Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Tough and Warm Spring

After the meal.

The morning sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the Twilight Forest in light.

Warm golden sunlight shone on White Lake, reflecting a rainbow of colors.

Chen Rong carried white nuts and spread them out on the ground to dry. Chang Xia held a shallow basket woven from fine vines, filled with small river shrimp. These shrimp would be dried and ground into shrimp powder. Without MSG or chicken bouillon, shrimp powder was Chang Xia’s secret ingredient for adding flavor.

Beside the beast den, the two worked quietly, not speaking.

A gentle, tacit warmth lingered between them.

“Chen Rong, when we start digging the kiln later, let’s check the moisture in the loess first. The cold season only just ended, so the melted snow has flowed into the rivers and lakes, and the ground is still holding a lot of water. I’m worried the kiln might collapse if we’re not careful,” Chang Xia said, wrapping a piece of animal hide around her head.

First, it provided shade.

Second, it kept sand from getting in her hair, which was a pain to wash out.

“Should we use resin?” Chen Rong asked as he stacked the vine baskets.

Chang Xia shook her head lightly. “When digging a kiln, it’s like digging a beast den. First, dig out the hole, then smooth out the walls. Resin is used later, when decorating the kiln and adding wood or stone. You don’t actually need much wood or stone to build the kiln itself.”

Of course, making furniture later on would be a whole different story.

But for just building the kiln, not much wood or stone was needed.

“That’s a lot simpler than building a den,” Chen Rong said.

When the tribe built dens, the beastfolk weren’t in a hurry—they could spend years slowly gathering wood, stone, and resin.

Once built, a beast den could last a beastfolk a lifetime.

As they spoke, the two of them walked west together.

“Chen Rong, let’s start digging the kiln from the side,” Chang Xia decided, taking up a simple stone hoe and ceremoniously digging the first scoop.

Chen Rong smiled at her actions, then his hands turned into wolf claws.

Swish, swish—

He easily dug up the tough loess and piled it to the side, ready to be moved wherever Chang Xia directed.

“It’s really dry.”

“That means we don’t have to worry about collapse.”

Soon, they had dug an entrance big enough for a person.

Chang Xia crawled inside to check the moisture of the loess.

“Chang Xia, let me handle the kiln digging. You can move the dirt—take your time,” Chen Rong said.

Digging the kiln was hard work, and Chen Rong didn’t want Chang Xia to get too tired. He suggested she just move the dirt he dug out, slowly.

The tool for carrying dirt was a vine basket.

These baskets were specially woven from tough, durable vines. They could be dragged along the ground. Chang Xia’s beast form was small, so she couldn’t carry the baskets on her shoulders.

She could only use the clumsy method of dragging them with both hands.

This, of course, was tiring.

But Chang Xia wanted to build up her strength, so she didn’t mind.

Besides, even if she transformed, she couldn’t dig as fast as Chen Rong.

Their species determined the strength of their beast forms. The chinchilla tribe was naturally weaker than other beastfolk. Let alone compared to the Doulang tribe, who were among the strongest— even if Chen Rong was poisoned or injured, Chang Xia couldn’t match his physique.

Even Nan Feng, a totem warrior, nearly lost when sparring with Chen Rong.

If it came to a real fight, Chen Rong might not lose at all.

“Chang Xia—”

From a distance, they heard Nuan Chun calling.

Chang Xia set down her basket and looked over. She saw Nuan Chun carrying a vine basket, strolling over. “I picked up some bird eggs a few days ago—here, have a basket.”

After Gen went back from Chang Xia’s place, he taught the tribe how to make fruit powder cakes.

Soon, the whole tribe was filled with the delicious aroma again.

Nuan Chun figured that over the next few days, the tribe would bring Chang Xia some white nuts and bird eggs. There were plenty of wild greens this season, so they probably wouldn’t bring those on purpose.

“Nuan Chun, you’ve tried the fruit powder cakes?” Chang Xia brushed the dirt from her hands and smiled. Seeing Nuan Chun’s satisfied expression, she already knew the answer.

