Chapter 18: We Have Surplus Food at Home

The sound of meat being chopped came from the kitchen, water splashed and was poured into the iron pot, and a warm cooking scene appeared in the little courtyard.

Lin Manzhi relaxed, looked at the pile of Exotic Beast Meat in the courtyard, and made plans in her mind.

The household is currently short of food, so this batch of Exotic Beast Meat doesn't need to be sold; Lin Manzhi thought in her mind what methods there are for long‑term preservation of meat.

Salt curing? No, salt is really too expensive here; a small bag of salt could buy a kilogram of Exotic Beast Meat outright.

Low‑temperature storage is out of the question; her tribe is so water‑scarce that they can't keep an ice chamber from the frigid season into the scorching season like the polar bear lord.

Honey‑cured meat exists, but it's unavailable here as honey is a scarce resource that can't be bought.

Smoking requires low temperature, so the only option left is to make air‑dried meat?

Acting on the thought, Lin Manzhi removed her Headscarf and robe, lifted the long skirt at her ankles up to her waist and then to her knees, tightened the belt, and turned it into a short skirt.

Sigh, the city women's attire really isn't suitable for work.

After earning money tomorrow, she'll still need to prepare two sets of suitable clothes for herself and Mo Lie.

Lin Manzhi hefted a Small Exotic Beast meat into the kitchen, and upon seeing Mo Lie busy by the mud furnace, his figure looked especially warm and pleasant in the firelight and sunshine, full of homely life.

Mo Lie saw her, set down the Wooden Spoon in his hand, turned and took the Small Exotic Beast meat from her, and without a word placed it on the stone slab beside the mud furnace.

After placing it, he turned and asked, "Wife Master, tell me what you want to do, I'll do it."

Lin Manzhi shook her head, "I want to turn this Exotic Beast Meat into Meat Jerky and sun‑dry it in the courtyard. I'll slice the meat myself, you go tend the fire."

Seeing that the female really didn't want his help, Mo Lie nodded, turned back, glanced at the pot where the water hadn't boiled yet and would need a while, then sat on the beastskin blanket in front of the mud furnace.

He lowered his head, drew a crescent‑shaped dagger from his waist, and with his other hand picked up a long tree branch about as thick as a bowl rim; his slender fingers applied slight pressure and snapped it in two.

Keeping his head down, he chose the piece that was arm‑length, and with a serious expression began whittling the wooden stick.

Lin Manzhi stood at the stone slab, washed her hands, and fortunately only her fingertips were a little reddened, without broken skin.

She picked up the half‑moon knife on the stone slab used for cutting meat, and made a shallow cut on the Small Exotic Beast; Mo Lie had already removed its head and feet, flattening its body, resembling a modern crocodile.

She thought it would be best to cut the Exotic Beast meat into palm‑sized Meat Strips, and began working.

She cut along the grain; there were many bones, and the meat on both sides together could yield over forty jin of meat, piled on the slab, while a tattered skeleton lay on the other side.

Lin Manzhi tried to scrape the fresh meat cleaner, but after a while realized her knife work was poor, leaving a lot of meat on the bones.

She gave up; after all, she wasn't a professional butcher.

"Let's stew the remaining bones for soup…"

As she said that, Lin Manzhi, relaxed after finishing work, heard a rustling nearby, turned and saw Mo Lie's already‑shaped long knife, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"This is a dead branch I found in the desert, turned into a wooden knife for digging the ground for you."

Mo Lie's hands kept moving, never mentioning that he had originally intended to make a wooden hunting arrow from the branch; since Wife Master would definitely need it, he decided to craft a handy tool for her.

Lin Manzhi was startled.

A gift for me?

She didn't expect Mo Lie to be so thoughtful, noticing what she was doing today and the urgent need for digging work.

Lin Manzhi's lips curved, she set the knife down, and leaned in with interest to look at the wooden stick Mo Lie was whittling.

The wooden stick's color was as if struck by lightning, a bit charred black; the root looked very hard, suitable for making a wooden knife or similar weapons.

She hadn't expected that here, too, one would think of using charred wooden sticks as weapons.

The tribal market does have iron‑tool trade, but the prices are steep, plus an extra fee for Beastfolk blacksmithing, making them almost as costly as gold.

It was Lin Manzhi's first time seeing anyone do carpentry, and she stared at Mo Lie's movements.

The Beastfolk's strength was great; in less than two sentences, the thick wooden stick already took the shape of a dagger, and a pile of wood shavings fell.

She glanced to the side at the many dry roots, thought for a moment, then raised her hand toward Mo Lie, palm down, five slender fingers hooked downward, and said to Mo Lie:

"Can you make it as I described? I want a wooden rake like my fingers."

Lin Manzhi spread her hooked fingers apart, lifted her hand and pointed at the gap between them, continuing, "Make it so that each piece of wood is spaced a finger's width apart; when digging Sand‑tail Grass Stalks, the hollow width will be just a little larger than the main stalk."

In reality it's essentially a nine‑tooth rake; shaping it similarly would be far more useful for agriculture than the wooden knives here.

"Alright." Mo Lie slightly lifted his eyes, his gaze landing on Lin Manzhi, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes.

What a clever idea.

Mo Lie set the wooden knife aside to be sharpened later, picked up another tree branch, and began crafting according to Lin Manzhi's instructions.

When a small wooden rake took shape, Mo Lie could instantly see that the tool would be extremely useful, especially for the sandy soil here, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

Lin Manzhi went to the courtyard, returned, brought another Small Exotic Beast, and, as if remembering something, said to Mo Lie, "By the way, if possible could you make two of them? I want to give one to Xi Tao as thanks; she helped me a lot today."

Mo Lie nodded, "Sure."

By now, the meat Mo Lie had put in the pot had been cooking for a while; the kitchen was filled with the aroma of meat, and the two worked quietly amid the scent.

Lin Manzhi kept cutting Meat Strips; her hands weren't tired but the repetitive motion was a bit dull, so she thought of chatting while working, which would make it less tiring.

Without looking up, she said, "Later we'll buy some bundled hemp rope, stretch it into a line in the courtyard, and use it to hang the Meat Strips to sun‑dry into Meat Jerky."

Mo Lie: "Alright."

Lin Manzhi: "Also, the pile of Exotic Beast skins in the courtyard, we'll clean them, cut a few whole pieces, and stitch them into a carpet; once we have a carpet, we can place it in the little courtyard behind the kitchen or in the outer hall."

Mo Lie: "Mm."

He lifted his gaze, his eyes landing on the female beside him.

He previously disliked doing trivial things to please a female.

Because of that, when his abilities peaked and he was the continent's top Beastfolk, he avoided many females with high Pregnancy Value.