LSLFBW: Chapter 63

In order to build wooden shelves in the collective cave to use as a warehouse, Qi Bai and Yang Luo had been reorganizing the supplies in the collective cave the past few days.

As a result, they found that the tribe had more supplies than they imagined, especially animal skins. It was because the hunting team went out hunting in winter, and they also got some skins when they exchanged salt with the Xishui Tribe last time. The tribe had accumulated dozens of animal skins without knowing it.

A few days ago, these animal skins were distributed to the tribe members when the supplies were distributed every ten days.

Since Qi Bai didn’t allow Shu Lin and Yang Ling to hang around the construction site of the children’s cave, Tu Ya and Diao Lan had been staying in Shu Lin’s cave these days, accompanying them to make animal skins into fur clothes.

This afternoon was just like any other day. Diao Lan and Tu Ya took bone needles and animal skins to the cave in Shu Lin to sew clothes together.

The moment they reached the door, they smelled blood. At first, they thought Xiong Feng had gone out hunting alone again and found prey. Then when they opened the bamboo door of the cave, they found scattered bloodstains all over the ground. Finally, they found the little squirrel curled up in a small ball in the corner of the cave.

This was how the current scene came about. Yang Luo looked at Tu Ya’s anxious expression, got up, and ran to Shu Lin’s cave, asking as he ran, “What happened to Shu Lin?”

Tu Yu shook her head in panic. “I don’t know. I just saw blood all over the ground.”

“Let’s go!” Due to running, Yang Luo’s voice was a bit out of breath.

Qi Bai was walking Chuan Chuan outside the cave with the children when he saw Yang Luo and Tu Ya running. He stopped Hu Qiao, who was following them, and asked, “What happened?”

Hu Qiao was also confused and could only shake his head in a panic.

Qi Bai directly handed Chuan Chuan to him and followed the two people. Before leaving, he shouted to Hu Qiao, who stayed behind. “The hunting team is back. Tell Xiong Feng and Huan Ping to return to the cave quickly.”

“Okay!” Hu Qiao answered without hesitation.

The moment Qi Bai reached the edge of the cave, he saw Yang Ling standing nervously outside of Shu Lin’s cave. He took a breath and walked forward, asking, “Why are you standing outside?”

Yang Ling’s cave was right next to Shu Lin’s. The moment he heard the hurried footsteps, he hurried out to check and was also shocked by the situation inside the house.

Yang Ling saw Qi Bai and suddenly seemed to regain his confidence. He grabbed Qi Bai’s hand and said, “I just saw a lot of blood in the house. Diao Lan wouldn’t let me in. What happened? Is Shu Lin okay? Is he… is he injured?”

Qi Bai’s heart skipped a beat after hearing Yang Ling’s description, but he remained calm. He patted Yang Ling’s hand and told him to be patient. “Shu Lin has been staying in the cave all the time. How can he be injured? Don’t think too much. It is too cold outside. Go back to your cave first. Everything just needs to wait for the priest’s arrangement.”

Yang Ling was naturally delicate and sensitive. Now that he was pregnant, he was bound to have some emotional fluctuations. Qi Bai’s words were spoken in the most determined tone, which calmed him down.

Upon hearing this, Yang Ling nodded and walked to his cave, looking back every few steps.

Qi Bai had actually guessed what happened here. It was most likely that one of Shu Lin and Yang Ling was about to give birth, so Qi Bai asked Hu Qiao to quickly notify Xiong Feng and Huan Ping.

He hadn’t expected to hear the news that Shu Lin had lost a lot of blood the moment he arrived, so he was a bit panicked.

Qi Bai quickly calmed himself down. He recalled the preparations he made over the past few days. He might not be a doctor, but he had so much knowledge about modern medicine. Add this to Yang Luo’s experience and Shu Lin would definitely be fine.

It only took Qi Bai a breath of time to calm himself down and open the bamboo door.

Only…

There was no sound of Shu Lin giving birth in agony, nor was there any sound of Yang Luo anxiously assisting in childbirth in the cave…

There were indeed a lot of bloodstains on the ground of the cave, but looking closely, they were all the little squirrel’s paw prints.

Moreover, Diao Lan was an experienced sub-beastman. Before Yang Luo arrived, she had already helped Shu Lin prepare for the practical actions.

Qi Bai entered the cave and saw Shu Lin, who had turned into a beast, lying quietly on the hay. He saw Qi Bai coming in and waved to him.

Yang Luo was still breathing heavily, but his body was relaxed.

Qi Bai asked, “Why are there so many bloodstains?”

Diao Lan smiled. “This silly child, Shu Lin, didn’t know that he was about to give birth. He just felt that his stomach was uncomfortable, so he wandered around in the cave. This is why there is blood everywhere. I just checked, and the bleeding isn’t too much.”