Gen always cared about the tribe and never kept things to himself.

The fruit powder cakes were delicious, so of course he’d teach everyone.

“I have, they’re really good,” Nuan Chun nodded with a smile. “Fruit powder cakes—are those the new food you invented with white nuts?”

She’d been worried Chang Xia had picked too many white nuts.

But after tasting the cakes, Nuan Chun was worried there wouldn’t be enough white nuts to go around.

“No, actually. The fruit powder cakes were something Chen Rong made by accident. I’m experimenting with white nuts to try and make other tasty things. But the nuts aren’t dry yet—once they are, I’ll get started.”

Chang Xia smiled mysteriously. The fruit powder cakes were good, but compared to rice noodles, they were a bit plain.

Don’t think about it, don’t think about it—the more she thought about it, the hungrier she got.

Chatting, the two of them brought the bird eggs to the beast den. Then they wandered over to the kiln site to the west. When Nuan Chun saw the finished opening on the left, she couldn’t help but smile.

“Chang Xia, is it already done?” Nuan Chun asked.

Chang Xia shook her head. “Not even close. We’ve just started. Once the kiln’s dug out, we still have to shape it. The top needs to be arched, and the sides smoothed out. Only after that is the digging finished. Once it’s dry, we’ll use loess mixed with chopped grass and resin to plaster the walls. If we want the kiln to look nice and clean, we’ll need at least two or three layers of plaster so the walls are smooth and even.”

She was still figuring out the best way to plaster the kiln.

From what she knew, the main ingredients were dry earth and straw.

"Here’s a natural, fluent English translation of your text:

The walls made from this kind of clay are in no way inferior to cement walls. There’s no wheat straw here, but there is resin. During the long summer, there’s no worry about not being able to clean the kiln walls properly—what I’m concerned about is whether adding resin will make the clay too sticky.

When the time comes, I’ll have to adjust the proportions. If it still doesn’t work, I’ll just use wooden boards for inlaying.

Long Xia rattled off a string of explanations, successfully leaving Nuan Chun dazed and confused. She didn’t really understand, but somehow it all sounded impressive.

“Is there anything I should do?” Nuan Chun asked.

Since she couldn’t follow the explanation, she simply chose to watch and memorize everything directly. That way, if she ever built her own kiln in the future and ran into problems, she wouldn’t be lost.

“No need,” Long Xia shook her head, refusing her offer.

Nuan Chun was due to give birth during the rainy season. At a time like this, how could Long Xia dare let her help? Beastfolk cubs had a very low survival rate—every single one was precious.

Seeing the worried look on Long Xia’s face, Nuan Chun immediately guessed what she was thinking. Rolling her eyes, she reached out, grabbed the vine basket next to Long Xia, and dragged it away.

She did it so easily that Long Xia was left stunned.

Long Xia had just recovered her health, and this basket was specially woven for her by Chen Rong. It was a bit smaller than the usual vine baskets. A full basket of yellow clay weighed about a hundred jin (roughly 50 kg). For the strong beastfolk, even young ones could easily lift or drag it, so this weight was just right for Long Xia at the moment.

But Nuan Chun wasn’t a totem warrior.

Still, she was much stronger than Long Xia.

A hundred jin was nothing to her.

And so, this scene unfolded before them.

“Nuan Chun, slow down!” Long Xia called out nervously.

Nuan Chun easily dragged the basket of clay, moving even faster than Long Xia. “Long Xia, this is nothing. Don’t worry, I care about the cub in my belly even more than you do. I’ll be fine.”

Off in the distance, Chen Rong, who was working on the kiln, watched silently, saying nothing.

He just started working a bit faster. He was afraid if he moved too slowly, Nuan Chun would tease him for being useless.

Lately, there had been more and more things to make him feel inadequate.

Chen Rong felt like his shoulders were getting heavier and heavier—he was exhausted.