Chapter 91: Romance Cannot Be Eaten as a Meal

At the time when a great upheaval occurred within the Suiren clan, the Baifeng tribe did not idle for even a moment; they mobilized the entire tribe once again and busied themselves for several days, because the millet they had planted—that is, the grain—had ripened.

Of course, neither the yield nor the quality could compare to later generations, but it was still far better than what grew randomly in the wild, and the millet porridge received unanimous praise from the tribespeople.

After the grain was put into storage, there were finally two rare days of leisure, mainly because it had rained heavily again, and nothing could be done.

After the sky cleared, Baifeng decided to take Sui to the Dahu to see the lotus flowers; now was the time when the lotus flowers were in bloom. Savages did not have the romantic inclination to appreciate flowers, but Baifeng still did.

Sui had been raised well with good food and drink in the Baifeng tribe for a year; she had no heavy physical labor to perform, nor did she need to fight or hunt, so she developed very quickly. Her thin, small frame grew rapidly, and she was already much taller than when he had first met her.

Moreover, Sui was not like the adolescent girls of later generations who had to eat less to lose weight and maintain their figures. Although Baifeng praised her for being beautiful, she still felt that only plump women were beautiful, so she began to eat whenever she had the chance, refusing no food whatsoever.

Especially after obtaining honey, Sui's hands and mouth were always sticky. Baifeng was afraid she would ruin her teeth—there was no chance for a second set of teeth now—so he hid the portion of honey that belonged to the Tribal Chief, and would only give Sui a little or mix some honey water for her every day or two.

Now, Sui's figure had fully matured; at the very least, when Baifeng looked at her, she no longer had that underage state, and he no longer felt any guilt when they cuddled.

If it came to having children, Sui would certainly have no problem now; her bones had developed, so the probability of a difficult labor was not that high. However, Baifeng did not dare to do so now, not for Sui's sake, but for his own.

He had met Baoxi, and he also knew of the existence of Xuanyuan and Chiyou. They lived in the same era, and although he did not know when the great war would begin, judging by the ages of people now, by the time of the final Battle of Zhuolu, Xuanyuan's age would certainly not exceed thirty; it might be around twenty-five.

As for the legend that Xuanyuan lived to be over a hundred and Chiyou lived to be eighty or ninety, Baifeng did not believe it at all. In this era where the average life expectancy was around twenty, living to forty was already very old. Although the Tribal Chief ate well, he also had to charge to the front during wars, so injuries and illnesses would not be few.

What's more, legend had it that Xuanyuan was in the womb for two years, could speak as soon as he was born, and was omnipotent at fifteen. Baifeng treated the first two entirely as mythology.

However, Xuanyuan at fifteen must indeed have been extremely formidable. Of course, one could not say he was omnipotent, but the fact that he could accomplish so many things in his era showed that his talent was indeed beyond what ordinary people could compare to. If Baifeng had not learned the scraps of knowledge accumulated by humanity over thousands of years, he would not even be fit to carry Xuanyuan's shoes.

The current Xuanyuan and Chiyou should still be youths, just like Baoxi, but they should be taking charge of their tribes within these few years, and then the great age, which was also a chaotic age, would descend.

In the history that once was, there was no Baifeng tribe; even if there were, it would have become a part of the dragon, or perhaps not even have the qualifications to become a scale of the dragon, just disappearing into the flames of war.

The current Baifeng tribe was a variable, and he did not know what his own future held. Even if his policies, or rather his insight and knowledge, were far superior to those of his contemporaries by a thousand years, Baifeng did not dare to guarantee that he could preserve the tribe and himself during this great war, let alone his children.

Therefore, Baifeng still did not dare to have children now. Perhaps during the great war, the child would not even be able to walk steadily; how could he protect them? Thus, Baifeng had no intention of leaving behind offspring at all right now.

However, what was wrong with being romantic now? Baifeng took her to the Dahu. Under the guidance of the tribespeople, they successfully found that Lianhuawan where the flowers were in full bloom. Pink, red, and unopened buds—it was very breathtaking.

Baifeng poled the Bamboo Raft with Sui riding behind him. Just the two of them drifted into the lotus cluster together. Sui happily picked the lotus flowers she liked and piled them on the Bamboo Raft. Soon, the raft was piled full. Baifeng did not stop her, but watched her with affection.

Sui had never thought the world could be so beautiful. Her life had only consisted of food, food, and more food. If she had seen this patch of lotus flowers before, she would only have been thinking about whether these lotus flowers could be eaten, rather than feeling that they could be taken back to her room for decoration.

After circling Lianhuawan, Baifeng poled the raft out to the shore, rolled up his pant legs, and reached into the mud to dig for lotus roots. In no time, he had pulled out several sections.

Sui also wanted to try digging for lotus roots. Baifeng helped her off the Bamboo Raft, and she also reached her hand into the mud to grope around. Unfortunately, she had no experience, and after digging around, she did not find any lotus roots.

Just as she felt a bit discouraged and lifted her foot to turn back to the Bamboo Raft, she felt a sharp pain in her foot the moment she stepped down. Sui thought her foot had been pricked by something and was about to find Baifeng to take a look, but when she looked, she saw it was a crab pinching her foot.

Sui immediately shrieked in fright, but it was indeed not easy to deal with a crab that had pinched her. Baifeng could only first pull off one of the crab's claws, then use his hands to pry it open hard, and only then was he able to remove the crab that was pinching Sui's foot.

However, Sui's foot was bleeding. Baifeng felt very sorry for her, so he quickly had her return to the Bamboo Raft, rinsed the mud and blood off with water, and then hurried to the shore to find some Large Thistle, which was everywhere; it didn't matter if one got pricked by it.

He picked a few leaves, smashed them with a stone, and after turning them into a paste, applied it to Sui's wound. Sui was not a delicate person; bleeding was just bleeding, and she did not pay much attention to it.

Seeing that the bleeding had stopped, Baifeng felt relieved and continued to pole the Bamboo Raft to drift further away. If they encountered Euryale ferox, also known as fox nut, Baifeng would go down to pick a few, peel them, and they would eat them together.

However, such a time did not last too long. After half a day, Baifeng turned back to help the tribespeople of the Fishing Team catch fish and crabs. Romance could not be eaten as a meal; food was still the priority. However, fishing was also equally happy, especially when fish were being caught one after another without stopping; it was even happier than watching flowers with Baifeng.

Finally, all the tribespeople returned fully loaded, and Baifeng also gave Sui the honey she had been longing for, allowing Sui's happiness to reach its maximum on this day.

Now, although other grains had not yet ripened, some crops could already be harvested, such as the hemp that Baifeng valued most. How many clothes they could wear this year and whether they could weave large nets to catch fish all depended on how much the planted hemp could produce.