LSLFBW: Chapter 138

The next morning, Qi Bai heard the sound of stones being smashed outside.

Qi Bai stretched lazily in bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The fire in the stove had gone out and the world outside the blanket was cold. Qi Bai pulled the animal skin blanket up to his neck.

Getting out of bed in winter was really difficult, but Qi Bai knew that if he didn’t get up, the room temperature would only drop lower. He rummaged around under the covers for a while before pulling up the animal skin coat piled at his feet.

The coat was still warm from being under the covers all night. Qi Bai quickly put it on and stepped out of the room to see Lang Ze sitting by the door, hammering a large rock over a meter high with a stone hammer.

Qi Bai rubbed his eyes. “When did you find such a big rock?”

Lang Ze had only mentioned making a stone jar last night and he had already brought back a rock this morning. This efficiency was truly impressive.

“I saw it during my patrol this morning and brought it back.” Lang Ze stopped what he was doing. “I’ve also fetched the water we need for today.”

Qi Bai noticed the large bamboo rock beside him and asked with a smile, “Have you had breakfast?”

Before Lang Ze could answer, Qi Bai added, “It’s okay. You can eat a bit more if you want. I’ll make extra so we can eat together.”

Just then, Tu Ruo and Quan Liu came out of their house next door. Both were wearing the new animal skin clothes Tu Ruo had made and were carrying sand trays, seemingly on their way to school.

Qi Bai greeted Tu Ruo and Quan Liu with a smile.

They were neighbors but they didn’t see each other very often in the morning.

The beastmen all got up very early. The patrolling horned beastmen would even go out before dawn.

Beastmen like Qi Bai, who slept in naturally until they woke up except for the days when he was teaching, were truly rare.

Tu Ruo and Quan Liu passed by Lang Ze’s house and arrived at Qi Bai’s door. Quan Liu looked back at Lang Ze, who was enthusiastically smashing stones, and asked, “Doesn’t Lang Ze need to study?”

Qi Bai replied, “Don’t worry about him. You two go ahead.”

Lang Ze didn’t need to attend the main classes at school. After all, Teacher Qi had already given him extra tutoring.

Since Lang Ze returned to the tribe, Qi Bai would teach him some characters and give him math questions during his free time every day. It was a private lesson between the two of them.

This meant Lang Ze had already mastered the lessons taught in the tribe’s school, and his progress far exceeded most tribe members.

At least in the tribe, Lang Ze was currently the only one who could perform simple multiplication. The other tribe members might’ve learned earlier and could recite some multiplication tables, but they still found it difficult to apply to daily life.

Qi Bai watched Tu Ruo and Quan Liu’s retreating figures before taking out a large bamboo tube filled with water and returned inside.

He found a small bamboo basket lined with hay on the shelf, opened the lid and saw seven or eight blue-green duck eggs inside. These were the eggs the ducks had laid recently. Qi Bai took two out.

He added water to the earthenware pot, placed the duck eggs in the water, placed a steamer basket on top and arranged the thinly sliced pickled meat evenly on the steamer basket.

The steamer basket of cornbread, smoked meat and pickled bamboo shoots he made yesterday had been eaten, but there was still some sweet potato flour left. Qi Bai kneaded the dough, pinched off pieces and pressed them with both hands to make small flatbreads which he patted directly onto the side of the earthenware pot.

This way, the sweet potato flatbreads, duck eggs and pickled meat could be cooked together.

Qi Bai found the earthenware jar containing picked vegetables, took out a large piece of pickled vegetable leaf, cut it into small pieces and placed it on an earthenware plate.

This was a large-leafed vegetable that Qi Bai only saw on the Beastman Continent. The leaves were very juicy and had a sweet taste. Qi Bai picked a lot in the autumn, pickled it and sealed it in a clay jar for later use.

Cooking in a clay pot was much faster than in a stone pot. By the time Qi Bai finished washing up and cleaning the house, the food in the clay pot was already cooked.

Everyone’s houses were brick houses and a layer of mortar was applied over the clay bricks. To save on lime, the mortar on the exterior walls was mostly yellow mud. In addition, Qi Bai did a lot of work every day and his animal skin clothes were constantly covered in dust. In short, the house would be full of dust if he didn’t clean for a day.

Some carefree beastmen didn’t care if there was dust on the kang. As long as there was a fire and it was warm enough, they could sleep soundly even without a mat. After all, it was much cleaner than sleeping in a cave or a burrow.

Qi Bai was probably the least bothered by the trouble. He tied two brooms together with thin bamboo branches. There was a large one for sweeping the floor and a smaller one specifically for sweeping the kang. Once he got used to it, these tasks only took a few minutes and could be done easily.

Qi Bai tossed the brooms behind the door, lifted the animal skin curtain and called out to Lang Ze, “It is time to eat.”

Qi Bai usually didn’t eat anything too greasy for breakfast. A main dish paired with some side dishes was just perfect.

They ate a hot breakfast on the warm kang in winter. Qi Bai thought about having a snack.

Qi Bai leaned closer to Lang Ze and asked, “Are you busy this morning?”

Lang Ze took a bite of half a pancake. “Smashing the stone jar.”

Qi Bai shook his head. “The stone jar isn’t urgent. Is there anything else?”

Lang Ze saw Qi Bai’s bright eyes and asked softly, “What do you want to do?”

Qi Bai whispered, “Let’s go pick pine cones.”

