LSLFBW: Chapter 129

The temperature was cold but within the Black Mountain Tribe, it was like spring.

In the wrestling ring in the square, energetic beastmen were still competing but the pace had slowed down considerably. Clearly, their purpose was no longer simply to find a mate. It was more to hone their combat skills.

Today was the third day of the mating season, and most of the tribe members had already found partners to spend the winter with.

Honestly, Qi Bai was truly impressed by the speed at which the beastmen found partners. After all, many of them had only known each other for a bit over twenty days. In modern times, that would be considered a flash marriage.

However, he was also someone who found a partner within the last three days so it seemed quite reasonable.

Qi Bai thought this while folding a flower stem and tucking the wind spirit flower behind Lang Ze’s ears.

Perhaps Qi Bai’s actions last night had inspired Lang Ze. Today, the two of them arrived at the braised meat stall under the big tree and Lang Ze would frequently lean over to ask Qi Bai to put a flower on him.

Just now, Lang Ze had nudged him again.

Horned beastmen on the Beastman Continent might wear flowers given by sub-beastmen but few were like Lang Ze, sporting a head full of little flowers. He seemingly wanted to tell the whole world that he already had a partner.

Of course, the somewhat silly flowers on his head couldn’t hide Lang Ze’s sharp temperament and handsome face.

In fact, the contrast made him seem rather cute.

“Ahem.” Yang Luo cleared his throat twice, interrupting Qi Bai’s smile.

Qi Bai finally noticed Yang Luo standing in front of the braised meat stall. “Grandpa Priest, what would you like to eat?”

Yang Luo didn’t want to eat anything. Just seeing the two of them made him feel full. He said irritably, “You two, come to my cave.”

Qi Bai looked at Yang Luo’s somewhat indignant back and Lang Ze’s smug expression, and instantly understood. This little flower was specifically designed to annoy Yang Luo.

This old man and young man, usually arrogant or aloof, would act like children when they faced each other.

Qi Bai and Lang Ze followed Yang Luo into his cave. They saw Hou Yan already there, carefully placing the stone slabs recording the tribe member’s work points on the wall.

Hou Yan saw Yang Luo enter first with an unfriendly expression and understood what happened. He felt a sense of comfort when he saw the two young people walking intimately together.

Hou Yan smiled as he said, “I hope I didn’t disturb you by calling you over at this time.”

Making two young beastmen work on such an important day as the mating day was indeed unfair.

Qi Bai waved his hands repeatedly. “How could that be, Grandpa Chief? This was all agreed upon.”

Qi Bai and Lang Ze naturally knew why Yang Luo had asked them to come over.

The mating day was ending today and the houses in the tribe needed to be allocated quickly.

The weather was getting colder every day. The sooner the allocation was completed, the fewer days the tribe members would have to endure the cold.

Qi Bai’s mention of these things being agreed upon was true.

The start and end dates of the tribe’s mating season weren’t set arbitrarily.

Firstly, choosing the start of the mating season to be when the houses were completed would both motivate the tribe members to work hard and allow everyone to relax without any burden afterward.

Secondly, after the mating season ended, the newly built houses would be almost completely dried out. When allocating houses, it would also be possible to take care of the newly formed couples and allocate their houses together.

Thirdly, in the past few days, blush-inducing sounds would be hard coming from the small forests around the tribe every evening. The forests were almost overcrowded. It was necessary to allocate houses quickly or it wouldn’t be good to keep everyone out in the wild.

Yang Luo didn’t stand on ceremony with Qi Bai and Lang Ze. He pointed to the stone slab and said, “Let’s begin.”

Their first task was to calculate the scores of all tribe members over the past month or so since the points system was implemented.

This wasn’t as much work as they had imagined.

Just as Qi Bai and Yang Luo had said, the tribe members were very diligent in their work. No one gave up the extra points they could earn every day, so the scores of the tribe members were actually quite similar.

However, the Xiaoniu and Horse Tribes joined later so the scores in the tribe currently fell into two major ranges.

The first range consisted of the first group of tribe members who implemented the points system and their scores were around 80 points. The second range consisted of the Horse and Xiaoniu Tribes who joined later, whose scores were around 40 points.

There were two main reasons for the difference in scores among tribe members who started scoring at the same time.

One was that Lang Ze had led a small group of tribe members to the seaside to search for salt.

The other was that some tribe members were recovering from injuries and naturally couldn’t participate in the tribe’s work.

Furthermore, several injured Horse Tribe members hadn’t earned a single point yet.

Hou Yan frowned. “What are we going to do?”

The tribe implemented a points system to increase people’s sense of belonging, not to deduct from their income.

Qi Bai had already included everyone in the plan when he calculated the number of houses.

Hou Yan had never studied modern management models and was clearly stumped by this unexpected situation.

