Good Night!

It turns out that this pot of meat is worth waiting for.

Although there are no complicated seasonings, only oil and salt, the quality of the beef is very good, and the stone pot has stable heat conduction. The meat is not gamey at all. The charred surface locks in moisture, and the inside is not dry. Instead, it is juicy and has a faint milky aroma.

One bite makes people linger. The same is true for the potatoes. Stewed and braised in oil have completely different flavors. Stewed potatoes are soft and tender, while braised potatoes are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They are soaked in the aroma of oil, making people unable to stop eating one bite after another.

Even Shitou, who always talks a lot, didn’t bother to talk. He blew air to cool down the potatoes and beef while eating hard, and couldn’t wait for them to cool down.

In this atmosphere, Cheng An accidentally ate too much.

Beastmen have big appetites. They couldn’t resist eating a full pot of braised potatoes and beef, and it was finished soon. 

“No more.” Shitou wanted to get a third bowl, but found that the stone pot was empty. His animal ears that had just been exposed because of the meal drooped down.

Xiao Hua didn’t say anything, but the speed of eating slowed down a lot. It was obvious that he was reluctant to finish the meat in the bowl, so he slowed down to taste it better.

Yu got up and opened the lid of another stone pot, stirred the potato beef soup, and sprinkled some salt in it, “There is another pot of soup, so you won’t go back hungry.”

After eating the more delicious braised beef and potatoes, Shitou looked down on this pot of soup, even though he was still thinking about it before eating it.

But it’s better to have it than not, Shitou handed over his stone bowl honestly.

Yu took it and filled it for him.

Cheng An interrupted, “I want it too!” Although the braised beef is delicious, it’s easy to get sick, so he still needs a bowl of soup.

Yu took a look at Cheng An’s stomach and knew that he was full. He scooped him a bowl of beef soup and only added two small pieces of beef. He blew it and put it in front of Cheng An before reminding him, “Eat less, otherwise you will have a stomach ache again.”

Cheng An pouted and didn’t take it seriously.

Last time, he just forgot that his body was still small and couldn’t eat too much, so he was a little full. Now he has grown up a little, and he has restrained himself, so he won’t have a stomach ache again.

Stomach ache. Xiao Hua looked at Cheng An and was a little envious. It would be great if he had a lot of food in winter and could eat his fill every day.

Even though he ate slowly, the oil-braised beef and potatoes in the bowl were almost gone. Xiao Hua ate them all up reluctantly.

Seeing this, Yu filled Xiao Hua’s bowl as well. Xiao Hua took the bowl gratefully. When the soup cooled down a bit, he took a sip and was very surprised. The soup made in this way was also delicious!

Xiao Hua couldn’t rank the beef and potato soup and the oil-braised beef and potatoes for a while. However, the status of these two dishes was very obvious to Shitou. Obviously, Shitou preferred the oil-braised method.

After eating, Cheng An felt drowsy. When he woke up again, Shitou and Xiao Hua had gone back, and he and Yu were the only ones left in the cave.

“Have they gone back?” Cheng An ran to the entrance of the cave and looked out through the cracks in the stones.

 “Mm, they’ve gone back. Come here, it’s snowing outside again, don’t freeze.”

Without Yu saying much, Cheng An could feel the wind and snow coming in from the cracks. He was so cold that he shuddered and didn’t dare to stay at the cave entrance any longer. He ran to the fire obediently.

“Yu, how long will the snow season last?” Cheng An went over to rub against Yu. This winter was too boring. It snowed almost every day. Once it snowed, the cave entrance would be blocked. It was impossible to go out for a walk.

Yu looked at the scratches carved on the cave wall, calculated in his mind, and told Cheng An: “When the moon is full twice more, the ice and snow will melt, and the God of Spring will come to this land again.” After that, Yu added a handful of firewood to the fire. The fire burned bigger, and the light in the cave became brighter.

Cheng An rolled on the ground after hearing this. The moon is full twice more? Doesn’t that mean there are still two months! “How come there are still two months left! It’s so hard!”

Yu looked outside the cave, but unfortunately the scenery outside was blocked by rocks, so he couldn’t see the snow outside the cave clearly. This year’s snow season started early, and he didn’t know whether the weather would warm up in the usual spring.

It’s too early to worry now. There are too many variables, and they have to wait and see.

“It’s not that hard. You can sleep more, and the days will pass by.” Yu reached out and picked up the branches stuck on Cheng An.

“But I can’t sleep all day long. Yu, let’s go make a fishing net! After weaving it, let’s go catch fish. There must be a lot of fish in that lake!” Cheng An suddenly remembered the big lake he saw today, turned over and sat up. He looked at Yu with sparkling eyes.

“Weave a net? What materials do you need?” Yu was not surprised by Cheng An’s strange ideas. No need to ask more, he would say that the beast god taught him.