Lang Ze wondered, “What are pine cones?”

Qi Bai gestured with his hand. “They are those fruits on the pine trees. There might be pine cones inside that we can eat.”

There was a large pine forest north of sweet potato mountain, and Qi Bai had long had his eyes on it.

However, not all pine cones contained pine nuts. He had to go and take a look.

Lang Ze had seen the fruits on pine trees before. The fruits smell strange and he had never wanted to eat them. However, he wouldn’t object if Qi Bai wanted to eat them.

After the two finished breakfast and fed the ducks and Chuan Chuan, Lang Ze took out his saddle.

It took sub-beastmen around an hour to walk to the sweet potato mountain, and the pine tree mountain was even further away. The two of them definitely couldn’t walk there in human form.

Lang Ze transformed into beast form, secured the saddle to his body and excitedly flicked his tail.

Just as Qi Bai was about to transform, a massive tail suddenly wrapped around him.

Qi Bai laughed and dodged. “What are you doing?”

The white wolf bent down on the snow, using his large tail to pull Qi Bai to his side. This time, it wasn’t the small bamboo basket Qi Bai usually rose in, but the wolf’s furry back.

Qi Bai heard laughter and voices behind him. He turned around and saw two elderly horned beastmen sitting by the window, watching Qi Bai and Lang Ze’s interaction.

Seeing Qi Bai turn to look at them, one of the elders smiled and raised his hand, clearly urging Qi Bai to get on.

Qi Bai finally remembered that the back of a horned beastman was a position reserved for mates, and he felt his ears grow warm.

In that brief moment of distraction, Lang Ze seized the opportunity and used his tail to lift Qi Bai up.

In the blink of an eye, Qi Bai was sprawled on the giant wolf’s back.

Lang Ze’s beast form had grown considerably larger than before. Qi Bai strongly suspected that if Lang Ze continued to grow like this, he would be able to roll around on Lang Ze’s back.

Qi Bai straightened up, unsure of what to do with his hands. Finally, he could only grab two tufts of fur on the white wolf’s back.

The white wolf paced a few steps. He saw that Qi Bai was settled and leaped forward, directly over the tribe’s high wall.

Qi Bai made a soft cry of surprise. Then the white wolf landed steadily on the snow outside the wall and started to run through the forest.

Qi Bai lay on Lang Ze’s back, his whole body sinking into Lang Ze’s soft fur. His palms pressed tightly against the warm skin beneath the fur.

At this moment, QI Bai felt as if he had become one with Lang Ze. He felt the rhythm of the giant wolf’s limbs as Lang Ze ran, almost as if he could feel Lang Ze’s inner joy and pleasure.

“Awoo~”

Half an hour later, Lang Ze’s speed gradually slowed down. The two of them had reached the pine forest.

Qi Bai jumped off the white wolf’s back and looked up at the towering pine trees.

The pine trees in this forest must’ve been growing for countless years. Qi Bai guessed that even the shortest trees were at least fifty meters tall.

On Earth, harvesting pine cones was an extremely dangerous job. The pine trees were incredibly tall and had many branches, rendering a lot of equipment unusable. Qi Bai had heard stories of pine harvesters falling to their deaths.

Therefore, Qi Bai had brought long straw ropes with him. He intended to transform into his animal form, climb to the highest point, secure the ropes and wrap themselves in the rope to harvest the pine cones.

After all, he was a snow leopard. His tree-climbing skills might not be as good as a leopard’s but he was resistant to falls. A few falls from a tree only a few dozen meters high would surely be nothing to him.

Lang Ze chuckled. “Why are you always thinking of wrapping me in straw ropes?” Lang Ze was clearly thinking of their first trip to the Man-eating River to catch fish.

Lang Ze was already wearing an animal skin coat but no shoes.

Qi Bai watched as Lang Ze’s hands and feet instantly transformed into wolf claws. Their sharp tips dug into the tree trunks like steel nails, allowing him to easily climb several meters upward.

Qi Bai clapped his hands in admiration. This ability to transform parts of his body into beast form was practically tailor-made for picking pine cones.

Seeing Lang Ze climbing higher and higher, Qi Bai quickly called out to him. “Wait a minute.”

Qi Bai scanned the snow and finally found a long branch sticking out. He held the branch in front of Lang Ze. “Use this to knock the pine cones down.”

Lang Ze took the branch and continued climbing.

Qi Bai strained his neck but Lang Ze’s figure was gradually covered by the tangled branches.

Soon, thick snowdrifts fell from the sky. It was the snow that had accumulated on the pine branches.

Qi Bai quickly dodged. Brown pine cones fell along with the snowdrifts.

Qi Bai grabbed one, casually pried it open and found it quite sturdy. It took a bit of force to open it.

At the base of the layers of pine cones, there were indeed some dark brown pine nuts.

At this time of year, before winter arrived, it was the season for pine trees to bear pine nuts. These tall pines were clearly more adapted to the cold than other plants. Even sudden weather changes hadn’t altered their habits.

Qi Bai tasted one. The pine nut had a slightly bitter taste, quite different from the roasted pine nuts he usually bought. It was more like raw walnuts.

Regardless, this proved that the pine nuts in these pine trees were edible.

Qi Bai quickly relayed the news to Lang Ze, who was still in the tree. “Lang Ze, there are pine nuts in these cones! Let’s collect some and roast them!”