The central building is from the Xia clan of the forest.
Jiang Yunlan had been back in the clan for a day.
The clothing meant for the unicorns to be delivered during the hot season was still being spun and was not yet fully completed. Therefore, she remained in the habitat and did not travel to the unicorn clan's location.
Feng Qi, the captain of the weaving team, only heard the news of Lan's return very late last night, and missed the time to talk to Lan.
So this morning, she made a special trip to the bottom of the building before it opened to wait.
After the central building was completed, everyone came here to collect work points or report on matters.
For example, the central building in the image of the character "中" (zhong) lying on the ground consists of three buildings side by side, with the middle building being taller than the buildings on either side. The three buildings have doors on the outside and doors connecting them on the inside.
The first room in the central building, the leftmost room. Grey Honey organizes the tasks the clan needs to distribute, and tallies the daily work points received and remaining for the orcs. The clan's resources are also tallied here.
The second room, the central room, is used to manage all the clan's affairs, big and small. It's a great place to find storm grotesques and maple syrup.
The third room, the rightmost room, is currently unused by any orc. It's used to store clan information and the history of Xia. Since there are no orcs in the clan that 022 has chosen as "historical recorders," it has to write Xia's history itself.
Summer's history began to be written from the day Lan was found.
Paper is not a suitable medium for preserving history for posterity, so 022 will use paper and ink to record it first. When a suitable medium for recording history appears, it will find orcs to engrave the history of Xia on it.
"Lan, there are already orcs waiting for you in the central building. It seems to be something very important." 022 nestled on Jiang Yunlan's head, reminding her as she looked at the figure below the eaves.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yunlan looked up and saw Feng Qi waiting in front of the central room.
"What's wrong, Feng Qi?" She came to Feng Qi's side and asked calmly.
Feng Qi habitually squatted down, meeting Lan's eyes, and smoothly uttered the words that had replayed in her mind countless times, "Lan, we've spun all the cloth for making clothes, but there's still some hemp thread left. Should we spin that thread into a woven fabric like Xue Ji did?"
Lan had said that when she wasn't around, people could ask Maple Syrup about clan matters. But Feng Qi felt that things related to work points were too important, and she wanted to talk to Lan directly.
"Weaving. Everyone really enjoys shopping these days, but they're all a bit frustrated that they can only exchange for so few crafting points. This time, for the weaving points, the original thread will still be dyed according to the color scheme Xueji mentioned. Thank you all for your hard work during this time." After Jiang Yunlan finished speaking, she reached out and touched the head of the horse-beastman.
Many orcs enjoyed having their heads patted by her; she would pat their heads whenever she praised or comforted them. Perhaps it was because she had done this so many times that the orcs liked having their heads patted by her.
"The shaping and cutting after spinning the fabric should be done the same way as during the snow season," she added, a detail she had almost missed.
The work points were a form of exchange introduced by her at the same time as the work points were established, and could be considered the earliest form of currency in Xia.
Cloth cut into small circles, medium triangles, medium squares, and large five-pointed stars can be exchanged for one work point, three work points, four work points, and ten work points, respectively.
Since only Xia possesses textile technology and no orcs can replicate cloth currency, Xia can fully utilize cloth currency to promote trade before currency is made from ore.
When designing the samples and molds for the distributed coins, Jiang Yunlan carefully compared their sizes to ensure that there wouldn't be a situation where a single square coin was modified into two triangular coins for use.
Initially, the Xia clan had limited work points available, with each orc only able to exchange for a fixed amount of cloth coins. Orcs who didn't use up their cloth coins couldn't exchange work points for new ones. Because of this rule, the orcs didn't have the habit of saving cloth coins; they only exchanged work points for cloth coins when they needed to spend them.
If a large amount of work points needs to be spent at once, the orcs will invite Grey Honey, who is in charge of work points, to the shop. In front of the orc managing the shop, Grey Honey will cross off the work points spent and record in the shop's ledger a certain date, how many work points a certain orc spent to purchase a certain item.
To prevent any strange occurrences, Jiang Yunlan informed all the animals in the habitat of the methods for preserving and using the artificially distributed cloth coins when issuing them.
Xia will not accept damaged work distributions, and it is forbidden to alter or create work distributions without permission. Any orc who violates Xia's laws must be punished. If you are unwilling to obey Xia's laws, then leave Xia.
The Xiafa stele, standing in the habitat near the residential area, is visible to the orcs every day as they come and go. Even those orcs who don't quite understand the Xiafa script already know what the Xia clan forbids when Lan explains the Xiafa to them step by step.
...
After finishing her morning's work in the central building, Jiang Yunlan took 022 and went out for lunch.
The central building was far from the residential area and closer to the soldiers' training ground and treatment room, so she simply went to the second canteen there for lunch.
After a quick lunch, Jiang Yunlan left the second canteen and stopped by a nearby general store to check on the trading area. The flower season was almost over, and while the clan's general store was operating reasonably well, the trading area, which would be used by the visiting beastmen next flower season, was still just an empty shell.
