Chapter 973: Who Exactly Has Come?

Baoxi was no longer embarrassed to let everyone into his dilapidated and pitiful little earthen house, so he simply had people spread animal skins on the ground outside and set up logs as tables, letting everyone make do with sitting there.

Now, every one of these people who came from Huaxia could be considered an honored guest of the Suiren Clan, so Baoxi did not treat them differently; he did not make them sit or stand according to their status or rank, but instead arranged seats for all of them.

If the animal skins were not large enough, he would just find more to cover the area in front of them, ensuring everyone had a clean place to rest their feet.

Huangpin was currently inspecting the prey captured today, and Chengqie, who was the successor designated by Baoxi, followed him the entire time; however, if one were to put it accurately, it should be said that Huangpin was accompanying the future successor of the Suiren Clan the whole time. Although Huangpin enjoyed power very much, and his power had reached its peak during the time Baoxi was away, he was very clear about his own status: it was impossible for him to take charge of the Suiren Clan.

His background was lowly; although he was not a Slave, he was still one of the tribesmen at the very bottom. That he could have what he had today was mostly due to luck, so he dared not even think about bypassing Chengqie to manage the tribe himself. Besides, without Chengqie, Baoxi still had so many sons; they were all descendants of the Suiren Clan, so what did a Huangpin count for?

Today's harvest was decent; Huangpin selected a deer leg and had someone take it back—this would be his dinner. Chengqie chose the shoulder blade area of the deer, as he believed the meat there tasted better, along with a deer heart.

Currently, the main source of meat for the Suiren Clan was actually fish. Although fish were pitifully small compared to other large prey, they were numerous and easy to catch.

Even women and children could take a fish spear and catch fish in shallow water; small streams and such were even easier to catch them in.

Just as Huangpin and Chengqie, having obtained the meat, were about to leave, a tribesman ran over panting and said to them anxiously, "Leader, an envoy has come from Huaxia!"

Huangpin's heart tightened. The Tribal Chief had been gone for nearly forty days and had not yet returned, but now Huaxia had sent an envoy; he feared something might have gone wrong.

Thus, he had no choice but to hand the meat to a nearby tribesman, telling him to send it to his residence and have it roasted in advance.

Chengqie also had to hurry over to see; he did not want anything to happen to his father, but if he could not come back, that would not be bad either, as he could then completely control the tribe. He believed he had the ability to do better than his father and make the Suiren Clan even more powerful.

But they had not gone far when two more tribesmen rushed in front of them and said something that surprised Baoxi even more: "Leader, the Tribal Chief has returned! He wants you and Leader Chengqie to go see him immediately!"

Huangpin looked at Chengqie in confusion, and Chengqie's eyes were also full of bewilderment. Huangpin then asked, "Didn't you just say that an envoy from Huaxia had arrived?"

But the tribesman said with a twisted expression, "Oh, Leader, you'll know once you go. The Leader has changed so much; he looks just like a Huaxia person. We didn't recognize him at all. Honestly, even now, I'm not entirely sure that person is our Tribal Chief."

Huangpin was even more shocked: "How could you not recognize your own Tribal Chief?"

The tribesman felt very aggrieved: "Leader, you'll know when you go see for yourself. The Tribal Chief has changed too much; he doesn't look like the same person at all. We didn't recognize him at first; it wasn't until the Tribal Chief scolded us that we felt he was the Tribal Chief."

Now Huangpin and Chengqie had to quicken their pace. If a Huaxia envoy had arrived, they would indeed need to be urgent, but with their own Tribal Chief back and the tribesmen failing to recognize him, they could not help but be nervous; even running felt too slow.

As for Chengqie, his heart was a bit complicated; he did not know if he actually wanted his father to return. In these dozens of days, he had felt that his life was too wonderful. However, he did not know how his father had obtained the position of Tribal Chief back then; those who knew the truth of the matter back then had probably died in battle or of old age by now.

There were no written History Books to record these things, so he assumed that after Baoxi's father died a natural death, Baoxi had then taken over the position as a matter of course. He was also waiting for this time now, wanting to do something big.

Baoxi, following the etiquette of Huaxia, had people hurry to boil some clean water. The people of Huaxia brought their own Tea Leaves and teacups; otherwise, would they have to drink tea from large, heavy Pottery Jars and Pottery Bowls here at the Suiren Clan?

There was another benefit: the Suiren Clan had plenty of meat, and it was very rich. Baifeng had assigned a cook to Baoxi, and this cook now had to take on the task of cooking for everyone here.

He had brought all the cooking utensils with him, because the Suiren Clan simply did not have such utensils, unless Baoxi was willing to let his Artisans use Bronze to cast some Bronze pots for him.

But a Bronze pot was naturally not as good as an Iron Pot, and a thin Iron Pot could be used for stir-frying, pan-frying, deep-frying, and various other methods, without having to rely only on boiling and roasting like the Suiren Clan.

But Baoxi was the Tribal Chief after all; the vessels he used for cooking were not ordinary. They were large Bronze Ware, such as tripods, steamers, and axes, and their shapes were different, their uses were different, and it was actually very strict and very prestigious.

The things used to serve food were not Pottery Bowls or pottery basins, but rather dou and gui; those used for sacrifices were even more luxurious. Conversely, these people from Huaxia could not even name these vessels.

However, now both the people of Huaxia and Baoxi believed that Huaxia's Porcelain and Glass were better because they were both beautiful and lightweight, unlike Bronze Ware, which was heavy as death.

But if Baifeng had to choose, he would definitely choose the ones Huaxia currently used for eating and cooking, but for sacrifices, he would rather choose large Bronze Ware.

Huaxia currently did not have the ability to cast large Bronze Ware. For one, the craftsmanship was not truly mature; large Bronze Ware required the use of Shila or other methods, but no one in Huaxia had developed or researched in this direction. In the production of large Ritual Vessels, Huaxia was almost a blank slate.

Another point was that Huaxia really did not have that much Bronze to use. Huaxia did not produce or refine copper; the few pieces of Bronze Ware they had were obtained through trade and spoils of war, and Huaxia would choose to melt down the inferior ones directly to make copper ingots for backup.