LSLFBW: Chapter 58

Even though everyone spent a lot of time milking the sheep, it was very easy to put the ewes back.

Open the bamboo gate, put down the ewes, and close the bamboo gate.

The sheepfold was very quiet at this time. The four-eared sheep were looking for food in the valley with their heads down, occasionally chewing snow. There were no traces of the previous chaos.

The ewe Xiao Hua stood in the sheepfold, unable to understand why she had escaped death. At this moment, she didn’t know that such experiences would become her daily routine in the future.

Xiao Hua stood there for a while. Then she shook her head and went back to the shed. She saw the remaining two lambs, walked around them, and soon gave up looking for the lost lamb.

The other two lambs saw their mother coming back and both called out for milk. They didn’t have deep feelings for their lost big brother. On the contrary, one less sheep to feed meant one less competitor, and they could grow better. This was the law among animals.

Of course, the opposite was also true.

At this time, the ‘lost’ lamb, which had been called ‘Chuan Chuan,’ was curled up in the warm arms of a beastman. The beastman holding him was holding a large bamboo bowl with milk in it. Chuan Chuan was licking it obediently. There was no sign of the hostility that wild beasts had towards beastmen. He even took the initiative to approach the warmth behind him.

Opposite Qi Bai stood a small circle of kids, all looking at this fearless little lamb with curiosity.

“Is this Bao Bai’s child? Why is Bao Bai’s child not a beastman?” Bao Xing asked, biting his finger.

Bao Yue knocked him on the back of the head and said, “Idiot. This is a wild beast. How can it be Bao Bai’s child?”

Zhu Ya nodded. “That’s right. Besides, Bao Bai is a leopard. Our tribe doesn’t have any beastmen whose beast form is a sheep. It is impossible for Bao Bai to give birth to a lamb.”

Li Li nodded silently and repeated in a low voice, “It is impossible to give birth.”

The beastmen might have beast forms but they could naturally distinguish wild beasts. This was why Qi Bai brought the lamb to the mud house to introduce him to everyone in advance and prevent someone from eating the lamb as prey when he wasn’t home.

Qi Bai smiled and touched the lamb’s head. He had checked that it was a little ram. “This isn’t my child. This is my pet… In any case, don’t eat it.”

Bao Yue took the lead to nod and agree. “Don’t worry, I will help you look after it.”

“Thank you in advance.”

Since Chuan Chuan was born not long ago, Qi Bai didn’t feed him too much milk. He just waited for the lamb to drink up the small half a bowl of milk in the bamboo bowl before carrying him home.

He happened to meet Shu Lin and Yang Ling when going out, both of whom were holding a bamboo tube. The three of them walked towards the Black Mountain together.

Yang Ling shook the bamboo tube filled with sheep milk and asked, “Bao Bai, can the ewe really still produce milk tomorrow?”

There was no such thing as nutritional supplements in the beastmen world, but the practice of giving priority to pregnant sub-beastmen with the best things in the tribe had been implemented long before everyone was aware of it.

Therefore, after Yang Luo confirmed that Shu Lin and Yang Ling were pregnant, he would always give them some extra food. Today was the same. After obtaining the fresh sheep milk, except for giving some to the lamb in Qi Bai’s hands, the rest was given to the two of them.

However, Yang Ling was still worried that the ewes would die. He was debating on whether to freeze the sheep milk outside the cave and save it for the babies born in the future.

Qi Bai nodded and raised the lamb in his hand. “Of course. Don’t worry, the ewes will always have milk or the lambs will starve to death.”

If Qi Bai remembered correctly, the lactation period of the ewes was at least four or five months. During this period, they shouldn’t be short of milk. Moreover, once fresh milk was frozen, a lot of nutrients would be lost.

Of course, the ewes on Earth were definitely different from those in the Beast World. Therefore, Qi Bai used Xiao Hua, the first one to be born, for the experiment. If Xiao Hua’s milk production decreased, it wouldn’t be too late for them to make preparations.

