Qi Bai filled four animal skin bags with salt and handed them to Wa. Wa smiled with wrinkles all over his face and took out a small wooden sign from the small tent next to him. “This is the wooden sign you will use on trading days. You must keep it well. If you lose it, you can only come to me to exchange salt for a new one.”
Wa whispered something in the ear of a young beastman behind him. The young beastman stepped forward and said to Qi Bai, “I am Jin from the Linen Tribe. Follow me, and I will take you in.”
Qi Bai nodded and said, “Let’s go.”
The group walked through a tall wooden fence, which formed a sharp contrast with the sparsely populated grassland outside the fence. The place was crowded with people during the period of the trading day, and it was still very lively even at sunset.
Jin pointed to a street across from them. “There are three streets here. There are small tribes on both sides of this street, and the stalls are full of miscellaneous things.”
This street was somewhat like the night market stalls on Earth. There were some items in front of everyone. Those who were a bit more particular would put these items on animal skin carpets. There were also many people who marked out a small space and placed the supplies directly on the ground.
Since it was dark now, Qi Bai couldn’t see clearly what was on these people’s stalls for a moment. He will come over to take a closer look tomorrow during the day.”
“The great Linen Tribe is at the end of this street. If you have enough salt, you can go there to exchange for some linen. Such beautiful linen can only be made by our tribe.”
Jin said this arrogantly as he led everyone to turn right. After passing two tents, they entered another street. This was also a ‘凹’ shaped main street surrounding the entire trading venue.
“The people staying in the outer circle are all large tribes, including the eight tribes that founded the Xushan trading day. Oh no, it should be seven tribes. The most special one among them…”
Jin stopped in front of a huge wooden stand and sneered. “It is the Giant Deer Tribe. They used to be one of the most powerful tribes in Xushan, but now they can’t even hand over salt in exchange for a larger wooden sign. They can only squeeze in with other small tribes.”
A young man was sitting behind the stall. He looked calm and composed, as if he couldn’t hear Jin’s words. He was busy arranging the animal skins on the stall.
However, his ability to keep calm didn’t mean everyone else could do the same. The animal skin in front of the tent behind him was lifted up, and a young beastman rushed out angrily.
The beastman was young and looked weak, but he didn’t hold back when he cursed. “I was wondering why I could smell a foul odor from the tent. It turned out to be some rats who ate bad meat. Get out of here quickly. It stinks.”
The young man frowned. “Ming!”
The one called Ming was scolded and looked unconvinced. He showed no intention of retreating, and even turned to glare fiercely at Qi Bai.
Qi Bai touched his nose after being glared at for no reason. It was none of his business.
However, Qi Bai soon understood why Ming glared at him. It was because the stall that Jin led them to was just diagonally opposite the Giant Deer Tribe.
Jin pointed to the empty space in front of him. “This used to be the location of the Giant Deer Tribe, but now it is yours.”
Qi Bai looked at Jin, not wanting to thank him for allocating such a large space to them. He really wanted to roll his eyes. In fact, he did roll his eyes. “Why are you giving us a place that others have used?”
Jin’s attitude toward Qi Bai was much better than toward the Giant Deer Tribe. “It has been dozens of decades since the Xushan trading day has been held. There is no land that has never been used by others. Most of the locations in the outer circle are fixed by other large tribes. This piece of land wouldn’t even exist if the Giant Deer Tribe hadn’t moved away.”
Qi Bai nodded, reluctantly accepting his statement. “Then we will stay here.”
After all, four bags of salt were spent and couldn’t be wasted. This location was indeed much larger than the other stalls they had just passed. In addition, there was a wooden fence behind this stall, and the depth was deeper than those tribes in the middle. The mobility of people was small, and it seemed safer.
Everyone entered the open space and took off their saddles.
After transforming to their human form, they put on the animal skin vests and shorts prepared by Qi Bai.
Out of the fifteen member team that went out this time, only six were ordinary beastmen. The remaining nine had slave marks on different parts of their bodies.
