Chapter 443: Huangpin Builds a House

After Huangpin proposed his idea, Baoxi considered it for several days and finally decided to go through with it. He believed his status would make Baifeng wary; at worst, they would just face each other across the river, and he would simply have someone send over Wangzuo's head. As soon as the Huaxia Large Ship appeared, he would run, and Huangpin would also be able to attract attention to go and scout Huaxia's other city.

Just as Baoxi was fully prepared and planning to set off, Heaven did not grant his wish; the weather changed. The temperature began to drop rapidly, and Baoxi did not want to go out in such weather. Moreover, this cold weather was highly likely to bring Snow, causing inconvenience for them to go out and increasing unnecessary risks, so Baoxi postponed this plan.

Huangpin was naturally very happy. He even wished for the whole world to enter Winter directly. He did not want to truly risk going to scout the Huaxia city. Having finally made it through to enjoy some comfort, he certainly wanted to live one more day for every day he could. Bearing the title of a great Leader, he was very clear that future wars would be his responsibility. Although a few other great Leaders remained, he was the only one specifically targeting Huaxia.

During this time, he thought a lot about ways to deal with Huaxia, but he seemed to have entered a misunderstanding where all his thinking could only follow his previous ideas, and he could no longer come up with good points. This made him very irritable. Although his previous methods were useful, they were not very effective.

Considering his own head, he temporarily gave up on enjoyment and planned to do some research. What he could do now was simulate a siege; without an enemy attacking, he wanted to see how he could climb the high wall at the fastest speed.

For this reason, he had the Soldiers pile up an earthen wall with mud that was close to the height of the Huaxia City Wall, though it could barely fit a person standing on top. They did not have that much time and energy to truly build a city wall; if they had that ability, the Suiren Clan could have their own city too.

However, they accidentally discovered that the wall piled up this way had an extremely good wind-blocking effect. For the past two days, cold winds had suddenly started blowing, and they were not qualified to return to their own shacks to get warm, so they could only work outside with their arms and legs exposed.

But as long as they were behind the wall, they could not feel any wind at all. Those Soldiers had not thought about what this meant; it was only when Huangpin was loudly looking for people that he discovered those Soldiers were sheltering from the wind.

Then, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him: if they used earthen walls instead of branches and leaves to build walls, couldn't they live in warmer, sturdier shacks?

Once this idea emerged, Huangpin immediately became very excited, but he dared not rashly tell the Tribal Chief. After all, every time he saw the Tribal Chief, his courage would hover on the edge of being shattered. Unless he actually created it and then went to tell the Tribal Chief, only then could he truly see the benefits.

Thus, Huangpin used his authority to summon more Soldiers, letting them mix mud with cold water in the cold weather, and then began to pile and mold it layer by layer until they piled up a large cylindrical wall.

At this moment, Huangpin suddenly discovered that no door had been left, so he had to have the Soldiers push down a part and leave a door.

Not until the wall was piled to the height of a person, where one could stand easily inside, did Huangpin let those Soldiers stop. Afterward, he had people find some wood, placed them neatly one by one on top, then sprinkled leaves on them, and then sprinkled a layer of soil. Finished.

When Huangpin crawled inside, he immediately felt the difference. Without wind, a person would feel it was not so cold. It was just that the door was wide open, and some wind would still blow in.

This was the easiest to solve; just hold a bundle of branches to block the entrance. Huangpin named the house he built for himself a "City Cave," a combination of a city wall and a cave. Now, he just had to test how effective it was.

So, he randomly selected an unlucky fellow and let him crawl inside. They also blocked the door and told the person inside not to come out, and they would come to see him tomorrow.

The unlucky fellow was very terrified, but he dared not have any objections and could only curl up. His back even touched the mud wall that had not yet dried and was still somewhat sticky.

After doing all this, it was quite late. Huangpin sighed at another day of hard work and then returned to his own warm Tent.

At night, the wind grew stronger and stronger. The unlucky fellow listened to the howling wind outside and could not help but shiver. But fortunately, only a little wind blew in through the cracks in the door, so he crawled over and carefully blocked the door with branches, ensuring no wind would leak in. Afterward, he listened to the wind and did not know when he fell asleep.

The next day, the unlucky fellow was awakened by the creaking footsteps outside. Just as he was about to get up, the branches at the door were suddenly pulled away, and the cold wind blew in instantly. He felt like he could barely hold his urine.

Huangpin was the first to enter the house. His first feeling was that it was not cold—not warm, but not cold. He asked the unlucky fellow, "You slept here last night, how did it feel?"

The unlucky fellow did not know what Huangpin wanted to hear, so he had to stammer, "It was... okay, I fell asleep, I don't know."

Huangpin nodded with satisfaction. Since he could fall asleep in that kind of weather last night, it showed that the City Cave he built was very successful. After he looked around carefully and confirmed there were no hidden dangers, he decided to go find the Tribal Chief to claim credit.

When Baoxi heard Huangpin say that he had made a kind of cave that was like a city wall, could house people, and was very warm, he also became interested. So, he put on his thick fur cloak and followed Huangpin to take a look.

Upon first seeing that strange shape, Baoxi was still a bit doubtful, but after carefully observing the structure, he understood what it was about. There was indeed no problem at all.

Seeing that the Tribal Chief was very satisfied, Huangpin happily boasted to Baoxi. Upon hearing Huangpin say that his thing was called a "City Cave," Baoxi raised an eyebrow in displeasure. But after all, Huangpin had merit now, and he could not dampen his spirits. The Suiren Clan now seemed to be somewhat lacking in people who truly worked hard.

Thus, Baoxi said kindly, "This thing, don't call it a 'City Cave.' Although I haven't seen what Huaxia's look like, I reckon they are about the same. I heard the people of Huaxia call this a house, so you should just call it a house."

Huangpin immediately retracted his bared teeth, but he dared not show any displeasure and hurriedly agreed.

Xiong was very satisfied with the thing Huangpin had built, but the problem was that it was already Winter. This morning, a thin layer of Snow had already fallen. Although it was not falling anymore, looking at the sky, it would definitely continue. Moreover, the ground had begun to freeze, and the water had begun to ice over; wanting to build such houses again was somewhat difficult.

But this thing could indeed allow more people of their Suiren Clan to survive the Winter; at least they would not have to worry about freezing to death or being buried by Snow.

Although he could not give an order for everyone to build on a large scale, if others wanted to build it themselves, he would not stop them. As long as they had the time and energy, they could build it themselves.

Afterward, Baoxi said to Huangpin, "Well done, I will reward you."