Chapter 95 Cotton Groundhog: It's a Pinch, Not a Hug
Behind them rang out Chief Hongyong's hearty laughter: "Hahaha, Yu Yan, we've brought you something!"
The two brothers nodded vigorously. In order to climb the wall, they transformed into their animal forms and, using both hands and feet, hopped and sprawled from the top of the wall to the ground.
Yu Yan jumped down as well, and the two brothers immediately grabbed his clothes affectionately with their claws.
“Chief Hongyong, Xinchen.” Yu Yan smiled and nodded.
Hongyong stepped forward and said, "These two little ones have been pestering us ever since they heard we were coming. We were originally worried about the dangers on the road and weren't planning to take them with us, but Lanxiu asked a few tribes in the area to send people to escort us, so we brought the little ones out to broaden their horizons."
Yu Yan glanced at Lan Xiu with some surprise. "You knew they were coming all along?"
Lan Xiu smiled and said, "I wanted to give you a surprise."
Xin Chen said, "Lan Xiu came all the way here to pick us up today. With him around, we didn't encounter any wild animals along the way."
The people of Chongchong tribe looked at Lanxiu with gratitude.
Yu Yan: "No wonder you've been nowhere to be seen these past few days."
Lan Xiu smiled faintly and remained silent.
What made him value it so much? Yu Yan couldn't help but feel expectant.
Yan Sha tilted his head back and said, "Brother Yu Yan, you'll definitely like what we brought you this time!"
Leng Fei chimed in, "Yes, yes!"
They led Yu Yan forward, saying, "Come and take a look!"
The groundhog beastmen who came with Hongyong took off the baskets from their backs.
The basket was lined with thick straw leaves and covered with a lid, so you couldn't see what was inside.
But you could tell the basket wasn't heavy; it didn't seem like it contained food.
Yu Yan smelled the scent of grass and trees. Could it be rapeseed?
He stepped forward, released the two brothers' hands, and, under everyone's gaze, lifted one of the lids.
The white, fluffy substance inside suddenly expanded outwards, fiercely capturing Yu Yan's attention.
He opened his eyes wide, picked up a lump in his hand, and his body trembled violently.
It's cotton!!
The people of the Chongchong tribe brought him cotton!
Aaaaaahh ...
People from the peninsula tribe and apprentices from the workshops rushed over when they heard the commotion.
They were stunned when they saw what Yu Yan was holding.
Having read Yu Yan's booklet and heard him mention cotton many times, they recognized him immediately.
Xin Yu asked excitedly, "Yu Yan, is this cotton? The kind of cotton that's especially good for weaving cloth and making clothes?"
Yu Yan nodded emphatically, her dark eyes gleaming. "Yes! It's cotton!"
He looked at the baskets filled to the brim, his heart surging with emotion.
Cheers erupted from the crowd: "Great!!! We have cotton to use now!!"
A few people, unaware of the situation, asked: "Is cotton really that good?"
Yu Yan said to everyone, "Come on, you guys come and touch it too. It feels completely different from the three-leaf vine and hemp grass."
People immediately rushed over, opened the lid, and began kneading the cotton inside.
They fell in love at first sight.
Especially the apprentices in the workshop, who weave cloth every day, understand the superior qualities of cotton.
"So fluffy, so soft... You don't even need to soak or wash it, you can just spin it into yarn, right?"
"There are seeds inside, so we should remove them first."
"That's easy! The seeds are so big, I can pick a whole basketful in no time."
"Beast God, I love cotton so much... How comfortable it would be to wear clothes made of cotton."
"Teacher Yu Yan!" they asked eagerly, "Could you please let us transport the cotton back to the workshop to weave cloth right now?"
Xuefei smiled and said, "You've finished all your work for today, are you going to keep going?"
Everyone: "Yes!!! I won't be able to sleep a wink until they start weaving cotton cloth!"
Yu Yan was amused by them: "Wait a moment, I need to say a few words to Chief Hongyong and the others."
Yin Qing asked, "Yu Yan, I see some of the cotton is a little damp. Should we take advantage of the sunshine and dry it?"
"Yeah, let's sunbathe."
"Okay! Then you go ahead and get busy, we'll get to work."
Yan Sha and Leng Fei had never been so far before, and they were curious about everything.
They asked expectantly, "Brother Yu Yan, can we go and see too?"
"Of course, let Xinyu lead you."
