Chapter 5

For three consecutive days, they had been digging up mud beans and dudu fruits, and the small team had completely cleared their designated area. By the fourth day, the cave was piled high with a small mountain of their harvest. However, after carrying all of this for so many days, Zhuo Yan found that he simply couldn’t bear the weight anymore.

He decided to give himself a day off—not that he would be completely idle.

“It’s not that I’m not working; I just had a hard time getting up today. I need to tidy up the cave, separating the fruits and the mud beans, and I also need to gather more firewood. I’ll clean up the cave a bit while the weather is still decent and prepare the furs. Plus, I want to work on making a door.”

Zhuo Yan was concerned that the others might misunderstand him as being lazy. In truth, the intense labor had worn him out. He had been busy for the past ten days, and now he genuinely wanted to take a break and relax a bit.

To his surprise, Stone was the first to chuckle. “I thought you weren’t tired.”

“Yeah, yeah! I’m exhausted! My mom used to say I was especially hardworking this time,” Xiao Xian sighed in relief, rubbing his arms.

Zhuo Yan widened his eyes slightly, realizing that he had misunderstood the situation.

It seemed that everyone was quite tired.

Zhuo Yan was also worried that he might be slowing down the group’s progress.

“I didn’t expect you to not complain about being tired this time. We just kept following your lead,” Qiao explained with a smile. “In fact, when we returned to the cave last night, Xiao Xian and Aman mentioned they were exhausted. They said there were so many dudu fruits and mud beans piled up in the cave that there was no room left to store them, and we have enough food already. They were worried you wouldn’t have enough.”

Today, with no work to do, Aman was beaming, showing off his bright white teeth.

“I also bit the bullet and kept up,” Zhuo Yan chuckled, feeling a bit more relaxed. “By the way, I want to find some cleaning bubble leaves. My mom used to collect them, and now I want to do it myself. Do you know where I can find them?”

“That might be a bit far,” Qiao replied with some concern. “They’re not around our tribe. I’ve seen them when my dad goes out hunting, and he sometimes brings them back. I can get you some if you’d like.”

Zhuo Yan felt a little embarrassed. “Is your home stocked enough?”

“Yeah, we have enough,” Qiao confirmed.

Zhuo Yan broke into a smile. “Thank you, Sister Qiao!” He didn’t want to be too polite about it.

Qiao went back to gather the bubble leaves for Zhuo Yan, while the others stood outside, enjoying the sunlight and chatting. Aman stretched his arms, playfully swinging them around, and asked, “Aren’t you going to make a door? How are you planning to do that?”

“Exactly, exactly!” Xiao Xian said before covering his ears.

Zhuo Yan felt a little mischievous and made a playful expression, as if to say, “You’re quick!” This made Xiao Xian even happier, thinking he had cleverly avoided something just now. Zhuo Yan then mentioned, “I need some wood.”

“Huh? Big wood? We can’t handle that! Your stone knife isn’t up to the task,” Aman frowned, clearly concerned.

“Just small pieces of wood will do,” Zhuo Yan clarified.

“Then we can manage that,” Stone chimed in.

Zhuo Yan understood that Aman had brought up the door because he wanted to help him with the task today. There was no way Zhuo Yan could do it alone. He couldn’t help but tease, “Brother Aman~~~”

“Ah, don’t call me that!” Aman exclaimed, flailing his arms and running away, covering his head.

Zhuo Yan burst into laughter.

Stone and Xiao Xian also joined in the amusement.

Aman was someone who responded well to flattery and was easily affected by playful teasing. Although he often called Zhuo Yan annoying, Zhuo Yan didn’t mind at all. In their group of friends, everyone had their own nickname.

With his hands on his hips, Zhuo Yan reflected on the world they lived in. There were no mobile phones, and entertainment activities were scarce. Other than working, they were constantly occupied with chores. When the weather was nice, the leopard tribe members loved to bask in the sun, but at this stage, they couldn’t afford to be too idle.

After spending some time joking around, everyone’s spirits were lifted. Zhuo Yan went into the cave to retrieve his leather and stone knife. The leather at home had become stiff and quite dirty, so he wasn’t afraid to get it wet—he hadn’t processed it well initially.

Zhuo Yan recalled the process of making sheepskin from Tian Gong Kai Wu, a classic text on ancient Chinese agriculture and technology. His leather was so poorly treated that it still had grease left on it. He planned to clean it with bubble leaves and let it dry; the leaves would naturally add some stiffness to the leather. Fortunately, it didn’t smell too bad—though there was a faint odor. He had always thought it was due to not washing it for too long.

Could it be the scent of the lanolin?

