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The grass seeds planted in the field were meant to feed the beastmen of the Waterfall Tribe, but the Axe Tribe had to eat in winter too.

There were so many mouths to feed—what would they eat if they didn’t hunt?

As for farming, the Axe Tribe hadn’t seen the grass seed harvest yet, so they probably wouldn’t be willing to use their grass seeds as seed grain.

Should they be forced to use their grass seeds as seed grain?

Fan Zhou thought about it for a moment and dismissed the idea. Better to focus on animal husbandry first. As long as they worked hard enough, nature still had enough prey to sustain them.

“Alright,” Feng Xun agreed readily. Hunting was no big deal—he was good at it.

Feng Xun grabbed a coil of hemp rope and quickly disappeared. Fan Zhou continued weaving hemp cloth. hemp cloth was a solid currency; it was always good to stock up.

Now he spent his mornings teaching math and his afternoons on his own tasks.

Evening came quickly, and work was done. The Waterfall Tribe’s foraging team arrived to deliver wild vegetables to the Axe Tribe.

Hu Sheng walked out of the forest with Niu Zhuang and Yang Chang, his expression gloomy. The three of them still followed the Waterfall Tribe for their meals.

With Fan Zhou and Feng Xun helping out now, the Waterfall Tribe’s communal meals were much better than before. Nearly every meal had a meat-to-vegetable ratio of three-to-seven, sometimes even four-to-six.

Though Niu Zhuang had moved over to the small shed area, he couldn’t bear to part with these good meals. Every time, he would fill a big bowl and bring it back to share with Luo Hua and the little one.

“Forget it, forget it. If they’re not willing, they’re not willing. Once the grass seeds mature and they see it with their own eyes, you won’t need to push them. Next year, they’ll definitely plant the seeds enthusiastically,” Niu Zhuang said.

“Exactly. Honestly, I’m not too sure myself. Who knows what the Waterfall Tribe’s grass seed will turn out like,” Yang Chang said.

“…You actually doubt Fan Zhou?” Hu Sheng was shocked.

Yang Chang hissed, looked around, and instinctively glanced toward the nearby cave. Seeing no other beastmen around, he lowered his voice and said, “It’s not that I doubt Fan Zhou. It’s just that those grass seeds aren’t ripe yet. I haven’t seen the heads myself, and it makes me uneasy. That’s our winter ration, after all.”

He really did understand where the Axe Tribe’s beastmen were coming from.

“The stalks of that grass seed have already grown to your shoulder. How is that still not reassuring?” Hu Sheng was speechless. “Besides, with Fan Zhou around, do you really think he’d let you go hungry?”

Yang Chang looked a little embarrassed at those words. Of course, he knew how capable Fan Zhou was. But he had been starved before. Hunger had left a mark on him. After escaping his old tribe and arriving at the Axe Tribe, he had suffered too much.

The grass seeds already assigned to him—he just couldn’t bring himself to take them out and plant them.

Hu Sheng saw Yang Chang staying silent and couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The grass seed planted by the Waterfall Tribe had tall, thick stalks. Even a fool could see it was better than the wild ones, and it would soon produce grain.

Watching the grass seeds sprout and grow right before their eyes, yet still not trusting Fan Zhou—no wonder the beastmen of the Axe Tribe didn’t believe it either, unwilling to take out their seeds to plant.

He had spent the whole morning persuading them one by one, until his throat was raw, and still not a single beastman was willing to give it a try.

Infuriating.

Let them go hungry in the winter, then.

But when a certain figure flashed through his mind, he scratched his head and also looked toward the cave. Yang Da had settled not far from the grass seeds field—he’d even helped set up the little shed. He didn’t know what Fan Zhou’s thoughts on the matter were…

Fan Zhou continued weaving hemp cloth with an expressionless face. Alright then, if they didn’t want to do it, he wouldn’t force them. Once they were hungry, they’d remember.

After watering the grass seeds field this round, he would have the beastmen of the Axe Tribe start building an animal enclosure.

Soon, by the fourth evening, the beastmen with eight hemp cloth pieces swarmed over to Fan Zhou to exchange them for goods.

They had been able to fill their stomachs these past few days, but they were craving flavor! They had already tasted the little sweet water that Hu Sheng, Niu Zhuang, and Yang Chang had shared.

Compared to honey, the sweetness was way lower, but it was really tasty!

They wanted more!

There was also that sesame oil. Of the sesame Fan Zhou brought back this time, more than half had been planted, and the remaining portion he had the foraging team process into fragrant sesame oil and sesame paste. With these two condiments, the flavor of the cold mixed wild vegetables increased significantly. After Niu Zhuang brought his meal back, the aroma was so enticing that the beastmen of the Axe Tribe couldn’t help but gather around to watch.

