Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Qi Bai carefully supported himself along the snow wall by the roadside. Suddenly, he heard a loud “thud” behind him, followed by cries of “Ow, ow!”

He looked in the direction of the sound and, after hesitating for only a second, climbed up the snow wall. He abandoned the main road—it was all ice and impossible to walk quickly on.

However, the snow wall beside the road wasn’t as sturdy as it used to be. When he stepped on it with his fur boots, his leg sank down almost to the calf.

What’s worse, walking on this kind of snow surface quickly soaked through his boots—from the thick straw soles to the fur wrapped around his legs. His feet and calves were freezing cold, and not even lying on a heated bed could warm them up.

This was why Qi Bai usually preferred to slowly slide along the icy road rather than walking on the snow wall.

But judging from that noise, the fall just now was probably a bad one. He didn’t have time to think about himself anymore—he needed to go check it out quickly.

The one who had fallen was Zhu Zhu. By the time Qi Bai got to him, running and scrambling, Zhu Zhu still hadn’t managed to get up.

Qi Bai jumped down from the snow wall and tried to help Zhu Zhu up, but the ground was slippery, and Zhu Zhu was in too much pain to use any strength. Qi Bai simply crouched down, grabbed both of Zhu Zhu’s arms, and with great effort, hoisted him up onto his back.

Qi Bai had originally been heading to the pickling room, and it looked like Zhu Zhu had been going the same way. But now, that had to wait. Qi Bai turned around to take him home and get him to rest.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhu grabbed Qi Bai’s shoulders, gritting his teeth and saying, “Don’t take me home. Take me to the priest’s house. I’ll rest there. If I get better, I’ll get back to work. If not, I’ll just stay and help churn goat milk.”

Qi Bai, who had been sweating from anxiety, was now amused. Alright then. The old folks in the tribe really had this figured out—every time someone fell, they just ran straight to Yang Luo’s house.

Carrying him on his back, Qi Bai didn’t dare walk too fast. Luckily, they ran into Niu Xi halfway.

Qi Bai led the way, and Niu Xi followed behind, supporting Zhu Zhu. The three of them staggered all the way to Yang Luo’s home.

Yang Luo’s place was as lively as a big gathering. The stove in the kitchen was blazing, and Ma Qian was stirring goat milk in a bamboo ladle. Once it was boiled, he would pour it into wooden buckets to be churned into butter in the inner room.

Why had the butter-churning spot moved to Yang Luo’s house? The reason was simple.

Yang Luo had been one of the first old beastfolk to fall. His house was also the biggest, so as more people got injured, they all ended up gathering there.

One, because Yang Luo was a priest and could check on injuries. Two, even if someone was hurt, they still needed to work. As long as their arms weren’t broken, they could sit and churn butter.

The cubs’ room was now officially used for making milk tofu. It had a small sitting room for fermenting milk and four stoves for boiling goat milk in rotation—much more convenient than other rooms.

When Ma Qian saw Zhu Zhu being carried in like that, he immediately set down his ladle. “Zhu Zhu, you fell too? Hurry inside.”

Lifting the fur curtain revealed the inner room, where the old beastfolk were sitting haphazardly on small stools, busy churning goat milk by hand.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to lie on the warm heated beds—who wouldn’t want to wrap themselves in fur blankets and sit on a cozy bed? But if they wanted to churn more butter, they had to stay off the beds.

This was something Lu Guo had discovered. Using the same amount of milk, some beastfolk produced more butter than others. When she compared the results side by side, the ones who yielded less butter were nearly in tears. It wasn’t for lack of effort—they were churning with all their might. Everyone could see how hard they worked.

After much discussion and no answers, they finally asked Qi Bai. He compared the conditions where each type of butter had been made and suspected it was due to temperature: when the room was too warm, the butter stayed dissolved in the milk and didn’t separate well.

The tribe tested it—and he was right. So now they churned milk on cooler surfaces. Since the room had heated walls, sitting on stools wasn’t too cold anyway.

Qi Bai stopped by the bed as Niu Xi and Ma Qian helped Zhu Zhu lie down. Qi Bai gently pressed and probed areas prone to injury. “If anything hurts badly, let me know.”

Zhu Zhu still had energy—squirming when ticklish, grimacing when sore. Judging by this reaction, he wasn’t seriously hurt.

Even so, he’d need to rest for a while.

An old horse tribe beastfolk on the floor noticed the snow melting off Qi Bai’s boots and quickly shouted toward the bed, “Make some room! Let Bao Bai warm his feet up. They’re soaked!”

The old beastfolk at the edge of the bed quickly scooted over.

Qi Bai rubbed the bridge of his nose and waved them off. “No need, I’m heading back out soon.”

Then he said to Yang Luo, “Grandpa Priest, this can’t go on. Everyone’s falling all over the place. A few delays in food production is minor, but if someone really gets hurt, that’s a big problem. Before anything worse happens, we need to clear the snow off the roads.”

Lately, plenty of elders had slipped, not just the old folks—young beastfolk and cubs too. But young ones could take a fall. They just got up, brushed off the snow, and carried on. Not so for the elders—just look at Zhu Zhu. He was one of the sturdiest, and even he could barely stand after falling.

Yang Luo nodded. “I can’t go out right now. You handle it.”

Qi Bai and Niu Xi left the house, just starting to think about who they could gather for snow-clearing duty when Niu Lu, who had been on sentry duty atop the wall, jumped down.

