Every beastman has a name of their own; Qing’s name was given to him by his father.

But after he was banished from the tribe, no beastman had called him by that name for over a decade.

If it weren’t for Xu Shuangci, Qing felt he had practically turned into a wild beast.

But in just a few short days, this chatty sub-beastman had woven himself into his life.

Like oil on a raging fire, he transformed him from a beastman who cared only for his own survival—no different from a wild animal—into Qing, a man whose emotions were constantly stirred and who now had to consider the sub-beastman.

His tail swayed gently.

He still preferred it when the sub-beastman called him by his name, rather than this “big cat” business.

Xu Shuangci didn’t know what he was thinking, but he tried to explain: “Have you ever seen a cat in the woods that breathes fire?” 

“They’re kittens, and you’re the big cats… I’m only calling you that because I like you.”

Qing’s ears twitched, and the side of his face that Xu Shuangci couldn’t see turned bright red. He understood what “like” meant.

“Don’t you think ‘Big Cat’ sounds nice?” Xu Shuangci pressed his palm against Qing’s back and smiled. “Of course, the name Qing is lovely too.”

Qing: He really does want to be my partner.

On the Golden Continent, a sub-beastman would only say someone’s name was beautiful if he was interested in them.

“Don’t call me Big Cat.” 

“Why?”

Qing didn’t answer his question; instead, he kept his head down and walked on.

For the rest of the journey, Xu Shuangci chattered away to himself. Aside from learning Beast-speak from Qing, he wouldn’t answer any of his other questions. Xu Shuangci assumed he didn’t like it.

He thought to himself that he’d better be careful from now on and not call out to him. After all, cats are petty and hold grudges.

They emerged from the woods and reached a calm stretch of the river, where the man and the tiger stopped to rest. They didn’t know how deep the water was, but they were both hungry.

Xu Shuangci decided to catch some fish, so he pulled a vine from the woods and wove a simple basket.

He crouched by the bank, watching the water.

There were indeed plenty of fish in the river; if the big cat wanted to eat only fish, there would be no need to worry about running out of food. These fish were also foolish—crouching by the bank and using the basket to net them, he caught two or three at a time.

“That’s enough,” Qing said, licking his fur as he watched. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Qing shook his head.

Xu Shuangci was puzzled. “Don’t you like fish?”

Qing: “Mm.”

Xu Shuangci thought about it and realized he was right. Fish may be meat, but a big tiger probably wouldn’t bother with such small creatures.

“It’s fine. It’ll tide us over. Otherwise, carrying all this stuff will be too much to handle.”

He muttered to himself and caught a few more.

The fish in the river were enormous; even the ones he caught at random weighed five or six pounds.

Xu Shuangci picked up his stone knife and gutted the fish, cleaning off all the scales and gills, then skewered them on a stick and roasted them over the fire. The fish flesh turned golden brown, and the tender white meat curled where the knife had sliced diagonally.

Xu Shuangci glanced at the large cat crouching beside him and said,

“It would be nice if we had some salt.”

“And then sprinkle some ground Sichuan pepper, cumin, and chili…”

Everything he said was new to Qing, but he could tell he was craving it. The tip of Qing’s tail curled up.

“Salt?”

“Yeah! Salt!” Xu Shuangci nodded eagerly. “Like how some wild animals in the forest lick rocks—it’s that salty taste on the rocks.”

Qing tilted his furry head, staring at the fragrant grilled fish in front of him.

“There’s some on the back mountain.”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner! I asked you earlier…” Xu Shuangci babbled on, speaking too fast—words Qing couldn’t understand. Qing quietly watched the sub-beastman.

He realized that the sub-beastman’s mouth could actually speak that much.

The fish were done. There were five in total, and Qing took four. The grilled fish were placed on leaves to cool and drizzled with red fruit juice. Xu Shuangci held a stick and gnawed on his own piece. Noticing that Qing hadn’t touched his, he shot him a puzzled look.

