Live Strong in the Wilderness-Chapter 283: Riding on Juha

After Xu Yi selected the lard, he started to render it.

Lard is exceptionally fragrant when used for cooking, much more so than vegetable oil or other animal fats.

However, this fragrant pig didn’t have much fat; even after a thorough search, Xu Yi only gathered about ten pounds of lard. The remaining parts would be mixed with lean meat to make sausages.

Xu Yi estimated that after rendering the fat, they should get seven or eight pounds of oil, enough to last them a month or two.

Once the fat was rendered, Xu Yi started chopping the meat into chunks with Lu Ke. They sprinkled some salt on it, mixed it together, and then used it to make sausages.

The remaining fresh meat was placed underwater by Xu Yi, which would be enough for the next day’s consumption.

The meat needed some time to sit, so Xu Yi grabbed some pasture and entered the deer pen.

The two reindeer saw Xu Yi enter and immediately charged with their antlers.

But because they were tied up, they didn’t manage to hit Xu Yi.

He took some pasture and fed one of the reindeer.

While feeding, he patted the reindeer’s head, taking the opportunity to use his taming skills.

He tried four times in a row without success.

Wanting to try again, his head started to hurt badly.

It was clear that Xu Yi’s spiritual power was insufficient, unable to support five attempts in a row.

After coming out, Xu Yi took a while to recover, then started helping Lu Ke stuff the chopped pork into casings and tie sections with hemp string at intervals.

By the time the sausages were made, it was already past seven in the evening.

Dinner was just stewed pork chops with added shepherd’s purse, but the taste was quite good.

At least Xu Yi and Lu Ke were satisfied with it, and they moved about a bit before starting work again.

Xu Yi began to craft a new saddle, while Lu Ke grabbed Xu Yi’s machete to saw off a section of log to make a food bowl for the Giant Wolf.

Using fire made it easier, and during this process, she could still make some pottery.

By ten o’clock, the Giant Wolf’s food bowl was ready. Maybe because she just got a mount, Lu Ke found it quite novel.

Xu Yi was also inspired, thinking it would be good to make troughs for the reindeer to drink from.

After all, there were plenty of logs, and it wasn’t too difficult to make.

By eleven o’clock, Lu Ke went to bed with satisfaction.

Xu Yi adjusted the saddle on the Giant Wolf after testing it before he went upstairs to rest.

The giant wolf had already been led to the deer pen by Lu Ke, so at night, the Giant Wolf didn’t need to wear a muzzle.

If there was any trouble, the Giant Wolf could make a noise to alert them.

However, a whole night passed, and the Giant Wolf didn’t make any sound.

Lu Ke woke up right on time and went straight downstairs.

After giving the Giant Wolf two pieces of jerky, Lu Ke began practicing the Eighteen Forms of Body Strengthening and Fighting Techniques.

Lu Ke felt she was making noticeable progress every day, not sure if others were experiencing the same.

Half an hour later, Xu Yi woke up.

After completing the 81-day sign-in, Xu Yi got up and went downstairs.

After finishing their training, Xu Yi and Lu Ke went to cut some pasture.

Worried it might snow in the evening since it was cloudy today, Xu Yi feared they wouldn’t be able to cut pasture if it did snow.

The vegetation here was hardy, but if ice and snow didn’t melt, they couldn’t be harvested.

Also, Xu Yi wanted to continue trying to tame the reindeer.

Unfortunately, after using taming skills four times, Xu Yi wasn’t successful.

The success rate was too low, making successful taming quite challenging.

Taming the Giant Wolf was purely due to an extraordinary stroke of luck.

"Xu Yi, aren’t we going to the seaside today?" Lu Ke handed the basket to Xu Yi, asking in some confusion.

They were out of salt, and now that the Giant Wolf’s saddle was ready and secured, they could ride it to the seaside.

Even if Xu Yi went alone, he should have enough time to go and return within a day, right?

"No, not today. The bit for the Giant Wolf’s mouth isn’t ready. Maybe in a couple of days, I’ll ride it myself. I should be able to make the round trip in a day," Xu Yi said, then shouldered the basket.

Since the reindeer weren’t tamed yet, going to the seaside together was impractical unless they camped overnight outside.

However, with temperatures dropping below minus seven or eight degrees at night and possibly even more in the latter half of the night, it would be too hard to endure outside.

Lu Ke nodded in agreement with Xu Yi’s plan.

If Xu Yi could make it back within a day, there wouldn’t be much problem in going alone. Xu Yi’s skills were far superior to hers; if they encountered a situation, Xu Yi would have a much easier time escaping alone than if he had to watch over Lu Ke.

"Put the coat in this basket, then put it on the Giant Wolf," Xu Yi said, handing two connected bamboo baskets to Lu Ke.

Then he took out the saddle and secured it onto the Giant Wolf.

The Giant Wolf seemed a bit resistant but seeing Xu Yi raise his fist, it obediently stood still as Xu Yi worked on it.

"Come on, mount it, and lead it to adapt to being a mount," Xu Yi said to Lu Ke, since at under a hundred pounds, she shouldn’t be much of a burden for the Giant Wolf.

"Can I?" Lu Ke looked at Xu Yi with a face full of surprise.

Riding a wolf, that was truly riding a wolf!

"Of course, go ahead," Xu Yi said with a smile.

The saddle was connected to stirrups made from bamboo, and they were sturdy enough for mounting.

Lu Ke took a deep breath and climbed up using the stirrups.

The Giant Wolf barked twice, seemingly dissatisfied, but with Xu Yi holding its leash, it had to accept.

"Looks good, it’s quite relaxed," Xu Yi remarked, then started leading the Giant Wolf forward.

Though it was called the Giant Wolf, it didn’t have the typical personality of a husky.

While these giant wolves were fierce, they were quite obedient.

Moreover, they had a sense of teamwork, knowing how to cooperate, and had more patience than other animals.

You could say it was an excellent mount and combat partner.

The premise was that you could subdue it and tame it.

However, the Giant Wolf seemed dissatisfied with Xu Yi’s speed, eager to run.

But Xu Yi was training it to obey commands, so he couldn’t let it run whenever it wanted.

Lu Ke, riding on the Giant Wolf, found it quite comfortable with her legs on the stirrups.

One hand held the front handle of the saddle, while the other gripped a hand crossbow to guard against any animals in the vicinity.

After a while, the Giant Wolf became excited, seemingly smelling something, and wanted to hunt it down. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Xu Yi was controlling it; if it couldn’t pass this hurdle, it couldn’t become a qualified mount and would only be a hunting wolf.