Chapter 174: Jade

Baifeng asked in a voice that was not very loud: "Who were the ones on night watch last night? Stand out."

To those people, this volume sounded like a thunderclap; they had assumed that after dealing with the Slaves, he would no longer pay them any mind, but they had not expected Baifeng to start asking now. Looking at the blood by the river that had not yet fully dispersed, their legs trembled a little. After all, such a large tribe was not lacking for a few people like them, and furthermore, they had committed such a grave error.

Dawdling, the twenty-some people stood out. Baifeng asked again, "Is that all of them?" A few more people stood out slowly.

Baifeng stared at Shi, letting him see if the people were all out. Shi was the manager of these Free Persons whom Baifeng had temporarily appointed; their Soldiers needed to keep watch on the Boat, and it was also to preserve combat strength so as not to waste stamina on meaningless travel.

Shi's memory was quite good; he knew how many men he had arranged to keep watch, though keeping watch did not mean they had to stay awake the entire night. With nearly a hundred men, they could simply rotate throughout the night, which could also ensure their energy during the day.

He went over and scanned them one by one, counting a full circle only to find that two people were still missing. Finally, under the identification of Shi and the other night-watch Soldiers, the two people who thought they could luckily escape were dragged out. Baifeng did not say anything more, directly having people throw them into the pile of Slaves and tie them up.

There was no verbal sentencing, but the outcome was already set. Although it seemed that the boundary between the Slaves and Free Persons of the Baifeng Tribe was not very large now, it was still a chasm that was very difficult to cross, and furthermore, these two could never again leave their Slave status unless they did something that could save the Baifeng Tribe.

If it were not for the fact that they had been exchanged for grain, Baifeng would have directly broken their legs and thrown them into the wilderness to feed the wild beasts; this treatment was already considered very merciful.

As for the others, they were at least honest, so Baifeng gave them the punishment of having no more food for the entire day today. Since they loved to sleep so much, he wanted to see if they could still sleep on an empty stomach.

Having spent the whole morning dealing with these matters, although it was still early for noon, Baifeng directly let them light the fire to cook. After eating and resting for a while, they would start traveling immediately; they would not eat or rest at noon, and would wait until night. If they were properly exhausted for a day, he did not believe they would still have the energy to cause trouble at night.

This was also to make up for the time wasted in the morning. Now they had to hurry to accelerate back to the tribe. They had been out for several days, and by the time they returned to the tribe, it would take almost half a month for the round trip. Although there would not be any big changes in the tribe now, Baifeng still felt at ease only when he went back to watch over it.

Because there was something to look forward to, everyone also hoped to return to the tribe quickly, so the speed at which the Slaves pulled the Boat became much faster, and Baifeng just lay leisurely on the Boat watching the clouds.

Among them, a child from the Shi Tribe on the Boat made Baifeng very interested, because in the process of boringly communicating with him, Baifeng discovered that this child was very smart. Counting from one to ten, he could count proficiently after being told twice, and he was only five or six years old.

Baifeng asked him what his name was, and he said his name was Shi. In the entire tribe, most people were called Shi, and not many people had other names, so Baifeng changed his name to Yu—also a stone, but a type of exceptionally beautiful stone called jade.

Baifeng became more and more interested in him, so he sat up and used the Sorghum in the cabin to teach him addition and subtraction. Unexpectedly, the speed at which he learned was even faster than children of later generations; in just half a day, he could already proficiently use addition and subtraction within five.

If it were not for the fact that Baifeng had tentatively asked some questions—whether it was palace jade liquid Wine, or big hammer plus small hammer—and was afraid he might be a reincarnated foreigner, he had tested various memes from devils, sticks, and other countries, and finally determined that he was just a very smart primitive child.

Because apart from his own medical skills which had a successor, Baifeng had no one who could truly accept his other knowledge. He had also tried to teach the children of the tribe, but their ages were uneven, and their interest in how to hunt and kill was clearly greater than their interest in knowledge, so Baifeng's new generation cultivation plan had been shelved.

He had originally planned to use the batch of children just born a year ago or about to be born to cultivate carefully, because they were about the same age and the number was large enough, so at least a few usable talents could come out.

Now this child made Baifeng see more hope; there were also smart enough children among the savages, it was just the influence of the environment. After returning, he would set about building a school, and when that group of children grew up, he would lock them inside to do homework.

As for this child, Baifeng planned to cultivate him personally. After learning for another period of time, he would be able to help the Shaman deal with matters in the warehouse, because this learning speed was indeed fast enough. He was afraid that multiplication and division would not be too difficult for him either; as long as he learned multiplication and division, he would be able to surpass the Shaman, and after his thinking matured a bit more, he would likely be able to take over the Shaman's position.

If Baifeng became a king in the future and started to handle Government Affairs Department, this child would also be a very good help. As for adopting a foster son, Baifeng had no such plans; that was just looking for trouble for himself. If he wanted children, it was not as if he could not have them himself; some hidden dangers had to be eliminated from the beginning.

When eating in the evening, Baifeng happily took the child off the Boat and asked the women of the Shi Tribe who the child's mother was; there was no need to ask about the father, as they certainly would not know.

It was just that after hearing Baifeng's words, that group of women were all extremely nervous, thinking that Baifeng was going to punish people again, which left Baifeng somewhat speechless. He had always been a merciful and peaceful person; had they not seen that some people felt Baifeng's personality made them feel frustrated?

Baifeng had to explain that he felt this child was very intelligent and he liked him very much, and he would take him by his side to teach him in the future. He believed that a woman who could give birth to such a good child would not be bad herself, so he wanted to give her some rewards and then find her a stronger man from the Baifeng Tribe, so that they could give birth to equally intelligent offspring in the future.

Once he said this, the women were no longer afraid. It was a pity that they knew they were not the child's mother. Each and every one of them felt it was a great pity; if they could be chosen by the Tribal Chief and become the Tribal Chief's woman, that would be called a step to the sky.

After Baifeng finished speaking, a woman with a big butt who very much fit the aesthetic of this era walked out. Yu did not deny it, but it looked like there was not much affection between the two.

It was this era, after all; it was understandable. Furthermore, Yu was already quite old, and even if he went out on his own, he could pick wild fruits to eat. If Baifeng had not asked, this woman would probably have forgotten that she even had such a child.