The strange wolf-beastmen came from the Xia clan of the forest.
Jiang Yunlan and her clansmen worked busily for half a day, tanning some of the clan's animal hides.
They took the tanned hides back to the clan and hung them on wooden racks to dry, awaiting a second tanning. Hides that had only been tanned once were still somewhat stiff and needed to be tanned twice more.
A breeze picked up on the grassland. A light gust of wind stirred the animal hides, large and small, hanging on the drying rack.
The largest animal hide on the drying rack could be made into a garment, while the smallest could only be made into a glove. However, each hide was firmly clamped to the wooden drying rack by the animal people using wooden clips.
The orcs hung up the animal skins, and it was just time to prepare for lunch.
So the orcs crowded around the earthenware jars, preparing ingredients and getting ready to cook. While they were chopping vegetables and cooking, Jiang Yunlan set up an earthenware pot to boil soap.
"Glug glug." A fragrant aroma wafts over.
The soap making and lunch preparation were completed at the same time.
Jiang Yunlan scooped the still-warm soap solution into the wooden container, just in time to smell the aroma of food. Today's meal was stew and braised meat.
"Lan, it's time for lunch," 022, perched on her head, reminded her.
She responded, quickly scooped out the last of the soap solution, washed her hands briefly, and went to eat with the tribespeople. From then on, this pot, which hadn't been cleaned yet, would be used exclusively for boiling soap.
Jiang Yunlan scooped up the food for her tribesmen and picked up her chopsticks to eat. Few beastmen in the tribe knew how to use chopsticks; only those who did possess a pair of wooden chopsticks.
She thought for a moment and decided to send the orcs from the gathering team to the river that afternoon to fill the earthenware jars with water and bring them back. Once they returned, she would take them to refine coarse salt, and have Maple Red lead two orcs to patrol the clan's territory.
The animal fat in the earthenware jar wasn't enough to tan all the animal hides in the tribe, so they had to arrange other work for the afternoon.
As for the cubs who stayed in the tribe, their task was to make wooden chopsticks.
Including her, there were forty-two orcs in the tribe. Twenty-one of them were adults, eight were semi-adults, and thirteen were cubs.
There are currently six pairs of chopsticks in the tribe. The cubs only need to make another thirty-six pairs of chopsticks this afternoon, and each orc will have a pair of chopsticks.
While eating, Jiang Yunlan pondered how to teach the beastmen arithmetic and writing. They were very enthusiastic about learning to read Chinese, but when it came to writing, they would scratch their heads and hands, looking up at the sky and the ground.
While searching for a habitat, she taught them word by word, intermittently, until they finally learned how to write the characters for all kinds of objects. Sometimes she was so anxious that she wanted to grab their shoulders and shout, "Come and learn! Don't be illiterate!"
As expected, when it comes to studying, you still have to push them to learn. Jiang Yunlan couldn't help but sigh inwardly, and her eating speed slowed down by a few minutes.
"Lan, we're full. What are we going to do this afternoon?" Feng Hong put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth, and asked energetically.
"You need to go to the river and fetch water first," Jiang Yunlan said, explaining their afternoon's task.
The orcs in the gathering team understood and followed Feng Hong as he loaded the empty earthenware jars onto the cart and hauled it to the river to fill them with water. They watered the farmland every morning, so filling the water containers was a familiar task for them.
They left their seats, and the cubs, having finished their meal, got up to clean up the mess.
Jiang Yunlan glanced at the half-eaten food in her bowl, silently banished her thoughts, and sped up. She couldn't shake the bad habit of thinking while eating, and every time she started thinking, she ate even slower.
A squirrel-like beastman cub picked up the large bowl next to her, stared at the food in her hand, and swallowed hard.
Jiang Yunlan noticed the cub's pause, looked up at it, and asked gently, "Did you not eat enough this time, Gray Feather?"
