Chapter 47: Inspiration from Vine Skin

Yun Li didn't know that eagle beastfolk had already set their sights on her; after returning to the cave with Leng Xiao, she decided not to go out for these two days.

This also gave the eagle beastfolk a chance to secretly observe them; after all, by following them while they kept moving, the risk of him being discovered by the two actually increased.

"A Li, is this the black bean powder you want?"

Since they weren't going hunting or patrolling, Leng Xiao and Yun Li had plenty of time to ponder other things; the black beans that Yun Li had forgotten about due to various chores now became their pastime.

Yun Li glanced at the "black bean powder" in Leng Xiao's hand, shook her head, and said, "Still not good enough; it's not fine enough—it needs to be as fine as zhu tree powder."

Leng Xiao knew about zhu tree powder; A Li used to like mixing it with flour to make pancakes or fry dough sticks when she was in the Tribe. Although the results always tasted a bit off to her, this didn't stop her from, aside from eating meat, usually eating the most of things made from zhu tree powder.

Upon learning that Yun Li wanted to grind the black beans into something as fine as zhu tree powder, Leng Xiao nodded and said, "Alright, I'll pound it more with the stone rod; I'll definitely be able to make the black bean powder you want, A Li."

Yun Li grabbed him and said, "You've been pounding for a long time; continuing like this isn't a solution. Are there any finer leaves around here? If so, we could make a filter net from the leaves and sift the coarse black bean powder—maybe then we'd get what we want."

It's a pity the Tribe's stone mill isn't here; having Leng Xiao make a stone mill now would take too much time, otherwise using a stone mill to grind the black beans would be great.

Leng Xiao thought for a moment and asked, "How fine does it need to be?"

Yun Li plucked a branch with leaves splitting from a vine, rubbed it between her fingers, then showed it to Leng Xiao: "This will do; if there are any long leaves that can be rubbed into this, that would work too."

Leng Xiao looked at the thin string in Yun Li's hand, which wasn't even as thick as her fingernail, and fell silent.

"Would vine skin work?"

He really couldn't think of any nearby leaves that were long enough and could be rolled into the fine string Yun Li wanted.

Yun Li looked at the vines binding the game, stared for a moment, then suddenly remembered something; her face lit up with intense joy, and she planted a heavy kiss on Leng Xiao's face:

"Thanks to A Xiao reminding me, I actually forgot that something like vine skin could also be used to make clothing."

Strictly speaking, it's not the vine skin itself, but if the fibers inside the vine skin are extracted, they can also be made into clothing.

Of course, as for how to extract them, Yun Li, looking at the fine string she had rolled, already had some ideas in her mind.

Leng Xiao, caught off guard by Yun Li's sudden sneak-attack kiss, couldn't help touching his own face; it was the first time he had seen his female partner so passionate outside of doing something.

Just turning his head, he saw her squatting beside the game, frowning as she wondered what to think.

Recalling what she had just blurted out, he couldn't help chuckling, "Vine skin is too rough—how could it be made into clothing?"

Even if it could really be done, her skin is tender—where could she wear it?

Yun Li waved her hand, "Let's try first, but can you get some vine skin for me?"

Leng Xiu and the others, in order to ensure she could eat fresh meat, had not killed all the game they brought back; instead, they tied them together with vines and slaughtered whichever animal was about to die, then ate it.

But so much time has passed that, although there were originally more than ten animals at the cave entrance, only two remain; moreover, Leng Xiao had finished eating the game he had originally hunted and then taken Yun Li out to catch more.

Fortunately, Yun Li is only a Red Stage beastfolk now; otherwise, these two black-skinned pigs might not even be enough to feed her for two days.

"Of course we can; those vines were just left in the cave—don't move, I'll take those vines out and pull off some vine skin."

Upon hearing Leng Xiao's words, Yun Li waved her hand, telling him to hurry.

After the filter net is finished, she will then work on those vine skins.

Clothes made of lizard skin, snake skin, fox skin, and later spider-silk clothing—she had completely forgotten about this, until now feeling that she lacked everything; with Leng Xiao's reminder like that, Yun Li immediately recalled it.

"Just waiting for Leng Xiao to finish pulling off the vine skin, Yun Li felt that the vine skin was really dirty."

"Just soak them in water, wash them clean, then proceed."

Fortunately, there's enough water in the cave; otherwise, Leng Xiao would have to go fetch water from a river over ten li away again.

Thinking about the water issue, Yun Li felt another wave of headache.

Here, it's really not as convenient as in the Tribe; even though the limited range of activity is tolerable, problems with water, food, safety, etc., truly arise every few days needing resolution.

So sometimes when she watches ancient costume martial arts dramas, seeing the protagonists always shouting about wanting to wander the jianghu, bringing only a set of clothes and nothing else, even having to earn travel expenses on the road, Yun Li always has a puzzling question: how do they solve their food, drink, and lodging problems while traveling?

Clearly, when going out to play in modern times, many people have to stuff lots of things into their luggage and bring enough money just to leave the house.

Do those protagonists' so-called carefree wanderings of the jianghu really not get troubled by these real-world problems after just a few days out?

The conversation drifted off; while waiting for the vine skins to soak here, Leng Xiao, worried Yun Li would get hungry, started making food again.

After all, she really is pregnant.

Before, Yun Li might have still tried to take her own pulse to see if her pregnancy was real.

But as Leng Xiu's absence grew longer, she saw her belly suddenly bulge; sometimes when she touched her belly, she could even see one or two little bumps popping out.

Yun Li thus knew she was definitely pregnant and couldn't deny it.

And hearing Leng Xiao say that offspring in a female's belly are usually beast-shaped, so unless the parents' beast forms themselves are very large, a female's early pregnancy is generally invisible; some females become exaggeratedly pregnant later, only discovering they're carrying young when they're about to give birth.

However, that is usually quite dangerous; if, while doing other important tasks, she suddenly goes into labor, it would be perilous for both the female and the offspring.

Therefore, as soon as Leng Xiu noticed Yun Li's condition was abnormal, he would rather believe she was pregnant; they could bear a little injustice, but they couldn't treat Yun Li's safety as unimportant.

Skewer after skewer of grilled meat was brought to Yun Li's face; although she had initially felt not hungry, she suddenly had the urge to eat, shoving the meat into her mouth while eating, and at the same time directing Leng Xiao to grill some wild vegetables and prepare a stew.

After she felt full from eating, the remaining grilled meat was simply taken care of by Leng Xiao.

After feeling full from eating, the remaining Leng Xiao directly dealt with it.

Then those vine skins were also soaked about the same; after changing the water twice, Leng Xiao began tearing the vine skins, tearing them into finer strands, then picking them up and twisting two to three strands together.