Chapter 54
Whether or not the cubs were actually hungry, Lang Qi’s statement immediately made Ma Xin swallow the words he had been about to say.
Beastmen with mates were different from those without. Since Bai Tu apparently had a mate, it wouldn’t be appropriate to leave his brother here.
Ma Le glanced at Lang Qi and then at Bai Tu, suspecting that Lang Qi might be lying. But when none of the other beastmen showed any surprise, Ma Le froze in confusion.
The rabbit and wolf tribes weren’t at all surprised by Lang Qi’s claim.
Everyone knew Bai Tu was helping to take care of two wolf cubs, and no one doubted the truth of Lang Qi’s words. After all, Bai Tu had taught them that cubs needed to eat small, frequent meals, so it was perfectly normal for the cubs to be hungry.
Bai Tu quickly went over a few important matters with Ma Xin.
Once he was sure he hadn’t missed anything, he asked Bai Qi to arrange a meal for the horse tribe.
The horse tribe had traveled day and night to get here and needed to rest before returning.
Bai Qi was the perfect person to handle this task.
Bai An, as the rabbit tribe’s chief, had many responsibilities to attend to, Bai Chen was gradually taking over the hunting team, and Lang Ze and the others were from the wolf tribe and couldn’t act on the rabbit tribe’s behalf.
The cat tribe, having only recently joined after the rainy season, wasn’t yet familiar enough with the tribe to manage such matters.
Back at the cave, Bai Tu asked Lang Qi to crack some walnuts while he prepared yams dug up by the gathering team the day before. He chopped the yams into pieces and placed them in a steamer. The yams weren’t just for the wolf cubs; they were for the other cubs in the tribe as well.
The ceramic pot on the stove always held warm water. As the yams steamed, Bai Tu washed his hands and went to check on the two wolf cubs. “Let’s see who’s hungry,” he said softly.
The cubs, sprawled in all directions in their bamboo basket, stirred at the sound of his voice.
After a few soft whimpers, they recognized Bai Tu’s familiar scent and wriggled toward his hand, completely unaware of the trouble Lang Qi had stirred on their behalf.
Bai Tu interpreted their soft cries as hunger and picked them up one at a time, giving each a kiss. “The food will be ready soon. Want some water first?”
“Mm-hmm~” The cubs whimpered and pawed at Bai Tu’s hand.
“There’s no food yet, so let’s have some water first,” Bai Tu coaxed, using the opportunity to get the cubs to drink some warm water.
The wolf cubs weren’t particularly fond of plain water, but for Bai Tu’s sake, they reluctantly drank a few sips before pushing the bowl away and climbing onto him.
When they had first arrived, their movements had been clumsy, but after a few days, they had become much more confident and agile.
Knowing that cubs needed some exercise, Bai Tu didn’t stop them. Instead, he held his hands under them to make sure they wouldn’t fall. The two cubs climbed onto his shoulders, one on each side, and nestled against his neck. Finding a comfortable position, they closed their eyes and fell asleep again.
“Sleepy already?” Bai Tu chuckled, carefully lifting them off his shoulders and holding them in his arms.
The cubs, reassured by his familiar scent, didn’t protest the change in position. After a brief adjustment, they settled back into sleep. It wasn’t until the aroma of food filled the cave that their noses twitched, and they opened their eyes one after the other.
“So clever,” Bai Tu praised as he began grinding the walnuts into a fine powder using a small stone mill.
The stone mill was one of the tools Bai Tu had taught the tribe to make.
Some foods were too tedious to grind or chop by hand, so he had designed mills to increase efficiency. Smaller mills were specifically used to prepare food for cubs, especially harder ingredients like walnuts, which were best ground into a fine paste.
The cubs had eaten yam mash before, but this was their first time trying walnuts. The rich aroma made them eager to eat. The two little ones didn’t even wait to be fed—they pawed at Bai Tu’s hand and went straight for the bowl.
Wolf cubs ate quickly. Bai Tu had originally planned to take the leftover yam and walnut mash to Tu Cai for the other cubs, but before he could, Lang Qi volunteered to handle the task. He picked up the ceramic pot and left to deliver the food.
