Yan Hua caught up to Su Bai, carrying two wild chickens. Her clear voice rang out:
"Let me handle these chickens and the rabbit. Anything we don't finish eating needs to be dried into jerky."
"No need. Just leave me one chicken," Su Bai said, stuffing the rabbit into her arms.
"You can take the rest."
"Give them to me?" Yan Hua froze.
"Yeah. It'd be great if you could bring me some seasonings," Su Bai added. He was genuinely starving.
"Seasonings? Alright, I'll go get some."
Yan Hua frowned slightly, glanced down at the chicken and rabbit in her hands, then turned and ran off quickly.
"Hey—" Su Bai watched her sprint away, opened his mouth, then sighed.
"I didn't even ask where the kitchen is… or where to get a knife."
With no other choice, he carried the chicken back to the tent. The sun had already sunk below the horizon, and the inside of the tent was dim and gloomy. He fumbled around in the dark, trying to find a knife.
"Let's light a fire first…"
After searching for a long while, night fully fell and the tent became pitch-black. Left with no choice, he gave up on finding a knife.
Lifting the tent flap, he saw campfires burning everywhere in the tribe. People bustled about, and the air was filled with the smell of roasting meat.
"I could've just borrowed fire and a knife from them," Su Bai muttered, slapping his forehead and shaking his head with a laugh.
"Looks like I really need to change my mindset and adapt to life here as soon as possible."
Back on Earth, he'd been used to living independently and rarely asking others for help. His thinking just hadn't caught up yet.
Su Bai walked over to a campfire and saw people busy at work—processing beasts with stone knives, some even tossing unplucked chickens straight into the fire to roast.
The scene hit him hard.
Wild.
Rough.
Direct.
Primitive life was being laid bare in the most visceral way.
"Is everything just roasted?" Su Bai scanned around. All he saw was roasting meat—no boiling, no stewing at all.
Just as he was about to step closer, the cow-horned girl—barely 1.6 meters tall—appeared, carrying a stone pot about the size of a washbasin in both arms.
"What's that?" Su Bai asked in surprise, amazed by her strength. He leaned over to peek inside—the cleaned chicken and rabbit lay quietly within.
"The stone pot belongs to the Shaman. He told me to bring it to you," Yan Hua said softly, pursing her lips.
"For me?" Su Bai was taken aback.
"The Shaman said you'd need it sooner or later. Giving it to you now makes no difference," Yan Hua replied, her expression dimming slightly.
"…Alright," Su Bai said, not refusing.
"You go back to the tent. I'll cook it and bring it to you," Yan Hua said brightly, carrying the stone pot toward the campfire.
"…."
Su Bai hesitated for a moment, then followed after her anyway, sitting beside the campfire and watching her work.
Yan Hua placed the stone pot over the fire, then ran off. Shortly after, she returned carrying a wooden bucket and poured some water into the pot.
And then—nothing.
She obediently sat by the fire, staring blankly at the stone pot in the flames, with no follow-up action at all.
"…Um, where are the seasonings?" Su Bai asked tentatively.
As a stay-at-home orphan novelist, he was good at cooking, cleaning—everything. Stewing chicken and rabbit was nothing new to him.
"Right here," Yan Hua said after glancing around. She carefully pulled out a finger-length wooden stick—more like a tiny wooden tube—from a pocket in her beast-skin skirt. It was plugged with a wooden stopper.
"What's that?" Su Bai asked curiously.
"Salt," Yan Hua whispered.
"Salt…" Su Bai immediately understood.
In a primitive society like this, salt was incredibly precious—nothing like on Earth, where you could grab a two-yuan bag at the supermarket anytime.
"You can take it," Yan Hua said reluctantly, handing it over, her red eyes sneaking a few glances at it.
"…This salt—it's yours, isn't it?" Su Bai frowned.
"There's no salt left in the tribe," Yan Hua said quietly.
"Totem Warriors can't go without salt. I can eat a little less for now—it's fine."
Su Bai, having researched plenty of materials as a novelist, knew how important salt was. In primitive times, people probably treated it as nothing more than seasoning, but it was far more than that.
He felt awkward accepting it—it was clearly something Yan Hua had saved up herself.
"Put it away," Su Bai said, pushing it back to her.
"We won't use salt today."
"You don't want it?" Yan Hua was stunned. Salt was something even Totem Warriors treasured.
"No," Su Bai shook his head. "Where did you get this salt from?"
"The hunting party traded for it with another tribe."
Clutching the wooden tube, Yan Hua explained,
"Every fifteen days, the Spotted Deer Tribe hosts a market. Tribes nearby can go there to trade goods."
"How long until the next market?" Su Bai's eyes lit up. Maybe he'd find something familiar there.
"Ten days," Yan Hua replied.
Gurgle, gurgle…
The water in the stone pot began to boil.
"Wild meat without seasoning… probably won't taste very good," Su Bai muttered, staring at the chicken and rabbit tumbling in the pot.
But his stomach was already rebelling—if he didn't eat soon, he might pass out from hunger.
"It should be ready to eat," Yan Hua said, pulling a palm-sized stone knife from her waist and stabbing straight toward the meat in the pot.
"Wait—let it simmer a bit longer!" Su Bai quickly stopped her. It had just started boiling!
"Isn't it done yet?" Yan Hua asked, confused.
"…Is this your first time cooking meat?" Su Bai had a bad feeling.
"Yeah. My mother always cooked before," Yan Hua said confidently.
"…."
Su Bai's lips twitched.
First time cooking meat—and this confident? Wasn't meat supposed to be precious?
"My mother cooked it like this. It shouldn't be wrong," Yan Hua pouted.
"Give it more time. The inside isn't cooked yet," Su Bai said in despair.
Why is eating a meal so hard…
With no seasonings and limited tools, even he was at a loss.
So the two chatted on and off as time passed. Over half an hour went by, during which Su Bai stopped Yan Hua seven times from fishing the meat out early.
"Alright. Now it's ready," Su Bai said, poking the meat with the stone knife. It broke apart easily.
"You eat first," Yan Hua said politely.
"Alright," Su Bai replied. He was starving.
He cut off a chicken leg with the stone knife, skewered it with a prepared wooden stick, handed the knife to Yan Hua, then sat down with the leg.
"Fff—"
He blew on it, then eagerly took a bite.
A faint gamey taste spread across his tongue, followed by the aroma of chicken and a natural sweetness.
"Well?" Yan Hua crouched beside him nervously, her red eyes fixed on the chicken leg.
"Is it good?"