Everyone had become accustomed to living without slaves in the Black Mountain Tribe and there aren’t many barriers between tribe members, but it was better to not let such differences be discovered when going out.
Fortunately, they just had to maintain human form and wear animal skins. Then the slave marks could be covered up, and they could exchange supplies like other ordinary beastmen.
Even if it was discovered accidentally, Qi Bai had prepared an excuse. It was better than them maintaining their status as a slave and being stuck in a tent all day.
Qi Bai was originally worried that wearing animal skin clothes in summer would look weird. Then after entering the trading day, he found that his worries were completely unnecessary.
Most people still only wore animal skin skirts made from their own animal skins, but there were many people wearing clothes.
Not only were there people wearing linen clothes, but there were also many wearing animal skins. Qi Bai even saw people wearing cloaks that hid their entire bodies. On the contrary, those of them wearing vests and shorts weren’t too conspicuous.
Of course, not everyone’s slave mark could be covered up. For example, Lang Ze’s slave mark was behind his ear and Xi Zhou’s on the back of his hand.
Therefore, in the following days, the two of them were forced to temporarily become ‘slaves’ of the Black Mountain Tribe.
“I see that other people are living in tents. Why don’t we build a few too?” Qi Bai handed the wooden sign to Xiang Yu. “There is a small forest on the way here. The trees there should be suitable for building tents. Grandpa Xiong Yu, take Xiong Feng and the others there to chop some wood and bring them back.”
Xiang Yu took the wooden sign and looked up at the sky. “Okay, we’ll bring back some more prey.”
Qi Bai smiled. “Then I’ll trouble you.”
As slaves, Lang Ze and Xi Zhou weren’t qualified to go out hunting. They stayed at the stall with Qi Bai, sorting out the supplies unloaded by the tribe members, setting up the stove, and making a fire.
The first to come back were Dian Lan and her companions, carrying some tall branches.
Qi Bai secretly tugged at the corner of Lang Ze’s clothes and asked in a low voice, “Do you know how to make a tent?”
Lang Ze raised his hand and rubbed Qi Bai’s white hair. “This isn’t difficult.”
Diao Lan wondered, “How big a tent should we build? Bao Bai, you need to confirm it for us.”
Mao Bai’s tribe used to live in tents, but Mao Bai had already left the tribe when Qi Bai transmigrated. The fragments of memories weren’t as reliable as doing it with one’s own hands.
Since Lang Ze and the others knew how to build tents, he temporarily didn’t know to grope around. Qi Bai broke off a small branch, thought for a while, and drew three circles around 15 or 16 square meters on the ground. “Let’s build these three tents first.”
There were only fifteen people from the Black Mountain Tribe. To be honest, they didn’t need so many tents. But since Qi Bai said so, no one had any questions. Xi Zhou picked up a piece of wood and walked over first.
“Hmph, the tribe isn’t big, but their airs are quite big.”
Qi Bai looked up and saw Ming from the Giant Deer Tribe standing in front of a stall on the right, speaking with an indignant look on his face.
Qi Bai understood the reason after thinking about it for a moment.
This location was originally the stall of the Giant Deer Tribe, so the tribe next door should be on good terms with them.
Sure enough, after hearing Ming’s voice, the largest tent behind the stall opened, and a beastman boy around the same age as Ming ran out and grabbed Ming’s hand happily. “Ming, you came to play with me. Why don’t you come in quickly?”
“Nuan, there are rats around you. You have to be careful.”
Nuan’s facial features and little face were a bit round, with only the chin a bit pointed. Once he spoke, a small dimple appeared on his left cheek, making him look silly and cute.
Qi Bai was a bit dazed. His younger brother on Earth also had such a shallow dimple on his cheek. The appearance of warmth made him think of his family on Earth.
Hearing Ming’s words, Nuan looked toward the open space beside him and immediately saw Qi Bai standing there.
