By the time the meeting ended, it was already noon, and Kaelen’s stomach was already rumbling with hunger. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Currently, the Crimson tribe still followed a communal cooking system rather than distributing food individually; the group responsible for cooking for the tribe was busy on the large grassy area.

In the first few days of staying here, Kaelen was frightened by their somewhat "barbaric" cooking methods. Meat was butchered right on the spot; fur, blood, and internal organs were scattered everywhere in piles, looking no different from a gruesome murder scene. Vegetables were just quickly blanched to remove dirt and then thrown whole into the pot of water; old roots and yellowed leaves weren’t even picked out. Kaelen even saw several green caterpillars crawling on the rim of the stone pot.

After that incident, he went back and threw up for three days straight, not daring to share food with them anymore.

Later on, he made a few suggestions and helped build a stone stove similar to the one in his cave, separating specific areas: a butchering area, a vegetable washing area, a cooking area, and an area for cooked food. The cooking utensils were also cleaned thoroughly, and the hands of both the cooks and the eaters had to be washed very clean.

Initially, there were quite a few displeased complaints within the Crimson tribe, but after Kaelen helped them make arrowroot noodles, their attitude changed completely. Now, the entire tribe adhered to the rules of eating cooked food, drinking boiled water, and maintaining cleanliness.

However, Kaelen still refused to eat with them, not because he was disgusted, but because his morning sickness was too severe, and he didn’t want to ruin everyone’s appetite.

At this time, the cooking group was busy. As Kaelen and Sane walked past them, they faintly smelled the scent of corn. He curiously approached and found out that the Sub-Beast group was boiling corn water to drink later.

Smelling the corn, Kaelen suddenly had a terrible craving. So he pulled Sane towards the cornfield in the back, intending to break off a few cobs to eat. After all, this corn was accelerated to maturity by Kaelen using Divine Energy, and the Priest had given him full ownership.

Today, the Magical Energy in his body had half recovered, so Kaelen decided to only leave a few young cobs to eat, while accelerating the rest of the corn in the field to full maturity. Under the acceleration of his special ability, the soft, milky corn kernels gradually turned a golden-orange color, and the kernels hardened. Kaelen told Sane to break them all off, not even sparing the young shoots sprouting from the leaf axils. These baby corn cobs would be incredibly delicious when stir-fried with meat.

With over twenty corn plants, each yielding about three mature cobs, harvesting them all produced quite a large amount. Kaelen decided to dry them right here. The two of them set up several A-frame racks, husked the corn, removed the tough outer husks leaving only about two to three inner layers, and then tied them onto the A-frame racks. With less than a hundred cobs, the two of them finished the task in a flash. Kaelen kept about a dozen mature cobs, planning to save them for making some corn cakes tonight.

Putting the young corn cobs into the pot to boil, he prepared to stir-fry the baby corn with meat, but the chopsticks were snatched away by Sane:

"You just stand aside and direct, let me do it."

Kaelen didn’t stand on ceremony, letting Sane show off his skills.

The baby corn was washed clean and sliced lengthwise along the cob. Small cobs were cut in half, while larger ones were cut into thirds, set aside separately. Pork belly was thinly sliced and marinated with salt, mushroom sauce, and Sima seeds to absorb the flavor. Shiitake mushrooms were finely chopped, and wild scallions were cut into sections. They heated the pot, rendered the pork fat until melted, added the meat and stir-fried evenly, then added salt and shiitake mushrooms, stir-frying until the meat slightly tightened, followed by the baby corn.

When the white core of the corn turned transparent, it was cooked. They added the scallions, stirred evenly, and scooped it out. For the corn juices sticking to the pot, they added a bowl of water and a few pieces of yam, simmering until the yam was cooked before turning off the heat.

The fragrant aroma of pork fat mixed with shiitake mushrooms and wild scallions rose up thickly. Kaelen couldn’t hold back; he immediately picked up a piece of baby corn along with pork belly and put it in his mouth. As his teeth bit down, the crunchy texture and the refreshing, juicy sweetness of the young corn burst forth instantly, perfectly neutralizing the rich fattiness of the meat. The savory mushroom sauce and the spicy kick of the Sima seeds had permeated every fiber of the meat, completely masking the usual gamey smell, leaving only a savory, aromatic aftertaste lingering on the tip of the tongue. The wonderful combination of the crisp sweetness of the vegetables and the rich flavor of the meat seemed to awaken Kaelen’s striking taste buds.

Today, rarely, Kaelen ate meat without vomiting, even managing to eat two corn cobs with a bowl of meat, and drinking an extra bowl of yam soup.

After eating his fill and drinking water to rinse his mouth, Kaelen felt a bit sleepy, so Sane let him sleep for a while. Sane himself finished off the leftover food, then went out to the cornfield to pull up all the stalks as Kaelen had instructed. Upon returning, he saw the person who should have been sleeping sitting on the bed, holding his head with a bewildered expression. Sane hurriedly stepped inside:

"Kaelen, what’s wrong? What happened?"

Seeing Sane return, Kaelen turned to look at him, his face contorted as if he was about to die, which scared Sane pale. Could something be wrong with the baby?

[Sane, I have lice! @@]

Huh? Sane stared blankly, thinking he had misheard. Wasn’t having lice very normal? Except for the snake clan whose whole bodies were slippery smooth, which furry clan didn’t have lice?

