I am a Primitive Man

Long Leg’s leg had almost healed, and he joined the ranks of those working. After a period of doing nothing but eating, he felt a bit guilty.

At that moment, he was holding a bone shovel, moving the soil dumped from the wheelbarrow from one side to the other.

The soil was covered with some chopped grass and several handfuls of what they considered extremely precious salt!

Even though it wasn’t the first time he had seen the people of the tribe sprinkling salt on these mounds of dirt, Long Leg still felt a sense of shock and heartache.

How could such delicious and precious salt be wasted like this?

What a shame!

Amidst the shock and sorrow, he worked even harder, having heard that this was the Divine Child building houses for them to live in.

How could he not be moved to think that such tasty, precious salt was being used in the houses built for him and his people? How could he not work his hardest?

Recalling how the shaman of their original tribe hoarded a little salt only for himself and a few leaders while denying the rest, Long Leg felt increasingly respectful of the generosity and kindness of the shaman and the Divine Child in this tribe.

He even thought that the original shaman and leaders deserved to be executed.

If the shaman of the Snake Tribe, burned to ashes, knew Long Leg’s thoughts, he would surely rise from the grave, lift the coffin lid, give Long Leg a few good hits, then point at him and shout in fury.

Their tribe had only a little salt, while this tribe could continuously produce large amounts—how could the two be compared?

If only their tribe’s salt could match this tribe’s, building houses wouldn’t be a problem, and they could even pickle Long Leg to make salted meat!

Unfortunately, the shaman of the Snake Tribe had already turned to ash, along with others who met the same fate, now buried in the latrines of the Green Sparrow Tribe.

After a while there, they would turn into fertilizer to enrich the fields.

Thus, even if the shaman could hear Long Leg’s grumbling, the most it could do was create a few thick bubbles in the restroom.

As Long Leg pondered these things, he shoveled the seasoned dirt to the other side with his bone shovel.

After flipping the pile, the salt and dried grass on the surface mixed evenly with the soil.

Then, someone would use a bowl to splash some water on top to make it a bit damp, scooping it up to put into molds that had been propped up.

After compressing it firmly, it would become a wall.

Once he finished flipping the pile of dirt, Long Leg straightened up and looked at the section of the earthen wall emerging from their labor, feeling a wave of emotion.

So, walls and houses didn’t always exist; people could build them.

He realized that people could accomplish such great things besides gathering, hunting, and attacking other tribes!

Long Leg looked at his hands and the wall, excited and in disbelief.

He could hardly believe that they had built this wall.

While Long Leg felt stirred by the wall they had constructed, Han Cheng observed the working crowd atop the wall.

The selection of locations for the two small slave yards and the implementation of corresponding measures relieved him.

Moreover, during this time, the slaves had shown no resistance to their status. They all followed his arrangements and worked diligently without causing any trouble.

"That's good," Han Cheng muttered, a smile creeping onto his face.

According to his nature, as long as the slaves were obedient and didn’t cause trouble, he wouldn’t be overly harsh with them.

He would never resort to waking them up before the rooster crowed, pretending to be a rooster himself to get the laborers out of bed to work—that would be too hard for a slave master.

His gaze lingered on the group of slaves busy constructing the houses before shifting to the east side of the wall, downstream near the small river.

The tribe's hemp had finished soaking, and, having recovered from the war, people had freed up their hands to begin stripping it under Han Cheng’s direction.

At this point, hemp had become an essential crop for the Green Sparrow Tribe.

In addition to the increasing variety of uses for hemp cloth, the sturdiness and usability of hemp rope compared to other fibers were also important factors.

Thus, after the people were free, Han Cheng immediately sent them to strip and wash the hemp.

This would allow them to weave cloth indoors during the cold winter months.

He wondered how the Fire Tribe was faring with their hemp cultivation and whether they had also begun weaving.

Han Cheng recalled the large population of that tribe downstream by the river.

After observing the people stripping the hemp from a distance for a while, he turned his attention to the west side of the tribe.

Now bare of leaves, the trees looked much sparser, allowing his gaze to extend further into the depths.

However, it remained quiet there, with no sign of those who had gone out returning.

Han Cheng thought about this and then shook his head, chuckling.

He realized he was too impatient—only a few days had passed, and he was already thinking about when his senior brothers would return.

According to the previous accounts from Tu Mao, they were likely arriving at the Snake Tribe's stronghold, and there was still a considerable amount of time before they returned.

He decided to be patient.

Yet this waiting was genuinely tormenting.

However, this torment was soon alleviated by a joyful shout from behind, "Brother Cheng!"

Han Cheng turned around to see Bai Xue quickly climbing the wooden ladder.

From his elevated position, he had a clear advantage, and he caught a glimpse of quivering white through her neckline.

Bai Xue didn’t notice Han Cheng’s slightly improper gaze; even if she did, she wouldn’t think much of it.

After all, they had done more inappropriate things than this countless times.

"Brother Cheng, I found something amazing!"

Once Bai Xue reached the top, she grabbed Han Cheng’s arm, hopping with excitement.

Feeling the soft and bouncy touch on his arm, Han Cheng worried that Bai Xue wasn’t holding on tightly enough, so he kindly leaned his arm a bit closer to her.

Then he smiled and asked, "What amazing thing? Let me see."

Even if Bai Xue hadn’t said anything, Han Cheng could have guessed what she meant by "something amazing." However, seeing her so joyful, he couldn’t bear to dampen her enthusiasm and intentionally asked along those lines.

"Guess what!"

As she said this, she loosened her grip on Han Cheng’s arm and reached into her clothing pocket to pull out the item.