Qing fiddled with the leaves with his paws: “It’s hot.”

Xu Shuangci nodded at the still-steaming grilled fish. He’d forgotten—a cat’s tongue is sensitive to heat.

Xu Shuangci had eaten half of one fish when Qing, sitting beside him, started eating. He devoured one fish at a time, the tail sticking out of his mouth—it was strangely cute.

Xu Shuangci saw him freeze for a moment, then crunch away, swallowing the fish meat and bones whole. One after another, Qing had finished his plate clean before Xu Shuangci had even finished his own.

He stared at Qing. Qing said nothing.

The man and the tiger stared at each other, and Xu Shuangci’s gaze shifted to his neck.

“You’re not choking, are you?”

Qing: “No.” 

“Then why…”

“Fish.”

Qing said as he stood up.

Then Xu Shuangci watched as the big cat plopped into the water.

More and more fish were being tossed onto the ground… The big cat had wiped out the whole school. Wait, why catch so many?

Didn’t he just say he didn’t like them?

So, Xu Shuangci stood on the bank watching the big cat wade through the river in the freezing cold, and he had no choice but to go find some thin vines to string the fish on. By the time they returned to the cave, it was already dark.

Xu Shuangci raked through the ashes on the fire and used some dry grass to reignite it. After stacking the wood, he said, “Qing, come warm yourself by the fire.” 

Qing’s fur was damp.

He had ridden back on his back. Fortunately, the animal hide was waterproof, so he hadn’t gotten wet.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

After planting the saplings he’d brought back, Xu Shuangci turned his attention to the fruit. Most of the red fruit was fully ripe and wouldn’t keep much longer.

Xu Shuangci selected the ones that were still firm and piled them in the corner, then took the rest outside, washed them clean, and spread them out on leaves to dry. He was all set to make jam, but suddenly realized he had no containers to put it in.

He hadn’t found any bamboo in the woods that could be used right away, so Xu Shuangci was at a loss for a moment. Spotting the big cat with its tail held high, looking in good spirits, he thought for a moment and went over to ask it. But the human and the tiger talked past each other, and his question went unanswered.

Xu Shuangci thought, it looks like I’ll have to fire some clay pots.

He let out a soft sigh, curled up in the corner, and muttered to himself, “For now, I still need to find salt, containers for the red fruit jam, and stockpile some grain…” Xu Shuangci looked back at the fruits spread out on the leaves.

“I’ve already washed them; I can’t just let them go to waste.”

Qing: “…”

Qing, who had been dozing by the fire, half-opened his eyes.

The sub-beastman looked listless.

He stood up and walked over to him.

Could it be that after leaving the cave, he’d fallen ill again?

Qing extended a paw, awkwardly mimicking his father’s technique as he reached toward Xu Shuangci. Seeing this, Xu Shuangci grabbed his large paw pad.

“Since you’re the one who offered, I won’t hold back.”

Qing tensed up and withdrew his paw, afraid of hurting him.

“Are you sick?”

Xu Shuangci was completely enveloped by Qing’s shadow.

He clutched Qing’s paw tightly and looked up. “I’m not sick. I have nowhere to put the jam. Help me figure something out, will you?” 

“You’re such a blockhead.”

“What?”

Qing got up and went outside.

In the darkness, Xu Shuangci stood at the cave entrance. He heard a few cracks as the trees buckled under the strain, and then Qing returned. His tail curled around a tree stump as thick as a man’s waist.

Xu Shuangci looked at the mud still clinging to the tree roots and muttered, “Can you really use your strength like that?”

The log was massive. No sooner had it been tossed into a corner than Qing crouched down, claws bared, and began digging—before Xu Shuangci could even raise his stone axe. Wood shavings flew everywhere, filling the cave with the scent of wood.

Xu Shuangci watched, wide-eyed, finding the big cat’s movements utterly endearing. He smiled as he leaned in, using a piece of animal hide to wipe the wood shavings from its fur.

