Settle down, it's called Xia
After collecting the crystals that had settled in the crystal pool, the mixed-race orcs embarked on a journey to find a habitat.
The wooden shelters were left by the orcs on the forest-surrounded coast, awaiting the arrival of the next orc clan. Perhaps one day, they will become a sanctuary for another clan.
The orcs emerged from the white sand sea, crossed the edge of the forest, and arrived at a boundless plain.
This is a suitable place for farming. Jiang Yunlan parted the weeds at her feet, squeezed the fertile black soil, and realized this.
There's a large river, fish, and clay here. A grove of trees is not far away, and the ocean can be found to the right. It's far from the location of the giant beast, making it a good habitat.
“Let’s make it here. From now on, this will be our clan’s settlement.” Jiang Yunlan stood on the riverbank and pointed to the grassland not far from the river.
She decided to settle here with the beastmen.
The beastmen from the forest and rocky regions were not used to the overly flat and empty grasslands. But looking at the place Lan was pointing to, an indescribable emotion welled up in their hearts, surging and turbulent.
"This is our habitat!" the beastmen shouted.
Hearing their joyful shouts, Jiang Yunlan couldn't help but feel happy too, and shouted along with them, "This is our home!"
"Home?" Mo Rong asked, puzzled. It was the first time he had heard Lan mention this word. He asked, "Does home mean a place of rest and shelter?"
“Home is a place to rest, and it means home to you all,” Jiang Yunlan said.
And so the beastmen understood that home was where their people were.
Jiang Yunlan and the orcs arrived at the plains at a moderate time, with only half the daylight remaining. Yan Duoyu led half of the adult orcs, pulling two empty wooden carts, into the forest to cut down trees. Jiang Yunlan, carrying 022, surveyed the surrounding terrain with her. She was planning the location of the clan houses and the width of the roads.
Establishing a tribe requires careful location planning in the early stages. She didn't want to experience the feeling of being stuck in traffic on Earth again, nor did she want the orcs to feel the oppressive atmosphere of cramped, densely packed urban villages.
Orcs need sunlight and a spacious, comfortable living environment.
Having roughly sketched out a map in his mind, Jiang Yunlan talked with 022 for a while and finally finalized the map for the clan's future.
Just then, Yan Duoyu and the other adult orcs rushed back, pulling a cart loaded with wood. Night had fallen, and the orcs cleared a fire pit, lit a campfire, and unloaded the items from the wooden cart.
The animals kept by the beastmen were tied to the edge of the woodpile. Two pairs of pheasants, three stone tree beasts, a nest of three white beasts…
The large blue-white bird and the hornless gray beast that had followed Jiang Yunlan the longest were not tied up like the others. These two small beasts had completely gotten used to being domesticated, and instead of running away, they would actively follow the beastmen as they searched for habitats.
"Little Grey, why are you chewing on plant leaves again? You really like chrysanthemum leaves." Jiang Yunlan helplessly picked up the little grey beast that was stealing chrysanthemum leaves and pinched its cheek.
It quickly chewed the chrysanthemum leaf in its mouth and swallowed it, baring its teeth at Jiang Yunlan. It had already eaten its food, and even if you pinched its cheeks, it wouldn't spit out a single bite.
Jiang Yunlan smiled, gave Xiao Hui's head a good rub, and tossed it away from the plants.
Its broken fangs, which had been replaced by Maple Red's, made it look incredibly fierce when it bared its teeth. But it only bared its teeth; it never actually bit any orc, which is why its sharp fangs were preserved.
Animals kept in the clan would always snatch a bite of any plant they saw, and both forest plants and crops grown in wooden barrels suffered at their hands. After that, Jiang Yunlan understood that animals and crops should never be kept too close.
She guarded against the animals eating the crops, but not so much against them eating the chrysanthemum leaves, and naturally she wasn't angry that Little Grey stole the chrysanthemum leaves.
Curly daisy leaves are very vigorous and easy to grow, and they are also very nutritious. Most of the plant feed she gave the animals consisted of curly daisy leaves.
Another crop used as animal feed is bluegrass, which produces small blue flowers.
The beastmen cultivated many of these two crops and also carefully nurtured edible crops: ginger sprouts, spring fruit sprouts, wild pea sprouts, prickly fruit sprouts...
