Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Expanding the Cellar

“Anything else?” Shankun asked.

Chang Xia shook her head. “No, that’s all. We have everything else we need.”

“Alright, once I finish cleaning these fish, I’ll go to the tribe and get what you need.” Shankun quickly scaled the fish, rinsed them clean, and placed them in a wooden basin.

He washed his hands, put on his fur coat, and headed back out into the rain.

“What was Shankun here for?” Su Ye asked as she entered.

Chang Xia was rubbing ginger and salt onto the cleaned fish to marinate them. Hearing Su Ye’s question, she explained, “He asked me to make carp soup for Nuanchun. The way he cooks it… Nuanchun can’t really eat it.”

“Male beastfolk really can’t cook anything but roasted meat,” Su Ye nodded.

Meat was the staple food of the beastfolk.

Basically, both males and females could roast meat.

But the taste varied widely.

“Grandma Su Ye, can Chen Rong eat organ meat? I asked Shankun to see if he could get some wild boar liver from the tribe. I want to make some liver soup for Chen Rong,” Chang Xia said, scooping out some fruit flour to mix into a paste. The fish needed to marinate for a while before cooking to reduce the fishy smell.

“He can,” Su Ye replied.

She’d come in a hurry and hadn’t brought enough blood-enriching herbs. She recognized that Chen Rong had been poisoned by a Gu worm, but she couldn’t confirm if it was a human blood Gu.

Human blood Gu was different from ordinary insect Gu.

It was fierce and vicious.

No one who was poisoned by it survived.

That Chen Rong was still alive was a mystery to Su Ye.

After a thorough check yielded no clues, Su Ye could only chalk it up to Chen Rong’s fate.

“I picked some herbs that Chen Rong can take. Later, make a decoction for him,” Su Ye said.

With that, she went into the cave room next door, where she’d stored the herbs she’d gathered. Some needed to be processed before they could be used, and others had to be dried to prevent spoilage.

Chang Xia answered crisply.

At that moment, Chen Rong was carefully reading the blueprints Bai Qing had given him.

Through the wall, he could faintly hear the conversation in the kitchen. Several times, he wanted to go over, but in the end, he stayed where he was, relying on his willpower.

“If you need my help, just ask anytime,” Bai Qing said.

He had looked through the blueprints—they were beautiful. Whether it was the cellar beneath the yaodong, the raised kang bed, or the kitchen, each was sketched with just a few strokes, yet they all seemed especially vivid.

The more he looked, the more eager he felt to get started.

“Help me get some lightstones. I’m planning to renovate the cellar first. Once that’s sorted, I’ll work on the kang bed. The kitchen, bathroom, and toilet will probably have to wait until last. As for the corridor and eaves, those are a bit trickier—I’ll need to think them through…”

Chen Rong didn’t hesitate to order Bai Qing around. He was sure that Su Ye and Bai Qing had tampered with the medicinal bath. But since the two were Chang Xia’s family, he could only swallow his grievances.

Otherwise, who knows what would happen next time he took a medicinal bath.

That kind of pain—Chen Rong thought once was more than enough.

He couldn’t handle a second round.

“Alright.” Bai Qing went to Chang Xia’s room, grabbed a few lightstones, and followed Chen Rong toward the cellar. As they walked, he asked, “Chen Rong, can you really make the cellar look like Chang Xia’s drawings?”

Bai Qing had always lived with Su Ye, learning all sorts of shamanic knowledge, but he lacked experience in other areas.

Coming to the Heluo tribe, he watched Nan Feng and Ya Dong skillfully craft beautiful tables and chairs, and felt a bit envious. He’d secretly tried his hand at it, but realized he just wasn’t any good.

“I can,” Chen Rong replied confidently.

Chang Xia’s blueprints weren’t complicated, and Chen Rong was sure he could handle the cellar.

They passed through the yaodong, the two of them—one tall, one short—arriving at the cellar entrance.

The cellar was still a mess, just like last time. It was empty, with stones and debris scattered everywhere. Not far from the entrance, a pile of wood and resin had been stacked up.

Originally, Chang Xia had planned to store the rattan baskets of white nuts in the cellar. But since she was considering expanding the cellar during the rainy season, the baskets and other odds and ends were kept in the yaodong above, while the wood and resin were moved inside.

Besides rosewood, there was ironwood, camphor, and other types of lumber.

Chang Xia intended to use these materials to make furniture for the yaodong—wardrobes, tables, chairs, shelves, and so on.

The yaodong was newly built, and every room was still empty.

There was a lot of furniture to be made, and no amount of wood was too much for Chang Xia.

Unfortunately, with the tribe’s recent big projects, most of the wood the clanspeople had stockpiled was already used up. Once the first rains ended, besides hunting and gathering, some people would probably have to go into the mountains to cut more wood.

“What should we do first?” Bai Qing embedded the lightstones into the walls. Their brilliant glow lit up the dark cellar, banishing every trace of shadow.

Chen Rong transformed his hands, beast form emerging.

“First, we’ll smooth out the four walls—like carving out a yaodong, scrape them flat and then plaster them with clay. Once the walls are done, we’ll level and compact the floor.” Chen Rong laid out the plan methodically. The sturdy loess was no match for his sharp wolf claws—it crumbled like the softest tofu.

Bai Qing followed Chen Rong’s example, transforming his hands.

Soon, a pair of wolf claws, slightly smaller than Chen Rong’s, appeared.

“Wolf claws? I thought you were from the Tiger tribe,” Chen Rong said, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“I’m from the Sky Wolf tribe, the Black Wolf clan. My father is your mother’s youngest brother. When your mother passed away, my father hadn’t even come of age yet,” Bai Qing replied.

Chen Rong froze, staring at Bai Qing with a strange expression.

Damn—

So this guy, who’s always been so hostile toward him, was actually his cousin?!

Back when he’d introduced himself, why hadn’t Bai Qing said anything?

“You’re probably wondering why I never mentioned it before,” Bai Qing said, tilting his head and looking at Chen Rong with a hint of mockery. “No matter who you are, I won’t let you hurt Chang Xia. I’m telling you now only because I want you to stop thinking about using the Sky Wolf tribe’s power.”

When it came to connections, Bai Qing was definitely more recognized by the Sky Wolf tribe than Chen Rong.

Chen Rong had been taken away from the Sky Wolf tribe to the Western Lands right after he was born. Apart from blood ties, he was just a stranger to the tribe.

Chen Rong fell silent again.

This wolf pup was ruthless.

At the same time, Chen Rong felt a bit stifled and frustrated.

Was he really that unlikable?

He remembered back in the Western Lands’ Tianyuan tribe, he’d been the most sought-after male among the noble females.

“Enough chatter, get to work.”

In the end, Chen Rong forced down the twitch at the corner of his mouth and urged Bai Qing to help him scrape the walls.

He planned to get the cellar sorted out today, and start making furniture tomorrow. Hopefully, he could get all the yaodong chores done before the first rains ended. It was a pity he couldn’t work with Chang Xia on expanding the cellar.

He’d much rather work with Chang Xia than with Bai Qing.