LSLFBW: Chapter 71

It wasn’t an easy task to pick the seeds without damaging the skin of the fruit as much as possible.

Fortunately, both of them were very patient. A small handful of the date berry seeds slowly piled up on the animal skin on the stone table.

Qi Bai took a clean ceramic bowl, poured clean water into it, and carefully placed the seeds into the water to wash them clean.

Lang Ze saw Qi Bai’s cautious look and said with a smile, “I originally thought the fruit of the date berry was very small. I didn’t expect their seeds to be even smaller.”

The beastmen might live in the mountains and forests all day long, but they never understood what these plants looked like before they grew up. Therefore, Lang Ze found what Qi Bai did very interesting.

He saw Qi Bai take the seeds out of the water, spread animal skins under the bamboo tube, evenly place the seeds on it, sprinkle some water on it and then put it away. Lang Ze couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “Shouldn’t these grasses be placed in the soil? Why are you putting them in the bamboo tube?”

Qi Bai pulled a tuft of curly hair on top of his head in some confusion. In fact, he could only remember bits and pieces of knowledge about seed germination. For example, seeds like the date berries should be stimulated to sprout in a humid environment, so that the survival rate would be higher if they were transplanted later.

But he couldn’t quite remember whether it was like this or what the principle was. Qi Bai didn’t want to give Lang Ze a perfunctory answer, so he thought about it carefully before saying, “I’m not very good at growing this type of grass. The seeds of the date berry are too small. If I plant them in the vegetable garden, I’m afraid I won’t be able to find them in a few days.”

Qi Bai didn’t lie about this. Before these seeds sprouted, Qi Bai was really worried that he would accidentally step on them.

“Let them germinate in this small pot now. Once the green shoots grow small leaves, I will transplant them into the soil.”

Lang Ze felt that what Qi Bai said made sense. “In that case, I will go to the mountains and dig up the grown date berries. You can just plant them in the ground.”

Qi Bai shook his head. “There are only three date berry plants there with a few unripe fruits on them. I’m worried that if we dig them out now, the fruits won’t grow if we change the soil.”

“It would also be bad if Chuan Chuan eats it by mistake.”

Qi Bai leaned over and touched Chuan Chuan’s head with his forehead. “You are right!”

As Qi Bai spoke, there was still the aroma of date berries in his mouth. Chuan Chuan tilted his head back as if he wanted to put his nose close to Qi Bais’ lips.

Before he could succeed, he was dragged by the back of the neck and carried out on all fours.

Lang Ze seemed to be led astray by Chuan Chuan, and his eyes subconsciously looked at Qi Bai’s lips.

After perceiving Qi Bai’s confused look, Lang Ze quickly retracted his gaze. He hugged Chuan Chuan and completely ignored the lamb’s struggle.

“Ahem.”

Lang Ze looked around casually and happened to see the earth pits that Qi Bai had dug on the outermost side. “You’re right. So are these earth pits to enclose the vegetable garden?”

“That’s right.” Qi Bai nodded and gestured to his waist. “I want to make a bamboo fence this high. The fence is a bit like the thorn wall over there in the sheepfold, but it should be more beautiful.”

Lang Ze listened carefully to Qi Bai’s plan for the vegetable garden and said, “The hunting team won’t be back so late tomorrow. I will go with you to dig bamboo then.”

Qi Bai smiled and nodded. “That’s great!”

After all, it would be more convenient for Lang Ze to drag the bamboo in beast form than for Qi Bai to carry it one trip at a time by himself.

Originally, Qi Bai didn’t ask Lang Ze for help because he thought Lang Ze was very busy. Now that Lang Ze had some free time, Qi Bai naturally wouldn’t be polite to him.

The next morning, QI Bai first carefully observed the moisture of the soil in the bamboo tube. He placed the bamboo tube next to the charcoal basin. Then he put on the rattan basket and pulled Chuan Chuan’s leash.

The ewes Doudou and Juanjuan were taken out for milking today. They obviously hadn’t experienced as much as Xiao Hua, and they still struggled when taken out for milking.

However, their struggles were of no use. Zhu Zhu and Diao Lan were already experts in catching sheep and could control the ewes with just one hand.

At this time, Sun Qing and Shu You squatted down and took the opportunity to squeeze out the milk.

Of course, next to them, there was also Chuan Chuan, who took the initiative to come forward to eat.

Qi Bai observed the situation in the sheepfold through the gaps in the thorn fence.

Except for some snow that had accumulated in the shadows in the corners of the valley, the ground everywhere else was exposed. As a result, the black and round sheep dung on the ground had nowhere to hide.

Qi Bai hadn’t paid much attention to these things before, but now it was different. He had just planted plants in his small vegetable garden. His eyes changed when he looked at the sheep manure.

They were all natural fertilizers!

However, this manure couldn’t be used directly. Apart from other things, the heat and gas generated during the fermentation process would make the crops unable to stand it. This was what people usually referred to as burning seedlings.

Qi Bai had never made manure himself, but he had seen the fertilizer piles on the fields in the countryside. They were made by piling up manure, mixing it with some grass and wood ash, and finally covering it with soil and plastic film. Then it could be used after a period of time.

Moreover, fully fermented manure didn’t have a particularly strong smell. Many people would speciﬁcally purchase this pure, natural farm fertilizer for use.

Of course, many rural areas now had septic tanks, which was completely beyond Qi Bai’s professional scope. There was no need to think much about long-term things now. Qi Bai would be satisfied as long as the sheep manure could be made into usable fertilizer.

Qi Bai found Ci Yi, who was guarding the gate of the thorn fence, and asked, “Ci Yi, can you help me drive the sheep and let me into the sheepfold?”

