Chapter 29: Dividing the Households

The current management of the tribespeople is far too chaotic; someone might eat with one group today, sleep in another group's house at night, and then switch to yet another group to eat and sleep tomorrow.

They only know which group they belong to when they are working, which leads to another situation: the family system that Baifeng wants to gradually implement is out of reach, and it is also ethically chaotic.

In the morning, Baifeng did not have them start work, but instead let them choose their own companions to form teams of about ten people to eat and live together. Now that enough houses have been built, they can fully accommodate them.

A team must have men, women, and children; how exactly they are distributed is up to them to choose, and those who are not chosen will be arranged by Baifeng at the end.

They do not know what the meaning of doing this is; since they are all one tribe, why must they be divided so clearly?

Baifeng does not explain it to them either; they wouldn't understand if he said it, and only after a long time will they see the benefits. If someone can discover the thing called love right now, Baifeng wouldn't mind assigning them a small house separately.

After dawdling, the groups were finally divided. Originally, forty-one teams could have been formed, but because a few tribespeople were lost, it was finally decided to divide them into forty teams to round it off.

Baifeng, Xiong, and Wu all have their own small, independent houses. Originally, only Baifeng had one, and they were used to sleeping with the tribespeople, but later they discovered that Baifeng having one gave him great authority, so they built small houses for themselves too. Baifeng did not stop them; the emergence of class is a matter of time.

Baifeng will not stop the tribespeople from building independent houses for themselves to strive for a better life; he supports and encourages it, but unfortunately, they do not yet have the concept of a house and a home.

For the ten production teams formed, Baifeng ordered them according to the front-to-back position of the houses they lived in, using the ten Heavenly Stems, from Jia One Team, Jia Two Team, Jia Three Team, Jia Four Team, Yi One Team, all the way to Gui Four Team.

The captain of each team is assumed by the most capable person, or the person elected by the people in the same team, responsible for collecting food every day, counting heads, urging them to work, and so on.

Everyone received a piece of pottery; after punching a hole in it, it can be hung around the neck, with the name written on the front and the team number on the back.

No one can read or write, so Baifeng took a Knife and carved the names on one by one. If he encountered someone without a name, he would give them one on the spot. Of course, they wouldn't be very meaningful names, nothing more than Dazhuang or Xiaomei. If they don't like their names later, they can just find Baifeng to change them.

Only after Baifeng finished writing all the name tags did he officially recognize all his tribespeople; there might be many people whose names he won't remember the next time he sees them.

It wasn't until noon that Baifeng finished carving. He had the captains nail wooden sticks to the walls of their team's houses; when they went out in the morning, they would distribute the name tags, and when they returned, they would hang them back up. It would be clear at a glance how many people were missing and who was missing.

Just as Baifeng was stretching his back and preparing to take a rest, Zhi from the Bing Team found Baifeng and said, "Lu is gone. I haven't seen Lu since the morning."

Baifeng recalled that indeed, after the name tags were finished, he hadn't carved a name tag for Lu. Damn it, he didn't expect this kind of thing to happen right now.

"Do you know where he went? Did he tell you anything?"

Zhi shook his head. Baifeng looked at the hunters who were familiar with Lu, and they also shook their heads. Lu hadn't said a word since after dinner last night; he hadn't nagged like usual, just quietly went to sleep.

Baifeng secretly thought it was bad; this kid might have snuck out to hunt by himself. He was also worried about Lu, but it was impossible to send people out to look for him and put more people in danger for his sake.

"Since he left without notice, if he does not return before the sun sets, no matter what he went to do, he will no longer be a member of the Baifeng Tribe. Let him go out and fend for himself!"

Baifeng absolutely cannot encourage this kind of atmosphere. You can have ideas, you can question the Tribal Chief's words, but you just cannot act recklessly according to your own whims.

No one pleaded for Lu; they also felt that Lu's actions were wrong, only feeling sorry for him.

The Hunter Team packed up their Weapon and set off to hunt. This time, Baifeng did not demand how much prey they should bring back, only saying that safety comes first, and it didn't matter if they didn't catch any prey, as long as everyone returned safely.

The people from the original gathering team started digging cellars in the locations planned by Baifeng. If the Ironware tools were not enough, they used wooden ones or bone ones; in any case, no one was idle.

The people firing pottery had not stopped working since the camp was first built. Once enough Tile were fired, they fired water pipes; once enough water pipes were fired, there were Brick, and various sizes of containers, basins, and jars.

In the past, the technology wasn't good, and they could only fire thick and clumsy ones. Now, with the support of a large amount of production experience, they can make relatively light Pottery. Baifeng also tried to have them add patterns or colors to the Pottery so that they would be more competitive in the upcoming Great Gathering.

The Baifeng Tribe's output is very small, and there are no surplus good things to take to the Great Gathering to exchange. Baifeng is still a bit worried about taking Ironware out; if they are targeted by some big tribe, it would be a disaster for them.

However, Xiong still put Baifeng at ease. Although this kind of gathering is formed spontaneously and tribes of all sizes can participate, there is an oath, and no one dares to make a move during the gathering.

Xiong believes in the power of the oath, but Baifeng does not. He is a modern person, but if there is an "old six" who has already awakened and discovers that the oath has no binding force at all, then they will be unlucky.

However, Baifeng still decided to craft a few Small Knife to take to the gathering. Once he exchanges for the things he needs, he will return immediately and not stay long.

Baifeng's bow was already nearing completion. After removing the shaping mold, the bow body did not spring back. For the bowstring, Baifeng used animal intestines—whether sheep or deer—and after processing them well, Baifeng twisted them together to form a very sturdy bowstring.

Under the gaze of Xiong and Chi, Baifeng laboriously put on the bowstring, then nocked an Arrow that had been carefully polished, glued with tail feathers, and fitted with an Iron Arrowhead.

Pulling the bow was very strenuous. Baifeng didn't know how many jin the bow he made was, but in order to show the maximum power of this bow, Baifeng used all his strength and then shot it at the prepared wooden target.

After flying more than ten meters, the Arrow stuck firmly into the wood. He let Chi pull the Arrow out; Chi pulled out the arrow shaft, but the arrowhead remained in the wood and wouldn't come out.

Both of them were shocked by the power of the bow and wanted to try it one after another. Baifeng was not stingy and generously gave it to them. Even though they were stronger than Baifeng, after shooting five or six times, they still felt their arms were a bit sore.

They were all reluctant to part with this bow and hoped that Baifeng could bestow the bow upon them; even if he couldn't bestow it upon them, letting them use it would be fine.

Baifeng had finally washed away his previous shame. He raised his arrogant head and walked away with his hands behind his back, while Xiong and Chi followed behind like Baifeng's lackeys, showing full sycophancy.