Guang was not a talkative person. Knowing that Qiao Yu had exchanged two pieces of ginger, he did not ask much. Just as he was about to leave, Qiao Yu stopped him and said, "I have something to tell you. Let's go to a place with fewer people."
The group crossed the stalls and came to a less crowded area. Qiao Yu said to Guang, "Do you know anyone from the Sun Tribe?"
Guangdao said, "Not really. But I've been exchanging herbs with a herbalist from the Sun Tribe for years, and I know his name. His name is Ebony."
Qiao Yu's face showed surprise, and he whispered, "Go to him and tell him that the ramie they use to make sacks can stop diarrhea. If you have watery diarrhea, that medicine will stop it. Are you willing to trade him for some raw ramie?"
As she spoke, she gestured to Shu to hand the animal hide bag containing the dried meat to Guang: "Take this dried meat for now. If it's not enough, go back to the tribe's stall to get more."
Guang took the animal hide bag and asked, "Can you tell me what ramie looks like? Can it really stop diarrhea?"
Qiao Yu shook his head: "I can't quite identify what it looks like. But it's true that it can stop diarrhea."
Without waiting for Guang to ask, she waved her hand and said, "Go quickly. It would be best if you could bring back some ramie seedlings. I want to plant them back. If that doesn't work, ask for their living rhizomes; maybe those can survive. It would be best if you get a few more to avoid accidents if some don't survive."
She warned again, "Don't tell anyone that we're going to plant this plant, or the Sun Tribe won't give it to you. Just tell them that it's growing well, and replace them one by one. Don't break or even wither the ones that are withered. The withered ones are useless, and it's useless to replace them."
Guang had no choice but to swallow the question he was about to ask and said, "Okay, I'll try."
Seeing that Qiao Yu had no other instructions, he said goodbye to everyone and walked towards the Sun Tribe with the animal skin bag on his back.
"Let's go, let's continue shopping." Qiao Yu said.
Next, Qiao Yu exchanged something that looked like soybeans at a stall in the Divine Tribe.
The reason why I said "seemed" was because Qiao Yu felt that it was soybeans, but he was not completely sure.
If he could only exchange the ramie, Qiao Yu would feel that this trade fair was a great success.
Although her eyes swept across each stall, they also lingered on each person, carefully observing the weapons on each tribesman.
She discovered that whether it was the Sun Tribe, Shanyin Tribe, or the God Tribe, the people were carrying bone spurs, bone knives, or stone artifacts, not iron weapons. This made Qiao Yu feel both disappointed and relieved.
Disappointingly, this meant that no one had discovered iron ore yet, and the sharp iron tools she wanted did not appear; fortunately, the valley tribe did not have to face a tribe with advanced weapons.
By the time they had finished browsing all the stalls, it was already afternoon. They stood at the front of the line, next to the salt exchange stall.
"Yu, what do you want to exchange for the remaining dried meat?" Shu asked.
The two animal hide bags of dried meat that he and Man carried out today were part of the half that was divided among the three hunting teams. Qiao Yu divided the dried meat into two halves, one half was given to Mang and his men, and the other half was all here.
In other words, the things they just exchanged were all exchanged for the tribe.
Qiao Yu spent a whole tribe to exchange for ginger and soybeans, and gave one-third to Guang. More than half of the dried meat was left in the animal skin bags carried by Qiao Yu and Man Suo.
"Divide the remaining dried meat into two portions between you two. Take turns to replace them with salt later." Qiao Yu said.
"Replace all with salt?" Man was shocked.
Qiao Yu nodded.
"Why?" Man was very confused.
Because the valley tribes were short of food during the snowy season, they only traded enough salt at each snowy trade fair to last them until the spring trade fair. They would wait until they had hunted prey in the spring to trade for salt for the summer and autumn seasons. This way, they were less stressed.
Before this trip, Qiao Yu had instructed the tribe that every household must exchange enough salt for a year's supply. Although puzzled, everyone knew they had enough dried meat at home, so exchanging for a year's supply wasn't stressful, and they still had some left over to trade for whatever they wanted. Furthermore, they trusted Qiao Yu, so they all agreed to obey her and exchanged for a year's supply.
Since every household already had enough salt, and the tribe had even traded some for raw potatoes, why did Qiao Yu still want to trade the tribe's dried meat for salt? What was he going to do with all that salt?
Qiao Yu didn't say anything. He put half of the dried meat into the animal skin bag on his back, asked Shu to exchange it for salt, and led Man back to the stall of the valley tribe.
Seeing that the people from the Shanyin and Giant Stone tribes were busy greeting customers and her stall was empty, she asked, "If the Sun Tribe wanted to attack all the tribes, what would be its most important method?"
Man thought about it, then his eyes widened in surprise: "Salt?"
"Yes," Qiao Yu said, "Weapons, food, and animal skins are all available in the mountains. But salt is not. What would happen to people if they didn't eat salt?"
The two of them didn't avoid the other people in the valley tribe during their conversation. As soon as Qiao Yu finished speaking, someone responded, "No strength."
This is a profound lesson for the Valley Tribe.
In the past, when prey was scarce, people saved enough dried meat to last the winter instead of exchanging it for salt. As a result, the entire tribe became swollen and weak, and many died. This is why each tribe would rather starve than exchange it for enough salt.
If you are hungry, you can still survive by eating wild fruits, grass roots and tree bark. But without salt, you will die.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
