LSLFBW: Chapter 46

It was still completely dark when Hu Xue, who lived on the second level of the Black Mountain, got up. She carried the rattan basket on her back and walked out of the cave. Her neighbor, She Li, appeared at the entrance of the cave at the same time as if they had made an appointment. The tribe was very quiet. The two people left quietly and came to the Man-Eating River.

The ice surface of the Man-Eating River was already more than ten centimeters thick. Hu Xue put down the rattan basket and gently tapped the river surface with a bamboo tube. She found the place where the tribe members usually caught fish and poked open a hole in the ice that had just formed. She only needed to wait quietly for a while, and she could catch a lot of fish with the rattan basket.

They scaled and gutted the fish directly on the ice. Then they scooped some river water with the bamboo tubes, rinsed the fish briefly, and threw them into the rattan baskets. After that, they hurried back to the tribe without stopping.

Today was the first day to officially start building the wall. The two of them had to prepare a hot breakfast for everyone early.

They filled a stone pot with snow water and brought it to a boil. Then they put a piece of fat in another stone pot to fry oil. They put the fish cut into large pieces into the pot and fried it until both sides were golden brown. Then they poured in the boiling hot water and simmered it slowly.

Bao Xing smelled the fragrance while sleeping. He stretched out his front paws towards the stone pot, and the entire leopard turned into a long strip.

Bao Yue, who had just woken up, punched him hard on the forehead.

This scene happened to be seen by Zhu Zhu, who walked into the cave. Zhu Zhu picked up Bao Yue with one hand and said, “How can you, a horned beastman, bully your sub-beastman brother every day?”

Bao Xing was woken up by his sister. He had no sense of being bullied at all. Just as he was about to say something, saliva started to flow from his triangular mouth.

Bao Yu struggled to get down to the ground. He imitated Zhu Zhu’s behavior, grabbed Bao Xing by the scruff of the neck, and took this disgraceful guy away.

Hou Yan and Lang Ye, who were unable to go out due to injuries, were sitting outside the stone wall and weaving straw ropes. They watched the children making bricks with a smile on their faces.

The production of clay bricks wasn’t as delicate as firing pottery. The clay was dug from the stream, and the pottery fragments from the previous failed pottery firing were crushed and mixed into the clay. Water was added and stirred evenly. Then it was thrown into a brick mold of uniform size specially made by Qi Bai. The edges and corners were smoothed with wood chips. Finally, the mold was gently shaken to take it out. Then the brick was ready.

The children had their own unique rules. Perhaps she used violence for suppression or it was her personal charm. In any case, Bao Yue had become the big sister of the collective cave early on. Now she was directing everything in an orderly manner like a little adult.

She assigned the strong Zhu Ya to use branches to stir the soil while the younger ones could only carry the clay back and forth. Only those with dexterous hands like Sun Qing were qualified to use the mold.

Since the kiln was already full of clay bricks, in order to make more effective use of the open space in the collective cave, Qi Bai carefully explained to them how to arrange the bricks neatly to maximize the use of the ground. All the children listened very carefully.

At this moment, they were doing it seriously. After finishing one brick, they didn’t even need to lick their buttocks. They just moved their feet slightly to the side, put the mold on the ground, and continued to make the next one. All of them were experienced workers.

For these energetic children, making bricks was the most interesting activity of the day. They could help adults while playing, and no one would touch them even if they were so cold that their noses were running.

Hu Xue looked at the bubbling stone pot and gently kicked Bao Xing’s butt. “Go and call them. It is time to eat.”

Bao Xing clapped excitedly and ran to the edge of the clearing.

He was more familiar with this matter. The adults in the tribe were now divided into two groups to work, and he knew where they were.

Yang Luo was leading the slightly weaker beastmen. They were clearing the forest between the wall and the open space in front of the collective cave.

The plants in the mountains and forests had taken root here for who knew how many years. Their dominance couldn’t be easily shaken by the beastmen.

Therefore, Yang Luo and his team had to do a lot of things. They had to shovel the snow on the ground before pulling out the bushes and vines under the snow. Of course, a lot of tall trees that blocked their view also needed to be cut down.

In addition, there were all the chopped branches and dead grass. As long as they could be burned, they must be tied up with vines and sent to the kiln as fuel.

Therefore, even though the beastmen had strong physiques, the progress of this work was currently very slow.

On the other side, Qi Bai and Lang Ze were leading the slightly stronger beastmen to make the final preparations for building the wall. They had to compact the land as much as possible.