QI Bai thought for a moment before adding, “When you drink the sheep milk, you should boil it like we boil water.”

Shu Lin had no concerns like Yang Ling. He was only concerned about how to consume the milk. After hearing this, he asked, “Why?”

Qi Bai couldn’t clearly explain to them that freshly squeezed milk might contain some bacteria. The beastmen had always used raw milk in the past, and there didn’t seem to be any problems.

Qi Bai scratched his head. “It will taste better that way. In particular, boil the milk in a clay pot before feeding it to the babies, and they will definitely like it better.”

Shu Lin immediately nodded in approval after hearing that it would taste better. He returned to the cave and immediately started to excitedly cook the milk with a pottery jar.

Yang Ling, who lived just across the wall from him, looked at the bamboo tube in his hand. Finally, he tied the mouth of the bamboo tube tightly with animal skin and placed it in the snow pile outside the cave.

Qi Bai separated from Shu Lin and Yang Ling. It was only after he got home that he opened the animal skin wrapped around the lamb and put the lamb down on the ground.

There was a charcoal fire burning in the room, so there was no need to worry about Chuan Chuan getting cold.

Qi Bai moved out the hay he used to sleep on and spread it next to the stone wall. Then he took out two bamboo bowls. He filled one with warm water and the other with sheep milk.

Qi Bai tied a few thick straw ropes together and waved to the lamb. “Come here.”

He didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if the lamb really felt Qi Bai’s call. The lamb tilted his head and walked over unsteadily. Qi Bai was touched by his cuteness. He rubbed the little head and pointed at the two bamboo bowls. “You just had milk. I will feed you later. If you are thirsty, drink water by yourself, okay?”

After saying this, he didn’t care if the lamb understood or not. He hung the straw rope loosely around the lamb’s neck and tied the other end to the groove of the stone wall. This would ensure that the lamb could move freely in the house while preventing him from accidentally touching the charcoal brazier or leaving the cave.

After all, the beasts in the mountain and forest wouldn’t give the lamb the same face as the beastmen. Now that Chuan Chuan was outside, he was really no match for the tigers and black bears outside.

Qi Bai made sure that the straw rope was tied firmly before carrying the rattan basket and tools next door to knock on Lang Ze’s door. The two of them had already agreed to go to the Man-Eating River to fight together.

As the temperature got lower and lower, the fish in the Man-Eating River became increasingly difficult to catch. Therefore, there were no other tribe members there when the two of them arrived at the ice surface of the river.

The two of them followed the marks on the river bank and found the ice that had been covered in snow, and the ice hole that had been frozen again.

He swept away the snow. Then Qi Bai laid out the tools he brought one by one.

The reason why it was so difficult to catch fish these days lay mainly in the first step, which was to break the ice surface.

Qi Bai first handed the hand drill to Lang Ze, who drilled a small hole in the ice surface. Then he used a stone hammer and stone awl to dig. Finally, he used the wooden stick tied to the stone awl to poke downwards.

Lang Ze picked up the wooden stick and said, “It’s already touched the water.”

Let me see.”

Lang Ze handed over the wooden stick. Qi Bai used a straw rope to measure and tie a knot where the stick had touched water. The last time he came over, the ice surface was 30 to 40 centimeters thick. This time, the knot moved upwards around ten centimeters again.

“The ice is getting deeper,” Qi Bai said. Then he looked down through the hole in the ice, frowning slightly. “There also seems to be fewer fish.”

According to the number of fish he saw in the autumn and early winter, it would be possible to feed thousands of people, let alone that their tribe only had 54 people. Now, the number of fish that Qi Bai saw every time he went to the Man-Eating River was decreasing. This wasn’t normal.

Previously when Qi Bai led people to the frozen Man-Eating River to fish, Lang Ze had just left the tribe to track the Xishui Tribe. In addition, Lang Ze preferred to hunt prey in the mountains rather than catching fish. This meant he seldom came here and he didn’t notice such a change.

