Chapter Summaries

After Kang Ying and Mu Chu left with a packet of nut candy, Jian Mo tended his crops and learned that the tribe’s cubs and youngsters considered spring to have arrived. He cooked algae and egg soup with meat patties and fed Jiujiu, who eagerly ate most of the meal.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong saw Kang Ying and Mu Chu off with nut candy, and Mu Chu happily ate some on the way home.
• Jian Mo found Ban Ming and the other big cats and dogs swimming with the tribe’s cubs, and they debated whether spring had arrived.
• The big cats and dogs gathered ten baskets of river algae for Jian Mo and suggested feeding it to Jiujiu.
• Jian Mo cooked algae and egg soup with meat patties, then brought a large portion to Jiujiu.
• Jiujiu chirped happily and ate most of the food Jian Mo had brought.

Jian Mo made algae ice jelly and prepared sweetened Pack-Pack Beast milk and honey water to serve with it. The tribe’s young people and cubs helped, and the bowls were ready to eat once the sugar water was poured over the jelly.

• Jian Mo found that the algae soup had set into savory jelly, and Wu Jiong ate it after Jian Mo decided he disliked the texture.
• Jian Mo planned to make sweet ice jelly the next day with Pack-Pack Beast milk, sugar, and nuts, then invited the tribe’s young people to help prepare it.
• Jian Mo simmered sugar water with Pack-Pack Beast milk and honey while the cubs watched and helped set out bowls.
• Jian Mo washed gel from the pounded algae, boiled it, and poured it into bowls to cool as the young people toasted nuts.
• The young people cut the set jelly into small pieces, and Jian Mo had them add a ladleful of sugar water to each bowl.

As spring arrived, Jian Mo saw the tribe preparing for hunting and gathering and asked Ying Duan to join an older sub-beastmen’s gathering team. Ying Duan agreed, and they prepared to go pick wild vegetables.

• Flowers bloomed across the mountains and fields, signaling that spring had arrived.
• The tribe’s attention shifted to preparing for hunting and gathering, with more than thirty teams getting ready to go out.
• Jian Mo decided to try joining different teams instead of always going with familiar people.
• Jian Mo asked Ying Duan if he could join the older sub-beastmen’s team picking wild vegetables.
• Ying Duan welcomed Jian Mo, saying his nimbleness would help them gather vegetables from branch tips.

Jian Mo joined Ying Duan and Ye Luo to gather fresh wild greens, then returned home to prepare pickled shoots and a spring noodle meal. The chapter left him and Wu Jiong getting ready to cook noodles with ribs and assorted toppings.

• Jian Mo joined Ying Duan's group, and Ye Luo accompanied them as they gathered wild greens along the river.
• Jian Mo tasted the tree shoots and helped pick them while the group collected tender greens from the riverbank.
• Jian Mo returned to the tribe and handed over some of the gathered greens for distribution, while Ye Luo helped distribute supplies.
• Jian Mo blanched extra tree shoots and prepared to salt them for pickling.
• Wu Jiong brought home meat and ribs, and Jian Mo chose ribs for dinner and planned noodles with wild greens, sausages, eggs, and other toppings.

Jian Mo and Qing Kuo investigated a hard lump that might have formed accidentally from lime, clay, and slag, then tested a homemade mixture as cement. They left a low wall to dry and see whether the material worked better than lime mortar.

• Jian Mo and Qing Kuo gathered lime, clay, and slag and ground them into a powder.
• They brushed the mixture over worn areas near the mine and used it to bind stones into a low wall outside Jian Mo's plot.
• Jian Mo said they would wait for the wall to dry before comparing it with their old lime mortar.
• Qing Kuo suggested using the material to build A Hu and the others a new house if it proved to be cement.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong tested and refined homemade cement, then began building a new kitchen beside their house. The work was interrupted when a beastman from the Dianxin Tribe arrived at the clinic with a severe open leg fracture, and Jian Mo prepared to treat him.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong tested watering their cement and found the watered pieces dried harder with fewer cracks.
• Jian Mo led tribe members through more experiments and found that fired powder mixed with lime made effective cement.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong marked out a kitchen site beside their house, and tribe members helped them begin construction.
• A Hu told Jian Mo that a Dianxin Tribe member had broken his leg, so Jian Mo gathered surgical tools and medicine and hurried to the clinic.
• Jian Mo examined the patient and found that his lower-leg bone had broken through the skin.

