Chapter 60: Good and Bad

Baifeng and his group, leading over two hundred savages who could barely even walk, crossed the forest and finally arrived at the plains before the sun set. The yellow light of the setting sun spilled over the winding city walls, and apart from the members of the original Baifeng tribe, the newly incorporated people were all too astonished to move forward.

Yishang looked at the city walls reflecting the golden light and sighed, "Has the tribe become this powerful? These walls look as if they were cast from Bronze. I fear even the Shennong Clan and the Suiren Clan that the Sage speaks of cannot compare to this place."

Baifeng felt very happy listening to their praises, and the tribespeople, hearing this, proudly puffed out their chests; some busybodies even pointed to certain spots, claiming they were the ones who had built them.

With the newcomers sincerely praising and the old members boastfully showing off, Baifeng felt his work could be considered quite successful. Although after seeing the prosperity of the Suiren Clan, he understood that his own strength was only one-tenth, or perhaps even one-fiftieth of theirs, building a wandering tribe into this state in such a short time was still quite impressive.

Leading the trembling crowd to the city gate, he called out to the tribespeople on the walls. Now, there were specialized Soldiers patrolling and keeping watch on the walls. The city gate was nailed together with thick, heavy wood, and after the bolt was dropped, Baifeng believed that even the giants like Kuafu or the Fufeng mentioned by them would not be able to push it open.

The patrolling Soldiers saw that the Tribal Chief had returned, but the number of people was twice what it had been when he left. They were somewhat puzzled, but still followed Baifeng's order, working together to pull up the bolt with a rope equipped with a wooden pulley, and then, with combined effort from inside and out, they opened the city gate.

Baifeng took the lead, bringing the more than two hundred refugees into the tribe in a grand procession. The tribespeople at home looked at this group of savages, thin as skeletons, with disdain and contempt in their eyes, not wanting to waste any time paying attention to them, likely assuming they were Slaves the Tribal Chief had captured.

The Sage, holding a bamboo slip and accompanied by his two assistants who knew how to count, hurried over. Usually, at this time, he would only come to tally the Hunter Team's daily harvest, record the numbers, and then store them in the warehouse. But today, seeing from afar that Baifeng had brought so many people, he knew it must be a big task that he couldn't handle alone, so he brought his assistants along.

The Sage was not as aloof as he was in front of ordinary tribespeople; he was even somewhat sycophantic before Baifeng, because he was convinced that Baifeng was the son of Heaven. As long as he served Baifeng well, perhaps one day he too could be taken to Heaven by the gods to enjoy a life of bliss where the gods resided.

The Sage bowed slightly: "Tribal Chief, did you capture these Slaves or trade for them? If you traded for them, what was the cost? Please tell me so I can calculate it."

Having said this, he unfolded the bamboo slip that had been dried and coated with Lacquer Tree sap, and raised a brush made of ox hair. An assistant at his side immediately brought the Pine Soot Ink he was holding to the Sage.

The brush was something Baifeng had made for the convenience of keeping records. Although it was not easy to use, having practiced calligraphy for so long in his later life, the characters he wrote with this brush were not too ugly. As for the Sage, he could only write the numbers in simplified Chinese characters legibly; no one else recognized the other characters. When Baifeng looked at the accounts he kept, he could only make out things like "× (coal ball) so-and-so many."

Of course, Baifeng would not doubt him. People in this era were very honest; if something was lost, it was lost. If Baifeng took something from the warehouse without telling him and the Sage couldn't make the accounts match, he would only cry and complain about his own poor ability to calculate, rather than hiding it by changing the accounts that only he could read.

In fact, it was the same in this era; other tribes could only use knots to keep records—a small knot for a rabbit, a large knot for a wild boar. They might remember it today, but by tomorrow they might have forgotten what that knot represented. At least in the Baifeng tribe, the Sage could still recognize them.

Baifeng did not mind this budding bureaucratic style of the Sage, and simply pushed Yishang in front of him: "These people are not Slaves; they are tribespeople I have incorporated. From now on, they are members of the Baifeng tribe. You arrange housing and food for them, and let them have a good rest tonight. I will explain the details tomorrow."

The Sage was slightly stunned for a moment, then, without any objection, said "Good," and took his two assistants to count the people, then divided them into several groups and led them to the houses.

Because the old houses built by the tribe were nearly full, and Baifeng had not agreed to the tribespeople building new large houses—because he wanted to wait until Cement was produced to build Brick-Concrete Houses in one go, as there was no need to continue using mud bricks.

Except for two large houses that had become vacant because the people inside had become enlightened early and had taken the time to build small houses for themselves to live in, the others were all occupied by tribespeople. They were unwilling to let these dirty, terrifying, skeleton-like savages sleep with them. The only other empty houses were three large warehouses, two of which hadn't been filled with things yet, and one that had just been cleared out.

Thus, nearly fifty of them had to live in one house, so crowded that it was hard to lie flat. No one was given any special treatment, not even Yishang. Although they looked with envy at those who could live in spacious rooms, or even those who had their own small houses, not a single person felt dissatisfied.

To them, this was already good enough. They had even once thought they would be driven as Slaves. Moreover, just after being assigned a house, someone immediately brought them food. It was cooked for them, and each person was given a Pottery Bowl. They were told to line up to receive it, and everyone had a share. In a bowl of soup, there was actually not only Grass Seed and wild vegetables that hadn't even grown out yet, but even minced meat! The salty taste was also very strong.

Having just received the food, they stood right where they were, not afraid of the heat, and poured it directly into their mouths. They were still left wanting more, not knowing how long it had been since they had eaten such good food.

In reality, this was because Baifeng was afraid their stomachs couldn't handle it, so he specifically instructed the Sage to ensure the food had very little meat, just a bit of oil, and less of everything else. In Baifeng's view, what he gave them was just a bowl of soup; the food the real tribespeople ate had at least half a bowl of solid food.

After a simple meal, they immediately squeezed into the houses and fell asleep. After all, they had been wandering for months, and their bodies and minds were exhausted to the limit. Now that they had food and shelter, and were safe at night without fear of being snatched away by wild beasts, they naturally relaxed their minds and fell into a deep sleep. Perhaps the tribespeople living next door would be kept awake by the snoring.

Their arrival did not cause much of a reaction from the tribespeople that night. After all, from every aspect of their treatment, they were far inferior to themselves, so what was there to worry about? With so many laborers arriving, the tribe should become even more powerful.

Ever since the precedent of the old woman becoming young, the tribespeople no longer doubted that the Tribal Chief possessed divine power. If he could extend the life of someone about to die of old age, what was so strange about turning a group of people who had starved into skeletons into strong laborers?

As usual, after eating, everyone went back to sleep. Those with wives went to enjoy their own world for two, or even three or four. Only Baifeng lay awake all night.

These people were both an opportunity and a crisis. Although raising them well could increase the strength of his tribe, it would also waste the tribe's food for several months, and they would enjoy the fruits of the previous tribespeople's labor. It was unfair to the previous tribespeople, yet he could not treat them too obviously differently.

How to reconcile this? Baifeng stared blankly at the roof that was shedding dirt in the dark night.