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While deepening the color, expose it to the sun. After painting several times, you can wet it with salt water and then steam it to fix the color.
Jian Mo: "Make me a four-piece bedding set today."
Ye Luo: "What is a four-piece set?"
Jian Mo counted. "Two pillowcases, one sheet, one duvet cover, that's what we call a four-piece bedding set. I want it made of cotton."
The fabric pieces woven by the Long Years Tribe are not large, and the sheets and duvet covers need to be pieced together, which is a great test of sewing skills. Jian Mo and Wu Jiong are not very good at sewing.
Everyone agreed and gathered at Jian Mo to work.
Jian Mo brewed some tea and brought out dried fruit and jerky, saying she would be treating everyone to dinner and cake that evening.
There are many sub-orcs coming to Jian Mo.
Jian Mo decided to teach everyone how to sew shoes, and see if they could make shoes together.
In summer, everyone wears animal skin sandals, usually with wooden soles.
Even though she was used to wearing wooden-soled shoes, Jian Mo still felt that these shoes were not comfortable at all. Not only did they offer virtually no cushioning, they were also prone to causing blisters.
He taught everyone how to make multi-layered soles using tree cloth. The tree cloth was coated with paste layer by layer, dried in the sun, stacked up, and then sewn into soles—the paste could be made from flour cooked at home.
The sun is strong now, so the paste will dry out in half a day, and then we can sew it up.
People were surprised that shoes could be made this way. "Won't the soles wear out?"
Jian Mo: "Wood rots too, as long as it doesn't rot too quickly."
Qing Kuo and the others. "That seems to make some sense."
Jian Mo: "Really, cloth shoes are much more comfortable. If you're worried about your shoes wearing out too quickly, just wear them in the tribe. When you go out, wooden-soled shoes are fine."
With more people, we can divide the work, and everyone can work faster.
That evening, Jian Mo made three sets of four-piece bedding and six pairs of cloth shoes—three pairs for him and three pairs for Wu Jiong.
The four-piece set needs to wait for the pattern to dry, then repeat the application several times for further processing before it can be used. The shoes can be tried on now. If there are no problems, put them in the sun for a few more days to let the paste dry completely.
Everyone washed their feet, put on socks, and took turns wearing the Jian Mo cloth shoes. They were all amazed by the soft and comfortable shoes.
Jian Mo felt a great sense of accomplishment. The soles were made of multi-layered fabric, that is, cloth woven from silk, and the uppers were made of double-layered cotton cloth. It would be strange if they were uncomfortable.
These shoes can be worn until at least autumn, and then they can be replaced with animal skin boots in winter.
Qing Kuo said, "It seems we need to find the Long Years Tribe to exchange fabric as soon as possible."
Ye Luo nodded in deep agreement. "With so many children attending classes in our tribe, once they find out, other tribes will find out too. If we don't hurry, other tribes might beat us to it."
Min Dang: "How about we make a trip tomorrow?"
Qing Kuo: "I think it's a good idea."
Jian Mo's eyes widened. "You've already made this arrangement?"
Qing Kuo: "It only takes a few days to make the trip, it won't cause much trouble. It's been a while since we've left the tribe."
Ye Luo: "I've wanted to go outside for a long time too."
And so it was settled. The sub-beastmen selected a few representatives, gathered the beastmen to form a team, and decided to go to the Long Years Tribe.
Wu Jiong told them not to worry and that it wouldn't hurt to stay a few more days, as the tribe already had plenty of supplies and staying a few more days wouldn't be a burden.
Qing Kuo and the others left just like that, Jian Mo felt that the tribe suddenly became much emptier, which was quite unsettling.
Fortunately, there were many things to gather in the wild, and there was also work to be done in the fields. Once she got busy, Jian Mo didn't have time to think about anything else.
That day, Jian Mo heard a lot of noise outside the tribe while he was at home. He thought it was Qing Kuo and the others returning, but when he went out to see what was going on, he found a group of fat chicks.
The fat chicks lay sprawled on the stones in the open space, so tired that their tongues were sticking out.
Besides the fat birds, there were also several people from the Long Years Tribe that Jian Mo was familiar with.
Upon seeing Jian Mo, the fat chicks and sub-beastmen of the Cypress Branch Tribe greeted him, as did the people of the Long Years Tribe.
Jian Mo waved her hand and asked, "What brings you all here?"
First, the people from the Long Years Tribe happily said, "You people from the Riverside Tribe came to us to exchange fabric, and you exchanged quite a lot, so we came to pick it up ourselves, saving you the trouble of making another trip."
The fat chicks said, "We just wanted to come and play with you. The chieftain said we were going to come anyway, so he told us to carry Min Yan and the others over and earn some supplies along the way, so we came together."
A chubby bird, sticking out its tongue, said, "We're exhausted from this journey. We've never carried such a large orc before. You wouldn't believe how we managed to keep going."
Jian Mo could only say, "Thank you for your hard work."
The chubby birds. "It's alright. The journey was tough, but once we got there, it wasn't so bad after all."
The fat chicks said, "We can usually carry two or three sub-orcs on our backs, it used to be easy to carry them for fun, but now it's a bit tiring to carry them while traveling."
Jian Mo casually patted the back of a chubby bird. "Do you want to come to my house to play?"
The chubby chicks. "Yes!"
The fat birds transformed back into human form, donned animal skin skirts, and, together with the sub-beastmen, jostled and pushed their way towards Jian Mo.
Jian Mo also invited people from the Long Years Tribe.
The people from the Long Years Tribe said they would exchange their things first and then go to Jian Mo later.
Walking along the road, Jian Mo said to the boys of the Cypress Branch Tribe, "If you feel uncomfortable carrying someone, just refuse. Carrying too heavy things will affect your development."
The boys quickly replied, "Actually, no, we were just complaining."
Jian Mo nodded as she saw them smiling.
Jian Mo took the boys home.
Jiujiu was still fast asleep in its nest when the boys swarmed over to play with Jiujiu.
Jian Mo thought that it wasn't easy for the people from the Cypress Branch Tribe and Long Years Tribe to come all this way, and since she had promised to treat them to something, she mentioned it and then went to the river to collect Pearl Algae.
The Pearl Algae was brought back from the Jintuo Tribe. It adapted quite well to their environment and grew for more than half a year, covering many sections of the river.