LSLFBW: Chapter 59

Qi Bai held the leash around Chuan Chuan’s neck and walked slowly towards the sheepfold carrying a rattan basket on his back.

On the way, he met many tribe members who were going out early in the morning. Once they met familiar people, Chuan Chuan would bleat twice as if saying hello to everyone.

Once they weren’t far from the sheepfold, Chuan Chuan consciously went into the forest, sniffed the ground left and right, and finally found a piece of Feng Shui treasure land to solve his physiological problems.

Initially when Qi Bai raised Chuan Chuan in the cave, he hadn’t thought about the problems of the lamb’s defecation. Fortunately, he discovered it in time and Chuan Chuan was also very smart. The man and the sheep quickly found a solution.

Qi Bai fed the lamb at a fixed time every time. Whenever Chuan Chuan defecated outside the cave, Qi Bai would take out a small bamboo tube from the animal skin bag, fed him some sheep milk, stroked his head, and praised him.

After repeating this for a few days, Chuan Chuan had learned how to go to the toilet. He would even bleat a few times to remind Qi Bai when he forgot.

After Chuan Chuan easily walked out of the forest, Qi Bai followed and continued walking towards the sheepfold.

At this time, there were already quite a lot of people gathered outside the thorn fence. They chatted and laughed while milking the sheep.

After Xiao Hua gave birth, the other three ewes also gave birth to lambs. Now in the sheepfold of the Black Mountain Tribe, except for Chuan Chuan, there were four other males and five females for a total of nine lambs.

The lambs couldn’t eat grass yet, so the tribe members only picked out two sheep for milking every day. Today, it was Xiao Hua and Xiao Cai’s turn.

Qi Bai brought Chuan Chuan to his mother, and Chuan Chuan went up to her to drink milk.

“Chuan Chuan is coming!”

“Chuan Chuan!”

The children originally surrounding Zhu Zhu came over happily after seeing the lamb. Bao Yue stretched out her hand to Qi Bai and said, “Give it to me quickly. We will play with Chuan Chuan.”

Qi Bai landed the leash to Bao Yue and walked in front of the two sheep. Diao Lan smiled and said, “These ewes have been much quieter recently.”

Qi Bai looked at Xiao Hua and Xiao Cai, whose four legs were held by the children and whose heads with horns were held down by Zhu Zhu and Diao Lan with no room for them to move. He said with a smile, “They are much quieter now because they must’ve realized we won’t hurt them.”

Qi Bai pointed to the rattan basket on his back and said, “I’ll go to the mountain to prepare feed first.”

Zhu Zhu nodded. “The wild grass we collected today has been placed beside the stone trough. You just need to stir it.”

“I know!”

In a thatched cabin halfway up the mountain, a horned beastman around 15 or 16 years old was sitting there. He was holding a small piece of bone he had picked up from somewhere and was polishing it carefully with a stone. However, he kept his duty in mind and would look up at the flock of sheep in the valley every once in a while.

“Ci Yi,” Qi Bai called out his name while passing by.

Ci Yi looked up in a somewhat bewildered manner. There was a hideous mark on his face, proving that he once lived in a tribe that was very cruel to slaves. Perhaps due to this, his personality was very introverted despite living in the Black Mountain Tribe for a long time. He seldom took the initiative to talk to other tribe members, except for Niu Yong, who was guarding the sheep with him.

QI Bai smiled and greeted him. “Are you the one watching over the sheepfold here today?”

Ci Yi nodded shyly. He seemed to want to say something to Qi Bai. However, he opened and closed his mouth for a long time with no sound coming out.

Qi Bai didn’t urge him. He lowered his head as if he had given up, and he said, “I’m going to the stone trough to prepare feed for the sheep. Is there clean water in the bamboo tube?”

Ci Yi quickly nodded. “Yes, I fetched some water this morning.”

Due to the low temperature on the mountain, the water quickly froze into ice. Every day, Ci Yi and Niu Yong prepared the stream water for the sub-beastmen mixing the feed.

