Chapter 5

Xie Juanhan tilted his head and listened. There was no movement in the burrow.

The little ones let out a few roars, then reached out their paws and dug at the dirt outside the entrance.

A warning came from inside the burrow. "Ka-ka!"

The call was a little shrill.

Xie Juanhan could almost picture the white bird with its feathers puffed up, calling toward the entrance from the bottom of the burrow.

The little ones were patient. They kept prowling around the entrance, occasionally ducking inside and trying to bite the bird.

Whenever they went in, they left a fat little butt sticking out, wiggling back and forth.

But their hind leg muscles remained taut, making them look ready to flee at any moment.

It seemed these little fellows were seasoned hunters too, not particularly impulsive.

Taking his cue from them, Xie Juanhan waited patiently behind the tree.

This time, he had transformed back into his dragon form beforehand and suppressed his aura as much as possible.

The white bird was terrified of the white dragon, but it was not afraid of the fluffy little creatures at the entrance.

Once it could no longer smell the white dragon's aura, its calls grew louder and louder, full of warning.

The white bird and the little ones continued their standoff.

The white dragon waited patiently. After more than twenty minutes, he gradually caught the white bird's scent in the air.

The white bird had probably left the depths of the burrow and come up to the entrance.

The little ones taunted it from outside.

They drew closer and closer to the entrance, and so did the white bird.

Then, in an instant-

The white bird burst out. The little ones sensed it coming and scattered, all dodging to the sides.

Even so, one unlucky little fellow failed to get out of the way.

The white bird's hard, sharp beak pecked its butt.

"Awooo!!!"

The little guy got pecked and sprang three feet to the side.

With his keen eyesight, Xie Juanhan clearly saw the white bird peck off a tuft of its fur.

Having failed to land its prey with the first strike, the white bird immediately lunged after them.

The little ones fled for their lives, glancing back as they ran and letting out low warning growls from their throats.

The white bird was fierce and utterly fearless. It flapped its wings, spread its sharp claws, and fixed its sights on the plump prey, intent on catching one to take back to its burrow and eat.

Now!

Once the white bird was some distance from the burrow, Xie Juanhan circled behind it and lunged forward like lightning.

The white bird noticed him and tried to dart back into the burrow, but it was already too late.

Xie Juanhan successfully pinned the white bird down, transformed back into human form, and lifted it upside down by its claws.

The fleeing little beasts were still shaken. The little fellow that had lost a tuft of fur from its butt turned and awkwardly licked the spot before looking at the white bird in Xie Juanhan's hand.

"Ji!" The little fellow bared its teeth, wanting to bite the white bird in revenge.

"Hey, no." Xie Juanhan stretched out an arm to stop it. "We can't eat the white bird if you bite it."

The little fellow tried to jump again, but the others caught its tail in their mouths and held it back. "Ji!"

Xie Juanhan smiled. "Come on, let's go back and roast the bird."

"Ji." The little ones gathered around him again.

Before Xie Juanhan could push the little fellows away from where they were tripping him up, they had grabbed the hem of his pants again.

"This bird is enough to eat." Xie Juanhan hefted the large bird, which weighed a good twenty or thirty jin. "Do you want more prey?"

"Wu." The little ones held on to his pant leg and refused to let go.

"All right." Xie Juanhan figured that if they really couldn't finish it, he could freeze the bird meat and eat it over time. "Lead the way."

The little ones ran ahead, patiently leading Xie Juanhan along.

Xie Juanhan had thought they would take him to hunt a second white bird or some other prey.

Instead, they brought him to a shrub.

Afraid he wouldn't understand, the little ones plucked leaves from the shrub, stood on their hind legs, and nudged his hand, stuffing the leaves into it.

"You want me to pick this?" Xie Juanhan held a leaf and sniffed it, then picked a fresh one, crushed it, and held it under his nose.

A fresh, pungent scent rushed straight into his nostrils.

Xie Juanhan immediately understood. These were the leaves of some kind of seasoning plant.

"You like this?" Xie Juanhan looked down at the little ones, a little surprised.

Xie Juanhan had nothing but salt on him, and this was the first time he had come across another spice.

He went ahead and picked a generous amount.

But the spice's flavor was so fresh that if he used it to roast meat and cooked it for too long, he probably wouldn't be able to taste much of it.

And then there was the white bird-

Xie Juanhan looked down at it.

The white bird was so big that it would probably be difficult to roast. Even using an earthen oven, it would be hard to control the heat.

The meat would likely come out either tough and dry or half-cooked.

"If only I had a pot." Xie Juanhan looked at the leaves in his hand and sighed regretfully. "If I had a pot, I could make white-cut bird or stew it. I'm sure it would taste great."

"Ji?" One of the little ones immediately pricked up its ears and stared at Xie Juanhan with bright eyes.

