CHAPTER 155: A NEW TEAM

Ruan Chanchan was a bit embarrassed by the constant praise. She didn’t know what to say, but when she recalled that the conditions in winter were really harsh, Ruan Chanchan calmly accepted the praise. More importantly, the more Chief Xie praised her, the more Ruan Chanchan gained goodwill points. So even though she was feeling a bit awkward, she still allowed the woman to praise her as she wanted. As long as she could unlock the second level of the supermarket, Chief Xie could make her sit in a makeshift temple and worship her!

"This will really help the tribe," sighed Guo An emotionally. He still remembered how the members of the tribe would start filling their stomachs desperately, and once they were done, they would try to hibernate. However, they were not beasts and couldn’t hide themselves in the cave for the entire winter. They needed food and water.

Even if they tried to store food in their bellies for the entire winter, it was simply not possible. Some could persist and survive the winter, while some starved to death. Unfortunately, for their tribe, the number of deaths was higher than those who survived.

"Ruan Chanchan, how did you make this jerky?" Chief Xie took a look at the jerky that Ruan Chanchan had brought with her and raised it in front of her eyes. One look at it and she could see that the jerky was really well-made. It was perfectly crisp and there was no mould growing on it. If they could preserve the beast meat this well, then most of the meat that was thrown away due to the growing mould could be saved!

"Chief, it is really easy to make this jerky. The only downside is that we need a lot of salt for this," explained Ruan Chanchan. She knew that the salt was really expensive in the beast tribe. It was very precious, and beastmen would even go to war over salt. She had salt in her space, but Ruan Chanchan had no idea how to take it out. Should she say that she received it from the beast goddess as well?

But she didn’t want to make the tribe reliant on her space. She knew how to make salt, having lived near the sea in one of her lives. She wanted to teach the tribe’s people how to make salt. What if they started relying on her too much?

How about telling them that salt is precious even in the land of the gods? And you can only receive salt after a rather complicated ritual that requires your blood sacrifice. That way, they won’t ask you to take out salt every now and then and will even agree to your request of learning how to make salt.

When Ruan Chanchan heard Xiao Xi’s suggestion, her eyes lit up.

"You are really smart, Xiao Xi." Ruan Chanchan thought that this suggestion would work and immediately prepared to launch herself into another dramatic act.

When Chief Xie heard that they needed a lot of salt, she couldn’t help but frown. She hesitated and said to Ruan Chanchan, "Chanchan, it’s not that I don’t want to agree with your request, but you also know that we have a limited amount of salt, and with our tribe’s alliance with the frog tribe getting broken, we are going to have a hard time collecting salt in the future. I don’t think that we have enough salt to make jerky."

Ruan Chanchan sighed heavily. "Chief Xie, I know that our tribe is in trouble. I have no intention of making things difficult for you." she paused and, with a hint of hesitation in her eyes, she said to Chief Xie, "I can arrange for the salt but..."

"But?" Chief Xie’s eyes brightened when she heard that Ruan Chanchan could arrange for salt, but hearing the ’but’ made her worried. She prodded softly, "What’s the matter, Chanchan? You can tell us. As long as we can help our tribe get better, I am willing to do anything."

Looking at Ruan Chanchan’s expression, Chief Xie thought that she was going to ask for something serious; thus, even she couldn’t help but turn nervous.

"It’s nothing serious," Ruan Chanchan coughed, sensing that she might have pushed the chief a little too much. Ruan Chanchan smiled softly in an attempt to calm down the poor woman, who had turned worried for no reason. She was making her feel guilty with that overly concerned expression of hers. "It’s just that I can exchange a decent salt with the beast goddess, but the process requires blood exchange, as salt is precious even in the land of the gods. I am willing to—"

"No."

Before she could finish speaking, Xie Daiyu interrupted her. With a glare pointed at her, he said to her, "There is no need for you to involve yourself in such a dangerous and risky ritual. The tribe will and can survive on mushrooms and moon nuts."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chief Xie turned to look at her husband with a hint of helplessness on her face. She tilted her head to one side and asked her husband to take Xie Daiyu to one side. She understood that Xie Daiyu was worried about Ruan Chanchan, but he couldn’t just push the entire tribe into a fire pit just because he was worried about Ruan Chanchan.

Guo An nodded and then dragged Xie Daiyu to one side. He understood his son better than his wife and knew that he would rather watch the entire tribe starve in front of him rather than let Ruan Chanchan bleed.

"Father—"

Xie Daiyu didn’t want to leave Ruan Chanchan alone, but Guo An was stronger than Xie Daiyu. He easily pulled his son outside the cave, while Ruan Chanchan watched the two of them leave silently.

"Ahem," Chief Xie cleared her throat. "Tell me, what do you have in mind?"

Ruan Chanchan snapped out of her daze and turned to look at Chief Xie before saying to her, "Chief, I will show you how to make the jerky. Here take a look—"