Chapter 66: Chapter 66: A Bowl, Please

“Alright!” Changxia replied.

She said goodbye to Elder Dalai and, together with Chen Rong, carried the red maple sap back to the beast den. Red Leaf Ridge wasn’t far from the tribe—at worst, they could just travel day and night to collect the sap.

With that thought, Changxia’s worries faded, and a smile returned to her face.

“Changxia, feeling better?” Chen Rong asked gently.

Changxia shot him a look and said playfully, “Are you happy to see me troubled? I’m telling you—if we miss this year’s sap harvest, we’ll have to wait another whole year to taste maple sugar and syrup.”

“So, what’s your plan?” Chen Rong walked slowly behind her, each step landing where she had stepped. The sun hung high in the sky, their shadows stretching long and gradually merging into one.

“Why aren’t you suggesting I just give up on collecting the sap?” Changxia pouted in surprise.

After all, compared to food, a safe and comfortable home was more practical.

Besides, with the chickens, ducks, fish, and fruit powder recipes she’d provided this year, the Heluo tribe could get through the rainy season just fine. Changxia thought Chen Rong would assume she’d give up on the sap—any normal person would.

“Would you really give it up?” Chen Rong smiled, his lips curving into a charming arc.

He hadn’t known Changxia for long, but it was enough to understand her.

Someone so devoted to good food would never give up something delicious so easily.

Changxia smiled and nodded. “You’re right, I can’t bear to. So, Chen Rong, we need to work hard—let’s make more wooden buckets and go to Red Leaf Ridge at night to collect sap. Let’s gather as much as we can. Besides storing syrup, we can try making some maple sugar.”

“There’s more and more moisture in the air—the rainy season is coming soon,” Chen Rong said seriously. “The tribe needs to focus on building the kiln. Just the two of us collecting sap, even at night, won’t be enough to harvest all the red maple sap from Red Leaf Ridge.”

Chen Rong analyzed the situation objectively.

No one had ever collected sap from the red maples at Red Leaf Ridge before.

Each tree was full of stored sugar.

It was impossible to harvest them all in just a few days.

Changxia waved her hand and said calmly, “I never said we had to get it all. We’ll just collect as much as we can. If not, we’ll wait until next year.”

The Twilight Forest was a mysterious place.

It rained most of the time during the rainy season, so logically, there should be floods.

But in Changxia’s memory, floods were rare here. With so much rainfall, there should be a lot of standing water—where did it all go?

And with all that rain, the air should be humid.

But somehow, the Twilight Forest wasn’t.

For example, the Heluo tribe was right by the White River. During the rainy season, the river stayed stable, which was hard to believe.

Chatting as they walked, the two soon arrived back at the beast den.

They set down the buckets of red maple sap and washed their faces and hands. They’d already eaten at Red Leaf Ridge, so they weren’t hungry.

Changxia wanted to collect more sap, so first, they needed plenty of wooden buckets.

There was no extra wood left in the beast den, and it was clearly unrealistic to go into the forest to cut more at this moment. Changxia considered going back to the tribe to talk to Gen about getting some wood to make barrels. With barrels to collect the sap from the red maple trees, it would be much easier to harvest and process the sap into maple sugar at Red Leaf Ridge.

“Changxia, would you like a bowl of red maple sap?” Shen Rong asked gently.

After a period of rest, the restlessness in their hearts faded away.

Shen Rong noticed the lingering blush on Changxia’s cheeks and couldn’t help but ask.

Changxia nodded quickly and replied, “Yes, I’d love a bowl.”

Each with a bowl in hand, they sat quietly in front of the beast den.

The sky was a brilliant blue, clouds drifting lazily by.

After a sip of the red maple sap, both of them let out a contented sigh at the same time. Hearing each other, they exchanged a smile.

“Shen Rong, red maple sap tastes even better chilled,” Changxia said, smacking her lips and gesturing toward the beast den. She remembered Granny Suye had brought her a few ice fruits, and she hadn’t eaten them yet.

Shen Rong put down his bowl and stood up. “Wait here, I’ll go get the ice fruits.”

Soon, Shen Rong came back from the beast den with the ice fruits.

Unlike ordinary wild fruits, the ice fruits felt cool and refreshing in the hand.

He peeled and sliced them.

The translucent white flesh of the fruit felt icy against his fingers. When pressed lightly, it was springy and resilient.

Shen Rong took Changxia’s bowl, added a few spoonfuls of red maple sap, and then half a spoonful of ice fruit flesh.

As soon as the ice fruit touched the maple sap, it began to sizzle.

“Shen Rong, look—” Changxia called out, pointing at the wooden bowl.

They saw beads of water forming on the outside of the bowl.

The two exchanged a glance and said in unison, “Ice crystal grass.”

“That’s right, ice crystal grass!” Changxia’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Shen Rong, we have to trade with the bird tribe for ice crystal grass. With it, we’ll never have to worry about the sweltering rainy season again—”

Ice crystal grass, nature’s refrigerator.

Refrigerators, popsicles, ice cream, shaved ice…

Just thinking about it made Changxia’s mouth water.

No matter what, she had to remember to trade with the bird tribe for ice crystal grass.

Soon, the two finished their bowls of red maple sap with ice fruit, still craving more. Unfortunately, there weren’t many ice fruits left. Changxia wanted to save some for Granny Suye and Baiqing, so they could enjoy them together with the rest of the tribe.

No matter how tempting, she had to restrain herself.

“Changxia—”

Just as Changxia was about to head back to the tribe to ask Gen about the wood, a cheerful voice called from down the slope.

“Nanfeng?”

“Yeah! It’s her,” Shen Rong said, touching his nose. Was Nanfeng really from the leopard tribe and not the wolf tribe? Every time they had something good, Nanfeng seemed to know right away. Was her sense of smell really that sharp?

Changxia stood on tiptoe and looked toward White Lake, hesitating. “It looks like… there are several people?”

In the distance, besides Nanfeng, it seemed a few more people were heading toward their beast den.

Could it be—

The two exchanged a glance, thinking of Elder Dalai, whom they’d met by the newly built stone wall. Maybe the tribe had already heard they’d returned from Red Leaf Ridge?

It seemed the only explanation. After all, the tribe was busy building the kiln—unless it was something important, they wouldn’t come looking for Changxia now.

“Changxia, let me try it!” Nanfeng ran up, her big eyes fixed on Changxia, chattering, “Elder Dalai said the… what was it, red tree sap you mentioned is delicious, even sweeter than honey!”

“Hehehe—” Elder Pukang’s signature laugh rang out as he appeared.

Soon, Gen, Muqin, and others climbed the slope behind them.

“Little Changxia, give Grandpa Pukang a bucket to try,” Pukang said.

A short female beside him raised her hand and knocked him on the head, scolding, “Pukang, what are you saying?”

After lecturing Pukang, the woman turned to Changxia with a kind smile. “Changxia, how have you been lately? I heard you went to Red Leaf Ridge and found tree sap as tasty as honey?”

“Elder Yami, please have a seat!” Changxia invited everyone to sit and asked Shen Rong to help prepare bowls. Without saying much, she simply ladled out red maple sap for everyone—after all, nothing explained it better than tasting it themselves.