“Thank you. It is thanks to you and Niu Yong that we can save a lot of time every day. I’ll go first.”

After Qi Bai left, Ci Yi lowered his head silently. He pursed his lips and exerted more strength in his hands.

Qi Bai walked to the edge of the steep wall and dumped the dried feed into the valley. Since Qi Bai had a fixed feeding time every day, a few four-eared sheep gathered around the steep wall not long after the feed entered the valley.

Qi Bai made sure that the sheep were eating normally before walking towards the stone trough. In fact, he had already seen the bamboo tube beside the stone trough but he wanted to chat with Ci Yi on purpose.

Not everyone was as cheerful as Ma Ling, who not only quickly integrated into the life of the tribe but also had the courage to actively pursue the sub-beastman he liked. You know, She Li wasn’t only the captain of the gathering team, but she was also responsible for the food preparation. She could be regarded as a beastman of outstanding status in any tribe.

Even his brother, Ma Shu, couldn’t catch up with Ma Ling in this respect. In addition, there were many slaves in the tribe who had been bullied and abused. It wasn’t easy to get them to truly open their hearts and enjoy their current life.

Qi Bai rubbed his little white hair twice but he wasn’t good at finding topics to talk about. It seemed that he was quite awkward every time he started a conversation. He wondered if Ci Yi found him annoying.

However, this type of worry only lasted a short time. Qi Bai immediately started to concentrate on his work.

Qi Bai poured the water in the bamboo tube into the stone trough. He took some stinky vegetables from the clay pot next to it and put them into the stone trough. Then he poured four or five baskets of weeds into the stone trough in batches, stirred them evenly, and dried them on the empty wooden raft.

Qi Bai was already very skilled at this job. By the time he returned to the foot of the mountain, Diao Lan and the others had put the two ewes, Xiao Hua and Xiao Cao, back into the sheepfold. Qi Bai took the well-fed Chuan Chuan and followed everyone back to the tribe.

There was no wind in the mountains today and the sun shone on the snow. It was a rare warm day in winter.

Qi Bai originally thought he would have enough time to slowly carve out a small kitchen during the winter. In fact, except for the days with the heaviest snow and wind, he was busy every day.

Every time the wind and snow raged, he could only stay at home and make some small things. It was impossible for him to chisel stones indoors. Therefore, the construction progress of his kitchen was very slow despite the walls of the tribe getting higher and longer every day.

Qi Bai used a broom to sweep away the snow on the stone platform. He moved the garlic and onions planted in the bamboo tubes to the sunlight to dry. Then he led Chuan Chuan to the cave entrance to let him get some air. Qi Bai found a stone awl and a stone hammer on the tool wall on the right side of the cave entrance. He took the time to start chiseling the large stone outside the cave.

Qi Bai’s kitchen was on the outside of the mountain wall on a piece of stone that was around 20 square meters and half a person’s height. However, only a small half of its original appearance could be seen.

Qi Bai was now carving a stone table. In order to ensure practicality, Qi Bai finally decided to make a stone table that was more than one meter wide and two meters long. After all, the beastmen had really big appetites. The one meter square bamboo table in his cave was often full before even a few dishes were placed on it.

At this time, the stone table already had a rough outline. The table top was around ten centimeters, and a space of around fifty centimeters was chiseled out on each side of the table. Now he only needed to chisel out two rows of stone benches of the same length on both sides of the stone table.

By the time Qi Bai’s first stone bench was almost finished, Lang Ze returned to the cave with a bunch of tools.

Qi Bai shook the powder on his body, stood up, and asked, “How is it?”

“We’ve already broken the ice. Priest Yang Luo will lead everyone to go fishing soon.”

After discovering the changes in the fish population in the river, Qi Bai and Lang Ze would go to check every two days. The moment they confirmed that the fish population in the Man-Eating River was gradually decreasing, they immediately told Yang Luo and Hou Yan the news.

They discussed it, and everyone agreed that no matter how the number of fish in the Man-Eating River changed, they had better store enough fish now to be prepared.

