He already had experience baking bread on the stove. Although he wanted to make a “cake,” given their limited ingredients and tools, the best he could do was a large, softer version of his usual bread. Chen Qi didn’t worry too much about how it would taste — he just wanted to decorate it nicely.

The celebration would be held in Chen Qi’s courtyard and the main hall of his house. Luckily, Qi Ze City’s population wasn’t large. Excluding the part of the yard used for planting, the remaining space was just enough to fit everyone.

Early in the morning, Ka Luo and Ye Huo helped move tables and chairs from the school’s canteen and set them up. Before the ghost needle flowers around the courtyard withered, Chen Qi cut plenty of them to place into bamboo tubes for decoration. To keep the lightweight bamboo tubes from tipping over, he filled them with small stones for weight.

Several red lanterns were hung in the courtyard for lighting. The surrounding stone lamps were already filled with grease, and large, freshly made candles were placed on every table, so that even if tonight was moonless, there would be no need to worry about not being able to see clearly.

To enhance the atmosphere, Chen Qi also hung colorful paper decorations around the yard—especially on the tall fig tree, where strips of red and yellow paper swayed gently in the wind, looking beautifully festive.

After lunch, Chen Qi asked Ajing to help process the batch of floc fruits that Aze had brought back. There was no cream here, but the floc fruits were white, slightly sticky, sweet, and fragrant—perfect for use as a substitute.

They spread the mixed floc fruit paste over the surface of the baked and cooled cake, then decorated it with various fruits. Using fruit juice dyed in other colors, Chen Qi wrote “Happy Birthday” and a few simple words on top. Although the cake was simple and a bit rough, it still looked quite decent.

Only one cake had writing on it; the others, meant to be shared with everyone, were simply decorated.

Since the stove couldn’t bake anything large, they had to make do with smaller loaves.

During the day, everyone was busy with their own tasks, and Chen Qi didn’t have time to prepare every dish himself, so the theme for the evening would be a self-serve barbecue.

Normally, after burning firewood, Chen Qi would collect the leftover charcoal for winter use, so he wasn’t worried about running short. The iron plates used for grilling were made from the iron armor of theironshell-drake, hammered thin with good heat conduction. All Chen Qi needed to do was prepare the sauces.

By evening, the hunting team returned with an abundant catch of fish. Since this was the final hunt before winter, everyone had worked hard to make it a success. Azhang generously contributed several large fish for the communal dinner, and there was still plenty to distribute to every family. The big wooden crate that Chen Qi used last winter for storing game was packed full.

Perhaps because it was the very last night before winter, no one held back—they laughed, ate, and played freely. Smiles filled every face, and even the newly joined beastmen felt a bittersweet warmth rise in their chests.

In past years, when winter approached, the tribes they’d lived in always fell into a heavy, anxious silence. They would start rationing food and bracing themselves for the cold—no one would have imagined hosting a lively feast for the imminent arrival of winter.

Although this was their first winter in Qi Ze City, and Chen Qi’s ways were so different from anything they’d known before, no one felt uneasy. On the contrary, there was a quiet sense of peace, and even a faint conviction that this would be the best winter they had ever known.

The beastmen gathered in small groups, their eyes fixed on the food and the joyful lights around them. The looming cold and the lurking threat of dragons in the forest were, for now, completely forgotten.