Jiang Yunlan carefully nurtured the snake-repelling grass (which repels snakes and insects), the seven-flower (which has anti-inflammatory properties), and the highly poisonous *Atractylodes macrocephala* (whose fruit is extremely toxic), among other medicinal and poisonous plants, without letting the beastmen take over.
"Put the coarse salt from the vine basket next to the food," Jiang Yunlan said, pointing to the area where the food was piled up, looking at the tribespeople.
She discovered a ramie-like crop in the forest and brought all the ramie seeds with her. By the time she grows this new batch of ramie, she should have figured out the basic design of a spinning machine. Then, when she weaves linen, the beastmen will have new clothes to wear, and coarse salt can be put into burlap sacks without having to line the vine baskets with lots of leaves anymore.
Maple Red and the other orcs responded loudly, taking the coarse salt and the remaining food to the food storage area.
Seeing them busy at work, the butterfly beastmen silently began to inventory their own clan's belongings. They had learned the method of making fire-wheeled carts from Lan and could already craft their own wooden carts. Lan wanted to settle here with her people, but they could not stop their search for a new home.
The woods not far away were too small for them to settle down there.
By the time Jiang Yunlan and the beastmen finished organizing their belongings, it was already past midnight. They were all filled with an inexplicable excitement and completely unaware of how late it was.
"Aren't you all asleep yet?" Cai Baihua yawned, looking at them sleepily. All her people were asleep, only she was still awake.
Upon being reminded, Jiang Yunlan belatedly realized it was bedtime. She blinked and suddenly felt sleepy.
"Go to sleep now," she said, urging the tribespeople to go to bed quickly.
The excited Maple Syrup and other orcs were somewhat reluctant, and it took them a while to urge them to obediently lie down and rest.
Jiang Yunlan found it both amusing and helpless. She watched them close their eyes before turning around and walking to Cai Baihua's side. She asked softly, "You're still awake. Is something bothering you?"
Sitting atop her head, 022 also looked at Cai Baihua with a puzzled expression. Food, water, tools, wooden carts—the butterfly beastmen had everything. What else could they possibly be worried about?
“If Lan doesn’t come with us, then no orcs will guide us,” Cai Baihua sighed.
Jiang Yunlan's memories were instantly awakened. She suddenly remembered that all the butterfly beastmen were terrible with directions, and so was Alanya. They might get lost for a very long time before finding a new habitat on their own.
“Just follow the river. If you keep following the river, you’ll definitely find the forest,” Jiang Yunlan said.
Many rivers originate in mountains, and when they find new mountains, they probably find new forests.
Cai Baihua, who was pulling her hair from a headache, suddenly brightened up and stood up from the ground with joy. She was so excited that she almost raised her voice, but just a second before speaking, she remembered that the beastmen were all asleep, so she spoke in a very low voice: "Lan still has a way."
With her worries gone, she lay down peacefully to sleep and fell asleep in less than two seconds.
The vast grassland became even quieter. Jiang Yunlan put down 022 from above her head and lay down with it on the soft grass, gazing at the starry sky.
The Milky Way flowed across the night sky, accompanying Jiang Yunlan into her dreams.
Two hundred and twenty-seven days have passed since the end of the last snow season, and the sweltering temperatures have finally begun to drop. The seasons on this world seem to last longer than on Earth; perhaps she can plant a crop in the autumn.
The beastmen on night watch stayed with their sleeping kin until dawn.
Today is mostly cloudy, with no glaring sunlight, only a gentle breeze rustling the wild grass.
"Lan, let's set off." Cai Baihua led her people to stand in front of Jiang Yunlan, her tone light and cheerful.
Jiang Yunlan waved to the butterfly beastmen and said with a smile, "Have a safe journey, and I wish you find a new habitat soon."
"With Lan's blessing, I believe we will be able to find a new place to live soon," said Cai Baihua, waving to them before turning and walking to the wooden cart.
She walked for a while, then suddenly remembered something, turned sharply to look at the little squirrel-beastman cub, and asked loudly, "Lan! What is the name of your clan?"
Jiang Yunlan was stunned. She paused for two seconds, then flashed an even brighter smile and called out to the butterfly beastmen, "Its name is Xia—"
"My clan is the Xia clan—"
"I will carry your clan's name with me when I meet the other orcs! I will let them know that there is a beautiful clan in the forest named Xia!"
Cai Baihua withdrew her gaze from the Xia Clan and led the butterfly beastmen away. Their figures gradually disappeared, drawing closer to their future habitat.
