Chapter 111: Resigning to Bad Luck

No matter how tired they were, they had to rush; Baifeng was relatively free on ordinary days because the pottery used by the tribe was almost saturated, and there was nothing else needed.

All he had to do was fire bricks and tiles; these were very simple to make, and their Pottery Team had many people, so while it seemed very tiring, how much actual work was there? The most tiring parts were just loading and unloading the kiln, once every three days, though sometimes the large kiln might take longer.

That was why he had time to tinker with Glass; now it could be considered retribution, suddenly having to rush to make one hundred Pottery Jars, which had to be glazed and have lids—why was it so troublesome?

It was only because there were enough hands that they started rushing the night they received the task; a dozen or so people worked until noon to finish, and after putting them out to air-dry, they went back to their rooms to catch up on sleep; once air-dried, they would have to glaze them and then put them into the kiln.

The Pottery Team was busy, and the others were also busy under Baifeng's direction; first, they had to prepare bamboo baskets and bamboo crates to hold the picked fruit, and several Handcarts were also requisitioned; the mighty Fruit Picking Team was ready to set off at any moment.

Other things that needed preparation were building a few large stoves; the one used for steaming Wine last time was not bad, but one was not enough, so a few new ones were built.

Four days passed, the Pottery Jars were already firing in the kiln and could be taken out the day after tomorrow; Baifeng felt the time was about right, so he personally led the team to go see that Peach Forest, and Sui followed along.

Before even reaching the forest, Baifeng could already smell the clear fragrance of the peaches, and the scent of rotting and fermenting peaches was also mixed in.

The tribesmen were even more energetic, pulling Handcarts that weighed over a hundred catties each along the mountain road, and only when there was truly no path left to walk did they stop the carts, take down the bamboo baskets, and walk into the forest.

The forest was truly spectacular; peach trees and apricot trees of different heights and thicknesses covered the mountains and plains, which was extremely shocking, and the buzzing sounds of various insects rose and fell one after another.

Occasionally, one could see monkeys leaping on the branches; it seemed there was more than one type of monkey, with the common yellow macaque and another type of black monkey with white fur on its body, which was larger in size.

Perhaps because food was abundant, they were all relatively harmonious and no fighting occurred; they were just a bit wary of the arrival of Baifeng and his group, and seeing that the number of these tall, hairless monkey groups was so large, the other monkey groups also sensibly gave up an area.

Baifeng was only here to pick fruit this time and had no intention of hunting monkeys or anything; if there were deer or wild boars, he might consider it, but the main thing was that even if you killed a monkey, it was useless; eat it? He really couldn't bring himself to eat a primate.

Moreover, he had once seen wild monkeys at close range in Guizhou Province, and the foul stench on their bodies was something he would never forget for the rest of his life; it was better to look from afar, as they really weren't very cute; he just didn't know if the noble golden monkeys would be like that too, but anyway, the loser macaques were really not great.

Entering the more lush area, the ground was truly squelching with smashed fruit everywhere; everyone reached out one after another, picking the peaches they could reach, and those who were agile had already climbed the trees like monkeys, holding a basket in one hand and picking peaches with the other, using their legs to firmly fix their bodies to the trees.

After filling them up, they passed the baskets to the people under the trees, then took empty baskets to continue picking; the full baskets were carried to the Handcarts and poured into the bamboo crates fixed in the carts, then they returned to pick and transport more.

Along the way, including beside the carts, there were fully armed Soldiers guarding, just for fear of being attacked by fierce beasts, because there were too many herbivores attracted here, and carnivores would naturally follow the meat.

Baifeng picked for a while and then became a supervisor; Sui was still immersed in the joy of picking and couldn't extricate herself; by the time Baifeng had slacked off enough and wanted to continue picking, the basket was already gone, and just then a full basket was handed down, so Baifeng simply took it and became a transporter, carrying it to the Handcarts.

After running two trips, Baifeng completely took over this job; mainly because everyone was already working smoothly and doing what they were supposed to do, and it would be easy to disrupt others' rhythm if Baifeng suddenly changed jobs, plus he could keep an eye on how much had been picked.

A lot had been loaded now; half of the fourteen Handcarts brought were already full, mainly because of the craftsmanship of the carts, so they couldn't hold much.

Baifeng carried another basket and walked back, but the Soldiers on the second half of the road were nowhere to be seen; Baifeng felt that even if they hid to go to the bathroom, it was impossible for none of them to be there; he felt something must have happened, so he put down the basket, drew the Knife at his waist, lowered his body, and searched forward.

No bloodstains or signs of fighting were found on the road, and Baifeng was a bit puzzled, but when he was about to reach the location of the Handcarts, he heard many people shouting something; it didn't sound like a call for help or a fight, but rather like they were driving something away.

Baifeng accelerated over, and he didn't expect that as soon as he had a view, he was startled; two elephants, one large and one small, were actually standing in front of the Handcarts, leisurely curling up the peaches in the carts to eat; the Soldiers dared not step forward and could only shout loudly.

But the elephants acted as if they hadn't heard anything and just kept eating on their own; Baifeng was actually more worried about those Soldiers; if the wild elephants got angry, they would probably find it hard to escape even if they wanted to, and even if they climbed a tree, the elephants could knock the tree down.

Fortunately, the tribesmen hadn't provoked them; in the end, the Soldiers were also a bit afraid to see such huge elephants, holding their Weapon and shouting, but they didn't dare to move forward, and the Knife couldn't cut the elephants either.

Baifeng was also glad for them; fortunately, they were timid, as anyone bolder would have lost their life by now; Baifeng didn't dare to go up and do anything either; he wasn't sure if he had a protagonist's halo, and he didn't even dare to think about training elephants; it would be considered extremely lucky just to be able to go to the side without being trampled to death.

Fearing that he would startle the elephants, Baifeng only softly called out to the Soldiers; after hearing the Tribal Chief's call, they retreated to Baifeng's side, and Baifeng told them to let the elephants eat, as saving their own lives was the priority.

It was just that he didn't know how long the elephants would eat; they couldn't just be laborers for the elephants.

The main thing was that they didn't bring any Spears; if they had Spears, there would be a chance to kill them, but this Knife was better forgotten; before it could even cut the elephant, it would be swatted away by a trunk.

Baifeng looked around repeatedly and confirmed that there were only two elephants here; generally speaking, an elephant herd wouldn't have only these two, the number should be larger; did they get separated? They shouldn't have run away from home while carrying a small elephant.

Just as Baifeng was thinking, a few elephant calls came from afar, and the two elephants here also responded to each other, then curled up a few more noses full of peaches before reluctantly leaving, not caring at all about what actions Baifeng and his group might take; was this the confidence of an overlord?

Baifeng and his group quickly went to check the Handcarts; three carts were almost completely ruined, and the surfaces of the others had also been damaged to varying degrees; they were helpless and had to clear away the damaged ones, then put the baskets back in place and continue loading—what else could they do?

Even if they brought Spears, if you stabbed them once, the elephant herd would come to find trouble for you; elephants are gregarious, intelligent, and hold grudges, so they didn't dare to provoke them for the time being, unless there was a straggler.