Lang Ze said, “The Horse and Xiaoniu Tribes’ horned beastmen were injured before joining the tribe, but that doesn’t change the fact that they were injured protecting the tribe. I think they should be rewarded.”

Qi Bai immediately nodded in agreement, “That’s right. It isn’t just about rewarding them. The five horned beastmen who died in battle should also be rewarded.”

Hou Yan asked in confusion, “They are already dead. How can they be rewarded?”

Qi Bai answered, “Their partners or children can be rewarded. If they don’t have partners or children, their relatives or friends can be rewarded. They sacrificed themselves for the tribe and the tribe can’t forget their glory.”

Yang Luo pondered on it for a moment before nodding. “That’s right. It isn’t just the wounded and the dead. All the tribe members who faced the bulls’ attacks without flinching should be rewarded.”

Early the next morning, all the tribe members were gathered together. They sat in the middle of the square, opposite a wooden table with two pottery jars on it.

At this time, Yang Luo and Hou Yan were sitting behind the wooden table. They would be responsible for supervising the upcoming house assignment process.

The priest and chief’s houses were designated from the beginning. They were located precisely in the center of the first row of houses, so all the tribe members could easily identify their homes.

Everyone chatted excitedly because they had just been told they could exchange 30 points for a house.

They weren’t entirely sure how much 30 points was, but this didn’t dampen their excitement.

Yang Luo nodded to Qi Bai, who took a step forward. Seeing his movement, everyone gradually calmed down.

Early that morning, Qi Bai had used a charcoal pencil to number all the tribe’s houses from one to three hundred.

These numbers were also written on identical bamboo slips, which were then placed in two narrow-mouthed earthenware jars, creating two lottery jars.

Now Qi Bai’s task was to explain the rules of the lottery to everyone.

Qi Bai pointed to the lottery jar on the left and said, “Each bamboo strip in his jar represents a unique house number.”

Then he pointed to the pottery jar on the right. “This jar contains the numbers for two adjacent houses.”

“The priest and chief have already calculated everyone’s points. Later, I will call out everyone’s name according to their points. You can choose to draw a bamboo strip from one of these two jars. Of course, if you choose the jar for two houses, both of you need to come forward at the same time.”

The houses in the tribe were all built together. Apart from the two houses at the front, the other houses were the same size and layout. This meant the order of drawing lots wouldn’t affect the choice of house.

The two large houses weren’t included in the plan. One was a two-bedroom, one-living room house built first and had been used as a home for the children. The other was temporarily vacant.

“Does anyone have any questions about the lottery?”

Niu Shuo was the first to raise his hand. After being in the Black Mountain Tribe for so long, everyone had attended many meetings, big and small. They understood that they had to raise their hand first if they wanted to speak in a meeting.

Qi Bai nodded to him. “What is your question?”

Niu Shu’s question wasn’t about himself. He asked, “If someone doesn’t have enough points to exchange for a house, can I give them my points?”

Niu Shuo’s partner, Niu Xu, was the only one in the Niu Tribe who could quickly count numbers. He had just calculated on the ground and found that some tribe members didn’t have enough points.

If possible, the two of them could live together, even if it was in a tent, and give those points to the injured tribe members, who needed a warm place to recover.

Qi Bai smiled. “You don’t need to worry about that. The tribe will compensate you if you are injured for the tribe and its members. It doesn’t matter even if you don’t have enough points now. You just have to make up for the points you owe before spring.”

Niu Shuo and Niu Xu exchanged looks, both seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes. The concept of ‘debt’ hadn’t formed in their minds yet.

In any case, the injured members felt much more at ease. They were certain that once their injuries healed, they would be able to earn enough points quickly.

After Niu Xu, the boy from the Horse Tribe, Ma Xiang, also raised his hand.

Ma Xiang looked around and asked, “Can only two people live together? I have many people in my tribe and I want to live with everyone.”

Ma Xiang’s question reflected the concerns of most people present. They didn’t understand why they had to draw lots. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just distribute the houses directly?

It wasn’t just Ma Xiang. Yang Luo had also asked this question yesterday. “If everyone draws lots using your method, wouldn’t it mean that neighboring tribe members won’t be familiar with each other, apart from the person they choose?”

Qi Bai replied, “No one is born knowing each other. In the current tribe, besides the original Black Mountain Tribe, there are at least four other large groups. They are the Silver Moon Tribe, the Horse Tribe, the Xiaoniu Tribe and the Xishui Tribe. There are also the slaves exchanged from the Rough Wood Tribe.

The ancestors of China had already provided an excellent solution to prevent these conflicts. It was to blur the barriers between tribes and make the tribe members accept the concept of ‘a big family.’

