Qi Bai was stopped when he just returned to the tribe. He turned around and saw that it was Yang Luo.
Hou Yan and Yang Luo were under a tall tree not far from the cave. Qi Bai hurried over.
Yang Luo didn’t need to ask where QI Bai went and asked directly, “Where did you arrange them?”
Qi Bai told him the location.
Yang Luo glared at him. “I said to expel them from the tribe, but you arranged them under my nose. Are you really going against me?”
Qi Bai smiled. “I know that Grandpa Priest doesn’t really want to expel them from the tribe. They are just so noisy that they need some lessons. Let them live there for two days in the wind and rain. But if they go too far, it will be troublesome for us to find them later.”
Yang Luo didn’t say anything else, and Hou Yan was also silent.
Qi Bai didn’t have much contact with this tribe chief. He usually looked honest and rushed to do everything in the tribe. He never put on the airs of a tribe chief, but today he frowned. This was a bit scary.
Yang Luo waved his hands impatiently. “Forget it. Go back to work.”
“Okay!” Qi Bai still responded with a smile.
Once Qi Bai walked away, Yang Luo opened his mouth and said, “I guess Bao Bai will always care about the two kids. Besides that, I will also pay attention to them. But this matter is far more than just a fight between the two of them. I think you should’ve noticed the problem in the tribe.”
Hou Yan was silent for a moment before saying, “You also know the situation of the hunting team. There are only ten adult horned beastmen. Except for me, Hu Huo isn’t suitable for hunting due to his limited mobility. Xiang Yu and three others are a bit older. They can still hold on temporarily, but it isn’t a long-term solution.”
“Now the hunting team mainly relies on the remaining five young horned beastmen. Lang Ze, Ma Shu, Ma Ling, Xiong (bear) Feng and Huan (badger) Ping. All five of them are slaves. Even the horned beastmen who are about to become adults are basically slaves.”
This was something that actually wasn’t difficult to predict. The physique of horned beastmen was much stronger than that of sub-beastmen. Except for those with disabilities like Hu Huo, most of the young and middle-aged horned beastmen could keep up with the pace of the tribe’s migration. On the contrary, it was the slaved horned beastmen, who had no strength due to the lack of food or had run away from their original tribe during the chaos, that led to so many young horned beastmen gathering in this tribe.
Therefore, in the Black Mountain Tribe, the ratio of horned beastmen to sub-beastmen was reasonable on the surface. But looking closely at the horned beastmen slaves who were in their prime, they were much more than in ordinary tribes.
The two of them were silent for a while before Yang Luo said, “I don’t know if you have heard of the Silver Moon Tribe.”
He didn’t wait for Hou Yan’s answer and continued, “The Silver Moon Tribe used to be one of the largest tribes on the grassland, but they expanded too fast. There were thousands of slaves in the tribe alone. In the end, these slaves became disloyal and joined forces with the Floating Water Tribe to wipe out the entire Silver Moon Tribe.”
This was what Hou Yan didn’t say explicitly, but they both knew what Hou Yan was worried about. In other words, how should they treat these slaves?
It was impossible not to give them food and water, because the tribe still needed them to work. However, they couldn’t give the slaves too much for fear of no longer being able to control the slaves after the slaves gained strength.
Hou Yan said in a deep voice, “Such a thing will never happen in the Black Mountain Tribe.”
Yang Luo rubbed between his eyebrows. “Don’t speak too certainly. In particular, there is that guy Lang Ze. You have to keep a close eye on him. He might be a slave, but his eyes are full of ambition. If he finds an opportunity, it is hard to say what he won’t do.”
Qi Bai didn’t know about the secret conversation between Yang Luo and Hou Yan.
The whole tribe was still busy when Qi Bai returned to the tribe.
The rattan basket that Qi Bai carried back was no longer in its original place. It seemed that it had been taken away. These sweet potatoes needed to be dried, but the dew was heavy in autumn. They had to wait until tomorrow to start drying.
The tribe had started to cook dinner, but it wasn’t as lively as before. Everyone was silent and doing their own things.