She couldn't find the time to plan this part, so she happily decided to wait until the snow season.
Responding to every orc who called her name along the way, Jiang Yunlan happened to bump into Cotton, who was walking towards her. She saw Cotton stop in front of her and slowly take out a plant strip that was carefully wrapped in an animal skin bag.
"Lan, here you go." He handed over a whole packet of plant strips.
Jiang Yunlan looked at the unopened plant strips, which were obviously bought from the cafeteria not long ago, and said, "I don't eat these, you can keep them."
She has a mild sensitivity to sugar and rarely eats anything too sweet. The plant-based strips were too sweet for her.
Hearing this, Cotton finally realized that Lan, who had once given him a whole bag of plant-based snacks, actually didn't like this kind of food. He put the snacks away with some regret. He had thought Lan liked them.
It's okay, he'll buy other food for Lan next time.
Jiang Yunlan had been fed by the orcs so many times that she understood his reaction in almost a second and quietly said, "Actually, you don't need to give me food. I can buy it myself."
He blinked, didn't nod, and used the tactic of changing the subject: "Where are you going, Lan? I'll carry you there."
Jiang Yunlan was used to the beastmen's unconventional thinking and was successfully diverted from the topic.
"I'm going to check out the general store. No need to carry me there, no need to put me on your back, even if you turn into your beast form and I carry you, I don't need it. I can walk by myself." She finished speaking with a hint of confusion. Back in their habitat, none of the other beastmen would ask her this before she even spoke. Only Cotton would ask, every single time.
She couldn't understand and asked why.
Hearing this, Lan seemed puzzled, but Mianhua was even more confused. She said matter-of-factly, "Because Lan is Lan, so I must protect Lan and help Lan."
This has nothing to do with how many snow seasons Lan has spent, nor with whether Lan is powerful or not. It's simply because Lan is Lan.
When he first met Arashi, Maple Syrup said she would protect him. He remembered that during the fruit and snow seasons, and he still remembers it now.
Lan is very important; we must protect Lan and help Lan.
The things that the slow-witted sheep-beastman holds in his heart are hard to change with the passage of time. Even if Lan becomes very powerful and omnipotent, in Cotton's heart, Lan will always need to be protected.
If Lan wants to go somewhere, then take Lan there. If Lan wants something, then let Lan get that thing.
He will help Lan in his own way.
"Huh? But shouldn't it be—" I'm the one protecting him?
Jiang Yunlan abruptly stopped speaking, not uttering the second half of her sentence.
Something's not right. Why are we suddenly talking about this? She looked hesitantly at the cotton plants, which were only just reaching maturity this flowering season, and felt that something was off.
When orcs reach adulthood, do they suddenly grow up? Why does she see the shadow of Gray Honey in Cotton, that protective demeanor so much?
"No need," she said instinctively, feeling even more confused.
Does she not need anything? Does she not need protection, or does she not need help?
Jiang Yunlan fled in panic, completely forgetting how she managed to reply to the cotton in her confusion. She walked towards the general store, forcefully suppressing the awkward feeling in her heart.
She didn't do anything wrong. She's not really a cub, and shouldn't be treated like one in the first place. She's the clan leader, and as the clan leader, it's her job to protect all the clan members.
She convinced herself and stopped feeling awkward.
022 looked at her silently, making no attempt to comfort her. Lan only wanted to rely on her own problems, problems that couldn't be solved with a few words.
Even now, Xia can't rely on Lan. The orcs are too dependent on Lan; their worship of Lan has blinded them. Apart from Gray Honey and Cotton, no orc notices that Lan herself also needs help.
No one is omnipotent.
Upon arriving at the general store, Jiang Yunlan took the wish slip from inside without lingering for a second, then turned and stepped onto the path back to the central building.
She went back to deal with clan matters and calm herself down.
Before she even entered the central building, she encountered another member of her tribe on the street who struck up a conversation with her.
The little boy, holding his own storybook, shyly handed it to Lan with the support of his friends.
Before Lan went to the mountainous region, the rock squirrel cub met Lan in the library where all of Xia's books were kept. He was a cub who loved reading storybooks, and he had read Lan's stories countless times.
Until that day, he was seen by Lan again in the library, and Lan said to him, "I've discovered that you really like storybooks. Want to try writing stories? Orcs who read stories can also become orcs who write stories."
"Lan, this is a story I wrote." He held the picture book in both hands, looking at Lan expectantly.
The child's clear, young eyes gazed at Jiang Yunlan. She couldn't help but smile, taking the first story that the child had spent a long time writing with both hands, and opened it to read.
Look, this is what real cubs look like, like budding flowers. They are the ones who need protection and help.
What she wanted to protect were these cubs, and the beastmen who were just as pure as the cubs.
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Author's Note: The difference between Gray Honey and Cotton is actually quite significant. Gray Honey is transforming into an elder, while Cotton is becoming a fanatic. The kind of fanatic who thinks, "Lan needs me, I must protect Lan," and is willing to pay the ultimate price for Lan's every thought.
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