Chapter 95: The Articulate Eldest Senior Brother
The construction of the roof for the deer pen in the Green Sparrow tribe came to a temporary halt after the fences were laid and secured. This pause was due to the ongoing winter, preventing the next steps of digging soil and spreading mud on top of the fences.
The challenges include difficulties digging the frozen ground, inconvenient water collection, and the crucial issue of the mud freezing in the cold weather. Once mud freezes, its density and solidity are significantly compromised.
The Deer Lord has become accustomed to this easy life of being fed without effort. Its days are now carefree, enjoying dried green grass offered by the two-legged creatures whenever it feels hungry. If it gets tired of vegetables, it indulges in a few bites of crisp rapeseed greens and drinks warm, non-iced saltwater.
After eating and drinking satisfactorily, it strolls in its deer pen, elegantly flaunting its long legs. Sometimes, it engages with the female deer under its command if in the mood.
Most of the time, however, it observes the busy two-legged creatures from one side of the deer pen, much like it did back at the salt mountain when observing them from a distance.
Every day, without worrying about food and sleeping on clean and dry ground without the fear of predators, the deer have become increasingly content with this comfortable life.
The ongoing competition between Fu Jiang and the Deer Lord has not ceased; the two fellows now mutually dislike each other. The Deer Lord thinks Fu Jiang, who constantly tags along with the little two-legged creature, lacks dignity in his actions. Fu Jiang expresses full disdain for this deer, confined in the deer pen and shamelessly relying on its looks to freeload.
So, when these two come together, they exchange a few moves.
The Deer Lord, grateful for the little two-legged creature serving its meals daily, doesnt go all out against this undignified wolf-legged creature and stops short each time.
As Fu Jiang approaches resembling a dog, a saying evolves from the Deer Lords behavior: When beating a dog, one must consider its owner.
Similarly, Fu Jiang has no respect for this deer that constantly competes for attention, clearly relies on its looks for a free meal, and shamelessly acts proud. Without this deer, Fu Jiang believes the tribe would have feasted on deer meat long ago.
The people from the Pig tribe finally arrived after twenty-three days since their last departure.
When they arrived, the people from the Green Sparrow tribe were laying fences on top of the deer pen.
The scene of the two tribes meeting again was as follows:
At that time, the sun hung in the sky without any warmth, seeming like it could fall asleep at any moment. The wax-yellow faces and listless spirits strongly suggested that it hadnt done anything good the previous night.
The Eldest Senior Brother, standing on the frame and securing a piece of fence to the beam with a rope, habitually turned his head to look across the small river.
He hadnt expected any changes on the other side of the river, which had remained the same every time he looked. However, this time, he noticed some black dots, which turned out to be people.
The Eldest Senior Brother was excited. The people from the other tribe had finally arrived.
Although, in terms of numbers, these people would unlikely threaten the Green Sparrow tribe, and it was mostly confirmed that they were from the Pig tribe coming to borrow food. Still, for the sake of the tribes safety, the Eldest Senior Brother shouted the news of outsiders arrival, prompting the people in the tribe to take their positions and prepare for defense.
I forgot to mention earlier that he discovered the newcomers first because he stood on the frame, significantly higher than the people standing behind the south wall.
The news of the potential Pig tribe visitors quickly reached Han Cheng and Shaman. Both came out and waited not far from the entrance.
The leader of the Pig tribe looked extremely worn out, leading the remaining nine members through the snowy winds, resembling zombies as they moved forward.
The abduction of all ages in the tribe by another tribe, turning them into food, dealt a severe blow to the leader. When he returned to the empty tribe from the vast mountains, he became despondent. The mood in the tribe was low as they relied on borrowed food from nearby friendly tribes to get by.
They stopped going out to search for food and instead armed themselves with spears and stones, guarding the entrance and waiting for the tribe that had inflicted great trauma upon them to return. They were ready to risk their lives in a fight for revenge and to rescue some of their kidnapped people.
However, after days of waiting, they saw no sign of outsiders, except for a few birds foraging in the snow. Faced with food scarcity again, and with one woman in the tribe dying from hunger and disease, the leader had to set aside his vendetta and consider the survival of the remaining living members.
The harsh winter outside showed no signs of relenting, making hunting in such weather yield minimal results. After much thought, they concluded that their only option was to once again visit the friendly neighboring tribe.
The leader of the Pig tribe was reluctant to take this path, feeling indebted to the friendly tribe for the boar in autumn and the lifesaving food they had received. He had initially vowed to repay the favor, but with the tribe suffering heavy losses, he believed he had lost that ability.
The journey was not without challenges. A fierce leopard attacked a man at the rear of their group. When they realized and shouted for help, the man was already dragged up a tree by the leopard, its jaws clamped around his neck.
The leader of the Pig tribe, appearing somewhat awkward, approached the Eldest Senior Brother for communication. He felt ashamed to ask for food again.
Having had the experience of their previous visit and the presence of a powerful figure in the Green Sparrow tribe who suspected the Pig tribes ulterior motives, the Pig tribe members were quickly ushered inside the gates and within the walls.
As in their previous encounter, the leader first embraced the Eldest Senior Brother, who was also a leader and rubbed his forehead against his shoulder.
He then proceeded to greet the Shaman and the Divine Child of the friendly tribe.
Han Cheng and the shaman maintained their aloof and dignified demeanor. After acknowledging the greeting from the Pig tribe leader, they went into the cave, leaving the reception of the Pig tribe to the Eldest Senior Brother.
Having conspired more than ten times on how to gradually conquer these tribes together, Han Cheng, Shaman, and the Eldest Senior Brother were not anxious.
After Han Cheng and Shaman left, due to the casual actions of the Eldest Senior Brother, the leader of the Pig tribe saw a large group of deer in the strange cave that he had never seen before.
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