I've been transported to the orc continent.

The low mountains of the Gaoshu tribe are a continuous stretch, with many caves on them. The Caihe tribe cleared out three caves for the beastmen of the Yuanhu tribe to live in: one for male beastmen, one for female beastmen, and one for beastmen who were seriously injured.

Inside the cave, they burned mugwort to drive away mosquitoes, and laid out fluffy dried grass and animal hides. The beastmen transformed into their animal forms and lay down on the dry animal hides. They had been living in fear and traveling through the night for the past few days and were exhausted both physically and mentally. After a hearty meal and a safe place to sleep, the beastmen soon fell asleep.

The moon is no exception.

The beautiful white wolf lay on the hay, its two front paws clasped together, its huge head resting quietly on its paws, its icy blue eyes slowly closing. It seemed as if it had laid down some heavy burden and was slowly drifting off to sleep.

*

Bai Ling couldn't sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, a pair of ice-blue eyes would appear in his mind.

Bai Ling learned from conversations with other orcs that Yue was the most beautiful female in the nearby tribes and also a very powerful warrior. Many male orcs admired Yue, but Yue rejected all their advances and remained single to this day.

This made Bai Ling both happy and worried. He was happy that Yue was still single, but worried because Yue had very high standards, and he didn't seem to have much hope.

Bai Ling's mind was in turmoil, and he didn't fall asleep until the middle of the night. He was only awakened by the movement of the orc next to him getting up, and he slowly opened his eyes.

It was just dawn outside, and the orcs had already started preparing. He could smell the aroma of cooking meat, indicating that some of their tribesmen had gotten up even earlier and breakfast was almost ready.

Bai Ling descended the low hill in the refreshing autumn breeze, walked to the stream, scooped up some cool water with his hands to rinse his mouth, and then picked a blade of grass by the stream.

This grass can be found everywhere along streams. It is about the thickness of a finger and has tufts of soft down on its stems, making it perfect for making toothbrushes.

Breakfast consisted of boiled meat and leftover cassava from yesterday. After eating, Bai Ling followed the main group. Today, all the orcs from the entire tribe were to go out and dig for cassava in the valley.

The beastmen gathered in the square. The white lion and white wolf beastmen transformed into their animal forms, while the long-eared rabbit and lynx beastmen first tied large pieces of animal hide to their backs. Then, they laid wide wooden strips across the hides, with a basket tied to each side of the strips. Once the baskets were secured, the long-eared rabbit and lynx beastmen jumped onto the white lion and white wolf. One of the white wolves howled joyfully. The roars of the lion and the howls of the wolf, the squeaking of the rabbits, the howling of the lynxes, the squeaking of the foxes, and the barking of the dogs blended together in a surprisingly harmonious sound.

The fox and the dog are beastmen from the Round Lake tribe. Neither of them was injured, and they were going to dig cassava together today.

Bai Ling also transformed into beast form, but Cai stopped him, saying, "Ling, don't go dig up the big grass."

Bai Ling blinked her big eyes, seemingly not understanding why she couldn't go. An old orc named Qing said, "Ling, you stay in the tribe and help us prepare food. You'll also have to decide how to preserve the large root grass after it's brought back."

Cai also said, "The chieftain has sent someone to inform the other tribes. If they come, you will have to greet them together with the chieftain."

The beautiful white wolf was no longer in sight. Bai Ling reluctantly withdrew her gaze, drooped her head, walked behind the tree, and transformed into human form.

Cai smiled and said, "Ling, if you want to go out, you can go wherever you want after these few busy days. For the next few days, you should stay in the tribe and cook with us."

Qing said from the side, "Ling, what other delicious things can you cook? Tell us."

There weren't many ingredients in the tribe, so even if Bai Ling knew a lot about delicious food, he couldn't make it. He thought about it carefully, and suddenly slapped his forehead. He actually came up with a delicious idea.

"Who has the most skillful hands in our tribe?" Bai Ling asked. "Grandpa Cai, the one who weaves the best baskets."

Cai laughed and said, "That's easy." He pointed to Qing and said, "Qing is the best craftsman in the tribe. The baskets he weaves are extremely sturdy and won't break even after three years."

Bai Ling didn't want to weave a basket; he wanted to weave a steamer.

In the tribe, there are only two ways to cook food: boiling and baking. Steaming is not a method. The food that Bai Ling is going to make is steamed cassava cake.

Bai Ling walked up to a clay pot, which was wider at the top and narrower at the bottom. Water had already been added to the pot, and the tribespeople planned to use it to cook cassava.

"Grandpa Qing, weave a round basket, about a finger's width smaller than the mouth of this earthenware pot," Bai Ling gestured. "The basket should be about two palms deep, and then weave a lid that can cover the basket."

Bai Ling carefully explained the requirements for the steamer to Qing, who nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go get the things now. Ling, you can watch me make it later."

*

When Qing was young, he was injured while hunting and became disabled in one leg, walking with a limp. He could no longer hunt, and even when gathering, he was much slower than the tribesmen. So he stayed in the tribe to do odd jobs and usually wove baskets and other things to exchange for food with the tribesmen.

That night it rained heavily, so he brought most of the tree branches from his house to the cave. With these things, weaving a basket was not difficult at all.

Bai Ling and Qing went into the cave to get tree branches, and he actually found bamboo strips among them.

This is really good news. Bamboo is a treasure from top to bottom. It can be used as food, to make all kinds of utensils, and even to build houses. How come he never discovered that there was bamboo in the tribe before?

Bai Ling asked, "Grandpa Qing, where did you find this?"

Qing thought for a moment and said, "This is what I traded with the people of the Longhorn Tribe. They have a lot of these in their tribe."

Bai Ling put down the bamboo stick and chose a relatively soft branch about half the thickness of a little finger: "Grandpa Qing, let's use this to make a steamer."

Qing was very skilled, and besides, Bai Ling didn't want anything complicated. When the second batch of cassava was cooked, he had already woven a steamer.

Bai Ling picked up the steamer and tried it in the earthenware pot. The size was just right, except that it couldn't fit the earthenware pot perfectly.

Qing wove several steamers and, as Bai Ling had instructed, used thick, dry grass to seal the gaps between them.

The lid of the steamer was quite difficult to make. It not only had to be the same size as the steamer, but also had to be a cone shape that was wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. Bai Ling explained it to Qing several times, and even used a leaf to roll out a cone shape to demonstrate to Qing before Qing finally understood.

There were many injured orcs in the Yuanhu tribe, and none of them went to dig cassava. Apart from the seriously injured orcs, the other lightly injured orcs couldn't stay idle at all. Some helped cook, some helped clean the cassava, and those with good skills also came over to weave steamers with Qing. By noon, when it was time to cook, there were already more than a dozen steamers woven.