Back at the tribe, Yao Xiaoqing left a bundle of sugar cane for everyone to try, and dug the others into a shallow hole and buried them in the soil. He took Ah Chong and the others to plant the sugar cane in Laodou.
When they arrived at the open space, Yao Xiaoqing dug down some soil. The upper layer of soil was mulch, and the lower layer of soil was mixed with sand. She felt that such soil quality should be suitable for growing sugar cane.
Yao Xiaoqing asked Ah Chong and the others to first dig a ditch and plant the seeds in the old pocket, then cover the old pocket with soil and dig ditches around it for drainage.
At night, Yao Xiaoqing told Yao Hu about his encounter with the Shenlu tribe.
"Could it be from the Shenmu tribe?" Mu Feng said.
Yao Xiaoqing shook his head, "I know people from the Shenmu tribe who have totems painted on their bodies!"
Yao Hu thought for a moment, "The Shenlu tribe shouldn't come here to hunt! It takes several days to walk from their territory to here. I think they should be people from a small tribe who just migrated here."
After hearing this, Yao Xiaoqing thought it was possible.
Mufeng looked at her and said, "Xiaoqing, don't go out these days. If something happens, you will be in trouble."
Yao Xiaoqing regretted a little, "It's my fault that I let them go because I was soft-hearted. If I had known better, I would have captured them and showed them to my father!"
Sure enough, to be kind to your enemies is to be cruel to yourself, and you will never be able to be kind to a woman again.
Yao Hu also looked at her and warned, "Don't go out these days."
Yao Xiaoqing smiled and comforted the two of them, "I have to open up wasteland to plant sugar cane these days, and I don't have time to go out!"
"When you go out from now on, someone will have to follow you." Yao Hu said worriedly.
"Okay~Okay! I will definitely take the people out with me. Father, brother, you have been tired for a day, go and have a rest!" Yao Xiaoqing smiled and pushed Yao Hu into the room.
Mufeng said behind her: "You should go to bed early too!"
******
The stocky man was dragged along by the two women, and he staggered for half an hour before he woke up. He felt a ringing in his ears, looked at the ground and felt like the world was spinning, and he felt nauseous.
"What's wrong with me?" he asked the two women with his eyes closed.
The bold woman looked at him and felt a little strange, "Mu Kui, have you forgotten? We saw a little woman alone at the foot of the hill. If you said you would capture her and bring her back to match, you would..."
"Ah——, stop talking," the short and stocky man named Mukui felt a pain like a needle pricking in his head, and slumped to the ground holding his head.
The timid woman looked behind her in horror, thinking that Yao Xiaoqing would appear from behind inadvertently.
He grabbed the bold woman and said, "Anan, that woman turned into a mountain demon and ate Mukui's brain."
Anan's heart started beating wildly when he thought of what happened just now, and he nodded in horror, "Let's go back to the tribe quickly and let the leader take a look."
The two dragged Mu Kui, stumbled over the hills, crossed a stream, and walked through the woods to the foot of a shallow mountain at dusk. The foot of the mountain was fenced off and built into a circular thatched shed, with a bonfire burning in the open space in the middle.
.
There was a group of people grilling food around the campfire, fifty or sixty men and women, and a few children.
When a thin little boy saw several people, he smiled happily, walked up to the timid woman and took her hand, "Mom, you're back!"
"Yeah!" The timid woman smiled at him.
Others saw Mukui being supported by two people, and a tall man looked at them, "Anan, what's wrong with Mukui?"
The two of them helped Mukui to the campfire. Anan stretched his neck to expose his wound and said to the tall man: "Chief, we are at the foot of the hill..."
The leader glanced at the blood marks on her neck, and then looked at Mukui, "It can't be a mountain demon. If it was, you would have been eaten long ago. There are Yaoshan tribe, Lingque tribe, and Shenmu tribe nearby. Shenmu tribe
The tribe’s totem is Mu Mei, you may have met people from the Shenmu tribe.”
After hearing this, the two of them felt less frightened, "Yes, leader."
The leader glanced at Mukui and said, "Let him lie down in the hut and rest for two days."
The two men stood up and carried Mukui towards the thatched hut.
The leader looked at Mukui and felt that with Mukui's ability, it would be easy for him to deal with several women by himself, but now he was beaten like this by a little woman. Who hurt Mukui? Could it be that he really encountered
A mountain monster?
"Don't go to the mountains and forests over there these days. If the Shenmu tribe finds you, they will cause trouble for us."
Everyone responded in unison: "Yes, leader."
＊＊＊＊＊＊
Two days later, Yan Yu took Qing Huo and others to the upper reaches of the Ning River. The few people stood on the mountain and looked at the broad and flat valley below. The bottom of the valley was covered with green grass, and on the river like a white jade belt, there were groups of
Wild ducks and waterfowl are playing and flying on the river.
There are groups of cattle, sheep, and musk deer on the grass, grazing and playing leisurely.
There were big buffaloes with two curved horns, and big oxen with sharp and short horns. Behind the big cows were small calves looking around curiously with wide eyes.
Yan Yu pointed at the calf and said to the five warriors: "Qinghuo and I are going to drive away the big calf. You tie the calf with a rope and take it away. Remember not to kill it."
The five people nodded and said, "Yes, Yan Yu."
They took out the long wooden sticks they had prepared in advance, tied a noose on it, and held a long rope in their hands.
Yan Yu and Qing Huo took the forged wooden spears and rope sheaths and rushed towards the cattle in the river valley.
The cattle and sheep in the river valley were frightened by the few people rushing down and fled in all directions. Yan Yu held up a wooden spear and moved and dodged among the cattle with his strong body, driving the big cattle towards the river.
The five warriors held up long wooden sticks, tied the calf with a noose attached to it, and drove it towards the shore. It looked a bit like a Mongolian horse roping posture.
After a while, the five people all held a calf in their hands and whistled at Yan Yu. Several people led the calf and walked towards the river bank. Yan Yu also lassoed a calf that was chasing the big cow and walked back.
Several people led the cow to the top of the mountain, and Qinghuo also caught up with him. Several people tied the calf with a long rope and led it back.
****
Yao Xiaoqing took a dozen old uncles and a dozen women to choose a piece of soft sandy land under the wall on the west side of the river and started to open up wasteland.
Everyone used stone axes and wooden shovels to dig out the ground and pick out the big rocks and small stones, as well as the chopped small tree stumps. The tree stumps that were really too big were left alone.
It took more than 20 people several days to clear out four or five acres of land and spread a layer of mulch.
Yao Xiaoqing sighed inwardly. If there were hoes and rakes, more than twenty people could carve out at least a dozen acres of land in a wasteland with soft soil like this.
After the ground was cleared, Yao Xiaoqing asked Ah Chongbo and the others to dig furrows into the ground and spread a layer of mulch. She took a few taros and dug out the sugar cane buried in the pit.
Peel off the sugarcane leaves and you will see the buds on the cane nodes. Cut off the stems and roots, move them to the ditch and clean them, and then wash them with warm water.
Cut off every three buds of the cleaned sugar cane, leaving the ones without buds to eat.