Arrogance? No, it's the determination of the Xia clan from the forest...
“You asked why Lup and the others called you along? It’s because they were worried about you,” Jiang Yunlan said.
Holding 022, she didn't look at the sullen wolf-beastman, but instead looked up at the grassland. The grassland was vast, a place where the beastmen could run and leap freely.
“If they all join Xia, and only you don’t come, you will definitely leave this place, leave the grassland.” She raised her voice slightly, afraid that the tired wolf wouldn’t hear her clearly.
Wolf-orcs are proud. Hati, as the alpha wolf, has his own pride and is never an orc who will easily admit defeat. Even though his people have submitted to Xia, he will not bow his head because of their submission.
He is only loyal to the orcs he acknowledges.
"Does Hati hate Xia?" Jiang Yunlan asked.
The alpha wolf liked Xia, but it didn't say so. It just patted the ground lightly with its tail twice, showing no trace of its previous agitation.
"Does Nahati hate me?" Jiang Yunlan asked again.
The proud alpha wolf refused to admit it; he had long ago accepted Lan, who was weaker than him. If he hadn't accepted Lan, he would have driven those clansmen out of the clan long ago, when their hearts had already flown to the Xia clan.
The summer under Lan's control possesses a unique charm that can draw orcs in without them realizing it. When they come to their senses, they will hear a voice from the depths of their hearts that they love summer.
I love the summer when the orcs feel relaxed, I love the summer when new things always appear, and I love the summer when there is delicious food every day.
The tribespeople could not abandon Xia, and neither could he.
But he couldn't bring himself to bow down to Lan. He didn't want to admit defeat, he didn't want to surrender easily.
“I will do everything I can to keep you here,” Jiang Yunlan said, squatting down in front of Hati and looking him straight in the eye. “It’s okay if you hate me. I will make you like Xia and like the feeling of staying here.”
The alpha wolf stared at the squirrel-beastman cub, a puzzled look on his face. He had no reason to stay. Having lost, he should have left, like all the other losers before him.
"Hati. I need your help, Xia needs you."
In that instant, Hati saw flames in Jiang Yunlan's eyes. In the eyes of Lan, who was always gentle and tolerant, seemingly without temper, he saw anger and unwavering determination.
"Because you are very strong."
Jiang Yunlan's voice was calm, yet at this moment it became the absolute center of attention, and no one could look away. "I want Xia to become a clan that shelters all orcs. I want to protect the orcs in the clan. I want to save the orcs who suffer because of various things. Xia needs you. I hope you will join Xia and become a member of Xia."
Hati was ignited by the fire that blazed in her eyes.
He suddenly stood up and let out a strange laugh: "I didn't expect you to be even more arrogant than me, Lan."
"Protect all orcs? You dare to say that. Fine, we'll see. Let me see if you can actually do what you say you can." With that, the arrogant wolf turned and walked towards the inn.
"I promised to stay in Xia. If you can't get me to admit it, I'll still leave."
Hati's figure disappeared along with his words.
If he couldn't do it, could Lan do it? If Lan could, then he should at least admit it. The dishonest wolf-beastman thought to himself.
Jiang Yunlan, who had been standing still, got up and slowly thought that this meant she had succeeded halfway.
"Arrogance...?" She murmured the word, then suddenly laughed and carried 022 toward the place she had initially decided to go.
Perhaps so, arrogance. She knew she was daydreaming, but so what?
She just wanted to do it, so she did it.
The transparent slime turned and nestled in Lan's arms, looking up at her. It didn't find Lan arrogant. What worried them most about Lan was clearly that she wasn't aware that she was also being protected.
Clearly, she is no longer alone.
...
Pottery making area.
Jiang Yunlan sat on the chair that Mianhua had given her and carefully examined the newly fired painted pottery.
The original earthen kiln area had long been divided into two zones. One, supplied by Shi Tou, provided bricks and tiles for construction. The other, the pottery-making zone where she was now, provided pottery for the clan and exquisite painted pottery for trade, supplied by Shi Tou.
The lukewarm cotton has an extremely high level of focus. No matter how many times it fails, it can calm down and fire the kiln, as if it was born to be a ceramic-making orc.
“It’s beautiful, no problem. I’ll take this batch of painted pottery with me when I go out during the hot season.” Jiang Yunlan handed the painted pottery bowl back to Mianhua, stood up from her chair, and praised him.
The unicorns have been traveling back to their roost from the Xia clan for some time now, and should be returning to the clan soon.
"Would you like to go for a walk with me, Cotton?" Jiang Yunlan asked again.
There were very few orcs in the pottery-making area; including Cotton, there were only three. She heard from the other two orcs that Cotton had been sitting at the kiln from before dawn until dark, trying to create perfect painted pottery in various shapes.
Cotton carefully placed the entire set of painted ceramic tableware, then slowly agreed and followed behind Lan.
The building closest to the pottery-making area is the canteen near the residential area. Jiang Yunlan walked over and saw several fox-beastmen standing outside the canteen.
"Well, you actually dared to sneak over here behind our backs. Tell us! The cafeteria has some good stuff out there that could tempt you to abandon us!" The three fox-beastmen surrounded the one in the middle, raising their hands in preparation for a tickling attack.
Surrounded, the fox-beastman looked around furtively, and only when he didn't see any other members of his kind appear nearby did he reluctantly take out a few green plant stalks. "This is vegetarian, you probably won't like it... Hey? Hey! Wait! Leave some for me, there's some in both the first and second canteens!"
"I've used up all my work points, but I've only been able to eat one..." The fox-beastman complained, his ears drooping.
The three fox-beastmen, munching on the food, twitched their ears happily a few times, then grabbed her hand and rushed into the canteen. "It's okay, we still have more. We'll share with you after we buy more!"
