Chapter 44: The Breeding Craze

Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er, after raising rabbits for a few days, had told the tribal chief and the elders about raising some herbivorous animals. Under the leadership of the tribal chief and the elders, families in the tribe began raising rabbits.

One day, after Ba Ke Er had hunted enough food for the day and was preparing to return to the tribe, he happened to see a lone young wild boar. Suddenly recalling Zhang Fan's breeding plan, he directly caught the young wild boar, packed it up, and brought it home.

Zhang Fan saw that Ba Ke Er had actually brought back a young wild boar and was pleased. He immediately started building a pigpen with the stones left over from house construction. Ba Ke Er saw this, rushed over, took over Zhang Fan's work, and began doing it himself. Seeing that he no longer had anything to do with building the pigpen, Zhang Fan gave up and went into the kitchen to start cooking rice.

When Zhang Fan went to the courtyard to call Ba Ke Er for a meal, Ba Ke Er had already finished building the pigpen and, in addition, had driven the young wild boar into the newly built pigpen. After finishing that, he saw Zhang Fan coming over with a basin of clean water to let him wash his hands. After Ba Ke Er washed his hands clean, he couldn't help but reach out to rub Zhang Fan's head. Seeing Ba Ke Er again rubbing his head, Zhang Fan couldn't help but speak:

"Alright, alright, stop rubbing—my hair's all rubbed off by you. I'm not a little kid anymore, why do you keep rubbing my hair! Come on, come on, let's go eat." After saying that, he still reached out, pulled Ba Ke Er's hand down, and took his hand as they walked into the house.

After finishing their meal, Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er cut some of the newly grown sweet potato vines from the field to feed the wild boar, then fed the rabbits with wild grass. After that, they went out to find the tribal chief. Upon arriving at the tribal chief's home, Ba Ke Er spoke his purpose:

"Tribal Chief Uncle, today after I finished hunting and was preparing to return to the tribe, I caught a young wild boar and brought it back. Fan Fan said that in their original hometown, many families would bring back the young of herbivorous animals to raise when food was plentiful, and then slaughter and eat them when food ran out in the cold season. Moreover, from the previous rabbit-raising, everyone saw that herbivorous animals are indeed easier to raise and have astonishing reproductive ability. So I was thinking, could we also follow Fan Fan's people's example and start raising some docile herbivorous animals as a food reserve?"

The tribal chief, upon hearing this, was delighted! It turns out it can be done this way! It turns out not only can plants be cultivated, but animals can also be raised by ourselves. This way we need not fear insufficient food in the cold season! The tribal chief felt he couldn't wait a moment! It seems we must quickly tell everyone this news!

After Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er discussed some specific matters with the tribal chief, they said their goodbyes and went home. Meanwhile, the tribal chief, not idle after they left, immediately summoned the tribe's elders to discuss. After obtaining unanimous agreement, the tribal chief could not wait any longer; he went out to the central square and used the Lion's Roar to gather the tribe's people, announcing the matter of raising animals.

After that day, the beastmen of the tribe, whenever they went hunting, never forgot to bring back some young animals. As for raising cattle, pigs, birds and the like, I won't even mention them; the most outrageous thing was that someone actually brought back a poisonous snake and a turtle with hardly any meat to raise. It completely refreshed Zhang Fan's view of the beastmen. However, overall, the breeding trend in the tribe did indeed last for a while, and the tribespeople also learned some simple breeding skills.