Xie Juanhan didn't understand what it meant.

"Ji-ji!" The little one called to Xie Juanhan twice, then suddenly took off running.

It took the others a moment to catch on. They called "Ji-ji" twice, signaling for Xie Juanhan to wait, then hurried after their companion and ran off together.

Left standing there, Xie Juanhan said, "Huh?!"

==========Author's note:==========

See you tomorrow, see you tomorrow!

Thanks to Bingtang Xiaolianzi for the grenade; thanks to Ruiba Neixiangketang, No. 85 Cool Guy, Look at the Mist Rising over Chang'an, I've Given Up on Treatment, Full Sugar Zero Fat Herbal Tea, Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze, Lying-Flat Coconut, Quirky Little Girl, Jiuci, staying, No Such Person, Suibianshuai_, Gentle Breeze beneath the Moon, and Tangyuan Can Glow for the landmines!

Chapter 5: Chapter 5

Xie Juanhan guessed the little ones were going to bring him something else.

He wasn't very familiar with either the little ones or the forest, so he had no idea what they might bring him.

He stayed where he was and waited patiently.

This time, the little ones were gone for a particularly long time.

Two hours passed, and they still hadn't returned.

Xie Juanhan had already wandered around the area several times and had even gathered several kinds of edible mushrooms.

Bored from waiting, Xie Juanhan sat in the shade, leaning against a tree trunk. He was just beginning to doze off when he suddenly heard a clanging sound.

He looked up.

The first thing he saw wasn't the little creatures running toward him, but a golden object gleaming in the sunlight.

It was gold!

And two big pieces of it!

The little ones were running toward Xie Juanhan in groups of two or three, carrying the gold in their mouths.

When they met Xie Juanhan's gaze, they grew even more excited.

They picked up their pace, the things in their mouths dragging along the ground and clanging all the way.

Only then did Xie Juanhan realize the golden objects were pots.

Two golden pots!

The little ones were too small, and the golden pots too large. As they dragged them along in their mouths, the pots kept banging against the ground.

Even over that short distance, they dropped them several times.

Twice, the pots even landed upside down on the heads of several little ones, covering them completely.

After being treated like that, the pots couldn't possibly be in good shape.

Even from that distance, Xie Juanhan could see dents in the bottoms of both pots.

"..."

Wouldn't these little ones really get a beating when they went back?

"Ji-ji!"

The little ones didn't notice the pained look on Xie Juanhan's face at all. Eyes full of excitement, they ran up to him, eager for praise.

"Ji-ji-ji!"

The little ones dragged the two pots to Xie Juanhan's feet.

Both pots seemed to be soup pots. The smaller one could hold a whole chicken, while the larger one could even be used to cook a whole sheep.

There was no question it could hold the white bird.

They had already brought the pots here, and he couldn't have the little ones drag them away again.

Xie Juanhan checked the pots and praised the little ones. "These are great pots. Let's go back and cook the bird."

The little ones' eyes shone. "Ji-ji!"

With a dipping sauce and a large soup pot now available, Xie Juanhan decided to make white-cut bird for the little ones to try.

Back at the stream, Xie Juanhan first filled the large soup pot to the brim with clear stream water and set it over the firewood to heat.

Gold was highly malleable, so the pot wasn't too heavy.

Because it conducted heat well, the water in the pot heated up especially quickly.

Xie Juanhan was preparing the white bird by the stream. When he noticed how quickly the water was heating, he went over and removed a few pieces of firewood, then returned and worked faster.

Dragons had a keen sense of taste and particularly prized pure flavors.

As he prepared the white bird, he took great care to drain its blood.

After draining the blood and thoroughly scrubbing the skin, he washed the white bird several times with meticulous care. Only then did he carry it to the pot, ready for the next step.

The water in the golden pot soon came to a boil. He tossed in a large handful of salt and adjusted the proportion of salt to water before holding the white bird by the neck and lowering it in.

The white bird was much larger than an ordinary chicken, so Xie Juanhan took care to dip and lift it five times. Once the temperature inside its cavity matched that of its skin, he placed the whole bird in the large soup pot and pressed it beneath the water.

The bird's skin slowly turned golden in the golden pot.

By adding and removing firewood, Xie Juanhan kept the water just below a boil, patiently poaching the white bird.

The little ones had never seen this cooking method before. They squatted to one side, watching Xie Juanhan work without blinking.

The aroma gradually wafted out of the soup pot.

The little ones couldn't sit still anymore. They paced back and forth, and one even tried to paw at the pot.

Xie Juanhan returned from washing the mushrooms and swiftly picked that little fellow up by the scruff of its neck to keep it from burning its paws.

The white bird was nearly done. Xie Juanhan removed the firewood from beneath the pot and left the bird meat to finish cooking slowly in the hot water.