Chapter 597: Afternoon Nap

Xuanyuan was increasingly puzzled: "What is this 'law' again?"

Baifeng explained: "Law is a supplement to morality, or rather, a restriction on morality. Morality should be noble, while law is the minimum standard of morality. It is equivalent to drawing a boundary line for morality; if your morality falls below the law, it means you have already entered the ranks of beasts, not humans."

Xuanyuan already understood, but Zhishou suddenly interjected: "Morality is the restriction made by Heaven, and law is the restriction made by man. Is that what you mean?"

Baifeng nodded: "Correct, that is exactly it. We do not impose any punishment on those who have not violated the law but have violated morality, though those who associate with them will alienate and exclude them. But if they violate the law, we can punish them—whether by beating or killing—it all depends on how severely the person has violated it."

The people of the Xuanyuan Tribe nodded one after another. Count Bo and Cangjie were even more eager to record what Baifeng had said using something, but they could only rely on their own heads to remember it. The law that Baifeng spoke of was something the Xuanyuan Tribe could fully utilize.

At this moment, Xuanyuan brought the topic back to the beginning: "Then the contract you mentioned, used to restrict us, is also just our mutual morality, right?"

Baifeng nodded: "Correct. If one side breaks the contract for no reason, it means this person or this tribe has no morality. In the future, there should be no cooperation, and they should be treated as beasts. I think none of us would be willing to do such a thing for a few Tea Trees, right?"

Xuanyuan added his final doubt: "Then under what circumstances can one break an agreement without it being considered a violation of morality?"

"That must be written into the contract. For example, I say we from Huaxia will come to your Xuanyuan Tribe several times a year to collect Tea Leaves; I must follow the schedule, and you must have them ready on time. If either side makes a mistake, it counts as a breach of contract.

However, Heaven has heavy rain, and the roads have beasts; no one knows what kind of accidents might occur. Such accidents can be written into the contract, and both sides will not need to bear responsibility. This includes other unforeseeable troubles. You can even write down that this contract must be observed for many years; once the time passes, the contract is automatically voided, and we can choose not to cooperate or to write a new contract."

Only then did Xuanyuan feel that a contract was much more reliable than an oath, but whether or not to sign one was truly not a decision that could be made right now.

Seeing that Xuanyuan was still thinking, Baifeng did not urge him. If the issue of the contract could be settled, then other matters to be discussed later could all be signed into contracts. With the guarantee of a contract, all problems would naturally become much easier.

The kitchen sent someone to report to Yishang that the meal was ready and asked if it should be served. Yishang, who was constantly paying attention to the situation, saw that the timing was perfect, so he arranged for the kitchen to serve the dishes and then walked over to Baifeng to report softly.

Baifeng then said to everyone: "Alright, the food is ready and will be served immediately. Everyone, don't be in a rush; everything can be discussed slowly. Friends from the Xuanyuan Tribe, you can take these few days to properly taste the delicacies of our Huaxia, haha."

The maids seized the opportunity to refill everyone's tea once more, then gathered the gourds and prepared to serve the dishes to the group.

Because the table was large, they were now using a system of individual servings. Xuanyuan and his people were perhaps more accustomed to individual servings; the habit of eating from a single platter, looking at the entire history to come, would not last very long.

To entertain guests, one must naturally serve meat. However, it was neither roasted nor boiled, but stir-fried. The people of the Xuanyuan Tribe were seeing stir-fried dishes for the first time and were all shocked to the point of speechlessness.

In addition, everyone had a large appetite, so each person's tray contained two large plates of meat dishes, a bowl of rice, and a bowl of noodles.

Only the rice gave the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe a slight sense of familiarity, but they were used to boiling rice into porridge to drink—at most, it was thicker and had other things added inside—but they had never seen this method where not a single drop of water could be seen.

Some people knew how to use chopsticks, while others did not, so spoons and forks were also provided. After Baifeng made a gesture of invitation, he began to eat.

After the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe tasted the first bite, they stopped talking and began to gorge themselves. After all, the taste was truly too good; that greasy sense of satisfaction was actually more intense than eating a whole chunk of meat.

They had no idea what the noodles were made of. They had Wheat, but had never thought of grinding it into flour, let alone making it into noodles; they only boiled it into wheat porridge.

Everyone ate very satisfactorily. Count Bo, in particular, was not full. Seeing that he was still wanting more, the maid hurriedly served a second portion to everyone. The kitchen had made full preparations; if they lost face in front of the Xuanyuan Tribe because there wasn't enough food, they might as well quit.

However, although it was delicious, no one else could eat a second portion. After all, the quantity was truly large. The first portion was only swallowed down because it was delicious; in reality, their stomachs were already full. Count Bo did not expect a second portion to be served, but he still ate the bowl of noodles and some of the remaining vegetables, finally saying: "I am very full. Leave these here; I will eat them when I am hungry!"

The others from the Xuanyuan Tribe refused the food brought to them. Baifeng, accustomed to a nap, gradually became sleepy. After chatting with Xuanyuan for a few words, he had the Soldiers take everyone back to rest, saying they would talk in the afternoon, and then he went back to take his own nap.

Originally, Xuanyuan had intended to have a good discussion with everyone about the contract, but not long after sitting together, everyone felt very sleepy and their heads felt a bit sluggish. Although Xuanyuan would usually be a bit sleepy at this time, he had never been this sleepy before. He rubbed his somewhat bloated stomach, thinking it might be because he had eaten too much.

Now that everyone was sleepy and their thoughts were not very clear, they simply decided to sleep first and talk after waking up. At worst, they wouldn't see Baifeng in the afternoon; they would continue to discuss it among themselves and talk once they had reached a decision.

Baifeng woke up on time under the servant's call, while the Xuanyuan Tribe woke up a bit later, because Baifeng had specifically instructed not to wake them if they hadn't risen, so as to avoid any unpleasantness caused by differences in lifestyle.