Chapter 57: Shattered Fantasy
"Chief, a group of tourists have arrived from the southern forest."
In the evening, Uncaria, who was in charge of patrolling the southern forests, quickly ran to Jiang Xuan to report.
"How many people are there?"
"Well... there are a lot of people anyway."
Uncaria was a little embarrassed because he could only count simply and he couldn't count because there were too many.
It's not just Uncaria rhynchophylla. Most of the tribesmen have poor counting skills and can only count roughly. This has a lot to do with the fact that they have not received education.
Only people like Wu who have a lot of knowledge and heritage are a little stronger than them.
Jiang Xuan patted his shoulder in understanding and said, "Take me over to have a look."
"good."
Gou Teng immediately took Jiang Xuan to the southern forest, and Chi Shao and others followed closely behind.
On the way, Jiang Xuan thought that it was necessary to teach the tribesmen simple and easy-to-write numbers, as well as simple addition and subtraction. Otherwise, as the tribe's supplies and population increased in the future, they would not be able to count them.
This can be done in winter when the mountains are closed due to heavy snow, because that is when you have the most free time.
As for the group of tourists, after they approached the Teng Tribe, they first saw dozens of skulls hanging on the trees swaying in the wind and were frightened.
I finally mustered up the courage to walk through that area and saw the giant eagle returning from foraging.
A huge eagle landed in front of them, creating a gust of wind that scared the tourists so much that they almost fled in all directions.
Fortunately, Jingjie discovered that the giant eagle did not attack them, so he forcibly stabilized the tourists.
After much difficulty, they arrived at the outskirts of the Teng tribe. By this time, it was already dark, but the giant bonfire in the Teng tribe's fields was still burning.
"There's a house in front."
The sharp-eyed tourists discovered the house where the old witch lived.
"That big bird was also next to the house, my god, it was taller than the house."
"It should be the tribe's war pet, right?"
The tourists were chattering and were happy to have found the place where the smoke was rising.
"This must be a big tribe to have such a powerful battle pet!"
Jingjie became even more excited. He walked forward quickly and finally left the dense jungle and came to the outskirts of the Teng tribe.
The giant eagle looked at them coldly, then pecked at the meat.
The old witch was not surprised by the arrival of these tourists, because he knew that the bonfire was lit to attract tourists.
The old witch used a stone knife to cut a piece of meat from the prey, then returned to the house and threw it into a clay pot to boil.
He is old and his teeth are not very good, so he needs to cook the meat in a clay pot for a long time until it is tender before he can eat it.
"Look, Chief! What a big vine!"
Just when Jingjie was about to go to the bamboo house to inquire, a tourist saw the huge ancient vine wrapped around the stone mountain at a glance.
At this time, the setting sun was gradually sinking, and the last ray of sunlight shone on the ancient vine, covering the entire vine with a layer of orange-red color, making the ancient vine look even more mysterious.
Jingjie looked at the huge ancient vine on the stone mountain with a dull look in his eyes. This scene brought him a strong psychological shock.
"This is the territory of the Teng tribe. Which tribe are you from?"
Just then, a voice drew Jingjie's attention back to the ground from the ancient vines on the stone mountain.
Jingjie saw Jiang Xuan and the Teng tribe warriors behind him at a glance.
He saw the totem patterns on the faces of Jiang Xuan and others, as well as the iconic horizontal warrior patterns.
Jingjie said hurriedly: "We are a group of travelers who have lost our tribe. We are looking for a tribe willing to take us in."
A female tourist added: "We came here because we saw the thick smoke."
Jiang Xuan was delighted, it turned out to be a tourist.
However, Chishao tugged at his fur coat and whispered in his ear, "There are too many tourists..."
Jiang Xuan roughly counted the huge crowds of tourists and found that there were actually hundreds of them, which far exceeded his psychological expectations.
There are indeed too many tourists coming.
It was dark, and Jing Jie did not notice the subtle change in Jiang Xuan's expression. He asked anxiously, "Is this a big tribe?"
Jiang Xuan shook his head helplessly and sighed: "No, we are just a small tribe."
Jiang Xuan's words, like a bolt from the blue, abruptly shattered Jing Jie's beautiful dream.
All along, what supported Jingjie and this group of travelers to survive was the idea of finding a large tribe to take them in.
Even though so many people died and so many were injured along the way, he gritted his teeth and persevered.
When he saw the column of smoke, he was more excited than ever before, because he felt that he had finally found the big tribe.
But now, this dream is shattered.
Jingjie looked around blankly. He only saw seven or eight bamboo houses and an empty field of crops.
As the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The huge psychological gap between dreams and reality almost made him collapse.
"How...how could this happen..."
Jingjie stood there blankly, mouth slightly open, looking extremely helpless and bewildered.
The smiles on the faces of those tourists froze, and then turned into disappointment and despair.
Jiang Xuan felt their emotional changes and felt very uncomfortable for some reason, but his Teng tribe really couldn't accommodate so many tourists.
Jiang Xuan said softly: "We plan to recruit thirty tourists."
Jing Jie finally came back to his senses. He said with difficulty: "But...but we have far more than thirty tourists here."
