This time, the number of beastmen from the Giant Bear Tribe was significantly greater than last time. Moreover, Xiong Wu and his group were planning to stay for several days. Fan Zhou, thinking about the Treehouse Tribe’s imminent arrival, wanted to imitate the Giant Bear Tribe by clearing a plot of land to be used by visiting tribes.

The next morning after breakfast, he and Feng Xun took the Giant Bear Tribe beastmen to the northeast part of the tribe’s territory to clear the forest.

They chopped down the big trees, dug up the roots, carried the branches and leaves to the side, and then could begin building small sheds.

As hosts, these tasks were originally supposed to be done by Fan Zhou and Feng Xun. But the Giant Bear Tribe was strong and capable—they refused to let Fan Zhou and Feng Xun lift a finger. Each of them picked up a large axe or a heavy iron spade and worked swiftly and skillfully.

Fan Zhou and Feng Xun simply stood by and watched them work.

Lu Xin and Hou Yan were both relatively weak and not suited to heavy labor. The two of them surrounded Fan Zhou, asking endless questions and constantly volunteering themselves.

The night before, they had inquired among the Waterfall Tribe beastmen and learned that Feng Xun had recently been helping Fan Zhou search for an assistant. That was a task they could do.

Hou Yan could do arithmetic—Fan Zhou didn’t even need to teach him. In fact, he could teach others!

Lu Xin could do arithmetic too, though he wasn’t very good at it. But he was willing to learn, and he also wanted to learn Chinese characters. He wanted to help Fan Zhou handle tedious tasks.

But Fan Zhou remained unmoved. One of them was a chief’s mate, the other a tribal priest—how could they just stay in the Waterfall Tribe? It wouldn’t be appropriate.

Seeing that Fan Zhou just wouldn’t give in no matter what, Lu Xin looked a bit dejected. He lowered his head and kicked at the grass on the ground, his whole demeanor drooping.

Hou Yan stroked his beard and spoke again, “Tu Zhou, last night we went to see your breeding pens. The houses where the big-horn beasts and mud beasts live are really nice! I heard the Axe Tribe also wants to live in the same kind of houses. Can I trade you grass seeds for one of those houses?”

“…Why do you want a house?” Fan Zhou didn’t understand.

“To keep it for future use. The Giant Bear Tribe will definitely come back to trade again in the future, and when that time comes, I want to live in one of those earthen-brick houses. If you don’t care for ordinary grass seeds or chili, I can trade beast spirit flowers instead.”

“Didn’t you say yesterday that in the future you could give me one hundred beast spirit flowers? I only want ninety-nine—the last one I’ll trade for a house.”

Lu Xin, who was standing nearby, perked up the moment he heard that. He also wanted to live in one of those houses!

But then he drooped again—he didn’t have any beast spirit flowers. The two beast spirit flowers he had eaten were even paid for with Hou Yan’s seeds…

Fan Zhou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Beast spirit flowers were rare and precious—they weren’t supposed to be used like this!

But then again, Hou Yan’s idea made sense.

If a tribe happened to come to the Waterfall Tribe during winter, those little sheds wouldn’t be able to withstand the wind and snow. It was indeed necessary to prepare some earthen-brick houses in case of emergencies.

However, Hou Yan and Lu Xin’s idea of joining the Waterfall Tribe still needed to be discouraged.

After thinking it over, he said to Hou Yan, “The Giant Bear Tribe still needs you for many things. Besides, I have something to ask of you.”

“You’re asking me?” Hou Yan was first surprised, then delighted. “What is it?”

“Build a road—a road that leads to the Waterfall Tribe. Also, dig some caves along the roadside where people can rest overnight.”

“This road is really necessary. Once it’s built, communication between the two tribes will become much easier. Other tribes traveling from the Giant Bear Tribe to the Waterfall Tribe will also find it much more convenient. Don’t you think?”

