Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Chili Peppers, Yam and Meat Stew

“Boiled fish—”

“Like the way we stew meat?”

As soon as Changxia said she wanted to eat boiled fish, Gen and Nan Feng immediately grew anxious. They’d tried making boiled fish before, but even the rough-and-tumble beastfolk couldn’t stomach the taste.

Gen cleared his throat and said quietly, “Changxia, I think the fish balls are really delicious. How about… we have fish balls again for lunch?”

“Fish balls are bouncy, fresh, and chewy. They’re really tasty,” Muqin chimed in.

Soon enough, Nan Feng, Nuan Chun, and the others all joined in, trying to dissuade Changxia from making boiled fish.

“Haha—”

Changxia threw her head back and laughed.

With those looks on their faces, how could she not guess what they were thinking?

“The boiled fish I make is different from the tribe’s,” Changxia said with a mysterious smile. Just then, Nan Feng came back carrying a wooden bucket. Changxia called Shan Kun and Ya Dong over to slice the fish, marinate it with salt, ginger, scallions, and sour fruit juice. Meanwhile, Nuan Chun squatted nearby, peeling and chopping yam as Changxia instructed. She wanted to stew the yam with meat, so it couldn’t be sliced too thin or it would fall apart during cooking.

Shan Kun held a bone knife and made a few slicing motions.

“Changxia, is this thickness okay?”

“It’s perfect.”

Seeing there was no stopping her, Nan Feng gave up trying. Instead, she turned her attention to Shan Kun, who was handling the fish, and said decisively, “Shan Kun, save some fish meat for me. I want to make fish balls.”

“Uh, okay.” Shan Kun opened his mouth to speak up for Changxia, but when he saw Nan Feng’s determined expression, he chose to stay silent.

With Changxia’s skills, there’s no way her boiled fish would taste bad.

If it did, she simply wouldn’t make it.

But with Nan Feng so insistent, Shan Kun could only nod.

Gen and the others didn’t chime in, but they did remind Shan Kun and Ya Dong to save extra fish meat for fish balls—they all loved them.

They figured that as long as there were enough fish balls, Changxia wouldn’t have a chance to make boiled fish.

Shan Kun and Ya Dong exchanged awkward smiles and filleted two big grass carp, each weighing seven or eight pounds. The remaining fish meat was all handed over to Nan Feng, who chopped it into a paste for fish balls.

Changxia watched all this, the corners of her mouth twitching in silent protest.

Did they really think she was that unreliable…?

Changxia carefully washed all the ingredients—ginger, scallions, garlic, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, dried orange peel, and so on—then drained them in a small rattan sieve. The fish slices Shan Kun had prepared were already marinating with egg whites. The meat for the stew and the fried meat were all cut and ready.

With a stone pot, Changxia no longer worried about cracking the cookware.

She wielded the spatula with confidence.

Boiled fish is usually made with fresh grass carp. At Bai Lake, Changxia found that black carp were the most common—though, to be fair, that was also the only fish she could recognize.

Boiled fish is best with dried chili peppers, which give it that spicy, numbing aroma.

Unfortunately, aside from the lantern peppers the tribe had given her, Changxia hadn’t had a chance to go out and pick more. The road to prosperity was still a long one.

She heated water in the stone pot, added salt, and cooked the prepared cabbage and radish until soft, then laid them at the bottom of a bowl. The radish had already been simmered for a while in the clay pot with the meat and yam; if not cooked through, it would have a sharp, spicy taste.

Changxia liked her radish well-cooked.

Ideally, it should fall apart at the slightest touch—soft and tender, with a sweetness that fills your mouth.

With the stone pot hot, she tossed in chopped lantern peppers, minced garlic, ginger slices, and stir-fried them until fragrant. Then she added the fish head and bones, stir-fried them, and finally added the marinated fish slices. There was no soy sauce, wine, or sugar, so Changxia substituted with dried sour fruit pulp, gave it a quick stir, and then poured in boiling water to cover the fish.

Gurgle!

Without even looking up, Changxia heard someone’s stomach rumble.

She glanced over to see Nan Feng and Nuan Chun standing nearby, eyes glued to the bubbling fish in the stone pot. Their expressions were exactly like Ya Dong and Shan Kun’s when they’d watched Chen Rong roast meat that morning.

“This smells amazing!”

Of all the things she could say, Nan Feng summed it up in just three words.

Staring at the boiled fish in the pot, Nan Feng regretted her earlier decision.

It smelled so good—it had to be better than fish balls.

If she’d known boiled fish could smell this delicious, she never would have stopped Shan Kun and Ya Dong from filleting the fish. Was it too late to change her mind now?

Nuan Chun blinked and said, “Changxia, your boiled fish smells incredible.”