Ci Yi subconsciously shook his head.

The four-eared sheep were considered medium-sized on the Beastman Continent, but they were still nearly two meters tall. There were many of them with horns on their heads, so they weren’t as harmless as they looked.

Therefore, the sheepfold where the four-eared sheep was kept was really not suitable for sub-beastmen to enter.

He asked in confusion, “What are you going to do in the sheepfold? If you want to catch a sheep, tell me which one you need, and I will catch it for you.”

“I don’t want sheep.” Qi Bai pointed at the black ball on the ground. “I want sheep dung.”

“You drove them to the corner, and I’ll go in with the rattan basket to pick them up quickly. Isn’t that okay?”

The confusion on Ci Yi’s face became even more pronounced. He thought for a long time and could only guess that Qi Bai was dissatisfied with the uncleanliness of the sheepfold. Everyone knew that Qi Bai usually liked cleanliness.

Ci Yi felt his face getting hot. After all, the sheepfold was usually guarded by him and Niy Yong. They were supposed to be responsible for the affairs in the sheepfold. However, they had never regarded the sheep dung as something that needed to be dealt with.

“Then… I’ll go in and pick out the sheep dung.” Ci Yi’s voice was low.

Seeing that Ci Yi was about to turn around and open the gate, Qi Bai quickly stopped him. “How can you do it alone?”

Ci Yi looked to be around 15 or 16 years old. He was still a half-grown child. It would be fine to ask him to help drive the flock of sheep, but it would be too dangerous if he had to distract himself picking up things.

Qi Bai had already made up his mind that, at worst, he could just wait for Lang Ze to come back in the afternoon and ask Lang Ze to accompany him.

Ci Yi silently took the rattan basket that Qi Bai had placed aside and said, “I usually bring these ewes out.”

As he said this, he threw off the animal skin coat he was wearing. He jumped into the sheepfold and turned into a hedgehog that was over one meter tall. Due to there being too many thorns on his body, Qi Bai couldn’t tell the position of his horn for a moment.

The big hedgehog stood up, revealing his snow-white belly and a head that was somewhat small compared to his body. Just when Qi Bai thought he was going to express something to Qi Bai—

The big hedgehog stretched out his short claws, hooked the rattan basket under his belly, and rolled himself into a spiky ball again.

Qi Bai now understood why Ci Yi was so confident and told him not to worry.

Ci Yi moved slowly in the sheepfold. From time to time, a small flesh-colored claw would appear from under the spikes. He picked up the surrounding sheep dung and quickly threw them into the rattan basket.

Perhaps it was because hedgehogs had a low presence in the animal world, but after entering the sheepfold, he didn’t cause a commotion in the sheepfold like other beastmen.

The leader of the flock walked to Ci Yi’s side, and Ci Yi immediately stopped.

The leader sniffed and put his nose close to Ci Yi’s body. Then it was pricked by the sharp spikes on Ci Yi’s body. He quickly retreated and stood at a distance, looking at Ci Yi.

The hedgehog and sheep stood there silently for a long time. Finally, the sheep seemed to regard the hedgehog as a grass ball stained with the smell of beastmen. He turned around slowly and continued to nibble on the green grass that had just emerged from the ground.

Before today, Qi Bai hadn’t thought that the beastmen’s beast form could be used in this way. Now he felt that their use of the beast form might be far from perfect.

Ci Yi’s movements were slow, but it didn’t take long for him to come out of the sheepfold with a rattan basket full of sheep dung.

It wasn’t until QI Bai found a remote piece of land outside the fence, poured the sheep dung on the ground, and sprinkled some hay on it that Ci Yi truly believed that Qi Bai really needed the sheep dung.

“I’ll pick up all the remaining ones in the sheepfold.” Ci Yi didn’t understand what Qi Bai was doing but this didn’t stop him from wanting to help.

Qi Bai had already confirmed that it wouldn’t be dangerous for Ci Yi to enter the sheepfold, so he smiled and thanked him. Qi Bai silently remembered in his heart that he would let Ci Yi taste the date berries when they were grown.

Today, the daily routine of the gathering team was still to dig bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest. Before setting off, Yang Luo had already informed the members of the gathering team that every person only needed to hand in two baskets of bamboo shoots. They could use the rest of the time as they pleased.

This was a time when bamboo shoots were growing rapidly. As long as they walked faster and had better luck, they wouldn’t need to waste the entire morning harvesting two baskets of bamboo shoots.

By the time the hunting team returned, Qi Bai had already moved the third basket of bamboo shoots back to the cave and was preparing to go out with the empty rattan basket on his back.

The hunting team’s harvest today was far less than yesterday’s. They only hunted two fawns. However, it was now only the beginning of spring. The tribe members were very satisfied to be able to bring back prey every day.

In the crowd, Lang Ze nodded to Qi Bai. It wasn’t his turn to be on duty today. Once Hou Yan confirmed the prey, he could leave at any time.

Qi Bai took advantage of this time to start chatting with Yang Luo.

Yang Luo was also very busy today, but unlike the other tribe members, Yang Luo plunged into the mountains and forests.

Beastmen were often injured during hunting. The herbs that Yang Luo had stored last autumn were completely used up after he applied them to the wounds of the horned beastmen yesterday.

Fortunately, there were some plants that could be used in spring. He didn’t waste a single day and quickly took Diao Lan to search for usable medicinal herbs. At this time, he happened to enter the tribe at the same time as the hunting team.

However, Yang Luo couldn’t help taking a step back after he heard Qi Bai’s thoughts.

He looked Qi Bai up and down and frowned. “Toilet? You are going to build a wall just for this?”