Chen Xiuyuan did not take the piece of meat right away.
First, he wiped both hands dry on the hem of his clothes, then pressed a finger against the thick bundle of sinew.
Hard, taut, and covered in a slippery membrane. With the strength in his hands, if he lifted it and cut as he had before, he probably would not even be able to hold on to the end of the sinew.
"What beast is this from?"
"An Ironback Ox," Shi Lei said. "Small as this piece looks, this leg does all the work when it runs. Once the main sinew inside is stripped clean and dried, it can even be used to repair a bow."
Chen Xiuyuan glanced at the bow on his back.
Its limbs were thick and heavy, and the string wound around a string nock fashioned from beast horn. If Shi Lei had brought this over specifically to find someone to strip it, ruining it would probably be hard to answer for.
"I can't promise the whole thing. I'll open up one side first. If I can do it, I'll keep going."
Shi Yuan was carrying a basin of stripped bones outside. Hearing this, he cleared the odds and ends off the workbench as he passed.
"Don't chop good meat to pieces. If you really can't separate it, leave it. I'll handle it tonight."
People gradually gathered outside the shed, all there to collect meat and bones. Some held wooden tokens, others carried basins, and one woman led a child by the hand, two lengths of hemp rope wound around her wrist.
"Is Elder Shi's share still recorded in the same place?" the woman asked.
Shi Yuan nodded.
"Still the same amount?"
"The work at the medicine shed has already been counted."
The woman glanced toward Chen Xiuyuan and lowered her voice. "With another mouth in his house, is it enough? Just yesterday, I heard the old man's legs were hurting."
Chen Xiuyuan's knife hand paused.
Shi Yuan tipped the bones into her basin, picked out a piece with exposed marrow for the child, and returned to find Chen Xiuyuan looking at the wooden board on the wall.
Rows of short lines were carved into the board, with many tokens hanging beside it.
"Is that the food ledger?" Chen Xiuyuan asked.
"Mm. Hunting, guarding the gate, gathering herbs, dressing beasts-each earns a share. Families with injured people or little children are recorded separately too."
"Does what I've done today count?"
Shi Yuan did not answer immediately. He walked behind Chen Xiuyuan, turned over the two empty baskets, then looked at the basins of sorted meat.
Chen Xiuyuan added, "Count the pieces I ruined this morning against it too. How much food can the rest cover?"
Shi Yuan wiped the bloody water from between his fingers.
"This was work to begin with. I didn't explain it clearly when you came. I was afraid you'd hurt yourself and wouldn't last half an hour sitting here."
He took a blank wooden token down from the wall.
"How do you carve your name?"
"Let me."
Shi Yuan handed him the wooden token. Chen Xiuyuan borrowed his little marking awl and slowly scratched his name into it. The tip was awkward to use, and the last stroke of "Yuan" came out a little crooked.
Shi Yuan could not read all of it, so he added a small knife-shaped mark beside the name.
"This is how we record temporary residents for now. What you sorted this morning is enough to claim one share. If you go work somewhere else later, take this token so they can record it."
The little piece of wood felt rough in his hand, with splinters along its edges.
Chen Xiuyuan pinched off the splinters and tucked it inside his clothes.
"Is there more work this afternoon?"
Shi Yuan tipped his chin toward the chopping board.
"Finish what's in front of you first."
Shi Lei grinned and pushed the Ironback Ox leg meat back in front of him.
"Did you hear that? Don't cut through my bow sinew."
Chen Xiuyuan curled his fingers, testing the hand he had rested for a while.
He did not start at the thickest part. Instead, he turned the meat over and found the thin end of the sinew. The membrane wrapped it tightly and would not lift, so he picked at it bit by bit with the knife tip, raising an edge he could pinch before cutting down along the exposed line.
He had only cut half a palm's length when the meat slipped.
Shi Lei reached over and held it down.
"You cut. I'll hold it."
His palm clamped firmly over the other end, a full foot from the blade.
Chen Xiuyuan cut down another two inches, then suddenly drew back his knife.