"What about the clan chief and the others?"
"Well, let's talk about it after we buy it! Although it's sweet, it's all vegetarian, so they probably won't like it."
The fox-beastwoman, who had been flown like a kite, was stunned. She remembered that she had just said something similar.
"Lan, do you want to eat? That food," Cotton asked. He saw Lan staring at the fox beastmen for a long time.
Jiang Yunlan shook her head, then suddenly remembered that she still had a lot of the plant strips that Huiyu had given her yesterday. She immediately took out a packet of plant strips from her bag and asked Cotton, "I have some here, do you want to try some? It's not candy, but it tastes very sweet."
The tribe has many sweet-tasting plants, but they are not very suitable for making sugar. The little sugar that is finally produced is used as a seasoning.
However, in the eyes of the beastmen, Grayfeather's newly made plant strips are already considered a kind of candy.
"It's very sweet," Cotton said in agreement, biting down a bit harder on the somewhat tough plant strip.
Jiang Yunlan smiled and started walking slowly, carrying the cotton beside her.
Orcs have far more acute senses than humans; they can taste sweetness even in plants that contain little sugar, so of course they would think plant strips are very sweet.
Outside the school, Jiang Yunlan stood by the window, observing the situation inside.
The school now has four teachers, who teach language, arithmetic, combat, and medicine respectively. She wants the children to learn skills such as architecture, textiles, carpentry, and pottery after mastering these four basic subjects.
After finalizing the teachers, Jiang Yunlan appointed two "mediators": A-Bai and Yan-Lin.
When she and 022 finalized the two candidates, she hesitated quite a bit about whether to switch to orcs. One of them was timid and sensitive, while the other was arrogant and sharp-tongued, which always made her a little worried.
The result was surprisingly good.
Ah Bai isn't good at arguing, but even if he disagrees with something, he'll listen to them carefully and can usually sort out the cause and effect of the matter, then gently persuade them. Yan Lin's sharp tongue is surprisingly useful; it either stings the temperamental beastmen until they have no temper left, or it draws the fire back to himself, solving problems from strange angles.
After secretly observing from outside the window for a long time, Jiang Yunlan slipped away amidst the surprised glances of her wolf-beastman teacher. She dared not linger any longer; if the students noticed her presence, she would be bombarded with a million questions again.
However, while Jiang Yunlan managed to evade the beastmen inside the house, she could not escape their capture outside.
"Is there a question you want to ask me?" she asked calmly, looking at the two orcs who had come before her.
Holding a twig in his hand, Yan Ganguo looked at Lan with inquisitive eyes: "How should we write our names?"
This problem stumped Jiang Yunlan. The beastmen's language had no written form, and she didn't know how to write their names. Therefore, the rank badges she distributed to the beastmen only bore the rank titles, not their names.
It's not that transliteration is impossible...
Okay, but it can't be transliterated. The names of the werewolf orcs like Hati can be transliterated, but the transliterated names of the orc clans like Yanduoyu and Huimi are too similar. Jiang Yunlan tried it once.
The ending was too tragic.
She struggled to remember names, and even they themselves couldn't tell them apart. The proposal was ultimately scrapped.
"If you're willing, how about I give you names in Chinese?" Jiang Yunlan asked tentatively. This was the only method she could think of.
This proposal quickly spread throughout the Xia clan's habitat via the Rock Fruit. The beastmen wanted to know what their names would mean in Chinese, and during this time they often looked at Lan with bright, sparkling eyes.
Looking at them with expectant eyes, Jiang Yunlan felt a sudden surge of sense of mission.
She carefully examined the origins of the beastmen's names and would occasionally seek advice from 022, hoping not to give them names that sounded too bad.
The blond leopard beastmen live in the Rocky District and often refer to their clan as "Locky Leopard Beastmen," so they take "Rock" as their clan name and surname. The rock squirrel beastmen refer to their clan as "Gray Squirrel Beastmen," so they take "Gray" as their surname.
After struggling to name most of the orcs, Jiang Yunlan got stuck on the argali and horse orc clans. She really couldn't figure out what Cotton and the others used to refer to their clan names.
She scratched her head, racked her brains for several days, and finally went to find cotton when she had no other choice.
“My name is a plant,” Cotton said, recalling the plant that grew in their former clan habitat, gesturing with her hands to show its approximate shape. “Like this. It blooms, is inedible, but is very soft. During the snowy season, we would stuff its flowers into caves to keep them warm.”
“We use it to refer to our clan because seeing it means seeing the clan.”
Jiang Yunlan was stunned, Jiang Yunlan was thinking.
“Let’s use the character ‘棉’ (mián, meaning cotton) then. I always feel that the character ‘棉’ evokes images of softness and warmth,” Jiang Yunlan said.
After she finished speaking, she realized that this surname suited the ibex-beastmen very well. They loved peace, and although they were powerful, they rarely clashed with other beastmen; they were gentle beastmen by nature.
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Author's Note: When I published the previous chapter, I said in the author's notes that "a new story and a new journey are about to begin." I didn't expect that after the release of Chapter 69, it would seem that I could go to paid subscriptions.
There was a strange feeling; I vaguely heard the sound of the wheel of fate turning.
I've already applied to my editor to start writing for the paid section tomorrow, with the paid chapters starting from chapter 26. Actually, I don't know if I'll be able to successfully make it to the paid section this time. The 10,000 words I wrote on the paid day haven't been saved up yet; I'll make up for the shortfall slowly! If I can't successfully make it to the paid section, I'll wait for the next opportunity.
So, would you, the reader, be willing to accompany Xia Wenming on his new journey?
No matter how far you accompany Xia, I am very grateful for your companionship.
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