“I do!” Hou Yan immediately nodded. At the same time, his admiration for Fan Zhou deepened. This was a brilliant idea—if the road were made smooth and wide, traveling would be so much easier.

They dug more caves along the roadside, so that when night fell, there would be no need to go through the trouble of finding a safe place.

As expected of the High Priest, what he considered was always so thorough!

Seeing that Hou Yan nodded, Fan Zhou smiled and continued, “Building a road is very hard work, and it will delay the beastmen from hunting and gathering, so you must go back and explain to everyone the importance and necessity of road construction. Only then will everyone be willing to do it.”

“I won’t make them work for nothing. When you go back this time, I’ll give you some hemp cloth and grass seeds. Write down the names of everyone who participates in building the road, and then give them hemp cloth and grass seeds as payment.”

Beastmen generally didn’t have stored food. If one wanted them to build roads, someone had to provide them with food, otherwise who would be willing to work while hungry?

However, the food in his hands wasn’t plentiful either, so wages would have to be compensated with hemp cloth.

The specific balance between being full and building the road would have to be resolved by the Giant Bear Tribe.

After all, the road wouldn’t be used by him alone once it was built—the Giant Bear Tribe could use it too, so they had to contribute some effort.

“Remember how much work each beastman has done, and distribute the hemp cloth and grass seeds to them. Such a large and detailed matter—do you think it can be done relying on Xiong Wu alone? It definitely has to be you keeping the records. You’re indispensable to the road-building matter.”

Fan Zhou looked at Hou Yan with a face full of trust. “Don’t you think so?”

Hou Yan nodded vigorously, somewhat excited. “Yes!”

That Xiong Wu, with that brain of his, definitely didn’t have the capability to handle this matter properly. To achieve what Tu Zhou expected, it had to be arranged by him personally.

This task really could not do without him!

In fact, the reason he wanted to exchange for a mud-brick house was that once the house was built, he could just settle in the Waterfall Tribe. If he had a house, then that meant he had a cave in the Waterfall Tribe—so why couldn’t he stay?

But now that Fan Zhou had said all this, he suddenly felt a great sense of responsibility. The High Priest valued him so much—he had only just met him and was already entrusting him with such an important task.

“Tu Zhou, don’t worry. I will definitely make sure the road is built flat and wide!”

“Good!” Receiving the assurance, Fan Zhou was satisfied.

He then looked toward Lu Xin, who was still downcast, and said, “Lu Xin, Hou Yan is getting older. If this matter is placed entirely on his shoulders, he’ll definitely be exhausted. You need to help him.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Xin raised his head, looking pitifully at Fan Zhou in front of him.

He knew Hou Yan would be very tired, but he truly didn’t want to go back to the Giant Bear Tribe…

Fan Zhou, seeing his expression, softened his tone. “If you participate in the entire road construction, you’ll definitely learn a lot. At the moment, I don’t really need an apprentice, but the Giant Bear Tribe needs you. Hou Yan also needs you. Follow Hou Yan and train well.”

“I understand how you feel, but you don’t need to feel overly grateful to me. The Beast God gave me the ability to cultivate beast-spirit flowers so that I can help beastmen. You were born in the Giant Bear Tribe—even if there were unpleasant things between you and the beastmen of the tribe, once those knots are untied, it’ll be fine. That’s where your mate is, where the priest grandfather who watched you grow up is—that’s your real home.”

Lu Xin: “…”

He bit his lip and lowered his head again, using his foot to kick the grass on the ground.

Fan Zhou had to take on the tone of coaxing a child and said, “Actually, there’s something I want to ask you to do.”

Lu Xin immediately looked up, a little surprised and also a little hopeful. “What is it?”

“I want you to tell all beastmen that the strange illness is not contagious, and that the beast-spirit flower can cure the illness. When beastmen come to the Giant Bear Tribe again, you need to tell them not to be afraid of those who are sick, and not to drive them away.”