The sinew branched in two inside. Following the left branch would take less effort, but the right was wrapped in a darkened sheet of thin meat. Pulling hard would tear the whole sheet apart.
He moved the knife to the other side, peeled open a little of the difficult section to make room, then returned to the left.
The membrane stretched taut, and the blade passed through inch by inch.
At first, Shi Lei watched with his head lowered. Later, he simply moved his hand as Chen Xiuyuan directed: left, loosen a little, then farther down.
Neither spoke idly again.
By the time he reached the thickest section in the middle, sweat had appeared on Chen Xiuyuan's forehead. The knife handle had grown sticky against his palm, and his wrist was growing heavy too. He stopped, set the knife down securely, and washed his hands by the water bucket before returning to continue.
Thinking he wanted someone to take over, Shi Lei had already made room.
Chen Xiuyuan waved a hand.
"I'm not done. I've found the path through here. I just need to catch my breath."
When he gripped the knife again, the routes of the sinew he had just worked out were still perfectly clear.
He knew where to leave a little meat and where he could cut close against the sinew. It took no less effort, but the meat before him was no longer a tangled mass he had no idea how to tackle.
The final membrane parted, and the entire ox sinew lifted free of the meat.
Two thin branches still joined its end, intact and without a cut.
Chen Xiuyuan put down the knife and waited for Shi Lei to inspect the two junctions that had been hardest to strip. The sheath around them remained whole; he had not cut it away in his haste to save effort.
Shi Lei held both ends and stretched it, then suddenly laughed.
"Good! A few days of drying, and it'll be just right for mending my old string."
As he spoke, he reached out to clap Chen Xiuyuan on the shoulder. Seeing the scrape there, he withdrew his hand and knocked on the chopping board instead.
"Next time I bring down some good meat, I'll come to you again."
Chen Xiuyuan shook out his aching hand.
"Just don't bring half an ox at once."
Shi Lei laughed even louder.
As the sun slanted westward, Chen Xiuyuan washed Shi Yuan's narrow knife, wiped it dry, and returned it to its place. The scraps on the chopping board went into a basin too, while the thin sinews that could be kept for twisting into cord hung separately to one side.
Shi Yuan checked everything, then added another short notch to the back of the wooden token.
His portion of meat was wrapped in broad leaves. It was not much, but it was more substantial than the few pieces in his bowl last night. Besides that, there was a section of leg bone for making soup.
"This is for today. If you come again tomorrow, it'll be recorded according to the work you do."
Chen Xiuyuan reached out and took it. The leaves wrapped around the meat weighed heavily against his palm.
"I'll come."
Passing the medicine shed, he went inside to collect Elder Shi's medicine pouch as well. His old injuries had not healed, and he walked slowly carrying his things. When he reached the house, the old man was already sitting by the threshold, waiting for him.
"Worn yourself out?"
"My hands are a little sore."
"It's your first day. Do a little less."
Chen Xiuyuan placed the meat beside the stove, unfolded the leaves, then cut off half and put it into Elder Shi's bowl.
The old man looked at the piece of meat.
"Did Shi Yuan give you extra?"
Chen Xiuyuan took out the wooden token and placed it before him.
There was one more short notch on its back.
"They counted my work," Chen Xiuyuan said. "You can eat your usual share."
Elder Shi pushed the half portion of meat toward him, but Chen Xiuyuan brought the pot over and put it all in, along with the leg bone.
The old man looked at the two portions of meat in the pot and pushed the wooden token back.
"Keep it safe. Don't drop it into the stove."
As the bone soup bubbled, Chen Xiuyuan leaned against the wall and tried to stretch his wrists. He thought about that piece of ox leg meat, and how Shi Lei had held it down so casually.
Something he could not pull apart with both hands seemed to pose little difficulty for Shi Lei.
"Has Shi Lei trained?" Chen Xiuyuan asked.
Elder Shi followed his gaze to the knife he had set beside the stove.
"He has. If you're going out into the mountains to hunt, knowing how to use a knife isn't enough."
The old man skimmed the foam from the soup with a wooden ladle and looked up at him.
"Do you want to learn too?"