Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Roasting Bird Eggs

Meanwhile, Gen and Mu Qin returned to the tribe to promote the various things Long Summer had introduced, and to help her trade for resin, pottery, and other supplies.

Shen Rong, led by Nan Feng, went to chop wood.

Back at the beast den, Long Summer was alone. She first sorted through the white nuts again, then took the baskets Shen Rong had woven outside to dry in the sun. Shen Rong was meticulous—every edge and corner of the baskets was smoothed, so there was no worry about getting pricked.

After finishing these chores, she decided not to plant the ginger and garlic yet, planning to wait until sunset when the temperature would be just right. She didn’t intend to plant all of Nan Feng’s harvest—maybe just a fifth, since she wasn’t sure if it would even sprout.

Long Summer took out a half-worn animal hide from the den, picked up a piece of charcoal from the stove, and sat at the entrance to draw. The warm spring sunlight bathed her porcelain-white face, giving her a gentle glow and highlighting the faint smile at her lips.

Her slender fingers moved the charcoal across the hide, quickly sketching a simple line drawing—a landscape of kiln dwellings nestled in the yellow earth, reflected in the shimmering white lake.

There would be a room on each side of the entrance, to be used as storage or a cellar in the future. Five kiln openings would be dug in the front, three on the sides, all symmetrically arranged. The front would be left open and connected to the vegetable garden, with a fence or stone wall to keep out wild animals. The main gate would be built using the two kilns at the entrance as gatehouses.

Given that most of the beast tribe were over two meters tall, the kilns should be at least five meters high, one to two zhang wide, and three to five zhang deep. As for the exact depth, Long Summer hadn’t decided yet—she wanted to build a storage cellar to hoard as many supplies as possible.

Because of this, it was necessary to expand the construction deeper.

That’s why five chambers were dug into the kiln, with three more dug into the side.

The main reason was to prepare for the future—when Wu grew old, she could bring her family to live together. Plus, with Baiqing and the issue of future beast cubs, it was only sensible to dig more chambers.

Changxia had always liked to plan ahead and prepare for the future.

The kiln entrances would be walled in, with doors and windows installed—three chambers per entrance. Skylights would be left in the ceilings to maximize the light inside. At the spot against the mountain wall, a heated kang bed would be built, connecting to the mountain wall so there’d be no need to worry about the cold winters.

She drew and revised as she went.

After nearly an hour, a courtyard-style kiln dwelling, clinging to the mountain, came vividly to life on a piece of worn animal hide.

“Changxia, is this a kiln cave?” Nan Feng blinked in amazement, staring at the animal hide in Changxia’s hands, barely daring to breathe. She and Chen Rong had just come back with wood, only to see Changxia sitting at the entrance of the beast den. Curious, they walked over.

Just as they were about to call out, their eyes landed on the animal hide in Changxia’s hands.

Both of them were stunned, not daring to speak.

“Yes, it’s a kiln cave,” Changxia nodded. “Looks good, right? Once it’s built, it’ll look even better.”

“I believe you,” Nan Feng said seriously.

At that moment,

She wished she could start digging right away.

Chen Rong quietly processed the wood, but inside, he was just as excited as Nan Feng.

The look he gave Changxia was full of curiosity. He had a feeling that, with the changes in the Heluo tribe, the beast people would bring a new kind of vitality to the Eastern Land.

Perhaps his return to the East was guided by the Beast God.

He exchanged a glance with Nan Feng, and both of them felt a surge of excitement and complicated emotions.

That afternoon, Chen Rong and Nan Feng made seven or eight wooden buckets. The new buckets were soaked and dried repeatedly by Changxia to ensure they wouldn’t leak, since the wood was still wet and not as good as air-dried timber.

A busy day was drawing to a close.

Before the sun set behind the western hills, Changxia put away the animal hide in the beast den.

She gathered the ginkgo nuts drying on the ground into baskets. After another two days in the sun, once the nuts were fully dried, they could be ground into flour. By then, the wooden buckets would be ready for use.

“Changxia, I’ll bring the wood and stone over tomorrow. Where do you want them stacked?” Nan Feng asked, soaking the last small wooden basin and coming over to where Changxia was collecting ginkgo nuts. There was still time before the rainy season, so there was no need to worry about the materials getting wet.

Changxia thought for a moment, then pointed to Bai Lake at the foot of the slope.

“Nan Feng, let’s stack the wood and stone by the lake for now. Once the foundations for the kiln caves are dug, we’ll bring them up.”

Nan Feng nodded and left right away.

She even refused Changxia’s invitation to stay for dinner.

As Nan Feng put it, her own family was poor—eating once or twice was fine, but she was afraid Changxia would go hungry if she ate too often.

Even though she craved Changxia’s cooking, Nan Feng stayed rational.

“Changxia, are you just going to leave the ginkgo nuts outside the den?” Chen Rong asked. The new buckets were set up nearby and would be ready to use after a couple of days of drying.

“The den’s too small, can’t fit them all,” Changxia said helplessly. “Just leave them outside and cover them with some vines or leaves. I’m going to plant some ginger and garlic—hopefully they’ll take root.”

Basket after basket of ginkgo nuts were neatly stacked against the den by Chen Rong, then covered with vines. At this time of year, the dew wasn’t heavy, so there was no need to worry about the nuts getting wet.

After collecting the nuts, Chen Rong went inside to light the fire and boil water.

“What’s for dinner?” he asked, grabbing a basket of salt crystals and getting ready to grind them into fine salt.

Changxia wiped her sweat and squatted by the stone vat to wash her hands.

She hadn’t planted much ginger and garlic, so she finished quickly.

Hearing Chen Rong’s question, she tilted her head and thought for a moment. “How about roast meat? And we can roast some bird eggs too, then make a stew with meat and eggs.”

There were plenty of reeds by Bai Lake, and wild ducks and birds nested among them. When Chen Rong went to collect the fish traps in the evening, he’d also picked up a lot of bird eggs. After two meals of fish balls, Changxia didn’t feel like eating them again for now.

When Gen Muqin left, Chen Rong had given him a fish trap and showed him how to weave one. With a fish trap, even those who couldn’t hunt or go into the water—like the tribe’s cubs and elderly—could help catch fish and shrimp.

Changxia noticed all this, but didn’t say much.

Chen Rong was even more capable and clever than she’d imagined.

Sometimes, Changxia even wondered if he was really a beastman. But apart from being smart, Chen Rong was mostly very quiet.

That quietness felt like the calm and weariness of someone who had seen much of life.

Watching him, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

At times like these, Changxia would fall silent.

Everyone has their secrets—her, Chen Rong, everyone.

“Sure,” Chen Rong smiled faintly. The happiest moments of each day were when they talked about food.

In the past, Chen Rong hadn’t cared much about food.

But ever since he met Changxia, every meal felt special.

“You cut the meat, I’ll get the eggs,” Changxia instructed. She coated the eggs in mud and buried them in the hearth.

Roasting bird eggs—this was a skill she’d learned in the apocalypse.

Eating raw eggs risked parasites.

Most food in the apocalypse had to be cooked, but cooking brought its own dangers—the smell could attract trouble. So, people came up with all sorts of ways to prepare cooked food.

Roasting bird eggs was just one of them.

Before the apocalypse, this might have just been a childhood memory for some.

But in the apocalypse, it really saved lives.