TVFW 19

Chapter – 19

 Does the Female Master Want to Come In?

Jiang Xi met those amber-colored eyes filled with gentle amusement and froze for two seconds.

Humble?
Had he said something just now?

Said she was amazing? That the food she made was delicious?

Well, of course it was!

She wasn’t being modest at all!

Jiang Xi smiled happily.
“If you like it, eat more!”

“As long as I can find the ingredients, I can make plenty of other delicious things too.”

Before Lu Liufeng could respond, Mu Ling suddenly lifted his head. His gray-blue wolf eyes sparkled, and the wolf ears hidden in his hair stood straight up.

“What ingredients does the female master need? I’ll go find them.”

Jiang Xi: “……”

A perfectly cool guy, acting suspiciously dog-like.

But even if she told them, they might not be able to find the ingredients anyway. The names were different, and some of them were even lumped together as weeds or random plants.

“Take it slowly. Even if I told you, you might not find them.”

Mu Ling was just about to say how could that be possible when Lu Liufeng spoke up to explain for him.

“She calls taro ‘purple hemp.’ If she told you taro, would you be able to find it?”

Mu Ling scratched his head awkwardly.

To cover up his embarrassment, he took a big bite of ribs—bone and all—and crunched down loudly.

Jiang Xi watched him devour even the bones like a starving ghost.

She shook her head inwardly.

What kind of lives had they lived before?

After dinner,

Lu Liufeng went to the river to wash the pots and bowls.

Mu Ling ground the roasted shells into powder.

Jiang Xi, meanwhile, rendered lard and prepared lye water.

While rendering the lard, before adding salt, she poured out a small stone pot of pure lard with nothing added, saving it to make soap the next day.

Soap-making mainly required fat, quicklime, and lye water.

The fat would be pork lard.
The quicklime came from shells roasted until carbonized and ground into powder.
The lye water was made by boiling wood ash in water.

As long as wood ash and water were mixed in a 3:7 ratio and simmered while stirring for twenty to thirty minutes, then left to settle overnight, the lye water would be ready to use.

Once conditions improved, she could even look for other fats to make scented soap.

Pure lard soap was usable, but too hard. Adding some plant oils would make it more moisturizing.

Given the vegetation coverage of this world, plant oils shouldn’t be hard to obtain. She could even extract floral essential oils to add, helping with skin care.

Thinking about the future, Jiang Xi felt bright and hopeful.

After Mu Ling finished grinding the carbonized shells, Jiang Xi had him roast chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon bark, bay leaves, and tsaoko.

Half were pounded into powder; the other half were stored whole.

This way, they could be used directly to mix with dishes or flour, or added during cooking.

Mu Ling was choked by the chilies and sneezed repeatedly, his wolf eyes turning red.

Even so, he didn’t stop working.

If this were before, he would have thought the female master was deliberately tormenting him and would have either refused to work or done it carelessly.

But now, he believed it—
All of this was for delicious food!

Jiang Xi stood some distance away. Aside from being choked at the beginning, she soon felt fine.

She said, “Go get a piece of animal hide and cover your mouth and nose.”

Mu Ling’s red wolf eyes swept toward her, making Jiang Xi jump slightly.

And then he said, “I’m fine.”

Jiang Xi didn’t know what to say anymore.

She could only respond, “Then open the door and let some air through.”

Instinctively, Mu Ling didn’t want to open the door.

He was worried that if the smell spread, a group of beastmen would sneak over. There was still pork head meat simmering in the pot— the female master said they would eat it tomorrow.

If some shameless beastmen saw it…

The female master was so soft-hearted. She’d already given the chief so much food this afternoon…

In his thoughts, he had completely forgotten the idea of the vicious female master.

While Mu Ling hesitated, Lu Liufeng returned after washing the dishes.

The moment he opened the door, he sneezed several times in a row.

“Achoo! Achoo!”

His whole body shook so hard that the bowls and chopsticks in his hands clattered loudly.

Jiang Xi looked over and couldn’t help laughing.

“Bear with it for a bit. If these seasonings aren’t dried properly, they’re hard to preserve.”

In winter, the sun wasn’t strong, and with snow reflection and humidity, air-drying was almost impossible. Roasting was the only option.

Seeing that Lu Liufeng had washed the temporary chopsticks and spatula they’d made that evening, she asked again,

“Are you free tomorrow?”

Lu Liufeng and Mu Ling nodded at the same time, both of them looking expectant—hoping there would be more good food.

“Is there a bamboo forest nearby? Let’s cut some bamboo and make bowls, chopsticks, tables, and chairs.”

In this cold season, the roads were slippery. Cutting trees wasn’t convenient, and even if they were brought back, making furniture would be difficult.

Those more complex things could wait until spring.

Lu Liufeng nodded, though he didn’t quite understand.

“There is a bamboo forest, but tables and chairs are…?”

He knew chopsticks were two wooden sticks. They weren’t as convenient as spoons, but some dishes were easier to pick up with chopsticks.

Jiang Xi pointed at the grass mats on the floor.

“It’s just raising the function of the mats. That way, we won’t have to bend over all the time to pick things up. Sitting down and standing up will also be easier.”

Mu Ling looked enlightened.

“Isn’t that a stone platform?”

“The quarry is too far away, and the nomadic beast tribes from the Giant Wood Forest don’t bring heavy things like that. So everyone can only use grass mats like the rest of the tribe.”

They were all exiles from the Holy City to the Cursed Land and had naturally lived good lives before.

At first, they couldn’t adapt to the primitive life of Lion’s Roar Tribe either. But as time passed, improving comfort required too high a cost. Just eating enough was already difficult—comfort was a luxury.

Jiang Xi vaguely recalled life in the Holy City.

She remembered it being a massive stone city, with houses built of stone, and tables and chairs also carved from stone.

But beyond that, she couldn’t remember much.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she felt that the memories belonging to “Jiang Xi” were becoming fewer and fewer.

Unlike the first day she transmigrated, when dense information flooded her mind.

Now, if she didn’t deliberately try to recall things, the memories wouldn’t surface on their own.

Jiang Xi didn’t dwell on it. She shared her ideas with them and agreed to go cut bamboo the next day.

That night, snow fell again, and the wind picked up.

The wooden house wasn’t well sealed. Even with animal hides blocking the drafts, the cold wind still slipped through every gap.

Jiang Xi wrapped herself tightly in animal hides but still couldn’t fall asleep.

In the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and decided to sleep by the fire pit in the fire room.

She got up in the dark, rubbing her hands, pushed open the door, and headed toward the fire room.

But just as she reached the doorway, she sensed something was wrong.

There were faint rustling sounds coming from inside.

Her eyes widened instantly.

A thief?!

Without thinking, Jiang Xi turned around and rushed to knock on Lu Liufeng’s door.

Lu Liufeng opened it quickly.

He was draped in animal hides, his hair slightly messy. Under the blood-red moonlight reflected off the snow, his pale skin was tinged with warmth, glowing softly.

Seeing the female master standing at his door, his heart tightened for no apparent reason.

After taking a deep breath, Lu Liufeng still spoke.

“Fe-Female master… would you like to come in?”