In Qi Bai’s original homeland, the long-term coexistence and integration of different ethnic groups created a peaceful and stable domestic environment.

China, a nation with dozens of ethnic groups, was able to maintain unity precisely because of this inclusive political philosophy.

In order to achieve this, the first step was to blue the lines regarding dwellings.

The Black Mountain Tribe itself wasn’t large. Regardless of the distribution, familiar tribe members wouldn’t live far apart.

However, the ones they saw most often every day were their neighbors. Their neighbors could be anyone, thus increasing connections among everyone.

Yang Luo and Hou Yan had never considered this, but it didn’t mean they were stupid. With just a bit of thought, they could understand the wisdom behind Qi Bai’s method.

However, this reason couldn’t be explained to everyone. Many things required subtle influence, and directly stating them wouldn’t achieve the desired result.

At this moment, Lang Ze stepped forward. He stood beside Qi Bai and said coldly, “The tribe can’t afford to spend time fulfilling everyone’s wishes. This distribution method is the fairest for every tribe member.”

Ma Xiang scratched his head and lowered his hand as if it made sense.

Then a heated discussion broke out in the crowd as everyone considered if they should find someone to draw lots with or not.

Qi Bai and Lang Ze waited quietly for a while. Seeing that everyone had almost finished digesting the news, they said, “If there are no other questions, let’s begin now.”

No one could understand what was written on the stone slab recording the points, but Qi Bai still placed the slab in front.

He pointed to the first name on the slab. “First place, Xiong Feng, 94 points.”

Xiong Feng, who was holding a child, looked at Shu Lin blankly after hearing this. He was unable to believe his ears. “I’m… first place?”

At this time last year, Xiong Feng hadn’t caught any prey due to an injured arm and he didn’t even have the right to choose a cave. In the end, it was because Shu Lin took him in that he had a place to stay.

Now just one year later, he had become number one among so many tribe members.

Qi Bai laughed. “That’s right. Of these points, 84 are from your usual labor, 2 are a reward for leading your people in building houses, and 8 are a reward for your outstanding performance in the battle against the bulls.”

Shu Lin was overjoyed and quickly pulled the still dazed Xiong Feng to his feet, exclaiming, “I knew you were the best! We are number one! I’ve never been number one before.”

Shu Lin’s straightforward praise made Xiong Feng blush. Thankfully, his dark skin made it less noticeable.

Seeing Shu Lin’s delighted expression, Xiong Feng secretly resolved to always be number one and keep Shu Lin happy like this.

The three of them happily ran to the wooden table. Unsurprisingly, they chose the pottery jar for two houses.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Shu Lin took out a bamboo stick from the jar and handed it to Qi Bai.

Qi Bai took it and saw ‘56-57’ written on it.

Qi Bai returned the wooden stick to them and deducted 30 points from each of them on the stone slab.

They held the bamboo stick and Xiong Shan as they ran straight to the houses behind them. They needed to find their future homes based on the numbers on the bamboo stick.

There was such a good start that the rest went much more smoothly.

Everyone stepped forward in the order Qi Bai called their names, took out a bamboo stick from the pottery jar, handed it to QI Bai for confirmation and used the bamboo stick to find their homes.

“Ma Fu.”

The sub-beastman sitting in the crowd looked at Qi Bai in confusion. “Did you call the wrong name? How could I have more points than Song?”

Qi Bai replied, “It isn’t a mistake. Your child, Ma Xi, died in the battle against the barbarian bulls. We will always remember him. These points are what he earned.”

Hearing Qi Bai’s words, Ma Fu covered his face with his hands and silently shed tears. His child hadn’t died in vain. Everyone remembered him.

Hearing this, Ma Song and Niu Shuo were even more grateful that they had brought the Xishui and Xiaoniu Tribes to join the Black Mountain Tribe.

It didn’t matter if it was the Black Mountain Tribe’s emphasis on each member or Qi Bai’s ability to remember so many people in the tribe so clearly.

Such wisdom was something they could never acquire.

However, the two of them were unaware that the wisdom they envied would soon be available to everyone.

Just as Qi Bai and other people had anticipated, most tribe members came in groups to draw lots. If they weren’t partners, they were likely friends or family. Even Hou Su and Ci Yi came together. Unlike the other tribe members, Hou Su was the only skilled worker in the Black Mountain Tribe so he received a house for free.

Due to this, the house allocation was completed quickly.

Qi Bai stood on the stone platform and looked down. The tribe members moved happily among the neat houses, filling the once empty houses with a lively atmosphere.

At first glance, it looked like a leisurely little village.

A white wolf carrying four large rattan baskets affectionately rubbed against Qi Bai’s cheek. Qi Bai smiled and turned his face away, tightening the straps of the baskets. “Let’s go.”

“Awoo~”