Winter Ends, Spring Arrives
The biting winds that had raged throughout the winter finally softened, their howling replaced by the gentle murmur of thawing streams. The snow on the sunny slopes of the valley began to melt, revealing the damp, tenaciously green earth beneath. The frozen ponds and streams thinned and cracked, eventually turning into floating ice floes that drifted downstream. Spring, carrying the breath of life, quietly returned to the Fire Tribe's valley.
After a winter of rest and ample food supplies, the newcomers who had braved the snowstorm to seek refuge there finally regained their sallow complexions and despair, and their eyes shone with renewed light. The children began to run and play cautiously in the melting snow, still thin but with clear, cheerful laughter. The adults had also recovered much of their strength and were no longer as weak as when they first arrived.
All of this was thanks to the Fire Tribe's extraordinary, almost desperate, food stockpiling before winter. Most of the dried fish and meat in the warehouse were consumed, but it successfully ensured that none of the nearly eight hundred mouths starved to death. This sense of security was a luxury many new members of the tribe had never experienced before.
Chief Jianshi strictly adhered to the principle of "treating everyone equally." In food distribution, whether they were old members of the Fire Tribe or newcomers, everyone was treated the same, with Jianya precisely distributing the food using a new counting method. The huts they lived in might differ in age, but the food in their bowls was exactly the same. In fact, because many of the new members were weak, Granny Cao would give them preferential treatment with her herbs.
This fairness greatly soothed the anxiety and sense of inferiority felt by the newcomers.
"The leader didn't look down on us..."
"The food we received was more and better than what we had in our original tribe during our best years!"
"The baby will survive..."
Gratitude transformed into a strong sense of belonging and a proactive desire to integrate. Without much prompting, the newcomers would eagerly volunteer for the dirtiest and most arduous tasks—clearing the muddy ground after melting snow, reinforcing their huts soaked by snowmelt, helping the Hunting Team process their catch, and learning to identify the earliest sprouting wild vegetables from the Gathering Team. They were eager to prove their worth and repay the kindness of being cared for and treated equally. Any potential barriers quietly melted away in the process of working together and eating from the same pot.
However, Jianshi, Wang Yan, and other high-ranking officials were not at ease. Standing on the nascent earthen wall, looking at the bustling crowd in the valley, they felt a heavy pressure.
"The food supply can only last for a little over a month at most." Jianya frowned, holding the wooden board used to record supplies (with numbers taught by Wang Yan drawn on it in charcoal). "We must begin large-scale food acquisition immediately!"
Wang Yan nodded and added, "Spring is the season of growth for all things, but it's also our most crucial 'lean period.' The rice we plant won't be harvested until summer, and the entire harvest will be saved as seeds for the second crop in summer and autumn. This means that until the second rice harvest this autumn, our nearly eight hundred people will mainly have to rely on hunting, fishing, and gathering to survive!"
This is an extremely daunting challenge. Eight hundred people, consuming an astronomical amount of food every day. Relying solely on traditional hunting and gathering would put immense pressure on them.
"We must go all out!" Jianshi's voice was firm as he issued the general mobilization order for the beginning of spring:
Hunting Team (Warrior Team): Rest days are cancelled; all personnel except for essential guards are deployed for the hunt. Led by the most experienced Dali, Dazhuang, the team ventures deep into the mountains with a clear objective—to obtain a large quantity of meat!
The Fishing Team, led by Zhouya and Shuihen, used the two Xiaozhou and organized people to make more rafts and fishing nets to conduct the largest-scale fishing in the completely thawed rivers and ponds. Youth Team with good swimming skills, such as Shibang and Yingmu, were also assigned to assist.
The Gathering Team, led by Qingye, consisted of all the women and teenagers. They searched the valley inside and out like combs, leaving no edible wild vegetables, buds, or tubers unchecked. Suyuan and Qingmu also provided guidance, helping to identify more edible plants.
Agricultural preparations: The twenty-odd acres of paddy fields and two hundred acres of vegetable gardens that had been reclaimed could not be left idle. Suyuan and Qingmu led a special team to begin the final preparations before spring plowing—soaking the fields, selecting seeds, and cultivating seedlings. This was the hope for the future, and it could not be lost.
Despite the difficult road ahead, the valley is filled not with pessimism, but with a sense of solidarity in overcoming hardship and a drive toward hope.
New and old members of the tribe are mixed together and go out to work. When hunting, the old hunters teach skills, and the newly joined warriors show their bravery; when fishing, they row boats and cast nets, and their cooperation becomes more and more tacit; when gathering, the experienced ones give guidance, and the young people are responsible for the labor. The work songs replace the silence of winter and echo inside and outside the valley.
Wang Yan was even busier. He not only had to participate in planning and command, but also closely monitor every aspect of farming. He personally inspected the soaking and germination of rice seeds, and discussed the details of paddy field management with Suyuan and Qingmu. He knew that as long as they could get through these six months, and the autumn harvest was stored, the Fire Tribe would truly break free from the curse of the food crisis and usher in a qualitative leap.
He watched the new tribesmen toiling in the fields, their faces no longer blank and despairing, but filled with anticipation and sweat for the future. He knew that integration had quietly taken place. When autumn came and they harvested the crops they had helped plant, they would become an inseparable part of the Fire Tribe.
Everyone understands that as long as they work together, tighten their belts, and get through this spring and summer, what awaits them is an unprecedented, bountiful autumn!