After bidding farewell to the Yi clan, the Xia clan, who had settled on the plains, got busy.
The half-grown beastmen and half the adult beastmen stayed in their habitat, cultivating the fields under Lan's command, transferring the crops from the barrels to the fields. The cubs followed behind them, throwing the turf they dug up onto the open ground outside the farmland.
The other half of the adult orcs, having left their habitat, carried vine baskets and wooden buckets to the riverbank to dig for clay.
They were going to build earthen kilns to fire bricks and pottery.
There weren't many trees near the plains, and no rocks around, so wooden or stone houses couldn't be built. Jiang Yunlan had already decided that they would use a triangular wooden shelter as a temporary measure, and then slowly build a mud-brick house.
The beastmen, who had never truly experienced the pain of farming, initially thought that farming was like cultivating crops in a vehicle while searching for a habitat.
Even now, the orcs wielding hoes and brandishing their claws are sweating profusely, each bend or squat and rise bringing compounded pain and exhaustion. They can't help but howl in pain.
"Lan! Farming is so tiring!" The orcs were devastated.
Even the naturally strong Feng Hong showed an expression of self-doubt, her face full of questions like, "Who am I?", "Where am I?", and "What am I doing?".
Jiang Yunlan and her cubs buried the last clump of chrysanthemum leaves from the wooden bucket into the field, just as they heard the beastmen's wails. She looked up and saw that the area of land the beastmen had cultivated was larger than she had expected.
She decisively waved her hand, letting the animals rest.
Exhausted, the orcs collapsed onto the ground, refusing to get up. Their hands ached, their backs were sore, and their shoulders were so sore.
"Lan, after we finish cultivating the fields, we won't be so tired anymore, right?" Yan Duoyu struggled to sit up, looking at Jiang Yunlan with anticipation.
Jiang Yunlan met the beastmen's watery eyes and suddenly felt a pang of reluctance to tell them that farming meant being busy and exhausted every day. Especially now that crop yields were low, if they didn't cultivate a few more acres, the food they grew wouldn't be enough to feed all their tribespeople.
She hesitated for a while, then sighed helplessly and smiled, saying, "We won't be tired when we harvest the food. The food we're planting now will fill our stomachs in the winter."
She lied again; after harvesting the food, there was still much for them to do.
"Keep up the good work so you can have enough to eat!" she encouraged the people of her tribe with a smile.
The beastmen, sprawled on the ground, believed Lan's words. Their bodies were still exhausted, but their fighting spirit was ignited. It was all for the sake of having enough to eat!
In her first year on the plains, Jiang Yunlan didn't plan to plant too many crops in the fall. She only planted ramie and short-lived chrysanthemum leaves, and would have to rely on gathering and hunting for food this winter.
The orcs, now enraged, finished cultivating the area designated by Lan before nightfall, then lay motionless on the ground, like corpses that had just departed.
The orcs, including the cotton-bearers responsible for firing the pottery, were terrified by their reaction.
"Feng Hong, are you still alive?" Mianhua asked, her eyes wide and blank.
"I'm...alive," Feng Hong said weakly.
Jiang Yunlan finished cooking dinner with the cubs, looked up at the beastmen sprawled on the ground, and shouted, "Dinner's ready!"
The zombies in the ground sprang to their feet instantly, howling as they ran over, looking like demons reincarnated.
"Okay! Let's eat!"
Seeing that they still had the energy to come to eat, Jiang Yunlan was relieved. They weren't particularly exhausted; it was just that it was their first time experiencing this kind of fatigue, and they hadn't gotten used to it yet.
The cubs, carrying wooden spoons and newly fired ceramic bowls, handed them one by one to the beastmen who ran over.
"Go wash your hands before you eat. Orcs who come without washing their hands won't get any food," Jiang Yunlan said with a smile, giving the filthy orcs a death stare.
Feng Hong, who had almost caught the bowl and spoon, paused and immediately turned and ran to the earthenware jar. Yan Duoyu reacted quickly and ran to the earthenware jar at the same time as her.
The two orcs stared at the only wooden spoon in the earthenware jar, remained silent for a second, and then almost simultaneously reached out their hands to snatch the spoon.
Lan once said that you shouldn't put your hands directly into the ceramic jar when washing your hands.