Jian Mo operated on Sha Gu, an injured member of the Dianxin Tribe, and monitored his rapid recovery. After Sha Gu returned home to recuperate, the Dianxin Tribe brought Jian Mo a large pile of stones as payment, and he gave them glass in return.

• Jian Mo operated on Sha Gu's broken leg and told the Dianxin Tribe to watch over him while he recovered.
• Jian Mo checked Sha Gu's wound each morning and evening, and it healed remarkably quickly.
• After six days, Jian Mo cleared Sha Gu to return to his tribe and asked him to come back for a checkup in ten days.
• The Dianxin Tribe's chief asked how to pay Jian Mo, and Jian Mo requested enough stones to build about half a house.
• The Dianxin Tribe brought far more stones than Jian Mo expected, so he gave them glass as a return gift.
• The Dianxin Tribe members asked to trade for more glass, and Jian Mo directed them to Wu Jiong.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong built and furnished a new kitchen and living room with the tribe’s help, then welcomed visitors from the pottery-making Tianning Tribe. The Tianning Tribe’s Flying-Winged Beast quickly befriended Jiujiu over a bowl of vegetable cakes.

• The Dianxin Tribe brought stone, and Jian Mo and Wu Jiong traded for lime and other materials to make cement.
• More than half the tribe helped Jian Mo and Wu Jiong finish their kitchen, fireplace, floors, and dining area in one day.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong admired their newly furnished home, embraced, and kissed.
• People from the Tianning Tribe arrived with pottery and left their Flying-Winged Beast in the backyard with Jiujiu.
• Jiujiu shared its vegetable cakes with the visiting Flying-Winged Beast, which eagerly ate them while Jian Mo and the Tianning Tribe visitors watched.

Jian Mo hosted Pengxi and Duan'an for dinner, then traded Pengxi his remaining sausages and tried to teach them how to cook. He gave them jars of blended seasoning powder and warned that pepper stamen powder might be hard to obtain in the future.

• Pengxi praised Jian Mo's cooking after tasting the food, and Jian Mo invited him and Duan'an to stay for dinner.
• Pengxi traded Jian Mo a large roll of cloth for the household's remaining sausages.
• Jian Mo attempted to teach Pengxi and Duan'an to cook, but they struggled to follow his advice.
• Jian Mo gave Pengxi and Duan'an a jar of blended seasonings each and said pepper stamen powder might soon be unavailable.

Jian Mo agreed to travel with Wu Jiong and their companions to the border between the Ice River Tribe and the Qin Sea Tribe to gather pepper stamens. They found a vast field of the flowers, and Jian Mo confirmed that their stamens were the kind he needed.

• Pengxi and Duan'an told Jian Mo about a remote patch of pepper-stamen grass near the Ice River Tribe and Qin Sea Tribe border and offered to guide him there.
• Jian Mo asked Wu Jiong about the trip, and they decided to go the next day with Jiujiu.
• Pengxi and Duan'an arrived for breakfast with their Flying-Winged Beast Dala, then led Jian Mo and Wu Jiong north for half a day.
• Jian Mo saw pepper-stamen flowers covering the hills and fields, and thanked Pengxi for showing them the location.
• Jian Mo plucked and inspected two stamens, confirmed they were the pepper stamens he wanted, and Pengxi and Duan'an helped gather them before losing patience.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong gathered pepper stamens and discovered edible pepper stamen bugs among the flowers. They returned to the tribe with a plentiful catch, where others praised the bugs and Jian Mo looked forward to cooking them.

