The deer, clearly in a disadvantaged position and waiting to be slaughtered, didn't take the opportunity to run away. Instead, they watched them as if nothing was wrong.
What's even more outrageous is that the lead deer stood with the wolves, imitating the wolves by shaking their heads at them.
Cao Geng and his companions didn't dare to confront the six snarling wolves and stopped in their tracks.
While facing off with the wolves, they cursed them in their hearts.
By all accounts, shouldn't we be on the same side?
After a while of confrontation, Cao Geng and his companions slowly retreated while a few wolves stared at them menacingly.
Their retreat didn't mean they were giving up on the easily accessible food. They were preparing to attack from another direction.
However, after testing this strategy several times, they were always intercepted by a few stupid wolves.
Seeing the sky darkening, Cao Geng's last bit of patience was finally worn out. He shouted and, along with the others, hurled stones at the deer herd, preparing to scatter them and attack the herd from where the wolves couldn't protect them.
With so many deer within reach, these wolves shouldn't have attacked Cao Geng and the others.
The thinking was one thing, but the reality was like a cold rain slapping him.
This was the realization Cao Geng gained from his bitter experience of lying on the ground battered and bruised.
He stood up, wincing in pain, and rearranged the scattered animal skins around him.
Thinking back on what had just happened, he felt the urge to take revenge on that lead deer with branches growing on its head.
Being bitten by a wolf wasn't surprising, but being knocked down by a deer that should have been prey, only to be hit on the butt by the branches growing on its head afterward? How ridiculous was that?
This couldn't entirely be blamed on the shameless deer; it used its antlers to target sensitive spots, just like it often did to Fu Jiang when they were sparring.
Now that it was targeting humans, it was only following suit.
Cao Geng and the other three people, who had suffered similar fates, found their weapons in the grass and helped each other up, limping away to the south. There was a somewhat melancholy sense of aging heroes about them.
No matter what, these deer couldn't be let off the hook. Whether it was for revenge or their bellies, the outcome wouldn't change!
When Cao Geng and the others met with the rest of the tribe, they made this decision with clenched teeth and bitterness.
Early the next morning, under the leadership of Cao Geng and a slightly recovered group, armed and eager, they headed toward the place where Cao Geng and the others had been tormented.
There, they searched for edible fruits to store for later and kept an eye on the deer herd, waiting for the opportunity to hunt and enjoy a hearty meal.
Neither the Deer Lord nor Fu Jiang could speak, so naturally, they couldn't explain what had happened today to Han Cheng.
Otherwise, Han Cheng wouldn't be here now, pondering over weaving textiles; he would be with the eldest senior brother and the others, dealing with those who dared to target their deer herd with extreme protectiveness.
They were usually reluctant to kill these deer, so why would Han Cheng sit back and do nothing when unrelated people dared to target them?
The second day was still a fine day, albeit a bit colder.
After the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe had eaten, the deers, having drunk some salt water, followed Deer Lord out of the tribe to continue grazing. Fu Jiang and the Five Little Fu Jiangs were also accompanying them.
Since Bai Xue's arrival, Fu Jiang's time mingling with the deer herd gradually increased.
The departure of the deer herd to graze was something the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe had long been accustomed to. From the third spring of the Green Sparrow Tribe until now, nearly two years have passed without any hiccups.
No one paid too much attention to this. After the deer herd left, everyone continued to do what they should according to the divine child's arrangements.
In an empty room, Han Cheng was completely focused on studying the tools for weaving. In front of him were two rectangular wooden frames, one meter long and half a meter wide and the other ninety-five centimeters long and half a meter wide.
The longer wooden frame was placed on top, and the shorter one was placed below. One end of the shorter wooden frame was aligned with the longer one, while the other end was drilled with small holes and had many bamboo sticks, about five centimeters long and not much thicker than toothpicks, securely nailed to it.
The spacing between these bamboo sticks was very small, only about three millimeters, and some small grooves were carefully carved to increase friction.
Each bamboo stick was tied with a thin hemp thread, with the other end tied to this side of the wooden frame.
These vertically tied threads were stretched tightly and balanced with each other without intersecting.
The wooden frame above underwent the same process, with many threads tied using the same method.
However, the difference was that the other end of the wooden frame above didn't have those toothpick-like objects.
All the threads were tied to the wooden frame. Furthermore, the threads above and below were staggered and didn't overlap.
Han Cheng instructed the people of the tribe to spin these fine hemp threads into hemp fibers using spinning tops.
A finger-thick hemp rope was tied in the middle of the other end of the wooden frame above, which hung on a horizontal wooden piece standing there.
Sitting at this end, Han Cheng pulled the thick rope in his hand, and the other end of the large wooden frame rose with the rope tied to it.
The ropes on the large wooden frame and the small wooden frame below are separated, creating an angle between them.
Han Cheng used his foot to step on the rope to prevent it from falling, and then he passed a polished wooden stick, held in his other hand, through this angle.
The thin hemp thread wound around the wooden stick also passed through the angle and stayed inside.
Han Cheng used his hand to tightly wind the hemp thread horizontally through the angle, making it tighter with the other hemp threads.
Then he released the rope under his foot, and the large wooden frame that had been pulled up fell.
Because the hemp thread on the small wooden frame was tied to the upright bamboo sticks, after the large wooden frame fell completely, the rope tied to it also came down below the rope on the small wooden frame.
Between the two, an angle was formed once again.
Han Cheng once again passed the wooden stick used as a shuttle through the angle and pulled up the large wooden frame.
Between these up-and-down movements, these originally single threads were interwoven into fabric.