LSLFBW: Chapter 74

Early the next morning, Lang Ze pushed open the bamboo door of Qi Bai’s house and saw the little snow leopard covered with animal skin, maintaining the same posture as when he left yesterday. He was diligently protecting the four eggs underneath.

The little snow leopard opened his eyes after hearing the sound of the door opening, poking out his tiny head from the animal skin.

Lang Ze told him, “I’m going to the bamboo forest now. Do you want to come with me?”

The snow leopard stretched his front paws out of the animal skin and nodded in confusion.

The two people cooperated very well. Qi Bai crawled out from the animal skin, and Lang Ze moved the four eggs and the nest directly to the big rock.

By the time Qi Bai put on his fur coat, Lang Ze had already put a bamboo tube filled with water into the nest and completely covered the eggs with fur.

Qi Bai threw the sweet potatoes next to the charcoal to heat them. The longer the sweet potatoes were roasted, the sweeter they became. They would be ready to eat when the two people returned from the bamboo forest.

Before going out again, Qi Bai grabbed two handfuls of dried meat from the bamboo basket and gave a large handful to Lang Ze.

They had to get back before the hunting team set out, so they couldn’t stay in the cave for too long. They could only eat dried meat to fill their stomachs on the road.

A breeze blew by. The bamboo leaves rubbed against each other in the wind, making a rustling sound.

Lang Ze was hitting the bamboo with a stone axe while Qi Bai was digging bamboo shoots with a stone shovel not far away.

In order to stay in the cave as much as possible during the day and take care of the four duck eggs, Qi Bai took this time to dig out the bamboo shoots that needed to be handed over to the tribe.

Qi Bai had become very skilled at finding and digging bamboo shoots. Soon, the two rattan baskets he brought were full.

Looking up at the sky, Qi Bai ran back to Lang Ze and said, “Let’s stop here for today. It is almost time to gather.”

Lang Ze put away the stone axe. The two men dragged the bamboo that Lang Ze had cut over one by one before tying the bamboo together with rattan according to what they did last time.

Then a white wolf appeared. Qi Bai put a thick vine on Lang Ze’s neck and secretly stroked Lang Ze’s smooth fur twice.

Lang Ze’s beast form was much taller than when winter had just begun. He could drag these bamboo with ease.

The two of them walked through the wall using the small door. By this time, almost all the tribe members had woken up. There were many people cooking on the stone platform, and smoke could be seen rising from the kitchen in the distance.

Niu Xi and Diao Lan each held a large winnowing basket with some medicinal herbs in it and were about to go to Yang Luo’s cave.

After seeing Qi Bai and Lang Ze coming from outside the tribe, Niu Xi stopped and greeted them. “Bao Bai, you went to the bamboo forest so early?”

Qi Bai poked his head out from the side of the giant wolf and saw Niu Xi and Diao Lan. He also smiled and greeted them. “Yes, we brought back a lot of bamboo shoots and bamboo.”

Qi Bai put the rattan basket he was carrying on the ground. “Diao Lan, this is my share of the bamboo shoots for today. Can I give it to you now? I want to stay in the tribe during the day.”

Niu Xi asked curiously, “What are you going to do in the tribe?”

Apart from collecting the spring bamboo shoots and raising sheep, the only thing Niu Xi could think of was building the toilet and wooden shelves.

However, the bricks in the kiln hadn’t dried yet. They couldn’t start firing bricks for the time being.

The wooden racks that were to be placed in the collective cave were now filled with winnowing baskets filled with dried bamboo shoots. They couldn’t be built for a while.

Qi Bai told them about the eggs he was hatching and pointed to the bamboo behind Lang Ze. “I need to build a vegetable garden and a bamboo pavilion outside my cave. I want to finish it before the bricks are burned.”

Diao Lan didn’t know what the vegetable garden that Qi Bai was talking about was, but Niu Xi’s eyes had already lit up. She remembered what Qi Bai had said about planting date berries, and looked at Diao Lan expectantly. “Is it okay?”