“My boiled fish is guaranteed to be fragrant,” Changxia said, raising her eyebrows at Nan Feng, her face full of pride and satisfaction.

Muqin smiled and said, “When the tribe makes fish, they usually just boil it, or maybe add some wild greens or roots. No one’s ever this careful.”

She’d heard from Chen Rong that when gutting a fish, you had to remove everything from the belly, including the black lining. As for the scales, it depended on whether you wanted to eat them. Changxia always scraped them off.

But as for getting rid of the fishy smell, the tribe had no methods at all.

No wonder their boiled fish tasted the way it did.

“Fish can be really fishy, so you have to handle it carefully. It’s a shame there’s no soy sauce or cooking wine, or it could be even tastier,” Changxia said, pouring the cooked fish into the bowl lined with cabbage and radish.

Finally, she heated oil and stir-fried the chopped chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns until the peppers turned dry and changed color, releasing a rich, spicy aroma. Then, she poured the sizzling hot oil and peppers over the fish.

A loud sizzle filled the air.

The sound, combined with the spicy, numbing aroma, made everyone’s mouths water uncontrollably.

It was the first time Gen and the others had smelled such a spicy fragrance. Their noses tickled, as if they might sneeze, but their mouths just kept watering.

“This smells even better than roast meat!”

“I’ve decided—boiled fish is my new favorite food.”

In an instant, no one cared about chatting anymore. One by one, they crowded around the table, staring at the brightly colored boiled fish in the shallow clay bowl—about the size of a wooden basin.

As for fish balls?

They’d already forgotten all about them.

“Don’t rush—let’s finish the other dishes first,” Changxia said.

She quickly stir-fried the prepared meat in the stone pot, then added wild greens and salt for a quick sauté. Nearby, the pot with stewing meat and yam was steaming away. Its aroma wasn’t as overpowering as the boiled fish, but it was just as tempting.

On the other side, Chen Rong was turning the skewers of roasted meat in his hands.

The rich, smoky aroma of grilled meat, the spicy and numbing scent of boiled fish, and the fresh, sweet fragrance of meat stewed with yam—all these delicious smells mingled together, filling the entire beast den with the mouthwatering scent of food.

Gen and the others quickly put down what they were doing and hurried over to help.

Muqin and Nan Feng added the fish to the pot, while Nuan Chun tended the fire. All the fried meat was done and set aside to cool before being stored in clean clay jars. Of course, Chang Xia hadn’t forgotten her promise to Yadong to make fish balls and fried meat for him. She specially packed them in a clay basin, ready for Yadong to take back to the tribe when he returned.

That way, whenever he wanted to eat, he could just eat them as they were, or do a bit of extra cooking if he liked.

Earlier, Gen had suggested that when the tribe went hunting in the future, they could prepare some fried meat and fish balls in advance, so no one would have to worry about going hungry while hunting.

Before long, after a flurry of activity, everyone gathered around the long table.

“Come on, let’s eat!” Chang Xia called out, and everyone immediately dug in, heads down, chopsticks flying across the table. Chang Xia turned to ladle some soup for Chen Rong, reminding him, “Chen Rong, eat more of the meat stewed with yam, and try to eat less of the other dishes.”

“Chang Xia, after I coughed up that blood, I really am fine now,” Chen Rong said earnestly.

Nearby, the beastmen kept making little gasping sounds.

Clearly, it was their first time eating chili peppers, and they’d been caught off guard by the spiciness. But even though it was spicy, no one could bear to stop eating. Foodies are the same everywhere, regardless of country or race. Once you’ve tasted chili, you can’t help but fall in love with it.

“This… this chili is so spicy—” Gen said, his mouth puckered and lips swollen from the heat. He picked up a piece of chili and looked at Chang Xia.

Chang Xia replied, “It’s chili pepper.”

“Right, but where did the chili come from?” Gen asked.

“It was brought by some tribespeople. I don’t know exactly where it came from,” Chang Xia shook her head, looking at Gen. “Chief, when you go back to the tribe later, can you help me ask around? Chili peppers are really useful—you can stir-fry them with meat, with bird eggs, make boiled fish, boiled meat…”

Just hearing the names of these dishes, everyone could tell that chili peppers were a treasure.

They had to make sure to pick as many as possible.

Muqin looked at Nan Feng, who said, “I haven’t seen any chili peppers near the tribe.”

“Me neither,” Nuan Chun agreed.

Yadong and Shankun also shook their heads. They knew all the plants around the tribe, and chili peppers were so distinctive that they’d definitely remember if they’d seen them before.

“This thing probably comes from the Illusion Forest…” Gen said quietly.

At once, everyone fell silent.