Chapter 142: Chapter 142
Seeing the food, the troop of monkeys jumped up and down excitedly.
Jiang Si quickly had Qin Shen order them to line up in an orderly fashion to receive their food.
It was already astonishing enough that Qin Shen had gotten the Monkey King to obey and work so quickly.
And now Jiang Si wanted to make the whole troop line up for food.
’They aren’t factory machines.’
But who would have thought—with just a single look from Qin Shen, without even a word spoken...
...the troop of monkeys quietly stood still.
Everyone’s eyes went wide. ’Good heavens, is Qin Shen some kind of magician?’
’How are they so obedient!’
Even One and Two hadn’t been this well-behaved in front of Qin Shen before.
’It must be because the Monkey King is terrified of Qin Shen,’ everyone guessed.
With the monkeys standing still, Big Black and Little Black were hitched to small carts. Jiang Si assessed the amount of food each monkey needed based on its weight and size, giving each one a large spoonful.
The Monkey King was the first to eat. Famished, he shoveled the food into his mouth.
You’d think he was possessed by a starving ghost.
After finishing his own food, the Monkey King turned and eyed the food of the other monkeys.
The troop’s strict hierarchy meant the other monkeys didn’t dare defy the Monkey King’s demands.
This, in turn, made it easier for the humans to manage the troop.
The monkey whose food was stolen had already eaten some, so it wasn’t a huge loss.
Once they were full, they looked to Qin Shen for cues. Seeing they weren’t needed for work just yet, they ran into the warm greenhouse to drink water.
With full bellies, they grew a bit lazy, hanging from wherever they could find a spot to sleep.
Jiang Linhai glanced at the dark mass of monkeys huddled together sleeping in the greenhouse, then at the empty transport cart. He was a little baffled. "That’s it? You’re not going to make them work?"
He was clearly unhappy that they had eaten so much food for free.
Jiang Si smiled. "They just got here, what’s the rush? They need to be well-fed to work hard and become self-sufficient."
"Fine. But we’ll have to take them out on the sea to fish, right? Should we make them little clothes and shoes?"
Snow Monkeys can’t keep their footing on the ice to fish without non-slip shoes.
That reminded Jiang Si. "Yes, we’ll definitely need to make some. You guys carry on with your work. Mom and I will go make them."
Jiang Si hadn’t even had a chance to speak with Shen Baoying when the Monkey King grabbed One and started yanking at its clothes and boots.
The mink fur hat that fell off was immediately snatched by the Monkey King and plopped onto his head.
His face and head were bigger and rounder than One’s, so he had to jam it on. He looked like a fluffy mushroom, both comical and cute.
But One was heartbroken when its clothes were torn off.
After all, it was a genuine, padded mink fur jacket.
The Monkey King put it on and was shocked by how damn warm it was. In the next moment, he started grabbing for One’s boots.
One had a boot pulled off and frantically ran to hide behind Shen Baoying.
The Monkey King bared his teeth, signaling for it to hand over the other one.
In the Monkey King’s eyes, now that he had joined a group ruled by the high-status Qin Shen, One and Two were once again his subordinates. They had to obey him, or they’d get a beating.
But when a high-status member of the group was willing to stand up for One, the Monkey King didn’t dare act rashly.
A single glance from Qin Shen was all it took. The Monkey King quieted down and ran off, wearing the one cowhide fur boot.
One crouched forlornly in front of Shen Baoying, hugging her calf like a child who had lost its whole world.
Shen Baoying sighed and patted its head reassuringly. "Aunty will make some for all of you. One for each, so there’s no more fighting."
The monkey troop consisted of thirty males, sixteen females, and the remaining ten were all infants.
The females would stay in the greenhouse to care for the infants and generally wouldn’t need clothes or boots.
So, Jiang Si planned to make thirty sets of small clothes and boots first.
They could take turns wearing them when they went out to work.
When they returned to the greenhouse, the clothes would be collected and washed regularly.
The troop’s hygiene in the greenhouse was another problem that they would have to slowly figure out how to improve and teach.
Otherwise, just looking after these monkeys would consume a huge amount of their energy.
If they used all the leather on the monkeys, there would be none left for them later.
Fortunately, there was plenty of cotton, duck down, fabric, and leather in her space.
Shen Baoying was a retired textile worker. After designing a standard pattern, she began guiding Jiang Si, Niu Niu, and Zhang Qingfang in mass-producing the little clothes and boots.
From cutting the fabric to adding the filling, it was all thanks to Jiang Si’s well-preserved machinery.
Otherwise, sewing by hand would have taken a very long time.
Since One and Two were being targeted and constantly bullied by the Monkey King, everyone let them continue sleeping on the Icebreaker with Big Black and Little Black.
Although they couldn’t take the monkeys out fishing on the ice yet, they could have them replant the vegetable patch they had previously ruined.
Besides, with so many monkeys and the moose to feed, it was crucial to plant radishes to replenish their food supply.
With the icebreaker vehicle to act as a plow, the moose weren’t needed for that.
Qin Shen, working alone, could clear a large patch of land in no time.
Then, he led the monkey troop to dig holes in the ground in a regular pattern, preparing to plant the seedlings.
There weren’t many seedlings left in the greenhouse.
Planting all of them only covered about a sixth of an acre.
Once they all grew into giant radishes, it would be enough to feed the monkeys for a long time.
While the clothes were being rushed, Jiang Linhai also found time to modify the greenhouse. He not only sectioned off sleeping and eating areas, but also created a small nest and a designated food bowl for each monkey.
Toilet training was a bit more difficult to teach, but nothing was too difficult for Qin Shen.
No one knew how he did it, but the monkeys started using the dung buckets at a set time and place each day, and would even carry them out to be emptied the next morning.
After finishing the planting, they helped everyone carry lumber and do odd jobs. Because of their nimble, acrobatic movements, the speed of house construction increased noticeably.
Meanwhile, their food supply was dwindling at a visible rate.
So many monkeys consumed a truly massive amount of food.
Fortunately, after about five days of frantic work, Shen Baoying and the others managed to finish all the little clothes and padded shoes.
Dressed in their new outfits, the monkeys looked like cute little soldiers.
Jiang Si took them to the seashore. With Qin Shen around, they were incredibly obedient.
Of course, even so, they still required a lot of effort and guidance.
The monkeys learned things incredibly fast. Catching fish with their bare hands, spearing fish with forks, fishing with rods, and using nets—they mastered it all in less than half a month.
Whenever Jiang Si brought their clothes to the greenhouse, they would get excited, knowing it was time to go fishing again.
Because when they came back with fish, they would get to eat a big feast that same day.
As their learning progressed, they became capable of more and more tasks. They could even de-ice the ship’s hull in a reasonably competent manner.
And they would absolutely not do anything they were told not to do.
The benefits outweighed the trouble. Jiang Si actually thought it was great to have them around.
After the monkeys arrived, their surroundings seemed to have become much livelier.
The first two-story log cabin was erected. It was built with self-heating materials from the greenhouse, making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer without any electricity.
As everyone was happily decorating it, a group of people entered Qin Shen’s detection range.