Xin Yu looked at the baby groundhogs and couldn't help but adore them: "What adorable animal forms! Come here, let me hug you."
Yan Sha and Leng Fei immediately rushed towards Xin Yu with great joy.
Xin Yu patted their heads and said with a smile, "We also have a little one in our family, a bit older than you. Let him lead you in playing."
Okay~
While busy at work, Yu Yan invited Hong Yong and the others into her home.
Many people had never been to a peninsula tribe before and were very interested in his house. After getting permission, they looked around.
Yu Yan sat on the wooden sofa, with Hong Yong and Xin Chen sitting opposite him. Lan Xiu brewed jasmine tea for them.
"Thank you, this smells so good, what kind of flower is it?" Xin Chen asked.
Yu Yan: "I still have a lot of dried wild jasmine. If you like, I'll bring some with me when you leave."
Xin Chen exclaimed with delight, "That's wonderful!"
After chatting for a bit, Yu Yan asked where they found the cotton.
Hongyong said it was a tribe further northwest of their own, where there was plenty of sunshine, delicious fruits, and kind and warm-hearted people.
"Knowing that we wanted cotton, they picked a lot for us. In return, we gave them a lot of kidney beans and taught them how to make tofu."
"They were just like us; they really enjoyed the tofu and thanked us repeatedly."
“We told them that you taught them how to make tofu, and they said they would definitely come to the Peninsula Tribe to see it if they had the chance in the future.”
After listening to Hongyong's words, Yu Yan also developed a longing for the distant tribe.
The Chongchong tribe kept a small amount of cotton, and now they can spin thread, so they plan to spin some cotton thread for use.
The rest were all sent to Yu Yan.
They didn't ask for payment, only saying that after they wove the cotton cloth, they could exchange it for some, as winter was coming and they wanted to buy more clothes for their children.
Yu Yan said, "No need to change it. Once the cotton cloth is woven, I will have the bird-beast people in the tribe deliver it to you."
Hongyong was flattered: "Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you? Our tribe also has sub-beastmen working in the workshop, so why don't you give it to him to take back?"
Yu Yan: "If he wants to go back, let the bird-beastmen escort him. That's settled."
Hongyong and others were deeply moved.
After the conversation, Yu Yan, considering their long journey, offered to have someone take them to rest, but they all refused.
"Yu Yan, we're not tired at all. Can we go and see how you process the cotton?"
Yu Yan agreed and led them to the new altar square.
There's plenty of cotton and a lot of people, but his yard is still too small.
Cangfeng and the others were already waiting there. Upon seeing him, they immediately came to greet him.
"Yu Yan, the cotton is just wet with dew, it's already dried. What's the next step?"
"Bring the tools over, let's make a seed remover first."
"good!"
As she left, she smiled and said, "I knew that with Yu Yan's personality, she wouldn't let everyone pick cotton seeds by hand."
"Haha, as expected of Yu Yan."
Metal tools and wood were quickly brought over. Yu Yan drew a diagram of the cotton auger on paper and found several skilled people to carve the first batch of parts from wood.
He only knew the principle, so the diagram he drew was simple.
The mixer is mainly a wooden frame with two shafts in the middle that rotate in different directions.
By feeding cotton between the two shafts and then rotating the shafts, the cotton seeds can be removed through the squeezing force of the forward and reverse rotations, and clean cotton can be obtained from the other end.
After Yu Yan explained it once, everyone immediately understood what was going on. Their eyes lit up, and they quickly started making the parts.
Soon, the first cotton mixer was assembled. After Yu Yan and her team adjusted and improved it, they brought out cotton for testing.
As the two shafts rotate, a thin sheet of clean cotton is squeezed out, while the cotton seeds are left on the other side!
Yu Yan's eyes lit up: "It's a success!"
Everyone around was delighted: "We've got clean cotton!"
"Quickly, make more cotton swabs!"
"If we sort through the cotton scraps, we can spin thread, right?"
Yu Yan said, "We should comb the cotton first, otherwise we can't spin it."
"Yes, let's wait until everything is combed before we spin it together."
"By the way, let's save the cotton seeds and try growing them ourselves next year."
Hongyong and his group brought too much cotton; even if everyone works together, we probably won't be able to finish it today.
Yu Yan assigned tasks to everyone, and seeing that the people from the Chongchong tribe looked eager to participate, she encouraged them to join in as well.
With more people working together, things get done faster, and the square is bustling with activity.
The little ones couldn't help much, running around happily in the cotton pile.