Gray Feather shook her head, took the empty bowl away, her eyes still yearning for food. She was full, but still wanted to eat. However, she knew she couldn't eat anymore; if she did, she would vomit.
On one occasion, when Lan asked her if she wanted to eat more, she did.
She accidentally ate too much and ate so much that she vomited, which startled Lan and the others. So she had to resist the urge to eat, even if she wanted to.
Grayfeather endured it, and the other cubs put their empty bowls in the washing area, waiting for the beastmen from the gathering team to bring back water.
Jiang Yunlan watched their retreating figures, then lowered her head and furiously shoveled food into her bowl. The squirrel-beast cubs had been starving before, and although they had been eating their fill recently, they still longed for more.
Jiang Yunlan stuffed the last two bites of food into her mouth, chewed as she stood up, handed the bowls and chopsticks to the cubs, and turned to walk to the food storage area. She discovered several kinds of edible mushrooms. Once she figured out how to cultivate them, the clan would have even more food options.
If she can keep the tribespeople well-fed, then there will be no more tribespeople who are hungry even though they are full.
"022, is this plant suitable for preparing substrate?" Jiang Yunlan took out a plant and asked 022 above her head.
"The plant on your right is more suitable."
Jiang Yunlan understood and replaced the plant in her hand.
She searched for suitable substrate for cultivating mushrooms, and also picked out some tree species. The nearby forest area was neither too large nor too small; it couldn't be excessively logged and its ecosystem damaged, so she needed to plant a batch of fast-growing trees as soon as possible.
The orcs from the gathering team brought back water and looked up to see Lan and 022 almost buried in the pile of food seeds.
"Lan, we're back!" Feng Hong shouted from afar, her voice carrying a powerful force.
Jiang Yunlan, who was engrossed in rummaging through items, looked up upon hearing this, her furry ears twitching at the opportune moment. She then addressed the approaching tribespeople, saying, "The water's ready. Come and get the coarse salt."
The beastmen responded and carried the vine baskets filled with coarse salt to the fire pit.
The pot for boiling salt could be used together with the pot for cooking rice, so they washed the earthenware pot that the cubs hadn't yet cleaned and took the clean pot over.
Jiang Yunlan picked up the coarse salt, dissolved it in water, filtered the salt water through a fine mesh woven from plants, poured the filtered liquid with impurities into an earthenware pot, and placed it over a fire.
The orcs watched Lan's movements and followed along, repeating the tedious steps with serious expressions and meticulous precision. Lan had said that this was very important.
Jiang Yunlan was sifting through the brine to remove impurities and particles when she suddenly heard Feng Hong calling her from afar.
“Lan! Several wolf-beastmen who have transformed into beast forms have appeared nearby. They've been circling around our clan, and my sister spotted them.”
"Wolf-beastmen?" Jiang Yunlan frowned, shoved the fine net in her hand to a tribesman beside her, and quickly got up and walked toward Feng Hong. "Is this where Feng Tang and the others are making mud bricks? Take me to see."
022, who was watching the salt solution in the earthenware pot, jumped and landed precisely on Lan's head.
Ah Bai, who was also responsible for patrolling the area, picked up Lan and carried her to the location where the earthen kiln had been built. Seeing this, Feng Hong and the remaining beastmen hurriedly caught up with the two beastmen.
Earthen kiln area.
Maple Syrup stood on the grass, bow in one hand and arrow in the other, watching the orcs lurking not far away warily. She couldn't walk fast, and even running was difficult, but she had honed her archery skills to become the best in her tribe.
If any of the wolf-beastmen nearby dare to harm her people, she will make sure they never return.
“Maple Syrup, don’t be nervous. Let me ask them why they’re here.”
Jiang Yunlan, who had arrived here, stepped down from the ground, spoke to comfort Maple Sugar, and looked up at the grassland wolf-beastmen opposite.
The brown-yellow wolf was surprised to see several more orcs appear from the clan before it, and they were of different races. It instinctively took a few steps forward, as if trying to figure out just how many kinds of orcs this strange clan had.