Qi Bai had already checked last night. The mountains and forests near the tribe were all filled with soft soil that was suitable for plant growth. The soil itself wasn’t very solid. In addition, due to the low temperature, the moisture in the soil would freeze and was likely to cause the land to expand. If a wall was built directly on it, it was difficult to guarantee that there would be no risk of collapse next year.

In order to ensure that the foundation was strong enough, they could only use the dumbest but also simplest method. It was to let Xiang Yu and Xi Zhou, the sturdy horned beastmen, transform into beast forms and step back and forth in the pit of more than one meter that had been dug.

It was no wonder that the effect of this type of trampling was immediate. Many of the deep pits that were originally big trees were now noticeably shorter after being trampled. It was probably due to the spread of the tree roots.

Qi Bai, Hu Qiao and the others stood by with shovels. Every time they saw a depression, they would shovel some soil to fill it up.

At this time, Bao Xing was seen running to the side of the foundation, shouting loudly as he ran, “It is time to eat.”

Since Bao Xing had to pass on the message, he definitely didn’t waste a second. Before anyone could react, the child ran away like the wind. By the time Qi Bai finished hearing the words ‘time to eat’, Bao Xing had already run into the bushes.

Quan Lie laughed and scolded him. “This little brat is afraid that he won’t get his bite of food if he runs too slow.”

As to why Bao Xing ran so fast, it was mainly because after making skewers with Qi Bai last time, Hu Xue and She Li seemed to have suddenly become enlightened. Their comprehension and hands-on abilities in cooking increased sharply, and the food in the collective cave instantly made a qualitative leap.

Ma Ling was standing at the back of the line. He smelled the fragrance in the air and couldn’t help saying, “It smells so good. I wonder what to eat this morning.”

Finally, it was his turn. Ma Ling quickly handed over his bamboo tube. She Li scooped a large spoonful of fish soup with the bamboo basket. Then she pinched some chopped green onions from the ceramic bowl next to her. The milky white and fragrant fish soup in the emerald green bamboo tube was pleasing to the eye.

Ma Ling took the bamboo tube and drank a mouthful of steaming fish soup. Then he found two large pieces of fish meat in the bamboo bowl. He felt so happy that he smiled at She Li. “The food you cook is getting more and more delicious. I think it is even better than what Bao Bai cooks.”

She Li pursed her lips and turned her head away, ignoring him.

Ma Ling’s expression became calmer. He walked away while holding the bamboo tube in his hand, looking a bit depressed.

Hu Xue couldn’t help- laughing. “This boy looks strong. Why, you don’t want to have a baby with him?”

Hu Xue’s words were absolutely true. In just two months, Ma Ling’s thin figure swelled up like a balloon once his food was improved. It didn’t mean that he had become fat but that his muscles were very full.

Beastmen considered strength as beauty. Ma Ling could really be considered a handsome man among the horned beastmen.

She Li glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Sure enough, she saw Ma Ling put away his lost look just now. He was running happily to Tu Ya’s side with a bamboo bowl in his hand. She withdrew her gaze and snorted softly. She didn’t notice Ma Shu, who was sitting next to Ma Li, smiling even more foolishly.

Qi Bai happened to be standing behind Ma Ling, so he listened from the side.

Perhaps it was because his beast form was a wolf, but Lang Ze’s muscles weren’t as exaggerated as Ma Ling and Xiong Feng. His muscles were quite well-proportioned from beginning to end…

“Oh, Bao Bai, what are you thinking about? You don’t even have time to eat?” Hu Xue waved the bamboo tube in front of Qi Bai’s eyes.

“N… Nothing.” Qi Bai handed over his bamboo bowl.

A bowl of delicious fish soup, a bowl of salted meat and stewed sour bamboo shoots, and two sweet potatoes.

A few months ago, the members of the Black Mountain Tribe wouldn’t have even dared to think of such a breakfast with both meat and vegetables. Now they had been eating such meals for several days and could even continue eating them.

Qi Bai had no mind to think about anything else. The fish soup was delicious, and the sour bamboo shoots were crisp, but he wasn’t very active in eating. There must be something wrong with his thinking.

After breakfast, everyone gathered again in front of the leveled earth pit.

Qi Bai was ready to go. It was because today’s highlight had just begun.

Qi Bai first found a piece of vacant land without weeds. He mixed quicklime and fine sand before pouring water on it to make lime mortar. Now that the weather was cold and dry, Qi Bai didn’t make too much at one time.

Lang Ze, Huan Ping and the others could easily lift a stone weighing 30 or 40 kilograms. They found a suitable place to put it in the pit of the foundation. Then they waited for Qi Bai to shovel mortar into the gaps between the stones and used stones to smooth the mortar.

