Chapter 63 Chongshan Tribe: Yu Yan Doesn't Want to Talk Anymore

"It should be better now, right? It doesn't hurt or itch at all!"

"Yes, I haven't felt this comfortable in a long time."

"My baby finally got a good night's sleep last night."

Yu Yan nodded, "That's fine then. Let me wash my hands and then I'll show you."

"No rush, no rush, you guys eat first! You must have been exhausted yesterday," they said apologetically.

Unable to refuse such hospitality, Yu Yan washed up and sat down to eat.

He took out a small glass jar, sealed the mouth of the jar with leaves, and tied it tightly with hemp rope.

As soon as the jar was opened, a spicy, sweet and sour aroma wafted out.

“Huh,” Liu Xiang sniffed and said, “I smell pain from peppers.”

Yu Yan looked up and asked curiously, "Do you have chili peppers here too?"

He tilted the jar toward Liu Xiang and the others so they could see it more clearly.

Liu Xiang glanced at it twice, nodded, and said, "Yes! They look very similar, and they smell almost the same too. But they don't grow here; they're found in several tribes to the north."

Zhu Yu explained, "People in our tribe prefer the original taste of food and are not used to eating tomato peppers."

Yu Yan: "Oh, I see. People from my area really like spicy food. This is the pickled vegetable I made with chili peppers. Would you like to try some?"

When the food he eats outside is bland, he eats it with pickled vegetables, which is both delicious and convenient.

Most people politely declined with smiles, but a few who were interested came over and took a small bite. Their eyes lit up as they exclaimed, "Delicious! It's sour, sweet, and salty, with a hint of chili pepper flavor. It's so appetizing!"

"It's still crunchy when you chew it! What kind of stems are used to pickle it?"

Yu Yan smiled and said, "We call this a radish."

Did you bring any this time? Could you give us some more?

"I only brought pickled radishes and dried vegetables. If you like, when you come to our tribe, I will pack you a few baskets of fresh radishes and some radish seeds."

"Okay, okay! But... bringing back seeds means we have to plant them ourselves? We've never planted anything before, what if we can't grow them?"

Yu Yan said gently, "Planting it is not simple, but it is not difficult either. I will tell you how to plant it later. You can try it yourselves. If you can grow it, you won't need to go to other places to exchange it."

"Mmm." Everyone looked at Yu Yan gratefully, thinking he was such a kind person.

Some people wanted to talk to Yu Yan, but Zhu Yu helplessly advised, "Didn't I tell them to eat first?"

“Right, right,” many people slapped their foreheads in frustration, “You guys keep eating, we’ll go wander around somewhere else and come back later.”

Yu Yan smiled and said goodbye to them, placing the glass jar between herself and Lan Xiu.

Lan Xiu waited for him without touching his chopsticks.

"Here, eat."

"good."

While eating, Yu Yan chatted with him: "We're quite far from the Deep Lake Tribe here, so the chili peppers grown here might be very different. I was thinking, should we go to a few nearby tribes and exchange some new chili peppers for us?"

Lan Xiu simply replied, "Go if you want to."

Yu Yan chewed on the crisp, sweet radish and smiled silently.

After the meal, the two returned to the riverbank where they had gathered the day before.

The people of the Caiyun tribe built simple beds with stones and planks and placed stone benches under several lush green weeping willows.

The "apprentices" that Yu Yan brought out yesterday are using the sunlight to clean the ears and apply medicine to the remaining people in the tribe.

The ear picks they used were lent to them by Yu Yan; they'll be counted as supplies later.

Upon seeing him approach, the apprentices immediately stood up and greeted him warmly, "Master, you've come!"

Yu Yan smiled and hummed in agreement. "How did your ear cleaning go? Did you encounter any problems?"

"That's good, not yet!"

Yu Yan observed them for a moment and realized they were doing a really good job.

“Where are the people who had their medicine applied yesterday? Come sit here, let me take a look,” he said, pointing to an empty stone.

Everyone lined up in an orderly fashion so that Yu Yan could check them one by one.

"You're recovering really well. I'll apply the medicine again."

"Yes, thank you so much for your help."

When applying the medicine, Lanxiu helped him.

Everyone chatted, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

The people of the Caiyun tribe were very curious about the peninsula tribe and asked many questions, which Yu Yan answered to the best of her ability.

Yu Yan also heard a lot of interesting stories about this place from them, and she laughed non-stop.

