Chapter 6: Chapter 6: Rendering Fat and Frying Meat

Changxia was poor.

But that didn’t mean the Heluo Tribe was poor.

In terms of prosperity, the Heluo Tribe was second to none in the Twilight Forest. Of course, by prosperity, it meant the tribe didn’t go hungry or cold, and everyone had enough to eat—not much more than that.

“You mentioned building a kiln earlier—what’s that about?” Nan Feng asked. She’d been too busy eating to ask before, but now that she was full and had some free time, she couldn’t help but be curious.

Bite by bite, she ate the braised meat and fish balls. Beside her, Changxia began pouring river shrimp into a clay pot, preparing to blanch them. Watching Changxia’s patient movements, Nanfeng felt like she could eat three more big bowls.

“I want to build my own beast den—different from the ones we have now. I’m going to call it a kiln. I’ve picked a spot on the western hillside, right up against the slope, and I’ll build a ‘leaning kiln’ there,” Changxia said happily, her hands never stopping as she stirred the pot with a wooden spoon. The river shrimp quickly turned golden in the boiling water, releasing a light, fresh aroma with a hint of brininess.

Nanfeng stared at the shrimp in the pot, listening to Changxia’s explanation.

“If you need help, just say so,” Nanfeng started to speak, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything discouraging. After all, Changxia’s expression made it impossible to refuse her.

“Mm!” Changxia nodded, clearly delighted by Nanfeng’s support.

By now, the shrimp in the clay pot were cooked. Changxia scooped them out, grabbed some washed fruit nearby, and squeezed it hard, letting a few drops of juice fall into a bowl. This yellow-skinned wild fruit was called “sour fruit” by the tribe—tart, rarely eaten. Changxia had stockpiled quite a bit; she usually didn’t eat it directly, but used it as a seasoning.

At noon, she’d been so hungry she hadn’t thought of it, but now, Nanfeng had put half a slab of meat in her basket for dinner. She’d only just noticed it while tidying up.

“Changxia, what are you doing with that sour fruit?” Nanfeng asked with a frown, eyeing the fruit in Changxia’s hand with distaste. No one in the tribe but Changxia bothered to collect it. Even when starving, no one picked it—only a few cubs might gather it by mistake.

“I’m squeezing it for juice, to use as a dip. When you eat the shrimp, try dipping them—it tastes even better.” Changxia took a shrimp, pinched off the head and peeled the shell, then dipped the snow-white meat into a bit of the sour fruit juice.

Instantly, a unique freshness mixed with a hint of tartness exploded on her taste buds. The flavor was so amazing, even Changxia was surprised.

“How is it?” Chenrong asked softly.

Changxia gave a thumbs up, exclaiming, “Delicious!”

“Really?” Nanfeng finished the last of her soup, then copied Changxia in peeling a shrimp, but hesitated to dip it in the sour fruit juice. She glanced at Chenrong.

Chenrong said nothing, but dipped some shrimp into the juice.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed quietly, staring in surprise at the bowl of juice.

Sour fruit—a super-tart fruit from the Twilight Forest—was rarely eaten by the beastfolk. Today, Changxia had amazed him once again.

“These shrimp taste even better than at noon!” Chenrong said, keeping his eyes on the juice. He never would have thought that the sour, astringent juice could combine with shrimp to create such an incredible flavor.

Seeing this, Nanfeng no longer hesitated. She picked up a peeled shrimp with her chopsticks and dipped it into the juice.

“Whoa! It’s really not that sour?” Nanfeng’s beautiful eyes widened in shock and confusion.

“We should pick more sour fruit this year and store it,” Changxia said. Besides using the juice as a dip, the fruit flesh could be pickled and dried—it was delicious that way too. Sour and sweet, soft and chewy. Eating it, you got the tartness of lemon with a hint of hawthorn or green plum’s fruity aroma and sweetness. It could also be used like dried tangerine peel in cooking. Like ginkgo nuts, it was very versatile.

“Good idea,” Nanfeng agreed, for once not criticizing Changxia.

That meal, Nanfeng ate until she was stuffed. She sat and watched as Chenrong cleaned up the dishes. Changxia took some thin vines, measured Nanfeng’s feet, and skillfully began weaving her a pair of vine sandals.