“You need to point them toward the Waterfall Tribe and tell them to come here to trade for beast-spirit flowers.”

“You know how painful it is to be feared and rejected. Don’t let sick beastmen go through that again, can you?”

Lu Xin: “…”

So this was the thing he was being asked to do. He pressed his lips together and thought back to how he had felt at the time. After a long while, he nodded gently. “Okay.”

Tu Zhou’s tone was gentle and sincere, and as Lu Xin listened, his eyes instantly turned red. Why hadn’t anyone comforted him like this back then… He had been so desperate, so utterly hopeless.

Since he hadn’t heard these words of comfort back then, he would now go and comfort other sick beastmen. Tu Zhou wanted to help the beastmen who had fallen ill, and he should help them too.

Seeing that Lu Xin had agreed, Fan Zhou couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief—comforting someone like a child was exhausting!

However, it wasn’t just about coaxing Lu Xin to return to the Giant Bear Tribe. Healthy beastmen being afraid of those with the strange illness was too common. In the past, there had been a beastman with the illness in Yang Zhang’s tribe. Yang Zhang, afraid of being infected, had secretly run away.

Lu Xin, despite being Xiong Wu’s mate, had still been disliked by the beastmen of the Giant Bear Tribe and the Treehouse Tribe. In places Fan Zhou didn’t know about, there were only going to be more examples like that.

His ability was limited. He couldn’t save all the beastmen who had caught the strange illness—but saving one was one more saved. Anyway, he now had many beast-spirit flowers in his hands.

The shelters for the Giant Bear Tribe were quickly built. Half of the beastmen from the tribe went hunting, while Lu Xin and Hou Yan organized the various goods they had brought. It had been too late the previous night, and they had only had time to give the beast-spirit flower seeds to Fan Zhou. The other grass seeds had not yet been exchanged for hemp cloth.

Fan Zhou and Feng Xun returned to the entrance of the Waterfall Tribe. He planned to plant the beast-spirit flowers as soon as possible.There were over a thousand seeds—he and Feng Xun definitely couldn’t plant them all in the cave they currently lived in, so he decided to dig another large cave specifically for planting the Beast Spirit Flowers.

This new cave was right next to the main entrance of the Waterfall Tribe, rather than next to the eleven caves he had previously dug. He wanted all the beastmen who came to the Waterfall Tribe to see the Beast Spirit Flowers he was planting.

When it came to digging caves, he and Feng Xun were very skilled. By noon, the beastmen from the foraging team had returned. Seeing them digging again, they ran over to lend a hand and helped transport away the excavated soil and stones.

By noon the next day, the large cave was completed. After lunch, he called over Hou Yan and Lu Xin and asked them to help plant the Beast Spirit Flowers.

In fact, ordinary beastmen could plant Beast Spirit Flowers—Fan Zhou, while using a small hoe to till the soil, said, “After you return, you can tell the other beastmen that ordinary beastmen can also plant Beast Spirit Flowers.”

“Ordinary beastmen can also plant them?!” Lu Xin and Hou Yan exclaimed at the same time, looking at Fan Zhou in shock.

“Yes. If ordinary beastmen want to plant Beast Spirit Flowers, they must plant them on a high mountain and irrigate them using spring water from the mountaintop. Take note, only spring water from the high mountain can be used. The Beast Spirit Flowers also must not be exposed to rain.”

“If other beastmen really want to plant Beast Spirit Flowers, then they should build a small shelter near the spring at the mountaintop and plant the flowers under the shelter.”

Actually, quite a few beastmen still had Beast Spirit Flower seeds.

Rather than having all the beastmen under the heavens come to the Waterfall Tribe, it was better to publicly share the planting method of the Beast Spirit Flower. That way, more beastmen could be helped.

Of course, the real reason why Beast Spirit Flowers had gone extinct couldn’t be made public. That might cause panic. For most ordinary beastmen, there simply wasn’t that much mountain spring water—they drank whatever water was available.