“Good job, good job. Qing, you’re so amazing.” Overcome with joy, he unconsciously adopted the tone he used to coax stray cats.

Qing’s paw paused.

It pressed its paw pads against his shoulder and pushed him away.

The big cat looked so human-like that Xu Shuangci, afraid he might walk out on him, obediently backed away. With Qing making the container, Xu Shuangci felt at ease to go make his jam.

Making jam is simple: peel and pit the fruit, put it in a pot, add sugar if you have it, or just simmer it as is. Simmer until the flesh breaks down, let it cool, then seal it and refrigerate.

The wooden stump jam jar was still under construction; they’d have to wait until it was finished to know what size lid would fit. Inside the cave, there was a constant crackling and popping, the noise lasting well into the night.

Early the next morning, the jam had cooled, and the tree stump had been hollowed out.

Xu Shuangci got up and peered into the tree stump, even reaching inside to feel the depth—it must have been half a meter. His fingers brushed against the inner wall, which bore uneven claw marks.

He glanced at the big cat, still curled up and dozing, and smiled faintly. It was quite capable.

The stump was made of dead wood, scalded with boiling water, and then air-dried.

Xu Shuangci measured the dimensions with a stick, then began crafting a lid. The task was simple, though his tools were rather crude.

After breaking one stone axe, chipping two stone knives, and borrowing the big cat’s claws to drill holes, he finally finished the wooden lid, held together with wooden pegs.

He boiled down all the red fruits that couldn’t be stored, and for an entire day, the cave was filled with the sweet scent of fruit. Once the fruits were processed, Xu Shuangci wasted no time and had Qing lead him to the back of the mountain.

The mountain range where their cave was located ran roughly north to south, with the cave entrance facing west. They walked up the mountain, following a small mountain stream as they made their way into the woods.

At the back of the mountain, Qing stopped in front of a spring.

“Are we there?”

Qing crouched down to lower him to the ground.

Xu Shuangci stepped onto the rocks by the spring’s edge and approached. He looked up at the small waterfall cascading down, crouched down, dipped his finger in the water, and put it in his mouth. Salty!

His eyes lit up—this must be a salt spring.

The river’s erosion had carved its way down, causing the salt deposits hidden underground to flow to the surface with the water, forming a salt spring.

The water was salty; to extract salt, one simply needed to boil it down until it was dry. This method produced salt with far fewer impurities than mining the salt deposits directly.

“That must be why you chose this spot for the cave in the first place.”

Qing listened for a moment before responding.

“I don’t get it.”

But seeing the joy on the sub-beastman’s face, he knew this was exactly what he was looking for. Obtaining salt on the Golden Continent is quite simple.

It’s just that this place is close by; if you head toward the center, the surface is dotted with countless salt lakes and salt mines. For the beastmen of the Golden Continent, what they lack most isn’t salt—it’s food.

So, judging by Xu Shuangci’s reaction, Qing guessed that their tribe might be lacking in salt. If that were the case, his original tribe likely wasn’t in the north. Qing’s fur bristled, and his expression grew grave.

What Xu Shuangci saw, however, was the big cat sitting obediently, like a giant stuffed animal. The joy of finding salt prompted him to say, “You’re such a good boy.” Qing lowered his head.

Xu Shuangci’s dazed smile vanished instantly. He immediately turned his back to Qing and filled the animal hide he’d brought with water. After taking his time to seal the hide, he cleared his throat twice and turned around.

“Let’s go. We’re heading back.”

Qing’s gaze swept over the sub-beastman’s face; his instinct told him he’d just said something he couldn’t bear to hear.

But judging by Xu Shuangci’s demeanor, he wouldn’t have told him even if he’d asked.

Heavy snow in winter would cut off the mountain passes.

And since the snow season is long, to ensure they have enough salt, they’d have to go up the mountain to boil it. But the problem came full circle.

They lacked the necessary tools.