The next morning.
Chen Rong opened his sleepy eyes and climbed wearily to his feet.
After washing up, he walked towards the lake, planning to retrieve the fish basket first. Last night, the beast lair was filled with the fragrance of fried meat. Even Chen Rong's dreams were filled with the smell of fried meat. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep well the entire night.
Beside him, Chang Xia slept comfortably.
There were even small snores. Several times, Chen Rong wanted to get up and eat two more pieces of fried meat. Unfortunately, he was too full at night and couldn't eat anymore.
"Chen Rong?" Chang Xia called out when she heard the commotion.
Chen Rong stopped in his tracks and said gently, "I'm going to the lake to collect the fish basket. It's still early, so you should sleep for a while." Before he left, he wrapped the minced meat outside the beast lair in leaves. The minced meat was specially left behind to be placed in the fish basket to lure the fish.
Hearing Chen Rong say that he was going to collect the fish basket, Chang Xia rolled on the vine-covered floor. She rolled to a position against the wall and fell asleep again.
Chen Rong had made this vine curtain previously. It was hung to dry in the afternoon.
The floor of the beast lair was inlaid with a layer of flooring. It was spring, so it was not cold to lie down and sleep on it. However, Chang Xia felt that the humidity was heavy, so she simply laid the half-dried vine curtain on the floor and padded it with a beast skin to make a floor bed.
The beasts mostly slept on the ground and were not particular.
Chang Xia was not used to lying on the ground that was wet and hard. Every time she woke up, she felt sore and uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, she didn't have many hides.
The roof of the nest still had to be repaired. If it was not repaired, the rainy season would cause heavy rain outside to enter the beast lair. As expected, she was still too poor. There was not enough for everything.
She went back to sleep.
Her nose caught a tantalizing scent. Rubbing her sleepy eyes, she looked toward the door and saw that Chen Rong had returned from collecting the fish basket by the lake. He had also prepared breakfast and was roasting meat.
The fragrance that Chang Xia smelled came from the roasted meat in Chen Rong's hand.
"Chen Rong, I couldn't tell!" Chang Xia bent her legs and was in no hurry to get up. She opened her mouth to tease Chen Rong.
This smell was much better than the roasted meat of the tribe!
Chen Rong smiled, squeezed some sour juice onto the meat, and said, "I've wandered many places. Roasting meat is the only skill I have."
"What places have you been?" Chang Xia said excitedly.
She was interested in this topic as she was trapped in the well of the Heluo tribe. Chang Xia yearned for the outside world. The last time she went to the big market in Normandy, she was in a hurry. Other than the few days she stayed in the Normandy plains, most of her time was spent traveling.
She didn't even have time to look twice at the roadside weeds.
It was rare for Chang Xia to recover, so how could she not look forward to coming into contact with the outside world?
"Which places do you want to know about?" Chen Rong asked with a smile that made Chang Xia gasp.
Chang Xia cocked her head and thought about it.
"Never mind. Tell me about the Twilight Forest."
As far as the current situation was concerned, it would be difficult for her to even figure out the Twilight Forest. The wider world could wait.
"The Twilight Forest is located in the center of the Eastern Continent. This forest is the habitat of the beast race. To the east is the Qinghai Plateau, which belongs to the bird race. To the south is the East Sea, where the fish race lives."
"The Heluo tribe is located to the east of the Twilight Forest. They have a harmonious relationship with the birds."
"There are leopards living in the Heluo tribe. To the north are lions and wolves. To the west are snakes, foxes, and rabbits. To the south is the largest area and also the most complicated."
Chang Xia was a Dragon Cat, but she lived in the Heluo tribe. Chen Rong did not ask and guessed that it was an accident or something else.
Chang Xia's eyes were filled with excitement as she listened to Chen Rong talk about the division of the beasts in the Twilight Forest. In the past, Nan Feng had said that the Twilight Forest was very large, but she did not have a direct understanding of it.
At this moment.
Chang Xia truly felt the shock.
The Heluo tribe, as far as she knew, had a province of territory. As the habitat of the beast race, the size of Twilight Forest was self-evident.
