Sa Lei saw that because he was not wearing the straw sandals he made so Qin Fei was rather unhappy about it. He put his arm around him and changed the subject, “Yesterday you said you were going to eat the livers and stuff of those two beasts. How are you going to do that? Reveal it a little to me!”
Qin Fei was reminded by Sa Lei, he hurriedly grabbed him and walked with him to the river, calling two more males on the way to retrieve all the slabs of rock that had been left to dry by the river. He found several females who were better in cooking and told them to watch carefully as he worked. After Qin Fei demonstrated with one slab, they did the rest. Several females were both nervous and excited as they gathered around Qin Fei to learn carefully.
Qin Fei took the cleaned livers of the two magical beasts and divided them into smaller parts, asking them to cut each of these parts into slightly thicker slices. The male then set up a stone slab on the fire and slowly heated it up, getting some of the oil from the oil fruit and sprinkling it evenly on the slab. When the oil on the slab was hot, some of the seasoned vegetables were put in, these included a spicy vegetable that resembled a round onion and some small leaves to remove the fishy smell and flavor.
Qin Fei stir-fried a few times with a bone spatula, added some of the sliced liver and then stir-fried it again. Only when the sliced liver was cooked did he add the seasoning and finally covered it with one of those large and fragrant leaves as he put off the fire under the stone slab, thus the dish was ready.
Qin Fei pointed to the stone slab covered with leaves and said, “This dish is called pan-fried liver on a stone slab, so in future you can do the same with the animal’s liver, so you don’t have to throw it away. Next, I’ll make you another dish—— stir-fried tongue strips.”
Qin Fei took the already peeled and clean washed beast’s tongue and divided it into several portions as well, cutting some of it into slices. He had someone bring in a bone pan made from the skull of a broken mountain beast, set it on the fire and put in some of the fruit oil before he poured in the beast’s tongue and stir-fried it quickly. Then as he explained, he also made the final sauce. The moment the sauce was ready, he poured it into the pan and stir-fried it quickly. This fragrant ‘stir-fried tongue strip’ was also ready to be served.
The few females watched and learned clearly and immediately began to cook it. Qin Fei, on the other hand, set aside two portions of the stir-fried dish for four people and served them in two large stone bowls. One portion was naturally left for him and Sa Lei while the other one was to be sent to Ruma and Xiao Bu.
Qin Fei and Sa Lei hid inside the tent, ignoring the noise outside as they ate all the food.
Sa Lei wiped his mouth, “How come everything you cook is so delicious? It makes me want to swallow my own tongue.”
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Qin Fei touched Sa Lei’s face and said softly, “Tell a lie and your nose will grow.”
Sa Lei rubbed his own nose and smiled fatuously as he said “Don’t tell me that, I’m really, really full.” This time he said it while feeling guilty in his heart.
Qin Fei smiled helplessly, got up and took a piece of marinated meat wrapped in leaves from a leather pocket hanging from the roof of the shed and handed it to Sa Lei, “Don’t expect me to care about you again until you’ve eaten this piece of meat.
Besides that, from tomorrow on, you are not allowed to bring less food and no leftovers.”
Sa Lei’s eyes were a little moist as Qin Fei’s concern gave him a taste of warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time, something that his people and companions could never give him. He took the meat from Qin Fei and ate it in small bites. Qin Fei leaned into Sa Lei’s arms, humming softly a tune that Sa Lei could not understand, which was particularly warm.
After eating the meat, the two of them were about to wash up and go to sleep when they heard the faint sound of a child crying outside the tent. Sa Lei was stunned, he got up to go out of the tent, followed by Qin Fei.
By the campfire, a boy of 12 or 13 years old was talking to Ruma. He was holding a crying baby in his arms.
Ruma saw that both Qin Fei and Sa Lei had come out, he sighed and gestured for them to come over. The boy looked at them with big and watery eyes, clearly asking for help.
Ruma pointed to the boy and said to Qin Fei, “This kid’s name is Cooper. His father was one of the tribe’s warriors but unfortunately he died last winter when he was attacked by a beast. His mother gave birth to his little brother, Chalo, around three months ago and she died soon afterwards. The two brothers are usually looked after by the two older females in the tribe.”
Qin Fei frowned and asked, “So what did Chalo eat these three months since he was so small?”
Ruma pointed to a female standing a short distance away, holding another small child, “That’s Yidasha, Torreja’s wife. Her baby is only eight months old, so she still has some milk, not much but barely enough. However, two days ago, Yidasha could no longer produce milk so the tribe had no milk to feed him. We had to make some broth for him, but the baby was too young to drink the broth, so he vomited and pooped. Today he didn’t drink anything but water.”
The tribe sighed at Ruma’s words, after all, children were the future and the hope of a tribe. However in the harsh conditions of life, females often die trying to give birth to children. Furthermore, after a female died and the child was too young, it was almost the same as a death sentence for the child.
Qin Fei and Sa Lei looked at each other with a smile on their faces. Sa Lei touched Cooper’s head and laughed, “Your Didi, little Chalo, is really lucky. We just got a brown furbearer with cubs today. Although it got killed by us, the milk pouch was left intact.”
Until he finished talking, he called them to fetch the milk, under Qin Fei’s direction, the milk was boiled in a large pot until it was no longer hot, and then it was brought over in a stone bowl. Qin Fei dripped some onto the back of his hand which was warm and not too hot. He brought it to the baby and fed it to him little by little.
The baby was so hungry that he drank it quickly, despite the fishy taste of the milk. In a flash, he had drunk half a stone bowl of milk and Qin Fei dared not give him any more. For one thing, the child had been hungry for a long time and could not eat too much. For another reason, his stomach and intestines were still sick and he could not eat too much. He handed the bowl to Sa Lei, and then let the baby lie on his shoulder, slowly patting the baby’s back with little effort. After a few milk creamy smell burps, he was brought back to his chest. The baby was already tired from crying and having had enough milk, he fell asleep after a short while.
Qin Fei instructed Cooper to come to him if Chalo still had diarrhea. If the baby got better, he should bring him to see him more often. He also asked the older females who looked after them and the females with little children from the tribe and explained the things they needed to do when they look after the children. The females listened very carefully to this.
Cooper took his little brother from Qin Fei’s arms, extremely grateful but also sad because he knew that the milk would only be available for a few more days at best.
Qin Fei patted Cooper’s thin shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your little brother gets milk every day from now on.”
Cooper’s eyes widened, “Really? You did not lie to me?”
Qin Fei smiled and touched his little nose briefly, “Definitely, I won’t lie to you.”
The baby stopped crying and everyone dispersed. Qin Fei and Sa Lei went back to the tent. Sa Lei asked Qin Fei what solution he could think of, but Qin Fei told him not to think about it and go to sleep. The two of them lay on the animal skin together and slowly Sa Lei began to snore slightly. Qin Fei carefully removed Sa Lei’s hand from his body and left the tent without taking the torch in the tent, holding the materials for making straw sandals out. By the light of the campfire, he began to make the second pair of straw sandals for Sa Lei.
Sa Lei slowly opened his eyes and through the gap in the tent, he could see the slim figure sitting in front of the fire, carefully knitting the straw sandals. Sa Lei wanted to hold Qin Fei tightly in his arms and never part with him again. However he couldn’t bear to make a sound and bring himself to disturb him. Just like that, looking at his side, red from the fire, as he felt the overflowing warmth in his heart.