Chapter 46: How to Spend a Warm Winter

The whole tribe already had more than ten people with wives, no love, just arranged marriages from the tribal chief, their simple understanding of home was private ownership, their own wives could not be slept with by others.

Baifeng didn't oppose their idea of leaving the communal housing to have private rooms and monopolize their wives, only this way could they slowly achieve knowing mother and father, evolving social order, those big tribes only the chief knows whose son is whose, no one dares to sleep with his woman.

It's already deep autumn, the harvest is done, tribespeople don't need to go fishing or gathering or hunting, all their thoughts are on how to spend a warm winter.

The house where more than ten people live together, although spacious, is luckily low, otherwise winter would be hard to endure, there should be a giant coal mine under this land, nearby they also found surface coal, but Baifeng doesn't dare let them use it for heating in winter directly, the equipment must be made properly first.

Baifeng prepared to test it first in his own small room; he had originally marked out a large homestead for himself, but in the end only built a room of over ten square meters, which was just right for living alone—except now Sui had come, and an ox as well.

After Sui came to the tribe, she truly ate her fill for the first time; watching her wolf down her food, Baifeng's heart was filled with pity for this era's only beauty.

Tribespeople usually bathe by pouring water from the head down, which in Baifeng's view is merely rinsing; since acquiring iron, Baifeng gave that future carpenter a set of carpentry tools, then used his authority to force him to carve a bathtub from a thick log.

Plus the common soapberry tree here, Baifeng used soapberry seeds and cypress leaves to boil shampoo, also good for bathing, even if placed in later generations it could outshine many big brand products, especially cypress leaves, a sure remedy for hair loss.

Baifeng is the most particular and cleanest person in the whole tribe, mainly because he fears blood-sucking things jumping around everywhere, although only he washing has little effect, but at least it can avoid some fecal-oral diseases.

Baifeng had Sui bathe thoroughly in hot water in the tub; Baifeng really wanted to prevent other women from coming, but those women were also clumsy and useless, so Baifeng could only think: "All are savages, all are savages, never mind, never mind, anyway they've seen so much, one more doesn't matter."

Baifeng's mental age is quite old, but this body is not; he is not yet twenty, which in this era is the prime of youth. Sui is also a little girl; her figure can be described as flat and undeveloped, but this only makes Baifeng panic inside.

But he must restrain himself; Sui is still too young, he must wait until she is seventeen or eighteen before he can think of making her his wife; as for these years, he will just cultivate their feelings.

Sui's skin would be considered dark in later generations, but here she is pale like a freak; everyone else is tanned like lumps of coal, while Sui is wheat-colored.

Under Baifeng's command, the women brought by the fire-drilling people roughly sewed two cross-collared long robes, this is the style Baifeng could imagine closest to ancient Hanfu.

Eleven women, all can sew, plus with the iron needles Baifeng made, they work fast, scissors Baifeng can't make, but using iron knives to cut cloth is also simple.

During the making, Baifeng also according to his vague memory from his past life, taught them how to measure body length to make clothes fit, using white gypsum pencil, can draw lines on cloth, thus can cut more intuitively.

They all showed extreme interest, and their learning ability also surprised Baifeng. Originally he only planned to let them casually sew a robe to get by, but seeing their skill probably all surpasses his, so he simply let them also make the four-corner underpants he planned to make himself.

Before making them, they still needed to pound the cloth soft so wearing it wouldn't chafe; he made three for himself and three for Sui. Baifeng was too embarrassed to say he'd give her triangular ones or the like, so they made one-size-fits-all boxer shorts together, just tied tight with rope.

Asking the bears if they need it, looking at the tight underpants, strange shape, they firmly refused, think letting their little brother swing freely between heaven and earth is most comfortable, Baifeng I don't insist.

As for Sui, regardless of whether she was used to wearing them or not, she had to wear them; Baifeng thought that if she didn't wear them, not only would she lose out, but he would too, even though no one in the whole tribe wears them and they just look casually.

Baifeng doesn't know why his possessiveness is so strong, even doesn't consider others' feelings, perhaps this is the side effect of power?

After washing clean and putting on clothes, Sui was extremely beautiful in Baifeng's eyes; she still fidgeted and twisted, not knowing why Baifeng treated her so well, her heart uneasy.

Tribespeople seeing Baifeng foolishly smiling at an ugly woman and treating her so specially, know the tribal chief's aesthetic is definitely deformed, they also can't do anything, sigh and walk away, those with wives also sigh in relief, tribal chief won't steal their beautiful wives is fine.

Sui and the follower bug—wherever Baifeng goes, she follows, and following along is the little ox, an extremely strange combination.

Baifeng wants to install a fireplace in his room, only needs to use bricks and mud to make smoke pipe to let smoke out, winter wind blows from northwest, so the chimney mouth must face southeast, otherwise wind blows smoke into the room.

When building the house, nothing else was reserved, but Baifeng ostentatiously gave himself the tribe's largest window, other big houses' windows are not as big as Baifeng's, Baifeng only paid attention to lighting then, completely forgot about winter insulation.

Luckily the carpenter had an epiphany, installed wooden window frames for Baifeng, Baifeng gave him hinges and iron nails, he installed operable windows for Baifeng, also used the same method to install doors.

The cost is Baifeng having to make hinges and iron nails for the whole tribe's houses for several days, Baifeng again experienced the pain of unable to lift his arms.

When Baifeng forges iron, Sui squats to the side putting coal into Baifeng's iron furnace and pumping the bellows; the little ox runs around everywhere carelessly, defecating and urinating anywhere. Perhaps it didn't see, and doesn't know what these humans did to its kind; it also can't understand.

The fireplace succeeded, just the seam where it meets the wall leaks smoke, after plugging with mud, Baifeng also dares not guarantee it won't leak again, so Baifeng only dares to burn coal in the fireplace during daytime, at night throw firewood, no firewood then just endure cold, he doesn't want to die silently unknown, doesn't know if the cannibal tribe he met when first coming to this world died in coal's hands.

After tribespeople saw Baifeng's fireplace, they also followed under the platoon leader's lead, made giant fireplaces in their own big houses, similarly under Baifeng's teaching, guaranteed not to use coal at night, no firewood then extinguish.

Meanwhile, the tribe's demand for coal and firewood keeps increasing, coal and firewood piles on open ground keep getting higher each day. Although now daytime not cold, but each day early evening that period already clearly feels temperature drop, diurnal temperature difference is large.

As a pure northerner, kang is indispensable, only those who slept on kang for decades don't know how kang is actually made, Baifeng also dares not casually start digging walls, so he can only simulate with bricks on open ground, trying to deduce how to make kang.