Chapter 244

After much thought, Baifeng finally decided to give the child a formal name and a nickname; the nickname would be Tiezhu, Bai Tiezhu, hoping the child would grow up healthy and strong. The formal name would be Bai Yulong; the dragon is the most powerful creature in this world, though, of course, it seems there are no dragons yet.

I do not know if dragons truly exist, but the dragons the wild people speak of now are merely crocodiles, completely different from the dragons of later generations that ride the clouds and mist or churn the rivers and seas. Perhaps the dragon totem was truly synthesized by Xuanyuan after he unified all the tribes, taking a part of each tribe's totem to form the dragon. Since I have always claimed to be a descendant of the dragon, it is not too much to use the name dragon first.

He had not yet told Sui about this decision because, after feeding the child, mother and son had fallen asleep together, very peacefully, so Baifeng did not disturb them. However, he had to go out now to resolve matters outside, as it already sounded quite clamorous out there.

Baifeng gently pushed open the door, walked out, and gently closed it again; outside, there were countless people crowding around, with Xiong and the others squeezed at the very front, just short of going inside to take a look.

As soon as Baifeng went out, they shouted loudly, but Baifeng quickly used a gesture to stop them. However, the child's crying had already started inside the room, and Baifeng could not scold them, so he just gestured for them to be quiet again and went back into the room.

Strange soothing sounds came from the room as Baifeng lulled the newborn to sleep, which he did almost instantly. Baifeng then placed him back down in Sui's arms. Both sides of the bed had raised railings, which Baifeng pulled up so there was no fear of the child falling out, and Sui would not be foolish enough to crush the child.

When he went out again, the crowd's voices were much quieter. Baifeng first arranged for the most experienced woman, who had been following and caring for the mother and newborn, to go in and watch over them. Then, with a wave of his hand, he led everyone away to avoid disturbing Sui's rest. Chinv wanted to squeeze to Baifeng's side, but it was to no avail, and she could only obediently follow the main group.

Baifeng led everyone directly to the square, where they could finally cheer and congratulate him loudly. Baifeng accepted everyone's congratulations with a beaming face, and then announced the child's name: Bai Yulong.

Many people had never seen a dragon; only a few people from the south knew what a dragon was. To avoid any misunderstanding, Baifeng described the appearance and abilities of the dragon to everyone, distinguishing it from the dragons they knew that crawled in the water. Baifeng also told them that the dragons they thought they knew were merely a bit more ferocious than fish.

After hearing the Tribal Chief talk about the dragon, they felt a deep sense of terror, never expecting there to be such a powerful creature in the world, and were glad they had never encountered one.

However, they also thought that since the Tribal Chief had even seen a dragon, he must know of other exceptionally powerful wild beasts. When they had children in the future, they would have to ask the Tribal Chief for a name; it would certainly be better than the tigers and eagles they always used.

After Baifeng accepted everyone's gifts, he let them all go back to rest, saying he would formally announce the news to everyone tomorrow. In reality, many tribespeople had not yet received the news because the time was too rushed to convey it. In the Nuliqu, there was not a whisper of it; light sleepers could hear the noisy cheering but did not know what had happened, and since it had nothing to do with them, they turned over and continued to sleep.

The next morning, Baifeng had people strike the large Drum, stopping only after eighty-one strikes. Originally, it should have been morning bells and evening drums, but they could not bear to spend so much metal to forge a bell, and even the Drum was only used for sacrifices and major events, never brought out at ordinary times.

Everyone was gathered together, even the slaves, as anything that could warrant the striking of the Drum must be a major event.

Baifeng stood on the platform and told everyone that their little Tribal Chief had been born, named Bai Yulong. The tribespeople below cheered again, and the slaves followed along and shouted as well; even if they did not know what this had to do with them, they feared trouble would arise if they did not follow along in the current situation.

To celebrate, Baifeng told everyone that they could all eat meat today; they would slaughter three cows to celebrate. The slaves would be able to eat a meal of dry rice and have meat soup, which made them cheer from the bottom of their hearts.

Subsequently, Baifeng announced again that among the Free Persons and slaves, those who had performed excellently and were on record would be promoted in status immediately—Free Persons would become tribespeople, and slaves would become Free Persons—which led to more cheering.

Because the child was too small, he was not brought out, but everyone would see him sooner or later anyway.

Heaven was also giving Baifeng's tribe face; their Rice had a bumper harvest. Even if their other crops failed this year, they would not fear a shortage of grain next year, as they would have enough to eat until the Autumn Harvest of the following year.

After Sui finished her confinement, she left the delivery room and returned to her own home. Baifeng was busy now and had to take care of the child himself. Chinv could not escape either; even if she was not very willing in her heart, she now helped take care of the child in earnest.

They sent dozens of people to attend the Full Moon Gathering, but they had no harvest, eventually trading for a nest of some kind of bird of prey that had just hatched. Baifeng could not recognize the featherless birds, but they were quite large and could be raised by people, so he handed them over to Changxu to raise. However, Baifeng still fed them every day so that the birds of prey would recognize him from a young age, making them easier to train later.

The Suiren tribe sent an envoy again, expressing their intention to trade. This time, Baifeng was present, so he agreed to the request, stating that they only wanted Tea Leaves and nothing else. He set the time and place for the trade, treated the envoy to a meal, and let him leave.

Of course, the Suiren tribe also said that the thing they wanted most was Wine. Their Tribal Chief had been without Wine for a long time and was now always losing his temper over it, so they wanted to trade for Wine to take back to their Tribal Chief as soon as possible.

Baifeng's tribe had not yet harvested their Sorghum, so he set the trade time relatively late. The people of the Suiren tribe accepted this with pained expressions, as they had hoped for it to be as early as possible.

In the days without Wine, Baoxi also tried the Tea, but it was astringent when eaten raw and bitter when boiled; in any case, it was something he could not stomach. He did not know why Baifeng wanted so much of it, but he did not cause trouble and instead selected the best tender buds that Baifeng had asked for to trade.

The trade proceeded smoothly; Baoxi obtained the Wine he had dreamed of, and Baifeng obtained the urgently needed Tea. Both were very satisfied with this trade.

Now both sides were preparing for Winter, and there would be no more opportunities to trade this year, so both sides agreed that such trades must be conducted more often next year.