As the horse tribe finished their meal and prepared to rest for the night in the cave the rabbit tribe had prepared for them, they saw Lang Qi emerge from Bai Tu’s cave carrying a ceramic pot. The horse tribe members instinctively stepped aside to let him pass.
Bai Qi, noticing the pot, recognized it as one of those used to hold food for cubs. “Lang Qi, has Bai Tu made something new for the cubs?”
Lang Qi gave a small nod and walked past without further comment.
Ma Xin let out a sigh of relief.
He was glad he hadn’t brought up the idea of leaving his brother with Bai Tu.
Lang Qi had free access to the area where the rabbit tribe’s cubs were raised, which showed the deep trust the tribe had in him.
Leaving a young beastman from another tribe in Bai Tu’s care could easily be seen as meddling in someone else’s relationship. The wolf tribe wouldn’t tolerate someone hanging around their leader’s mate.
Not wanting to test the patience of the wolf tribe—especially its leader—Ma Xin shook his head at his younger brother. Ma Le, understanding the signal, felt the small spark of hope in his heart extinguish.
The horse tribe members, having come with high expectations, couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
Only Ma Xin kept his spirits up, still thinking about the tools he had seen during the meal. He asked Bai Qi if they could trade for some to take back.
“Not right now,” Bai Qi explained. “We don’t even have enough for our tribe and the Blood Wolf Tribe. You’ll have to wait until after the winter season.” This was per Bai Tu’s earlier instructions.
The horse tribe left feeling even more regretful. Watching Lang Qi’s retreating figure, they couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy.
After the horse tribe left, Bai Tu brought out all the cocoons to start extracting silk. By now, the beastmen in the tribe were quite skilled at this task. Even many wolves had learned the process and quickly got to work handling the cocoons.
Bai Tu checked the remaining supplies of wolf and rabbit fur.
Although the piles of fur had initially seemed abundant, they had been used up in just over half a month, with most of it already spun into yarn. However, none of it had been turned into blankets or sweaters yet. The next step would involve weaving the yarn into these items. Sweaters could be knitted by hand, but making blankets entirely by hand would be too slow.
The silk from the cocoons would also need to be woven into fabric eventually—it wasn’t practical to treat it like yarn. After thinking for a moment, Bai Tu headed straight for the woodworking cave.
At first, the tribe stored wood in various caves to keep it dry, and members would take what they needed directly.
Large and small pieces of wood were all stored this way. However, since the later part of the rainy season, Bai Tu had been using wood more frequently, building things like waterwheels and spinning wheels.
Checking individual caves for suitable pieces of wood had become tedious, so he had the tribe consolidate all usable wood into a communal cave.
Only large logs and branches were kept, while small, fragmented pieces suitable only for firewood were discarded.
The beastmen tasked with woodworking were now dedicated solely to crafting and repairing wooden tools in this communal cave. Bai Tu had assigned beastmen who excelled in woodworking to this role, just as he tried to place everyone in roles that matched their strengths.
Inside the woodworking cave, there were pre-cut wooden strips and various sizes of wooden boards ready for use. Bai Tu could grab whatever he needed. Throughout history, there had been many types of looms, but their basic principles were the same: interweaving warp and weft threads to create fabric.
With help from others, Bai Tu’s experiments went much faster. He started by testing a few threads to refine the design. Once he had built a functional loom, he began modifying it to increase the number of warp threads it could handle.
Currently, Tu Wan was overseeing the tribe’s yarn-spinning efforts. Mao Lin had taken over the plant harvesting tasks in the meantime. Bai Tu called Tu Wan over and began teaching her how to use the loom.
Tu Wan, who had been fretting over the dwindling supply of raw materials for yarn, was surprised to find that Bai Tu had created yet another new machine. Bai Tu called these “machines,” and the tribe had adopted the term, distinguishing them from simpler tools. Machines were more complex than tools.
Tu Wan was convinced that this new machine was the first of its kind on the entire Beast God Continent.