The Twilight Forest was already so vast.
Then, how vast was this continent?!
Chang Xia was thrilled at the thought.
"You know Twilight Forest so well. Have you lived here before?" Chang Xia looked at Chen Rong curiously and got up to wash up. Chen Rong's barbecued meat was ready.
On the stove, the roasted meat was surrounded with an alluring fresh fragrance.
Obviously.
Chen Rong was really very capable.
He had successfully replicated Chang Xia's cooking after seeing it once.
Again.
Chang Xia was glad that she had brought Chen Rong back to the tribe from the Great Normandy Market.
"I was born in the Twilight Forest," Chen Rong said.
Chang Xia raised an eyebrow.
He was born in Twilight Forest and had wandered many places.
Immediately, Chang Xia looked at Chen Rong with more pity.
Seeing this, Chen Rong shook his head and smiled. "Don't think too much. I haven't been abandoned by the tribe and clansmen. There are some things I can't tell you now. Can we talk about it later?" He was now half useless. No matter how much glory he had, it would disappear.
If he could, he only wanted to continue living as Chang Xia's partner for the rest of his life.
"Fine. Tell me when you feel like it." Chang Xia waved her hand, not pushing the issue.
She chewed on a willow branch and washed her face with warm water. She sat by the stove and took the meat soup from Chen Rong. As she picked up the roasted meat, she was satisfied with the amazing taste of the roasted meat in her mouth. In the future, she would leave the roasting of meat to Chen Rong.
It was clearly an ordinary barbecued meat, but Chen Rong made Chang Xia realize how wonderful it tasted. He was definitely a prodigy!
"The roasted meat is especially delicious!" Chang Xia exclaimed.
Chen Rong was very happy and said, "If you like it, eat more. I'm going to the salt lake today to get salt. What do you want to use to store the salt?"
Salt Lake was close to Mount Kana. It was shaman territory.
Other than collecting salt, the beasts rarely appeared in the vicinity of Mount Kana.
"Use the spare back basket. We'll have to bring back more salt this time. In the future, we'll have to use salt for all the pickled meat and vegetables. In addition to salt, I want to pick more white fruits." Chang Xia calculated silently. They used a lot of salt at home and consumed it quickly. She didn't want to go to the salt lake every few days to get salt.
If he had to go once, he should get more back.
"White fruit. Why are you picking white fruit?" Chen Rong asked in surprise.
White fruits were dried and ground into powder before being boiled into powder. It could be used to feed cubs without milk. Of course, cubs would eat fruit powder when they were less than 6 months go.
Their family didn't have any cubs. Wasn't it a little inappropriate to pick white fruits?
When he asked this, Chen Rong carefully glanced at Chang Xia's stomach.
The corner of Chang Xia's mouth twitched. She glared at Chen Rong and explained, "What are you looking at? I'm picking white fruits because I plan to turn the fruit powder into noodles or rice noodles."
She used to secretly want to study it.
Unfortunately, Nan Feng had watched her too closely back then.
White fruit. A plant unique to the Twilight Forest that was harvested throughout the year.
"What's noodles and rice noodles?" Chen Rong was slightly embarrassed and smiled awkwardly.
Chang Xia shook her head gently and said, "Noodles and rice noodles are all food. When we collect enough white fruits to dry and grind, I'll know if the fruit powder can be made into noodles or powder."
Chang Xia cocked her head and licked the corner of her mouth.
The taste of the aftertaste fruit paste was more like rice paste.
She thought more fruit powder might make rice flour.
Rice noodles. Chang Xia couldn't help but want to chew on them.
Guilin rice noodles, snail noodles, Changde rice noodles, fried rice noodles…
Okay, I can't think about that anymore.
Otherwise, my mouth would be dry.
"Prepare more baskets. We'll bring back as much salt and white fruit as we can. When the time comes, I'll make you something delicious. I guarantee it'll be better than stewed meat and boiled river shrimp." Chang Xia wiped the saliva from the corner of her mouth and quickly finished the roasted meat in her hand.
At this moment, she couldn't wait to go all out.