They wanted to trade for some sesame oil and sesame paste!

However, the vast majority of beastmen still chose to trade for meat. Sweet water and sesame condiments were too scarce—just a few mouthfuls and they’d be gone. Meat was clearly more practical. Eight pieces of hemp cloth could be exchanged for two jin of meat, enough to quiet the hunger in their bellies.

Feng Xun slaughtered the mud beast he had caught the day before right then and there, using a bone knife to divide the meat among the beastmen. Fan Zhou stood nearby, collecting the hemp cloth.

The beastmen who got meat were overjoyed, jogging back to prepare a roast. It had been a long time since they’d eaten such large chunks of meat. The Axe Tribe had little prey to begin with, and even less was shared with the foraging teams.

The beastmen who traded for other items were also quite pleased, cradling their wooden bowls and savoring the sweet water, sesame oil, and sesame paste in small sips.

From afar, the hunting team of the Axe Tribe watched with resentment on their faces. A few who were especially greedy were already drooling. They finally understood how Hu Sheng felt—this kind of unequal treatment was hard to bear!

They were chewing on grass and eating wild vegetables every day without even the sweet water to replenish their strength. They couldn’t take it anymore.

They went to find Hu Sheng, hoping he could share some experience. But Hu Sheng had no “experience” to speak of—he hadn’t officially joined the Waterfall Tribe yet himself.

Still, Hu Sheng was at least a bit more familiar with Fan Zhou. That morning, after receiving his portion of sweet water, he didn’t leave immediately. Once the other beastmen were gone, he approached Fan Zhou with a troubled look and said, “Wise Tu Zhou, what must I do for you to allow me to join the Waterfall Tribe?”

…

Fan Zhou’s mouth twitched. He hadn’t expected this dumb tiger to come up with a new way to flatter him.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “Alright then, I do have a task. If you can get it done well, I’ll give you a chance to join the Waterfall Tribe.”

Hu Sheng had only asked on a whim, thinking there was nothing to lose—might as well try. He never expected that there really was something!

He was overjoyed. “What task?!”

“Road work.”

“Road work?” Hu Sheng widened his eyes, not quite understanding.

“To make travel to the Giant Bear Tribe easier, I plan to improve the road. You’ll choose three others to work on it with you. If you can do it quickly and well, I’ll let you join the Waterfall Tribe.”

Though he wasn’t planning on launching major construction, the most basic living infrastructure still had to be handled. He was going to visit the Giant Bear Tribe sooner or later—maybe even the Holy Temple.

But the most urgent matter right now was that he wanted to dig up those hard nut trees from far away and bring them back. Without a road, how would they transport them?

He told Hu Sheng to go back and select some people, while he went to find Lang Tian and explain the necessity of building a road.

Once Lang Tian heard it involved the hard nut trees, he immediately left everything to Fan Zhou’s judgment.

When Fan Zhou returned to the tribe, Hu Sheng was already waiting at the foot of the mountain with Niu Zhuang, Yang Chang, and Niu Fei.

Fan Zhou calmly ate his breakfast, then headed out with Feng Xun and the four others toward the small path in front of the tribe.

The path was only about two meters wide—far too narrow. It had to be widened to at least ten meters.

Roadwork in the primitive wilderness was simple: first chop down the trees, then level the land. If he could eventually build a handcart, he’d lay a layer of raw-earth bricks on top of the dirt road to make transporting goods easier.

But for now, since there were no carts, step one was chopping down trees.

When Hu Sheng heard Fan Zhou’s request, he almost smiled so wide his mouth went crooked—this was way too easy! Land clearing? That was his specialty!

Niu Zhuang, Yang Chang, and Niu Fei were also stirred by thoughts—could they join the Waterfall Tribe together with Hu Sheng?

“Your trials will come later. First, finish building the road. Once it’s done, I’ll assign you tasks,” Fan Zhou didn’t reject them outright, dangling a carrot in front of them.

Upon hearing this, Niu Zhuang, Yang Chang, and Niu Fei were overjoyed and promised repeatedly that they absolutely wouldn’t slack off.

As they were talking, heavy footsteps echoed from the distance. Fan Zhou looked up, and upon clearly seeing who had come, he was overjoyed—Niu Shan, Niu Li, and Xiong Li were back!

The three beastmen were in beast form, with large hemp cloth sacks hanging from both sides of their backs.

Ying Xiao had originally been clutching one of the sacks with his claws, hanging onto Niu Shan’s back. His sharp eyes spotted Fan Zhou immediately, and he flapped his wings and flew straight toward him.

He wanted to claim credit! With his guidance, they had brought back a ton of hard nuts this time!