In Shu Lin’s opinion, children should be born when the winter snow started to melt.

This year’s winter was long and everyone had been busy since the beginning of winter. This made him feel that time passed very quickly. Therefore, he didn’t notice that it had been a hundred days since the first snow. This was the day when the priest told everyone that winter should end.

So even if Shu Lin felt that something was wrong with his body, he didn’t think the child would be born now.

Qi Bai looked at the frightened Tu Ya next to him and then at the innocent little squirrel. He finally felt relieved. He exhaled and said to Tu Ya, “Why don’t you go to the cave next door and accompany Yang Ling first.”

Tu Ya nodded and walked out with weak legs. It wasn’t Tu Ya’s fault that she was timid. She also showed signs of being pregnant these days. She opened the door just now and almost thought that giving birth would be so bloody. She was really scared.

Fortunately, Tu Ya and Diao Lan discovered Shu Lin’s situation in time. If he was left to suffer like this, it was hard to say what would happen.

Once Yang Luo’s breathing finally calmed down, he signaled for Qi Bai to close the bamboo door.

He prostrated himself on the ground and bowed to Shu Lin’s body. Then he took some blood from the hay, smeared it on Shu Lin’s forehead and belly, and recited a blessing softly.

Diao Lan quietly made preparations with Qi Bai.

They first moved the two charcoal basins in the cave to Shu Lin’s side. Qi Bai took a ceramic bowl and rinsed it with water. He found a bamboo tube filled with fresh sheep milk, poured a small bowl of it, and placed it on the charcoal basin to heat it.

Fortunately, the sheep milk obtained every day would be distributed to Shu Lin and Yang Ling. This made it very convenient at this time.

Finally, the wood ash and animal skins prepared in advance were put aside for later use.

Qi Bai appeared calm on the surface, but he was a bit nervous in his heart. This nervousness mainly came from the unknown about babies. After all, Shu Lin’s beast form was a squirrel, and Xiong Feng’s beast form was a brown bear. Qi Bai really wanted to know what type of baby Shu Lin would give birth to.

Qi Bai had no time to worry about these problems. Not long after Yang Luo finished reciting the blessing, Shu Lin made a foreboding sound, and his body lying on the ground tensed.

Qi Bai immediately held his breath.

In fact, the birth of beastmen babies was much easier than that of humans on Earth. Qi Bai felt that only ten minutes or so had passed before a little head appeared.

“Come on, try harder. I can already see his head!” Qi Bai clenched his hands tightly before shouting with encouragement.

As if really encouraged by Qi Bai, a pink little baby fell on the hay. Diao Lan quickly raised the baby to Shu Lin’s mouth. Shu Lin reflexively stuck out his tongue and gently licked the mucus on the little one’s body.

Qi Bai finally dared to breathe loudly. He asked in disbelief, “Does this mean the birth is over?”

Yang Luo reached out, touched Shu Lin’s belly, and nodded. “He should’ve given birth.”

Diao Lan said calmly, “Giving birth isn’t a difficult thing in itself. Why are you all so scared?”

That’s right. For Diao Lan and the vast majority of sub-beastmen on the Beastman Continent, giving birth to babies wasn’t difficult. The difficult part was how to raise these babies in a world full of dangers!”

“Ying!”

The little one started to cry as if to emphasize that he was the protagonist today.

Yang Luo said, “Hurry up and bring the milk over here.”

At this time, the sheep milk in the ceramic bowl had been cooked. Qi Bai took the ceramic bowl, blew it carefully to cool it, and placed it next to Shu Lin and the baby.

The little one moved closer to the bowl as if smelling the food. Thanks to Yang Luo’s help, he finally got his first sip of milk.

It was only then that Qi Bai saw the full appearance of the baby. It was a little fellow the size of a palm, with a pink and smooth body. His four little paws were supporting the animal skin and he was drinking milk with his eyes closed, not affected by the outside world at all.

This adorable look was exactly like a newborn red panda. Qi Bai guessed that he should be a little bear.

Qi Bai whispered, “Welcome to our Black Mountain Tribe.”

Shu Lin was in good spirits and turned into human form after a short rest. Qi Bai put on the animal skin for him and sprinkled wood ash under the hay.

Wood ash had a sterilizing effect. At this time, medical care was scarce, so Qi Bai tried his best to use everything he knew. He was as careful as possible.

Fortunately, after the baby was born, Shu Lin didn’t bleed much. He should be fine.

It wasn’t until this time that Qi Bai ran to the next cave and called Tu Ya and Yang Ling over. After all, according to the time, Yang Ling’s due date should be approaching. It would give him peace of mind to come and take a look.

