I am a Primitive Man

The wide Egret River flowed gently while the six small boats bobbed slightly.

The people on the boats followed the flow downstream.

Unlike before, there was no longer anything behind the six small boats.

Six rafts, much larger than the small boats, floated on the water, moving downstream along with the small boats.

On top of these rafts stood one or two people holding bamboo poles to help steer them and control their speed, preventing them from colliding with the small boats ahead.

These rafts were made of bamboo, with a width of no less than two meters and a length of over three meters. They were tied with bamboo poles on the upper and lower layers so people standing on them wouldn't get their shoes wet.

The heavy and large rafts were undoubtedly more stable than the swaying small boats. Therefore, those prone to seasickness opted to stand on the rafts, holding bamboo poles.

It was strange that they didn't feel seasick once they got onto the rafts anymore.

Tie Tou, whose legs were no longer trembling, held a long bamboo pole. When he saw that the raft was moving too fast, he inserted the bamboo pole into the riverbed to slow down the raft and create distance between the raft and the small boats.

The only thing that bothered him was the numerous bamboo tubes tied to his body.

Having these things tied to him was inconvenient, and he wanted to untie them. However, he remembered what the Divine Child had said before: with these bamboo tubes, they wouldn't drown if they fell into the water. So, he endured the discomfort, valuing his life over temporary inconvenience.

He wasn't the only one with bamboo tubes tied to him. Apart from Han Cheng and Bai Xue, everyone in the group had bamboo tubes tied to them.

This wasn't because Han Cheng was afraid of death; rather, he and Bai Xue had the more buoyant and lighter bladder tubes tied to them...

These six rafts resulted from Han Cheng leading the team to shore for two days.

Making these rafts was necessary; without them, there would be no way to back the harvested wild hemp. After all, the small boats were almost full of just people, leaving no extra space for the hemp.

And even if they cleared space on the boats for the hemp, how much could one boat carry? It wouldn't be as much as the rafts could transport.

Moreover, this move was a win-win. They could use the rafts to transport the hemp, but when they returned to the tribe with the hemp, they could dismantle the rafts and obtain a lot of bamboo.

Now that the tribe had iron knives, with more practice, they could gradually produce even and useful bamboo strips.

When the time came, whether for making sifters or mats, these bamboo strips would be excellent materials.

Han Cheng looked at these rafts with a smile on his face.

Grain production will expand next year, and by then, the bamboo sifters made could come in handy.

With enough sifters and winnowing baskets, even without wind during grain cleaning, they wouldn't have to worry too much.

To cut down these bamboo, Han Cheng had brought the tribe's only iron axe and saw.

He also brought the stone chisel that had been sharpened by grinding on the ground.

If they hadn't brought these tools, like last time when they only brought bone shovels, they wouldn't have been able to cut down enough bamboo to make so many rafts, even with two more days.

The Third Senior Brother carried a bow and paddled with both hands. He looked at these rafts, admiring the Divine Child's wisdom as he looked.

Before, he had worried about how the Divine Child would transport the harvested wild hemp on the water.

From the Divine Child's preparation of so many sickles and bringing Tie Tou and other skilled harvesters, he understood that the amount of wild hemp needed to be harvested by the Divine Child was not small.

The only things he knew that could travel on water and be used to transport the wild hemp were the wooden boats they were riding in.

These few wooden boats were crowded with people. Even if they managed to free up two boats, they still wouldn't have been able to fit much hemp.

This doubt persisted until the first bamboo raft was launched after cutting down the bamboo, completely dispelling it...

"Little bamboo raft, flowing with the water, birds singing, fish swimming... in the land of abundance in the south, the little bamboo raft floats with the current..."

Bai Xue sang childishly, mingling with paddles hitting the water, chasing after the waterfowl flying close to the water's surface.

This verse, which resembles a poem yet is also a simple nursery rhyme, was taught to Bai Xue by Han Cheng, something he had learned before attending school.

Reciting it now seemed fitting, albeit lacking the presence of people and the scent of rice paddies.

It's strange how many things learned in childhood are deeply engraved in the mind and never forgotten, while things learned later, even if difficult to remember, are easily forgotten.

Was it because of the simple-mindedness of childhood and less external interference?

Or was it because of the excessive pragmatism and the abundance of things to learn as one age?

Han Cheng pondered these thoughts, but the answer remained unknown.

As darkness fell again, the small boats and bamboo rafts docked one by one, and people began to disembark. Campfires were lit, and fish were taken out of the fish traps...

In the dusk, the first wisp of smoke rose from the riverbank, the only cooking smoke here, drifting slowly over the water's surface in the evening breeze.

When the food in the clay pots was cooked, the river water, heated by the sun all day, began to emit a heat mist resembling cooking smoke.

At this moment, the cooking smoke mixed with the heat mist, and it was impossible to tell where the cooking smoke ended and the steam began.

At the same time, hundreds of miles away in the Green Sparrow Tribe, they were also having their meal.

The eldest senior brother, who stayed behind with the shaman in the tribe, put down his chopsticks and climbed the wooden ladder to the top of the fence in the last light of day. Looking towards the east, he could vaguely see the shining water surface.

Outside the tribe's gate, Fujiang and its five cubs squatted.

The eldest senior brother was somewhat worried about this trip. He feared the Divine Child would be in danger without him by Han Cheng's side.

Moreover, half of the people the Divine Child took with him this time were from the original Bone Tribe and were all robust individuals.

The eldest senior brother understood the Divine Child's intentions in doing so, but precisely because of this, he was even more worried.

After all, the people from the original Bone Tribe were not as reliable as the original tribe members. By taking them away, the tribe would naturally be safer, but there would be an added danger on the Divine Child's side.

Although he knew no one could match the Divine Child in wisdom, the Eldest Senior Brother couldn't help but worry.

It was like when he accompanied the Divine Child on outings and couldn't relax about the tribe.

When you are in a high position, you worry about your ruler; when you are far away from home, you worry about your people. Whether advancing or retreating, there is worry. So, when can there be joy...

The Eldest Senior Brother didn't know about the ancient masterpiece "Preface to the Pavilion of King Teng." But his feelings were similar.

I wonder what Mr. Fan would feel if he knew that his thoughts and feelings coincided with those of an ancient person beyond ancient times.

"Ptui, ptui..."

In the Green Tribe, where the cooking smoke rose, the Green Tribe leader spat out the cooked wild grass seeds stuffed in his mouth with disgust.

Even when cooked, this stuff wasn't any good to eat. He didn't know why that tribe had so much of it...

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