Maple Red and Rock Rain fought fiercely, splashing mud from their clothes into the earthenware jar. Gray Honey and the other orcs, who were a few steps behind, saw the scene of them scrambling for the wooden spoon and promptly moved to another earthenware jar to wash their hands.
The older Grey Honey held the wooden spoon, washed her own hands first, and then fetched water for the orc behind her to wash her hands.
Then she reached out to the beastmen near the earthenware jar, obediently washed her hands, took the bowls and spoons handed to her by the cubs, and silently walked to Lan to line up for food.
Every beastman who was farming had finished washing their hands, but Maple Red and Rock Rain were still fighting over the wooden spoon.
The battle has reached a critical stage.
Finally, Feng Hong used her immense strength to hold down Yan Duoyu's hands and successfully obtained the wooden spoon. Yan Duoyu wasn't disappointed at losing; she stood by and waited for her to wash her hands.
The two orcs washed their hands, bumped fists, and happily turned around, only to be dumbfounded when they saw their tribesmen already eating.
Wait, why are we the only two who haven't eaten yet?
Jiang Yunlan heard the two girls stop playing around, looked up and said gently, "Have you washed your hands? Come and eat, the food is ready for you."
She stretched out her chopsticks and gestured towards the two bowls of food placed beside her. She remembered exactly how much food each of the beastmen in her tribe ate at each meal.
The two depressed orcs instantly cheered up, happily ran to Lan's side, picked up the huge bowl, and began to eat.
After dinner, the cubs put away their bowls and spoons and took them to the earthenware jar to wash them with the clean water. The semi-adult and adult beastmen carried logs and followed Jiang Yunlan to the residential area.
"Let's set up the shelters in these locations first, and build the rest tomorrow." Jiang Yunlan raised her hand and drew five areas.
The five shelters couldn't accommodate all the orcs, but they were enough for the cubs and semi-adults.
The beastmen responded, hammering and banging on the wood to build a sturdy triangular frame. Sod dug from the ground was used to cover the frame, creating a new shelter together with the wood.
In less than three days, all the beastmen of the Xia clan had a place to sleep, the fields for planting ramie were cleared, and rows of mud bricks in the kiln area were waiting to be fired.
"It's almost time to select the members for the hunting and gathering teams." Jiang Yunlan, with 022 above her head, pondered as she looked at the drowsy beastmen emerging from the shelter. It was early morning, and it was almost time for her to assign tasks, but she hadn't yet decided on the leaders for the hunting and gathering teams.
To be precise, she hadn't yet decided whether the two orcs, Maple Red and Rock Rain, should be the leader of the hunting team and the gathering team.
"Lan, are we going to farm again today?" Feng Hong yawned, rubbed her eyes, and asked, her words muffled. It always took her a long time to fully wake up after getting up.
Jiang Yunlan walked over to Feng Hong, who was squatting in front of her, and asked, "Do you like farming?"
“I don’t like it,” Feng Hong replied without hesitation, “but I like food.”
Farming was hard work, and she didn't like it. But she loved crops that brought her food, so even though farming was hard, she was willing to do it.
Jiang Yunlan had spent so much time with her that he could understand what she was trying to say.
"Feng Hong, would you like to be the captain of the gathering team?" Jiang Yunlan asked. She had a talent for identifying plants, so perhaps she was the best candidate to be the captain of the gathering team.
Maple Leaf was pleasantly surprised, her eyes lighting up as she excitedly asked, "Are we going to find new food? Where are we going? Is Lan coming along too?"
“Yes, we should be back from gathering new food. You lead the gathering team to explore the surrounding area. I’ll stay with the clan and won’t be going with you,” Jiang Yunlan said.
Yan Duoyu came out of the shelter just in time to hear those two sentences. She ran up to them and asked, "Are you going out? I want to go too!"
"Don't worry, you'll be going out too. Yan Duoyu, would you like to become the captain of the hunting team and bring back food for the people?" Jiang Yunlan turned around and asked her with a smile.
【Yan Duoyu, from now on you will be the captain of the hunting party. Go, go and bring back food for the people.】
Yan Duoyu vaguely thought she was seeing the scene of her first time becoming the captain of the hunting team. She froze, blinked, and stared blankly down at Lan's dark eyes.
She laughed, her expression flamboyant and enthusiastic, exactly the same as when she took over as captain of the hunting party. "Lan! I will bring back lots and lots of food for my people!"
-----------------------
Author's note: Happy Lunar New Year, my little angels!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