• After Pengxi and the others left, Jian Mo and Wu Jiong continued picking pepper stamens, despite the flowers stinging their hands.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong discussed returning when the fruit ripened to gather seeds and plant pepper stamen bushes near the tribe.
• Jian Mo startled when he touched a moving insect, and Wu Jiong identified it as an edible pepper stamen bug.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong found enough pepper stamen bugs to make four large skewers while continuing to pick flowers.
• When Jian Mo and Wu Jiong returned to the tribe, Ban Ming and A Hu explained how tasty the bugs were and how to prepare them.
• Jian Mo urged Wu Jiong home so they could make dinner.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong cooked pepper stamen bugs and shared dinner with Jiujiu. While eating, Jiujiu accidentally broke a support post, collapsing its nest, but Jian Mo found that it was unharmed.

• Jian Mo asked Wu Jiong for pepper stamens and stir-fried them with the bugs while Wu Jiong dried the rest outside.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong washed their hands with oil and soap, then toasted their harvest and ate the pepper stamen bugs.
• Wu Jiong brought Jiujiu fried bugs, roast meat, and fresh grass, and Jiujiu saved the bugs for last.
• While eating, Jiujiu bumped a weakened post with its butt, causing its nest to collapse around it.
• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong went to the backyard, checked Jiujiu for injuries, and comforted it when they found it frightened but unharmed.

Jian Mo and Wu Jiong built Jiujiu a sturdy new nest, which the young beastmen admired and crowded into until Jian Mo chased them out. Later, Jian Mo inspected two large metal pots that Ban Ming and A Hu delivered, but the chapter ended before he gave his verdict.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong built Jiujiu a new nest from leftover stones and lined it with soft hay and old animal hides.
• A group of young beastmen squeezed into Jiujiu's nest while Jian Mo and Wu Jiong were away, pushing Jiujiu outside.
• Jian Mo returned, drove the young beastmen out, and heard A Hu ask whether he and Wu Jiong wanted to keep a beast that could talk.
• Jian Mo came home from gathering and learned that Ban Ming and A Hu had brought over the two large metal pots he had commissioned.
• Jian Mo examined the pots and found their workmanship excellent as Ban Ming asked what he thought.

Jian Mo seasoned the newly made iron pots and showed the tribe how to cook with them. His stir-fried wild greens and tender beast meat impressed everyone, and the story left them eager to taste more dishes.

• Jian Mo examined the custom-made pots, explained seasoning, and coated both pots with animal fat after heating them.
• Wu Jiong and other tribe members gathered in Jian Mo's kitchen to watch him cook.
• Jian Mo stir-fried cured meat with wild greens, and the crowd praised how crisp and tender the greens tasted.
• Jian Mo quickly stir-fried marinated beast meat over high heat and shared the unusually tender slices with Wu Jiong and the others.

Jian Mo discovered the advantages of his metal pots, then joined Qing Kuo to gather dye grass and dye fruit. Back at the tribe, they began boiling cloth in the dyes, leaving Jian Mo to wait and see how his first attempt turned out.

• Jian Mo cooked several dishes in the metal pots, and the tribe agreed that cooking with two pots was worthwhile.
• Jian Mo told Wu Jiong that visiting the Jintuo Tribe and discovering metal had been one of his good fortunes.
• Qing Kuo invited Jian Mo to gather dye plants, and Jian Mo followed him to collect blue dye grass and yellowish-brown dye fruit.
• Jian Mo returned exhausted with the gathering group, and the tribe pounded the plants and began dyeing cloth in boiling pots.
• Jian Mo set aside ten rolls of household cloth, splitting them between blue and yellowish-brown dye to test the results.

Jian Mo helped the tribe develop tie-dyed cloth and then found a new use for discarded dye leaves. The chapter left him preparing to print leaf patterns onto linen-colored cloth.

