Qiao Yu couldn't persuade them, but he couldn't occupy the whole wooden house by himself either.

In the apocalypse, what kind of environment had she not slept in? As long as she was capable and no one could take advantage of her, she wouldn't be afraid to sleep among a group of men.

She said, "I only occupy a small corner, and the other seats can be divided among us."

She was calm, but others were uncomfortable.

Qiao Yu was now a goddess in everyone's hearts. They snored, farted, and picked their feet in their sleep—wasn't that blasphemy against the goddess? In the past, when they were out in the wild, Qiao Yu always lived in a tree far away from them, so they didn't interfere with each other and didn't think anything was wrong. Now that they were living in the same house, they felt awkward.

Shu understood the psychology of both parties. He drove a few small wooden stakes into the ground near the wall and tied the thatched grass to the stakes, creating a small compartment for Qiao Yu. The men in the same room finally felt at ease.

Although they slept on the ground, they had a thick layer of thatch underneath, and animal skins on top of that, so they didn't feel the cold invading them. After all, the men in the tribe had lived like this for many years, and everyone had a good night's sleep.

Early the next morning, everyone started mining salt under the command of Qiao Yu.

First, use a stone hammer to break the rock and then put the broken stones into rattan baskets. This is the simplest mining method.

When there were large rocks that were too hard to break, Qiao Yu had everyone chop a crack with an iron axe, then insert the iron axes into the crack, forming a row, and then use a stone hammer to hit the iron axes, using them as chisels. By hitting them little by little, the rock would crack.

If it really couldn't be cracked, she would have everyone boil water and pour it in. The salt would melt when it came into contact with the hot water, and then the rock would naturally crack.

The reason they didn't resort to the clever method of boiling water, relying primarily on brute force, was that they didn't bring any clay pots; instead, each person brought only a bamboo tube. The bamboo tubes were small, couldn't be heated over high heat, and weren't durable. After a few attempts at boiling water, they were practically useless.

There were no bamboo forests in this area. In the dead of winter, Qiao Yu had to ensure everyone had hot soup, rather than using bamboo tubes to boil water for the salt rock. She found a concave stone and used that to boil the water. Because the stone was large and thick, it took a long time to boil the water.

The conditions are like this. We can only overcome all difficulties and mine as much salt as possible before the snow falls heavily.

What made Qiao Yu feel relieved was that the salt rock was not too hard. Not much of it needed to be poured with boiling water. Most of it would crack after being hit a few times with a hammer, so it was relatively easy to mine.

This time, thirty people from each of the Valley, Great Stone, and Shanyin tribes came. Adding Qiao Yu and Liu Shui, there were ninety-two people in total. Qiao Yu had already ordered one hundred and eighty-four wicker baskets to be woven. Once they were filled, they could return to the Dragon Tribe.

It wasn't that Qiao Yu didn't want to refine the salt here and just take it back. If he only took the salt, not only would he bring back more salt, but he wouldn't have to carry the heavy load. But there were no iron pots here, and refining with a stone pot was too difficult.

Furthermore, this place was too close to the Sun Tribe and the God Tribe. If the smoke rising from the water attracted their attention, it would be hard to say whether they could return alive.

You must know that whether it is boiling water to melt rocks or cooking broth, Qiao Yu forces everyone to wait until after dark in order not to expose the target.

Compared with safety, it is naturally more appropriate to endure some hardship and carry the salt rock back to the tribe for refining.

Under the cover of heavy snow falling day by day, everyone worked hard. After more than 20 days, they finally mined 184 baskets of salt rock.

The salt deposits in this area were still very rich, so they only took the rocks from the shallow layer. The originally slightly convex rock slope had now become a slightly concave shallow pit.

They brought some dirt and leaves and grass clippings here to fill the shallow pit with a thin layer. Soon, the shallow pit will be covered by heavy snow.

When spring arrives and the ice and snow melt, this place will become a puddle. After the spring rains, the water will wash more dirt and leaves and grass debris into the puddle, filling it up, and their traces will disappear. If it weren't for chance or intentional searching, Qiao Yu believes that even if the people of the Sun Tribe and the God Tribe passed by here while hunting, they would not have discovered the salt mine.

"Let's go back." Qiao Yu said.

She carried the load and walked ahead.

"Alas, Qiao Yu is so different from our previous leader." The people of the Shanyin tribe expressed this sentiment countless times.

If they were not sure whether to approve of Qiao Yu before, then after following Qiao Yu to the Sifang Tribe and coming here together, they admired Qiao Yu from the bottom of their hearts.

No matter whether she encounters difficulties or dangers, she always rushes to the front; no matter in life or work, she never asks for special treatment.

Just like now, she's the leader, a thin, petite woman. Ninety-one men are here, and if she doesn't carry the load, no one will say "no." Even if she insists on carrying it, everyone will strongly object.

Although everyone knows that she is capable and strong, her visual fragility and the deep respect in her heart make people unwilling to see her endure this hardship.

But she didn't give anyone a chance to complain. She would just glare at them and shout "Shut up", and even the trees couldn't do anything to her.

Qiao Yu carried the load and led the group. Relying on her strong sense of direction, she walked slowly, taking three-hour walks and a half-hour break. Finally, on the afternoon of the ninth day, they returned to the Dragon Tribe after a long absence.

"They're back, they're back." Seeing them come back, everyone in the tribe cried with joy.

Before leaving the tribe, Qiao Yu had mentioned the possibility of conflict with the Sun Tribe and the God Tribe, and everyone was on edge.

Considering the time of the trade fair, they should have returned to the tribe twenty days ago.

As a result, no matter how long they waited, they still didn't come back, and everyone became extremely anxious.

If it weren't for Shan and several elders repeatedly demanding that everyone stay in the tribe and not be allowed to return if anyone left the tribe without permission, I'm afraid some people would have gone out to look for them.

Now seeing them all coming back in one piece and in good order, everyone finally felt relieved.

"Look, what we found?" The men who went out could not empathize with their worries. They were excited to share the good things with everyone.

Only then did the people in the tribe see that they were each carrying loads, and the wicker baskets were filled with stones.

"What kind of stone is this? Is it some kind of ore?"

Because of the iron ore, the people in the tribe no longer look at stones with the old perspective. Even if it is an ordinary stone on the road, they will carefully identify it to see if it is iron ore and whether it can be refined into something valuable.