mo went gathering, he found it all very novel and was full of enthusiasm.
This time, however, the experience felt more mundane.
The repetitive scenery, familiar routes, and long hours of walking made Jian Mo feel fatigued.
Their harvest today was rather mediocre.
The plan was to visit two main gathering spots: a fruit grove and a mushroom slope.
However, when they reached the grove, they discovered that most of the fruits weren’t ripe yet. They were still sour and astringent, needing at least another half-month to mature.
As for the mushrooms, there weren’t many growing on the slope—probably because the rain two nights ago was too brief and hadn’t soaked the ground deeply enough.
Gathering always had its uncertainties. Although everyone was a bit disappointed, they quickly accepted the situation.
Because the planned gathering spots yielded little, they had to walk farther and explore more areas.
By noon, when they stopped by the river to rest, Jian Mo’s feet were burning red and cramping, and he felt a bit dizzy.
Based on the time and their walking speed, he estimated they had covered about twenty to twenty-five kilometers that morning, with plenty of uphill and downhill sections.
Jian Mo took out the meat patty he had prepared in the morning and took a bite, but even though it was already in his mouth, he found it hard to swallow.
He was simply too tired to eat.
Reluctantly, he wrapped the meat patty in leaves and put it back in his basket. Then, he took out a bamboo water container and drank a few sips.
The other sub-beastmen didn’t seem as tired; they chatted and laughed nearby.
Since they could rest a bit longer at noon, Jian Mo sat down on a rock, leaned against a tree trunk, and quickly dozed off in the peaceful surroundings.
He was only awakened when someone gently shook him. Still disoriented, he looked up to see Qing Kuo in front of him, his cheek marked with the imprint of the tree bark.
Qing Kuo gestured toward the river. “They said they’re going to bathe. Do you want to join?”
Jian Mo blinked. “What?”
As he spoke, he noticed a group of sub-beastmen already untying their fur skirts and sandals, stepping into the river in groups of twos and threes.
At a glance, Jian Mo realized that the sub-beastmen’s bodies were not much different from human males on Earth—except for the few who exposed their tails, claws, or other beast marks, everything else looked nearly identical.
Staring too closely would be impolite, so Jian Mo quickly averted his gaze and looked at the river instead.
This section of the river was wide and crystal clear, with smooth round pebbles lining the bottom. The water wasn’t deeper than the average person’s hips.
It certainly seemed like a perfect place for a bath.
However—
Jian Mo asked Qing Kuo, “Are you just going to bathe like that?”
Qing Kuo replied, “What other way is there?”
The sub-beastman named Ye Luo, who was standing nearby, added, “The sun has already warmed the water, and it’s hot today. It’s perfect for a bath.”
Since coming to this world, Jian Mo had never taken a proper bath. He had only wiped himself down with a damp piece of animal hide. His eyes were filled with longing as he looked at the river. “Do you guys have anything for washing your hair and body?”
Qing Kuo looked confused. “What do you mean by that?”
Jian Mo clarified, “I mean something for washing your hair and body. Just rinsing with water—won’t that leave dirt still stuck on your skin?”
“If you’re really dirty, you can pick some grass and rub it. But we bathe often, so we’re not that dirty,” Qing Kuo remarked as he looked at Jian Mo’s exposed milky-white skin. “You don’t seem dirty either.”
After struggling to communicate with them, Jian Mo realized that they didn’t use any kind of cleaning agents here.
They hadn’t developed any natural plant-based detergents like soapberry or soapwort, let alone synthetic products like soap.
Qing Kuo couldn’t understand Jian Mo’s concerns. “Why would we need that? We’re not dirty.”
Jian Mo explained, “Using something like that makes you even cleaner. For example, if you wash your hair with a cleaning agent, it’ll feel fresher and softer, and it can also help prevent lice.”
Ye Luo chimed in, “We don’t have anything like that right now, but if we ever trade with merchant caravans, maybe we can get some.”
Qing Kuo asked, “Did your previous tribe trade directly with merchant caravans? Do you remember where your tribe was?”
Facing the inquisitive gazes of the two, Jian Mo wasn’t sure how to answer. He could only give a vague response, then added, “Sometimes, we would make it ourselves.”
Ye Luo’s curiosity was piqued. “How do you make it? Can we make it right now?”
The sub-beastmen who had been playing in the water had somehow gathered around, all looking at him curiously.
“Well…” Jian Mo looked into the eager eyes of the surrounding sub-beastmen and thought for a moment. “I think ash might work. If you don’t mind, we could try it.”
Qing Kuo asked, “Ash? Do you mean the stuff left after burning wood? Isn’t that dirty?”
Jian Mo explained, “It looks dirty, but it actually has pretty good cleaning properties. If you use it to wash your hair, it might make it even cleaner.”
Ye Luo turned to Qing Kuo, “Why don’t we give it a try? We don’t have much else to do today, so let’s go get some ash and take a proper bath.”
Since both of their gathering spots had yielded poor results today and there were no new tasks planned, everyone quickly agreed to the idea.
Jian Mo stood up. Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, he had no choice but to join them in returning to the tribe to collect ash.