• Jian Mo and Wu Jiong admired their first dyed cloth and discussed making more, possibly trading some for sewing help.
• Jian Mo taught the tribe to tie-dye cloth with hairy root starch, and Ye Luo and the others created patterns for the dyeing work.
• Jian Mo joined Zhou Fu to sort dye leaves and noticed the old leaves had distinct veins and attractive shapes.
• Jian Mo took half a basket of discarded dye leaves home and brought out linen-colored cloth to try printing leaf patterns onto it.

Jian Mo improved his leaf-printing technique by steaming the cloth, and the tribe began producing and trading patterned fabric. After the dye plants faded, he turned back to gathering food, where Ban Ming invited him to collect bird eggs despite the springtime ban.

• Jian Mo printed dye leaves onto cloth and asked Qing Kuo to make pajamas for himself and Wu Jiong.
• Wu Jiong suggested steaming the cloth, and Jian Mo found that the process made the leaf patterns clearer.
• Jian Mo taught the tribe to print flowers and leaves on cloth, and neighboring tribes traded for the patterned fabric.
• When the dye plants lost their color, Jian Mo stopped experimenting and focused on gathering food.
• Ban Ming and others invited Jian Mo to gather bird eggs, and Jian Mo questioned the plan because the tribe forbade egg gathering in spring.

Jian Mo joined Ban Ming and the others on an egg-gathering trip to the lake at White Sandbar, where they planned to collect eggs from Violent-Violent Birds. After reaching the nesting grounds and agreeing to protect the birds and their nests, Jian Mo began searching for eggs with Ban Ming and A Hu.

• Ban Ming explained how Violent-Violent Birds laid eggs and invited Jian Mo to gather them at White Sandbar.
• Jian Mo told Wu Jiong about the trip, and Wu Jiong approved while warning that the birds pecked people.
• Ban Ming and his friends waited at Jian Mo's courtyard the next morning, then set off with him for the lake.
• Ban Ming instructed everyone to gather eggs in human form, flee from danger, and take no more than two eggs from each nest.
• Jian Mo shared hay from his basket to cushion the eggs, and Ban Ming marked the bushes before Jian Mo found many nests.

Jian Mo and the others fled a flock of Violent-Violent Birds after gathering eggs, then rested beside a stream. Jian Mo caught fish and discovered large shrimp in the water.

• Jian Mo, Ban Ming, and A Hu gathered Violent-Violent Bird eggs while avoiding birds in their nests.
• The returning flock attacked, and Ban Ming fled with the egg basket while an orange cat carried Jian Mo to safety.
• Ban Ming counted the group and found that everyone had escaped without injuries and that nearly all the eggs remained intact.
• Jian Mo washed in a cold stream with Xi Lu and the others, then spotted fish and began catching them.
• Jian Mo found translucent shrimp in the stream and caught more than ten.

After returning from a successful shrimp-catching trip, Jian Mo cooked shrimp and algae for dinner and showed Qing Kuo how to prepare algae so it stayed crisp and flavorful. The Tianning Tribe arrived to exchange pottery-glaze techniques, and its members met Jian Mo at his clinic before returning to their lodging impressed by him and curious about trading for seasoning powder.

• Jian Mo and the others returned to the tribe, shared out the bird eggs, and Jian Mo took the shrimp home to cook.
• Qing Kuo visited Jian Mo, explained that the Tianning Tribe wanted to exchange pottery-glaze techniques, and learned how Jian Mo prepared crisp, flavorful algae.
• The Tianning Tribe's older members arrived, and Qing Kuo arranged for skilled potters to exchange techniques with them.
• Huan Yu and the other Tianning Tribe members visited Jian Mo's clinic, where Jian Mo examined them and told them what to expect in the tribe.
• The Tianning Tribe members discussed Jian Mo on their way back and asked Huan Yu whether they could trade for seasoning powder.