CHAPTER 718: 【712】BEAST WORLD FARMING 22 (3 MORE)

Yin Ye liked to live alone, so his nest was quite far from the crowded areas of the tribe, with few groves around and situated on higher ground. Therefore, Jin Han and Pan Lin could come and go as they pleased, which, of course, was also due to their familiarity with Yin Ye.

Pan Lin was severely injured, so Tangtang naturally did not dare to leave the tribe. Inside the tribe’s boundary, some fruits and wild vegetables could be gathered, but since it was a residence of Beastmen, fresh meat was certainly not available, except for fish, which Beastmen did not favor.

She was not the type to trouble others, but considering Pan Lin’s appetite, fish alone was not enough to satisfy hunger. Thus, she asked the Beastmen within the tribe to help with hunting. Of course, she approached those who had families, and her way of repaying them was with salt. Since it wasn’t the time to promote salt more broadly yet, she only told them how to use salt as condiment.

The charm of salt goes without saying. Her requirements weren’t high; any game would do—Gugu Chickens, Moumou Beasts, or Sheep Beasts were acceptable.

So, the last batch of salt exchanged for a Moumou Cow was indeed more than worth it, and this batch of salt also allowed other animals to taste the savory flavor.

The cow was large, more than she could eat in one meal, so she preserved it with salt and packed it into a tile jar, then stored it in her spatial warehouse. Of course, since the space itself had a preservative effect, she didn’t use much salt; the reason for using salt was to enhance the flavor of the meat.

Butchering a cow was physically demanding, and she had never done it before, but she had watched others do it often enough to know how to skin and gut it herself.

By now, she had collected many intestines from various animals. Before winter set in, she planned to make all this meat into sausages for storage, so she could have some meaty meals in winter.

She kept the usable internal organs of the cow, especially the intestines. After removing the waste, she soaked them in plant ashes and salt in a tile jar, ready to take them down to the river for a thorough wash later in the late afternoon.

At noon, she put the internal organs of the cow, along with the bones, into a large stove. After removing the blood foam from the surface, she added scallions, ginger, garlic, chili, Sichuan peppercorns, Sichuan flower peppers, and salt to start stewing. Although there was no soy sauce to add color, having these basic stew flavors was already quite a feat.

The internal organs needed to simmer slowly. During the process, she cleaned the wild greens she had picked. In between, she took out the stewed meat, sliced it into convenient pieces, and once it was fully flavored, she added the cleaned wild greens. Soon after, a large pot of delicious beef offal soup was ready.

Although she regretted not having any noodles to enjoy with it, having such a hearty and affordable bowl of beef offal soup in Beast World was already pretty good.

She didn’t eat first but rather fetched Pan Lin from his grass nest and used homemade twig chopsticks to feed him the meat.

At first, she worried he wouldn’t eat, but he opened his mouth without even opening his eyes, amusing her as she continued feeding him with a pursed smile.

So it went on: she boldly fed, and he eagerly ate, and soon a large pot of beef offal soup, broth, and all, had gone into Pan Lin’s stomach, leaving just the bottom of the pot for Tangtang. She guessed she needed to add some wild greens to fill up her own stomach, but Pan Lin’s stomach still appeared small and untouched, which Tangtang found miraculous.

"Fortunately, you still know how to eat. Tastes good, right? All right, now that you’ve eaten, go sleep. It’s my turn to eat."

Tangtang put him down on the grass mat and left him alone, scooping up the remaining scraps and wild greens into her own bowl, barely making it five cents full. Finally, after eating two fruits, she was truly satisfied.

Late afternoon, she transformed into her beast form and caught six fish in the river, carrying them back home in a bamboo basket. She had already cleaned them by the river, but the weight she carried back was at least thirty to forty jin, which showed just how plump the fish were.

The bigger the fish, the bigger the bones, and they were less complicated to eat than smaller fish. During this time, she also collected quite a bit of animal fat and rendered a large pot of mixed animal oil. With this oil, she could stir-fry and even fry fish, although frying in a clay pot wasn’t very efficient. However, the pot had been soaked in oil, constantly interacting with the oil, so it performed better than expected.

However, when frying the fish in oil, she dared not turn them over. After exploding the scallion, ginger, garlic, and chili in fragrance, the flavor was released. If she added Sichuan peppercorn and chili pepper, the flavor would have been even better. Unfortunately, the pot could only hold three fish. After boiling water, she added some wild vegetables. This had become her usual cooking habit: stewing whatever food she had available, resulting in soup and meat with vegetables, as there were no staple foods to eat, so these could only be considered appetizers.

She wasn’t sure if it was because she was full from lunch, but in the evening, she called Pan Lin, yet couldn’t wake him no matter how hard she tried. Instead of bothering with him, she herself had one fish and was full. The remaining two, left overnight, she wasn’t sure if they were still edible. Moreover, the fish fell apart at the slightest touch, which not only looked unappetizing, but also significantly decreased one’s appetite.

Just as she was worrying about what to do, a bird’s cry sounded overhead. Excitedly, she looked up. Who else could it be if not Jin Han?

"How did you come back?"

"I came to deliver a message to the tribe and thought I’d check on you. Oh, and here are some fruits I brought for you; they aren’t found around here. Try them and see if they’re good."

Jin Han brought her six fruits, each as big as a ball and particularly heavy, their exteriors a golden yellow color like rice grains.

"This is the Bird Clan’s favorite food. I saw them eating it, so I tried one myself. The fruit inside is granular, and after eating one, it’s quite filling. There are lots of them in the southern grove. If you like it, I’ll bring you more next time."

"Where is Pan Lin? Didn’t you see him? Is this your dinner?"

"Ah, eat it while it’s hot, I’m already full. Pan Lin has gone to sleep, he didn’t finish his dinner. I was just worrying about what to do, and it’s good you came back."

Jin Han didn’t hesitate, washed his hands with water, and sat down right at the stove, using her bowl and chopsticks to start eating.

Curious, Tangtang fiddled with one of the fruits as Jin Han spoke unclearly, "The skin is thick."

This time, she took the stone knife that Pan Lin had sharpened for her and sliced open the middle of the fruit. She then placed it on a smoothed stone slab and cleaved it in half. However, when she clearly saw the so-called granular fruit inside, her eyes nearly popped out.

To confirm her guess, she took a pellet and placed it in her mouth. Though the taste was not the same as the flavors she remembered from her previous life, the granular flesh, enhanced with a special sweet and fragrant taste of the fruit, was fuller and even more glutinous.

She was so excited she felt her heart could jump out of her chest, her whole body trembling as she grasped Jin Han’s arm.

"Where did you pick these fruits from? Quick, take me there; I want to harvest them all! Oh my goodness, I am so thrilled. Jin Han, you are truly great, so very great!"