I've been transported to the orc continent.

Chapter 350 Birthday

After the cotton quilts were made, the beastmen put away their animal skin quilts at night and replaced them all with cotton quilts.

Compared to animal hides, cotton quilts have so many advantages. Cotton quilts don't have that animal hide smell, they feel more comfortable, and they don't shed. Wrapping a soft cotton quilt around your body is incredibly comfortable.

*

Like the Gaoshu tribe, the Central tribe also has four distinct seasons. When a certain star in the sky rises to its highest point, it means that spring is getting closer.

And at this time, it is the month's birthday.

It was the coldest time of the year. When Bai Ling got up, it was still dark, with a few stars twinkling faintly in the sky. Bai Ling rubbed his hands together and breathed on them. Even though the winter in the Central Tribe was much warmer than that in the High Tree Tribe, the temperature in the morning was still very low.

Bai Ling wrapped her clothes tighter around herself and walked toward the kitchen in the dim starlight.

The kitchen was pitch black. Bai Ling used a tinderbox to light a torch on the wall, which illuminated a small area. He then began to boil water by the light of the torch.

Just as the fire in the stove was lit, familiar footsteps echoed in the courtyard. Bai Ling turned around while tending the fire and saw Yue walking towards her from the darkness.

"Yue, why are you up so early?" Bai Ling stuffed firewood into the stove, then stood up, patted himself up and down, and went up to take Yue's hand.

Yue's hands were a little cold, so Bai Ling took his hand and rubbed it in her own palm a few times: "Yue, it's cold outside, you should go back inside first, I'll take care of things here."

Yue pulled Bai Ling along as they walked into the kitchen: "I'm not cold."

That's the truth. I didn't feel cold at all throughout the winter. On the contrary, I felt that it was the warmest winter I had ever had.

Once inside the kitchen, Yue pulled his hand away from Bai Ling's and sat down directly in front of the stove, looking up at Bai Ling: "Ling, I'll boil the water, you cook."

Bai Ling: "Yue, I can do it. It's still early, you can go back and lie down for a while."

Yue: "I'm already up, why would I lie back down? Let's cook together."

Since Yue had said so, Bai Ling didn't insist any further. He took mung bean flour, tapioca flour, and millet flour, put them into a ceramic basin according to the proportions, then poured in warm water and began to knead the dough.

To make the best multigrain noodles, Bai Ling started experimenting half a month in advance. He tried all the multigrains he could find, and finally found that the noodles made with mung bean flour as the main ingredient, with a small amount of tapioca flour and millet flour, were the best.

It's a birthday celebration, so you have to eat noodles. But there's no flour here, so Bai Ling had to settle for second best and make mixed grain noodles for Yue.

The mixed grain flour was kneaded and placed on the flue. Bai Ling took out the ground millet flour, added a little warm water to moisten it, and placed it on the steamer to steam.

At this time, Yue also boiled the water. Yue poured the water from the pot into a ceramic basin, covered the basin with a lid, and placed it on the flue behind the stove.

The flue is hot, and the water in the ceramic basin cools down slowly when placed on it, which is perfect for the tribespeople to use to wash their hands and faces when they get up.

After emptying the water from the pot, Yue put a pot of stewed beef into the pot.

*

Bai Ling washed his hands clean, put the steamed millet flour into an earthenware basin, kneaded it with animal fat, and then made it into small dough balls. The fillings were prepared by him yesterday: some were red bean fillings, some were red date fillings, some were a mixture of red bean and red date fillings, and some were mung bean fillings.

Wrap the filling in the dough, roll it in your hand a few times, flatten it with your hand, roll it in a plate of sesame seeds, and then fry it in oil.

Yue was in charge of two stoves. The stove for stewing beef was set with a high flame, while the stove for frying dough cakes was set with a low flame. Yue was not flustered at all, and even did it with ease.

As soon as the rice cakes were put into the oil, they sizzled. After putting in a few, Bai Ling used long chopsticks to stir them so that they wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Then he continued to put more rice cakes into the oil.

The fried dough cakes were golden brown and smelled delicious. After they cooled down a bit, Bai Ling used a pair of clean chopsticks to pick up a piece of dough cake and offered it to Yue's lips.

Yue looked up at Bai Ling with a smile, obediently opened her mouth, and took a bite of half of the cake.

"Moon, is it delicious?" Bai Ling asked.

Yue smiled and nodded slightly: "Mmm, it's delicious. Ling, this one is filled with red bean paste, you should try it too."

Bai Ling's eyebrows twitched, and he put the remaining half of the cake into his mouth. First came the crispy, caramelized crust, then the stickiness of the millet, and finally the soft, sweet red bean filling.

It tastes really good!

"Mmm, it's delicious," Bai Ling picked up another cake and put it to Yue's lips. "Yue, try it and see what kind of filling this has."

The two shared the three cakes, and just as they finished the third cake, footsteps were heard in the courtyard.

The people of the tribe rose up.

The clansmen gradually got up, all wanting to help, but Bai Ling refused them all.

Today is Yue's birthday, and he wants to make her breakfast himself. No one else can help except Yue.

*

Today is Yue's birthday, and the tribespeople all know that the two of them must have a lot to talk about, so after breakfast and getting ready, the tribespeople all made excuses to go out.

Bai Ling helped Yue sit down on the chair, then went back into the house and took out two wooden boxes and a mirror.

Bai Ling first opened a wooden box containing combs and finely ground mineral powder. Then he opened another wooden box, on which lay several pieces of golden jewelry on off-white silk.

Bai Ling first took out a gold hairpin: "Yue, shall I help you put it on?"

This hairpin is not complicated; the head is simply shaped like an auspicious cloud, but the unique luster of gold still makes it look shiny.

Yue fell in love with it at first sight. He took the hairpin from Bai Ling's hand, played with it for a while, and then nodded: "Okay."

Yue woke up in a hurry that morning and simply tied her hair up without wearing any jewelry. Her long, silvery-white hair was loose in Bai Ling's hands. Bai Ling couldn't resist, picked up Yue's hair, and gave her a gentle kiss.

Yue's hair was smooth and shiny. Bai Ling slowly kissed it, feeling as if she were kissing a piece of cool moonlight.

Yue sat on a bench with a glass panel in front of her. The edges of the glass were wrapped in soft animal hide, and the shadows of the two people were reflected on the glass. Although they were not very clear, Yue could still see Bai Ling's movements.

He could see it, and of course he could feel it. The kiss was very light, yet it carried a burning heat that traveled along his hair and reached the heart of the moon almost instantly.

Yue's heart was pounding, and her cheeks were slightly flushed: "Ling, weren't you going to comb my hair?"

Bai Ling softly hummed in agreement, then gently kissed the ends of Yue's hair before picking up a comb and slowly combing Yue's hair.