Upon learning that Yu Yan wanted to go to another tribe to exchange chili peppers, Zhu Yu said, "I don't think you need to go."

"Um?"

“They must have already received news that you came to our tribe and will come looking for you. If you leave, the others who come will be disappointed.”

Yu Yan nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense... Then I'll wait in your tribe. But waiting around would be a bit boring, could you show us around the area?"

Zhu Yu readily agreed, "Of course!"

Liu Xiang asked excitedly, "Yu Yan, do you want to pick mushrooms? There are plenty in the mountains now, and some of them even glow at night! We don't need to go far to pick mushrooms."

Yu Yan's eyes lit up: "Yes!"

Zhu Yu looked at Lan Xiu: "Then shall we take you hunting around here? We'll share the spoils."

Lan Xiu smiled faintly: "Okay."

The groups split up and acted separately.

Liu Xiang was the leader of the sub-beastmen's group. He told her that there were many poisonous insects in the forest. Yu Yan took out a piece of cloth and covered her head, face, and neck. She also tied her cuffs and trouser legs tightly with cloth strips and put on gloves.

I'm wearing cloth shoes, so I don't need to change them.

Seeing how well he protected himself, the others all gave him a thumbs up.

"I was wrong. I shouldn't have complained that your fabric wasn't bright enough. It's much easier to collect things while wearing clothes than with a feather skirt."

"I love your shoes so much. Unlike the straw sandals we wear, which leave our feet exposed and vulnerable to insect bites."

Yu Yan said, "When going into the woods, cloth shoes are easier to wear than straw sandals, but once cloth shoes get wet, they become stuffy and don't stay dry like straw sandals."

Every time we stayed in the wild for a long time, when we returned to the tribe, our cloth shoes would stick to our feet and were very difficult to take off. They would also make our soles and toes white and wrinkled from being soaked in the water.

Yu Yan tried some methods, but unfortunately, she couldn't completely solve the problem. She plans to think about it again later.

After checking her clothes and finding nothing amiss, Yu Yan slung the basket over her shoulder and said expectantly, "Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

Since they were close by, they didn't fly; instead, they walked and plunged into the forest.

The plants and animals on land in the Beast World all grow very large; Yu Yan could see a bunch of big, thick mushrooms every few steps.

Some of the mushrooms were colorful, as beautiful as those in a fairy tale, which dazzled him.

Liu Xiang warned him from ahead, "That mushroom on your left is highly poisonous, you absolutely must not pick it."

Yu Yan nodded: "It looks pretty intimidating too."

"Haha, that's right!" Everyone laughed.

Yu Yan thought to herself, "If I don't dare pick the brightly colored ones, then I'll pick the plain ones."

After picking just two, someone said, "Those are poisonous mushrooms too!"

Embarrassed, Yu Yan threw away the mushrooms she had picked and started looking at what other people were picking.

He thought he had learned how, but then he picked poisonous mushrooms again.

Aren't these two the same?

"No, look at the back, the color is darker."

...The difference is too subtle! Yu Yan finally understood why some people get poisoned from eating mushrooms.

After half a morning, he had picked a lot of strange mushrooms in the mountains.

They not only picked mushrooms, but also climbed trees to steal bird eggs, caught insects, and picked fruit... full of energy.

As they chatted, they would enthusiastically sing a tune, a completely different melody from the mountain songs of the peninsula tribes, which, combined with their heavenly voices, was very beautiful.

The lyrics are very straightforward, like "you grab me, I'll touch you," which made Yu Yan laugh.

Yu Yan listened to them talking about the orcs in the tribe and, thinking of the thing on Bai Lang's face, asked, "Didn't I see him come today?"

Liu Xiang removed the grass leaves from the mushroom and said, "Well, Bai Lang is a very powerful orc, but he doesn't really like participating in tribe activities."

Yu Yan nodded and did not continue the topic.

After a while, a long cry came from the habitat of the Rainbow Cloud Tribe.

Everyone strained their ears to listen and said, "It's people from the Chongshan tribe. They want us to come over!"

Yu Yan carried a basket of mushrooms that was more than half full: "Let's go then."

They flew back and arrived very quickly.

Several people from the Chongshan tribe were standing outside Zhu Yu's thatched hut. Hearing footsteps, they all looked over curiously.

They were both handsome men with a wild and rugged air, wearing animal skin skirts around their waists and bare, muscular upper bodies.

The young man leading the group smiled and said, "You must be Yu Yan? I am Xi Mu, the chieftain of the Chongshan tribe."