A middle-aged tourist at the back cried, "The weather is getting colder and colder. It will snow soon. Without the tribe to take us in, we will die. All of us will die."
"I don't want to die, wuwuwu..."
A sad mood spread among the tourists and cries were heard everywhere.
A stronger tourist squeezed out, walked up to Jiang Xuan, showed off his arm muscles, and said urgently: "Take me in, I'm strong and can help the tribe hunt."
The other tourists also reacted and rushed to Jiang Xuan, clamoring to join the Teng tribe.
They were afraid that others would be taken in, but they would be abandoned and eventually die in the jungle.
Only Jingjie remained silent. He had not yet recovered from the shattered state of his dream.
In the bamboo house not far away, the old witch walked to the door and looked at this side with interest. He wanted to see how Jiang Xuan would deal with this situation.
"Stop arguing!"
Jiang Xuan was annoyed by the noise, so he yelled loudly, scaring the tourists so much that they retreated one after another and dared not say a word for a while.
Because they were afraid that if they angered Jiang Xuan and he refused to take any of them in, they would really have nowhere to go.
Jiang Xuan lowered his head and forced himself to think calmly.
If we want to be more ruthless, we can follow our previous idea and only recruit thirty tourists in the best physical condition.
But in this case, the remaining tourists may not survive this winter.
Think of it another way. If more than a hundred tourists could all be taken into the Teng tribe, the population of the Teng tribe would be greatly supplemented at once, and it would become a real small tribe rather than a micro tribe.
Of course, there are risks. With so many tourists, the existing food in the Teng tribe will definitely not be enough, and people may starve to death.
Jiang Xuan felt torn because the Teng tribe was too fragile and could be destroyed in an instant if he was not careful, but he did not want to miss the opportunity to quickly expand his population.
Jiang Xuan turned around, looked at Chishao, Uncaria and the others, and asked, "What do you think?"
Chi Shao looked at Jiang Xuan with trusting eyes and said, "You are the leader, you make the decision."
Gou Teng and others nodded. In their inherent impression, these major events were decided by the leader or the witch.
The Teng tribe has no witch, so the chief needs to make decisions alone.
Jiang Xuan looked back at the ancient vines on the stone mountain, then at the vast farmland of the Teng Tribe, and finally at the small river in the distance. An idea slowly formed in his mind.
"Everyone, step back and let me talk to your leader!"
Jiang Xuan just heard someone calling Jingjie the leader, and there was a horizontal line on Jingjie's face, which showed that he was a warrior. He should have a certain prestige among these tourists.
The tourists were nervous, but they did not dare to disobey Jiang Xuan's words, so they slowly retreated and let Jingjie stand in front.
"I know you feel very sad, but the most important thing right now is how to keep you alive, right?"
Jiang Xuan's words, coupled with the will to survive, made Jing Jie slowly raise his head.
He was not a fragile person, but the blow of his dream being shattered was too great for him to recover for a while.
Jiang Xuan saw the light in Jing Jie's eyes returning, so he said, "There are two ways now. Listen."
"One is that I will select thirty of you to join the Teng Tribe, but the weather is getting colder and colder. I'm afraid it will snow before the others find another tribe. I don't need to explain the consequences, right?"
Jingjie nodded but said nothing.
"The second method is for all of you to stay outside the Teng Tribe. We can help build houses to keep you warm, and we will also provide the food needed for 30 people."
"You will need to work hard to find the remaining food. Anyone who can survive this winter can join the Vine Tribe."
Jingjie said with difficulty: "It will snow soon. Where can we find food?"
Those tourists also had sad eyes, obviously thinking that there was no food to be found in the winter and many of them would starve to death.
Jiang Xuan said: "Don't worry, I have a way for you to find food in the winter. As long as you work hard, plus the rations for thirty people provided by the Teng Tribe, most of you will definitely be able to survive."
Jiang Xuan glanced at the ancient vine on the stone mountain again, then turned back to Jing Jie and said, "You don't have to reply to me now. I will ask someone to help build a temporary shelter for you tonight and give you some food."
"Tomorrow at noon, the Teng tribe will hold a sacrifice ceremony. You can watch the ceremony. After the ceremony, you can tell me your choice."
After listening to Jiang Xuan's words, Jing Jie nodded helplessly. He really needed time to think about it carefully.
Jiang Xuan turned around and said to Uncaria: "Go find Gan Song and the others, light a bonfire, and help these tourists build sheds."
"good!"
Gou Teng immediately returned to the tribe and called Gan Song and others over.
Soon, a bunch of bonfires were lit outside the Teng tribe. The tourists and the tribesmen worked together to build temporary sheds as shelters, preparing to spend the night here.
After setting up the tent, Jiang Xuan had people deliver some food to the tourists so that they could barely fill their stomachs, but it was impossible for them to get full.
Finally, the more than one hundred tourists moved into temporary sheds, guarding the campfire, anxiously waiting for their fate tomorrow.
Thanks to the book friend "Why do I write books so slowly" for the reward and for becoming the steward of this book.
Thanks to “Book Friend 20171021184320119” for the reward.
Thanks to the book friend "Yun Zhike" for the reward.
(End of this chapter)
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