Shu Lin, who had been clamoring for ginger-stewed meat before, was also gone. Shu Lin seemed to be familiar with Sun Qing. Now Sun Qing had been expelled from the tribe, and his younger brother Sun Yuan was still clamoring to find his brother. It was no wonder that Shu Lin wasn’t in the mood to care about food.
Lang Ze came over of his own initiative, holding four sweet potatoes in his hands. It turned out that in addition to the deer meat stew for dinner today, everyone was also given two sweet potatoes.
Qi Bai went to pick up some dry firewood. He dug a hole in the ground and spread out the dry firewood. Then he turned around and asked, “Lang Ze, do you want to roast your sweet potatoes together?”
“Okay.” Lang Ze handed his sweet potatoes to Qi Bai.
Qi Bai put the four sweet potatoes together. He covered them with some soil and dry firewood. Then he lit the fire and cooked them.
The two of them had a tacit understanding. No one mentioned what just happened.
Qi Bai was busy preparing food while Lang Ze took out the materials he collected today. He put them on the stove and started to grind them.
“Are these the grass juices used to tan animal skins?” Qi Bai asked curiously.
“Yes. Apply the grass juice once every three days for a total of three times.” Lang Ze introduced the materials to Qi Bai one by one. Then he took out two small flowers of different colors and handed them to Qi Bai. “Smell it. Which one do you like?”
Qi Bai took the two flowers. One was bright yellow with slender petals, and one had red stamens and white petals. “Both of them are beautiful!”
He sniffed them one by one. Both flowers had a faint fragrance. “I think the yellow one smells good. What is it for? You didn’t say yesterday that you needed to add these flowers?”
Lang Ze threw the yellow ones under the stone and smashed them. “These flowers aren’t necessarily needed, but after adding the flowers, the tanned animal skin will have a fragrance. In this case, an extra layer of vanilla needs to be added. I happened to come across it today.”
Qi Bai didn’t expect Lang Ze’s tanning method to be so magical. After all, his previous tribe didn’t have such a technique.
Qi Bai took back the dried sheepskin, spread it on the stone, and sprinkled the grass juice on it. He rubbed it repeatedly to ensure that the juice could completely soak the entire animal skin.
The two of them discussed it while working. He soon finished coating the entire animal skin. “Is this okay?:” Qi Bai shook the green animal skin.
“Spread out the whole skin to dry and re-apply it after a few days. It should be fine.”
“Okay.”
Qi Bai found a branch and hung the animal skin on it to dry. But if he wanted to spread the skin out, he needed to make a simple rack like Hu Huo.
This wasn’t difficult. Lang Ze cut down two small trees, tied thin branches to the bottom for support, and then tied a discarded bamboo pole.
The weather had been good these days, so they put the rack outside. The two skins were pulled outward with straw ropes and tightly clamped on the bracket.
Qi Bai looked at the animal skins and his heart filled with accomplishment. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead. “Oh no, our sweet potatoes are still on fire.”
Qi Bai hurried to the fire. At this time, there was only a small flame left in the fire. Qi Bai used a branch to push away the ash covering it, revealing the sweet potatoes that had been roasted until they were juicy.
Qi Bai was very surprised to find that their sweet potatoes weren’t burnt but looked sweeter.
Qi Bai ate his sweet potatoes in small bites, but his heart wasn’t at peace.
During the day, he felt that life in the beastmen world was really simple and happy. Then at night, someone was expelled from the tribe.
He didn’t know if Sun Qing and Zhu Ya could have dinner tonight. They could’ve eaten such sweet food like sweet potatoes.
Qi Bai was very glad that he was lucky enough to transmigrate to an ordinary beastmen. If he was a slave, he didn’t know if he could do better than Sun Qing. In any case, life definitely wouldn’t be as leisurely as it was now.
Every world had its own rules.
This was the first time Qi Bai discovered that he needed to become stronger. It was only when he was strong that he could do what he wanted to do.
Sweet potatoes had been unanimously recognized by everyone. The main task of the tribe in recent days was to store as many sweet potatoes as possible.
Therefore, early in the morning, they had a simple breakfast before Yang Luo led the team to set out to collect sweet potatoes.
