Chapter 205: Chapter 205: The Magical Wild Fruits of Weishan

“Next time, we should bring more chili sauce.”

“And chili oil too! I’m so used to spicy food—if there’s no chili on the grilled meat, it just tastes bland. No wonder the lion tribe likes to gnaw on chilies all the time!”

As they ate, the tribe members chatted.

Changxia ate boiled wild greens with venison.

In her mind, she was thinking about soy sauce, dark soy, oyster sauce, and rice vinegar. Clearly, the work of building up the tribe couldn’t stop—there was still so much to do.

“Changxia, have another piece of venison.” Chenrong picked up a piece, dipped it in some chili, and put it in Changxia’s bowl. “Eat more—venison keeps you warm. Weishan is cold, so take care not to catch a chill.”

“Mm, okay!” Changxia nodded. She thought about how the Western Lands were more prosperous than the East—maybe they already had sauces. Chenrong had mentioned before that people in the West used spices in their cooking, so clearly, they were starting to appreciate good food.

Eating the venison dipped in chili, Changxia thought that plain stewed venison would taste even better with a splash of light soy sauce. Ahem! She really liked the freshness of light soy.

In her previous life, she’d always add soy sauce to her greens.

Fresh veggies, blanched in boiling water, with just a dash of soy sauce—delicious, no other seasoning needed.

“Chenrong, do they have sauce in the Western Lands?” Changxia asked.

Sauce can mean a lot of things.

Usually, it refers to a condiment made by fermenting beans or wheat with salt, like yellow bean paste or sweet flour sauce. Or it could be meat sauces made with salt and vinegar.

There are also paste-like sauces, like if sauce and sesame paste.

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Sauce is woven into every aspect of food culture—it’s even a method of cooking. When people hear the word “sauce,” the first thing that comes to mind is usually soy sauce, along with the pickled vegetables and foods made with it.

“Sauce?” Chen Rong said, “I’ve had meat sauce before. It’s a bit like your fried meat, but it doesn’t taste as fragrant.”

In the Western Lands, meat sauce is made by preserving meat with salt and some spices.

This kind of meat sauce is easy to carry, so when going to war, totem warriors would bring it with them. Besides meat sauce, there’s also some fruit preserves.

However, it probably comes down to the technique.

Chen Rong felt that whether it was the meat sauce or the fruit preserves, the flavor was pretty ordinary.

But these “ordinary” meat and fruit sauces were actually out of reach for common folk. They were considered military supplies for the Tianyuan tribe and strictly controlled.

“Then do you have soy sauce?” Chang Xia asked excitedly.

“Soy sauce—” Chen Rong shook his head and replied, “There’s no soy sauce in the Western Lands, but there is a special kind of cheese. It’s made from milk and has a rather strong taste. There’s also something called fish sauce, but that’s reserved for the nobility—ordinary people never get to taste it.”

The other tribe members listened quietly to Chen Rong and Chang Xia’s conversation.

Chang Xia kept asking about soy sauce, which got the tribe members excited—did this mean there was something new and delicious to try?

“Chang Xia, what’s soy sauce like?” Nan Feng asked.

Chang Xia understood: since the Western Lands hadn’t even developed sauce, of course they didn’t have soy sauce. Still, the cheese and fish sauce Chen Rong mentioned surprised her.

She wasn’t very interested in the cheese.

But the fish sauce really caught her off guard.

Fish sauce, also called fish soy sauce, is a fairly common condiment. It’s a savory liquid made by fermenting and processing small fish and shrimp.

However, Chang Xia found it a bit hard to get used to.

Compared to fish sauce, she much preferred soy sauce.

“Soy sauce is a liquid seasoning made by fermenting beans or wheat with water and salt. It’s used in cooking or as a dip, and it’s delicious and appetizing. The taste is similar to the fish sauce Chen Rong mentioned, but not exactly the same.”

Actually, she’d never tasted it herself.

Describing it in words alone wasn’t very accurate.

After all, Nan Feng and the others had never tried fish sauce—only Chen Rong had.

So, everyone turned their attention to Chen Rong.

“Fish sauce is delicious,” Chen Rong said. “It’s reserved for the nobility. In the Western Lands, there’s a saying: ‘A drop of fish sauce is worth an ounce of gold.’ The recipe for making fish sauce is controlled by the nobles and passed down through their families. Don’t look at me—I may be from a noble family, but my clan doesn’t have the fish sauce recipe.”

Hearing this, the tribe members became even more interested in soy sauce.

At the same time, they were very curious about this fish sauce that was “worth its weight in gold.”

“Chen Rong, do people in the Western Lands use gold as currency?” Chang Xia asked in surprise.

“Gold is only used for transactions between nobles. Ordinary people mostly barter,” Chen Rong shook his head. Gold and silver are expensive—commoners would never have the chance to use them.

At that moment,

The tribe leader Gen raised an eyebrow and looked at Chang Xia.

“Chang Xia, do you want gold?”

“Chief, do you have gold?”

Seeing Chang Xia’s greedy expression, the beast den erupted in laughter.

“Chang Xia, the shamans have gold. There’s a gold mine in Mount Kana, but the beast people don’t like using gold for trade. Bartering feels more practical to us,” Nan Feng explained.

That’s right—there’s no shortage of gold and silver in the Twilight Forest.

But the proud beast people have no interest in using gold and silver as currency. Compared to precious metals, they much prefer tangible things like animal hides and bones.

“…That’s impressive,” Chang Xia muttered, managing just two words.

Gold and silver—these natural forms of money—are probably only dismissed by the straightforward beast people.

Still, thinking about how the beast people lived,

Chang Xia could understand their choice.

“Chang Xia, what about soy sauce?” Feng Huo piped up, giving Chang Xia a pleading look. He didn’t care about gold, but he was very interested in the sauces Chang Xia had mentioned.

“Our tribe doesn’t have beans or wheat, so how could we have soy sauce? Besides, making sauce is complicated—it’s not easy!” Chang Xia sighed.

“I don’t really get what sauce is. But I do know there’s a strange wild fruit on Wei Mountain. You can’t eat it, but if you break it open, there’s a reddish-brown juice inside. It tastes a bit salty and savory. It looks a lot like the fish sauce Chen Rong mentioned—”

Suddenly, Gorei, who was sitting in the corner, spoke up.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“Uncle Gorei, what’s that wild fruit called?” Chang Xia asked curiously.

There were all sorts of strange plants and animals in the Twilight Forest, and every time Chang Xia heard about them, she was especially interested. Unfortunately, she’d never had the chance to see them for herself before.

Now, she finally had the opportunity.

Of course, she didn’t want to miss it.

Yun Dong’s eyes lit up, and she reached for the beast pouch at Gorei’s waist.

She reached in, untied the pouch, and took it in her hand.

“Gorei, are you planning to give that special wild fruit to Tianluo again?” Yun Dong teased. “Aren’t you two tired of each other yet? Ever since you were kids, you’ve been giving her things, and she’s been making you clothes and cooking meat. Makes me want to beat you up sometimes.”

Because of how lovey-dovey Gorei and Tianluo were, many of the tribe’s males had been on the receiving end of their partners’ fists.

Honestly, no one had ever seen a pair as sweet as those two.

Ahem—

Gorei looked a little embarrassed and turned away,

Ignoring the teasing in the beast den.

Heh heh!

Chang Xia snickered to herself. Gorei and Tianluo’s relationship was famous in the tribe. In fact, even some of the other beast tribes in the Twilight Forest had heard about them.