LSLFBW: Chapter 43

Qi Bai lit the charcoal basin under the bamboo table, moved the two charcoal basins in the corner, and placed them on the opposite corners of the table. Then he boiled hot water in a ceramic kettle.

Qi Bai’s home wasn’t damaged too badly because it had a bamboo door, but there Lang Ze’s cave next door had no defenses. The hay he usually used for sleeping was pulled out of the cave by wolves.

“You actually let me go like this?” Yang Luo asked in disbelief.

Lang Ze was playing with the pottery in his hand. He paused and said, “As a priest, you did nothing wrong.”

His tribe used to be powerful and competitive. There were many slaves in the tribe. Lang Ze knew how other people in the tribe treated slaves. If he hadn’t become a slave himself, he might never know what this life was like.

The most important thing was that Qi Bai valued every member of the Black Mountain Tribe, and he would never do anything to hurt them.

“I won’t do anything to you in the future as long as you can be a good priest.”

Lang Ze’s words were plain, but they made Yang Luo subconsciously straighten his sitting posture. He seemed to see the old priest who had high demands on them again.

Qi Bai took down four bamboo cups from the shelf, put them down, and sat down. At this time, Lang Ze sat on his left, Hou Yan sat on his right, and opposite him was the still dazed Yang Luo.

Lang Ze didn’t continue Yang Luo’s topic. They gathered here when the tribe was busy. It wasn’t to talk about these unimportant things.

“We found the tribe that appeared around us.”

“Where is that tribe? Do they plan to attack us?” Qi Bai asked with a frown.

They had just experienced a wolf attack, and most of the tribe members were injured. If the enemy took advantage of this moment and invaded, it would be a real disaster for the Black Mountain Tribe.

“They live ten days away from us,” Lang Ze said. “They alone won’t pose a threat to us for the time being.”

Lang Ze’s words were still a bit conservative.

It was an indigenous tribe of around 200 people living on the plains. Most of the beastmen in the tribe were in horse form. Their number was much larger than the Black Mountain Tribe, but their lives were very different.

The people there were even more affected by the flood. Since they didn’t migrate with the animals, they were severely short of meat.

It had to be known that due to the special physique of beastmen, eating plants alone couldn’t meet their energy consumption. If they couldn’t find a way to eat meat, they might no longer have the strength to hunt.

Of course, the most important thing was that this tribe lacked salt. Lang Ze and his companions saw those skinny beastmen digging out the roots and rhizomes of plants from the soil, peeling off the bark and boiling them in water, trying to get salt from these plants.

Thus, they sent people out. It was most likely to find tribes with which they could exchange salt.

“Are you saying that the wolf pack that attacked this time is likely to have come from the vicinity of the tribe?” Hou Yan asked.

“That’s right,” Lang Ze nodded. “We found traces of wolves around the Horse Tribe. Perhaps because they were afraid of the large numbers, they didn’t attack the Horse Tribe.”

“On the way back, we saw traces of wolves again. Therefore, we sped up and chased after them.”

No wonder why Lang Ze and the others showed up in such a timely manner.

Qi Bai said, “We still can’t take the horse Tribe lightly. Food is harder to get in winter. We must always be on guard against them doing harm to the Black Mountain Tribe.”

Hou Yan nodded. He patted his legs wrapped in animal skins. He had no way to fight in the short term, let alone patrol for the safety of the tribe. He looked at Lang Ze and said solemnly, “The hunting team is now in your hands.”

As he left Qi Bai’s house, Yang Luo couldn’t help asking, “Even if you don’t care about me as a priest, have you ever thought about becoming the chief of the Black Mountain Tribe?”

For Lang Ze, the position of tribe leader was as easy as taking candy from a baby. He didn’t understand why Lang Ze was willing to be just a hunting team captain.

Lang Ze wasn’t polite at all. “Now isn’t the right time. The Black Mountain Tribe can’t have a chief who was once a slave. At the very least, we still need an ordinary beastman to negotiate with the outside world.

Yang Luo smiled bitterly. Yes, what difference did it make to who the nominal chief was? He had been waiting for over 30 years, thinking that he had become a priest who had the final say in the tribe. But in the end, he couldn’t escape the fate of having a strong ‘chief’ in the tribe.

Different from the anxious and disappointed mood in Qi Bai’s cave, there was a joyful atmosphere in front of the collective cave.

As they walked to the square, they saw a crowd that was more lively than usual. At the very least, for sub-beastmen who were once slaves like Yan Ling and Quan Nan, Qi Bai rarely saw them in the crowd and rarely heard them talk loudly.

Now, these people who once seemed invisible had suddenly come alive.

Of course, such a lively scene seemed to be paused after seeing Yang Luo’s group coming down the mountain. Everyone saluted them in unison.

Yang Luo felt even worse. Perhaps it because Qi Bai and Lang Ze had put the idea of abolishing slavery on him. He saw several sub-beastmen such as Shu Rong and Li Qing, who usually never dared to look him in the eye, secretly looking at him with admiration and gratitude.

Yang Luo sighed in his heart.

From the time the wolves arrived last night until now, everyone had only rested a few hours. However, no one complained or felt tired.

The two large stone pots in the collective cave were moved out again. The salted meat and vegetable roots were stewed inside. Qi Bai took a sip of the broth. It was still the familiar recipe and familiar test. Hu Xue and She Li performed very steadily.

Lang Ze and his companions hurriedly ate a few bowls of meat before leaving the collective cave. They needed to strengthen patrols in the next few days, or the strong smell of blood would attract other ferocious beasts in the forest.

