Sowing the Future
Autumn deepened, but the Fire Tribe remained as busy as ever. After resolving the most urgent problems of food and salt, Wang Yan turned his gaze toward the more distant future. He knew well that hunting and gathering would always be at nature's mercy. Only by holding the source of their food firmly in their own hands could the tribe truly become stable and strong. And the key to all this lay in-planting.
Over the past few days, he had frequently followed his mother Qingye, moving between the gathering teams and the tribe's storehouses.
"Mother, when you dig up these tubers, could you leave some of the small ones, or cut off the part with the top bud and roots?" Wang Yan asked, pointing at a wild tuber plant that tasted somewhat like taro and yielded fairly well.
"And this wild vegetable-what do its seeds look like? Let's collect them and try sowing them in the ground next year."
Although Qingye found her son's ideas novel, her unconditional trust in him led her to begin identifying the plants carefully. She instructed the women of the gathering teams to deliberately collect roots, tubers, and seeds of wild vegetables that were easy to grow, tasted good, or produced high yields as they gathered. They sorted them into small pottery jars, marked them with symbols only they understood, and carefully stored them in a dry shelter.
"Yan, what do you want these wild vegetable roots and wild fruit seeds for? Can't we just go gather them every year?" a young woman from the gathering team asked curiously.
Wang Yan picked up a plump wild fruit seed and examined it in the sunlight. "If we plant them near the tribe, we won't have to travel so far to find them every year," he explained. "We can tend them just as we care for the little animals in the rearing pens-water them, weed around them, and help them grow better and bear more fruit. That way, whenever we want some, we can pick it right outside our doors. Wouldn't that be more convenient?"
This simple reasoning made the young woman's eyes light up, along with those of the women listening nearby. Indeed, if they could gather wild vegetables and fruit right outside their doors, who would still want to brave the dangers deep in the mountains?
Wang Yan had even begun planning to plant fruit trees, not just wild vegetables. Taking several boys with him, he roamed the more distant gathering sites around the tribe. Whenever he found a healthy young wild fruit tree with sweet fruit, such as a wild pear, wild persimmon, or some kind of nut tree, he used a stone knife to carve a distinctive triangular mark in an inconspicuous spot on its trunk.
"Remember where these trees are," he told Gubang and Daya, who were following beside him. "Next spring, we'll organize people to carefully dig up these marked trees, roots, soil, and all, and transplant them to the place we've laid out beside our tribe."
"Transplant them? You can move trees too?" Gubang expressed his doubts.
"With the right methods and careful tending, most of them can survive." Wang Yan brimmed with confidence. "If we transplant young trees now and wait three to five years, they'll flower and bear fruit right outside our doors. Then we'll have more fruit than we can eat, and even more nuts than we can eat! It's a long-term plan that will turn a small investment into ten thousandfold returns!"
This grand vision set the boys' imaginations soaring. Picturing the shade of green trees and branches laden with fruit all around the tribe, they worked even harder.
Wang Yan's plans went far beyond this. One quiet evening, he took a simple map drawn in charcoal on a flat stone slab and sought out his father Jianshi and their adviser, Jianya.
"Father, Uncle Jianya, look." He set the slab on the ground and pointed to several areas marked with circles. "Here, close to where we live, there's plenty of sunlight. I intend to designate it as the 'wild vegetable planting area.' Next spring, we'll plant the wild vegetable roots and seeds we've collected."
His finger moved to a flatter, more open stretch of ground near the lower reaches of the stream. "Here, there's plenty of water and fertile soil. I plan to make this the 'fruit tree planting area.' Next spring, we'll transplant the wild fruit trees we've marked."
Finally, his finger landed on the largest patch of open ground beside the stream and fishpond, his expression solemn. "Here will be the most important area-the 'grain planting area'!"
"Grain?" Jianshi and Jianya exchanged a glance, somewhat unfamiliar with the term. They mainly ate meat, gathered plant tubers, and wild fruit, and their notion of "grain" was very vague.
"It's a particular kind of crop. Its seeds are very small, but its yield is high. They can be ground into flour to make flatbread, or boiled and eaten directly. They keep for a long time and are a true staple food!" Wang Yan did his best to describe it. "I've heard the Fish Tribe has these grain seeds. They traded for them with a larger tribe much farther away. They're extremely precious and considered strategic supplies, so they generally aren't willing to trade them lightly."
"Then how do you intend to trade for them?" Jianya keenly seized on the crucial point.
"With pottery!" Wang Yan said with ironclad certainty. "The finest, largest pottery we can fire! Pots, jars, basins! I believe no tribe could refuse so much pottery of such quality. As long as we're willing to part with it, we're bound to get some high-quality grain seeds!"
He paused, then continued outlining his plan. "I've worked it out. There's still more than a month until everyone's customary annual autumn market. Before the autumn market, there's also a small market held in that nearby valley three sunsets away. It's mainly for trade between our Fire Tribe and the Green Sheep, Bison, White Pig, and Deer Tribes, though a dozen or so other tiny tribes also take part. But the Fish Tribe is too far away and generally doesn't attend this small market. My idea is that we trade as usual at this small market, but don't sell too much pottery. After the autumn market ends, we'll organize a small, capable party, take our best pottery, and go straight to the Fish Tribe! Specifically to trade for grain seeds!"
Jianshi pondered, tapping his fingers against his knee. Going directly to the Fish Tribe to trade carried considerable risks, but the rewards could also be enormous. He looked at Jianya.
A keen light flashed in Jianya's eyes, and he slowly nodded. "Yan's thinking is very clear. If we can grow grain ourselves, its significance would indeed be extraordinary, no less than finding salt. Using pottery to open the way is an option. Although the Fish Tribe treats grain seeds as strategic supplies, they're also desperately short of pottery. If we show them enough pottery of sufficient quality, winning them over isn't impossible. It's just... the party going to the Fish Tribe must be reliable enough and strong enough. The round trip is nearly ten sunsets, and nothing can be allowed to go wrong."
"Father, Uncle, please decide who should go. But I must take part in this trade," Wang Yan said firmly. "I alone know best what kinds of seeds we need to trade for, and how to judge their quality."
Jianshi looked at his son's young face, so full of determination, and finally slapped the stone slab hard. "Good! We'll do as you say! After the small market, we'll go to the Fish Tribe's autumn market! We'll trade for seeds!"
Wang Yan's heart settled. He knew that as long as they successfully traded for grain seeds and grew them, the Fire Tribe would cast off its fate of relying solely on hunting and gathering and step onto an entirely new, firmer stage of development.