The tribe burned firewood but didn’t cultivate crops, so the ash from the fires was simply piled up in one place.
Jian Mo followed the group to the ash heap, where he dug past the slightly damp surface to find a layer of soft, fine ash beneath.
There was plenty of ash available, so everyone filled a basket and headed back to the river.
Since they had already returned to the tribe, they didn’t go to the previous river section but chose a spot closer to the village for their bath.
This time, Jian Mo also got into the water.
The river was shallow and calm, making it a great place for bathing, though the water was quite cold. It was so cold that Jian Mo had to grit his teeth to stop himself from shivering.
After wetting his hair and body, he quickly returned to the shore to scrub himself with the ash, then rinsed off thoroughly with water.
The other sub-beastmen had no such concerns. They stood directly in the river to scrub themselves, and some even swam around after getting clean. Clearly, their resistance to cold was far stronger than Jian Mo’s.
The sun was shining brightly today, making it incredibly pleasant to bask in the warmth after a refreshing bath.
After washing himself, Jian Mo took the opportunity to scrub his socks with the ash as well.
The plant ash proved to be quite effective at cleaning. His socks came out spotless and dried quickly on the large river rocks.
As they continued bathing, the children from the tribe soon joined in. The sub-beastmen caught them and gave them a thorough scrubbing.
Later, even the beastmen caught wind of what was happening. They called out from a distance, curious about this new way of using ash to bathe, and soon came running with baskets of ash to bathe downstream.
Seeing more and more people arrive, Jian Mo said goodbye to Qing Kuo and the others before heading back early.
As he passed a certain stretch of the river, he heard a strange, weak, and drawn-out cry echoing faintly from the gorge. The sound was filled with pain.
Jian Mo stopped in his tracks to listen carefully, but after a moment, the sound was gone.
When he got back and saw Wu Jiong at home, he asked, “Has anyone in the tribe been injured recently?”
Wu Jiong paused for a moment. “Why do you ask?”
Jian Mo explained, “When I was coming back from bathing, I thought I heard a strange cry near the large rock in the middle of the river. Maybe it was just my imagination—probably just the sound of the water.”
Wu Jiong replied, “No one in the tribe is hurt, but I’ll go check it out later.”
Seeing Wu Jiong agree to investigate, Jian Mo breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. What would you like for dinner? I’ll cook.”
Wu Jiong had already brought back their allotted portion of meat, which was piled up in one corner.
After looking through it, Jian Mo decided to marinate the meat and try making steamed meat patties—after eating so much grilled meat, it was time to change things up a bit.
Both of them busied themselves with their tasks.
By evening, the day’s work was over, and everyone gathered outside to eat.
Since most of them had bathed, they looked particularly refreshed and clean.
As they chatted, the conversation naturally turned to the plant ash:
“I never would’ve guessed that something as dirty-looking as ash could actually be used for bathing.”
“Right? I’ve never felt this clean before. My knees are practically squeaking now.”
“Me too! I swear my head feels two pounds lighter!”
“Jian Mo sure knows a lot of things. Didn’t he mention there are other kinds of cleaning agents?”
“Yeah, he did. But who knows if we can make use of them here in our tribe.”
“Let’s go ask him later. It’s still early, and he probably hasn’t gone to bed yet.”
As they chatted, they decided to head over to Jian Mo’s place, bowls in hand.
Jian Mo and Wu Jiong were also eating.
Tonight, they had steamed meat patties and sour fruit stew—a welcome change in flavor.
When the tribesmen arrived, Wu Jiong was just telling Jian Mo about the gorge incident, saying he hadn’t found anything unusual.
Jian Mo figured that what he had heard earlier was probably just the sound of rushing water or the wind.
As he and Wu Jiong were chatting, a group of tribesmen walked in. Jian Mo, holding his bowl, blinked in confusion.
He assumed they had something to discuss with Wu Jiong and was about to stand up to give them some space.
But Zhou Fu, who was among them, quickly noticed his intention and called out, “Jian Mo, don’t leave! We actually came here to find you.”
“Yeah, yeah, Jian Mo! We wanted to ask you—didn’t you mention there’s something even better than ash for washing? How do we make it?”
“Do we have the materials near our tribe? Can you tell us what it looks like? If we can’t find it here, maybe we can trade for it during the hunting festival with other tribes.”
Surrounded by expectant gazes, Jian Mo hesitated for a moment before answering, “Well, there’s something like gray-water soap we could try making.”
The group’s eyes lit up with excitement. “How do we make it? What do we need?”
Jian Mo explained, “All we need is plant ash and animal fat.”
Qing Kuo asked, “Any kind of animal fat will do?”
When Jian Mo nodded, Qing Kuo immediately said, “I just rendered a pot of fat at home. I’ll go get it!”
Zhou Fu added, “Hey, I have some too!”
In the blink of an eye, everyone scattered to fetch their animal fat, leaving Jian Mo standing there with his bowl, looking over at Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong reassured him, “Don’t worry if it doesn’t turn out well. Animal fat isn’t hard to come by.”
