The marriage could be postponed, but she reminded Ming that under the current circumstances, it would be best to have less contact with Hui and Heiye, so as not to cause dissatisfaction among Yu, Man and others.

But Hui often visited Ming's family in the name of his grandson, and brought Heiye with him from time to time.

Faced with this old man who had supported him in his most difficult times, Ming, who was shy, really couldn't refuse him from coming.

Fortunately, Hui also knew her limits and did not come every day, but only every few days.

Now that Ming had just finished the first high-level meeting of the tribe, he knew exactly what Hui and Heiye were doing there.

As expected, as soon as he sat down, Hui asked, "Did they only allow people from the Valley Tribe to attend the meeting? Not a single person from the Stone Tribe? Are you the only one from our tribe?"

Speaking of this, Ming felt a little depressed.

He nodded silently.

He had no ambitions and repeatedly said he wasn't vying for the position of leader. But he brought over a hundred people into the tribe, so surely their people should have made up a third of the leadership? And yet, he was the only one. And judging by today's meeting, even if he brought up something, Yu probably wouldn't have paid attention.

"What did they say in the meeting? They didn't bully you, did they?" Hui asked again with concern.

Seeing Hui's concerned look, Ming felt a surge of guilt.

The old man before him, like his father, cared for him wholeheartedly. Yet, in order to avoid discontentment among the people of the Dragon Tribe, he actually wanted to distance himself from him and refused to interact with him.

He really shouldn't have done that.

He shook his head and said, "No bullying." He repeated what Qiao Yu had said during the meeting.

They were talking in the main room of Ming's row of houses, while Ming's wife, Qiu, stayed next door. The moment Ming entered, Qiu, worried, came over. But she didn't go in. Instead, she stood at the doorway, wondering what Hui and Heiye were trying to instigate Ming to do, and also worried their conversation might be overheard. Her presence would also prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

Inside the room, Hui didn't understand a single word Ming was saying. Originally filled with resentment and contempt, wanting to mock Qiao Yu's decision, his face was completely bewildered. "Ironware? Literacy? Surname? What's that?"

Ming explained it to him patiently.

He felt that these matters were no secrets, and Qiao Yu would soon implement them within the tribe. Especially regarding surnames and literacy, the team leader would still be promoting them upon his return. Therefore, he saw no problem in sharing the meeting's contents with Hui and Heiye.

These two old people were only thinking about his own good. What bad intentions could they have? They were just concerned about him.

Hui still didn't understand his explanation and just scoffed, "Why bother with all this fancy stuff? What's more important than hunting more prey so everyone in the tribe has meat to eat? And you even went out of your way to finish work early and come back to learn how to read? You're just bored."

"No, Yu said that the number of people hunting should be reduced." Ming said, repeating Qiao Yu's decision.

"Isn't this nonsense? If we don't hunt, how can we eat? How much meat can a rabbit have? There are so many people in the tribe, and they can eat all the rabbits in one meal. Not allowing people in the tribe to hunt just for these rabbits is simply nonsense." Hui slammed the table.

Hearing Hui's voice coming from inside the house, Qiu was startled and quickly glanced towards Huo's house. He saw two men coming out of one of the rooms. Qiu recognized one of them; it was Huo's son, Qinglang. Qinglang lived elsewhere, not with Huo, but he would come here from time to time.

Qiu also knew the other person, Hui's son and Mou's father, Ji.

How did these two end up together? And when did Ji arrive? Did he come with Hui and Mou? He didn't come to his own house, but went to Huo's instead, and seemed to be chatting happily with Qinglang. What was he planning?

Qiu's brows were tightly furrowed.

After Hui and Heiye left, Qiu entered the room and asked Mingdao, "You won't do what Hui says, will you? Hui doesn't have good intentions. He's been humbled by Yu, so he's always trying to get you to take the initiative and embarrass Yu. In our current situation, we can't even be honest, so how can we possibly stand up to Yu and the others?"

Ming rubbed his brows tiredly: "I know, I understand everything."

He sighed deeply, raised his head, and looked at the rooftop, which was cast with heavy shadows under the light. "I just feel that my role as an elder seems meaningless."

"Why do you say that?" Qiu asked.

"Each of them has something to do, even the mountain, and they manage the tribe's warehouse. I'm the only one who doesn't manage anything." Ming lowered his head, scratched his hair with both hands, and buried himself in the shadows. "During the meeting, they all have something to say, but I can only sit there like an idiot. No one pays attention to me. I'm worried that they will remove me soon."

Qiu's face looked extremely ugly.

When Ming was in the Shanyin tribe, as the leader's son, he didn't need to go hunting. He only needed to follow his father and learn how to manage the tribe. After Ming's father died, because he had Hui and his group to support him, Lei didn't dare to shortchange the Yin family. Although the supplies distributed to Ming's family were not as much as when his father was alive, they were almost the same as those distributed by the elders.

At that time, Hui and a group of people were fighting with Lei to the death all day long. Ming was quite busy every day, but he didn't feel like he was just eating for nothing.

But now, when they arrived at the Dragon Tribe, the elders of the Dragon Tribe, such as Shan and Lu, were not like the elders of the Shanyin Tribe who did nothing but supervise whether others worked and decided how much supplies to give to those who worked. They each had their own things to do.

Hui and Heiye were not too old to be able to move. They were no longer elders. The elders of the Dragon Tribe all worked. If they were idle at home, their families would definitely not work. So after staying at home for a while, the two of them went to work making mud bricks.

Gathering requires going up the mountain, and all other tasks are not easy. However, with the tribe's large population, some individuals, for various reasons, are sometimes unable to make the journey, and the breeding team doesn't need that many people. And the tribe also needs to build houses, so mud bricks are always needed.

So Qiao Yu came up with an idea. He designated an area in the planting area where a pond would later be built. Those who didn't want to do anything else could dig mud there to make mud bricks. The tribe provided the molds. The carpentry team had previously made a large number of molds for the tribe's house construction. After the tribe relocated, these molds had been stored in a warehouse under the mountain management, and now they were available for everyone to use.

These people didn't form fixed teams; whether to go, when to go, and how much to work were all up to them. The tribe only collected mud bricks by the quantity. Fifty mud bricks could be exchanged for a piece of meat the size of a man's fist.