Fan Zhou truly was delighted. He personally counted the hard nuts—there were more than eight thousand of them! And that was just half; the other half hadn’t been brought back yet.

Fan Zhou gave Ying Xiao a fierce round of praise on the spot and asked what reward he wanted.

Ying Xiao shook the red feathers on his head and shouted loudly, “I want meat slices with sesame paste!”

He’d been craving it the entire journey—it was torture.

“Done,” Fan Zhou said with a big smile, snapping his fingers. The chili peppers Feng Xun had brought back last time hadn’t been used up—he had specially dried them into chili flakes for storage.

“And Niu Shan, Niu Li, and Xiong Li—come eat too. You’ve worked so hard.”

Since he transmigrated, Niu Shan, Niu Li, and Xiong Li had been running errands for the tribe nonstop. For working so hard, they definitely needed a proper meal as a reward.

Ahem, well… after this meal, the three of them still had to head back out. After all, there were still so many hard nuts left to transport…

Niu Shan, Niu Li, and Xiong Li were thrilled when they heard this—there was food for them too? That was great!

Fan Zhou had Lang Tian arrange for the hard nuts to be stored in the warehouse, while he and Feng Xun went back to prepare lunch.

In addition to hot pot, he also planned to make some steamed cornbread—it had been a long time since he’d had any. Today was going to be a little extravagant!

The mouth of the cave was too small to host so many beastmen, so Fan Zhou moved the gathering spot down to the foot of the mountain. Feng Xun even dug two large stone pots on the spot.

There were no math lessons today—Song Li and Niu Shu helped out instead.

First, the hard nuts were boiled. After they were cooked, they were mixed with grass seed flour and shaped into small cakes to be steamed in the pot.

Feng Xun slaughtered a big-horned beast down by the creek.

Fan Zhou started preparing the hot pot base—he poured oil into the pot, then added wild scallions and dried chili peppers to stir-fry. A pungent smell exploded almost immediately, but mixed with the rich aroma, it made Song Li and Niu Shu both want to flee and lean in to sniff more at the same time.

There weren’t many spices, so Fan Zhou couldn’t get fancy with the broth base, but with spring water and sesame paste in the mix, the overall flavor was still quite good.

Soon, Feng Xun came back—he had already sliced the meat.

Fan Zhou immediately added the slices into the pot. With the slow speed of the stone pot, cooking and eating at the same time would drive people mad, so he always cooked a full pot at once, turned off the heat, and let everyone eat slowly.

After the meat slices went in, Fan Zhou added a bit of pepper powder.

As the meat changed color, a rich and somewhat complex aroma—at least for this world—wafted from the stone pot.

There was no gamey meat smell—only deep, savory fragrance.

Song Li and Niu Shu couldn’t stop sniffing—it smelled too good!

Ying Xiao was somewhat intoxicated by the aroma, hopping around near the stone pot—it was driving him crazy with hunger.

At the entrance to the tribe not far away, Niu Shan, Niu Li, and Xiong Li walked over with grinning faces. When the scent reached their noses, they all unconsciously quickened their pace.

“Come, come, take a bowl,” Fan Zhou thinned out the thick sesame paste using the hot pot broth, then poured it into each person’s large bowl.

“Help yourselves—eat as much as you want,” Feng Xun had butchered two big-horned beasts, after all.

Niu Shan used a spoon to scoop out slices of meat into his bowl, then stirred with chopsticks to coat each piece evenly with sesame paste.

He didn’t know how to use chopsticks to pick food up, but he could scoop. He opened his mouth, scooped with the chopsticks, and successfully got half a bowl of meat into his mouth.

The seasonings were few, and the chili spice was a bit one-note, but the sesame paste was rich in flavor. Combined with the meat’s aroma and tenderness, the mixture of flavors made Niu Shan’s eyes go wide at first, then slowly close in bliss as he savored it.

It was delicious!

Niu Li, Xiong Li, Song Li, Niu Shu, and Ying Xiao all reacted similarly to Niu Shan. As the chef, Fan Zhou felt quite a sense of accomplishment seeing his guests enjoy the food so much.

Feng Xun had already served him a bowl of meat. Fan Zhou picked up his chopsticks and was just about to dig in when a commotion suddenly rose from the tribe’s entrance not far away.

He lifted his gaze in that direction, and the others, who had been immersed in the food, also looked over instinctively.

“Huh?” Niu Shan put down his chopsticks and rubbed his eyes, thinking he must’ve seen wrong.

“It’s the chief of the Great Bear Tribe!” Xiong Li beside him had already shouted out.

The Great Bear Tribe?

Fan Zhou put down his chopsticks—why had the Great Bear Tribe come here?