“Changxia, when are you planning to build your kiln?” Nanfeng asked.

The half slab of meat she’d brought would be enough for Changxia and Chenrong to eat for ten days or so. Even if they didn’t go out to gather or hunt, they wouldn’t go hungry.

Changxia shook her head and explained, “I want to finish building the kiln before the cold season comes. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the salt lake to get some salt, and pick some ginkgo nuts while I’m at it. In the afternoon, I’ll start preparing the materials for the kiln…”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Nanfeng.

Building a kiln was different from building a beast den, but some materials were essential—like wood, stone, and resin for binding everything together. These all needed to be prepared in advance.

Some beastfolk started gathering materials three to five years before building their dens.

There was plenty of wood and stone near the tribe, but resin was scarce. It came from a special tree called the oil tree. If you cut its bark, a sticky, yellowish sap would ooze out. Once dried, it became a cement-like building material the beastfolk called resin.

This resin could be melted down again with heat, turning into a cement-like adhesive for building dens.

“Changxia, you need wood, stone, and resin to build a den, but you haven’t prepared any of that. What are you going to use?” Nanfeng asked, covering her twitching mouth, looking at Changxia with exasperation. Was this kid just daydreaming?

“I’ll get the wood and stone, but resin is tricky. Maybe we can trade for some from the tribe?” Chenrong interrupted, since wood and stone weren’t hard to gather, but resin was another story.

Changxia looked a little embarrassed—she really had forgotten about that.

Nanfeng pointed at Changxia and said, “You can use my wood and stone for now. Who builds a den with freshly cut materials anyway? As for resin, I’ll ask around the tribe for you. You can trade fish balls for it. Actually, I was planning to use your fish ball recipe to trade for some pottery and bone tools for you.”

No matter how much she complained, Nanfeng had watched Changxia grow up. Now that Changxia was finally showing some ambition, Nanfeng couldn’t bear to discourage her.

Nanfeng had been an adult for years. The chief had been urging her to find a mate, but she just hadn’t met anyone she liked, so she kept putting it off.

Still, she’d been preparing wood and stone for her own den since coming of age. Now, she’d just let Changxia use them first.

“Nanfeng, those are for your own den…” Changxia shook her head, wanting to refuse.

Nanfeng rolled her eyes. “Do you still want to build a den or not? Besides, I haven’t found the right male yet, so I’m not in a hurry. Worst case, I’ll just keep living at my father’s place and listen to him nag.”

“In the long summer, let’s use the wood and stone Nan Feng brought to build her den first. I’ll help gather more for her later,” Chen Rong said.

Nan Feng was pleased with Chen Rong’s straightforwardness and asked Chang Xia about her plans next.

She got up, ready to leave.

Chang Xia saw her out, then stretched her back and asked Chen Rong to cut up the half side of meat Nan Feng had brought. Now that the weather was warming up, the meat couldn’t be kept for long—it would spoil easily.

“Chang Xia, are you still hungry?” Chen Rong asked hesitantly as he cut the meat.

Chang Xia shot him a look, washed the clay pot, and set it on the stove, planning to render the meat into oil.

With the warmer weather, she couldn’t make cured meat.

Smoking meat took time, and if it wasn’t stored properly, it would still go bad.

So, she thought of making fried preserved meat.

The method was simple and the meat would keep well. In these times, when the tribe had so little, fried preserved meat was the best way to store it during this season.

She cut the meat into palm-sized pieces and put them in the clay pot to render the fat.

Once the meat turned golden brown, she let the oil cool, then poured both the meat and oil into a clay jar to store. This not only kept the meat from spoiling, but made it easy to store. Plus, it tasted great.

Tender and fragrant, with a crispy aroma.

Even just stir-fried with a handful of wild greens, it was delicious.

“This half side of meat is too much for us to finish. I’m going to fry it and store it in a clay jar, so we don’t have to worry about it going bad,” Chang Xia explained as she picked out a few fatty pieces from the meat Chen Rong had cut and started rendering them in the pot. Once she had enough oil, she added the rest of the meat. Soon, a mouthwatering aroma filled the entire den.

At that moment,

Chen Rong was extremely grateful that Nan Feng had already left.

And that their den was far from the rest of the tribe.

Otherwise, with that smell, no one in the whole tribe would have been able to sleep that night.