But there was nothing to be done about it now. He didn’t have any saltpeter, and properly tanning a fresh hide would take a long time. It was too late for that now, so he would have to make do with what he had and process it further.

“Hey, don’t soak that leather in water; it’ll get hard and won’t be warm anymore,” Aman called out as he saw everyone arriving at the riverbank.

Zhuo Yan tapped his leather, producing a ‘thunk, thunk’ sound.

“It’s already pretty stiff,” he replied.

“Not stiff at all,” Aman said, shaking his head. “Mine is the same way, but it’s warm.”

“Exactly,” Xiao Xian chimed in.

Zhuo Yan thought to himself, Looks like everyone in the tribe processes leather the same way.

“If you’re worried about it getting dirty, just wait until the first snow falls; you can rub it in the snow, and that’ll clean it right up,” Aman suggested.

Zhuo Yan pondered for a moment. “You’re right.” He then pulled out the largest piece of leather and handed it to Aman. “Here, help me hold this for a bit.” He planned to leave this piece unprocessed while he soaked the other two.

“Hey, why are you throwing it in there?” Aman exclaimed, a bit flustered.

Zhuo Yan shrugged. “I still have one left. I’ve had enough sleeping alone; I’ll see how the other two turn out.”

“You really are strange,” Aman remarked, tightening his grip on the leather from Zhuo Yan’s house. “If your mother were here, she would definitely be pinching your ear for this.”

That comment struck home; Zhuo Yan didn’t know how to respond, so he remained silent.

Aman seemed to sense the awkwardness and mumbled, “I didn’t mean anything bad about your mom; she’s really nice.”

“I know my mom is great,” Zhuo Yan replied, pressing the two pieces of leather down with a stone to prevent them from being washed away by the current. He then stood up, clapped his hands, and smiled at Aman. “You’re just bluntly saying I’m odd.”

Seeing Zhuo Yan smile, Aman realized he wasn’t upset and confidently said, “Well, you really are strange.” He then glanced at the river. “Whatever, if you want to soak it, go ahead. It’s not like it’s mine.”

“How long does it need to soak?” Xiao Xian asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

Zhuo Yan replied, “At least a day.” In truth, it needed to soak longer, but the current conditions didn’t allow for that. Even though the tribe respected each other’s property, it was better to be cautious. The leather was essential for winter, so he decided to soak it during the day, keeping an eye on it.

“A whole day?” Xiao Xian exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah! It needs to soften up before I can scrape off the oils, which will make it more pliable,” Zhuo Yan explained. He also needed to alkaline the leather, but he wasn’t sure if soaking the bubble leaves and then boiling them with wood ash would do the trick.

Thinking about this, Zhuo Yan looked back at Aman. Thankfully, he hadn’t soaked all the pieces in the river. “Aman, you were right to remind me earlier; thank you!” He took the leather Aman had been holding and started heading back. “I’m going to put the leather away in the cave. Can you all keep an eye on it for me?”

The other three stayed behind, and Aman felt his face heat up. Seeing Stone and Xiao Xian looking at him, he hurriedly said, “I’m not going to like that ‘disliked beast’.”

“Aman, I didn’t say anything, and besides, I still like my little brother and mom,” Xiao Xian responded.

Stone nodded in agreement. Aman huffed, “I don’t like the likes of companions either.”

“That ‘disliked beast’ is so weird, always saying things no one understands and doing things all wrong.”

“Lucky for me, I was smart enough to stop him; otherwise, he’d freeze to death,” Aman added.

Xiao Xian nodded vigorously. “Exactly.”

By mid-morning, Zhuo Yan had finished soaking the leather. Qiao had sent over a large basket of bubble leaves. Zhuo Yan placed them in his home, planning to work with them in the evening once the leather had softened. In the meantime, he decided to go chop some trees.

However, he couldn’t help but worry. “Is there a chance someone will take my leather?”

The others assured him that wouldn’t happen.

“What if someone dislikes me and kicks Stone away, causing my leather to float away with the current?” Zhuo Yan said, and then thought to himself that perhaps he was being too paranoid.

Looking at his friends, he noticed some were stroking their chins, their brows furrowed as if recalling past experiences where they had accidentally damaged things. Their faces bore an expression of realization, as if to say, “So that’s how things can go wrong.” Qiao also appeared uncertain.

“Wait, is that really a possibility?”

In the end, it was Stone who stepped up to help. His sister, a four-month-old little leopard, was still in her beast form. Since she was a cub, she couldn’t really assist with food storage before winter; all the cubs tended to find companions to play with in safe areas.

At this moment, Stone called his sister and her friends over to help keep an eye on the leather.

“Don’t move, Stone. Don’t go playing in the river,” he instructed.

