This kind of raw lacquer could be found in the mountains, but now wasn’t the right time for harvesting. Lacquer was typically collected during the dog days of summer. However, a shop in town specialized in it, so Li Xiang went directly to town to buy some.

On the way to town, there was a temporary market in a small grove. On his way back, Li Xiang stopped in to browse. He bought some fresh fish from the local anglers to add some variety to his meals. The little cats could eat it too; they were probably getting tired of eating dried fish and snake meat every day.

"Fine cowhides! Get ’em cheap!"

An old man’s cry caught Li Xiang’s attention, so he walked over.

In front of the old man, the ground was covered with cowhides—whole ones, at that. They were yellow cattle hides, and there were five or six of them. Li Xiang asked curiously, "Sir, where did you get so many cowhides?"

After all, this market in the grove was just a place for some of the surrounding farmers to set up and trade goods. No one was here to run a dedicated business. Many people didn’t even have stalls; they just laid their wares directly on the ground.

The old man sighed. "Ah, don’t get me started. I used to raise and sell cattle. But then that damned snowstorm came... my cattle pen collapsed, and the cows were buried in the snow. By the time we dug them out, several had already died."

"How much for one?" Li Xiang asked. He felt sorry for the old man and wanted to give him some business. When he’d posted his cleaver cover of "Horse Race," his fans had praised his dexterity, saying that if he were to play war drums, it would be a truly impressive sight.

The idea took root in Li Xiang’s mind. He would buy a cowhide and take it home to make a large drum!

There weren’t many instruments he liked, but drums were one of them. Yellow cattle hide was the perfect material for making drums.

’It’s not entirely about making videos or earning money from livestreams,’ he thought. ’I genuinely enjoy this kind of thing. In these rare, peaceful times, why not indulge myself and do something I like?’

’Just ask those anglers selling fish over there why they fish from dawn till dusk and still don’t leave after dark. It’s to please themselves, to be happy. They don’t come here to sell fish just for the money; there’s a bit of showing off involved, too.’

"200 for one," the old man said. "They’ve all been salted, so they haven’t spoiled."

The price was quite reasonable, so Li Xiang didn’t haggle. He pulled out six red bills. "I’ll take three!"

The old man’s face lit up with excitement, his cloudy old eyes brightening. "Thank you, thank you! I’ll help you carry them to your vehicle!"

Li Xiang had intended to carry them himself, but the old man insisted on helping, so he let him.

The old man said emotionally, "I’ve been trying to sell these for days and have only sold two. You’re the first person to be so generous and buy three at once."

Li Xiang laughed and rode his three-wheeler home.

Cowhide wasn’t just for making large drums. It could also be used for belts, boots, bags, chairs, and more. The only issue was that processing it was a bit of a hassle.

Since the old man’s hides had only been simply salted and air-dried to prevent spoilage, Li Xiang had more work to do now that he was back.

He tossed the three yellow cattle hides into a large vat to soak. This process would take about three or four days. Because the old man’s hides had not only been salted but also sun-dried, they were quite dry and hard and needed a long soak in water to soften them up.

After tossing them into the vat, he put on the lid and left them to it, turning his attention to the wine gourds.

Applying raw lacquer to the wine gourds produced a rather handsome finished product. Naturally, Li Xiang also recorded a video of the process.

He then took two other gourds that he hadn’t processed yet and worked on them using the same steps as before. These two gourds were much larger than the previous one; one was about forty-something centimeters tall, while the other was nearly sixty.

Because the gourds were bigger, the openings he made were also slightly larger, which meant the wooden stoppers had to be bigger as well.

Once these three gourds were finished, they would probably be able to hold most of the Spirit Wine from his jar.

Li Xiang also wove some nice-looking nets out of hemp rope so he could carry the gourds slung over his body.

...

After eight or nine days, the "warm spell" was over. A cold front swept in again, and the temperature plummeted. The daytime high barely reached 10°C, while at night it dropped as low as eight or nine degrees below zero. Despite the cold, it was still a Sunny Day, and there was no more heavy snow.

When Li Xiang woke up early in the morning, he found a thick layer of ice in the kitchen’s water vat. However, because the Overlapping Waterfall in his courtyard was fed by a flowing mountain spring, only a thin ring of ice had formed around the edges of its basin. The edges of the drainage ditch were also thinly iced over, but the running water still flowed freely.

Suddenly, a system prompt appeared: "Detected: one Tier Six Mutated Creature, a Three-tailed Red Phoenix Fox."

Li Xiang’s heart skipped a beat. He looked toward the distant chicken coop. ’Don’t foxes love to steal chickens?’ But then, his gaze fell upon the doghouse.

Because there, in the doghouse, nestled in the thick straw beside Er Huang, was a faint splash of fiery red.

He hurried over and peered inside. ’What the—’ Er Huang was sleeping together with an entirely crimson Little Fox. When it saw Li Xiang approach, the Little Fox immediately jumped up and hid in a corner of the doghouse.

Er Huang barked twice at Li Xiang—WOOF WOOF—as if to say, ’She’s my friend, Master! Don’t hurt her!’

"You damn dog!" Li Xiang cursed, annoyed. ’Dahuang just died, not even a month ago, and you’re already hooking up with a fox? Is that any way to honor Dahuang’s memory?’

’Well, Dahuang was a male, and this fox is clearly a female,’ he mused. ’She even has delicate features and alluring, foxy eyes.’

Li Xiang had seen a Three-tailed Red Phoenix Fox in his past life. Its body was fiery red, as if engulfed in burning flames. Its three large, fluffy tails flowed behind it like the plumage of a phoenix. It was an exceptionally beautiful Demon Beast that also gave off heat.