If it had been a different matter, Hou Yan might have asked “why” and wanted to understand the exact reason, but since it involved Beast Spirit Flowers, he was filled only with reverence.

So that was how Beast Spirit Flowers were supposed to be planted!

Previously, when he had tried planting them, he had planted them on flat ground and used the water from the big lake in front of the tribe for irrigation. No wonder he hadn’t succeeded before.

However, the mountain where the Giant Bear Tribe was located wasn’t high—it was rather small—and there was no spring water on it…

He felt a bit disheartened. Planting Beast Spirit Flowers had become an obsession of his. Now that he finally knew the correct planting method, he couldn’t do it anymore.

But he quickly pulled himself together. Tu Zhou would give him a hundred Beast Spirit Flowers! He had to plan carefully and figure out who among the tribe those flowers should be used on.

Just as Hou Yan was deep in thought, Fan Zhou added, “Beast Spirit Flowers are not hard to grow. As long as they are planted in the right place and watered with the right water, they will bloom without issue. But the grass seeds are a bit more troublesome—they require weeding and fertilizing…”

Before he could finish, Hou Yan interrupted, “You—are you teaching me how to farm?” Hou Yan was so excited that he held his breath, staring at Fan Zhou without blinking. Farming. Farming!

“Yes,” Fan Zhou nodded.

Actually, most beastmen were quite simple, with getting enough to eat being their greatest pursuit. He truly didn’t mind spreading the knowledge he knew.

However, relying on nature, even if you knew how to farm, it was still not easy to fill your stomach…

“Tu Zhou, thank you so much. You truly are the new High Priest chosen by the Beast God. You’re so generous, you…” Hou Yan choked up as he spoke. Wuuu wuuu, wasn’t this basically the Beast God returning to the Wild Continent?

How could he be so willing to teach everything! He had heard from beastmen in the Waterfall Tribe that the ears of grain grown from Tu Zhou’s grass seeds were all plump and full. He wanted them too!

Lu Xin beside him couldn’t help but speak up: “Tu Zhou, the entire Giant Bear Tribe will be grateful to you.”

“Even if you know the right way to farm, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have a good harvest,” Fan Zhou quickly cut off their words of gratitude and began explaining the difficulties of farming.

He especially emphasized that the reason he had achieved such a great harvest was because of the Sweet Spring Water.

That calmed Hou Yan and Lu Xin down—so that was why. Sigh, it really was hard to get enough to eat.

Still, as long as they could harvest more grass seeds than before, they would still be very grateful.

Very soon, the four of them turned over all the soil inside the cave. They scattered the Beast Spirit Flower seeds, and once they were done, Fan Zhou irrigated them with Spirit Spring Water. Then he set up a water gate at the entrance of the cave to prevent other beastmen from entering at will.

After finishing the most important task, he and Feng Xun took Hou Yan and Lu Xin to the sorghum field. The second batch of sorghum had already formed heads, though it would still be a while before it was fully ripe. But compared to wild sorghum, it was already quite outstanding.

Combining what was before him, Fan Zhou explained to them the key things to keep in mind when planting grass seeds.

Hou Yan and Lu Xin listened intently. Especially Hou Yan—he borrowed bark and charcoal from Fan Zhou, and while listening, he drew on the bark.

Fertilizing—this step was very important, so he drew a little poop.

Weeding—this was also necessary, to prevent weeds from stealing nutrients from the grass seeds. He drew a paw slapping down a sprout.

Fan Zhou watched from the side and now truly believed what Xiong Wu had said—Hou Yan was indeed very intelligent. Coming up with such a method to enhance memory made him far smarter than most beastmen.

Besides farming, Fan Zhou also intended to teach animal husbandry. Though it was very difficult for ordinary beastmen to catch live prey, it wasn’t impossible.