Moreover, the weather was cold now. The fish caught didn’t even need to be salted. They could be preserved by just placing them outdoors.

However, this time they had to save enough fish and meat to last the tribe 30 days. They couldn’t just rely on the small ice hole that everyone usually used.

Early this morning, Lang Ze took the tools and the horned beastmen of the hunting team to the river to chisel a large hole that could accommodate three rattan baskets in the water at the same time.

The moment Qi Bai heard the news, he knew that his renovation plan would have to be postponed again. He packed up and prepared to follow Lang Ze down the mountain. At this time, Lang Ze took out a pile of hay from a rattan basket and stuffed it into Qi Bai’s arms.

Lang Ze glanced at the lamb at the entrance of the cave and said reluctantly, “This lamb wet all the hay in your cave a few days ago. I found some today and brought it back to you.”

Qi Bai’s eyes immediately curved up. He touched Chuan Chuan’s head and said, “Hurry up and thank Brother Lang Ze.”

It had to be said that even though Lang Ze was very dissatisfied with Chuan Chuan’s existence in his heart, he still conscientiously took on half the job of a poop scooper.

He tied up Chuan Chuan, poured some milk into the milk basin, and closed the door carefully.

Qi Bai and Lang Ze walked to the front of the collective cave together, but they had to separate temporarily here.

Qi Bai was going fishing with Yang Luo while Lang Ze was going to take the other horned beastmen to the kiln to carry bricks and lime mortar.

Most of the tribe members didn’t find the abnormality of the Man-Eating River, but they were all very excited when Yang Luo called everyone to go fishing in the river. After all, what they caught was food for everyone. Who would complain about having too much food?

On the ice, members of the Black Mountain Tribe were busy working around the huge ice.

The strongest horned beastmen stood on the edge of the ice, their animal skins tucked into their waists. Their swollen muscles could easily scoop out nearly a rattan basket weighing nearly 100 catties after being soaked in water. They poured the fish onto the ice, re-tied the bait, and sank the rattan baskets further under the ice, waiting for the fish to take the bait.

Following behind the horned beastmen were the slightly smaller sub-beastmen, who would kill the fish they caught on the spot, cut out the internal organs and place them aside to be used as bait for the next time. Then they would place the fish bodies into a clean rattan basket nearby.

Once the tribe members in charge of transportation arrived, they just needed to place the rattan baskets on the ice and push it hard. The rattan baskets would slide forward along the cleared snow path. The people waiting on the shore would then carry the rattan baskets on their backs and walk toward the tribe.

Everyone spent the whole morning repeating this strenuous work, but no one felt tired.

Food was hard to obtain in winter, so Yang Luo had to cut the prey brought back by the hunting team himself every time. In addition, the ice was too thick so the fish in the Man-Eating River also became hard to obtain. In fact, it had been a long time since everyone had touched so much food with their own hands.

Qi Bai was now responsible for transporting the catch back and forth between the tribe and the river. Even in the snow, Qi Bai didn’t feel cold. In fact, due to constant exercise, beads of sweat oozed from the tip of his nose and his entire face was red.

Due to the walking of the tribe members, a long snow path had been trampled in the snow. Qi Bai walked briskly along it and suddenly thought of the scene when he first discovered the Man-Eating River.

What was it like then?

Everything around him was strange and dangerous. All the trees seemed to grow the same, yet also seemed to grow in different ways. It made him feel that the road from the Black Mountain to the Man-Eating River was very long.

The beastmen who just arrived here were like duckweed, unable to predict their future fate.

Now, everything was different.

Qi Bai couldn’t help smiling as he looked at the high wall and the busy tribe members beside the wall.

He could now recognize every inch of the forest, the journey became shorter, and most importantly, they had a home where they could rest and a group of reliable family members.

Carrying the fish back to the tribe didn’t mean the end of the matter. Yang Luo stopped Qi Bai, who was trying to go to the river, and said, “Bao Bai, don’t go. Come and share the fish with me.”

Qi Bai nodded and trotted to the area between the two big trees in front of the collective cave.

