Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Lending a Hand

A short while later—

Changxia rubbed her sore neck and looked up.

“Nuanchun, where’s Nanfeng?”

Nuanchun opened her sleepy eyes and replied, “She went to bring rice noodles and steamed rolls to Shenrong and the others. Are you done drawing?”

After Nanfeng left, Nuanchun had found a shady spot to rest, hugging her belly, and had dozed off.

Changxia’s voice startled her awake. She yawned, used the table for support, and walked over to Changxia. She hadn’t dared get too close before, worried about disturbing her.

Actually, Nuanchun had been curious about the little wooden boards in Changxia’s hands for a while.

Changxia glanced at the stack of boards in front of her and smiled, “I’ve drawn a dozen or so. I’ll draw more when I think of something else.”

“Wow! What’s this one? It looks so strange.”

“Is this a wild fruit?”

“Hmm! This one looks familiar.”

Nuanchun sat down next to Changxia, flipping through the little boards, exclaiming in surprise and curiosity again and again.

Changxia shrugged and got up to get some water.

When she’d gone looking for ginger, scallions, and garlic, she’d relied more on their smell than their appearance. This time, she was drawing so the hunting party could bring back similar plants for her to identify.

After all, Changxia couldn’t cover the whole tribal territory by herself anytime soon.

For now, Gen and the tribe wouldn’t let her leave the territory unless Shenrong was cured of his poisoning—or she became much stronger.

If she got the whole tribe to help, things would be much easier. It was a win-win for everyone.

“Changxia, I didn’t know there were so many kinds of chili peppers!” Nuanchun said in surprise.

The chili peppers Kongshan had brought back were round lantern peppers. On Changxia’s boards, there were not only round ones, but also long, thin, pointed ones, and tiny ones in all sorts of colors.

Nuanchun shook her head; she didn’t remember seeing chili peppers in the tribal territory.

The lantern peppers had been found at Qingshan Rock, so there must be more growing there. But who knew if there were other kinds?

Once you’d tasted spicy food, you could never forget it.

“Yes,” Changxia nodded. “Different chilies have different flavors. The smallest ones are the spiciest, and the long, thin, pointed ones are called screw peppers—they’re really spicy too.”

The “facing heaven” pepper, also called millet pepper, was tiny but packed a punch.

Pickled, they were spicy and crunchy.

Talking about it, Changxia couldn’t help but swallow.

She really missed eating chili peppers!

“Spicy? Chili peppers?” Nanfeng called out as she approached, having overheard Changxia.

“Hey!” Nuanchun exclaimed, “Nanfeng, what took you so long?”

“Haha—”

Nanfeng set down the basket and tray, put her hands on her hips, and laughed.

Nuanchun and Changxia exchanged confused looks, not sure what Nanfeng was up to this time.

“I’ve got good news,” Nanfeng said. “This afternoon, Kongshan is bringing Hesong, Luanmu, and Fenghuo over to Baihu. I delivered the food to them, and Shenrong and the others are digging my cave house.”

With enough people, Shenrong had split the group in two.

By this afternoon, Nuanchun’s and her own cave houses would be dug out. Tomorrow morning, Yadong’s would be finished—digging, mudding the walls, installing doors and windows.

Maybe in just a couple of days,

all three families’ cave houses would be done.

“That fast!” Changxia said happily.

Kongshan and the others coming meant most of the tribe probably wanted to build cave houses too. Thinking of this, Changxia gave Nanfeng a curious look.

Could it be that Nanfeng and the others had been telling the tribe about the cave houses every day when they returned?

She didn’t deny that cave houses were comfortable and safe, but beast lairs were the product of centuries of tribal wisdom. Changxia didn’t think the tribe would change their minds so quickly—there had to be more to it.

“Fast is good!” Nuanchun said, delighted.

Suddenly, she remembered Kongshan had brought along Heshen and two others. Would the rice noodles and steamed rolls Nanfeng sent over be enough? She hadn’t prepared much to begin with, and now there were three extra mouths to feed. There was bound to be a fight over there.

“Nanfeng, is there enough rice noodles and steamed rolls for everyone?”

“Nope. Kongshan and the others already got into a scuffle over it.”

Nanfeng sounded casual—among the beastfolk, settling things with fists was perfectly normal. Whoever had the strongest fists got to decide how things were divided.

“Did Chenrong join in?” Changxia asked nervously.

At her words, Nuanchun and Nanfeng both twitched their lips. Nuanchun only knew Chenrong could fight because Shankun had told her. Nanfeng, on the other hand, had sparred with Chenrong herself—neither had won or lost.

Who would have thought that a male who was poisoned and injured could go toe-to-toe with the tribe’s strongest totem warrior and not lose ground at all?

The tribe had agreed to let Changxia stay at Baihu Lake not just because of her persistence, but mainly because of Chenrong’s decisive influence.

Even if he looked sickly, Chenrong was still incredibly strong.

“He doesn’t need to fight,” Nanfeng replied, clearing her throat.

Nuanchun laughed, “You made the rice noodles and steamed rolls. Who among them would dare snatch food from Chenrong?”

She was half-joking, half-explaining.

“Changxia, Kongshan asked me to pass on a message—some of the hunting team want you to make some fried meat for them. They can trade things with you in exchange,” Nanfeng said.

The hunting team was mostly made up of adult, single males in the tribe.

Unmated males basically ate roasted meat at every meal. After tasting fried meat, they suddenly found roasted meat rather bland.

So, they couldn’t help but want someone to cook for them.

But the mated females in the tribe were all busy with their own affairs every day. After thinking it over, Kongshan and the others naturally thought of Changxia.

Coincidentally, Chenrong was still poisoned and couldn’t hunt for now.

Changxia’s health was poor, so she couldn’t join the hunts either.

And besides, it was Changxia who first made fried meat.

“Sure!” Changxia agreed without hesitation. “Tell them to bring over the meat they want fried, and I’ll cook it for them. Oh, and they’ll need to bring their own clay pots. I can provide the salt.”

Kongshan and the others had helped Changxia a lot in the past.

Now that she had a chance to return the favor, she was more than happy to help.

“They’ll come find you in the evening when they’re done. You can talk to them then,” said Nanfeng.

She knew Changxia would agree.

Looks like she’d have to come over early tomorrow to help.

Nanfeng and Nuanchun exchanged a glance, understanding each other’s thoughts, but didn’t say anything.

“I can give them the wooden boards too,” Changxia said happily.

“You finished the plant boards? Let me see!” Nanfeng walked over to the long table, curiously flipping through the wooden boards, getting more and more excited.

If they could find the plants drawn on these boards, it would mean even more delicious food in the future.

How wonderful!

“Hurry up and look. When you’re done, let’s get back to making rice noodles. Tonight, you can all take some back to the tribe. Oh, and we need to make some yam cakes, and knead the dough for the fresh rice noodles so it can ferment overnight. Tomorrow, we’ll have fresh rice noodles…”

Rolling up her sleeves, Changxia kept talking as she gave out instructions.

Nuanchun and Nanfeng stood by, listening with smiles.

Nuanchun felt that just standing next to Changxia made her fatigue melt away.

It seemed even the baby in her belly liked Changxia.