Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Yam and Fruit Flour Cakes

“Long Xia, come here for a second—”

It was almost noon when Nan Feng’s voice suddenly called out from the direction of the beast den.

“Nan Feng’s here,” Nuan Chun put down the basket and said, “She must have brought the yams. She went to the shrub forest early this morning with a bunch of other tribe members. They should finish digging up all the wild yams in that wasteland over the next couple of days.”

“Let’s go,” Long Xia nodded and called Nuan Chun to head back to the beast den together. It was almost lunchtime—just the right time to go home, rest, and get lunch ready.

“Alright,” Nuan Chun replied.

She wasn’t tired, just feeling so warm and comfortable in the sun that she wanted to nap.

“Chen Rong, take a break! We’re heading back to the den to get lunch ready. Come home early!” Long Xia called out to Chen Rong, reminding him to rest a bit.

“Okay,” Chen Rong turned and answered.

In front of the den, Nan Feng unloaded four baskets of yams. Three of them were from the tribe, sent with Nan Feng. The shrub forest wasteland was huge, and it would take the tribe three or four days to finish digging up all the yams.

“So many…” Long Xia exclaimed in surprise.

Nan Feng explained, “I dug up one basket, and the other three are from the tribe. They said these are for you and the shaman, so you can make something for the shaman to try.”

“That’s a lot. Yams spoil easily and aren’t easy to store,” Long Xia frowned, looking at the four big baskets of yams, worrying about how to deal with them all. Wasting food would be shameful.

Each yam was as thick as an adult’s arm and about a meter long.

It was clear these four baskets had been carefully selected—otherwise, they wouldn’t be so uniform.

“So what should we do?”

“The tribe dug up a lot of yams.”

Hearing this, both Nuan Chun and Nan Feng grew anxious.

Every beastfolk knew to cherish food, and yams would definitely enrich the tribe’s diet.

But to waste them would be truly shameful!

“Store the ones we’ve dug up for now. Don’t go back to the shrub forest for more until we’ve finished what we have,” Long Xia suggested. She was already thinking of ways to cook the yams—stewed with chicken, with meat, yam cakes…

Very quickly, a whole list of home-style yam recipes flashed through Long Xia’s mind.

“Nan Feng, let’s move the yams to the back of the den.”

With that, Long Xia called Nan Feng to help store the yams behind the den. There was a small thatched shed there, built by the tribe when they helped tidy up the den. It was usually used for firewood and odds and ends.

It would be perfect for storing yams and keeping them out of the sun.

After moving the yams, the three of them fetched water to wash their faces and hands.

“Nuan Chun, you didn’t go foraging today?” Nan Feng asked.

Nuan Chun replied, “No. We have wild greens, yams, and bird eggs at home, and Shan Kun went hunting, so we’re not short on food. I wanted to watch Long Xia build the kiln and learn how.”

Hearing this—

It was clear she wanted to compete for kiln-building skills.

“You’ve made up your mind?” Nan Feng was a bit frustrated.

“Mm!” Nuan Chun stroked her belly. “The cub will be born during the rainy season. I’m worried something might happen. If we live in a kiln cave, it should be safer.”

At that, Nan Feng fell silent.

When it came to the safety of the cub, how could she argue?

It seemed she’d have to stick close to Long Xia and learn how to build a kiln as soon as possible. That way, she wouldn’t need Long Xia’s help—she could build her own.

Thinking of this, Nan Feng felt relieved.

They chatted as they started the fire and prepared lunch.

The tribe used to eat two meals a day, but ever since Long Xia suggested three meals, they’d gradually followed her lead—now, they never missed a meal.

“Long Xia, are we having fruit flour cakes for lunch?”

As Long Xia started preparing lunch, Nan Feng perked up and squeezed over to ask what was for lunch. In the past, they only thought about eating when they were hungry. Now, they were already thinking about food before mealtime.

Sure enough, good food sets the rhythm of the day.

“Do you want fruit flour cakes, Nan Feng?” Long Xia paused and asked. There wasn’t much fruit flour left at home, but there should be enough for one more meal. Still, seeing the yams, Long Xia wanted to try making yam and fruit flour cakes.

What a pity—there’s no sugar in the tribe.

Still, the savory flavor is quite good too.