Moreover, ordinary beastmen could pick up snow chicken eggs and hatch chicks. Worried that hatching chicks would be too difficult for Hou Yan and Lu Xin to manage, he taught the two of them how to make slingshots.

With slingshots, as long as one controlled the force properly, it was still quite easy to catch live birds.

Fan Zhou also taught Hou Yan and Lu Xin the method of making mud bricks. Although the Giant Bear Tribe lived in caves, these two were very envious of the new houses soon to be built by the Axe Tribe, so he taught them the method as well.

Some tribes on the Central Continent also had houses. Houses were not considered particularly rare on the Central Continent.

…

The Giant Bear Tribe stayed in the Waterfall Tribe for five days. When they left, all the beastmen were reluctant to part, especially Hou Yan and Lu Xin, who hugged the water pouches Fan Zhou had given them and cried wuuu wuuu.

Fan Zhou sighed. Sigh, being too popular wasn’t a good thing either.

For the past few days, Lu Xin and Hou Yan had followed him around without leaving his side. As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, the two of them were already waiting at the foot of the mountain. They wouldn’t leave until it got dark in the evening, to the point where Feng Xun looked at him with eyes full of resentment.

Moreover, he was actually quite tired. He had taught everything he could in exhaustive detail—being a teacher was really not easy!

After seeing off the Giant Bear Tribe, he gave himself a day off, doing nothing at all—just lying down.

Anyway, there was Song Liu Niu Shu to feed the birds, and Feng Xun to cook.

Feng Xun strongly supported his decision. the rabbit had basically been raising cubs for five days with Hou Yan and Lu Xin—it really was time for a good rest. Raising cubs was exhausting.

So that morning, after breakfast, Fan Zhou lazily lay in the lounge chair under the grass shelter. While gazing toward the forest in the distance, he chewed on fried little fish.

Xingwei Xiongbao had already saved up enough mud bricks to build a house, and had specially asked for a day off to build it.

From where he sat under the shelter, he could only see the two of them bustling about—he couldn’t clearly see their specific movements. He wondered whether he should go take a look later, just in case the two of them made any mistakes.

Feng Xun sat nearby weaving hemp cloth cloth.

This time, in order to pay the Giant Bear Tribe for road construction, the rabbit had given away a thousand jin of sorghum and also handed over all of the hemp cloth cloth.

If all went as expected, the Treehouse Tribe would be arriving soon. Feng Xun wanted to prepare some extra stock in advance.

Fan Zhou finished the fried little fish in his hand and picked up a hard nut from the stone table. After eating something greasy, he needed something refreshing to cleanse his palate.

However, ever since transmigrating, the only fruit he had eaten was hard nuts. All the fruit in nature was pecked away by birds before it could ripen—he never got a chance.

Melancholy.

When Feng Xun saw Fan Zhou sighing even while gnawing on a hard nut, he immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I want to eat wild fruit,” Fan Zhou looked at him. “Do you know where there are wild fruit trees?”

“…No.” Feng Xun shook his head. He wasn’t familiar with the Wild Continent and hadn’t paid attention to where there might be wild fruit trees.

“Never mind, it’s not a big deal.” He’d ask the other tribes later when they came.

However, the short trees that produced tree oil and tree bark paper were nearly exhausted—he absolutely had to find new short trees.

Even though he said he wanted to rest, the plans in his head just wouldn’t stop. After finishing the hard nut, he pulled out some bark paper and a charcoal pen, intending to list his upcoming plans.

“Weren’t you going to rest? What are you writing?” Feng Xun asked curiously.

“Lying around doing nothing is too boring,” Fan Zhou replied, then began writing on the bark paper shua shua shua.

Feng Xun finished the piece of hemp cloth he was working on and walked over to sit beside him.

Feng Xun had now learned quite a few characters. Wrapping his arms around the rabbit’s waist, he silently began reading what he wrote. Transplant short trees, make salt, make cotton clothes, build guest house… sled… “How do you read this character?” He lightly tapped the character “sled” with his finger.

