Just as Sam was about to sort through the hides, he realized he hadn't made any cabinets yet.
He scratched his head, picked out a few hides to spread over his stone bed, and stuffed the rest back into the bag. Then he rubbed his hands together eagerly—it was time.
Time to buy sweet potatoes and potatoes from the mall. As for explaining where he got them? Easy—he'd just say he found them while foraging once he was allowed to head out on his own. Though he doubted he could fool Xuan.
Oh well—spring was still in full swing; there was plenty of time to get them planted.
He pulled up the mall interface, found the sweet potato and potato listings, and hit purchase in one smooth move.
The misty energy in his storage space vanished in a flash, like it had been sucked away by a vacuum.
The next second, Sam was buried under a mountain of sweet potatoes and potatoes.
> Purchase successful: 100 catties of sweet potatoes, 100 catties of potatoes.
At the system's notification, Sam scrambled out of the pile, brushing dirt off his clothes. With a thought, the mountain of produce disappeared instantly, reappearing neatly separated into two piles inside his warehouse.
The house was still pretty bare, so it didn't take long for him to finish organizing.
He grabbed his stone knife and headed to the fenced-off plot of land he'd set aside for planting. After a quick mental layout of the area, he squatted down in a corner less than thirty feet from the house.
He glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then pulled out the blood-nourishing grass and blackthorn grass he'd collected on their nightly scavenger hunts.
He'd dug up the roots along with clumps of soil specifically because he'd planned to plant them later, and he'd stored them in the time-stopped warehouse to keep them fresh.
He didn't try to hide what he was doing from Xuan—who watched him dig up the grass, hold it in his hands, and then make it vanish into thin air.
Xuan didn't ask a single question. He just said calmly, "We haven't been able to find any blood-nourishing grass around here. Want me to bring you some with the roots still attached next time I go hunting?"
Sam used his stone knife to dig a hole, checked the depth with his hand, then carefully placed a clump of hemostatic grass inside and covered it with dirt. He repeated the process until all the hemostatic grass was planted.
For the blackthorn grass, he chose a spot far away in the corner of the plot. He wasn't sure if planting two herbs with such drastically different properties next to each other would cause any issues.
All that was left was the blood-nourishing grass. It was way rarer than the hemostatic grass—though Xuan had offered to bring him some with roots, Sam secretly hoped Xuan would just take him along to gather it himself. After all, the warehouse's time-freezing function was perfect for preserving the herbs' vitality once they were out of the ground.
With the herbs planted, Sam left the herb section and moved to the area he'd designated for crops.
He pulled ten catties each of sweet potatoes and potatoes from the warehouse, sliced them into chunks with his stone knife—making sure each piece had at least one eye—then planted them in separate rows.
Once he was done, he stood up and brushed off his hands, glancing over at Xuan's house. He hesitated for a second, wondering if Xuan had finished unpacking yet.
He didn't have to wonder long—Xuan stepped out of his house and started walking toward him.
Guess that settles it.
"Xuan! C'mere, quick! Ronglin dropped off a huge fanged beast—I have no idea how to handle it by myself!" Sam waved him over excitedly.
"Ronglin brought it? Is Luo fully recovered already?" Xuan walked over, leaning down to sniff the beast on the ground.
"Yep! She said he caught it himself—he'll be back with the hunting team in a few days."
"That's good to hear." Xuan stood beside Sam, nodding at the beast. "Want me to help you butcher it?"
"Please! I'd be totally lost without you. And once it's ready, I'll grill some meat for us—invite Lie and Mu over too!"
Remembering that the beastmen ate roasted meat almost every day, Sam added quickly, "It's gonna be a *different* kind of roast—nothing like the usual stuff! You gotta make sure to bring Lie and Mu, okay?"
"Why do we need to invite Lie and Mu?" Xuan frowned, a flicker of unnameable irritation crossing his face. He quickly smoothed his expression over and looked at Sam.
"Because they helped so much with building the house! I owe them a proper thank-you dinner." Sam gave him a confused look. Xuan didn't seem like the type to get petty about something like this.
"But I already gave them some of the beasts I caught as a thank-you," Xuan pointed out.
"Sure—but *that's* your thank-you. This is *mine*!" Sam grinned. "I can't just mooch off your gifts to repay my own debts—that'd be totally shameless."
"Let's do it tomorrow night, then," Xuan said after a moment. "I'll go out gathering tomorrow and bring back some bamboo shoots too. Once I marinate the meat, don't forget to take a portion back to Papa."
"We're saving some for Father and Papa too?" Xuan's eyes widened a little.
"Of course we are! They took such good care of me these past few days—I *have* to thank them properly."
"We already think of you as family. You don't have to go through all this trouble," Xuan mumbled, his voice tinged with obvious disappointment.
Sam picked up on his mood right away and hurried to explain, "I think of you guys as family too! That's exactly why it's normal to bring food to your family, right?"
"Yeah—you're right." The disappointment in Xuan's voice faded a little. He turned around and got to work on the fanged beast.
