Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Maple Syrup Lollipops

“Changxia, are you making maple syrup?”

Chenrong’s deep, low voice came from a distance, drawing closer.

He walked toward the beast den, backlit by the setting sun. Smelling the caramel sweetness drifting on the night breeze, Chenrong couldn’t help but lick his lips.

“I’m just trying it out to see if it works,” Changxia said, stirring the wooden spoon and watching the sap bubble in the clay pot. As the water evaporated, the sap thickened. “This can’t be called maple sugar yet—it’s maple syrup. To get maple sugar, it needs to cook even longer.”

Changxia didn’t dare use too high a flame.

It was hard to control the temperature with clay pots.

Luckily, she wasn’t aiming for perfect maple sugar, just something edible.

So, she only had to be careful not to burn it.

As she spoke, Changxia picked up a wooden chopstick from the side and dipped it into the clay pot, gently stirring in slow, even circles.

Very soon, the chopstick was coated with a thick layer of maple syrup. Changxia pulled it out and handed it to Chen Rong, asking, “Chen Rong, do you want to try it?”

“Sure,” Chen Rong replied with a smile.

He lowered his head, took a bite straight from the chopstick in Changxia’s hand.

Soft and chewy.

As he chewed gently, a rich, sticky caramel sweetness burst in his mouth. It was completely different from the cane sugar he’d tasted in the Western Lands, and unlike honey too. This was a flavor unique to maple syrup—soft, smooth, and delicate.

“It’s delicious.”

“The tribe will definitely love this.”

It was rare for Chen Rong to express such admiration, and he looked thoroughly satisfied.

Hearing his praise, Changxia was overjoyed.

“Nanfeng said the tribe made a lot of round wooden barrels. Is that true?” Changxia handed the chopstick to Chen Rong so he could eat by himself, then grabbed another handful of chopsticks and started stirring them in the clay pot. Since there were no containers at home to store the maple syrup, Changxia decided to simply wrap the syrup around the chopsticks, making them into little lollipop-like balls.

At this moment, the maple syrup was somewhat similar to maltose.

Chen Rong nodded. “It’s true. Gen and the elders want to collect as much sap from the red maples at Redleaf Ridge as possible. After all, waiting another year would be too hard to bear.”

Gen and the others had tasted the sap from the red maples.

How could they let it go?

“How many people is the tribe sending to Redleaf Ridge tonight?” Changxia asked again.

“There’s no limit.”

“What—?”

“You heard me right, there’s no limit on how many people can go.”

Changxia rubbed her forehead after hearing this.

Damn—

When it came to craziness, she wasn’t even a fraction as bold as the tribe.

She had just been thinking about working day and night to collect the red maple sap, but the tribe was ready to mobilize everyone overnight. No wonder Gen said that before the rainy season, everyone would be able to move into the new kilns.

That kind of determination was truly intimidating.

“Looks like… the whole tribe plans to head to Redleaf Ridge tonight to collect maple sap. Doing it at night won’t interfere with building the kilns during the day,” Changxia nodded slightly, then asked, “Chen Rong, how’s the renovation going in the tribe?”

“It’s crazy!” Chen Rong’s mouth twitched as he spat out the words.

Changxia: (⊙o⊙)…

“The tribe has torn down a lot of beast dens. The whole place looks completely different now,” Chen Rong said with feeling. He genuinely admired Gen and the elders’ decisiveness—once they decided to build kilns, they didn’t hesitate to give up the beast dens. Clearly, they were confident that everyone would be living in the new kilns before the rainy season.

“…” Changxia silently gave a thumbs-up in the direction of the tribe.

The two barrels of red maple sap weren’t full, each holding about twenty to thirty jin. They made dozens of maple syrup lollipops, and then Chen Rong used straw to make a stick, sticking the chopsticks with maple syrup onto it.

Surprisingly, it looked a bit like a traditional candied hawthorn skewer.

“They look even tastier now,” Chen Rong said, watching Changxia stick the chopsticks onto the straw stick. He licked his lips, eyeing the unevenly sized maple syrup lollipops, feeling like he could eat several more.

“Want another?” Changxia asked.

Chen Rong shook his head. “Let’s save them for the tribe’s kids.”

He’d had one, and that was enough.

Besides, after they collected more maple sap tonight, Changxia could make more syrup, and he could have some then.

“Alright.” Changxia smiled and set the straw stick full of maple syrup lollipops next to the beast den, planning to take them to the tribe for the kids tomorrow.

The two of them, surrounded by the rich caramel aroma, sat at the long table and ate dinner.

They chatted about heading to Redleaf Ridge that night.

With their minds on collecting maple sap, they finished their meal quickly.

Just as they finished eating, they heard Nanfeng calling from down the slope.

A large group of tribespeople emerged, each carrying two big rattan baskets, with four round wooden barrels in each basket. Torches were piled on top of the barrels—at a glance, there were quite a few.

It looked like they were planning to collect every last drop of sap from the red maples at Redleaf Ridge.

Before nightfall, the whole group set off in grand procession toward Redleaf Ridge.

“Changxia, what did you eat tonight? You smell so sweet—did you two sneak something?” Nanfeng sniffed around Changxia, nose twitching as she got closer.

Nearby, Yadong looked like he wanted to climb onto Chen Rong’s back.

Just like Nanfeng, he kept pestering them with questions.

Chen Rong’s mouth twitched. He reached out and pushed Yadong’s head away.

“I used the leftover red maple sap to make some maple syrup. Since I didn’t have molds or containers for the syrup, I wrapped it around chopsticks to make lollipops,” Changxia explained. “There are about a few dozen, and I left them in the beast den. I’m planning to bring them for the tribe’s kids tomorrow. If you want some… wait until we collect more sap tonight, and I’ll make some for you.”

Since there weren’t many maple syrup lollipops, Changxia hadn’t brought them over.

There were too many people, and not enough to go around.

So she hadn’t planned to bring them from the start.

Not far away, the other tribespeople pricked up their ears to listen.

Hearing that Changxia had made maple syrup lollipops from the red maple sap, they all swallowed hard. But no one asked her for a taste—after all, she’d said those lollipops were for the tribe’s children.

If they wanted to try some, they’d just have to wait until after tonight’s sap collection, when Changxia would teach everyone how to make maple syrup. Thinking of this, everyone wished they could rush to Redleaf Ridge right away.

“Changxia, don’t forget… me too.”

“Yeah, and us as well.”

In an instant, Yadong, Kongshan, and the others all came over.

Anything made by Changxia was guaranteed to be top-notch.

Thanks to her recipes, the tribe’s meals had improved by several levels lately.

Everyone was on the verge of putting on some weight.

Before dark.

A group of several hundred people successfully arrived at Redleaf Ridge.

Gen divided everyone into groups of twenty, assigning one person in each group to patrol. That way, they wouldn’t be caught off guard by wild beasts—collecting maple sap was important, but so was everyone’s safety.

Each group assigned one person to learn from Chang Xia and Shen Rong how to harvest red maple sap. Once they’d learned, everyone split up and headed to their designated trees to begin collecting sap. To their surprise, the operation went incredibly smoothly.

Hundreds of people moved in an orderly fashion, quickly spreading out to every corner of Redleaf Ridge.

By nightfall, torches lit up the entire ridge, making it as bright as day.