Kaelen seemed to go crazy again, his limbs flailing wildly: [I can’t believe it! I actually have lice! Ah ah ah! I’m going to die @@]

After saying that, he put his hands on his head, rubbing vigorously as if he wanted to rub his hair bald. He had been sleeping soundly when he felt an intense itching on his head; he scratched a few times and continued to sleep. But the itching only subsided a little before starting again, forcing him to wake up. Frustratedly giving his head a scratch, two lice fell down from the force of the scratch, crawling on the fair back of his left hand resting on his thigh.

Kaelen literally petrified.

He had always been a clean person; even when he was a child, he never had lice on his head. Now, just migrating once had brought him a head full of parasites; how could Kaelen not go crazy?

Kaelen lunged forward, pressing Sane’s head down to check, and found no trace of a single louse on his head. In that case, he definitely caught it from the Crimson crowd. Ah ah ah! He wished he could immediately rush out and shave off the hair of those dirty people!

Seeing Kaelen’s Divine Energy tending to leak out due to his mood falling out of control, Sane hurriedly grabbed his hands, swearing:

"Calm down, I think it’s because there’s no bubble grass. I’ll go find some for you to wash your hair right now! If they’re still not gone, I’ll pick them all out for you. Be good, don’t panic, breathe evenly."

Kaelen had to take several deep breaths to suppress his irritable emotions, his leopard ears drooping, his spirit crumbling. To think he almost lost control just because of a few lice, it was truly too embarrassing. Sane patted him, consoling him in a low voice. Kaelen’s emotions finally stabilized. He said:

[No need for bubble grass, there isn’t any here. I’ll make something else to replace it.]

Saying so, he intended to get out of bed to filter wood ash to soak for lye water, but Sane made him sit back on the bed: "Tell me whatever you want to do, the ground is very cold."

After that, under Kaelen’s guidance, Sane began the process of filtering wood ash powder, pouring water in to soak it, and storing it in a corner.

In the afternoon, the two of them went to the new valley together. Jaxon and Collins’s group was already waiting there, having brought along wide-mouthed ceramic pots, ceramic vats, a large stone mill, the newly mined rock salt, and a large pile of dry firewood. Kaelen began guiding them through the salt-making process.

First, let the beastmen use stone hammers to smash the rock salt into small pieces; doing this would significantly increase the surface area. Next, put these crushed rock salt pieces into the large stone mill and grind them down; that way, when mixed with water, they would dissolve quickly and significantly limit the grit.

Put the salt into the ceramic vat, pour in water, and stir evenly until the salt is completely dissolved.

[The rocks and grit won’t dissolve, we’ll let it settle for a bit and then filter it again.]

After the saltwater had settled, Kaelen used the Bird clan’s newly woven grass fiber cloth to cover the mouth of the vat, tied a string to secure the cloth, then had Sane hug the ceramic vat and slowly pour the saltwater into the ceramic pot placed on the stove. With the layer of cloth over the vat’s mouth, the impurities and residue would be held back, and what poured into the pot was clean saltwater.

The fire was lit, and the saltwater gradually boiled vigorously, emitting thick steam. As the water evaporated, the salt solution gradually thickened. Before long, sparkling white salt scum began to appear on the water’s surface and around the inner walls of the pot, crystallizing.

Kaelen held a ladle tightly in his hand, staring intently at the changes in the pot. When the salt in the pot had crystallized to about eighty or ninety percent, Kaelen immediately used the ladle to scoop it all out, leaving only a little bit of syrupy liquid at the bottom. He told Sane to put out some of the fire, then used animal hide to wrap his hands, lifted the ceramic pot off, and poured all this syrupy liquid into a small ceramic jar.

[The step of scooping the salt out is the most important. When the water has boiled down to about ninety percent, the salt must be scooped out immediately.] He pointed at the thick liquid in the ceramic jar and said: [Absolutely do not let the salt dry completely, otherwise this stuff will get mixed in. This liquid is very bitter, and moreover, poisonous; absolutely do not let them get mixed into the salt.]

He wanted to keep this bitter water (bittern); currently, it could be used for curing diseases or tanning animal hides, and later if they were lucky enough to find soybeans, he would use it to make tofu.

Collins dipped a bit of salt from the bowl of pure white salt that Kaelen had just scooped out and brought it to his mouth to taste. A pure salty taste, without a hint of bitterness or astringency, and not even any grit.

Beast God above, he had never seen salt so white, so fine, and so delicious as this salt!

Everyone here took a pinch of the pure white salt to taste, completely thrilled beyond words. They curiously dipped into the bitter water in the jar, and its bitter, astringent taste made them doubt their beastly lives.

There was still a lot of rock salt, so Kaelen let them carry out the processes themselves once again, while he stood by to remind and correct them. Before it got completely dark, they made four batches of salt; the amount of white salt harvested filled a ceramic jar up to a beastman’s knee. The salt refining technique was also practiced to proficiency.

Collins said emotionally: "This amount of salt is enough to distribute to the entire tribe to eat during the winter."

Kaelen immediately interrupted him: [No!]

Everyone didn’t understand. Wasn’t making salt for everyone in the tribe to use? Why not?

Kaelen snorted coldly: [From tomorrow onwards, whoever is dirty and has lice on their body, don’t even think about receiving pure salt!]

Everyone: "..."

Sane: "..."

Just because of lice, this Sub-Beast truly holds a grudge!