Chapter 101: Chapter 101: Sprinkle Some Salt on the Cracklings

“Alright, I’ll remember,” Mu Qin replied with a smile.

At the same time, she was full of anticipation for the pork stew Chang Xia had mentioned.

Chang Xia giggled, poured the sliced pork fat that Su Ye and Mu Qin had prepared into the stone pot, added a bit of water, and began rendering the lard. As the pot heated up, a faint toasty aroma quickly spread through the kitchen.

“Mmm, it smells even better than roast meat!” Mu Qin exclaimed in amazement.

“Lard really does smell great,” Chang Xia nodded in agreement.

Lard mixed with rice, noodles, or soup always tasted especially fragrant. When she had the chance, Chang Xia wanted the whole tribe to try it.

Smelling the aroma, Su Ye asked, “Chang Xia, if pig offal is edible, does that mean the offal from other wild animals is, too?”

“Yes, it’s pretty much the same for all mammals,” Chang Xia replied.

For example, beef tripe and stomach are famous delicacies.

The Twilight Forest was home to a rich variety of species, and Chang Xia had tasted beef before—it was delicious.

“Got it,” Su Ye nodded, not asking further. With ginkgo nuts, fish, and now offal, Chang Xia’s idea of visiting other beast tribes’ territories would probably work out.

Thinking about it, Su Ye began to consider how to help Chang Xia gain the greatest benefit.

“Chang Xia, what are you cooking? It smells amazing!” Ya Dong’s loud voice suddenly rang out as he climbed out of the cellar.

“I’m rendering lard,” Chang Xia replied.

She stirred the pot to keep it from burning. Noticing Ya Dong’s eager look, she nodded toward the basket of wooden bowls and said, “Go grab a bowl from the basket—I’ll give you some cracklings to try.”

“Okay!” Ya Dong nodded excitedly, washed his hands, and fetched a wooden bowl for Chang Xia.

She scooped him half a bowl of pork cracklings.

“Don’t eat it too fast—it’s hot. Oh, and sprinkle a little salt from the salt jar on top; it’ll taste even better.”

Then she had Ya Dong fetch another bowl.

Chang Xia served some cracklings to Su Ye and Mu Qin as well. She herself didn’t dare eat too much, worried about getting overheated. Her body was prone to heatiness—just a little crackling was fine, but too much would cause mouth ulcers and pimples. It was a real pain.

Mu Qin took the bowl from Chang Xia.

Following Ya Dong’s example, she sprinkled on a bit of fine salt and invited Su Ye to taste it.

“Shaman, have a taste—”

Meanwhile, Ya Dong, holding his half bowl of salted cracklings, didn’t eat it right away. Instead, he turned and went back into the cellar. He was greedy, but he never ate alone.

That was something all the Heluo tribe members had in common.

In the kitchen, Su Ye set down her ironwood knife.

She took a piece of crackling with the chopsticks Mu Qin handed her. It was crispy and fragrant, filling her mouth with a subtle, savory aroma.

The more she chewed, the tastier it became. It was addictive.

“Chang Xia, these cracklings are delicious!” Su Ye exclaimed in surprise.

Changxia shook her head and explained, “Granny Suye, this lard crackling is tasty, but don’t eat too much—it’s easy to get heaty. Later, I’ll coat the cracklings in fruit flour and bird eggs to make you some crispy crackling bites. They’re a great snack and keep well.”

Crispy crackling is a southern snack, but it can also be served as a dish.

After slaughtering pigs for the New Year in the south, people render lard from back fat. The leftover cracklings are used to make crispy crackling bites. You can eat them as is, or add them to hotpot or cook them with noodles.

“I want some crispy crackling too!” Yadong called out, holding out his empty bowl to Changxia. “Changxia, give me some more cracklings. That last bit wasn’t enough.”

“Alright!” Changxia didn’t make things difficult for Yadong. There was plenty of crackling, so as long as he wasn’t afraid of getting heaty, he could eat as much as he liked.

“Yadong, make sure Chenrong doesn’t eat too much,” Suye reminded him. She was still annoyed that Chenrong had ‘stolen’ Changxia away, so when detoxifying him earlier, she’d deliberately added extra coptis root. Coptis can clear heat, but since Chenrong was still detoxing, it was best for him to avoid greasy foods like cracklings.

Better safe than sorry—otherwise, things could get out of hand.

Yadong paused, then replied earnestly, “Okay, I’ll remind Chenrong.”

If Chenrong ate less, that meant more for himself.

A good deal, he thought, and headed back to the cellar with his bowl, walking even more briskly.

Seeing Yadong’s cheeky expression, Suye and the others guessed he was about to get in trouble. Sure enough, not long after, his wails and cries echoed up from the cellar.

Changxia shrugged and sighed, “A tragedy sparked by cracklings!”

After finishing the cracklings with salt, Suye and Muqin quickly finished cutting up the back fat. Then Muqin took the spatula from Changxia so she could start making the crispy crackling bites.

Fruit flour, bird eggs, and freshly fried cracklings.

Changxia poured fruit flour into a wooden basin, cracked in the bird eggs, and mixed them together. Once combined, she added the cracklings and stirred well. Just as she was about to fry the crispy crackling bites in the seventh stone pot, footsteps sounded outside—it must be Gen and his daughter Nan Feng, returning from washing the pig lungs and intestines at Bai Lake.

“Changxia—”

Sure enough, it was Nan Feng calling out.

“It smells so good! What did you sneak off to eat without me?”

She hadn’t even come in yet, but her voice had already arrived.

That was just like Nan Feng.

“Changxia’s just rendering lard. What could she possibly be sneaking?” Muqin retorted. Her own child was becoming hopeless—she used to be so steady, but now she was wild and restless.

Changxia had recovered physically as an adult, but her personality hadn’t changed much.

Why had Nan Feng and the other tribespeople changed so much?

It wasn’t like she or the tribe had oppressed them, so why were they so different now?

As they chatted, Gen came in carrying a vine basket, while Nan Feng took their fur coats to the storeroom to hang up.

“Muqin, give the chief and Nan Feng some cracklings,” Changxia said with a smile.

The first batch of cracklings was ready, and the lard had been poured into a clean clay jar, which sat in a water-filled wooden basin to cool. The cracklings were in a large wooden basin—a whole heap of them.

Changxia started frying the crispy crackling bites, and asked Muqin to help render the second batch of lard.

Just then, Gen and Nan Feng returned.

Suye took the spatula from Muqin, who got up to scoop some cracklings for Gen and Nan Feng to try.

Since Changxia had warned them not to eat too much, Suye and Muqin only tasted a little.

But the folks in the cellar made three or four trips, eating several bowls of cracklings. If Changxia hadn’t stopped them, they would have polished off the whole first batch.

Nan Feng, drawn by the aroma, couldn’t even be bothered to use chopsticks and just grabbed the cracklings with her hands—earning several raps on the knuckles from Muqin’s chopsticks.

“These cracklings really came from rendering back fat?” Gen exclaimed, eating as he marveled. When Muqin mentioned trading pottery with Changxia for offal recipes, Gen agreed without hesitation.

He knew full well—the tribe was getting the better end of the deal again.

After the cracklings, Changxia asked Gen to help chop the pig’s head. Once she finished frying the crispy crackling bites, they could start stewing the head. No pig slaughter feast was complete without stewed pig’s head. Add in pork belly, intestines, and blood—if there’s no blood, just skip it—and wild greens, and the stew would be sweet and savory.

A pig slaughter feast is all about freshness.