The loom could directly weave thread into fabric, making it far faster than manual weaving! Moreover, the resulting fabric was uniform and neat, unlike the inconsistent tension that came with hand-knitting.
The loom Bai Tu had created was a foot-powered version, which made it highly efficient.
It provided an immediate solution to the problem of what to do with the spun yarn. With two months left before winter, there was enough time to produce fabric from both the yarn and the silk.
Having solved a major problem, Bai Tu felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. Both silkworm farming and yarn production required significant investment early on.
While Bai An and the tribe members didn’t constantly tally the resources spent, it would be hard to justify the effort if there were no results to show for it.
Once the fabrics were woven, they could be used by the two tribes or taken to the market to trade for other resources.
Bai Tu favored the former option. In his view, the fabric wasn’t enough to distribute to everyone in the tribe yet, let alone have any left to trade. Since the tribe currently had no shortage of food, it was better to use the fabric to improve the quality of life within the tribe.
With this in mind, Bai Tu called for people to harvest the latest batch of melons.
Some would be distributed to the tribe that evening, while a smaller portion would be stored in the cave. The stored melons could be exchanged for contribution points by those who wanted them.
Bai Tu had ensured that the plants received plenty of water, and since the rainy season, they hadn’t experienced any drought.
The plants were thriving, yielding abundant harvests. So far, they had already harvested three or four batches, and there were still small, unripe melons on the vines. At this rate, they could expect at least two more harvests.
Even after this batch, there was no need to worry about a shortage.
After the rainy season, Bai Tu had planted a second batch of melons.
Melon seeds were plentiful, and the wolf tribe had also planted a significant amount.
The tribe’s fruit supply had surged dramatically, leaving no fear of running out.
Some beastmen, particularly those who had earned a lot of contribution points, even used melons as a refreshing snack. After finishing their work, they would exchange points for a melon and scoop out the flesh with a wooden spoon to eat.
In addition to melons, the plants Bai Tu had initially transplanted were gradually maturing.
However, due to their low yields, they weren’t yet being eaten but were reserved for seeds instead.
This was especially true for the various types of beans. While there were many varieties of beans, each only produced 5 to 10 kilos at most, with some barely yielding a few dozen kilos. Bai Tu was so protective of them that he didn’t eat a single one.
The Beast God Continent had a rich diversity of plants, but most beastmen ate whatever they found and had no concept of planting crops.
Situations like the Leopard Tribe’s discovery of a large field of corn were rare.
Around the Snow Rabbit Tribe, crops were often found in small patches, and harvesting a few grams of food was considered good.
The beans’ relatively high yield was thanks to Bai Tu’s efforts in transplanting them near the tribe and providing careful care. Without that, the harvest would have been even smaller.
The potatoes Bai Tu had been longing for had also matured. However, instead of eating them, he used them to propagate new plants. Given potatoes’ high yield, they could afford to eat some after the next harvest before the snowy season.
What excited the beastmen most, however, was the corn Bai Tu had brought back with such enthusiasm. Everyone was eager to see what it would look like when the plants finally bore fruit.
They didn’t have to wait long. The day after Bai Tu completed the loom, he led the harvesting team straight to the cornfield.
Thanks to the warm weather, the corn had grown rapidly.
After about 80 days, much of it was ready for harvest. Bai Tu taught the team how to carefully twist and pull the mature ears of corn from the stalks, reminding them to avoid damaging the lower ears.
The corn on the Beast God Continent was similar in size to what Bai Tu remembered from his previous life, but with one notable advantage: each stalk bore two ears of corn. However, the two ears didn’t mature simultaneously—the upper ear ripened first, while the lower ear was still tender and immature.
The tender ears were perfect for boiling.
Once the team finished harvesting the mature corn, Bai Tu had them pick 200 of the younger, unripe ears for that evening’s meal. The mature corn was spread out on open ground to dry before being stored.
That night, as Bai Tu enjoyed a piece of boiled corn, he looked toward the direction of the Leopard Tribe. “I wonder how things are going with Bao Duo.”