Tu Ya finally relaxed and asked, “He is too young. When will he grow up?”

Qi Bai and Tu Ya were similar. They both grew up in the collective cave and rarely came into contact with babies. He also listened carefully.

It was Yang Ling who answered for them. “The babies will grow up soon, but they can’t transform into human form until they are at least one year old.”

He shook his head as he spoke. “The human form isn’t as steady as the beast form when walking. Therefore, it is easier to raise the baby in beast form.”

“Is Shu Lin’s child a beastman or sub-beastmen?” Tu Ya continued to ask.

Now even Shu Lin looked over curiously. He didn’t know yet.

Yang Ling came closer to the baby and pointed at the inconspicuous round mark on his forehead. “It must be a horned beastman. This is a place where small horns grow.”

“That’s right, there are small points. This is a little horned beastman!” Shu Lin happily touched the top of the baby’s head.

Qi Bai hadn’t expected Yang Ling to know so much.

“Slaves will give birth to their children together. I have seen many babies before,” Yang Ling answered shyly. He paused and added in a low voice, “I have seen people who bled a lot and died in the end.”

No wonder why Yang Ling was frightened just now. It seemed that even if the baby was already small compared to the size of sub-beastmen, the sub-beastmen were still at risk of dystocia. Someone in the tribe where Yang Ling used to live experienced this.

“Don’t worry. We have a priest in our tribe, and nothing like that will happen.” Qi Bai comforted him.

Tu Ya and Yang Ling both nodded solemnly.

Yang Luo stood aside, glanced at Qi Bai, and finally didn’t say anything to refute it.

By the time Xiong Feng received the message and ran back to the cave, the tiny baby was crawling back and forth on the animal skin while Shu Lin was playing with him with one finger.

Xiong Feng saw this scene, and his voice choked a bit. “This… is our child?”

Shu Lin looked up and saw Xiong Feng coming back. He immediately said happily, “Xiong Feng, come and see. The baby is really fun.”

Qi Bai couldn’t help smiling. One of them was very emotional while the other was thick-skinned. Who knew what type of personality the child they raised would have?

Yang Luo saw Xiong Feng and told him everything about how to feed the baby. Finally, he said, “Follow me to get another piece of animal skin. This is the tribe’s reward for the newborn baby.”

“Okay.” Xiong Feng wiped the tears of excitement from his face and quickly followed Yang Luo to get it.

In the collective square, Lang Ze returned from patrol and watched Xiong Feng happily running towards the cave with animal skin in his hand. It wasn’t known what Lang Ze was thinking.

Qi Bai took Chuan Chuan back from Hu Qiao and told everyone that Shu Lin had given birth to a horned beastman.

Qi Bai saw Lang Ze’s absent-minded look, stretched out his hand, and waved it in front of Lang Ze. He wondered if Lang Ze envied Xiong Feng for having his own child. After thinking about it, he reluctantly put the leash in Lang Ze’s hand. “I’ll lend you my son to lead.” Then he left first.

Lang Ze looked down at Chuan Chuan, and Chuan Chuan looked up at Lang Ze.

Chuan Chuan: “Baa~”

In many tribes, people rarely saw other people’s newborn babies. This might be related to the fact that the beastmen still retained some animal nature. Everyone preferred to hide their babies where others couldn’t see them.

However, the Black Mountain Tribe was completely different. Shu Lin quickly brought the little Xiong Shan to the children’s cave to play with everyone.

The name Xiong Shan was given by Yang Luo. As the first baby born in the Black Mountain Tribe, he had the honor of being named after the tribe by Yang Luo. (Shan= mountain)

The moment Shu Lin took out little Xiong Shan and placed him on the warm animal skin mat, all the children living in the collective cave came over curiously to take a look. They also warmed sheep milk on the stove, just waiting for Xiong Shan to come and drink it.

Just a few days after Shu Lin gave birth to his baby, Yang Ling also gave birth to a little horned beastman in the form of a sheep.

The children’s cave became even more lively. If everyone was free, they would sit together around the big stone table in the children’s cave, weaving with bamboo strips or sewing with bone needles. Of course, they would tease the two already very lively babies from time to time.

There was plenty of food and a safe tribe, so the leisurely days seemed to pass very quickly.

It wasn’t known from what day it began, but the icicles on the waterfall started to melt, and a thin stream of water slowly started to flow.

The snow outside the tribe gradually thinned, and green branches started to stretch out.

Qi Bai drew the 120th mark belonging to winter on the stone slab.

He walked to the land next to the cave and started getting ready.

Spring was finally here. His small vegetable garden could finally be prepared!