The wind blew, lifting a few yellow leaves into the quiet cave, spinning as they flew in.
Inside the cave, it was empty and deathly silent. There were bloodstains on the ground, glaring white bones, and the ashes of burned remnants.
This tribe, whose presence here had lasted for an unknown length, had vanished in a single day.
This place may be taken over by wild beasts as a shelter in the future.
Maybe a migrating tribe will come, light a bonfire, and continue living here.
Or perhaps no one will discover this place again, and the wind-blown dust will gradually cover it. Many years later, a group of people with equipment might come here, peel back the layers of sediment, carefully clean the area, and excitedly shout over the skull of the Cao Geng tribe leader...
Not far away, a pair of squirrels burying acorns for the winter stood up, their large tails touching the ground as they cautiously looked around with their forepaws slightly drooped.
Moments later, the pair scurried up a tree, hiding in a hollow, with only one head poking out to observe cautiously.
Before long, the hairless monkeys that scared them appeared.
On the clear, breezy, autumn-tinged plains, Deer Lord walked gracefully with his long legs.
Behind him, his group followed, eating grass as they walked and looking leisurely in the autumn sunlight.
Xiao Fu continued to roam the outskirts of the deer herd, sometimes pouncing suddenly on an unlucky creature that couldn't escape in time, giving it a wolf's kiss.
After wandering for a while, Xiao Fu suddenly stopped, stood upright, and stretched his neck, sniffing the air occasionally.
After a while, he started moving in a particular direction.
He walked for a bit, sniffed again, and continued this way, stopping, starting, circling, without knowing how far he had gone. Eventually, Xiao Fu stopped once more.
A small wolf pack was not far ahead, consisting of only eleven or twelve wolves.
The wolves had noticed the lone, uninvited guest, Xiao Fu. The previously playful wolf pack became alert immediately.
They stared at Xiao Fu, and Xiao Fu stared back at them. The two sides stood quietly, watching each other.
Perhaps sensing that Xiao Fu had no hostile intentions or deeming the fully-grown Xiao Fu too formidable, the pack, led by a one-eyed alpha wolf, slowly walked away.
Xiao Fu hesitated for a moment before following the wolf pack...
The sun moved westward, its warm rays slanting through the forest.
Deer Lord, always punctual, raised his head and called out, then turned and headed back toward the tribe.
The deer herd followed, and the few infiltrators returned to the tribe with the herd.
No one noticed Xiao Fu's absence because they were used to his solitary adventures...
The foundation of the pigsty was entirely completed in the Green Sparrow tribe, though only a small seven—or eight-square-meter space was built up.
The seven slightly grown wild piglets had already been moved from the makeshift pen to this new area.
Han Cheng devised a makeshift solution by temporarily setting aside the construction of the original pigsty and creating a small one in the southeast corner.
The primary reason was to reassign the people, who initially meant to build the pigsty so that they could continue constructing houses.
The current housing in the Green Sparrow tribe is sufficient for its inhabitants. However, with the gradual integration of Green Tribe, space has become tighter.
After all, just this year’s harvested grain occupies six houses.
As for the blue-brick houses, Han Cheng does not plan to let anyone live in them.
The newly built houses have the exact specifications, with twelve rooms in a row. However, unlike before, not every room has a partition wall to support the beams. Instead, a wall was built in every three rooms.
The rest of the support comes from triangular wooden beams, similar to those used in the blue-brick houses.
The walls resemble before, with stone at the bottom and rammed earth above, without using bricks.
Firstly, brick-making is too cumbersome, time-consuming, and labor-intensive. Secondly, these residential houses have not yet reached the level of being built with blue bricks.
After all, Han Cheng consciously wants to highlight the superiority of blue brick buildings, so he won't allow blue bricks to be used for residential houses now.
Tietou and a few regular grass cutters are harvesting thatch on the mountain behind.
After drying, this harvested thatch and previously accumulated ones will be used to roam the newly constructed houses.
Using thatch instead of tiles for these new houses was a deliberate instruction from Han Cheng to match the two types of identification cards he planned to implement.
These newly built thatch houses are prepared for newcomers to the tribe.
Secondary citizens with wooden identification cards can only live in these thatch houses, while primary citizens live in tiled houses.
This distinction differentiates the two groups.
Han Cheng watched the busy workers for a while and then looked down at the seven wild piglets in the pigsty.
The wounds on the wild piglets mainly had healed. After this period of captivity, they had become less wild and no longer attempted to escape from their tiny enclosure.
Even with Han Cheng nearby, they acted as if he wasn't there.
Two piglets were eating from the trough, while four others lay against the stone wall of the pigsty, basking in the autumn sun.
One piglet was staring hesitantly at the sky.
The trough did not contain only grass but a mixture of chaff, chopped grass, and water used for washing pots and dishes.
The water had some grease and a bit of saltiness, which suited the wild pigs' taste.
These animals, after all, are omnivorous. Besides grass, they also enjoy meat.
Of course, the Green Sparrow tribe's chances of eating meat would be rare.
The scale of wild pig farming in the Green Sparrow tribe is not large, so the small pigsty doesn't feel crowded.
When the wild pigs grow, and the herd expands, the pigsty can be enlarged.
As for feeding the wild pigs, there is no need to worry.
The number of wild pigs is small, so they can manage with what they have.
For a long time to come, the diet of these wild pigs will mainly consist of chaff, grass, or hay.
Some rapeseed, millet, or spoiled fruits will occasionally be mixed in.
As for the concern that such a bland diet might stunt their growth or fattening, there is no need to worry too much.
Han Cheng once read a news story about someone who frequently fed pigs with spoiled fruits, resulting in fat, healthy pigs...
In his memory, farmers fed pigs with steamed sweet potatoes mashed and mixed with bran to make them grow faster and have more meat for the new year.
However, such treatment is out of the question for the tribe's wild pigs. So far, millet is the only grain available in the tribe.
Feeding the pigs this way won't make them as fat as modern pigs, but the farming enterprise can continue.
Sweet potatoes were introduced to China in the mid to late Ming Dynasty. Before that, China had thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years of pig farming history.