Xi Mu has short, light blonde hair, a pair of bright, golden eyes, pale skin, and a slightly pinkish nose.

Yu Yan noticed that his pupils were rectangular, and couldn't help but think of Zhong Hai and Shuang Hong. She smiled and said, "Chief Xi Mu, hello. Your beast form is a leopard?"

Xi Mu nodded: "Yes."

Liu Xiang looked around and said, "Chief Zhu Yu and the others may have encountered prey and haven't returned yet. Please have a seat, and I'll get you some water."

Xi Mu thanked him politely.

Both groups sat down and curiously looked at each other.

Xi Mu was the first to ask Yu Yan if it would be convenient for them to see what she had brought.

Yu Yan smiled and said, "Of course."

He first brought out pottery, cloth, and glass. The people of Chongshan tribe remained very restrained, only their eyes widening slightly.

After looking at the pottery, Xi Mu put it down and said to Yu Yan, "These things are very good, but we can also use the pottery we make ourselves; the summers in our tribe are not hot, so we can just wear animal skin skirts; we don't care much about beauty, so glass is not very useful to us."

Yu Yan raised an eyebrow slightly, not in a hurry to explain, and took out paper and soap.

After Yu Yan explained how to use both, they glanced at the paper a few more times, showing little interest in the soap.

Yu Yan was somewhat surprised, because soap was very popular when he was in the peninsula tribe.

He asked, "Don't you need to wash anything?"

Xi Mu truthfully replied, "Yes, we need soap, but where we're from, we have a fruit called black pod. After it ripens, we crush it, soak it in water, and use it to wash animal hides and animal fat, so we don't need soap."

“This description…” Yu Yan asked, “Did you bring any black pods with you? Can I take a look?”

"I brought it."

Xi Mu took out a dried "black pod" and handed it to Yu Yan.

"These were harvested and dried last autumn; this year's harvest isn't ripe yet."

Yu Yan looked at it, smelled it, and confirmed that it was soapberry.

The soapberry's cleaning power was quite good, and Yu Yan was tempted.

Liu Xiang observed his expression and said softly, "Yu Yan, our tribe also has Black Pods. You can trade with us if you want."

Xi Mu glanced at Liu Xiang with a lingering look, but said nothing.

Yu Yan understood; no wonder the people from the Caiyun tribe weren't enthusiastic about the soap last night.

He smiled and said "Okay," then returned the soap pod to Ximu and asked, "Chief Ximu, I heard that your tribe also has something called 'Pain Pepper'? Does it look like the chili pepper I brought?"

He took out a glass jar from his spatial storage, which contained pickled peppers that he had made himself.

Compared to the pickled peppers, Xi Mu and the others were clearly stunned when they looked at the glass jar.

The glass that Yu Yan took out earlier was a flat, solid piece. Xi Mu and the others thought it could only be used to make glass panels or jewelry!

So glass can also be used to make containers! That makes a whole different difference!

They exchanged a silent glance, and when Xi Mu looked at Yu Yan again, his attitude was much warmer.

“Our tribe has several kinds of peppers, one of which is very similar to yours, but it is longer and thinner, and the tip is also more pointed.”

"Several types? What do the others look like?"

Xi Mu smiled and said, "Don't worry, we just brought them with us."

Someone brought over a straw basket, and Ximu emptied out the bright red stuff inside.

Yu Yan saw bird's eye chilies, bullet chilies, and small red chilies!

Each type of chili pepper was twice the size of any he had ever seen in modern times.

Just like the color of chili peppers, Yu Yan's eyes also burned with passion.

He especially missed the taste of millet peppers. Luckily, his pickled preserved eggs were ready to eat. If he added some when mixing the preserved eggs, it would be so delicious!

Oh my, just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

He's made up his mind; he's going to trade chili peppers with the Chongshan tribe!

"Chief Ximu, did you bring anything else?"

Xi Mu said, "The rest are animal hides, wood, pottery, and pearls. I don't think you need those, do you?"

Yu Yan smiled and nodded: "Timber is in short supply, but it's so far away, it's inconvenient to bring it back."

Xi Mu hummed in understanding and didn't take it out.

Yu Yan: "Chief Xi Mu, what do you want to trade with me? I want to trade your Black Pods, and Pain Peppers, all kinds of Pain Peppers."

Xi Mu thought for a moment and said, "If we're choosing from all the things you've brought out, we'll choose glass."

