Chapter 117: Collection Before Winter

The tribespeople, no longer worried about food, began preparing for Winter; whether it was the thick Grass mats used to line the heated beds, or the leaves and cow dung used to heat the beds, everything had to be collected first.

Because everyone had moved into newly built small Brick houses and had their own independent small heated beds, although they still maintained the Production Team style of working, other aspects were actually quite independent; all a team leader could do was take roll call in the morning and evening.

Therefore, everyone collected their own firewood for the heated beds, but because it was truly too chaotic—a pile here and a handful there—not only was it unsightly, but such dry material was also prone to causing fires.

Consequently, Baifeng ordered that all firewood collected for the heated beds be stored in a unified location, to be taken as needed; there were no restrictions, but everyone had to contribute to the collection.

For this reason, Baifeng had people dig several large cave kilns on the mountain behind the tribe solely for storing the firewood; this could also prevent it from being crushed by Snow or blown by the wind, and since the air in the kilns was insufficient, even if a fire started, it would not burn very severely.

Furthermore, everyone was relatively idle in Winter, so what was difficult about walking a few minutes to carry back firewood?

The main component of the firewood was cow dung; dried cow dung burned well and was produced in great quantities every day. Baifeng had originally thought about composting the cow dung for the fields, but the tribe already produced a lot of human waste, and combined with various ashes like plant ash and bed ash, all of which could be used in the fields, the fertilizer was more than enough.

Although they had hunted a lot of prey this year and had plenty of furs, it was only enough for all the tribespeople to have fur clothing and Boots to wear in Winter; as for spreading animal skins or covering themselves with them, that could only be the privilege of a few people.

Although they could sleep fully clothed and had heated beds, it was still very cold, so various types of dry Grass became the target of the tribespeople; whether they cut it back to spread directly, or pounded it soft before spreading, everyone was working hard to collect it.

Baifeng did not need to; as the Tribal Chief, he still had privileges. He spread thick Wild Rice straw, covered it with a bed sheet sewn from several sheepskins, and covered himself with sheepskin as well, because sheep wool was softer and had better heat retention.

The Glass windows that Baifeng had been longing for were also made, though it was a bit late; the Glass was blue-green and the transparency was not great, but the light transmission was very good, which greatly improved the lighting in Baifeng's room.

For warmth, he installed double-layered Glass and hung Hemp Cloth curtains in the room; it didn't take much Hemp Cloth because the windows weren't very big.

Baifeng did not burn the Wheat stalks and Rice stalks to return them to the fields because they had to be kept as fodder for the cattle herd in Winter; they couldn't collect much else that the cattle could eat, so these two things had to be saved.

Baifeng stacked them layer by layer in the manner of a haystack; he had built over thirty haystacks five or six meters high, and this much grass was enough for the cattle to eat until Spring, not to mention the silage they had made earlier, so there was no need to worry about the cattle's food for Winter.

If one were to ask which grass was the most popular, it would have to be the Reed, because it was long enough and grew densely enough; a person could cut enough grass for their needs in just a short while, and those with higher requirements would specifically go to pick the Reed flowers, which were soft and comfortable if you had enough of them.

Of course, they didn't just look for grass and do nothing else; the Reeds grew by the Dahu, so after they finished cutting the Reeds, they started digging for crabs and swamp eels; loaches were too small and not very interesting, so basically no one went to catch loaches.

To them, this didn't look like work, but more like playing; they envied the work of the Fishing Team more and more, as it was so interesting every day, especially watching them cast their fishing rods and pull up a big fish after a while, which looked even more fun.

The people of the Fishing Team certainly wouldn't trade this job with others, but now there were countless fish piled up in the warehouse, and crabs couldn't be stored for too long, so the Fishing Team members pointed out the location of the Lotus Pond to everyone; the water level had dropped quite a bit now, so they could go and feel for lotus roots.

Feeling for lotus roots was also a very interesting job in the eyes of others; by groping around in the mud, one could find a long string of rhizomes, and after taking them out and washing them, they were snow-white lotus roots.

The thrill of this harvest was a world of difference compared to their usual boring work, and some people even wanted to go back and find Baifeng to change their jobs to the Fishing Team; they wanted to stay here and feel for lotus roots forever.

The Fishing Team members were secretly happy to see people helping them work, especially since they were also very happy; the water temperature had already dropped, and after soaking in the mud for a long time, their legs felt sore and cramped, which was very uncomfortable.

Those who didn't go to dig for lotus roots also made discoveries in the Reed Marsh; many birds spent the night or the Winter in the Reed Marsh, and in places where the Reeds were too dense and too tall, they couldn't spread their wings to fly, so they were caught by humans.

After catching them, they would slit their throats to drain the blood without a second thought; this was the most important point they had learned from the Tribal Chief to keep the meat from having a fishy smell: it must be bled.

However, his movements were quite loud, and it was daytime, so he didn't catch many; among them was a large red bird, which was particularly big, but it seemed very rare—never mind, as long as it was edible.

The enthusiasm of the people feeling for lotus roots was gradually decreasing because the water was quite cold, and repeating this work didn't seem as interesting anymore; just as the time was about right, they loaded the lotus roots, which had been roughly washed of mud, and their grass onto carts and hurried back.

They could take the grass directly back to their rooms, but other things had to be handed over to the warehouse for counting; since Baifeng happened to be there, he helped the Shaman calculate.

The Shaman knew simple arithmetic, but his speed was too slow; he didn't even know what a decimal system was before, and it was only after Baifeng explained it to him that he used the decimal system to keep count; he probably couldn't even keep track of his own carry-over numbers before.

Baifeng was also very happy to see so many lotus roots; he could eat fresh vegetables in Winter too, although there were winter bamboo shoots, but those were scarce in Winter and particularly hard to find, and no matter how delicious they were, Baifeng wasn't very willing to dig for them.

Moreover, lotus roots could be used to wash out starch, which could then be used to make other delicacies.

Then, the thing a tribesman was holding in his hand made him wonder if his eyes were playing tricks on him; it was actually a chicken, a big rooster! Baifeng would rather believe his eyes were playing tricks on him than believe he was holding a chicken.

Looking closely, it was undoubtedly a chicken; Baifeng was suddenly filled with suspicion, standing frozen in place, watching the expressions and movements of the people around him, looking at the sky, looking at his surroundings, and carefully considering everything strange about this place.

But Baifeng thought for a long time; other than the reason for his arrival here being very absurd, nothing else seemed to be strange; he was not Truman, and he would have been able to discover it if anything was slightly off.

This world was real and vast; it was impossible for a production team to weave such a huge lie to deceive him like in The Truman Show, and besides, they couldn't even broadcast the usual affairs of savages.

Therefore, Baifeng could only believe that there really were chickens in this era.