Chapter 66: Honey Candied Hawthorn

After lunch, the tribal gathering officially began. Zhang Fan learned from Fei Er that in the days before the gathering there were many fun and interesting things for sale. So, after lunch, he dragged Ba Ke Er along to go shopping. Of course, Fei Er and Mo De also came out. The other members of the Heaven Lion Tribe who came out with them either chose to set up stalls or to take a nap, and of course some also chose to go shopping just like them. However, because everyone had different goals, they didn't go together; instead, each headed toward their own destination.

Zhang Fan and Fei Er walked in the middle, with Ba Ke Er and Mo De on their left and right. The four walked side by side to the central square where the Tiger Tribe held the gathering. Although it was already afternoon, the sun was still strong, yet the people's enthusiasm showed no sign of waning. The entire square was packed with people, very lively. Because the Tiger Tribe had assigned each tribe a fixed stall location, each tribe's members set up their stalls together.

At that moment, Zhang Fan and his three companions happened to arrive at the Bear Tribe's stall. Every Bear Tribe stall had honey stored in either pottery jars or bamboo tubes. Since the Bear Tribe themselves could not make pottery, their jars were obtained in exchange from the Heaven Lion Tribe. Because the quantity was limited, most of the honey was in bamboo tubes, with only a few of the larger stalls having honey in pottery jars.

When they came out, they happened to have brought a few pottery jars that could be used to hold honey. So they used shell money to buy some good-quality honey in bamboo tubes, and additionally ordered a few jars of honey to pick up the next day. After wandering around a few more times and finding nothing particularly novel, Zhang Fan bought some small fruits from a few fruit stalls. Fei Er and the others were originally puzzled, wondering why he didn't buy the big fruits and insisted on the small ones, but Zhang Fan laughed and said:

"This, I'll keep it a secret for now; you'll find out when we get back!" Having said that, he picked up the fruit and walked ahead. The others, eager to solve the mystery, followed him.

After returning to the camp, Zhang Fan had Ba Ke Er pour all the honey into the pottery jars. Then he told Fei Er to wash the fruit, and had Mo De pick out the reddest-looking fruit from the ones Fei Er had washed. After that, he placed the fruit in a large bowl and used a stone pestle to crush it into juice. Finally, he had everyone skewer the washed fruit with bamboo sticks. Meanwhile, he himself began to set the honey jars over the fire to boil into syrup.

After Mo De had finished pounding the juice, Zhang Fan poured the juice into the honey jars, mixed it with the honey, and stirred until the golden honey turned into red syrup, at which point he extinguished the fire. He then took the fruit skewers that everyone had prepared, began to coat them with syrup, and placed the finished candied hawthorn skewers on the stone slab that Ba Ke Er had found.

Seeing Zhang Fan finish coating one skewer, Fei Er could not sit still and also began to vie for a turn to coat the skewers. Zhang Fan made a little space, and then the two of them started coating the fruit skewers together. Ba Ke Er and Mo De, the two male beastmen, seeing Zhang Fan and Fei Er having so much fun, did not disturb them; they sat aside and watched quietly. They thought, after all, there aren't many fruit skewers, and it won't tire out their dear ones.

Zhang Fan and Fei Er quickly finished coating all the fruit skewers and placed them on the stone slab to set. Zhang Fan counted them and found there were exactly twenty.

Once the syrup had hardened, Zhang Fan took out a thin, slender bone knife and carefully pried the candied hawthorn off the stone slab. After removing one skewer, he handed it to Fei Er, who had already been drooling all over the ground. Fei Er took a bite, mumbled that it was delicious, and then kept his head down.

After Zhang Fan had removed all the candied hawthorn, he finally took one skewer and began to eat. One bite, the sweet-and-sour taste actually seemed better than authentic candied hawthorn. He wasn't sure if it was a psychological effect, after all, whether the honey or the fruit, all the ingredients were pure and natural, with no additives.

Ba Ke Er and Mo De, seeing the two females enjoying themselves so much, could not resist; each took a skewer and began to eat. The sweet-and-sour flavor instantly won over the taste buds of the two males who normally did not like sweet foods.

In this way, everyone agreed to make candied hawthorn the product to sell at their stall the next day.