“Just watch the leather,” Stone reiterated.

“Da Yun, do you understand?”

The little leopard, with her round ears and bright, blinking eyes, nudged her head against her brother’s leg. Stone told her it wasn’t okay; they had to go out, and she needed to stay here with the other cubs.

Zhuo Yan couldn’t help but wear a goofy grin throughout the entire interaction: “Wow, so cute! Did she just purr? Such adorable behavior! The little leopard is so precious, and those leopard ears are just begging to be rubbed! This is basically a leopard kindergarten!”

He had previously gone to the zoo to buy a special ticket just to see the cubs. If he wanted to go in and feed the cubs or pet them, there were restrictions and extra fees. So he could only look at them through the glass, which made his heart flutter with delight.

So cute!

Now, there were four of them, all with round heads and bright eyes.

As they left, Zhuo Yan turned back repeatedly, still marveling, “So cute!” He couldn’t help but mutter, “Are they safe? Is there any problem?” If he weren’t busy making a door for his home, he genuinely thought about saying, “I could be a kindergarten director; I’ll watch over them.”

While the little leopard cubs kept an eye on the leather, Zhuo Yan kept an eye on the cubs.

Stone assured him it would be fine, and Qiao added, “In the tribe, those who go for harvesting and patrolling will keep an eye on them.”

Cubs were treasured in the tribe, and everyone would help watch over them.

The others couldn’t quite understand why Zhuo Yan suddenly seemed so curious.

“He seems to really love the cubs.”

“Isn’t the annoying beastman thinking about having cubs of his own?”

Aman even kindly added, “In a couple of years, you’ll be able to have them, but first, you need to find a beastman partner. So, you should probably stop looking for the white-haired one.”

Zhuo Yan, feeling a bit embarrassed, thought to himself: …I’m not! I don’t want that!

Let’s just focus on finding wood instead.

Stone found a patch of woods and asked, “Zhuo Yan, is this good?”

Zhuo Yan looked at the wood and replied, “Isn’t it a bit too thick?”

“Too thick? This is nothing! You must want something really thin then.”

“I know a place where there are really thin trees.”

The group, with their peculiar banter, set off to find the small trees. To Zhuo Yan, even the small trees didn’t seem that small; they were as thick as the thighs of a bodybuilder, but compared to the one they had seen earlier, they were much thinner. So he decided to chop it down.

“This kind of tree is easy to deal with. How many do you need?” Stone thought it was simple and went ahead to find a tree.

Zhuo Yan looked at the tree, which was about four to five meters tall. “I want to split it down the middle, into two halves.” Or maybe three halves if it proves difficult; two would suffice as well.

The entrance of his home wasn’t very tall, so he didn’t need to seal it completely. Leaving a small gap would allow for ventilation, especially since they needed to burn firewood in the winter and hang skins inside to dry from the cold. The height of the tree could be cut in half; he could split the thicker bottom part into three pieces and the thinner upper part into two. He also needed to carbonize the wood, but there wasn’t enough time to dry it. Not having nails wouldn’t be a problem, as he could use a mortise and tenon structure combined with vines for weaving and binding.

“Let’s start with five trees,” he decided. The leftover scraps could be used as firewood.

Once he made up his mind, they set to work, enthusiastically chopping down trees.

Stone and Aman took on the task of cutting the trees while the other three dragged the logs back, moving quickly. By noon, they had transported all the trees to the riverside. The half-beastmen from the tribe watched them as they worked, while Stone’s little sister, the small leopard, and her three cub companions sprawled out in the sun, basking.

Zhuo Yan couldn’t help but think, So cute!

Then he caught Aman’s gaze, which seemed to say, “I knew you wanted to have cubs.” Zhuo Yan felt a chill run down his spine and quickly hardened his resolve. He planned to sneak in some time with the cubs while they worked later. He grinned to himself.

They set up a fire pit by the riverside, where there was plenty of space for them to work comfortably.

Zhuo Yan began to slowly scrape the tree bark using his stone knife. The others watched him and started to imitate his actions. Aman commented, “That’s a bit strange,” then asked, “What’s next?”

Zhuo Yan was surprised by how quickly he was able to scrape the bark off!

“Next, we’ll hold the wood over the fire to roast it a little. It’s not meant for burning as firewood; it’s just to dry out the surface and make it tougher. Otherwise, it might attract pests…”

Even Stone found it a bit peculiar.

Despite the strangeness, his friends were very supportive, and Qiao left to fetch something.

Meanwhile, ten kilometers away in the Leopard Tribe, Bai Maozi, who had been driven out, finally got his first meal after four days of hunger. It was a pearl chicken, but it was far from enough to satisfy him, and danger lurked nearby…