“This is a type of transportation,” Fan Zhou paused his writing and gave a detailed explanation of what a sled was.

The reason he wanted to make a sled was because of that patch of hard nut trees. He wanted to bring those trees back, but it was very difficult without a cart.

However, if it snowed and they used a sled, would it be a bit easier?

After hearing the explanation, Feng Xun only said, “We’ll try it when the time comes,” and didn’t say anything else. He just held him and quietly watched him write out his plans.

Very soon, a piece of bark paper was filled. Feng Xun took the bark paper, looked over it again, then turned to him and said, “After we harvest the second batch of grass seeds, let’s go take a look at the Xiao Tan Tribe.”

Xiao Tan Tribe?

Fan Zhou, already lying back on the lounge chair, looked at him curiously. “Why do you want to go to the Xiao Tan Tribe?”

“That’s your homeland. Most of the poems you’ve taught me are about your homeland… I saw you sighing just now. Are you missing the Xiao Tan Tribe?”

Fan Zhou: “……”

He was stunned, and stared at Feng Xun in a daze.

“Did I guess wrong?” Feng Xun couldn’t understand his reaction.

“No, you didn’t guess wrong.” Fan Zhou laughed, his nose a bit sour. He reached out his hands toward Feng Xun. “Come hug me.”

Feng Xun blinked, put down the bark paper, and lay down next to him.

As soon as Feng Xun’s body touched the chair, he wrapped himself around Feng Xun like an octopus, with both his hands and feet. This person had actually guessed so early that he missed his hometown. Too bad his hometown wasn’t the Xiao Tan Tribe.

“Feng Xun, my hometown isn’t the Xiao Tan Tribe. I can’t go back.” He said gloomily.

“Not the Xiao Tan Tribe?!” Feng Xun was shocked, it couldn’t be, the rabbit had grown up in the Xiao Tan Tribe.

“Yes. I’m telling you now, but you won’t understand. When you learn more characters, I’ll tell you.”

“……”

Feng Xun didn’t say anything. He slowly tightened his arms around Fan Zhou. After a few seconds, he gently asked, “Then will you always be my partner?”

As soon as this question was asked, Fan Zhou’s eyes immediately turned red. “Yes, I am your partner, always have been.”

Sure enough, Feng Xun didn’t care about anything else, just this one thing. This person loved him, deeply loved him…

“Come kiss me,” he choked out.

Feng Xun actually felt a bit flustered. Hearing these words, he immediately cupped the face of the person in his arms and kissed him. He had learned so many Chinese characters, and he felt that he was very close to the rabbit.

But now he couldn’t understand what the rabbit was saying, not at all.

Even though the rabbit had made a promise, he still couldn’t help feeling anxious. But fortunately, he could still kiss the rabbit. He held him tightly and used all his skills to try and shift the focus onto himself.

Fan Zhou noticed his emotions and tried his best to respond, to comfort him, making all kinds of promises that he would never leave.

He wouldn’t leave, he couldn’t leave.

But the words “couldn’t leave” only made Feng Xun feel more uneasy. Sure enough, the rabbit didn’t belong here.

Soon, the two of them moved onto the hay mat in the cave. For the first time, Feng Xun couldn’t control his strength. He left a blue mark on Fan Zhou’s body with his mouth. It was a bit painful, but looking at the worry in Feng Xun’s brow, Fan Zhou endured it.

He wrapped his arms around Feng Xun’s neck and repeatedly said, “I like you, I like you so much.”

But Feng Xun couldn’t calm down at all. What was the point of just liking? the rabbit liked many beastmen.

However, looking at the marks on Fan Zhou’s snow-white skin, his movements gradually slowed down.

Scum Tu Zhou.

Heartless Tu Zhou.

But he was also the rabbit he loved the most. He shouldn’t have kissed him so roughly just now…