Lang Ze squatted down and carefully watched the shadows that occasionally flashed under the water. “Let’s come back and take a look in a few days.”

“Hmm.”

If the number of fish in the Man-Eating River was really decreasing then they had to take precautions in advance. After all, the fish in this river were originally the food guarantee for the Black Mountain Tribe.

After returning the wooden stick to Lang Ze, Qi Bai picked up his big bamboo scoop. Lang Ze knocked on the ice, used the scoop to scoop out the broken ice and poured it beside him. They didn’t stop until there was a hole in the ice big enough for the fish basket to fit in.

This fish basket was specially made by Qi Bai for catching fish.

After all, the rattan baskets they used before were too big. Once the ice became thicker, it would take too long to chisel out ice big enough to fit the rattan baskets. Therefore, Qi Bai specially weaved a fish basket that was only half the size of a rattan basket.

He put bait in the fish basket, sank it in the river, and pulled the straw rope hanging on the fish basket.

Since the fish basket was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, it was difficult for a fish to get out when it got in.

In addition, they didn’t need to worry about the fish basket being bitten to pieces. After all, compared to the rough rattan baskets, the fish baskets carefully woven with bamboo strips had a much smoother surface. Even piranhas with fine teeth would find it difficult to find a place to destroy with their mouths.

The two of them sat quietly on the ice and waited. Once the fish basket sank or moved, they would drag the fish basket out of the water.

However, due to the small number of fish, it took them more than an hour to fill the rattan baskets.

Qi Bai sniffed and crouched down in front of the rattan baskets, counting them one by one. “The number of piranhas has decreased a lot. The others seem to be normal.”

The reason why Qi Bai said ‘seem’ was because they had rarely seen fish other than piranhas before. Qi Bai even thought that the beastmen called this river the Man-Eating River because there were only piranhas in it.

Qi Bai analyzed that it was probably because piranhas lived in shallow waters. Then after the river was frozen, many fish in deep waters started to move to the upper layers. This allowed them to see the bigger fish that looked even weirder. Since these fish weren’t seen often, they could only make a guess.

After the baskets were filled with strange-shaped fish, Lang Ze carried the rattan baskets on his back while Qi Bai collected the scattered tools on the ground.

The moment Qi Bai returned home, he immediately put down the tools in his hands and rushed to the haystack.

Seeing Chuan Chuan lying obediently on the haystack, he checked the water bowl and found that some of the water in it had been drunk. Qi Bai rubbed his head curiously and said, “Wait, I’ll give you hot milk right away.”

Lang Ze looked at the full set of equipment that Qi Bai had prepared for the lamb and asked, “Are you planning to keep it in the cave?”

Qi Bai poured milk into the pottery pot and replied, “Yes, it is too cold outside, and Chuan Chuan is still so young. A lamb will freeze outside.”

“Wild beasts are born to live in the mountains and forests. They won’t freeze.”

“That is different. Other children have their mothers to take care of them. Chuan Chuan doesn’t have an ewe to take care of him now.”

Qi Bai started to busy himself with making the charcoal fire as he spoke. He didn’t notice that Lang Ze was staring at Chuan Chuan motionlessly. Lang Ze’s gaze, which had given Lang Ze nightmares several times, seemed to have no effect on Chuan Chuan at all.

The lamb was still half-lying elegantly on the hay with his front legs folded, acting like a master.

Qi Bai found that Lang Ze seemed to have not made any sound for a long time. He turned around and saw that this person was still holding the rattan basket. What was he thinking?

Qi Bai pushed Lang Ze from behind and muttered, “Why are you daydreaming? Hurry up and kill the fish. Let me see. Tonight, we can make fried fish, stir-fried pork with sour bamboo shoots, and a few sweet potatoes. That should be enough.”

