Luo Chong, who had been laboriously harvesting the rice, now had no attention to spare for anything else. He carefully stripped each and every rice panicle, afraid of accidentally knocking off even a single grain. After all, these were all seeds—hope.
After about half an hour, all the rice in this forbidden land—roughly two hundred plants—had been harvested. Each plant had grown more than a dozen, even forty-some, rice panicles, and each panicle held around five hundred grains. On top of that, this rice was slightly larger than normal rice. Added together, it amounted to quite a lot indeed—enough to fill two snakeskin sacks, roughly sixty jin.
Looking at the fruits of his labor, Luo Chong sighed inwardly. Back then, Uncle Yuan's dream had been to "rest in the shade beneath the grain," after all. He had devoted himself to growing rice taller than a person. Given its "advantage in stature," naturally, taller rice would bear more grain.
Yet Luo Chong had been lucky enough that the primitive rice he discovered the first time was already so tall. He had never studied the relevant professional knowledge, so he could not explain the phenomenon and could only attribute it to the excellent primitive ecosystem and fertile soil.
After all, the land that had already been cultivated for thousands of years in his previous life was bound to have depleted fertility. Without chemical fertilizer, who knew how much food production would have fallen?
Without continuing to wallow in sentiment, Luo Chong hefted the two sacks into the front and rear compartments of the kayak, then happily prepared to paddle the little boat home and usher in his farming era.
But he had not expected that, after paddling only a few meters, his little boat would be surrounded.
A group of Water Chestnut Tribe members had seen Luo Chong place the two sacks in the front and rear compartments of the little boat and start paddling away. Their eyes immediately lit up.
So this thing floating on the water could not only carry people, but also hold things! Several clever people instantly imagined themselves paddling the little boat around to gather water chestnuts, and they could not help crying out, "A divine artifact!"
And so this scene had come about. A group of Water Chestnut Tribe people swam around his little boat, touching it all over while curiously examining its structure and asking what it was made of and so on. They looked practically like visitors touring a museum.
"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?"
Watching their curious antics, Luo Chong immediately felt a headache coming on. They kept rocking the boat back and forth, and he was practically getting seasick. But these people truly meant him no harm, so he could not just slaughter them outright, could he? Peace—peace was the most important thing.
Ling Cao saw that Luo Chong was showing signs of anger and hurriedly stopped everyone from continuing their research. Gesturing as she spoke, she asked Luo Chong whether he could teach them how to make something like this.
Make boats?
Luo Chong looked at the circle of people soaking in the water around him, their skin already wrinkled and swollen. They were all fellow creatures struggling desperately to survive. Luo Chong was actually willing to help them. It never hurt to make a friend while out in the world, and besides, this thing was not particularly difficult to make.
The kayak Luo Chong had made was actually much like pasting together a lantern. First, one made a framework out of branches, then covered it with a waterproof hide, and that was it. The problem lay in the hide. That stuff was not easy to obtain. Even this fish skin had come to him by a stroke of luck. They wanted to make lots of boats like this? Unless they had plastic sheeting, they could forget it.
After Luo Chong's round of gestures and explanations, Ling Cao understood the general idea. She immediately realized the problem with animal hides as well. Where were they supposed to find hides that large? The two exchanged a glance and both frowned.
But when Luo Chong's gaze swept over the driftwood they were clutching, all the problems were solved. If a kayak was out of the question, how about trying a raft?
Luo Chong gestured for them to gather everyone's pieces of driftwood and lay them out together. He then found some reeds to use as grass rope, tied all the driftwood together, and had Ling Cao climb aboard.
Sure enough, Luo Chong's idea had been right. Once Ling Cao climbed on, the raft made from more than a dozen pieces of driftwood still floated steadily, supporting her on the surface of the water.
It was Ling Cao's first time experiencing this kind of floating, and she was extremely excited. She quickly called for her tribespeople to come up and try it together. Unfortunately, the raft was not very large. It could only seat two people; one more would probably capsize it.
Those who could not get onto the raft were envious of Ling Cao sitting on it, but Ling Cao was exceptionally delighted. She knew that this kind of raft was simple to make, and its materials were not limited. Driftwood and grass rope were easy enough for the tribe to obtain. She could already foresee that, once she rode the raft back, a craze for building rafts would immediately sweep through the tribe.
