I am a Primitive Man
Chapter 353 – The Nostalgia of the Fire Tribe
Autumn’s steps were swift, and even though Han Cheng and the others were traveling by boat, they were still caught up with her along the way. At first, they didn’t notice, but when a gust of wind blew, and a tree by the river shed a flurry of yellow leaves, Han Cheng realized with surprise that autumn had already arrived so deeply.
Amidst the fluttering yellow leaves like butterflies, Han Cheng and the others stopped the boat by the shore and stepped onto the flaxen land adorned with tattered flags of the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Flaxen land, as named by Han Cheng, had no flax but rather wild hemp plants towering above one person’s height. Such a place should be called Hemp Land instead.
The reason for this misnamed land was related to Han Cheng. In the works of every writer, there’s usually an unresolved, magical realm of the soul. Mo Yan had Dongxiang Gaomi, where blood-red sorghum grew; Cao Wenxuan had the flaxen land in the water village.
In the flaxen land, there was a small school covered with golden thatch, a mischievous yet kind-hearted boy named Sang Sang who loved raising pigeons, and a high school with red-tiled roofs and a middle school with black-tiled roofs… There, there was the innocence of children, as well as the troubles and growth of adolescents.
There was also a teenager named Du Xiaokang, who lived in the red door, went on a lonely journey with his father to desolate places, experienced a profound journey of loneliness in his soul, and grew up in adversity…
Before entering primitive society, Han Cheng preferred reading Cao Wenxuan’s books, especially “The Grass House” and “Red Tiles, Black Tiles.” When troubled, flipping through a couple of chapters could cleanse his soul and find those long-lost things that faded away with growing up and busyness.
Plenty of wild hemp was in the flaxen land, with many ripe hemp pods containing the seeds inside. Just as sesame flowers blossom continuously, so does wild hemp.
Seeing the handful of dark wild hemp seeds in Bai Xuemei’s palm, Han Cheng smiled. With these, plenty of wild hemp would be around the Green Sparrow Tribe next year.
Han Cheng pulled up a finger-thick wild hemp and peeled the hemp skin from the tip to about twenty centimeters from the root. Seeing the resilient hemp skin, Han Cheng smiled again. Making ropes and cloth from hemp was not just a pipe dream.
After confirming the usefulness of the wild hemp, Han Cheng, with a playful mood, broke off the tender wild hemp stems from the roots, divided the hemp skin remaining on the roots into three even strands, and began to twist the ropes.
A whip made of wild hemp appeared in his hand in no time. With a few vigorous swings, it made a sound much louder than a muffled fart.
“Brother Cheng, what is wild hemp used for?” Bai Xuemei asked with twinkling eyes.
Han Cheng, who was fantasizing about using the whip to strike Bai Xuemei, didn’t hesitate to answer immediately, “To weave cloth, to make a set of underwear for the little bride.”
Tie Tou and the others held sickles and began to try harvesting the wild hemp. It wasn’t as fast as harvesting millet or thatching grass, but the speed was still acceptable. However, after the wild hemp was harvested, they needed to be careful when walking from there. The straw sandals worn by Han Cheng and the others couldn’t resist the attacks from the wild hemp stubble. If they weren’t careful, they could get scratched and bleed.
Han Cheng and the others didn’t stay here for too long. After confirming that the wild hemp was ripe and harvestable, they all returned to the boat and continued downstream.
It would not be too late to return and harvest the wild hemp after finding the Fire Tribe downstream.
Han Cheng didn’t take the six bamboo rafts with him but left them in the flaxen land, securely tied to a large tree. There was no need to worry about them being stolen at this deserted place.
Sitting in the boat, Tie Tou watched the flaxen land gradually shrink and felt reluctant. He wanted to stay here with the others to harvest the wild hemp and wait for the return of the Divine Child and the others. This way, they could save themselves from the trouble of traveling by boat and speed up the work to return to the tribe sooner. Unfortunately, the Divine Child disagreed, saying that splitting up was unsafe. After careful consideration, Tie Tou felt that the Divine Child’s words made sense, so he didn’t insist.
He didn’t know that besides this consideration, Han Cheng had some other thoughts that he didn’t mention. He wants to prevent the Fire Tribe from seeing Bai Xue fully recovered and trying to take her back. He brought more people along to be prepared if things went wrong and they needed to take Bai Xue back forcibly. She was the bride he had set his heart on, and no one could take her away from him.
The boats swayed down the river, past Wang Dong Mountain, and continued forward…
The leader of the Fire Tribe held a crudely made wooden spear in his hand as he stood on high ground. He put a somewhat sour fruit in his mouth and looked at the empty riverbank ahead. The whole fruit quickly disappeared into his mouth without spitting a single seed. With his empty hand, he took a reddish leaf from his messy hair, looked at it, and threw it away casually.
Many trees had started shedding leaves, and it was already autumn, as mentioned by the water tribe. Why hadn’t the people from that tribe come yet? Did they find the journey too far and decided not to come, or… were they all infected by the sick child from his tribe and…
Thinking of this, the leader of the Fire Tribe shuddered and shook his head, not allowing himself to think further. That scene was too terrifying. He strongly hoped that the people from that tribe were telling the truth and had a way to cure this seemingly incurable disease in their eyes. This way, not only would the people from the waterborne tribe not die, but his tribe would also find a way to treat the disease without having to throw the infected people into the fire pit.
But recalling his tribe’s past experiences and thinking about the fact that the leader of that tribe was just an unreliable teenager, the ominous feeling grew heavier.
Actions speak louder than words. This was not just what people of the future would think; primitive people thought the same way but couldn’t express it succinctly.
Not only the leader of the Fire Tribe but also the other members of the Fire Tribe were hoping for the arrival of the people from the water tribe. Especially the women of the Fire Tribe. Going from frugality to extravagance is easy, but going from extravagance to frugality is hard. In this aspect, they hadn’t felt much before, but since they tasted the satisfaction of being full from the Green Sparrow Tribe last time, the women of the Fire Tribe had increasingly felt that the men of their tribe were not good enough and had begun to miss the tribe that came from the water…