After yesterday’s battle, everyone was injured to varying degrees. There weren’t many tribe members who could move freely. Therefore, the skinning of animals wasn’t as particular as usual this time. Anyone who could do it was mobilized.

Qi Bai sat in the middle of the square and saw that Su Qing was in high spirits while staring at Diao Lan’s actions without blinking. Diao Lan, who always looked cold and distant, was rarely smiling and taught him in a low voice.

Qi Bai smiled, dragged the wolf closest to him, and pulled the bone knife at his waist out of the scabbard.

Just as he was about to cut down, Qi Bai was shocked to find that the condition of the wolf in his hand was so bad. It wasn’t just this one. Almost every wolf had little flesh on its body. The wolf skin seemed to be draped over an empty skeleton.

He briefly thought about it before figuring out the reason. Wolves were one of the few intelligent groups among wild beasts. Such a large group needed more food every day. If they weren’t forced to the extreme, how could they take such a risk and set their sights on beastmen…

It was fortunate. If they were all strong and healthy, the members of the Black Mountain Tribe might not be as lucky as they were now to be sitting together while talking and laughing.

Yang Luo looked at the pile of skinned wolf meat. Finally, he asked Hu Xue and She Li to carry out two wolves separately.

Regardless of the reason, today was the new life of the Black Mountain Tribe. They had obtained so much food again. It was time to celebrate.

Yang Luo had two people build two new fires a bit further away, apparently intended to roast the two wolves directly over the fire.

Qi Bai thought about it for a moment. He put down the wolf skin in his hand and trotted over. “Grandpa Priest, can I prepare dinner tonight? I want to make a new type of barbecue for everyone.”

Upon hearing this, Shu Lin nodded blindly. The food cooked by Qi Bai was the most delicious. No matter what Qi Bai planned to cook today, he wanted to eat it.

Yang Luo immediately remembered the meat strips that Qi Bai had given him some time ago. It was really strange. They were all roasted meat strips, but the ones made by Qi Bai tasted different from those made by others. Thus, he agreed readily.

Hu Xue and She Li carried the two wolves over. They had eaten the grilled fish that Qi Bai made last time. They had also made some attempts privately after moving out, but it was never as delicious as Qi Bai’s. After hearing that Qi Bai was going to make a new kind of barbecue, they were eager to see it more clearly.

Qi Bai observed the two wolves carefully. They might be thin, but they still had two meter long skeletons. At the very least, one hundred catties of meat could be cut off from each of them.

Qi Bai asked Hu Xue and She Li to cut all the meat except the ribs. In addition, the side dishes such as radish, sweet potatoes, and vegetable roots should be diced to a size of around five centimeters. The ribs were cut into small pieces before being washed and marinated with salt, onion, ginger, garlic, and other seasonings. The other large bones were boiled into broth as usual.

As everyone was busy, Qi Bai ran back to his cave and moved down the stone trough that hadn’t been used for a long time. Before leaving, he saw the green onion leaves and garlic sprouts were growing well. He had never been willing to eat them, but now he chopped off most of them.

He fixed the stone trough in place and stacked charcoal of even lengths on it. Then Qi Bai split the bamboo left over from bamboo weaving and made it into long bamboo sticks.

The marinated meat and vegetables were alternately skewered on bamboo sticks to make grilled skewers. There were four large pieces of meat on each skewer, and the vegetables weighed more than one catty. This was a realistic amount that was rarely seen in modern times.

He placed the skewered bamboo sticks on the stone trough and gently fanned the charcoal with a wooden board. White smoke rose up. Qi Bai took his small bamboo brush and brushed some butter on the barbecue from time to time. Soon, the aroma of barbecue lingered at the nose of every tribe member who was working.

Seeing Shu Lin eager to try out his small brush, Qi Bai simply handed him the brush. He mentioned the approximate temperature for grilling before rolling up his sleeves to prepare another dish for today, grilled ribs.

He heated up the stone slab and put some fat on it to fry the oil. Then after the oil temperature rose, he put the marinated ribs on the stone slab until both sides were slightly charred. Finally, he sprinkled some chopped green onions.

Let alone the kids next door, his own kids were already sitting around the stone slab, almost crying with envy.

Therefore, when Lang Ze and the others returned to the tribe after patrolling, what they saw was a steaming barbecue stall with golden and crispy fried ribs.

Xi Zhou took big bites of the meat on the skewers. The lean meat was chewy while the pork belly was crispy and fragrant. He felt that the barbecue he had eaten before was a waste. After finishing a skewer, he threw a small piece of ribs into his mouth. He chewed it a few times before swallowing it with both the bone and the meat.

Yang Ling, who was sitting next to him, was biting the soft radish. Somehow, his eyes suddenly turned red. He sniffed but couldn’t hold back his tears. They fell like beads that had fallen off the string.

This made his partner, Huan Ping, very nervous. He quickly put down the skewers in his hand and looked at Yang Ling helplessly. Finally, he reached out and hugged Yang Ling.

Yang Ling didn’t make a loud noise, but his emotions spread through the crowd. Many people secretly had red eyes.

Yang Luo was eating barbecue with oil in his mouth when he felt someone looking at him. He turned around and found that it was Lang Ze. Yang Luo wiped his mouth and thought, ‘Okay, it is time for me to come out and work.’

Yang Luo tidied himself up and walked to the center of the crowd. ‘The Black Mountain Tribe, a great beginning.”

“Black Mountain Tribe!”

This time, Yang Luo put all his effort into comforting everyone. So when Yang Luo’s voice stopped, everyone’s eyes were extremely bright.

Hou Yan looked at the energetic tribe members cheerfully and added, “Once everyone has eaten, go back and have a good rest. There will be more important work waiting for us to complete tomorrow.”