Thinking of this, Ling Cao looked at Luo Chong gratefully and warmly invited him to visit the Water Chestnut Tribe. Luo Chong, however, turned her down.
Spending the night outside was impossible. There was still a herd of Blue Antelope waiting for him outside the marshland. If anything went wrong and the antelope escaped, Luo Chong would probably cry himself to death.
After receiving his refusal, Ling Cao did not press him. Instead, she handed Luo Chong a giant water chestnut the size of an egg as a token. They agreed that, if he ever encountered difficulties in the future, he could bring the water chestnut to the Water Chestnut Tribe and ask them for help. It had a faint air of Luo Chong and Dashu exchanging farewell arrows.
Luo Chong accepted the water chestnut with a broad grin while cursing inwardly. You give me food as a token, then won't let me eat it? You did that on purpose, didn't you?
After bidding farewell to the Water Chestnut Tribe, Luo Chong hurried back without pause, carrying the two sacks of rice seeds to the grassland at the foot of Eight Treasures Mountain.
Thus, after a full day of emergency harvesting, Luo Chong had obtained roughly sixty jin of grain in total. Yet he could not bear to eat a single grain. He only wanted to hurry and transport these treasures home.
He could not plant them this year, but that did not stop him from preparing for next spring's plowing. Since he was going to farm, agricultural tools were naturally indispensable, so he still had to obtain some more copper ore and tin ore to take home.
That evening, the day Dashu emerged from the Black Forest, Luo Chong and the others were separated by Eight Treasures Mountain. On the little grassland beside the marsh, they ate oily, spicy roasted beaver and wove large baskets in preparation for the mining work tomorrow.
Dashu and the others on the western side of Eight Treasures Mountain, however, were having a miserable time. They had not brought any fire starters when they fled. For the past two days, they had only gnawed on some dried meat, with no fire at night to keep them warm. They also had to remain constantly alert for danger, and their dried meat was nearly gone. Normally, they only knew how to catch rabbits; they had never caught anything else.
The group could only gnaw on a little dried meat and drink cold stream water. The women huddled together, shielding the children in the middle, and clustered together for warmth. Meanwhile, the four remaining adult men—Dashu and the others—still had to take turns standing watch. For a time, their plight was utterly wretched.
At daybreak the next day, Luo Chong, who had eaten and drunk his fill and slept wonderfully, led Wuda and Ximen toward the western side of Eight Treasures Mountain, looking full of vigor.
Wuda and Ximen were both utterly useless. Luo Chong had originally counted on the two of them to lure over a few more female antelope, but they had not managed to bring over even one. Every day, aside from eating the fodder Luo Chong prepared for them, they did nothing but mate with the few female antelope beside them, grunting endlessly.
"Damn it, you two useless things! Even rabbits know not to eat the grass beside their own burrows. Can't you stop fooling around with the girls right next to you? If you've got the guts, go find some outside! You've gotten them all pregnant and unable to work. Just wait until next spring's plowing—I'll work you two to death!"
Luo Chong muttered as he whipped Wuda and Ximen on the butt with a branch. In truth, he was still quite pleased. Leading this eighteen-strong herd of Blue Antelope, watching them carry grass seeds and rice seeds, filled his heart with satisfaction. This was all hope.
At the foot of the western side of Eight Treasures Mountain, Dashu was distributing the wild fruits they had just gathered to the tribespeople. At that moment, Tree Stump, who was on watch, spotted Luo Chong on Eight Treasures Mountain.
The vegetation on Eight Treasures Mountain was sparse to begin with, consisting mostly of low shrubs. Luo Chong alone would not have been particularly conspicuous, but with eighteen Blue Antelope, he stood out tremendously. Especially since they were marching in neat pairs. Other than wild geese, what wild creature would line up like that? Thus, Luo Chong, leading from the front, was recognized at once.
Tree Stump hurried to Dashu, waving his arms and shouting, "Dashu, Dashu! Luo Chong—over there."
Happy Minor New Year, everyone! I wonder whether you all ate rice cakes or sesame candy today. Did you have a sweet, sweet Minor New Year? If not, don't forget to make up for it tomorrow! Also, I'm asking for recommendation tickets again. If we get enough recommendations, there will be extra chapters during the Spring Festival!!!
Before you continue