These little ones from the peninsula tribe had never played with the groundhog beastmen before, so they were especially friendly to them, bringing out all sorts of novel toys like soccer balls, beanbags, and kites.
Yan Sha and Leng Fei went wild with their fun. When their human forms couldn't catch up, they transformed into beast forms and charged forward.
Just as they were about to block Shuoxing, Shuoxing suddenly transformed into a beast and took flight with a flap of its wings.
The two groundhog cubs cried out in desperation, "You're cheating! You're cheating!"
The star hovered in the sky and laughed, "What are you doing, cheating? If you all turn into beasts, I'll turn into a beast too."
Just as he was feeling smug, Xin Yu called out, "Shuoxing, you've blown all the cotton around! Come down and play!"
Shuoxing said "Oh" and obediently landed.
Yan Sha and Leng Fei were waiting for him, and they raised their claws to pinch him.
"Where do you think you're going to run to!"
"Ah! Father, save me!"
Hongyong, afraid of disturbing everyone, said helplessly, "Yansha, Lengfei, you two go play somewhere further away."
The kids pretended not to hear.
It was only after Yu Yan took out a cloth bag and gave each person a handful of fried rice that she managed to appease them.
The newly harvested rice, irrigated with mountain spring water, has a particularly fragrant aroma. After drying and hulling, Bailang helped grind a considerable amount.
His facial injuries had completely healed, and he returned to the Caiyun tribe.
Yu Yan deep-fried rice until it was crispy and crunchy, then mixed in some honey to eat as a snack.
The little ones had never eaten this before, and they all crunched away, chewing with great relish.
Especially Yan Sha and Leng Fei, their chubby cheeks puff out when they chew, it's just too cute.
Yu Yan smiled and looked away, pondering something else.
Since we can make a hand-cranked cotton mixer, can we make a hand-cranked spinning wheel? It would be much less laborious than spinning thread with a spindle.
He acted immediately, calling Lanxiu, Xinyu, and the others over to discuss it together.
After hearing Yu Yan's explanation, everyone felt that it was something they could do.
Moreover, they are very intelligent, quick to understand, and offered many of their own insights:
“Since the spindle can spin yarn by rotating, can we just make a crank to make the spindle rotate?” Xin Yu said.
Xuefei: "We can make more spindles and spin them together! That way we can spin even more thread!"
Lan Xiu: "That makes sense. The spinning wheel also needs a frame and wheels."
Cangfeng: "I'll go get some wood."
Yu Yan brainstormed ideas and gradually formed a prototype of a spinning wheel in her mind.
While the others were ginning cotton, he and Lanxiu kept perfecting the spinning wheel.
They worked until evening, and finally a simple spinning wheel was completed.
A spinning wheel requires the coordination of hands and feet. By cranking the handle, the wheel can be turned, which in turn drives several spindle-like rods to rotate rapidly, thus spinning thread.
Once the thread has grown long, you raise your hand and wind it directly onto the spinning rod.
Yu Yan used the processed cotton strips to try spinning for a while. Not only was the spinning speed several times faster than before, but she could also spin several spools of yarn at a time, and the quality of the yarn was also very high!
Even someone as skilled as him can spin very even threads!
He looked up and exclaimed happily, "It's done!"
What comes into view are bright, smiling faces.
"That's great!" everyone said sincerely.
Yin Qing asked impatiently, "Yu Yan, can I try it?"
"Come on in." Yu Yan made room for him.
Yin Qing sat down, cranked the lever, and soon became proficient in using the spinning machine.
He exclaimed, "It's so useful! I can now do the work of three to five people! The cotton thread it produces is just as soft as I imagined."
Xin Yu said, "After you've tried it, let me try it too."
Xuefei: "I want one too."
The apprentices in the workshop looked on eagerly: "Teacher Yu Yan, will we have spinning wheels to use in the future?"
Yu Yan: "Yes! Next, we need to focus all our efforts on spinning cotton thread and weaving cotton cloth!"
"Great!!!" everyone cheered.
The orcs surrounded the spinning wheel, praising it endlessly. Instead of competing with them, the other orcs volunteered to make new spinning wheels.
They were busy until dark, and everyone was reluctant to leave.
Streetlights were installed in the altar square—the pillars were made of wood, with oil lamps embedded in them, and the oil lamps were covered with light-colored glass covers.