Xuan moved quickly and efficiently—his beast claws, even in his human form, were sharper than any blade. Before long, the beast was cut up into neat, cookable pieces.
Sam fetched a few leaves bigger than he was and spread them out on the ground. Xuan laid the butchered meat on top, waiting for Sam's next instruction.
Sam grabbed the salt rocks Ronglin had given him from the house, crushed them into a fine powder, and rubbed it evenly all over the meat. He had Xuan slice a few gashes into the thicker pieces to let the salt soak in better.
By the time they finished, the sun was dipping low in the sky, painting the horizon in warm hues of orange and purple. Sam sliced off a few chunks of the marinated meat—Xuan sliced them into smaller pieces and roasted them over an open fire.
"This is *so* much better than plain roasted meat," Sam said, savoring the salty, juicy flavor on his tongue.
"This is *different*," Xuan stared at the piece of meat in his hand, genuinely surprised.
"This is just a quick test run," Sam said, savoring the familiar flavor of seasoned roasted meat—it had been way too long. "Tomorrow I'll take my time with it, and it'll taste even better. If only we could find some more spices to use…" Chili peppers and cumin would be *perfect* right now.
"Can you bring me some more wood tomorrow?" Sam asked suddenly. "I wanna build a cabinet and some shelves for storage. Oh—and I might end up messing around with a lot of weird stuff later on." He hesitated for a second before adding that last part.
"I know," Xuan said without hesitation. "Whatever you need—just tell me. I'll figure it out. Don't worry about it."
He understood exactly what Sam meant. He knew Sam had a lot of secrets, a lot of things that made him different. But he didn't press for answers.
Maybe one day, Sam would be willing to tell him everything.
Xuan found himself hoping that day would come soon.
The next morning, Qiuye showed up at Sam's house bright and early—they'd agreed that starting today, Sam would join the sub-beastmen on their gathering trips.
Sub-beastmen didn't have to go out gathering every single day; each one could choose to participate once every three days. Qiuye, as the clan leader's mate, volunteered to go out every day, but he could also opt to handle other tasks if something came up.
"Yuqing! Wake up! We're going gathering today!" Qiuye's voice called from outside.
Sam had already woken up, washed up, and gotten ready before Qiuye arrived—he'd even checked in with the system beforehand. At the sound of Qiuye's voice, he slung his woven bag over his shoulder and opened the door.
"Morning, Qiuye! Are we heading out right now?"
"Yep—hurry up! We're almost late for the meeting spot." Qiuye slung his own hide bag over his shoulder, grabbed Sam's arm, and tugged him along toward the village square.
Along the way, several other sub-beastmen emerged from their homes. Some nodded at Sam in greeting; others just smiled and waved before hurrying off, looking busy.
"They're not going gathering today," Qiuye explained to Sam. "They've got chores to take care of back home."
When they reached the meeting spot, Sam spotted over thirty sub-beastmen waiting in the clearing from a distance. Standing beside them were four adult beastmen—today was their turn to guard the gathering party in the patrol zone.
To Sam's surprise, Lie and Mu were there too. They were two years younger than Xuan, only sixteen, not yet fully grown. But this was the freest age for young beastmen—after two years of hands-on combat training with the adults, they had strength nearly on par with full-grown beastmen, but without the heavy responsibilities that came with adulthood. As long as they finished their mandatory combat missions, no one bothered to micromanage what they did with the rest of their time.
"Lie! Mu! What are you two doing here?" Qiuye asked, sounding curious. Young beastmen their age were usually impossible to pin down—they'd vanish the second they finished their training.
"Xuan told us Yuqing's treating us to a meal today!" Mu said, bouncing on his heels, as energetic as ever. Lie just nodded, agreeing with him wordlessly.
"You're treating them to a meal?" Qiuye turned to Sam, his eyes widening in confusion.
"Yep! They helped so much with building the house. Yesterday, Ronglin dropped off a huge Fanged Beast, so I figured I'd cook it up as a thank-you dinner. Xuan helped me butcher it yesterday too. I saved a portion for you and the clan leader—Xuan'll bring it over later."
"You don't have to do that! We've got plenty of food at home—you keep it for yourself," Qiuye said quickly, waving his hands to refuse.
"It's specially marinated meat! Xuan tried some yesterday, and he said it was delicious. You guys have to taste it too—if you like it, I'll teach you how to make it!"
"Marinated meat? What's that? Can I learn how to make it too?"
A young sub-beastman from the group had overheard their conversation and wandered over, his eyes shining with curiosity. He recognized Sam—knew he was the sub-beastman who'd discovered life-saving medicinal herbs, a *very* impressive person. Now he was hearing about something else he'd never heard of before, and he was dying to learn how to make it."Ruya! Get back here!" An older sub-beastman called out sharply, scolding the young boy. He turned to Sam, his voice full of apology. "I'm so sorry—Ruya's still young and doesn't know any better. He didn't mean to eavesdrop. He's just curious, that's all—he wasn't trying to steal your secrets."The older sub-beastman bore a faint resemblance to Ruya—they must be related by blood.
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