LSLFBW: Chapter 16

The water in the pool was a bit cold, but the people in the pool didn’t feel cold. Qi Bai felt like he was wrapped in soft jade.

Every inch of his body felt like it was being massaged by a current.

Qi Bai first started to deal with his animal skin. He placed the fur inside the skin facing up under the water flow of the waterfall, picked up a stone in the water, and started to polish the remaining fat on the animal skin.

Since his animal skin had been peeled off for several days, the skin had become a bit sticky and didn’t feel very good. Fortunately, it was very intact.

Qi Bai was a bit worried at first that washing it directly with clean water wouldn’t be able to clean the grease. Perhaps because the mountain spring water was rich in minerals, but the final effect was beyond Qi Bai’s expectations. Not only the inner skin, but also the wool side was washed very clean.

The sheepskin in his hand also changed from a knotted gray to a milky white color. It looked very pleasing.

QI Bai placed the fur under the waterfall to continue to wash it. Then he started to take a bath.

He had been on the road these days. Except for a simple bath at the river while boiling salt, he hadn’t taken a bath for many days.

Since this waterfall wasn’t high and the force of the water splashing on his body wasn’t strong, Qi Bai thought he would never have a chance to take a shower in this life. He didn’t expect to have such a good experience under the waterfall.

Qi Bai pulled his slightly long hair behind his head and washed it thoroughly. He felt refreshed when he came out of the water.

Qi Bai shook his hair like a kitten. Then he took the animal skin out from under the waterfall and shook the animal skin as he walked.

He had only taken a few steps when he saw Lang Ze leaning against a tree and waiting for him quietly, holding some wild grass in his hand.

The figure in the moonlight brightened up the entire forest.

“You didn’t leave?” Qi Bai quickened his pace.

Lang Ze waited for Qi Bai to catch up before turning around and walking forward together. “Yes, there happens to be some grass here that could be used. I picked some of it.”

Qi Bai came forward with still-wet hair. “Is this the grass used to tan animal skins?”

“That’s right. This is the wind grass. We also need catalpa bark and blue grass. I’ll look for it tomorrow.”

Qi Bai looked at the grass in Lang Ze’s hand with a curious expression. “If I encounter it tomorrow, I will bring some back.”

“Okay,” Lang Ze responded in a low voice.

The voices gradually faded away. The shadows of the two young men gradually lengthened and slowly drew closer.

After returning to the tribe, Qi Bai found a small tree and hung the animal skin on it.

Primitive tribes had many inconveniences, but there was one thing that modern society couldn’t compare to. It was everyone’s protection of private property.

In the tribe, stealing someone’s belongings would result in being expelled from the tribe if it was discovered.

But at the same time, snatching and challenging weren’t prohibited. Fists were the hard truth. As long as their fists were hard enough, even the position of tribe chief could be challenged at any time.

The Black Mountain Tribe was an isolated, small tribe. In such a closed environment, everyone’s property was clear at a glance. Therefore, there was no need to worry about anything as long as they protected their own things and didn’t let wild animals take them away.

Early the next morning, Qi Bai ate a big bowl of wild vegetables and rabbit stew before putting a rattan basket on his back.

Everyone might’ve praised Qi Bai’s food, but it wasn’t easy to make a big pot meal to that extent.

Forget everything else, just the oil alone didn’t have enough supply. At a time when everyone was still hungry, it was too wasteful to use a lot of fat to make oil.

Therefore, they wanted to cook a small meal?

Okay, but take something to exchange with Yang Luo.

Otherwise, everyone still had to eat when it was time to eat the stew.

Today, it was Qi Bai’s turn to go out for gathering. Due to the existence of the rattan baskets, they didn’t need to carry food back one by one. The gathering team could go to further places to collect.

Qi Bai followed Tu Ya down the Black Mountain and took a detour before reaching another mountain. It took nearly an hour on the road alone.

Behind the Black Mountain was a large rocky mountain with little soil and a shallow soil layer. This meant the plants weren’t as rich as on other mountains.

The mountain they arrived at now was different. The density of vegetation was obviously much higher than that of the Black Mountain.

Since they had to travel a longer distance this time, the younger Bao Xing and Li Li didn’t come with them. Thus, the remaining six people dispersed in teams of two.

The last time Qi Bai participated in the gathering was before he went to the beach. This time, Tu Ya personally took him with her and explained the plants on the mountain to Qi Bai as they walked. After seeing that he had a general understanding, she let him move alone while staying a bit further away.

At this time of year, some plants on the mountain had started to shed their leaves. He could step on the slightly yellow leaves when walking on the ground.

Many fruits had shriveled on the branches, making Qi Bai feel distressed when he saw it.

However, looking carefully, he could still find a lot of good things such as wild persimmons and wild dates. They might be a bit shriveled, but there was no need to be afraid. He could still eat them after picking them, and they were even sweeter than when the flesh was full.

Qi Bai also found a small chestnut tree on a small slope.