Niu Xi was also a captain of the gathering team, but Qi Bai was a member of Diao Lan’s gathering team. Niu Xi couldn’t make decisions directly for Diao Lan.

After all, she was just a sub-beastman who had just reached adulthood. She always felt insecure when facing the calm Diao Lan. Moreover, she really didn’t know if she could accept supplies like this.

Diao Lan pointed to the empty space next to the big tree. “Just put it here. I’ll give you the basket after I weigh it.”

Qi Bai thanked her, picked up the two baskets full of bamboo shoots and ran to put them under the big tree. Then he ran back to hold the bamboo behind Lang Ze.

After waving to Diao Lan and Niu Xi, the man and the wolf walked towards the left side of the stone mountain.

Diao Lan stared thoughtfully at the two people’s backs.

Niu Xi stood beside Diao Lan and followed the direction of her gaze in a confused manner.

Before Niu Xi could ask, Diao Lan withdrew her gaze and told Niu Xi, “Let’s go. Don’t keep the priest waiting too long.”

The mountain road leading to the cave had been paved with even stone steps, so it was much more convenient for them to move the bamboo to the stone platform in front of the cave this time compared to in winter.

The giant wolf lowered his head to make it easier for Qi Bai to remove the thick vine from his neck.

Qi Bai took a step back and looked at Lang Ze strangely. “Lang Ze, why do I feel like your horn seems a bit different?”

A hint of doubt flashed in the white wolf’s eyes. He lowered his head and showed his horn to Qi Bai.

Qi Bai stood on tiptoe and reached out to touch it.

This was the first time Qi Bai touched a beastman’s horn. He felt it was cool and warm, like a piece of fine jade.

At the same time, he became more certain that he wasn’t mistaken. A shallow circular pattern had appeared at the bottom of Lang Ze’s horn.

“Can you feel it when I touch it like this?” Qi Bai asked. “There are several traces in this circle.”

Qi Bai lay on top of Lang Ze, trying to get a closer look. “I can’t tell what the pattern is, but it is a regular pattern and is quite beautiful.”

The moment Qi Bai climbed down from his body, Lang Ze changed into human form and asked, “Can you tell me more about what the pattern looks like?”

Lang Ze’s tone was calm but Qi Bai noticed his nervousness. Qi Bai ran back to the cave, found a charcoal pencil and slate, and recalled what he had just seen.

A pattern soon appeared on the stone slab. It looked somewhat like cloud patterns and somewhat like waves.

Nostalgia and sadness appeared in Lang Ze’s eyes. He stroked the stone slab solemnly and said, “Yes, this is the pattern.”

“What is this?” Qi Bai asked curiously.

“My father had the same pattern on his horn. This is a unique mark of our White Wolf Tribe.” Lang Ze’s voice lowered. “My father said that this is the recognition of the Beast God.”

Qi Bai looked at the pattern on the stone slab with surprise. Could it be that different beastmen tribes had different marks?

However, whether it was Mao Bai’s former tribe or the Black Mountain Tribe, the horns of the horned beastmen were all smooth. Qi Bai had never seen such a situation before.

“Is this… your totem?”

Qi Bai blinked. Then he thought about how Lang Ze could transform part of his body into that of an animal. In that case, it seemed acceptable for him to have some lines on the horn on his head.

“This isn’t a totem, but a mark engraved in our flesh and blood.” Lang Ze looked at Qi Bai. “Can you give me this stone slate?”

Qi Bai nodded quickly. “Of course.”

“It is just…” Qi Bai was worried. “Will you be in danger if someone else sees this unique mark?”

Lang Ze shook his head. “There are many tribes on the Beastman Continent that are recognized by the Beast God. Our White Wolf Tribe is just one of them. Not every horned beastman in the White Wolf Tribe will have the mark.”

“That’s good.”

It made sense. The hunting team could see Lang Ze’s beast form every day. Among them was the taller Xiang Yu, who must’ve seen the changes in Lang Ze’s horn a long time ago.

