Skinning the animals wasn't much trouble and went quite smoothly. However, the current weather made it impossible to process the hides right away, so they needed to be pre-treated to prevent them from spoiling.
First, they had to scrape away any residual flesh and fat from the hides. Then, they used clean water to wash off any dirt, dung, or blood clinging to the fur.
They started with the fox pelt.
They hung the fox's nose on a nail, fur-side in, and stretched the pelt over a smooth, rounded wooden beam. Then, using a fleshing knife, they scraped the fat off from back to front.
The goal was to scrape off all the residual flesh and subcutaneous fat without damaging the pelt. Throughout the process, they had to frequently wipe their fingers to keep grease from staining the fur.
Ji Huan watched from the side for a while and, deciding it looked simple enough, jumped right in to help.
Whenever she did something wrong, Guan Shan would offer a quiet correction.