Here, due to the shelter of the two big trees, the falling snow was fewer and cleaner. Therefore, Yang Luo had people dump the fish they brought back directly under the trees.

Qi Bai walked around the fish pile for a while before walking in front of Yang Luo and asking, “Grandpa Priest, how are we going to store this fish? We don’t seem to have that many rattan baskets left.”

Many of the rattan baskets that the tribe had made before were distributed to the tribe members along with supplies. Today, everyone was carrying their own rattan baskets. They couldn’t use all of them to carry the fish.”

“That’s why I asked you to come here,” Yang Luo said while looking at the pile of fish. “We’ll just divide the fish this time according to the number of people and let everyone take them back to the cave later.”

Qi Bai looked at Yang Luo in surprise. “Grandpa Priest, you won’t help us store the food?”

Yang Luo waved his hand. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to care. He just didn’t have a container that could hold all the fish. Secondly, he felt that Qi Bai’s previous method of distributing food to the tribe members was quite useful. After all, his original intention in helping the tribe members store food was to prevent them from starving to death in the winter. “What will the smell be like if all of this is stored in the collective cave? Take them all away quickly.”

Yang Luo certainly had his own rules as a priest. However, perhaps because he had been wandering for too long, Yang Luo was the most disciplined person in the tribe when it came to some matters, such as his residence.

Yang Luo was the first person to choose a residence on the Black Mountain. This was his superior right as a priest, and he was unwilling to give in at all. Even Hou Yan had to line up behind him.

In the same way, in order to take care of the children and watch over the food, Yang Luo wasn’t in a hurry to dig a cave. Instead, he lived in a collective cave with Zhu Zhu.

Qi Bai smiled. “The wall is almost built. Once the gate is installed, we will have some free time. Then we can ask Lang Ze and the others to help you and the children dig out the largest and most beautiful cave for you to live in.”

He pointed to the collective cave. “I will build wooden shelves and doors in the collective cave, turning it into a large closed warehouse. Then the food won’t need to be watched every day.”

Yang Luo tapped the bear bone stick with his fingers a few times. After a long time, he said, “It is up to you.”

“Then it is settled!” Qi Bai looked at the fish of varying sizes in front of him. It was really a difficult question on how to divide them fairly.

Qi Bai circled the fish pile a few more times before clapping. “How about we make a scale?:”

What Qi Bai made couldn’t be considered a scale. At most, it was a balance.

He dug a big hole in the ground, buried a thick piece of wood in the hole as a base, fixed a slightly thinner piece of wood of uniform thickness on the base, and hung rattan baskets on both sides with straw ropes.

Just put the appropriate amount of fish that Yang Luo thought should be distributed to one tribe member in one of the rattan baskets and leave it there. He just needed to add or reduce the amount in the other empty rattan basket.

Qi Bai repeated this operation a few times and there were piles of fish meat of equal sizes on the ground.

Yang Luo opened his mouth wide in a fascinated manner.

He originally thought that Qi Bai’s method of distributing salted meat was convenient enough. After all, he only needed to count a few numbers to calculate the food for the entire tribe.

However, looking at the big scale made by Qi Bai, he now didn’t need to do any calculations at all. He just needed to see whether the scale rod was stable and he could easily distribute the food evenly.

Yang Luo came to his senses and placed his hands on his chest with undisguised enthusiasm in his eyes. “Is this… the wisdom of the Beast God City?”

“What wisdom?” Qi Bai didn’t hear Yang Luo’s murmur clearly.

“Nothing?” Yang Luo put down the bear bone staff and rushed to the side of the scale. “Quick. Let me try.”

The huge balance quickly attracted the attention of the tribe members. Even the tribe members, who were building the wall a few dozen meters away, were now craning their necks to watch the priest dance between the hanging rattan baskets and the fish piles.

Now Qi Bai was completely unable to help. He just stood on the side and arranged the divided fish neatly.

Looking at the piles of fish and the work in the hands of the tribe members, Qi Bai felt that this scene was like the workers looking forward to the workshop director distributing the New Year’s goods.