Lang Ze moved forward in the direction he was pushed. Then he was forced by Qi Bai to sit on a bamboo stool. Qi Bai kicked a trash can made of vines and large leaves to Lang Ze’s side. “Use this to hold the fish scales and internal organs. I’ll throw them away later.”

Qi Bai placed his large chopping board on the table, took out a large piece of pickled bamboo shoots from the pottery jar, and cut it into shreds. He sliced the frozen meat that had been softened indoors, and finally cut the onions, ginger, garlic and other ingredients. He placed them neatly on the large chopping board.

Qi Bai’s large chopping board was made by polishing a cross section of a piece of leftover wood when he was making a small bathtub. The wood was tough and it was much more convenient than the stone chips he used as a cutting board before.

At this time, Lang Ze had already cleaned the four smaller fish that Qi Bai had picked out.

Qi Bai took it over, made even cuts on the fish with a bone knife, and sprinkled salt and shredded ginger on it to marinate.

There were three charcoal basins in Qi Bai’s cave. At this moment, the sheep milk was being heated on one of the basins, an open-mouthed pottery jar was placed on another, and a flat stone slab was placed on the last one. There were also six sweet potatoes evenly placed in the charcoal.

Qi Bai added hot oil to a ceramic pot, fried the shredded ginger, added meat slices, and finally added shredded bamboo shoots and stir-fried them.

Cooking in a clay pot was much faster than cooking in a stone pot, but Qi Bai was worried that the changes in the ingredients would cause the pot to crack, so he never used a very high fire. Even though the vegetables were stir-fried evenly, he still wasn’t sure if the meat was cooked through. Qi Bai added a bit of hot water to the pot, covered it with a stone slab, and planned to simmer it for a while.

At this time, the fish was almost marinated. He applied butter to the stone slab. The marinated fish oozed water on the stone slab and collided with the butter. The fragrance spread instantly.

Once the four small fishes were fried and the juice of the sour bamboo shoots and fried meat had been absorbed, Qi Bai put a straw mat on the table and brought the clay pot and stone slab directly to the table.

The golden and crispy fried fish, the reddish-brown fried meat, and the tender yellow sour bamboo shoots were enough to whet a person’s appetite just by looking at them.

Lang Ze had already cleaned up the other fish in the rattan basket. The two of them washed their hands in the wooden basin and prepared to eat with bamboo chopsticks.

Chuan Chuan, who had been lying quietly on the hay, suddenly cried out a few times. Qi Bai immediately put down his chopsticks and said, “Chuan Chuan, are you hungry? Your milk is ready. You can eat in advance.”

Since lambs could usually drink milk directly, Qi Bai didn’t boil the milk. He tested the temperature with his hand. It was just slightly higher than the body temperature, so he poured half a basin of warm sheep milk into the bamboo bowl specially used for Chuan Chuan.

Qi Bai raised the milk basin to Chuan Chuan’s mouth. “I will be your father from now on. You must eat well and grow up well. In the future, we will conquer the sheep together.”

Perhaps the hearts of everyone who raised small animals were the same. Qi Bai firmly believed that his encounter with Chuan Chuan wasn’t only because he chose Chuan Chuan, but also because Chuan Chuan chose him.

Qi Bai might’ve liked the pretty Chuan Chuan at first sight, but he still paid close attention to every lamb when he entered the shed. Only Chuan Chuan wasn’t afraid of him and instead showed a desire to get close to him. It was for this reason that he picked up Chuan Chuan without a struggle.

As he spoke, he gently touched the lamb’s soft fur. The lamb seemed to feel his kindness and rubbed his head gently against Qi Bai’s palm. Qi Bai’s eyes immediately curved in a smile.

Lang Ze listened to Qi Bai’s gentle voice and saw the little lamb’s attentiveness towards Qi Bai. The movement of reaching for the chopsticks froze. His face revealed grievance and disbelief that he wasn’t even aware of.