I Became The Chief of A Primitive Village

Chapter 62: Truly Playing the Lute to a Cow

*Swoosh!* The Teepee door flap was lifted, and Yu Ying brought Yan Hua in. The two saw Su Bai happily holding several strange objects.

“Shaman, what’s going on?” Yan Hua asked softly.

“I don’t know either, he wasn’t like this earlier,” Yu Ying replied quietly.

Hearing the noise, Su Bai turned his head to see the two women whispering to each other.

*Ahem…* He coughed lightly and beckoned to the girl with horns, asking, “Ah’Hua, you know about the rainy season, right?”

Yan Hua blinked her red eyes, and confusedly asked, “The rainy season? Isn’t it still over fifty days away?”

“It rains a lot during the rainy season. Do you know if our current location will be flooded?” Su Bai asked with a serious expression.

“Flooded?” Yan Hua’s expression changed slightly as she frowned in thought, hesitantly replying, “I’m not sure if it will be flooded.”

This was her first time leaving the Tribe, and the current location was chosen by the Old Shaman. Nobody had thought much about it and just followed along.

Su Bai helplessly held his forehead. [Is this how those from primitive society act? They don’t think much about the consequences?]

He tried another approach. “Then, do you know if our current location is higher or lower than the Tribal Ancestral Land?”

With a reference point, he should be able to analyse whether the current location would be flooded.

Yan Hua recalled their migration route and answered, “The terrain should be relatively low. We did not climb many mountains on our way here.”

As she finished speaking, her expression changed as she immediately understood the seriousness of the situation – that the Tribe’s current location would be flooded.

“Looks like we’ll be flooded then,” Su Bai said, already very eager for new territory. The current location was far too dangerous.

“Shaman, what do we do now? We’re going to be flooded,” Yan Hua said, her face pale.

“Don’t panic. We still have over fifty days left,” Su Bai waved his hand, his expression growing calmer as he said, “We have enough time. As long as our upcoming plans don’t go wrong, we can move back to the Tribal Ancestral Land before the rainy season arrives.”

“Huh?”

Yan Hua and Yu Ying widened their beautiful eyes, looking at the confident man before them in disbelief, wondering if they had misheard him.

“Shaman, did you just say we can move back to the Ancestral Land before the rainy season?” Yan Hua hoarsely asked.

“En, in the worst case scenario we can find a new place to settle in,” Su Bai nodded affirmatively.

He felt increasingly focused on the Spotted Deer Market tomorrow day. Sometimes, his plans could not keep up with the changes. To achieve his goals, he needed to become more aggressive. Originally, he had planned to slowly encroach on the Black Snake Tribe over a year. However, with the rainy season issue, he now had to change his plans.

“Shaman, what should we do now?” Yan Hua asked eagerly, excited at the thought of moving back to the Ancestral Land in fifty days.

Su Bai’s mouth curved upwards as he softly said, “For now, we farm.”

Even if he wanted to be aggressive now, he could not do so. Without accumulating enough primitive capital, he would not be able to meet the basic conditions for taking in more people. Rashly taking in too many people right now would lead to them being overwhelmed.

Currently, there was no target population to take in. The Flame Dragon Tribe’s current location was too remote, and they were unfamiliar with the surroundings. They dare not explore too aggressively either, fearing they would encounter a second Black Snake Tribe. If this continues, this could lead to their destruction before they could even rise up.

“Huh?” Yan Hua was stunned, asking confusedly, “What is farming?”

“It’s putting these things into the soil,” Su Bai said, holding up the sweet potato slips.

“Shaman, why are we putting them into the soil?” Yan Hua asked, bewildered.

“They can grow more of these sweet potatoes that way,” Su Bai picked up a palm-sized sweet potato and said, “If we grow these, everyone won’t go hungry in the future.”

“Shaman, don’t joke around. How can cut-off plants possibly come back to life?” Yan Hua’s mouth twitched, thinking the Shaman was being a bit fanciful.

“Who says they won’t come back to life?” Su Bai said with a smile, remembering how he used to wonder as a child why cut sweet potato slips could still live when planted in the soil.

“Can they really come back to life?” Yan Hua asked, frowning.

“Of course they can,” Su Bai said confidently.

“Shaman, are you planning to use Shaman Technique to bring them back to life?” Yan Hua asked in surprise, remembering that the Tribe did not have such a Technique.

“Is there such a Shaman Technique?” Su Bai rolled his eyes.

“Yes, I heard Father say that other big Tribes have such Shaman Techniques,” Yan Hua said in a clear voice.

“…” Su Bai almost forgot that this world possessed supernatural powers. While not world-destroying, there were quite a few strange and mysterious things.

He smiled and softly explained, “Perhaps this is just how tenacious this plant is. They always manage to turn the impossible into possible.”

“I don’t really understand,” Yan Hua blinked her red eyes, not quite grasping it and feeling what the Shaman said to be a bit profound.

“…” Su Bai’s smile froze, inwardly complaining. [I’m truly playing the lute to a cow…]

Yu Ying’s pink eyes stared intently at the sweet potato as she asked in a soft voice, “Shaman, can this thing really be eaten?”

“It looks hideous, it definitely won’t taste good,” Yan Hua pouted. The sweet potato looked much uglier than berries.

She had tried many strange berries before, and the taste still lingered in her memory. They were really awful, some were so sour it was unbearable.

“It’s edible, and tastes quite good,” Su Bai said with a light chuckle.

“Can we eat it directly?” Yu Ying’s pink eyes sparkled with eager anticipation.

She was very tolerant when it came to food. As long as it could fill her stomach, taste was secondary.

“Eating it raw is a rather ordinary way to eat it,” Su Bai shook his head and took three palm-sized sweet potatoes to the fire pit.

He raked out some red-hot charcoal, put some cold ash on top and placed the sweet potatoes on it. He sprinkled more ash to cover the whole sweet potato, and finally covered them with more red-hot charcoal.

The purpose of sprinkling cold ash to wrap the sweet potatoes was to prevent them from directly touching the charcoal. This way they would get scorched, only heated.

Su Bai had learned this method of roasting sweet potatoes from the orphanage director. Of course, there were other methods, like using heated soil blocks or stones to cook the sweet potatoes. Still, for him, sweet potatoes prepared this way taste the best.

Yu Ying memorised the steps and asked, “Shaman, how long do we have to wait?”

“Wait until these logs burn out,” Su Bai added a few pieces of wood to the fire pit. The burning time would be about half an hour.

“That long?” Yan Hua pursed her lips.

“While we wait, we have new things to do,” Su Bai picked up the sweet potato slips and said, “Let’s plant the sweet potato slips first, then come back to eat the sweet potatoes.”

“Leave it to me.” Yan Hua took the sweet potato slips and casually said, “It’s just putting them into the soil, right? I’ll have it done in no time.”

“Wait.” Su Bai called out to the horned girl, who was about to walk out of the Teepee, asking curiously, “How do you plan to plant them?”

[noscript][/noscript]