Qi Bai stayed in the tribe today. He guessed that Yang Luo hoped he would take care of the slaves left behind in the tribe.
After all, there was an old sub-beastman in the camp yesterday, but he didn’t stop Zhu Ya from kicking Sun Qing. This led to the conflict between the two beastmen later.
Yang Luo knew that the only ordinary beastman in the tribe who could treat slaves equally was Qi Bai.
Qi Bai’s equal treatment was different from Shu Lin’s attitude of making friends. Qi Bai was someone who was grateful to Lang Ze for saving him, which was absolutely unique in the beastmen world.
By leaving Qi Bai behind, Yang Luo could take care of the gathering team with peace of mind. The number of people in the tribe wasn’t large to begin with, so it couldn’t withstand further reduction.
Qi Bai worked as a kindergarten teacher for a day, but the children in the tribe were very easy to take care of. After what happened yesterday, everyone worked honestly today.
Qi Bai tied some small branches with leaves on a long bamboo pole with straw ropes to make small brooms. Then he handed them to the children. They took the brooms in surprise and started to sweep the open space. Those who didn’t get the brooms pulled out weeds while looking at Qi Bai eagerly.
The corners of Qi Bai’s mouth kept curving up. Who wouldn’t like children who weren’t naughty and were as obedient as them?
Just like that, the new tools caused everyone to rush to work. The large square of around 30 square meters marked out by Yang Luo was finally cleared today.
However, there were still two towering trees in the middle of the square.
The thinner trees had been cut down. These two trees were too thick. The thinner one couldn’t be hugged by three people, while the thicker one would probably take four or five people to hug. It was too difficult to cut down such trees.
Even so, Qi Bai felt that the whole square looked more beautiful than these two trees.
Looking at the leaves left on the tree, Qi Bai seemed to be able to foresee how cool it would be under such a huge tree in summer.
Qi Bai took the children, moved all the sweet potatoes out, and spread them directly on the ground.
This was a precious food for the tribe, so everyone was very careful.
In the afternoon, Qi Bai moved a big stone and sat under the big tree. He wanted to try and make a simple wooden rake.
He used a stone axe to split apart the tree trunk he had cut down before. He made three wooden blocks with thin lower ends and thick upper ends. Then he tied the three wooden blocks to a long piece of wood. Finally, he tied a thick wooden stick as a handle to make a low-level rake.
Qi Bai didn’t make the rake very long. After all, the connection of the rake was tied with straw ropes. It must not be that strong.
Even if the sweet potatoes were dug out with a rake, everyone still needed to squat on the ground to pick up the sweet potatoes. Therefore, Qi Bai simply made a short handle. This not only increased durability, but also played the role he wanted.
As Qi Bai was doing this, a group of children surrounded him. Each of them opened their eyes, which looked particularly large due to their thinness, and watched motionlessly.
Qi Bai was also very patient. Their work for the day had been completed ahead of schedule. Now he had enough time to teach them.
For some of the older ones, Qi Bai asked them to follow him to learn how to do it. A few of them really made it in a decent manner.
Qi Bai took his homemade rake and walked to a border filled with weeds. He tried to weed and loosen the ground with the rake. It felt pretty good.
Once Yang Luo returned with the gathering team, he saw the square that had been cleaned up. The red sweet potatoes were neatly dried on the ground. Even the rattan basket was neatly packed.
The beastmen rarely stepped on such flat land. There were no small stones or annoying insects on the ground. They subconsciously slowed down their pace.
Yang Luo nodded with satisfaction. He didn’t expect Qi Bai to do so well. He looked at Qi Bai carefully and started to wonder if it was time for him to accept a student.
“Grandpa Priest!”
The group of children saw Yang Luo and hurriedly showed the tools in their hands to Yang Luo like offering treasures.
Yang Luo’s face, which had been tense all day, finally smiled. “Good, good.”
Looking at the appearance of these children, he couldn’t help thinking about Zhu Ya and Sun Qing again. He didn’t know if the two of them had found something to eat today.
The two people, who were being worried about, weren’t idle at this moment. Instead, they brought Yang Luo a huge surprise.
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