Yu Yan knew everyone was having a great time, so she didn't force them to go back. Instead, she had the streetlights turned on and arranged for people to start a fire and cook.
He instructed, "It's getting cold now, everyone wear more clothes. Let's eat first before we get back to work."
People responded warmly, "Yes, Yu Yan, you should wear more clothes too, don't catch a cold."
After they had filled their stomachs, Cangfeng suggested, "Many of us have moved into new houses now, why don't we take our things and go inside to work?"
Tan Nian said, "The cotton mixer and spinning wheel are not big, so we each carried one to the dormitory to work on them."
After discussing it, everyone divided the belongings and left together.
It took three whole days to gin this batch of cotton, but the cotton cloth was started being woven the very next day.
The Chongchong tribe stayed here for three days.
After an autumn rain, many mushrooms sprouted on the mountain.
As the "host," Yu Yan took them to the beach and they also picked a lot of mushrooms.
They prefer hiking in the mountains to hiking on the beach.
Xin Chen was even more proactive than the younger sub-beastmen, and every day before dawn, he would come to find Yu Yan with a basket on his back.
He said excitedly, "I left some really small mushrooms unpicked yesterday. They should have grown bigger overnight. Let's go!"
Yan Sha and Leng Fei also went up the mountain with them twice. As soon as they arrived, the two of them excitedly transformed into their beast forms and began digging a hole.
Don't underestimate them just because they're young; they dig the tunnels quickly and well.
Yu Yan saw them crawl into this hole, and after a while, they crawled out of another hole.
During a break, Yu Yan sat at the entrance of a newly dug hole and took out her water bag to drink water.
The basket beside him contained the egg yolk and meat rice balls he had made that morning.
Rice balls are convenient to make and eat, so he makes them every day recently. He lets his family members take them with them when they go out, so they can have a snack when they get hungry.
After finishing his water, he reached back into the basket.
Huh? Why is it empty?
Turning my head, I saw that the two big rice balls were gone!
Yu Yan immediately looked into the cave entrance and heard rustling sounds of running and the baby's giggling.
A moment later, Yan Sha and Leng Fei emerged from a hole not far away, holding his rice ball in their paws!
Yu Yan: "..."
Yan Sha and Leng Fei laughed heartily and ran over excitedly to return the rice ball to him.
"Brother Yu Yan, you'd better be careful next time."
Yu Yan: It's as if no one else but you guys would take my rice ball.
He broke one of the rice balls in half and gave half to Yan Sha and half to Leng Fei.
The two brothers were overjoyed and said in unison, "Thank you, Brother Yu Yan!"
Leng Fei glanced at the half rice ball in Yan Sha's hand: "Brother, yours is a little bigger than mine."
Yan Sha lowered her head and took a bite: "This way it won't be too big."
Leng Fei remained silent for a moment, then threw the rice ball into her mouth and exclaimed, "Yah!" before starting to fight with Yan Sha again.
Yu Yan sighed and thought to herself, "I must never have twins in the future."
I've collected a lot of mushrooms these past few days, but fresh mushrooms spoil easily, and there's not enough time to dry them.
Yu Yan thought for a moment, chopped up some of the mushrooms, made them into mushroom sauce with rapeseed oil, put them in a jar, and gave them to the people of Chongchong tribe to take with them.
The mushroom sauce was extremely delicious, and he kept two jars for himself. Sometimes, after cooking rice, he would scoop out two spoonfuls, mix it up, and eat it with great relish.
On the day the people of Chongchong tribe left, Yu Yan led a group of people to see them off.
Everyone was very reluctant to part with Yu Yan and this place.
Yan Sha and Leng Fei both cried sadly, hugging their adoptive father and father and saying they didn't want to go home.
Yu Yan smiled and said, "There will be other opportunities to come in the future. The Peninsula Tribe welcomes you."
Hongyong: "Yu Yan, we're leaving now. See you next time."
"Okay, goodbye."
After watching the groundhog beastmen leave, Yu Yan went to the weaving workshop.
He stood outside the window, watching as people busily worked behind each loom.
Feng Gui was among them. He wanted to use the cloth he wove by hand to make clothes for his family.
The enthusiasm and drive of everyone striving for a better life deeply moved Yu Yan.
He didn't make a sound to disturb them, took some cotton and woven cotton cloth, and went back.
Lanxiu and Ruihua had both gone hunting, and the house was quiet.
Yu Yan hummed a song as she went into the warehouse and pulled out a piece of animal sinew.
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