Seeing Qi Bai’s direct gaze, Nuan’s face turned red for some reason, and he whispered, “I don’t know him. Just leave them alone.”
Just as the two of them were able to enter the tent, Qi Bai showed a sincere smile. “It is normal that you don’t know us. We are from the Black Mountain Tribe, and I am Bao Bai. Our tribe was dispersed by the flood, so we have to migrate here. This is our first time participating in the Xushan trading day.”
Nuan paused and looked at Qi Bai with some confusion.
Qi Bai continued, “I don’t have any friends here. Are you sub-beastmen? Can I play with you?”
The two young boys looked at each other. They didn’t understand what it meant to not hit someone who was smiling at them, but even Ming’s attitude softened a lot.
Qi Bai touched his hair and said in a somewhat lonely tone, “My fur color is different from other people in the tribe, so I never had many friends in the tribe. It makes sense that you don’t want to play with me.” After that, he turned around and walked back.
“Wait a minute!” A clear voice sounded. Qi Bai could tell it was Ming’s voice without turning around.
“Bao Bai, right?” The other person’s tone was a bit awkward, but he quickly made up his mind. “Come over here. I have some wood flowers here. Do you want to see them together?”
Qi Bai turned his back to the two of them and winked at Lang Ze, who nodded slightly.
Qi Bai turned his head and walked in the direction of the two of them. He said with a smile, “What is a wood flower? I have never seen it!”
Ming said happily, “The wood flowers are only available in Xushan. It is normal that you haven’t seen them.”
Seeing the three of them enter the tent next door, Xi Zhou asked curiously, “What is Bao Bai doing?”
Lang Ze glanced at him. “He is doing what we can’t do.”
Xi Zhou sighed as if he didn’t understand. He didn’t blame Lang Ze for not explaining clearly. After all, the word ‘diplomacy’ hadn’t appeared at this time. It was naturally difficult for him to understand Qi Bai’s approach.
On the other hand, Qi Bai entered the tent. He looked at the ‘wood flower’ that Ming took out from an animal skin bag and was so shocked that he couldn’t close his mouth. “This… is the wood flower?”
On the slightly yellow branches, there were several pure white four-petal flowers climbing on the branches.
Ming smiled even more after seeing Qi Bai’s expression. He handed Qi Bai a branch and said, “Do you think these flowers are pretty? The flowers are like clouds, but Yan and Han don’t think they are pretty!”
Qi Bai gently squeezed the soft cotton wool in his hands, and the black cotton seeds wrapped in the cotton wool. The joy in his heart was almost overflowing.
He had just heard Jin from the Linen Tribe introduce the price of linen. Almost one meter of linen required a small bag of salt, which was much more expensive than animal skins. To put it into perspective, that much salt could be exchanged for seven or eight complete animal skins.
Qi Bai originally planned to go to the stall of the Linen Tribe to change some linen.
Now, cotton, which could be made into fabric more delicate than linen, had appeared before him without any warning. How could Qi Bai not be excited?
Qi Bai asked, “I like the wood flowers very much. Where did you find them? They don’t seem to wither. Can I pick some and bring them back to the tribe?”
Ming clapped his hands and said to Nuan, “Look, there is someone who likes these wood flowers as much as I do.”
Then he said to Qi Bai with sparkling eyes, “I have to stay at the stall during the day and can only go out in the evening. At this time tomorrow, the three of us should go and pick wood flowers together.”
Qi Bai naturally nodded happily. Cotton was very important, but it couldn’t run away. During the day, he should focus on trading.
Compared to Ming, Nuan didn’t care much about the wood flowers. Still, he had a gentle personality so he readily agreed to his friend’s invitation.
Just then, there was a noise outside the tent.
“How dare they break their promise?”
“Chief, calm down. Let’s go into the tent and talk.”
“Bah! We brought so many animal skins, and now they say they don’t want them. How dare they deceive the War Bear Tribe? I will teach them a lesson!”
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