There was a pile of fallen chestnuts under the tree. Some still had their hairy shells, and some had already burst out and fell all over the ground. QI Bai happily picked them up around the chestnut tree.

Chestnuts were easy to store. Most importantly, they were delicious.

Qi Bai stood up and looked at the distant mountain where lush pine trees were growing. He didn’t know if these trees would produce pine nuts.

But it would take a lot of time to get there. Qi Bai felt that the pine forest wasn’t too close, so he didn’t think about it for the time being.

Qi Bai stopped after picking up most of the chestnuts in the basket. Mainly, there were too many shells on the chestnuts and they took up space. He had to leave space in the rattan basket for other food.

Just then, Tu Ya called to him softly. Qi Bai left the small slope and followed Tu Ya into the depths of the forest.

After walking for a while, Qi Bai noticed some yellow vines on the ground. They seemed familiar, but Tu Ya didn’t intend to stop and collect them.

The key was that there were many vines like this. They could come across some after walking a few steps. Qi Bai crouched on the ground and pulled a vine leaf. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like the sweet potato vine he had eaten before. Qi Bai followed the vine to find the root system. He dug up the soil and saw the red sweet potato.

However, these sweet potatoes weren’t as big as the sweet potatoes Qi Bai had eaten before. They were only around three or four fingers thick and around 15 cm long.

Qi Bai hadn’t eaten carbohydrate staples for a long time. Now he couldn’t help gulping when he saw the sweet potatoes. However, Tu Ya and the others had no intention of picking the sweet potatoes. This caused Qi Bai to be unsure if the sweet potatoes of this world could be eaten or not.

Qi Bai called out to Tu Ya, who was gathering wild fruits. “Tu Ya, can this fruit be eaten?”

Tu Ya saw the sweet potato in Qi Bai’s hand and wondered, “What type of fruit is this? Where did you find it?”

Qi Bai pointed to the pile of soil that had been dug up. Tu Ya looked at the sweet potato vines and said in surprise, “These vines were edible a few days ago, but they started to turn yellow these days. This made me stop picking them. I didn’t know there were fruits growing underneath!”

After hearing Tu Ya say that she had never seen it, Qi Bai broke off a small piece of the sweet potato in his hand and put it in his mouth. Tu Ya didn’t stop him when she saw it. They would encounter many unfamiliar wild vegetables and fruits in the mountains. It was okay to taste a bit, not to mention that she had already eaten the sweet potato vines, and it wasn’t poisonous.

The sweet potato still had a slightly earthy taste, but a sweet taste immediately came from his mouth. Qi Bai’s eyes lit up. This should be a sweet potato. “Delicious. This is sweet!”

Fresh sweet potatoes had a hint of sweetness, but they couldn’t eat too much.

“Really?” Tu Ya was also happy to hear this. After all, they had to rely mainly on fruits in the mountains if they wanted to eat sweets. But many fruits were sour. Not many were that sweet.

Qi Bai nodded, broke off a small piece, and gave it to Tu Ya. Tu Ya found that it was indeed sweet and clapped her hands. “Let’s find Diao Lan and Shu Lin. Let them come and have a look. If this fruit can be eaten, we will dig more back today.”

Diao Lan and Shu Lin were around the area at this time. They heard Tu Ya’s whistle and quickly gathered together.

At this time, Qi Bai and Tu Ya had already dug up a lot of sweet potatoes along the sweet potato vines. The sweet potatoes of different sizes were piled together, and it looked like a good harvest.

Diao Lan saw the sweet potatoes. She thought about it carefully before saying, “I seem to have seen someone exchanging them on the trading day. They should be sweet potatoes.”

‘Trading day’ was the day when some tribes gathered to exchange supplies. It was usually set in late autumn and before winter. The beastmen accumulated supplies during the harvest season. After exchanging the necessary supplies on the trading day, they could return to the tribe to spend the cold winter.

Diao Lan seemed to have thought of something and smiled. “I remember those beastmen claimed to be from the northern tribe. Aren’t we in the north now?”

Tu Ya was very surprised to hear Diao Lan’s words. “Since someone took it to the trading day to exchange, it must be edible. There are so many sweet potatoes on this mountain. Bao Bai just told me that as long as the sweet potatoes are dried, they won’t go bad even in winter. If this is true, we should let more people come to collect sweet potatoes.”

After hearing this, Shu Lin immediately started to look for sweet potato vines around them. He had been here several times with the collection team and had picked sweet potato vines before. He liked the taste of the white juice that flowed out after the vines were broken. These days, he found that these vines had turned yellow and had been feeling a bit depressed. He hadn’t expected there to be fruits buried in the soil.

Diao Lan looked at Qi Bai a few more times after hearing this. Qi Bai didn’t look like someone who had a lot of experience in gathering, but he knew knowledge that even the priest might not know.

After all, every time they collected food back to the tribe, the priest would check it one by one. The priest had seen the sweet potato vines but didn’t find the fruits in the soil.

Nevertheless, this wasn’t any of her business. Diao Lan quickly put this little episode behind her.