Even so, Jian Mo quickly tried to recall everything he knew about soap-making.
He had never formally learned how to make soap but knew about the saponification process from various sources.
Soon, everyone returned with their containers of animal fat.
Jian Mo had already cleared out the hearth. When they came back, he didn’t waste any time and instructed them to bring over some plant ash.
With so few forms of entertainment in the tribe, everyone was curious about the process of making soap.
Jian Mo didn’t even need to lift a finger—everyone eagerly followed his directions to prepare the ash extract.
To ensure the best results, Jian Mo instructed them to soak the ash multiple times to increase the concentration of alkali in the solution.
Once the ash water was filtered several times, he heated it in a clay pot and also heated the animal fat separately. Then, he slowly added the fat to the ash water—using more water than fat—and stirred it vigorously with a wooden stick.
“Is that all it takes?” someone in the crowd couldn’t help but ask, their curiosity piqued.
Jian Mo wasn’t entirely sure himself but increased his stirring speed. “Let’s give it a try first.”
As he stirred, the mixture of fat and ash water quickly combined, changing from a watery consistency to a thick paste. The color turned a creamy yellow, somewhat reminiscent of modern-day shampoo.
It seemed to be working!
Encouraged, Jian Mo stirred even more vigorously.
Seeing him struggle a bit, Wu Jiong took over the pot and stick. “Let me handle it. How long do I need to stir?”
Jian Mo wasn’t entirely sure. He kept his eyes on the pot. “Keep stirring, and I’ll tell you when to stop.”
Wu Jiong nodded and continued stirring.
The mixture in the clay pot gradually thickened, resembling a paste even more, though it was much thicker than shampoo. The color was quite appealing too.
After Wu Jiong stirred for a while longer, Jian Mo noticed that the paste had stopped changing in texture. “Let me test it,” he said.
Dipping a wooden stick into the paste, Jian Mo touched it with his fingers.
The paste felt smooth and slippery to the touch and wasn’t irritating. Perhaps because the ash water and animal fat were relatively mild, it didn’t sting like caustic soda would. It seemed safe enough for contact with skin.
Jian Mo had Qing Kuo pour some water over his hands, and then began rubbing them together.
The soap lathered up nicely, and after rinsing off with water, his hands felt noticeably cleaner with no residue left behind.
It seemed that their attempt at making soap was a success.
Jian Mo nodded to Wu Jiong. “This should do it. Scoop it out and spread it on some leaves to dry. Once it hardens, it’ll be ready for use.”
Wu Jiong stared at the soap paste. “Is it really that simple?”
Jian Mo replied, “For now, yes. Once we start using it, we can adjust the process if needed.”
Although Jian Mo’s explanations were sometimes a bit unclear, everyone understood the general idea.
Wu Jiong glanced at the remaining fat and ash water. “Let’s make another batch.”
Everyone agreed. After all, neither animal fat nor plant ash was difficult to obtain.
Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Jian Mo didn’t object. Making a few more batches would be useful to test and refine the ideal ratio of ash water to animal fat.
They spent half the evening at Wu Jiong’s place, working on soap-making until the night sky was filled with stars. Reluctantly, they left the soap paste outside to solidify.
In two or three days, the soap would harden and be ready for use.
Of course, if they let it sit longer, the soap would cure and perform even better. But once it solidified, it could still be used right away—though it might contain more free alkali and be a bit harsher, it would still be effective.
It had been another day of hard work.
After sending off the tribesmen, Jian Mo insisted on using a twig to brush his teeth before climbing into his bed of animal hides upstairs, where he quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, when someone came to wake him, Jian Mo was completely groggy.
He opened his eyes to see a large group of sub-beastmen surrounding him, and for a moment, he couldn’t understand what was happening.
The sub-beastmen were practically buzzing with excitement, all talking at once:
“Jian Mo, the soap has already hardened into bars!”
“I just tried it, and it works great! The dirt behind my ears came right off!”
“Your tribe’s soap is amazing—much better than just washing with water!”
“Do you want to come down and take a look?”
Still half-asleep, Jian Mo groggily followed the sub-beastmen outside. Sure enough, several small bars of soap had solidified, and they seemed to work quite well.
At the very least, they were much better at removing grease than plain water.
Previously, when cooking, Jian Mo had to scrub his greasy hands with handfuls of grass to get them clean.
After examining the soap, Jian Mo nodded. “It’s definitely usable now, but if we let it sit for a while longer, it should work even better.”
Zhou Fu suggested, “Then let’s make more and store it?”
The sub-beastmen all agreed eagerly, mentioning that they still had some animal fat at home and could come back to make more in the evening.
There was no harm in making extra soap to have on hand, so Jian Mo didn’t object.
After checking the soap’s progress, Jian Mo returned to Wu Jiong’s house.
Wu Jiong looked at him and asked, “Are you feeling unwell?”
Jian Mo raised his hand to massage his temples. “I’m okay, just a bit tired. I didn’t sleep well last night—I kept having chaotic dreams.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jian Mo added, “In my dream, I saw something in the gorge. You went to check it out—are you sure there was nothing there?”