Yu Yan: "No problem. I didn't bring much glass this time. When the people from the Caiyun tribe come to our tribe, you can ask them to bring it back for you. You can just pay them some supplies in return."

Xi Mu gently shook her head: "Yu Yan, you misunderstood. What we want to change is the way the glass is made."

Yu Yan slightly suppressed her smile: "Clan Chief Xi Mu has quite the ambition."

I wonder if Xi Mu's heart is as calm as his expression. "Our black pods are very useful, and our pain peppers are delicious. Besides, I heard you know how to farm. If we exchange these two things back, we can grow them ourselves. Wouldn't it be a loss for us to only exchange a batch of glass with you?"

The others from the Chongshan tribe chimed in, "Yes, we should always have glass to use."

Yu Yan said calmly, "What you're saying makes some sense, but have you forgotten that I can use soap instead of black peppers? And even if you don't exchange them for your chili peppers, I have other chili peppers to eat. Since your stuff isn't 'unique,' why should you exchange it for my 'unique' glassmaking method?"

Xi Mu was rendered speechless.

Yu Yan felt that the people of Chongshan tribe were not sincere, and they didn't even mention the white charcoal.

“I promised the tribes around us that two new seeds I needed could be exchanged for the method of papermaking.”

“In exchange for fabric from our tribe, we can teach you how to spin and dye.”

"Chief Ximu, to be honest, the seeds of Black Pods and Pain Peppers can't even be exchanged for a papermaking method, let alone a glassmaking method."

"As I just said, if you want to exchange our goods, bring your supplies and come to our tribe. As for exchanging glassmaking methods, your current supplies are far from enough."

Xi Mu and the others visibly became disappointed.

The people of the Caiyun tribe were pleasantly surprised. They had already agreed to exchange fabrics and knew Yu Yan would teach them dyeing, but they didn't know she would also teach them spinning! They'd gotten a free spinning method, hahaha!

Liu Xiang asked excitedly, "Yu Yan, if we send you the seeds of red sorghum and pepper, can you teach us how to make paper?"

The orc next to him chimed in, "I've seen you guys using paper these past few days. It's so lightweight and easy to carry, and you can even draw on it! It's also much better than leaves for wiping your hands!"

Yu Yan gave an affirmative answer: "Sure, you don't need to wait for us to send the seeds over. We'll teach you how to make paper before we leave."

The people of the Caiyun tribe cheered with joy: "That's wonderful!!"

"Yu Yan, thank you!"

"Ahhh, by the Beast God, I really love you so much!"

"Who do you like?" Lan Xiu's slightly cool voice came out abruptly.

Yu Yan looked up and saw that Zhu Yu had led the beastmen back, with several beastmen carrying their newly hunted prey.

He smiled and winked at Lanxiu.

Liu Xiang stood up and happily told Zhu Yu and the others about spinning thread and papermaking.

The crowd immediately erupted in cheers just like before.

Zhu Yu looked at Yu Yan excitedly, not knowing how to thank him enough. She suggested, "Yu Yan, why don't you stay a little longer and see if our tribe still has any seeds you want?"

Yu Yan said regretfully, "I'm afraid it won't work this time. There are many things in our tribe that are waiting for me to go back and do."

Zhu Yu gritted her teeth: "It's okay! At worst, we'll just fly a few more times to deliver it to you after we find it."

With the simple and kind-hearted Caiyun tribe as an example, Yu Yan was even less inclined to say anything more to the Chongshan tribe.

He looked at Xi Mu and said indifferently, "Do you have anything else to say?" The implication of "get rid of us" was obvious in his tone.

Xi Mu panicked and stood up to apologize to Yu Yan: "Yu Yan, I'm sorry, we really wanted to switch with you."

Seeing that Yu Yan didn't believe him, he desperately explained, "I was thinking of raising my demands to get more things in return, but I was too greedy. Actually, what we want most are a metal knife and some cloth. Please, can you talk to us again?"

Yu Yan kept a straight face, not wanting to say anything more.

In an attempt to salvage the situation, Xi Mu took out everything they had brought with them.

Jade, pottery, animal hides, stone tools, food... piled up on the ground like a small mountain.

"Look, if we didn't genuinely want to exchange, why would we have brought so much stuff?"

Sigh, he shouldn't have tried to outsmart Yu Yan. Now he's ruined it and offended her!

Ordinary supplies no longer attracted Yu Yan's attention.

But to his surprise, there was actually something good inside.