During the long summer, there are no food taboos; we eat both savory and sweet.

“Is that okay?” Nan Feng asked in return.

The fruit flour cakes Gen brought home had all been given to Mu Qin.

By the time Nan Feng found out about the fruit flour cakes, they were already gone.

Chang Xia smiled and said, “Of course. We have plenty of yams—I want to try making yam fruit flour cakes. And for lunch, let’s have a pot of yam stew with meat.”

“Great! What do we need to do?”

In an instant, Nan Feng and Nuan Chun perked up.

“You two help wash the yams, peel and slice them. I’ll clean the clay pot, steam the yams, then add fruit flour batter and bird eggs…”

The half side of meat Nan Feng brought was already gone.

Luckily, the tribe had sent over quite a bit yesterday. Besides the fried meat, Chang Xia had set aside a small portion—just enough for yam stew. Actually, yam stewed with chicken tastes great too, and it’s good for the spleen and stomach.

But, there was work to be done building the kiln.

There was no time to go to the White Lake reeds to catch wild chickens.

The beastfolk rarely hunt wild chickens or ducks—there’s not much meat, and they’re hard to process. Even though the chickens and ducks in the Twilight Forest are bigger than the ones Chang Xia knew, they’re still considered too small by the tribe.

Sometimes, mischievous beast cubs use them for hunting practice.

Other than that, they’re rarely hunted on purpose.

The three of them divided up the work, and soon the aroma of steamed yams wafted from the stone pot—fresh, fragrant, and sweet. Just by the smell, you could tell the yams would taste great.

“Smells amazing!”

“I can even smell a hint of sweetness.”

The beastfolk love sweet things, though not as much as the bear tribe.

Most beastfolk have a sweet tooth.

Unfortunately, honey is hard to come by. It’s not easy to satisfy sweet cravings, so sometimes they’ll pick flowers and suck the nectar.

“Don’t rush, it’s not done steaming yet.” Chang Xia, exasperated, shooed the two away. “Nan Feng, skim the blood foam from the stone pot, let it boil a bit longer, then add the yam chunks to stew.”

She had to focus on the yam fruit flour cakes, so she left the stew to Nan Feng. Nuan Chun was marinating meat, and Chang Xia worried it wouldn’t be enough, so she decided to roast some meat as well.

Besides taking care of Chen Rong, Chang Xia figured Ya Dong and Shan Kun might drop by.

Hunting in the warm season isn’t hard—the tribe usually heads out at dawn and returns by noon. In the afternoon, they rest in the tribe or go foraging with the females nearby.

Overall, life for the beastfolk is pretty relaxed.

Of course, the cold rainy season is an exception.

Once the yams were steamed, they were set out to cool, then mashed into a paste. Fruit flour, a bit of salt, and shrimp powder were added for flavor, and everything was mixed into a yam dough.

After thinking for a moment, Chang Xia found some sour fruit, wild greens, and small pieces of meat.

She pitted and chopped the sour fruit.

The wild greens were chopped, and the meat diced.

She heated oil in the stone pot, added minced ginger, then the meat and wild greens to stir-fry until fragrant. Salt and shrimp powder were added for flavor, and a bit of fruit flour was used to thicken the filling.

The sour fruit made a separate filling from the meat and greens.

Chang Xia mainly wanted to see which flavor tasted better.

Of course, she also wanted to experiment with more ways to use white fruit. The Twilight Forest has no shortage of white fruit—if it could become the beastfolk’s staple food, Chang Xia was confident she could help the tribe evolve from primitive survival to the age of slash-and-burn agriculture.

Food is always the key.

Once the sour fruit and meat/greens fillings were ready, Chang Xia brought over the yam dough, pinched off pieces about the size of a baby’s fist, stuffed them with either filling, and gently pressed them into cakes.

Then, she coated them with a little fruit flour and fried them in warm oil.

The sizzling sound and rich aroma of the yam cakes quickly drifted on the wind.

Nan Feng and Nuan Chun were practically drooling, and even Chen Rong came back from the western hillside.

The smell was irresistible.

It made everyone’s mouth water.

“Chang Xia, can I try one?”

Immediately, three voices rang out at once.

Chang Xia looked up, exasperated. All this fuss over a single yam fruit flour cake?!