While running to the gate, Niu Lu shouted, “The team from the seaside is back!”

The village gate opened, and Qi Bai saw a group of dusty, worn-out beastfolk. One of the sleds was mostly empty, its baskets now tied to the beasts in their animal forms.

Ma Ling collapsed onto the ground and shifted into human form, brushing snow off his head. “On the way back, one of the sled beasts slipped and broke the sled.”

The sled had flipped, spilling the baskets. They’d lost time repacking everything.

That was secondary though—what was bizarre was the weather.

It had been snowing endlessly, like winter would last thirteen months of the year. But suddenly, the temperature shot up at noon, no gradual shift—just an abrupt spike.

And no, that wasn’t a good thing.

Melted snow during the day froze into ice by night. Walking on it—whether in human or beast form—was dangerous.

And no, just because the snow melted didn’t mean it was warmer.

Anyone who lived in the north knew: thawing weather felt colder than snowfall.

Though the melting seemed like warmth, snow turning to water and steam absorbed heat—making everything feel chillier.

There wasn’t much Qi Bai could do about the strange weather, so instead he asked Ma Ling how the trip went.

The seaside team had only rested two days after the last trip before heading out again. Aside from breaking a sled, everything had gone smoothly.

Ma Ling excitedly said, “Bao Bai! That milk tofu you made—just eating a little keeps us full for so long!”

Qi Bai laughed. “You guys ate it raw? That can’t be tasty.”

Before leaving, he had given each team member two pieces of milk tofu. Once cooled, it was hard and heavy like bricks. Thankfully, beastfolk had strong teeth.

Xiang Yu added, “Tasty or not, who cares? Before we came to Black Mountain, some beastfolk had even better food. But I bet even the chiefs of the big tribes never had food made from this much goat milk.”

That was true. They hadn’t seen the higher-tier cities yet, but judging by what was traded at Xushan, none of the big tribes domesticated livestock. These dairy products might be unique on the entire beastfolk continent.

They parked the sleds outside the pickling house, and Diao Lan’s team immediately took over handling the seafood. They’d processed seaweed before, so they were efficient now.

The returning beastfolk didn’t have to help with any of that. They went straight home to heat their beds and finally sleep warm again.

But that sleep only lasted two or three hours.

Shē Lí heard the seaside team was back and went home to cook something nice for Ma Ling. But just as the food was ready, Ma Ling got out of bed.

Shē Lí asked, “Why’re you up? Sleep a bit longer.”

Ma Ling hugged the cub on Shē Lí’s back and rubbed the little face with his chin, doting on it for a while before saying, “Bao Bai said ice is thinnest at noon. I want to use that time to shovel the tribe’s snow.”

Shē Lí nodded. “This snow is a real pain. Step in the wrong spot at noon and you’re standing in a black slush puddle.”

Ma Ling shook his head. “We made two fast trips to the sea because sleds move well on snow. When the snow’s gone, we’ll have to use carts again—it won’t be so easy.”

Shē Lí tilted his head and thought. “Well, I don’t want that kind of ‘easy.’ I’d rather have wild greens and fruits growing in the mountains.”

For paired beastfolk like Ma Ling, there was hot food waiting when they woke. Other beastfolk, especially adolescent cubs, didn’t have it so good.

At high noon, Ma Ling went door to door waking the still-groggy beastfolk.

The Black Mountain tribe’s gates stood open. Two large snowplow sleds were pulled out. Several beastfolk in animal form pushed the snow away load by load.

Those without sleds used wooden or stone shovels to scoop chunks of grey ice onto carts, then hauled it outside and dumped it on the hillside.

Not long after, Qi Bai and Hu Xue emerged carrying steaming wooden buckets.

The young beastfolk’s eyes lit up. They were in their ravenous growth stage. After returning to the tribe, they’d only had a nap, and now they were starving from shoveling snow.

“Brother Bao Bai, is this for us?”

Qi Bai lifted the lid: “Yes, come get some hot soup.”

It wasn’t much of a bonus meal.

Everyone in the tribe had to work, and everyone was exhausted. Daily extra meals weren’t sustainable with their current food supply.

But Qi Bai could make the call to simmer some broth. Though it only had bits of meat, it was better than nothing—no one complained.

Next to him, Hu Xue also opened a bucket. His held skimmed goat milk left over after butter churning. It didn’t have much flavor—meant to be drunk like water.

With so much skim milk each day, Qi Bai figured no one in the tribe would be calcium-deficient after this winter.

Niu Xin cradled a bamboo bowl, sneaking glances at Qi Bai. His frostbite from falling into the ice hole had long since healed, and today he was out working too.

Ma Ling, seeing Niu Xin act all shy, strode forward and nudged him aside. “My turn!”

No way was he letting other beastfolk, especially someone like Niu Xin who had confessed to Qi Bai during the mating season, get too close.

Hu Xue watched the rowdy group of beastfolk and shook his head. “If it weren’t for snow-clearing, I wouldn’t even have known there was this much snow in the tribe.”

Nearly fifty beastfolk had been pushing snow all day, and they’d only managed to clear the main central road.

Qi Bai nodded. After such a long winter, everyone had gotten used to the snow. But on closer inspection, the snow piled beside each house was nearly half as tall as the buildings themselves.

Qi Bai looked up at the sky, then said, “It’s not just the roads. We need to clear the snow piled around the houses too.”