 Cheng An stretched out his claws and drew a mesh-shaped fishing net on the ground, muttering to himself: “It should be simple to weave a net, but the line used must be very strong. At least once it is used to catch fish, it can be repaired later if it breaks. The fishing nets in the past seemed to be nylon? There is definitely no such thing now… Oh, right! Hemp! Hemp rope will definitely work! Yu, does our tribe have hemp?”

“Hemp?” Yu thought for a while and replied, “No.”

Cheng An lay down again sadly.

The late emperor died before he could even start a business!

Yu found Cheng An’s listless look quite funny. There was too little fun in the cave, so he had to find something for the cub to do. “Tell me what hemp is, and I’ll see if I can find something else to replace it.”

Cheng An lay on his back on the ground, his furry little belly rising and falling with his breathing. Yu felt itchy, so he stretched out his hand to rub Cheng An’s bulging belly to help him digest, and scratched his chin.

 Cheng An squinted his eyes comfortably, and his tail shook unconsciously.

“Substitute? Mm, hemp is a kind of plant… it’s the stem of grass. It can be bent repeatedly and it won’t break. If there is no hemp rope for weaving nets, it should be almost the same to use grass stems similar to it as a substitute.”

“Grass stems? I remember there are a lot of thin and long grasses behind the hillside, I wonder if they can be used.”

“Really?” Cheng An was excited, “But won’t they rot?” Thinking of this, Cheng An hesitated. If he didn’t gain anything after going out, he might as well stay in the cave to eat, sleep and watch the seeds grow.

 Yu thought about it and answered affirmatively: “No. Those grasses dried up and were pressed under the snow. They will still be there after the snow season is over and the snow melts. They will only rot when the temperature rises and new grass grows.”

“Great! Let’s go and have a look! I hope those grasses can be put to use.”

Yu pushed Cheng An back, “Not today. It’s too late, and it’s still snowing outside. It’s not safe to go out. Let’s go tomorrow.”

“Okay. Then remember to take me to the hillside tomorrow!” Cheng An was worried. He walked halfway to the bed and returned to remind Yu.

 “Okay.” Yu rubbed Cheng An’s head and added, “If it’s sunny and not snowing tomorrow, I’ll take you there.”

“You won’t go if it’s not sunny?” Cheng An pitifully put his head on Yu’s knees and said coquettishly, “It’s really boring to stay in the cave all day with nothing to do! And if the net can be made soon, you can go fishing sooner! Although fish is not delicious, it is meat at least. Cooking it with other meat can also be eaten for a longer time! This year’s snow season is still a long way off!”

Cheng An’s every word hit the point that Yu was worried about. He had no choice but to compromise and said, “If it doesn’t snow heavily tomorrow, but it snows lightly, then we’ll go out, okay?”

Alas, Yu sighed faintly, “…Okay.”

“Great!” Cheng An was happy. He no longer looked pitiful, and jumped up and down to go to bed.

This result is the best. It’s rare to have a sunny day without snowing, and a little snow won’t affect going out!

 If it snows heavily, Cheng An is unwilling to go out. His fur is still cold!

“Remember to wipe your paws before going to bed.” Yu was a little helpless. This cub has learned to control him before he grows up. Who knows how lawless he will be in the future.

“I know!” Cheng An agreed crisply.

The cave is not a fine decoration. It is just a hole dug out on the mountain where people can live. Generally speaking, the areas for stacking food, sleeping, and cooking are divided. The floor is inevitably uneven, and there will be a lot of small gravel and dust. Even the bed cannot be called a bed. It is just a nest with a lot of animal skins on a rectangular stone.

But there are a lot of animal skins and they are very soft. Cheng An likes this bed very much.

So he has to be clean every day before going to bed.

But perhaps affected by this body, Cheng An doesn’t like the feeling of wet paws now. He doesn’t let Yu wipe his feet with wet animal skins.

 There is no other way. The snow season is still too cold. Even the hot water will cool down quickly, and the wet fur will cool down even faster. How can such a towel be used to wipe feet!

Besides, Yu doesn’t care about these things. He often brings warm animal skins. When he wipes Cheng An’s feet, the animal skins are already cold!

No! So Cheng An refused Yu’s foot-wiping service. Every day before going to bed, he rubbed his feet in front of the dry animal skins until his soles were clean, combed his hair, and made sure there was no dirt on his body before going to bed.

Warm big bed, here he comes!

Cheng An happily shook his tail. The big bed is so comfortable! But these furs have no temperature. Yu’s tail is better. He will hug Yu’s tail to sleep in a while!

After a while, Yu also packed up and planned to go to bed.

Cheng An noticed that a shadow was cast on his body, and consciously rolled into the depths of the bed to make room for Yu.

 After Yu fell asleep, he consciously rolled back into the arms of the fluffy snow leopard, hugged Yu’s pure white tail and rubbed it happily.

Yu opened his green eyes and watched the half-grown snow-white wolf cub rolling in his arms. He didn’t say much, nor did he pull out his tail, but rolled it tighter and let Cheng An hold it.

“Go to sleep.”

“Good night, Yu.” Cheng An said drowsily.

“Mm, good night.”