Chapter 35

The potter was stunned by Baifeng's words, completely failing to grasp what the tribal chief had meant when he spoke to him—what is a wife, what is a husband.

Baifeng quickly had the women of his team carry the laboring woman to the potter's house, and as they were leaving, Baifeng patted the potter on the shoulder: "Don't worry, the house is still yours, and you've gained a wife and child—you've hit the jackpot."

Whether he's the one taking over the responsibility is uncertain, but he definitely has a share, and raising the child won't be a loss.

The potter's house became a temporary birthing room; aside from Baifeng and one woman, no idlers were allowed near, and they had to stay far away—of course, except for the potter, who could sneak a peek at the doorway.

Baifeng had almost no experience delivering babies; he had studied obstetrics for a time, so he could clearly determine fetal position through palpation, but as for the birthing process itself, he had only watched before, never done it.

Boiled water, sterilized knives—all were sent to the temporary birthing room. Seeing Baifeng pick up the gleaming knife, the laboring woman grew even more frightened, fearing he would directly cut open her belly to take out the child; she would rather have the other women use sticks to fish the child out.

Baifeng could only keep soothing her, saying things like, "This isn't for cutting your belly."

The cervix was basically fully dilated, the laboring woman began to push, Baifeng positioned her in the most suitable birthing posture, then waited for the child to emerge.

Very smoothly, the child's head appeared first, then curled up, and a dirty little child hit the ground. Baifeng made sure his hands were clean, supported the child, gave a light pat on the buttocks, and then the child wailed and cried out.

After confirming the child had no issues, Baifeng cut the umbilical cord with the knife, then tied it tightly with the boiled hemp thread.

Turning back to look at the laboring woman, she showed no sign of weakness; on the contrary, she looked as if she had shed a burden, her face relaxed.

Unfortunately, there was no cloth, so Baifeng, after cleaning the child, wrapped him in the processed soft animal hide and placed him before his mother, saying: "Congratulations, congratulations, you've got a noble son."

Turning to the potter, he said: "Congratulations, congratulations, mother and child are safe."

The two of them were dazed, merely feeling that the tribe had just welcomed another child—was all this fuss really necessary?

At the moment Baifeng stepped out the door, the sun rose just then, the first ray of sunlight falling on his face. Since it was so, let this child be named "Dawn."

To Baifeng, only newborns can gradually accept his worldview and knowledge during growth; current adults, even those just eight or nine years old, already have their thoughts and worldviews fixed like those of forty- or fifty-year-olds from later times, with little room left for development.

But newborns are different—if Baifeng spares no effort in teaching and raising them, they will surely become people who understand what he says. This is also the tribe's future; even if Baifeng dies, the new generation will follow the path he pointed out and continue onward.

Perhaps those born in the wilderness have vitality as strong as the wild grass on this saline-alkali land; after finding his mother, the child lay on her, drank his fill of milk, then quietly fell asleep in the animal-hide swaddling cloth.

Humans should not be this fragile, constantly threatened by beasts; human infants, from birth to being able to feed themselves without starving, need at least six cycles of cold and heat, whereas deer, cattle, and other truly lowly beings require their young to stand and run from birth to evade predators.

After finishing the delivery, Baifeng first took the potter aside for ideological work, since the event happened suddenly, and the potter could also be considered an experimental subject in Baifeng's promotion of the family system.

He explained clearly what a husband is, what a wife is, what a son is, what a home is; the potter only half-understood, but Baifeng's words—"That woman from now on belongs only to you, no other man may sleep with her, not even the tribal chief"—made him feel he had indeed hit the jackpot.

If you want to find a woman to bear children, people first look at your physique, and you must also offer food in exchange, guaranteeing your genes are excellent enough to obtain food. But in the entire tribe's male population, the potter's competitiveness is weak; now he has a woman exclusively his own, and he has already forgotten the resentment of losing his house.

Seeing the potter grin foolishly, Baifeng guessed he hadn't absorbed much of what was said; he probably only heard about possession, not about responsibility. For now, let it be—if he later pretends ignorance, there will be a whip to make him remember.

Other tribe members gradually woke up, then washed their faces; the habit of brushing teeth was only maintained by Baifeng, while other tribe members only gradually adopted hand and face washing under his coercion and persuasion.

The first thing Baifeng did was use pottery shards, carefully carving "Geng Three—Dawn" on them, drilling holes and threading rope, then hanging them on the potter's house. At the same time, he found the nameplates of the potter and his new wife and hung them side by side above Dawn's—thus the tribe's first three-person household was officially established.

The tribe members also knew a newborn had been born; seeing their tribal chief happy, they too joined in the joy.

Now the tribe's stored food—never mind winter—could last until late spring next year, so everyone was relaxed and at ease.

There was no need to go hunting anymore; no need to take that risk. The tribe's prepared water cellar had already been dug halfway, and Baifeng urged them to speed up progress.

Baifeng would not let the hunter team idle; although they had achieved great merit, wanting to rest was impossible. The entire winter could be spent lounging at home recuperating, but now they must work.

As the tribe continually expanded, the originally demarcated area was no longer sufficient, so Baifeng drew a larger boundary on the outskirts—enough to accommodate two or three thousand people.

From the plain to the tribe, it was flat and unobstructed, so Baifeng decided to build high walls at the planned location to protect the tribe.

Using the board-ramming technique, wooden boards plus timber can fix the soil in place, then downward pressure compacts it into a wall; the boards and poles can be continually added to increase height, allowing very high walls to be built.

Over a hundred people simultaneously began building the wall—a scene that could be described as shocking. Once the wall encircled the tribe, even if it were only ten centimeters high, Baifeng could say this place was a city, and he its lord; with several such cities, he would be king.

Under Baifeng's demand, the pottery team, aside from producing various pottery, also attempted to fire various sizes of square bricks—but due to lack of experience in the first firing, the time was too short, resulting in a whole kiln of defective bricks.

Baifeng also didn't waste them; he had them laid on the tribe's central grand avenue—even if fragile, they were still far better than a muddy road after rain.

Baifeng also didn't urge them; he simply let them keep testing, mistakes didn't matter, but each attempt must be better than the last.

When the bricks were fired, Baifeng wanted to lay them across the entire tribe's land, so that ignorant soil-bag rustics could see what a wealthy household looks like.