"Hello, we are from the Xia clan. May I ask which clan of beastmen you belong to?" Jiang Yunlan asked.
The languages of the plains and the forests are not much different, and the wolf-orc understood the orc language she spoke.
“Hati,” the wolf-orc standing in front said.
They didn't completely enter the Xia clan's territory, but instead kept their eyes on the approaching beastmen from a distance.
"Orcs of the Hatti clan, what brings you to our Xia clan?" Jiang Yunlan asked again.
The wolf-orc at the front glanced at the strangely dressed cub with a crystal tucked into its body, and snorted in dissatisfaction: "Where is your clan leader? Let your leader come out and speak. What kind of nonsense is it to send out a cub? Are you looking down on us?!"
"Well, actually, I am the patriarch of the Xia clan." Jiang Yunlan said, raising her hand to hold down the clansmen behind her who were angrily kicking their feet.
The brown-haired, blue-eyed wolf-orc lowered her eyes, met Jiang Yunlan's gaze, and chuckled, "Fine. The clan leader is from the cubs' clan? We understand." She let out a howl, glanced again at the orcs present, and left the Xia clan's territory with her people.
Jiang Yunlan watched their departing figures, her mind filled with questions. What exactly were they doing here?
A few seconds of silence followed. Mo Rong spoke first, her brows furrowed deeply, "Lan, the orcs of this clan are a bit strange."
"It's been a long time since I've encountered such an arrogant and conceited orc. It feels so familiar, it makes my fists itch." Feng Hong exhaled sharply from his chest.
If Lan hadn't stopped her, she would have gone up and punched those wolf-beastmen. She simply couldn't tolerate them looking at her with such contempt.
So what if they're not carnivorous beastmen? Does that make them inferior?!
"Alright, alright, don't be angry. We still have a lot to do, don't worry about such trivial matters." Jiang Yunlan gently persuaded the sulking clansmen, and ordered three more orcs to patrol the clan's territory.
The orcs from the Hatti clan arrived too strangely; we should increase our vigilance recently.
Jiang Yunlan and her people returned to the hearth to continue refining salt. The wolf-beastmen who had left the Xia clan ran quickly and disappeared into the earthen-mound-like houses.
"Chief, we have already inquired about the new clan," the wolf-beastman said as he led his people back.
Hati, who was resting on the animal skin, turned to them, raised his hand to prop up his head, and opened his sharp, emerald green eyes. "How is it, Lup?"
"That was a clan as strange as it looked, and it was even a mixed-race clan. There weren't many adult orcs in their clan, but there were quite a few cubs. What I found most unbelievable was that they actually said their chieftain was a cub, and not even a carnivorous orc." Lup couldn't help but laugh as she recalled what she had seen.
"In short, they are a clan that is not to be feared," she said confidently.
After hearing her explanation, Hati instantly lost interest in this weak clan. He rolled back onto the animal skin and said in a muffled voice, "You know what to do. Don't bother asking about that clan anymore."
“Of course. This is a small matter, no need for the clan leader to intervene,” Lup said with a smile.
Hati waved his hand dismissively, "After all, they're a weak clan that just arrived. Don't scare them too much. Forget about the food this time; let them bring out some novel items."
"Don't wake me before the next hunt, I want to sleep."
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Author's Note: This story contains many personal settings. Some names are borrowed from real-world names, but their actual appearances are different. (Please consider all differences as personal settings.) For example, the beast form of the grassland wolf beastmen is not actually a grassland wolf; they are just wolf beastmen who live on the grassland.
*
The little angel "Mu^Mu^Lin" sprinkled 5 units of nutrient solution, increasing the survival rate of the mushrooms that were about to be cultivated.
The little angel "Wisdom of Vishdel" curse potion x1, a werewolf beastman on his way to commit evil was suddenly hit on the head by bird droppings falling from the sky.
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