Since these stones were of different sizes, the beastmen often needed to use stone hammers to knock the edges of the stones flat. In order to prevent the stones from scratching their animal skin clothes, many people put the animal skin clothes around their waists and worked with bare chests. It could only be said that the beastmen’s physique was really strong, and they didn’t feel cold.

“Bao Bai!” Suddenly, someone called his name.

Qi Bai stirred the mortal with the shovel. Then he turned around and asked, “What’s the matter?”

Xiong scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed. “I still don’t quite understand how to use this string weight. I don’t think it is smooth…”

“Let me take a look,” Qi Bai said and walked towards Xiong Feng.

What they were doing now was actually the work of a mason. It required concentration and patience, such as how to level it and how much mortar to fill. However, they were just starting out, and the beastmen had never seen what a wall looked like. There were indeed many places that couldn’t be imagined if they relied solely on imagination.

This was also the reason why Qi Bai stayed here. This way, he could solve as many minor problems that occurred during the construction as possible.

It really wasn’t Xiong Feng’s fault regarding the problems he encountered. Everyone was piling up the stones one by one and the stones were of different heights. Some people calculated the height from the left while others might’ve started from the right. This made it really difficult for those who came later to understand.

Qi Bai thought about it and found a piece of thin animal hide. He cut the hide into strips as thin as possible and connected the ends together to make two ropes about ten meters long.

Then he found four wooden sticks that were about the same length as the stone weights. He hammered them into the ground with a stone hammer. After determining the height, he tied the animal skin ropes to the sticks to make two parallel lines.

In this way, there was no need to keep measuring the horizontal and vertical heights. Just make it almost the same as the position of the animal skin rope.

There would definitely be some errors in the auxiliary lines made in this way. Fortunately, they were currently building the part that would be buried in the soil. There was no need to worry too much about the shape being beautiful.

Sure enough, with the help of these two animal skin ropes, everyone worked much faster.

Just at noon, Shu Lin and Yang Ling each carried a large rattan basket and came to the side where the foundation was to be built.

They put down the rattan basket and opened the animal skin covering it. The full bamboo tubes were revealed, and the rich aroma of the bone soup emanated from it.

Qi Bai put the shovel on the ground and trotted towards the two of them. He wasn’t very hungry, but he was very thirsty.

The tribe had always had only two meals a day, morning and night. It was only in recent days that they had an extra meal.

The tribe members were used to gathering or hunting every day. At that time, at least they had time to rest, unlike now when they had to work hard from morning to night.

Qi Bai suggested preparing an extra meal at noon every day. Yang Luo considered it carefully and agreed. Of course, in order to save food, the meal at noon couldn’t be as sumptuous as that in the morning and evening.

For example, today’s meal was radish and bone soup.

Everyone could get a bamboo tube of bone soup, but there were only two pieces of radish and a piece of meat in it. Still, no one would complain that it was too little.

When drinking a mouthful of bone soup that had been boiled for several hours in the snow and ice, every sip of hot soup could warm the heart directly.

The hot air exhaled from the mouth and the hot air from the bamboo tube floated into the air at the same time, making the entire snow field seem to be shrouded in a layer of smoke.

However, just as Qi Bai was sipping the hot soup, there was a sudden commotion on the side where the food was being distributed.

Yang Ling was holding a bamboo tube and was about to pass it to Huan Ping. However, he somehow turned into beast form. His animal skin coat fell down and directly covered Yang Ling’s body. Fortunately, Huan Ping caught the bamboo tube with his quick eyes and hands, or the hot soup in the bamboo tube would’ve been poured on Yang Ling’s head.

A ball of white fur emerged from the coat. Then…

The black head, black ears, and pair of black ‘snow boots’ that particularly stood out from the white fur…

Yang Luo, who wasn’t far away, saw the commotion here and pushed away the person in front of him. He rushed towards Yang Ling with a few big strides. Qi Bai had rarely seen Yang Luo so excited.

“How long has he been like this?” Yang Luo asked Yang Ling’s partner, Huan Ping.

Huan Ping was still a bit dazed.

“Just like now, he suddenly transformed into a beast without any warning. How long has he been like this?”

Huan Ping finally responded, “Just these few days.”

Yang Luo clapped his hands and said happily, “He is pregnant. Our tribe will have a newborn baby!”

Shu Lin, who was next to him, looked at Yang Luo in disbelief. He suddenly burned and disappeared the next second.

Yang Luo lifted up the fur coat that Shu Ling had dropped on the ground. He saw a big-tailed squirrel with his hands curled on his chest, looking at Yang Luo in confusion.