Lang Ze and Qi Bai couldn’t figure out the reason why the mark suddenly appeared, but it was certain that the mark wouldn’t do any harm to Lang Ze.

If Qi Bai hadn’t pointed it out today, Lang Ze wouldn’t have even known about the changes in his horn.

According to Lang Ze’s memory, in his former tribe, the stronger the horned beastmen were, the more likely they were to be chosen by the Beastmen and have a mark given to them on their horn.

Could it be that there was really a Beast God in this world?

This realization made Qi Bai subconsciously look up at the sky and reflect on himself in his heart.

Lang Ze put the stone slab with the White Wolf Tribe’s mark in the cave while QI Bai put breakfast on the stone table.

After pulling the sweet potatoes out of the charcoal fire, the two of them simply ate some barbecued meat. Then it was time for the hunting team to gather.

Lang Ze left the cave in an absentminded manner, while Qi Bai finished the gathering task early but wasn’t idle either.

After confirming that the condition of the duck eggs was stable, he led Chuan Chuan to the sheepfold.

Qi Bai didn’t see Ci Yi around and guessed he wasn’t on duty today.

The sheepfold was obviously much cleaner, and there were two more piles of sheep dung in the corner.

Qi Bai used a wooden stick to break up some of the sheep dung. Then he evenly sprinkled the wood ash he was carrying on it.

The moment Chuan Chuan reached the edge of the thorn fence, he surrounded the ewes and started to drink milk as if he was familiar with the place. Once Qi Bai finished cleaning up the manure pile, he could take the well-fed Chuan Chuan home.

Back on the platform in front of the cave, Qi Bai tied the leash to the stone table and stretched the rope as long as possible. “Dad’s next task is very difficult. You can move freely on the platform.”

Then he took out a bunch of tools from the cave.

The stone axe and knife were used for chopping, the straw rope was used for measuring, the hand drill was used for drilling holes, and the bone knife was used for grinding details. They were all important tools for processing bamboo.

The entire piece of land that Qi Bai had leveled out would be surrounded by a fence. The fence would be made into sections, with each section being around one meter wide.

The bamboo was cut into pieces of the same height, and some side gaps were polished on the sides to allow the bamboo strips to be inserted. These were the supporting posts of the fence and Qi Bai nailed them deep into the soil.

After determining the distance between every two supporting pillars, the bamboo was split into five centimeter wide strips using the stone axe and inserted into the side seams next to the pillars.

However, Qi Bai didn’t insert the bamboo strips horizontally but crossed them diagonally. This way, the final connection looked like a cross diamond pattern.

The production wasn’t very complicated, but it improved the protection ability of the fence and the appearance made people feel particularly exquisite.

At this time, only a quarter of the land surrounded by the fence was cultivated with plants. The rest of the land was still idle.

Qi Bai carefully planned the open space before deciding to add another fenced wall in the middle of the land. In this way, the entire land was divided into two areas.

The half near the cave was used for farming, and the remaining half was used as a nest for small animals.

Qi Bai touched Chuan Chuan, who had been watching the fun nearby, and said, “Let’s make your nest today while my hands are still hot.”

Chuan Chuan clung to Qi Bai affectionately, completely unaware that he was about to be separated from the family.

The bamboo was split and tied into rafts with straw ropes. The rafts were nailed directly into the ground to make three walls. The rafts were then used to make a roof that could drain water, and a small movable door was installed.

Qi Bai built two such nests in total.

The larger one was naturally Chuan Chuan’s nest, and the smaller one was prepared for the four little ducks in the cave that might break out of their shells at any time.

Qi Bai polished two more wooden boards and used charcoal to write ‘Chuan Chuan’ and ‘ducks’ on them, respectively.

Two wooden signs were hung up, and an elegant bamboo garden was formed.

Qi Bai stood outside the garden, very satisfied with the small garden he made. Then he turned his gaze to the bricks that had been piled up next to him for a whole winter.