CHAPTER 715: 【709】BEAST WORLD FARMING 19 (3 MORE)

He scraped a sack of salt frost back home, dissolved it in water, and set it aside to settle. Once the dirt had sunk, he poured the slightly turbid water into another clean container to sit again. Then, he poured it into a pot, added fire to start the evaporation to remove the bitterness of the salt. While turning into steam, he repeatedly added water until there was no hint of bitterness left, then used the remaining water to dry out the salt, leaving a thick layer of salt frost at the bottom of the pot.

With a spoon, he scraped this layer of salt frost into a small jar, and it became very precious salt.

Three beastly curious babies guarded her side as she did all this, and only when she made delicacies from these white grains and they ate them did they truly understand what salt tasted like.

"This taste, it’s really delicious, Tangtang, how did you know this stuff was edible?"

"I heard it from the adults before," she said, though the Beastmen didn’t believe her.

Especially Pan Lin, as a Wandering Beast who had traveled across the entire Caucasus Mountains, he hadn’t heard of it, and others were even less likely to have.

But they were smart enough not to ask further, which only strengthened their original intention to stick by her side, even if it meant they would have no descendants in their lifetimes.

With salt, their food tasted much better; the three beasts also learned from Tangtang to eat cooked food. Now, if you asked them to eat raw meat, they couldn’t swallow it.

Two months after the rainy season ended, all Beastmen had to start preparing for the Cold Season, which also meant they had to follow the tribe’s Beastmen out hunting.

Jin Han and Yin Ye had joined the tribe, so they had the responsibility to follow them, only Pan Lin, the Wandering Beast, operated freely. Naturally, he took on the responsibility of protecting Tangtang while they were away.

And Tangtang, having spent time with him, had greatly lowered her guard against him.

Since it was Yin Ye’s territory here, they came to find her occasionally during the day, but at night, they went back to their homes.

So no matter how much time they spent together, Pan Lin was always at a disadvantage, but his kindness towards her was not inferior to the other two.

Tangtang insisted on going out to find food, so she sat on Pan Lin’s coiled tail, letting him carry her around to search.

Perhaps she herself never thought that one day she’d be swinging on a python’s tail.

Over these days, she had found scallions, wild ginger, garlic, cucumbers, soybeans, planting what could be planted right at her doorstep. Mushrooms, black fungus, white fungus, Monkey Head Mushrooms, she had collected a lot. Some were even identified with the help of the tribe’s females. The mushrooms that couldn’t be consumed right away were sun-dried, saved for consumption during winter.

Of course, like many plants, not all could be sun-dried. She then preserved them with salt, like wild scallions, cucumbers, and various kinds of wild vegetables.

"What is that?" On her third day out with Pan Lin, she found in a patch of grass a large cluster of plants fruiting with big red lantern-like fruits.

Pan Lin stuck out his tongue and sniffed, "It’s not poisonous, but this flavor... it’s indescribable, I haven’t tasted it."

When Pan Lin said it wasn’t poisonous, it definitely wasn’t. Tangtang hopped off his tail, plucked one, and gently put it in her mouth to bite.

As soon as she took a bite, she became excited, "Chili, this is chili! I’ve been looking for it for so long, and I’ve finally found it. But, isn’t this one a bit too big?"

Each one was as big as a persimmon, almost the size of a human palm. Importantly, persimmon peppers aren’t spicy, but this one sure was.

Therefore, she began collecting them. When they came, both of them had brought Beast Skin Bags, and she also had a bamboo basket, which was woven under her guidance by Ayin.

However, when Pan Lin wasn’t looking, she threw most of the chilies into her own storage.

The pickled mushrooms and vegetables were edible, but not healthy, so she stored some fresh ones in her storage.

She kept the already dried chili seeds, planning to try planting them herself next year, a habit she had formed during this time.

After finding the chili, Pan Lin saw how happy she was and suggested catching some fish and grilling them for Noon, to which Tangtang happily agreed.

During this time, they had mastered her taste preferences. Originally, he didn’t eat fish, but since they had salt, they had learned to grill fish and occasionally enjoy fish soup, which surprisingly tasted very good.

Unfortunately, the previously found soybeans were too few, only about a dozen plants, yielding seeds not even weighing up to a pound. Therefore, she saved them to plant next year, naturally not willing to eat them. Otherwise, making some tofu with fish would have been so delicious!

Pan Lin took her to the lakeshore, and while he went down to catch fish, she unexpectedly discovered two types of trees in the thorny bushes by the lake - the Sichuan peppercorn tree and another pepper tree.

This discovery made her very excited. Although it wasn’t the ripe season yet, she couldn’t resist picking some unripe fruits and seeds.

As soon as Pan Lin came ashore, she ran over like offering a treasure, her eyes shining brightly.

"Apan, look quick, these are the Sichuan peppercorn and the other peppercorn I mentioned before! I’m so lucky to have found both at once. Although they’re not ripe, smell them, their aroma is already apparent. And these are much bigger than the seeds I’ve seen before,"

In her previous life, the seeds were the size of mung beans, but the ones she found now were as large as lima beans. The soybeans she discovered were also big, as large as peanuts.

Her sun-dried mushrooms were also extraordinarily large. Besides the size difference, other types of plants had mostly changed their appearance, but some had only changed in size without altering their original appearance.

To remove the fishy smell and to enhance the flavor of the fish, they used a cooking method similar to ’beggar’s chicken.’ They stuffed the cleaned fish bellies with Sichuan peppercorns and the other pepper, sprinkled some salt, wrapped them in leaves, coated them with a layer of clay, and then buried them in the ground to bake.

But before the fish was cooked, Pan Lin’s tail suddenly started to twitch, and in the next second, he curled it around, shielding himself behind.

Before she could ask what was happening, three or four Beastmen appeared before her. As Pan Lin saw those beasts, his gaze suddenly turned icy.

"If there’s a chance, run immediately. Did you hear me clearly?"

Tangtang just then noticed that the three Beastmen who came all had hostile looks. One had four stripes on his leg and scars on his face, making him look ugly. The other two had three stripes, with no less strength. The presence of these three caused Pan Lin’s expression to turn grave almost instantaneously as he transformed into his battle form, clearly showing they were a significant threat.